Hallmark

On May 7, 2004, SHIRLEY M. (nee Martin) HALLMARK, beloved wife of Murray Fusee, devoted mother of Alison K. Hallmark, loving daughter of Graydon and the late Alice Martin, stepmother of Tammy Merritt, Nick Fusee, Randy Fusee and Renee Lamont, dear sister of Patricia Conover, Linda Slater, Donald, Glen and Ronald Martin and the late Arlene Freeman. Also survived by seven grandchildren. A Memorial Service will be held Wednesday, 4 P.M. at HARRY H. WITZKE'S FAMILY FUNERAL HOME, INC., 4112 Old Columbia Pike, Ellicott City.

Whenever Kathy Kelley goes shopping for greeting cards, the Parkville woman knows that costs can add up quickly. "Price is never the bottom line, but sometimes I just spend so much on greeting cards that I decide to cut back a little," Kelley says from the card aisle at Greetings & Readings in Towson. "And I start buying more of the 99-cent cards." The greeting card industry is fighting its way out of a long-term slump as card makers compete with deep discounts and a variety of new competitors.

CAIRO, Egypt - Saudi and U.S. authorities blamed al-Qaida yesterday for the car bombing at a residential compound in Riyadh on Saturday night that killed 17 people, including five children, and injured 122. The attack left the Saudi regime digging out from the second major suicide bombing in the capital in the past six months and facing the reality that al-Qaida appears to have survived a tough crackdown. The bombing Saturday struck a complex of villas on the capital's western edge that housed mostly foreign Arab workers, authorities said, and most of the victims were Lebanese, Egyptian and Sudanese.

Gettysburg, by Stephen W. Sears. Houghton Mifflin. 640 pages. $30. No American place is so captivating, or confusing, as the battlefield at Gettysburg. War changed the course of history there, but the field is so vast and contains so many monuments (more than 1,300) that it is hard to count them, much less measure the parts of valor and vanity carved into each. So, during the last 140 years, the fighting of July 1-3, 1863, has been reduced in the popular imagination to a few places and events.

Two years ago, if your dial was set on any pop or alternative-rock station at any time on any day, then you certainly heard "Drops of Jupiter" by Train. "Now that she's back in the atmosphere / With drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey - ey - ey / She acts like summer and walks like rain / Reminds me that there's time to change, hey - ey - ey ..." There was nothing particularly cutting-edge about the track with its Elton John-flavored piano runs, melodramatic strings and Pat Monahan's strong but unspectacular vocals.

James K. Baker, 83, a civil rights lawyer and the first black department head for the city of Birmingham, Ala., died Tuesday of a pulmonary embolism. Mr. Baker was credited for working to integrate everything from jury boxes to cemeteries in the Birmingham area. In one of Mr. Baker's hallmark cases, he argued successfully for a mother who was told she could not bury her son, a Vietnam War casualty, in Elmwood Cemetery because he was black. Michael Jendrzejczyk, 53, a human-rights expert whose advocacy on behalf of victims in Asian nations made him an unlikely power broker in Washington, died Thursday after collapsing during a walk near his office in Washington.

Baltimore leaders plan a facelift for the dilapidated properties around North Avenue and North Charles Street, a crossroads and a piece of city history considered by many to be badly in need of renewal. More than 20 commercial properties, many of them vacant, would be acquired by the city if an urban-renewal plan is approved in the next few months, according to Baltimore Development Corp., the city's economic development agency. City officials then would package the acquired properties and offer three parcels for sale to redevelopers this year.

Internet greeting card sites such as BlueMountain.com and eGreetings.com have a message for consumers: Start paying for those animated electronic holiday cards of dancing reindeer and spinning dreidels. That's not going over well with customers such as Lisa Walker, a Web site producer who sends electronic cards to friends and clients several times a year. "I'm certainly not interested in paying for online cards," she said. "People aren't going to accept that readily in the near term. My first thought is to look for what's available free of charge."

BJ's new store in Westminster has grand opening BJ's Wholesale Club held its grand opening yesterday at 820 Market St., Westminster. The 108,000-square-foot store is BJ's seventh Maryland location. It employs about 140 people. Store hours will be 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Cigar-making craft to be demonstrated Westminster Cigar Co. will hold a Cuban cigar-rolling event Friday to demonstrate the art of crafting handmade cigars. Grade 7 master roller Raul Aguilera and cigar maker Nicholas Perdomo Jr., president and chief executive officer of the cigar manufacturer Tabacalara Perdomo, will attend.

For those of you trolling for a classic, the Cotton Blossom will remain docked at the Chesapeake Music Hall in Annapolis, as Show Boat plays there through Nov. 18. The Cotton Blossom is the boat in this landmark musical with a score by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical, which debuted in 1927, forever changed the concept of the American musical theater. Show Boat was the first musical play. It offers a strong story and well-drawn characters, using the musical score to advance the plot.