Gwynns Falls

Could a bunch of West Baltimore neighborhood activists ever win a battle against a huge national highway? In the early 1970s, I sat in a West Forest Park Avenue living room and heard Carolyn and George Tyson speak of their work in a group called Volunteers Opposed to Leakin Park Expressway. Their ideas sounded convincing. Did they have a chance against the federal interstate expressway system, Mayor William Donald Schaefer and all those people in cars? They did; amazingly, the lawsuit held.

Baltimore police officers ripped up and confiscated 63 mature marijuana plants yesterday from Gwynns Falls Park, in a spot near a stream and so secluded that they could be seen only by officers overhead in a helicopter, authorities said. Sgt. Osborne Robinson, head of the Gwynns Falls trail unit, said each 6-foot-tall plant, neatly planted in rows and attached to stakes, can produce about 1 pound of marijuana, each worth about $1,000, he said. Robinson said officers also found gardening tools and a bucket - apparently used to haul water from the stream - secured under a tarp.

John Wesley Sappington, a life insurance firm official and Windsor Hills community activist, died of complications from non-Hodgkins lymphoma Tuesday at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was 55. Born in Baltimore and raised in Brooklyn Park, he was a 1971 graduate of Brooklyn Park High School. After working briefly at the old Montgomery Ward Co., he joined Baltimore Life Insurance Co. and remained with the firm for 37 years. He worked in computer programming, and at his death he was a supervisor in the company's finance department.

The Carrollton Viaduct is a National Historic Landmark located on the Gwynns Falls near Carroll Park in Baltimore City. Built in 1928 and 1929, and standing 312 feet long and 60 feet high, it's the oldest railroad bridge still in use.

Yesterday's unveiling of the long-awaited Gwynns Falls Trail head near Leakin Park in Southwest Baltimore completes the 15-mile greenway trail and gives hikers and bikers a new gateway to downtown. Meandering past mallard ducks, an old waterwheel and pristine woodlands, on a journey billed to be 10 degrees cooler than elsewhere in the city because of the Gwynns Falls and the tree canopy, the trail connects more than 30 neighborhoods and 2,000 acres of parkland. "You'll be able to go from here to Baltimore and really enjoy the beauty of the park," Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin told a group of runners, hikers and bikers gathered at the Park & Ride at the end of Interstate 70 to celebrate.

Armed robbery conviction brings term of 40 years A 22-year-old man who was found guilty of armed robbery for holding up a liquor store in Northeast Baltimore has been sentenced to 40 years in prison, according to city prosecutors. After a two-day trial in Baltimore Circuit Court, a jury Wednesday convicted Jeffrey Corporal of armed robbery, reckless endangerment, using a handgun in a crime of violence and having a handgun in a vehicle, prosecutor said. Circuit Judge John N. Prevas ordered Corporal to spend 20 years in prison for armed robbery and 20 years in prison on the gun charges.

Incomplete data discredit tax report A recent report from the state comptroller's office reviewed tax payments by the state's largest corporations ("Taxes avoided by many Md. firms," July 24). But the report is misleading because it lacks important disclaimers and attempts to draw conclusions based on data from an incomplete tax year. When the state comptroller's office similarly divulged the names and tax information of Maryland businesses in 2004 and 2005 for the 2001-2003 tax years, the office stated in cover letters to those reports that it was unable to match related corporate entities from their data system and, therefore, "this information most likely does not provide a full picture of the corporate income taxes paid by many `businesses' as they are commonly perceived."

Baltimore and Baltimore County officials pledged yesterday to take a joint approach to improve the health of shared waterways, charging new committees to develop concrete goals for improvement by Oct. 1. The city-county partnership is a somewhat unusual approach to waterway management, officials said, as regional governments do not typically meet to create mutual goals for shared watersheds. "I don't think there are a lot of formal bodies that have been set up among local governments," said Brad Heavner, the director of Environment Maryland, a citizen-based advocacy group.

John Smith explored the Patapsco River here in his search for a passageway to the Pacific Ocean. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad passed through here. Blacks fought against slavery and segregation here, and community members fought here against plans to run a highway through the trees and brush. All of these events happened on soil that is now part of the Gwynns Falls Trail, which winds along Gwynns Falls and up the Patapsco. At 15 miles, it is one of the nation's largest urban nature trails.

A Cecil County couple attempting to flee city police yesterday by jumping into the Gwynns Falls in West Baltimore after police observed their stolen car being driven erratically were pulled from the cold stream by police and remain in custody. The man, identified as Jesse Sandow, 28, of North East, is wanted by Delaware police on drug violations and auto theft, said Officer Christopher Warren, one of the arresting officers. Sandow was expected to be extradited to Delaware. About 8:30 a.m., Warren, of the Southwestern District, stopped a white Lincoln Town Car on Hilton Parkway between North Avenue and Edmondson Avenue after observing that the vehicle was being driven erratically.