Masks

In the art of Africa, the mask is a versatile, multipurpose facade. It may signify identity and the ancestors, politics and medicine or the invisible world of the spirits. And in whatever form a mask appears, color is integral to its meaning. Now color is the subject of the second installment of Meditations on African Art, a three-part series at the Baltimore Museum of Art that explores African art from the point of view of the people who created it. The modestly scaled show presents about 30 traditional African masks from the museum's collection arranged in four groups: red, white, black and the tricolor that incorporates all three hues.

The ingratiating display at the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas last week simulated reverence for a failed president who plunged us into massive debt, polarized Americans and made America the target of Muslim radicals and homegrown terrorists ("Bush family, Hillary Clinton flock to Texas," April 25). George W. Bush is and will ever be one of the darkest blotches on our country. No matter how much he has donated to world causes, he hasn't said he's sorry for the tens of thousands of lives lost, both American and others, around the world.

While "Beauty and the Beast" has turned a lot of youngsters into fantasy figures this Halloween, the election year is bringing out the politicians in the older generation.Rubber masks of George Bush, Bill Clinton and Ross Perot should help provide the final word in political overload. A lot of customers still buy masks of Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, says Harriet Berlin, owner of Artistic Costumes and Dance Fashions in Loch Raven Plaza. "We wanted to offer Dan Quayle, but it was such a popular mask, we never got our order," she says.

Thanks to quick thinking by a Level Volunteer Fire Company firefighters and paramedics, a dog trapped in a burning house earlier this month was successfully resuscitated without a pet oxygen mask. The incident pointed up the need for local fire companies to be equipped with such equipment, and the staff of the Humane Society of Harford County stepped up earlier this week to make a donation of an animal resuscitation mask kit to the fire company. The donation was presented to the fire company Monday afternoon at the firehouse.

Two men dressed in military clothing and masks forced employees of a Linthicum fast food restaurant into a walk-in refrigerator Tuesday and robbed the store of an undisclosed amount of money.April D. Duncan, manager of Wendy's in the 700 block of Nursery Road, told police she was leaving the building with another employee about 1: 30 a.m. when two men, one armed with a 9 mm Glock semiautomatic handgun and both dressed in military clothing and masks, forced them back into the restaurant. Duncan was ordered to open a safe while three other employees were forced into a refrigerator, police said.

Two men wearing ski masks robbed a High's store on Phelps Luck Drive at gunpoint Wednesday night, taking an undisclosed amount of money, police said. The men walked into the store wearing dark clothes and the masks about 8:45 p.m. One pulled a gun and announced a robbery. One of the clerks opened the register, and both men reached over the counter and grabbed cash, police said. The robbers were last seen running toward Route 108. The two clerks were not injured, police said.

Two gunmen got away with cash, a loaded coin tray and likely the most-stolen item of any motel - its towels - during the robbery of a Comfort Inn near Annapolis late Friday. Police said the robbers took the towels first - using them as masks when they jumped over the counter and ordered a clerk to turn over the money. They fled the Old Mill Bottom Road motel, apparently on foot, carrying the cash and coins in a motel trash can, police said. The Comfort Inn's general manager, Jim Crouch, said the robbery was the second in the motel's 11 years of operation.

Appropriately enough, when the family plays a game in Splitting Image Theatre Company's production of "Family Masks," the game is charades. It's an ideal choice for this dysfunctional family of six, whose members are often at a loss for the words to express their feelings and are almost always living a charade.It's also a typical example of the impeccable details in this collaborative movement-theater piece, which premiered at Loyola College in 1989 and is now receiving a fresh and partially revamped airing as the first production in the Theatre Project's new program of residencies for local alternative theater companies.

RICHMOND, Vt. -- Huntington River Gorge may be one of the most beautiful spots in Vermont. It is also one of the deadliest. At least 20 people, most in their 20s or 30s, have died, and hundreds have been injured while swimming in the gorge over the past four decades. Seemingly placid waters mask strong currents that quickly sweep over waterfalls and into whirlpools. Last year, the chief of the state's public safety commission called the gorge the "single most deadly place in the state."

NEW YORK -- The last time judges' robes were a big Halloween seller was in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Sammy Davis Jr. made the phrase "Here Come De Judge" a national inside joke on "Laugh-In.""It was hot then," said Mike Burke, co-owner of Zak's Fun House.Enter Clarence Thomas.When Burke and his partner, Larry Greenberg, watched the extraordinary public airing of sexual harassment charges against Thomas by law professor Anita Faye Hill, one word kept coming to mind: masks."We had played with the idea while the hearings were going on," said Burke.

A trick-or-treating teenager who shot at another group of teens on Halloween 2010, killing one, was sentenced to 115 years in prison Thursday by a Baltimore County judge. Sterlin Corday Matthews, 19, was found guilty in October of second-degree murder and other charges in the killing of Dequan Burks. On the night of Burks' death, Matthews was wearing a "Hellraiser" mask with pins protruding from it when his group of friends encountered a group of teens that had crossed into their neighborhood.

Howard County detectives are offering a reward of up to $2,000 for information that helps identify two masked men they say shot a Columbia Taco Bell manager early Sunday. Gary M. Graham, 42, of Columbia, remains in critical condition at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center after he was shot multiple times. Just after midnight, Graham and another employee had walked outside of the fast-food chain restaurant on the 7100 block of Minstrel Way to confront a suspicious person when police say two masked men appeared near a trash bin. One fired at Graham, who was struck several times in the torso.

A Baltimore County Police report said a man armed with a gun and wearing Barack Obama mask confronted five people in alley last week near Towson and told them to empty their pockets. The incident occurred in the 1100 block of Halstead Road at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 10, according to the police report. When confronted by the man, one of the victims screamed, and the man fled. In addition to this incident, the following items were compiled from police reports from the Towson and Cockeysville precincts.

A 19-year-old man shot multiple times after being approached by a group of assailants police said were dressed in "dark clothing and ski masks" died in the hospital Sunday evening. Police identified the victim Monday as Charles Fuller of the 600 Block of Potomac Street. Officers responded at 6:53 p.m. Sunday to reports of a shooting at E. Baltimore Street and Decker Avenue. Fuller was found by officers lying in front of a residence in the 3000 block of E. Baltimore Street and had been shot in the hip and the back, police said.

Anne Arundel police have charged a teenager as an adult and are looking for four others in connection with a home invasion in Glen Burnie Tuesday. Terance Johnson Jr., 17, of the 100 block of Henson Road in Glen Burnie, faces multiple counts of armed robbery, false imprisonment, reckless endangerment, assault and theft. The victims, who were not injured, told police that five men broke into their home in the 100 block of Southbridge Drive about 2 a.m. The suspects, who were armed and masked, ran from the home after taking money and property.

By day, Neal Moorhouse, 31, is a Federal Hill resident and the manager of the embroidery department at Personalized Classics in Rockville. But at game time, out comes "Carne Cabeza" (translation: "Meat Head"), the alter ego identifiable by his tights, cape, wrestling mask and exposed gut. We chatted via email with Moorhouse about his passion for Baltimore sports. Here are some highlights. How did you become a fan? I didn't really become a "crazy Ravens fan" until I spent three years in Richmond [mostly during college]

Masks were the center of attention at the annual fundraiser for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Sure, there were some great ones on the faces of several guests at the party at the American Visionary Art Museum, but the masks that had everyone talking were those on display, as part of NAMI's "Many Faces of Mental Illness Mask Project." These masks were created by artists, business people, health providers and other members of the community to show their thoughts about mental illness.

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. -- The sister of Nicole Brown Simpson issued a nationwide plea yesterday, asking consumers to return Halloween costume items that depict either O.J. Simpson or his alleged victims, including masks, blond wigs and even prosthetic slit throats.Denise Brown called on stores handling such items to halt their sale immediately, saying that they are in "extremely bad taste" and hold "no redeeming value for our society." She was joined by Human Options, a domestic violence support group.

It's been a decade and a half since the Baltimore Orioles have stirred excitement so far into the season. Now that they're 64-53 and in contention for a playoff berth, fans have plenty to talk about. Now, enter: Neal Moorhouse, aka “Carne Cabeza” which just barely translates into “Meat Head.” Once in June and twice so far this month, the 31-year-old Federal Hill resident has attended games shirtless, in a Mexican wrestling mask and tights, sometimes with the words "free hugs" painted on his generously sized chest.

Howard County police charged a Columbia man Monday with assaulting a student on the campus of Long Reach High School in Columbia on March 21. Donnell Maurice Vannison, 40, of the 8500 block of Tamebird Court, faces second-degree assault and disorderly conduct charges. He was released Monday after a court appearance and is scheduled for trial on June 6. Vannison, wearing a ski mask, entered the school property at about 2:20 p.m., police said. He approached a 16-year-old male student and struck him with a blow that grazed the boy's face.