Homeless Men

Two years ago, after three suicide attempts, a losing battle with alcoholism and too many nights in too many homeless shelters, Anthony Pinder checked into a hospital for treatment for what doctors said was manic depression.Mr. Pinder later moved into a rehabilitation center. But he says his future was uncertain until he applied to be a resident at Harford House, a 7-month-old community on North Avenue for formerly homeless men.Residents, counselors and city officials say Mr. Pinder is one of a growing number of success stories at Harford House, which since opening in December has filled 21 of its 26 single rooms.

Fifteen churches in North County have signed up to serve for one week each as a temporary winter shelter for homeless men.The Rev. Olin Herndon, pastor of Glen Burnie United Methodist Church, said two more churches are still considering the project, which would move the shelter from church to church, one week at a time.That would give the shelter project, called "Winter Relief for the Homeless," enough churches to meet the goal of providing shelter for up to a dozen men for the 16 coldest weeks of the winter.

The county's first transitional housing program for homeless men will celebrate its grand opening Sunday, but its doors will remain closed to the men waiting to move there. A water-sprinkler problem is delaying the operation of the Fouse Center in Glen Burnie, which will provide shelter, job and substance-abuse counseling and help for its residents in finding permanent homes. Eight people are waiting to move into the five-bedroom house, said the Fouse Center's director, Mario Berninzoni.

The homeless men at yesterday's exhibition game cheered the good plays and criticized the errors, especially those made by players earning big bucks.They imitated Camden Yards' announcer Rex Barney and skipped the peanuts and Cracker Jack but loaded up on foods that stick to the ribs, like popcorn and pretzels.And, of course, they rooted for the home team.In other words, they acted like fans.Exactly, say Stephen Chaikin and Marc Iorio, University of Baltimore law students whose nonprofit group, Project Hunger, took about 20 homeless men to yesterday's exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Baltimore police are awaiting the results of autopsies to determine what killed two homeless men who perished in subfreezing weather early Saturday. Meanwhile, police and fire officials said they had not identified the two dead men or a third man who was with them. The three were found unconscious early Saturday on the sidewalk near Pratt and Eutaw streets. Officer Troy Harris, a city police spokesman, said the dead men did not appear to be victims of foul play, and that without evidence of a crime, "It's not something we're following up on."

Every winter, the Rev. Melvin Tuggle II and his wife buy 100 blankets and hand them out to the homeless people who huddle under the elevated Jones Falls Expressway in downtown Baltimore."

A 20-year-old Kansas man was sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms yesterday in Baltimore Circuit Court for the 2001 bludgeoning deaths of two homeless men in South Baltimore - killings that he and his friends boasted would "clean up" the neighborhood, according to police. Michael Wayne Farmer of Westmoreland, Kan., was arrested last year after he and friends bragged about what they called "bum stomping," or beating up homeless men, prosecutors said. Farmer, who was living in Baltimore at the time of the attacks, pleaded guilty Sept.

With all of its 12 beds filled -- and neighborhood fears apparently calmed -- Howard County's long-awaited homeless shelter for single men will celebrate its opening tomorrow with a ceremony and a proclamation at the Columbia facility.The shelter -- part of Grassroots Inc.'s 32-bed shelter operation in Hickory Ridge village -- will help homeless men find employment and permanent housing, along with providing addiction treatment, counseling in money management and mental health therapy."We really are trying to address any of a number of challenges a person might have," said Andrea Ingram, executive director of Grassroots, a nonprofit social service agency.

A fire that killed two homeless men living in an abandoned truck trailer Wednesday remained a mystery yesterday as arson investigators were still trying to determine a cause.Police said yesterday that one of the men may have cut his throat in a suicide attempt.Both victims died of burns and smoke inhalation. Police identified them yesterday as Timothy Franklin Smith, 42, who was pronounced dead at the scene, and John Mark Poling, 41, who died at 9: 20 p.m. Wednesday at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

An experiment by 14 North County churches and social service agencies to give homeless men home-cooked meals and a place to stay appears to be an overwhelming success.The shelter, which opened Nov. 30, has been rotating from church hall to church hall. Clients, who have been screened by the Salvation Army, stay in the shelter from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. The Salvation Army provides cots and bedding.The shelter will remain open until late March.Beginning tonight, about 12 men will stay for seven nights in a shelter provided by the congregation of the Linthicum Heights United Methodist Church.