Neighborhood

City police are investigating a shooting early Wednesday in the Dolfield neighborhood that has left a 36-year-old man hospitalized. Officers found the victim at 5:04 a.m. at the intersection of Cold Spring Lane and Garrison Avenue. He man was suffering from gunshot wounds to the torso and is being treated at an area hospital. Mary.gail.hare@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Lucille Gorham, a longtime East Baltimore neighborhood activist whose "quick wits and good-natured tenacity" equipped her as the voice of poor residents who lived near Johns Hopkins Hospital, died of cancer Saturday at her Belair-Edison home. She was 81. "What a wonderful human being she was," said former city Housing Commissioner M. Jay Brodie. "She was one of the best community leaders I ever encountered. She had a quality of leadership, a willingness to listen and a comprehension of detailed plans without the necessity of a fancy college degree.

In this corner of East Baltimore, where vacant houses outnumber occupied residences, patients at a methadone clinic buzzed about the activity down the street where police investigated a killing. Women approached the crime scene tape blocking off the intersection of North Port and East Lafayette streets, anxious to find out if the victim was a relative. The victim's legs and feet poked from underneath a sheet as detectives surveyed the scene. Later, with onlookers still watching from a distance, emergency personnel picked the lifeless body up by the arms and legs and put it on a gurney.

If you lived in Baltimore in the 1970s, it seemed that William Donald Schaefer paved every alley. An exaggeration? Yes. But then, as now, old Baltimore needed a lot of fixing and Schaefer was in his neighborhood mode. He did it well and had the support of some pretty amazing people. He listened to his aides and he also obsessed over letters his constituents mailed him. I recall one night after a City Council meeting when his housing and development chief, Bob Embry, was having dinner at the old Horn and Horn restaurant on Baltimore Street.

Christy Hanson started her Preakness preparations with a Google search of the area around Pimlico Race Course. She and her three friends wanted to get a feel for where the racing landmark was before they made their way to Baltimore to join the masses in frilly dresses and colorful hats. "What came up was that it is in kind of a rough area," said Hanson, 28, of Colorado. "I e-mailed it to my friends to warn them." But the search results illustrating a high-crime area didn't stop Hanson and her friends from trolling along the streets of the Park Heights neighborhood to score Preakness tickets Saturday afternoon.

It seemed every seat was filled during the Baltimore Orioles' exciting playoff run last season except the one that belonged to Matt Hersl. Friends say the rangy, baldheaded Orioles regular never sat during games but ran around Camden Yards, laughing with season ticket holders, keeping an eye on the batter to make sure he had the best vantage point to snag an errant fly ball or a home run souvenir. Hersl was a vigilant "ballhawk," and brought the same sharp eye and enthusiasm to his Little Italy community, where he served as the neighborhood watch leader.

City police are investigating a homicide in the Evergreen Lawn neighborhood Wednesday night. Officers found a 45-year-old man on the front steps of a home in the 2500 block of Harlem Ave. at about 10:45 p.m. He was taken to University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he died at 11:17 p.m. Police have also identified the victim of a shooting Tuesday in the Forest Park area. Floyd Albert Dorsey Jr. of the 4100 block of Norfolk Ave. died of several gunshot wounds at Sinai Hospital shortly before 11 p.m. Mary.gail.hare@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

A man was fatally shot Thursday in the Franklintown section of Baltimore City, according to police. Baltimore Police Det. Vernon Davis said police officers responded at 2:16 p.m. to a call about a man shot in the 2000 block of Forest Park Avenue. The victim was transported to Sinai Hospital , where he died. Davis said he could not provide information about the man's name, age or address. He said officers have made no arrests and are investigating the shooting. A previous version of this article provided the incorrect neighborhood name.

Baltimore police reported that they found a 30-year-old man shot in the left leg early Tuesday in the 1500 block of E. Northern Parkway, in the Loch Raven community. The man was taken at about 1:15 a.m. to an area hospital for treatment. Police said they have no suspects and have yet to determine a motive.

This former resident of Ruxton is not amused at the ugly show of prejudicial stigma against the mentally ill by it current residents. When the light rail was proposed to have a station in Ruxton, the same sort of bigotry was trotted out against the "blacks in the city. " There are plenty of unsound minds and substance abuse in Ruxton; I know I lived there for years. The hue and cry now emanating from Ruxton that a few more folks with unsound minds and a bit of substance abuse issues might be joining the neighborhood is a logical absurdity.