Greenhill

You already may be well along the road to a fine retirement. You started early, invested regularly, used tax-advantaged retirement accounts, didn't borrow from them, diversified your assets, monitored them and didn't over invest in your employer's own stock. But before you become cocky during that final approach to your retirement destination, realize the last stretch of road can have potholes, speed bumps and rough pavement. Maybe even a boulder or two. Among the potential issues: Hazard No. 1: Divorce obliterates many retirement plans.

Laurel police report felonies, arrests and property crimes. Howard County police report major crimes, break-ins and car thefts. City of Laurel Gorman Avenue, 700 block, June 14. Armed robbery at 7-Eleven. Man displayed knife, demanded money from employee and fled with money. Laurel Police officer observed man matching description of suspect on Gorman Avenue and attempted to stop him, but man fled through apartment complex and yards until apprehended in 800 block of Greenhill Avenue.

Six people were shot, two fatally, in a spate of violence in several neighborhoods in Baltimore on Wednesday. Most of the gunfire erupted in a four-hour span starting Wednesday evening and into the night. In the latest shooting, about 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, two men were shot in the 5700 block of Nasco Place, a small street near Loch Raven Boulevard, north of Good Samaritan Hospital in Northeast Baltimore, police said. Police said a 31-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the right side of his face walked into a hospital emergency room for treatment.

The Baltimore County Council imposed last night a four-month moratorium on sewer hookups on the Bowleys Quarters and Back River Neck peninsulas, an effort to shut the door to development of up to 1,300 lots in the environmentally sensitive areas.The moratorium, approved by a 6-0 vote, is intended to curb growth on the two peninsulas, where a sewer system is being built to replace failing septic systems.The measure suspends new sewer hookups, needed to build homes, while the county Planning Board comes up with growth management controls for the communities.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's chief spokesman insisted yesterday that Supreme Court nominee Harriet E. Miers has ample experience in constitutional issues to sit on the nation's highest bench, rebutting critics who question her legal expertise. But Scott McClellan said the administration does not plan to release any documents from Miers' service as White House counsel that might shed light on her experience with constitutional issues. "She has deep knowledge of the Constitution and constitutional law," McClellan said at his daily briefing for reporters.

McDonogh saw its regular season end on an unusual note when it lost to Gilman in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship match. The Greyhounds scored a 4-2 victory that ended McDonogh's six-year run of championships.But McDonogh coach Laddie Levy found something that might let his Eagles end their season on a much better note. The Eagles will be host to the National Boys Prep Team Tennis Championships, starting today and running through Wednesday, and a victory there would give Levy and his players a reason to smile once more.

McDonogh's tennis team, coached by Laddie Levy, goes after its seventh straight MIAA A Conference title and its 80th straight league match victory tomorrow at 3: 15 when it plays host to regular-season runner-up Gilman.McDonogh finshed the regular season at 9-0 and 12-1 overall, its only loss coming against New Jersey state champ Newark Academy, which entered their battle ranked fourth nationally and having won more than 90 consecutive matches.The conference individual championships will begin Monday.

Clarification An article that appeared yesterday about a 4-year-old girl who drowned in a swimming pool in Finksburg Saturday, did not make the whereabouts of the child's mother clear. The girl was left briefly with her 10-year-old brother, according to a police report. The mother discovered her daughter in the pool when she returned from the next-door neighbor's house, according to family members. The mother attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Howard County Arson suspected in fire that causes damage estimated at $225,000 COLUMBIA - Arson was suspected in a fire early yesterday at a house in Columbia that was under renovation because of damage and an arson attempt in an earlier break-in, the Howard County fire department reported.

Baltimore CityROBBERY: Northeastern District -- Two men, one with a handgun, robbed a couple of their cash and property, all valued at more than $100, in the 5700 block of Northwood Drive Thursday.BURGLARY/ARREST: Northeastern District -- Police arrested a man who entered a house in the 5600 block of Greenhill Ave. Wednesday.ROBBERY: Northwestern District -- Two men, one with a handgun, robbed a resident of the 3600 block of Bowers Ave. of her leather coat valued at $350 near her home Thursday.

Few could pluck a guitar or banjo like John James Gerace. Few could make their instruments seem a part of themselves the way Jimmy Gerace did. Few could hold a note the way he did and really make country music swing.Mr. Gerace, 82, who died Monday of a ruptured aneurysm at Franklin Square Hospital, liked to sing and play old-style country music -- not the new tunes from the new artists who seemed bent on playing country rock."That wasn't what he liked at all," said his wife, the former Glenna Keith, whom he married in 1992.