Oliver

Salisbury -- The first two wooden ducks in the catalog for the National Antique Decoy Auction came to the attention of the museum when a Delaware resident brought them for appraisal in a plastic bag.Auctioneer Richard Oliver, who will conduct the two-day auction, for which the festivities begin Friday, is still astonished. There they were, a rare pair of Ira Hudson teals, in the original paint, in a plastic bag.Their owner had found them in his attic and wanted to know what they'd bring at auction.

LaFontaine Oliver, general manager at Morgan State's WEAA-FM since 2007, is leaving to run public radio station WMFE-FM in Orlando, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Here's part of Sentinel TV Critic Hal Boedecker's report on the hiring of Oliver: “He has energy and enthusiasm, and we thought he would lead us to great things,” said Derek Blakeslee, chairman of WMFE's board of directors. Oliver replaces Jose Fajardo, who left WMFE in October. Oliver's challenges will include leading a reduced staff through a tumultuous media landscape.

Rosie Stewart Keene, an East Baltimore political activist who helped plan the construction of Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, died Thursday of cancer at her Preston Street home. She was 78. The former secretary of the Eastside Democratic Organization also was an insurance examiner with the Social Security Administration, where she worked for 43 years. In the 1960s, she became an advocate for the East Baltimore neighborhood called Oliver - a community south of North Avenue and east of Broadway.

A few weeks ago, I spent a few quiet minutes in Green Mount Cemetery, where its higher ground offers unexpected views of Baltimore. As I looked to the southeast, something curious caught my eye. What was going on in the nearby Oliver neighborhood? What was that thing attached to the mighty bell tower of St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church? This parish — the oldest African-American Roman Catholic congregation in the United States officially founded for people of color — has just begun to celebrate its 150th anniversary.

On September 17, 2003, CATHERINE INEZ OLIVER, retired Dept. of Motor Vehicle employee, beloved wife of the late Cecil A. Oliver, Sr.; devoted mother of Cecil A., Jr., of Denver, CO, Robert T., of Hagerstown, MD, and James C. Oliver, of Arbutus, MD, and the late Mary Margaret Grimmel. She is also survived by twelve grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren. The family will receive friends at the Sterling-Ashton-Schwab Funeral Home Inc., 736 Edmondson Avenue, Catonsville (one-half mile west of beltway exit 14)

Names: Oliver and Maggie Breed: Oliver is a Golden Retriever and Maggie, a Parti Poodle Owner: The Naylor Family Ages: Oliver is 7, Maggie is 2 Weight difference: Oliver is 90 pounds while Maggie tips the scales at a mere 9 pounds. Best Trick: Maggie sleeps on top of Oliver, they think they're brother and sister. Favorite Activity: Walking to the bank and fire department in Roland Park (for dog treats of course). Favorite Food: Banana Pancakes Funniest moment: Maggie running though the aisles of Harris Teeter in Fenwick Island while Oliver sat outside waiting for her. Send them an email: They have their own page on DogBook.

Oliver Porter Boyer Jr., a longtime Harford County banker and avid Chesapeake Bay sailor, died Feb. 15 of pulmonary fibrosis at his Bel Air home. He was 81. Mr. Boyer, the son of farmers, was born on Chilberry Farm in Perryman, overlooking the Bush River. "He loved the river and was a member of the Bush River Yacht Club for many years," said his wife of 52 years, the former Jeanette Mathis Quinn. After graduating from Aberdeen High School in 1946, he earned a bachelor's degree four years later in business from the University of Maryland, College Park.

A man received several non-life-threatening injuries in a shooting in the Oliver neighborhood Saturday afternoon, police said. Donald Morton, 21, was shot from behind in the left hand, right torso and right arm in the 1500 block of Broadway, police said. The shooting occurred about 2:43 p.m., police said. The suspect fled in an unknown direction. Detectives are investigating the case. sdance@baltsun.com twitter.com/ssdance

On July 28, 2007, JANICE MARIE OLIVER, beloved mother of Gwendolyn Moore and Reginald Oliver (Wonda); devoted grandmother of Monica Moore, Maurice Moore and Laniece Oliver; loving sister of Cassandra Hamlin and Theresa Dews. She is also survived by a host of other loving relatives and friends. On Thursday, friends may call at Vaughn C. Greene Funeral Services, 4905 York Road where the family will receive friends from 3-8 P.M. On Friday, services will be held at Vaughn C. Greene Funeral Chapel, 4905 York Road, where the family will receive friends from 11 A.M-12 P.M., with services to follow.

On July 13, 2005 OLIVER. Friends may call at the family owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME WEST, INC., 4300 Wabash Avenue, on Monday after 8:30 A.M., where family will receive friends on Tuesday at 6 P.M. followed by funeral service at 6:30 P.M. See www.marchfh.com

City detectives are investigating two overnight shootings that left one man dead in Oliver and another man wounded in Upton, the Baltimore Police Department said. About 11:46 p.m. Thursday, officers were dispatched to the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Pitcher Street in Upton for a report of a shooting and found a man wounded at the scene. The location, west of Maryland General Hospital, is in the police department's Central District but is not far from some of West Baltimore's most violent neighborhoods this year.

The family owners of The Inn at the Black Olive in Fells Point hope a bankruptcy filing Thursday will give them time to try to attract investors and keep operating the 2-year-old boutique hotel, their bankruptcy attorney said. The Black Olive Development Co. LLC's Chapter 7 filing in Baltimore's U.S. Bankruptcy Court prevented a planned foreclosure auction of the 12-suite luxury inn on South Caroline Street from going forward Thursday morning. Chapter 7 permits an orderly liquidation of assets to repay creditors, but the case could be converted to a Chapter 11 reorganization if the company finds investors.

In response to your editorial about programs in Baltimore's Oliver neighborhood, I would like to highlight the efforts of Baltimore HELPS (Healthy Eating Leading Partnerships for Seniors), an initiative being led by Medicare's Quality Improvement Organization in Maryland ("Fixing Oliver," March 13). As noted in the editorial, there is wide variation in life expectancy in the city. In fact, life expectancy in the Oliver neighborhood is approximately 20 years less than other areas in the city.

I read the article about the Oliver neighborhood with great hope and jubilation ("Blitz of help set in Oliver," March 13). I applaud Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and her team for their efforts in trying to resuscitate this community by using a holistic approach. I particularly like the integration of law enforcement and drug treatment but with some words of caution. National statistics tell us there is very high prevalence of co-occurring substance use and mental disorders specifically among minorities.

The quiet at East Federal and North Bethel streets in the city's Oliver neighborhood on Tuesday morning was punctuated only by the steady rumble of a city work crew, preparing a nearby alleyway for repaving. Missing, said a local community organizer, Earl Johnson, were the shouts and murmurs of the young men who normally crowd the surrounding sidewalks and corners of the East Baltimore block, an area notorious as an open drug market. "There are usually 40 to 50 people milling around.

The Inn at the Black Olive, a 12-suite boutique hotel in Fells Point known for eco-friendly amenities, will be offered for sale at a foreclosure auction Thursday. An auction by Alex Cooper Auctioneers Inc. is slated for 9 a.m. at the South Caroline Street site of the two-year-old inn, which touts features such as organic bedding and towels, harbor-view balconies and spa bathrooms with aqua-therapy tubs. The inn is owned by the Spiliadis family, which operates the Black Olive Restaurant on Bond Street, also in Fells Point.

On January 20, 2004, TYEVILORA V. OLIVER beloved wife of Freeman Oliver, devoted mother of Freeman Oliver III and Sheketta C. Kohlman, loving sister of Carthion Jenkins-Carter, Earline Jenkins and Hildler Jenkins, adored grandmother of Marc P. Kohlman and Asia George. She is also survived by many nieces, nephews and other relatives and friends. On Tuesday friends may call at THE NEW VAUGHN C. GREENE FUNERAL SERVICES (RANDALLSTOWN) 8728 Liberty Rd., from 3:00 to 8:00 P.M. On Wednesday, Mrs. Olvier will lie in state at the Emmanuel Church, 8729 Church Lane, where the family will receive friends from 11 to 11:30 with services to follow.

There's no magic bullet that will suddenly solve all the problems in a community like Baltimore's Oliver neighborhood, not even the small army of city officials who descended on the East Baltimore community this week. But the effort is still worth it if it gives city police and social service workers a better understanding of the issues that put residents at risk and allows them to come up with better strategies to help other struggling neighborhoods. Oliver is not necessarily the city's most troubled community, but its problems are serious and deep-seated: poverty, unemployment, an inventory of more than 200 boarded-up, vacant houses and a flourishing street-corner drug trade that fuels periodic outbursts of deadly gun violence.

Under heavy rain on a beat-up street in East Baltimore Tuesday, the heads of city government kicked off an intensive, weeklong program designed to address violence, drug trafficking and other stubborn problems that have plagued the Oliver neighborhood. The program will feature increased police patrols and a door-to-door campaign to connect drug addicts with substance abuse treatment and struggling homeowners with much-needed services to keep them in their homes. The gathering just north of Johns Hopkins Hospital launched a blitz of resources in Oliver — which the city has targeted as much for its potential as its problems.