Older Boy

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes in Baltimore and Baltimore County.Central DistrictBank robbery/arrest: A man who implied he was armed robbed Provident Bank of Maryland in the 100 block of E. Lexington St. about noon Monday, police said. Police arrested a man a few blocks away after a bank security officer pointed him out to a Housing Authority Police officer. Bruce Ward, 46, of no fixed address was charged with bank robbery and was being held by the FBI in Woodlawn, pending a hearing in U.S. District Court.

Two city youths charged with fatally shooting a 13-year-old girl in the chest and then hiding her body under a pile of trash in an East Baltimore alley admitted to their respective roles in the killing Tuesday afternoon in juvenile court. A 13-year-old boy tendered an admission — the juvenile court equivalent of a guilty plea — to a charge of involuntary manslaughter for accidentally shooting Monae Turnage in March. A 12-year-old friend admitted to being an accessory to the crime for helping move her body.

County police arrested a Baltimore man Tuesday for allegedly shoplifting a $19 pair of tennis shoes from a Payless Shoe store in the Cromwell Field Shopping Center, officials said.Dawn Moyers, 33, manager of the store in the 7300 block of Baltimore-Annapolis Blvd., told police that a man came in shortly after 10 a.m., put the shoes in a shopping bag and left without paying for them. Ms. Moyers called the police.Cpl. Robert Anderson stopped a man who fitted the suspect's description at the Cromwell light rail stop.

THIS is the debut of City Diary, a feature that provides a forum for examining issues of concern to Baltimore's neighborhoods. Tuesday, Sept. 14, 1999 The boys are playing ball in the street again. I can hear them from inside my home -- the bang of the garage doors when someone misses, and the car horns blaring at them to get out of the way of rush-hour traffic. Occasionally, a wild pitch strikes a parked car and makes a different sound than the whack of the garage doors. One boy launches his ball high into the air. He laughs as the ball plummets and bounces off the windshield of a moving taxi.

Oh the thumb-sucker's thumbMay look wrinkled and wetAnd withered, and white as the snow,But the taste of a thumbIs the sweetest taste yet(As only we thumb-suckers know).A1 Shel Silverstein, ''Where the Sidewalk Ends'' HERBIE, our 6-year-old, has quit sucking his thumb and I'm probably not as happy as I should be.It's one of those things that stretches way back to a few months after his birth, when we realized that the random stuffing of fingers and hands into his mouth during teething was not so random.

WICHITA, Kan. -- It will be a surprise if Maryland doesn't win today's NCAA matinee first-rounder out here in the prairie lands of Oz, even though Saint Louis has a better record, older players and a higher seed.It will be a surprise because, even though the teams handicap pretty evenly, the Billikens lack even a semblance of an antidote for Sensational Freshman Joe Smith.The Terps' 18-year-old franchise will be not only the best player ,, on the floor, but also the tallest player on the floor, and by a couple of inches, not just a noogie.

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Facing a critical test in his quest for year-end honors, Lemon Drop Kid meets older horses for the first time today in the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park.Owned by part-time Maryland residents Jinny Vance and Laddie Dance, Lemon Drop Kid has won New York's premier spring and summer races, the Belmont and Travers Stakes. Now he tries to capture the fall feature -- and sweep the state's three $1 million races. But he'll have to defeat Behrens, the country's No. 1-ranked horse, to do it.By beating horses his same age in the Belmont and Travers, Lemon Drop Kid became the front-runner for the Eclipse Award as the country's top 3-year-old male.

Long Reach coach Al Moraz expects a defensive "war" when his first-year Lightning tangles with the Crisfield Crabbers in the Class 1A state semifinals at College Park at 3 p.m. today.Crisfield (23-3) allowed just 50 points a game this season.Long Reach (10-13), a much younger team that has hit its stride, allowed just 48 points during its three playoff victories."Our strength is our good, tough, man-to-man defense," Moraz said. "And our press creates our offense. What we do well is full-court press."

LONDON -- "Hey, Buckingham Palace!" Michael "Mike D." Diamond says in a high, pinched New York accent as the Beastie Boys' minibus swings past the royal homestead. "Hence all the flags. And this is the Mall." Actually, Brits say "mal," not "maul," but yes. And America's premier white rappers are playing a late afternoon showcase gig for a select few hundred fans and media right beside this historic ceremonial way. The venue is the tony, though not quite snobbish, Institute for Contemporary Arts, mere yards from Queen Elizabeth's residence.

BUCHAREST, Romania -- Dan lives in a tunnel beneath a manhole cover on the edge of Bucharest's Gara de Nord railway station. It's a hellish, stifling and dirty space where warm pipes hiss and rats scuttle by. The stench is overwhelming.He shares the space with three other ragged boys, all in their mid-teens. They have spread torn cardboard boxes on the floor. They are grateful to have this warm place for the coming winter. In other tunnels, children have even managed to rig up electricity for makeshift lights.