Hack

On September 3, 2007, SHARON ARLENE (nee McVicker) STONESIFER of Upperco, beloved wife of Ralph L Stonesifer. Mother of Michelle A. Stonesifer, Cherie R. and her husband Nearmon E. Barrett, IV. Grandmother of Dominic R. and Dalton R. Barrett. Daughter of Bernard D. McVicker and Ruth (nee Gover) Hack. Sister of Bernard D. McVicker, Jr., Roland McVicker, Sheila Overholtzer, Brenda Covey, Terri McVicker and the late Valerie McVicker. Step-Daughter of Herman Hack and June McVicker. Services from the ELINE FUNERAL HOME, 11824 Reisterstown Road (at Franklin Boulevard)

AS I make up my mind about the worthiness of the U.S. government paying reparations to the descendants of slaves, I am fascinated by the debate that arises when the issue is brought up.A new round of emotion was triggered on this by a long article that was published in the Washington Post late last month, which was pegged to the effort of Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, to prod Congress to act.The tone and shrillness of the reaction, from comical to...

Most of the Orioles had cleared out of the clubhouse after last night's game when Rafael Palmeiro and hitting coach Rick Down strolled in. The first baseman was soaked with sweat and dragging along a couple of bats, better to lift himself out of a slump that has grown waist-deep and tiresome.Palmeiro spent about 30 minutes in the cage, seeking the timing that has eluded him for going on two weeks. He went hitless again last night, and the Orioles went into their first three-game skid of the season after a 5-2 defeat to the Toronto Blue Jays at Camden Yards.

Want to know how to tell an author is really successful? The jacket photo gets bigger, while the writer's biography gets smaller.For one thing, there is no day job to detail. And as the volumes grow, it becomes unwieldy to list them all by name. Better just to tote them up and give the number, maybe mention how many are best sellers.Author James Lee Burke's bios have gotten pretty darn terse over 32 years of publishing.His first novel told of his odd jobs, his teaching job, the fact that he was an honors graduate from the University of Missouri.

For more than a decade Dr. Gary Hack, a researcher and professor at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry in Baltimore, toiled in his lab on a vexing problem: how to stop the pain of hypersensitive teeth, a condition that affects up to 20 percent of the population.Today, Dr. Hack and a colleague, Dr. Leonard Litkowski, are perched on the cusp of fortune, if not fame, for a pivotal discovery they made while laboring on this mystery. They found that Bioglass, a microscopic material made by USBiomaterials of White Marsh, appears to help the body restore the loss of dentin in tooth enamel, a condition thought to cause the chilling pain of hypersensitive teeth.

By breaking the rules on how to dissect a human body, dental researchers at the University of Maryland at Baltimore believe they have stumbled across a jaw muscle never before described in the anatomy textbooks.Dr. Gwendolyn F. Dunn and Dr. Gary D. Hack say the 1 1/2 -inch muscle connects a point on the skull directly behind the eye to a spot on the lower jaw behind the teeth.They suspect it may be responsible for "retro-orbital pain," or pain behind the eye, experienced by some patients suffering disorders of the chewing muscles.

A neurosurgeon and two dentists at the University of Maryland at Baltimore say they have stumbled across a structure in the neck that is new to science, and which might explain how muscle tension can cause splitting headaches.Dr. Walker L. Robinson, the neurosurgeon; dental school professor Gary D. Hack; and visiting scientist Richard T. Koritzer, also a dentist, say they have found a quarter-inch piece of connective tissue linking a minor muscle deep in the back of the neck to the dura mater -- the highly sensitive membrane that covers the spinal cord and the brain.

Clarence Barnes leaned against the parking meter in front of Lafayette Market and echoed the call: "Hack? Hack ride, ma'am? Hack?"He repeated the offer of a ride for nearly an hour yesterday before a woman took him up on his advance -- a lousy little $3ride."

Fats Drobnak, my somewhat ancient friend, was pensively munching a burger when I stopped by Winterling's last weekend.What's happening? I asked.''What' happening,'' Fats replied, ''is that it never ends.''Oh, that's an overstatement. I'm aware that hot weather troubles the obese, but Labor Day approaches.''I'm not talkin' about the heat. I mean namin' the football team which gettin' it is a maybe at best.''No, Fats. That's been settled. The fans have spoken loud and clear and it will be the Ravens.

Montebello Brands Inc. had bottled plenty of strange and wonderful liquors at its Baltimore plants before, but none seemed stranger or more financially wonderful than "shoju," a kind of watered-down vodka that Koreans were guzzling the way Americans gulp beer.But early this month, the Korean government closed the tap on the Baltimore-bottled shoju when Korean police arrested Montebello's importers for, among other things, selling "sham shoju."Now Montebello finds itself in the middle of an international imbroglio.

A former prostitute, who was raped, strangled, cut and left for dead in Leakin Park, took the stand Tuesday in Baltimore Circuit Court and tearfully recounted the details of the 2003 attack by an unlicensed "hack" cabdriver whose DNA is linked to two murders. "I felt his arm go around my neck and he started choking me," the 37-year-old woman said, waving her fists behind her head to show how she tried to fight the man off. "My eyes went up in my head, then everything went black." The Baltimore Sun is withholding the woman's name because she is the victim of a sex crime.

Jennifer Williams, a young mother of two, lives in an East Baltimore neighborhood where corner stores and carry-outs are the only places to shop. Yet Williams and other carless residents of inner-city "food deserts" are not as stranded as they might seem. They regularly shop at full-sized supermarkets miles from home by catching rides in hack cabs. "I go all the time - twice a week," she said. Illegal and notoriously dangerous, unlicensed cabs are an unlikely ally in the search for affordable and healthful food.

On June 11, 2009, JAMES R. SR.; beloved husband of Colleen Hack; devoted father of James Hack, Jr., Jaconda Wagner and Taira Hack; also survived seven grandchildren; one brother, Montgomery Hack; one sister, Rosetta Hack; a host of other relatives and friends. Friends may call at the CHATMAN-HARRIS FUNERAL HOME, 5240 Reisterstown Road, Tuesday 1 to 8 P.M. The family will receive friends at the above chapel Wednesday at 10:30 A.M. Funeral services will begin 11 A.M. Interment Woodlawn Cemetery.

It was like a reward challenge: Endure a chilly, drizzly night in the elements and be among the first to try out for the reality television show Survivor. "If we can hack that, we can hack Survivor, absolutely," said Casey Starshine, who waited 14 hours with her 9-year-old son, Uriah. More than a dozen hardy souls did the same, huddling overnight under an open-sided tent at a Catonsville car dealership before Saturday morning's casting call. By day's end, more than 400 would-be contestants filed into Antwerpen Hyundai, where WJZ-TV set up two cameras.

Not selling drugs but hailing hacks One of the letters offering a suggestion for "A better Baltimore" (Readers speak out, March 23) displayed a bit of ignorance. Those "people allowed to stand on main streets waving their fingers" are not selling drugs. They are trying to hail a cab or a hack (unlicensed taxi driver). Having lived in various parts of Baltimore for most of my life, I have known several cab drivers, hacks and people trying to hail a ride. If the writer of the letter had simply spoken to a few of the folks "waving their fingers," she would have realized that most Baltimoreans are just going about their business getting from A to B. John Williams, Towson Unlicensed cabs still pose a danger A writer recently asked "why people are allowed to stand in the road on main streets and wave their fingers to traffic as a signal that they are selling drugs" (Readers speak out, March 23)

On September 3, 2007, SHARON ARLENE (nee McVicker) STONESIFER of Upperco, beloved wife of Ralph L Stonesifer. Mother of Michelle A. Stonesifer, Cherie R. and her husband Nearmon E. Barrett, IV. Grandmother of Dominic R. and Dalton R. Barrett. Daughter of Bernard D. McVicker and Ruth (nee Gover) Hack. Sister of Bernard D. McVicker, Jr., Roland McVicker, Sheila Overholtzer, Brenda Covey, Terri McVicker and the late Valerie McVicker. Step-Daughter of Herman Hack and June McVicker. Services from the ELINE FUNERAL HOME, 11824 Reisterstown Road (at Franklin Boulevard)

On Friday, April 14, 2006, SELMA DREYER (nee Levin) beloved wife of the late Henry Dreyer, loving mother of Lois Hack of Venice, FL and Ellen Guss of Scottsdale, AZ, devoted mother-in-law of David Hack and Gordon Guss, beloved sister of Naomi Dreyer of Baltimore, MD, loving grandmother of Joseph and Karen Guss, Gary and Gayle Guss, Debra Dauer, Ilysa and William Cohen, beloved great-grandmother of Sean Dauer, Amanda and Molly Cohen. Services and interment will be the held at Beth Jacob Congregation Cemetery-Finksburg on Sunday, April 16 at 10 A.M. Please omit flowers.

Curling not a sport? Tell it to my hamstring. Sure, it looks simple on TV. Grab the polished granite stone by its convenient handle and slide it along the ice in one, smooth motion. Two teammates with little brooms tidy up along the way with frantic sweeping motions until your rock knocks away the other team's rock or your rock blocks your opponent's next shot or you put your rock in the middle of the bull's-eye. As simple as playing football on a cafeteria table with a wooden ice cream spoon.

JAMES O. HACK; beloved husband of Gertrude D. Hack. A Memorial Service is to be held in the chapel of the JOSEPH L. RUSS FUNERAL HOME, 2222 W. North Ave. on Saturday, January 29. Family hour 11:30 A.M. with service to begin at 12 noon.

On January 25, 2005 BERNICE L. HACK (nee Lovett) beloved wife of the late Joseph Hack; beloved mother of Dr. Gary Hack of Columbia, MD and the late Sandra Hoffman; devoted mother-in-law of Dr. Kenneth and Deborah Hoffman and Leslie Hack; devoted sister of the late Milton and Albert Lovett; loving grandmother of Kevin and Katy Hoffman, Lara Hoffman, Shawn Hack, Laura Hack and Sara Zuckerman. Services and interment at Knesseth Israel Congregation Cemetery, Annapolis, MD on Friday, January 28 at 3 p.m. Please omit flowers.