John Doe

50 years ago: Westminster Fire Co. was the winner of the first prize of $50 at the annual Union Bridge Fireman's carnival parade last Friday evening. This was one of the finest parades in the company's history. The carnival gross receipts were nearly $7,000. -- Democratic Advocate, June 10, 1949.100 years ago: Three men, whose names and residences are unknown, had a hearing before Justice J. Hoffman Fuss yesterday morning on a charge of using a device for gambling on the streets of this city on Thursday.

Third-graders at Baltimore's Mount Royal Elementary School could give the folks running the O. J. Simpson trial a few lessons.A mock trial staged by the students at the Bolton Hill school Friday morning lasted 29 minutes, from opening statements to the jury's verdict in favor of "John Doe," who had sued the newspaper "USA Tonight" for invasion of privacy.Based on a real incident -- a newspaper's revelation that the late tennis star Arthur Ashe had contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion -- the Mount Royal trial got quickly to essentials.

The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled Monday that a man convicted of child sex abuse did not have to register as a sex offender because it would violate the state constitution's provisions against retroactive punishments. The ruling was split, with a plurality of three of the court's seven judges agreeing on one interpretation of the law, while others had different opinions and one dissented from the opinion. The man, identified only as John Doe in his appeal, was convicted in 2006 of child sex abuse stemming from an incident in the early 1980s when he was a middle school teacher in Washington County and the 13-year-old child was his student, according to the ruling.

MONDAY MARKS the 125th birthday of Henry Louis Mencken, and it's time the citizens of Baltimore gave its native son his due. Oh, some have embraced him. Certainly he's remembered here on Calvert Street for his years as an editor and columnist at "the Sunpapers." Today is Mencken Day at the Enoch Pratt Free Library and features guest lectures and exhibits. Baltimore's Mencken Society soldiers on as do the Friends of The H.L. Mencken House, which maintains the writer's historic home on Hollins Street with little financial support.

Drug suspect charged, not identifiedCounty police have charged a man they can't identify with possession of crack cocaine.Police said in a report they charged the man as John Doe because of his "inability to identify himself by supplying a date of birth, address, or anything else."Police were called to Cantler's Riverside Inn on Forest Beach Road in St. Margarets about 7 p.m. Friday by people who complained of men armed with handguns sitting in a car.Officers ordered the three occupants out of the car but could find no weapons.

News item: Recently, a John Doe, Esq. was charged with practicing law without a license. The gentleman involved allegedly used the name of an out-of-state attorney and claimed to be a member of the Bar of that state.The deception occurred in Mount Airy, where, rumor has it, lawyers are in short supply.Lawyers in short supply? A lawyer impersonator in Mount Airy? What's this county coming to?Why would anyone want to impersonate a lawyer anyway? After politicians and used car salesmen, lawyers are the most despised people on earth.

An unnamed youth and his mother are suing a Berlin church and its officials, as well as the Columbia-based Baptist Convention of Maryland/Del- aware, alleging that the congregation's youth pastor repeatedly sexually abused the youth and that church officials failed to protect the boy. The boy, referred to in the lawsuit as "John Doe," was 12 when the abuse by the First Baptist Church of Berlin youth pastor, Joshua M. McCready, began in 1997, according to...

Baltimore police charged a 21-year-old city resident with first-degree murder yesterday in the beating death of an unidentified man in East Baltimore Monday night after the suspect called 911 and reported the incident, authorities said. Anthony L. Brown, 21, of the 1000 block of Valley St. is being held pending a bail-review hearing on Monday. Police said that just before 7 p.m. Monday, an unknown man approached Brown in the 500 block of N. Gay St. and asked for a cigarette. Brown said he didn't have one and kept walking, police said in charging documents.

LOS ANGELES - Cedric the Entertainer Presents has earned a full-season order from Fox, making it the third first-year show on the network to be picked up. The pickup of the sketch-comedy/variety show means the network's Wednesday-night lineup, which also includes Cedric's Kings of Comedy partner Bernie Mac and the action romp Fastlane - which was picked up earlier this week - will remain stable for the entire season. "Cedric has a unique voice, which is perfectly suited to Fox," says Gail Berman, the network's president of entertainment.

A man who robbed a woman early today died from a bullet wound when the gun he used in the robbery discharged as he shoved it into his pants during his getaway, city police said.The unidentified man, believed to be in his early 20s, was pronounced dead in the emergency room at the University of Maryland Medical Center at 3:02 a.m.An emergency room nurse said the man had no identification on him and was listed as "John Doe."Police said a woman, whose name was being withheld, was in the 1800 block of Vine St. about 2:45 a.m. when she was accosted by a man with a handgun who demanded her money.