Mount Washington

Hanorah K. Alseth, a retired stenographer and world traveler, died Monday of complications from colon cancer at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. She was 99. She was born Hanorah Fitzpatrick in Abingdon, the daughter of a U.S. Lighthouse Service lighthouse keeper. The family moved to Baltimore after World War I, and she graduated from Mount St. Agnes High School in Mount Washington in 1926. She attended Mount St. Agnes College, also in Mount Washington, until dropping out during the Depression to work.

Preserving 4 acres of pristine wooded land near their Mount Washington home has become something of a crusade for activists Elinor and Leonard Kerpelman.When they formed the Woodland Committee Land Trust to purchase the property at the end of 1997, they knew it would be a struggle to save the patch.A year and a half after the group bought the land from The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore for $90,000, the Kerpelmans say the trust's finances are in jeopardy.The couple is looking for help from several sources, including the Mount Washington Preservation Trust and Maryland's Open Space program.

Dr. Gerard-Marie McGuffie Woel, a bow-tied surgeon who left his native Haiti for Baltimore and fathered a family full of doctors, died Thursday at Sinai Hospital after a short battle with cancer. He was 66.From 1960 to 1966, Dr. Woel worked at Sinai, where he was chief resident in the emergency room, before entering private practice in Northwest Baltimore. He worked from his Rogers Avenue office for 31 years, until his retirement in February 1997.A general surgeon, Dr. Woel specialized in biliary tract and pancreatic operations, but he was best-known for cheering patients with his bow ties and flowers from his wife's garden.

The St. Paul Cos. Inc. said yesterday that its current round of job cuts will result in the firings of 1,250 employees worldwide, including 200 at the insurer's Mount Washington and Owings Mills offices.The notices went out to employees starting last week, and will be sent throughout this week. The fired workers will generally stay on for 60 days after receiving notice, and receive severance packages and placement assistance.The terminations, which cut across several departments, account for about 9 percent of the Minnesota company's work force.

When hordes of uninvited guests park in their streets, driveways and yards today for the Preakness, the Mount Washington neighborhood will be braced for the invasion. In fact, the local lemonade stands show that in a weird way, residents almost welcome it."Plenty of people in Mount Washington say they hate it, but it's amusing at the end to watch," said Peter Garver, a past president of the Mount Washington Improvement Association. "From the porch, it's quite the scene."There's also a serious reason for putting up with the party.

It was an eight-minute triumph.Seven Baltimore pupils have won a statewide competition, writing a play that uses the form of a scene from Shakespeare's "Macbeth" to tell the story of Harriet Tubman and abolitionism.Using the opening "Macbeth" scene in which witches foreshadow the end of the play, the characters in the pupils' production predict the Civil War and an end to slavery. "Beware Harriet Tubman. She will become the Moses of her people and lead 300 slaves to freedom," says a character who jumps from a black caldron in the play.

The strong ceramics community in the Washington area is the subject of an exciting group show at Baltimore Clayworks in Mount Washington. The juried exhibition, titled "D.C. Clay," features 12 regional sculptors and potters and includes both emerging and established artists.Pieces range from Ramon Camarillo's oversized raku pots to Amy Butcher Parker's life-size figures and Judy Colwell's intricately painted plates. A must-see for ceramics enthusiasts. The exhibition runs through May 29.Baltimore Clayworks is at 5706 Smith Ave. in Mount Washington.

Tim Speicher, the Baltimore native who spent two nights in subzero temperatures on a New Hampshire mountain before he was rescued, said the harrowing ordeal has deepened his love of mountaineering.Reflecting on his experience from a friend's home in Frederick yesterday, Speicher said he'd felt several emotions since coming off the mountain -- relief and pride that he and his rescuers were alive, guilt and gratitude for his rescuers who were injured helping him, frustration over their inexperience, and embarrassment.

The head of St. Paul Cos. told USF&G Corp. employees yesterday that the Minnesota insurance giant will maintain USF&G's Mount Washington campus as an East Coast training facility.St. Paul Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Douglas Leatherdale's statements came after a tour of the 68-acre, wooded tract that has been USF&G's headquarters since late 1996, and he dispelled fears that at least part of the campus would be shuttered amid job losses."He said he was impressed with the campus, with our training and development center and our conference facilities," said G. Jay Erbe Jr., USF&G's vice president of administrative services.

Attending the annual meeting of the Mount Washington Improvement Association has become a tradition for Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, who was greeted by more than 100 people at this year's gathering at the Wesley Home for senior citizens on West Rogers Avenue last night.As the first order of business, Schmoke announced that a concrete retaining wall on Sulgrave Avenue near Mount Washington Elementary School is scheduled to be repaired this summer.Another public works project in the area, the reconstruction of Pimlico Road, will begin on July 20, the mayor told the group.

Sean Smeeton was ready to throw in the towel. For nearly 16 years, he had run the nonprofit Sylvan Beach Foundation, trying to get troubled young men on the right track, most recently through teaching them business skills by running ice cream shops. But after a gang beating at one of the shops and with funding for nonprofits drying up, Smeeton started to become discouraged and wondered if he was really making a difference. Then came a call earlier this year from Carroll Skipwith, a kid Smeeton had mentored when Skipwith was 12 years old but who ended up in jail for dealing drugs.

Thomas Carbery Jones, a retired civil engineer and history buff, died of stroke complications Dec. 20 at the Gilchrist Hospice Center. The Roland Park Place resident was 88. Born in Baltimore and raised on The Terraces in Mount Washington, he attended the Cathedral School and was a 1937 Calvert Hall College High School graduate. Mr. Jones earned an engineering degree at the Johns Hopkins University. During World War II, he served in the Army Air Forces and was a bombardier on numerous missions over Italy.

Sonia Gordon, a Baltimore artist, educator and anti-war activist, died Saturday of respiratory failure at Roland Park Place. The former Mount Washington resident was 87. Sonia Wachovsky was born in Baltimore and raised in East Baltimore by her mother, Rose Jaffe Cohen, and stepfather, Philip Cohen. The family later moved to Northwest Baltimore, where she graduated from Western High School in 1937. She earned a bachelor's degree in English from Goucher College in 1941. That year, she married David P. Gordon and settled into life as a homemaker raising her family.

The 6-foot-high steel sculpture that disappeared from Baltimore Clayworks in Mount Washington last weekend was found yesterday morning, according to Ann Hazels, the events coordinator for the studio. The sculpture was undamaged and resting about a block from the art studio, at the Johns Hopkins University's Mount Washington campus, 5801 Smith Ave., Hazels said. "Someone moved it as a prank," said Hazels, adding that she was guessing. In an e-mail announcing that the piece was found and not damaged, she wrote, "Oh Happy day!"

Here's a question related to the never-ending saga of Democrats trying to nominate a candidate for president. It's a question about the never-ending saga of slots: When Marylanders go to the polls in November to say yes or no to slot machines, will they be as savvy as voters in Indiana and North Carolina, who apparently turned aside the gas tax moratorium proposed by Sen. Hillary Clinton? Both slots and gasoline prices, of course, are pocketbook issues that have inspired their share of political pandering.

When the single-car light rail train pulled into Mount Washington station about 3:30 p.m., it was so crowded that David Utley couldn't board it with his bicycle to get to his job at Penn Station. He decided to wait for the next train - which didn't come for another 50 minutes. And it was so overstuffed that Utley just gave up. "Time for Plan B," he said as he wheeled his bike away from the station. The Mount Washington man is one of thousands of light rail riders who have had their lives disrupted as the Maryland Transit Administration grapples with maintenance issues that have sidelined more than three-quarters of its rail cars at peak travel times.

GORE DEAN 1340-D Smith Ave., Mount Washington / / Open 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday / / 410-323-7470 or www.goredean.com ........................ IT SOUNDS LIKE A DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENtial ticket, but Gore Dean is actually a Georgetown antiques and new home furnishings store that has just opened a branch in Mount Washington in the spot where Smith & Hawken was. The location creates a striking showroom for the high-end furniture and decorative accessories, many of which are one of a kind.

The milkman is back in Baltimore. Some Mount Washington residents are getting dairy products delivered to their front door from a small Frederick County farm. Customers say the convenience and quality as well as the comfort of knowing where the products come from makes it worth the added cost. South Mountain Creamery began the service in Baltimore late last month, and is the only dairy believed to be delivering milk to customers' doors in Maryland, according to agriculture officials and industry experts.

HANDBAGS AND THE CITY 5614 Newbury St., Mount Washington / / Hours: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday / / 410-601-0096; handbagsandthecity.com ........................ GEORGE SAKELLARIS SPENT 18 years working for Washington-area department stores and another few years as a personal shopper. But if you ask his opinion, it isn't the clothes that make the man (or woman), it's the accessories. "I've always loved accessories. That's the most exciting part of any wardrobe," he said.

On a list of city landmarks -- the Washington Monument, Fort McHenry -- add a funky little boutique on Sulgrave Avenue in Mount Washington. That's an extravagant statement, but a lot of people who grew up in Baltimore would agree with it. Three generations of women have shopped there, made lifetime friends in its community dressing room and been nurtured by its owner. This month, Something Else celebrates its 40th anniversary, a remarkable achievement for a small clothing, accessories and tchotchkes shop that's nothing less or more than a reflection of owner Elsie Fergusson and her prophetic sense of color, style and ornamentation.