Kitchen Window

It's springtime, and I remember when the view from my kitchen window was a lovely little backyard tableau of green lawn and swing set, happy tomato garden and sunny marigolds in patio pots. It was a scene that gave me a sense of order and peace. Inside, there might be laundry-basket-shaped wads of permanently creased wash dumped on my bed, an office cluttered with charge cords for every electronic device in our home and a freezer stocked with unidentifiable lumps -- but at least our backyard was lovely, pleasant and inviting.

Police in Baltimore County are seeking one person in a string of residential burglaries. The Sun's Steve Kilar writes about the case in today's editions . Here is a complete list of the crime, all in or around White Marsh over the past several days: •    On March 25, between 3 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., an unknown suspect pried open a window of a home in the 9200 block of Ramblebrook Road, 21236, and took clothing and purses containing medication....

POLICE LOG* Oakland Mills: 6200 block of Stevens Forest Road: A television, videocassette recorder and other items were stolen from a home after someone forced open a kitchen window between last Monday and Thursday, police said.

Dumb animals can be pretty smart. Looking out our kitchen window the other day, my wife glanced into our neighbors' yard, where they've got one of those bird feeders fixed with a barrier to keep squirrels from getting at the goodies. It was hanging by a thread from one of their trees. Hanging onto the feeder from a cylindrical piece at the bottom was a squirrel. The feeder spun around as it dangled from the branch, and the squirrel twirled along with it. "Whee!" I said, laughing.

POLICE LOG* Glenelg: 13800 block of Kennard Drive: Would-be thieves destroyed a porch roof Thursday in their attempt to burglarize a house under construction. Police said someone tried to enter through a kitchen window.TTC

POLICE LOGLaurel:9600 block of Baltimore Ave.: Someone removed the screen from an open kitchen window and took cash from a purse overnight Tuesday. Residents were at home but heard nothing.9600 block of Baltimore Ave.: Someone entered the house by cutting the screen off a rear kitchen window overnight Tuesday and took a camera. Sleeping residents did not hear any noise, although the neighbor's dog barked around 6 a.m.First block of Meadow Lane: Someone entered through an unlocked front door Monday and took jewelry.

PoliceMount Airy: A resident told police that someone broke into his home through a kitchen window and stole personal property between 7: 30 p.m. Thursday and 6 p.m. Friday. The loss was estimated at $400.Pub Date: 12/04/96

Police logNorth Laurel: 7500 block of Montevideo Road: Someone entered the back of Aircoil Co. by removing bolts from a rear gate and took copper pipes and scraps. The theft was reported Monday morning.Savage: 8500 Storch Woods Drive: Someone tried to enter a home Saturday morning, but no entry was made. The screen to a rear kitchen window was found lying on the ground.North Laurel: 9500 Sylvan Still Road: Someone entered a vacant apartment Sunday evening and vandalized it.Jessup: 8100 block of U.S. 1: Someone entered the Log Cabin Restaurant through an unlocked kitchen window yesterday morning and took cash and a cash register.

POLICE LOG* Chesterfield: Someone broke into and ransacked a home in the 2900 block of Bristol Channel Court Monday afternoon, stealing jewelry and a videocassette recorder all valued at $2,300. Entry was gained through a screen on the kitchen window. A neighbor told police she saw a man cut through her yard between 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Police logElkridge: 6400 block of Greenfield Road: On Tuesday or Wednesday, a red 1994 Mitsubishi 3000GT with Maryland license tags BZG-697 was stolen.Ellicott City: 3600 block of Court House Drive: A burglar broke a kitchen window in a house and ransacked a bedroom Tuesday, but police said nothing was taken.Ellicott City: 3600 block of Court House Drive: Someone pried a lock off a storage locker between Saturday and Tuesday and took a bicycle.

CHESTER, Md. (AP) — A deer spent 90 minutes inside an Eastern Shore home before it was herded out the front door. Maryland Natural Resources Police Officer Robert Ford asked everyone to stay away from the open front door, and after a few minutes the deer found its way out of the Chester home Saturday afternoon. The male deer was one of three seen in the area earlier in the day by Audrey Thomas, who later noticed her neighbor's kitchen window was broken. Inside, the deer overturned kitchen chairs and a cabinet before becoming entangled in drapes near glass doors in an adjoining office.

A clue something was strange came during a Tuesday snowfall last month. A man was wandering the streets of Belair-Edison carrying a shovel, looking for walkways to clear. At first, he seemed innocuous, a down-on-his-luck man trying to fill his pockets with a little bit of money, despite the fact that neighborhood houses were being burglarized at the rate of more than one a week. But now, as the neighbors think back, the man was probably trying to learn which houses were empty without arousing suspicion.

police reports in baltimore city and county: Western Baltimore Shooting A man, 30, was in critical condition at Maryland Shock Trauma Center after he was shot shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday while standing inside a West Baltimore convenience store in the 900 block of Bennett Place near North Fremont Avenue. No arrest had been made. Southeastern Baltimore Assault Police were seeking a man armed with two knives who forcibly entered a house in the 100 block of N. Glover St. through a kitchen window about 10:30 a.m. Monday and sexually assaulted a 22-year-old woman.

Although born in Baltimore, Charlotte Govan is a dyed-in-the-wool California girl. When she moved back to her hometown to take a teaching job in Columbia in 1991, she brought the golden sun of California with her. She basks to this day in its warmth in her Catonsville dream home. "I was looking for houses in the Columbia area, but when I walked in the foyer here, I said, `This is it,'" she said of the two-story, brick townhouse in the neighborhood of Drexel Woods, just south of Woodbridge Valley.

It's springtime, and I remember when the view from my kitchen window was a lovely little backyard tableau of green lawn and swing set, happy tomato garden and sunny marigolds in patio pots. It was a scene that gave me a sense of order and peace. Inside, there might be laundry-basket-shaped wads of permanently creased wash dumped on my bed, an office cluttered with charge cords for every electronic device in our home and a freezer stocked with unidentifiable lumps -- but at least our backyard was lovely, pleasant and inviting.

Call us brave or foolish. Craving a break from a lemming-like pilgrimage to the shore this summer, our family of five booked a place in the mountains, sight unseen. Having thumbed through a Realtor's flier in March, we found lakefront rentals cheaper than comparable oceanfront units. So, promptly, we booked an A-frame cottage on Deep Creek Lake and gladly paid the extra security deposit so that our Labrador retrievers could accompany us.Great outdoors, here we come. We posted the paragraph describing the "Islamorada" on our refrigerator door and counted down the weeks.

Police logSevern: Someone cut the convertible top of a 1988 Ford Mustang parked in the 1800 block of Alderney Court between 10 a.m and 11 a.m. Tuesday and stole a black leather coat and a radar detector together valued at $615.Severn: Someone broke a kitchen window and entered a home in the 8200 block of Severn Orchard Circle between midnight Friday and 3: 30 a.m. Saturday, ransacked the kitchen and stole a purse, a wallet and a diary, together valued at $100.Pub Date: 1/17/97

County police are looking for the people responsible for a number of automobile break-ins in Chartridge and an attempted burglary near Macey's Corner over the weekend.Someone stole a portable cellular phone Saturday night from a 1986 Toyota Cressida parked in the 100 block of Idleoak Court.At the same time, two cassette tapes were stolen from a 1992 Dodge van parked in the 400 block of Idleoak Court.The tapes were found later by the owner of a van in the 100 block of Idlewild Road. Nothing was taken from that van, but the glove compartment was ransacked, police said.