Neighbors

Pat Jeddock just adores purple. Purple ice trays and purple window shades. A purple picket fence and heart-shaped purple petunias. And, oh yes, a Charles Village house that's as purple (well, it's really more of a dark lavender) as possible."Purple's been my favorite color ever since I can remember," says Ms. Jeddock, 29, while beating the summer heat in her purple flip-flops. "Eventually, inside and out, the house is going to be purple."But neighbors talk, and the talk around the Jeddock house at 32nd Street and Abell Avenue has not been at all complimentary.

To some residents in the Chatterleigh neighborhood of Baltimore County, the Baltimore Lutheran School's new facility is a tent, an unsightly and unwelcome edifice that sprang up with little warning behind older buildings on the campus. To school officials, the structure provides much-needed space for athletic events and practices. They call it a field house. For the two sides, that was just the beginning of the dispute. Since the school constructed the building in May, neighbors have complained that it was built without proper government approval.

In the shadow of the largest development ever planned along Marley Creek, neighbors are fighting a pitched backyard battle over a property that's only half a percent its size.A half-dozen residents of Marley Park Beach petitioned the county's zoning administrator yesterday to deny plans for 15 clustered town homes on eight acres off Forest Road.Arguing that construction would destroy a fragile coastal area, the neighbors protested what they termed an attempt to "shoe-horn in" as many houses as possible on a small slice of land.

Two Westminster men charged with breaking into the homes of neighbors in unrelated incidents last month were held yesterday at the Carroll County Detention Center in lieu of $100,000 bail on burglary and related charges.State police said a man broke into the home of his next-door neighbor on Sunshine Way on Sept. 14 and stole items valued at $3,190. Officers said the suspect forced open a rear window to get into the house.Police said the man stole a necklace, ring, watch and a small safe and pawned the jewelry at a pawn shop in Baltimore.

Residents in the 400 blocks of Pitman Place and E. Lanvale St. yesterday lamented the death of their neighbor David Mainer -- "Mr. Dave" to many of them -- who was shot to death Friday in cross-fire on the street.Mr. Mainer was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he died a short time later, police said."Mr. Dave was the kind of guy who should have been sitting on a pier by the water with kids at his feet, acting like their granddad," said Debra Powell, 42, "not shot just before Father's Day."

Neighbors of a closed hazardous-waste landfill where environmental protections have failed told state officials last night that they want the Solley Road facility resealed but that they also doubt the effectiveness of the steps the landfill's owner has proposed to stop the spread of cancer-causing contaminants."

Bags full of 200 Baby Grover and Baby Big Bird stuffed dolls await a home, hoping to be the night-time companion of a child who might otherwise not get such a nice Christmas present.Volunteers are sounding the annual call to help with Neighbors in Need, the holiday charity that brings together several agencies in Carroll County.The dolls were among the first gifts to roll in. Human Services Programs of Carroll County Inc., which coordinates the charities, churches and businesses participating in the drive, purchased 200 dolls for only $50 through a market for nonprofit agencies.

Neighbors of Springfield Hospital Center want to open the lines of communication with the state-run facility near Sykesville.With the formation of a citizens committee that would meet monthly with the hospital staff, residents hope to improve the relationship between Springfield and surrounding communities in Sykesville and Eldersburg.What the neighbors want most -- information about patients who walk away -- is exactly what Springfield can't give them."It is against the law to satisfy the community's need to know," said Jeanne Sandruck-Fahey.

My editor's name for this column and those of my fellow correspondents is "Neighbors."A call last week made me think seriously about what "neighbor" means, and I even checked in a couple of dictionaries. The definition that best fit my feeling was No. 3 in the American Heritage Dictionary: "A human being like oneself; a fellow man."Which leads to thoughts of Annapolitans Pat and Roger Stenson, who are in their prime and active in their community, with three children and their share of challenges and dreams.

SEOUL, South Korea -- The best way to understand the North Korea problem is to imagine a small neighborhood in which one of the neighbors, an unemployed loser, has placed dynamite around his house and told all the others that unless they bring him Chinese takeout food every day -- and pay his heating bills -- he will blow up his house and the neighborhood with it. The local police officer, affectionately called Uncle Sam -- whose own house is safely across...