Halloween

Some registered sex offenders in Anne Arundel County will be under surveillance on Halloween, police said. The Sex Offense Unit of the county's Criminal Investigations Division will use undercover detectives and patrol officers to ensure that certain registered sex offenders are not taking part in Halloween festivities, the police department said Saturday in a statement. The Maryland Division of Parole and Probation has identified specific offenders who are not allowed to have contact with children, police said.

An ill-timed trick of nature that threatens rain and even light snow on Saturday has put a kink into the "Great Big Halloween Parade of Light & Luminaria," an annual tradition in Patterson Park. "The parade is being rescheduled for Sunday, when it is supposed to be a little chilly, but clear," said Megan Hamilton, program director of the Creative Alliance at The Patterson, the organizer of the fanciful event. "We have had to change dates two or three times before and it always ended up being an amazing event.

Halloween open house - Hosted by From the Heart Doggie Daycare, Sat., Oct. 29, noon-5 p.m., 8574 Laureldale Drive. Door prizes, dog costume contest, photographs and nail clinic for dogs. Refreshments served. 301-725-3647, http://www.fromtheheartdogs.com. Halloween Spooktacular - Sponsored by the city of Laurel, Sat., Oct. 29, 2 p.m. sharp, Robert J. DiPietro Community Center, 7901 Cypress St. Entertainment, food, costume judging with prizes. Come dressed to be judged.

It's Halloween week on NBC so prepare yourself for ghost stories, parties, costume contests and secret web cams.  "Community": After Brita grades the study group's personality tests, she is convinced that one of them has an extreme (“like a Dorito” Thanks, Jeff) personality disorder and the only way to figure it out who is the always reliable “Tell a Ghost Story to Figure Out Who's the Psycho” game. Abed tells a cliché 50's horror movie plot and him and Annie kiss… awkward… Annie lets out a little bit of her inner freak in a forbidden love saga between Vampire Jeff and the Werewolf Annie.

Halloween falls on Monday in 2011, just like Valentines Day did. That should be a good thing for bars and restaurants. Halloween itself tends to keep potential diners in their homes, waiting for trick-or-treaters, but the weekend brings out folks looking for a good time. A new survey by the National Restaurant Association (NRA) says that 20 percentof Americans will order takeout or delivery from a restaurant this Halloween. Among younger adults (age 18-34) and families with trick-or-treating children, that figure rises to 33 percent and 28 percent, respectively, the survey determined.

Hundreds of years ago, Halloween ornaments were displayed throughout Old World landscapes to scare off the unwelcome spirits of deceased relatives that insisted on paying their living relatives a visit on Halloween. But just like today, some of their Halloween displays weren't as frightening as they could have been, because their plant-life backdrops were mundane. There's nothing particularly frightening about scary-looking Halloween ornaments dangling from or peeking from behind commonplace trees and shrubs.

Ray Rice is easily my favorite player to cover on the Ravens. I love the way he plays. I love the points he scores for my fantasy football teams. And I love the way he handles himself in the media: equal parts goofy and serious. Playing at a Pro Bowl level again this season, Rice is getting more and more attention these days. He has been featured in segments on ESPN and NFL Network in recent weeks, and he just did a fun interview with GQ. Highlight No. 1: Rice showed up at Rutgers as a freshman wearing a purple hoodie with his own picture on it. “You've got to realize, where I'm from -- New Rochelle High School versus Mount Vernon High School -- that's as big a rivalry as there is. We beat them my senior year and there was this great picture of me running over some guy. It got put on a purple hoodie and I wore that hoodie everywhere.” Highlight No. 2: Rice explained why to him, Baltimore isn't just “crab cakes and football.” “They say 'crab cakes and football,' but that doesn't really work for me. I'm allergic to shellfish, so I can't do crab cakes.

Here's a sampling of Hallowen-related events planned in north Baltimore: • Hauntingdon is Oct. 29 in the 2900 block of Huntingdon Avenue in Remington, from 5-8 pm. Please join the neighborhood in it's spooky celebration. • St. John's in the Village, at Greenmount Avenue and Old York Road in Waverly, hosts a haunted house visit, Oct. 28-30, 6-9 p.m. Admission is $3. • 901 ARTS at 901 Montpelier St., in Waverly, sponsors a haunted house visit Oct. 30, 4-6 p.m. Donations of $1 are requested.

Want to hear something really scary for Halloween? According to the Pet Poison Hotline, the average cost to treat a pet for chocolate ingestion exceeds $1,000. Aaaaaahhhh!! Scary, right? Halloween is the most dangerous holiday for pets, the hotline says. Their calls spike 12 percent this time of year. Chocolate is the biggest culprit, being one of the most poisonous candies a pet might eat But that's not the only thing to keep in mind. Here are a few other seasonal tips from the hotline:   Trick or Treat escapes : Tons of pets get loose when people open their doors to greet trick-or-treaters.

It's the most frightening time of the year: Halloween is upon us again. Whether you dress up for a night on the town or turn out the lights to avoid trick-or-treaters, the Book Bag has you covered. Scaring up a good read will be the least of your worries. "Hypothermia" by Arnaldur Indridason Picador, $15 Arnaldur Indridason continues his Inspector Erlendur series here with a foray into the supernatural for the Reykjavik detective. Maria, a historian, has invited her friend, Karen, to use her country house for the weekend.