Johnston

Rarely does a jockey enjoy riding a 300-to-1 shot. Yesterday was an exception.Even though the race chart says 3-year-old Perfect Score was a 7-to-1 winner in yesterday's $50,000-added Horatius Stakes at Laurel Park, the odds were different for veteran rider Mark Johnston.Not long ago in Las Vegas, Johnston placed a future-book wager on Perfect Score, getting 300-to-1 for the Kentucky Derby. Of course, the seven-furlong Horatius was a long way from Churchill Downs, but Johnston considered it a perfect first step.

LEEDS -- Searching on foot, on horseback, from the air and with packs of bloodhounds -- police from three states yesterday scoured 10 square miles of thick woods and farm fields here for escaped killer Norman Johnston.And once again, Johnston stayed a step ahead.Since breaking out of a maximum-security prison in Pennsylvania nearly two weeks ago, the man who is serving consecutive life sentences for killing four teen-agers has demonstrated an uncanny ability to flee authorities -- once from their very hands.

LEEDS -- With no recent sightings and no new leads, law enforcement officials declared the trail of escaped murderer Norman Johnston too cold to follow in Cecil County."

A robber shot a 12-year-old boy once in the head in Hampden early yesterday, apparently because the child didn't have money to give to the gunman, police said.Emanuel "Nick" Gerondis was in critical condition at Johns Hopkins Children's Center last night. Police said he was sitting with friends on a house's porch about 1 a.m. when the incident occurred.Some of the youngsters ran when the robber approached the group in the 3800 block of Ash St. A 16-year-old turned over $20. But Emanuel didn't have anything in his pockets.

When William R. Johnston, curator of 18th and 19th century art at the Walters Art Gallery, decided to tell the story of the museum's founders, William and Henry Walters, he had no idea what it would entail.That was 25 years ago -- 25 years in which Johnston read hundreds of history books, perused thousands of pages from inventories or minutes and pored over what surely must have seemed like tens of thousands of footnotes.You see, William and Henry, father and son, were very private people.

Maryland State Police are searching for an escaped four-time murderer who was spotted Friday in a wooded area near Cecil County's border with Pennsylvania.Norman Johnston, 48, escaped Monday from a central Pennsylvania prison where he was serving a life sentence for the 1980 murders of four Pennsylvania teen-agers. The film "At Close Range," starring Sean Penn, was based on the killings.On Friday evening, Johnston was spotted talking on a pay phone in Nottingham, Pa., but he eluded authorities by fleeing into the 600-acre Nottingham Park, two miles from the Maryland border.

The towering silver maples that lined Cooper Drive in Sykesville for nearly 100 years have fallen to chain saws.After several inspections, all the trees on the outskirts of Cooper Park on Route 32 were deemed hazardous. They "posed an unreasonable risk" and could have toppled on their own at any time, said Stephen Johnston, area manager for Bartlett Tree Experts, the company that examined the trees earlier this year."They posed a serious threat to pedestrians and buildings," Johnston said.

PHILADELPHIA -- Gaunt and scraggly, packing a pocketful of quarters but no weapon, fugitive killer Norman Johnston emerged from a stand of trees early yesterday into a yard where three state troopers were interviewing a homeowner."

Sandra H. French was leading a field of seven Howard County school board candidates by a wide margin last night, according to early returns from the nonpartisan primary race. The top four vote-getters will advance to the Nov. 3 general election.With 84 of 88 precincts reporting, incumbent French held 32.84 percent of the vote. After French were former substitute teacher Laura Waters with 15.33 percent, transportation manager Glenn Amato with 13.63 percent, and engineer Arthur Neal Willoughby with 11.94 percent.

Citing scheduling conflicts and a lack of time, Howard County school board member Linda L. Johnston said this week that she will not seek re-election when her term ends in December.Johnston, a federal employee in the Department of Health and Human Services, said juggling a full-time job and family responsibilities prevented her from attending school board meetings during the day."I don't know that the time commitment was more than I expected but the schedule just doesn't mesh well with the schedule of having a full-time job," said Johnston, who was elected in 1992.

When Mount Hebron High School's longtime band director left abruptly in December, it felt to many students like the day the music died. But nowadays, strains of a traditional Sousa march and two sunny pop anthems fill the air outside the Ellicott City school as marching band members rehearse their first official halftime show with a new director and a new outlook. The Vikings Marching Band was set to take the football field Friday under the direction of Daniel Pendley, who has taken over the beloved band program that was one man's empire for more than three decades.

A longtime band director at Mount Hebron High School in Howard County was sentenced to 18 months in jail Thursday for sexually abusing a female student at the school over a two-year period, prosecutors said. Judge Timothy McCrone sentenced Robert Douglas Johnston, who taught at the school for 35 years before his arrest in December, to nine years in prison with all but 18 months suspended. Johnston will be able to serve his time in the county detention center and will be on supervised probation for five years after his release.

Officials from the nation's largest organization representing emergency medical personnel said mistakenly declaring a victim dead - as was the case in Northwest Baltimore this weekend - is rare but not unheard of. Jerry Johnston, the immediate past president of the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, said statistics are not kept on the number of these incidents, but he is aware of cases in which someone was initially declared dead,...

One of the fundamentals tenets of financial planning is you should build up enough of a cushion to withstand an unexpected financial emergency. But when you're already struggling to make ends meet, having another unexpected financial SOS pop up is the last thing you need. The car breaks down and needs $1,000 of repair work. The roof starts leaking. Junior falls and breaks an arm. Etc., etc. Focus on the problems and remember that there are expenses that you must continue to pay: * Your mortgage or rent * Utilities * Car payment, because you need a mode of transportation to get to work or look for a job. * Health insurance, homeowners insurance and car insurance.

Band director pleads guilty in sex abuse case A Howard County high school band director accused of sexually abusing a female student over two years pleaded guilty Thursday, prosecutors said. Robert Douglas Johnston, 61, who taught at Mount Hebron High School in Ellicott City for 35 years, could have been sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in prison in a case that included sexual abuse of a minor. Under his plea agreement, he could face a maximum of 18 months at his sentencing Aug. 13, said Wayne Kirwan, a county state's attorney's spokesman.

A prominent Howard County high school band director accused of sexually abusing a female student was investigated by school officials almost two years ago after a parent reported seeing the girl sitting on his lap in his office, according to court documents released yesterday. Police said Robert Douglas Johnston, 61, who has taught at Mount Hebron High School in Ellicott City for 35 years, sexually abused the student over a two-year period that began when she was 15. He was arrested Monday and charged with sexual abuse of a minor, third- and fourth-degree sex offenses, and obscene telephone misuse.

The longtime band director at a Howard County high school has been accused of sexually abusing a female student over the past two years, police said yesterday. Robert Douglas Johnston, 61, who has taught at Mount Hebron High School for more than 30 years, was charged yesterday with sexual abuse of a minor, third- and fourth-degree sex offenses, and obscene telephone misuse, according to Howard County police. Johnston surrendered to police Monday night and was arrested; he was being held yesterday on a $350,000 bond, police said.

The creator of the popular comic strip For Better or for Worse has had a change of heart - literally and figuratively - and won't be retiring after all. Lynn Johnston announced this month that, beginning Sept. 1, For Better or for Worse will be retold in a blending of repeat and new comic strips. Not long ago, Johnston, 61, had planned to retire this year and offer mostly reruns of her 29-year-old comic strip. But her life changed when she got divorced. "At this time in my life, I thought I would be on a cruise ship to Panama or the Mediterranean, retired with my Tilley hats, my sneakers.

HOMO POLITICUS -- By Dana Milbank Doubleday / 288 pages / $26 Deep within the forbidding land encircled by the Washington Beltway lives the tribe known as Homo politicus. Their ways are strange, even repulsive, to civilized human beings; their arcane rites often impenetrable; their language coded and obscure. Violating their complex taboos can lead to sudden, harsh and irrevocable punishment. Normal Americans have long feared Homo politicus, with good reason. But fearless anthropologist Dana Milbank has spent many years immersed in the dark heart of Washington, and has produced this indispensable portrait of a bizarre culture whose tribal ways are as hilarious as they are outrageous.

On July 18, 2007, BEATRICE R., devoted mother of Lorraine Johnston, beloved grandmother of Harry C. Johnston and Beatrix M. Henderson. She is also survived by four great-grandchildren, one brother-in-law, one sister-in-law, a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends. Friends may call at the family owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME WEST INC., 4300 Wabash Avenue on Monday after 8:30 A.M. The family will receive friends at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, 3050 Liberty Heights Avenue on Tuesday at 10:30 A.M. Funeral services will follow at 11 A.M.