Paca

An affectionate lowland paca named Poco investigates the nursery and a photographer at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Poco is the first time paca to be hand raised at the San Diego Zoo. His keepers hope he will one day become an animal ambassador, available for educational programs. The rodent was born on Sept. 7.  

Lauren Hunter, a fifth grade reading specialist at William Paca/Old Post Elementary School in Abingdon, is the latest Harford County educator to receive a prestigious National Milken Award. Hunter did not know she had won the $25,000 cash award from the Milken Family Foundation until she attended a surprise assembly at the school early Wednesday morning. Before students, fellow faculty members, staff and elected officials, she accepted the award from Dr. Lillian M. Lowery, Maryland State Superintendent of Schools.

After having its state charitable registration "preliminarily revoked," Annapolis-based People Against Child Abuse Inc. is again in good standing with the state.The organization's registration was reinstated Oct. 14.But PACA Executive Director Gloria Goldfaden said yesterday she is still upset by the state's decision to include her organization on a list of charities that had not filed financial information, as required by state law."It was an extremely inappropriate way to get this resolved," she said yesterday.

An affectionate lowland paca named Poco investigates the nursery and a photographer at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Poco is the first time paca to be hand raised at the San Diego Zoo. His keepers hope he will one day become an animal ambassador, available for educational programs. The rodent was born on Sept. 7.  

Rolling west on Saratoga Street, the wheelchair jolted to a stop. The man in the chair rocked and struggled to use his only leg to pull himself out of the pothole. "They need to do something about this," said the man, who identified himself as Eric, after he made his way across the intersection of Paca and Saratoga streets near Lexington Market. He was among many who had trouble yesterday negotiating the corner, where road work has had pedestrians dodging cars and drivers swerving around potholes and uneven manhole covers.

Plans for a 91-unit retirement community near Bel Air have been revised into a 172-unit subdivision with townhouses and condominiums, sparking outcry from nearby residents concerned about the effect on roads and schools. The property is owned by the estate of Henry H. Boyer and is under contract for sale to the Towson-based Nottingham Properties Inc. The sale is contingent on county approval of the project, said Doug Cann, the company's vice president. Although the new proposal includes more homes, it is consistent with the county's master plan and in compliance with the county's requirements, county officials say. The impending opening of two schools and the expected effects of redistricting led the company to plan a higher-density community, he said.

Two Baltimore men were shot fatally in the back early yesterday while they were sitting in the back seat of a car on Paca Street in what a homicide detective described as a "random act of violence."The victims were Antonio Carberry, 20, of the 3900 block of Maine Ave. in Northwest Baltimore and Jerod Wade, 18, of the 4700 block of Duncrest Ave. in Northeast Baltimore.Both were shot by an unknown assailant who stood behind their car and opened fire at 2: 27 a.m. in the 200 block of Paca St., an area known for late-night cruising by young people.

The Trinacria Macaroni Works is a 95-year-old, family-owned grocery store where a customer can wait with 50 people in line and seldom leave without both arms filled with cartons of Old World provender.The Paca Street store has one main aisle and enough plastic take-a-numbers to accommodate customers 1 through 50.The other day, all 50 cards were in service at the same time.Things were busy outside, too.A customer idly asked Vince Fava, the 31-year-old owner of the downtown Baltimore store, how much pasta was being loaded off the big truck outside.

On August 30, 2004, DONN T. LONGO, beloved father of Steven M. Longo and his wife Kelli; cherished grandfather of Olivia, Meghan and Lauren Longo; devoted son of the late Salvatore and Marie Longo; dear brother of Rose Marie Strouse, Anthony, Robert, Kevin and Timothy Longo. Also survived by many nieces and nephews. Friends may call at the family owned David J. Weber Funeral Homes, P.A., 5311 Edmondson Avenue, on Thursday from 6 to 9 P.M. Services from the funeral home on Friday at 10 A.M. Due notice of interment will be given.

Several city streets will be closed during a charity 5K run and walk tomorrow with a route that will loop from M&T Bank Stadium north to Franklin Street and back. The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation is sponsoring the 12th annual Race for the Cure with children and family walks beginning at 8 a.m., and the 5K walk and run starting at 8:45 a.m. Street closings from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. will be: Russell Street northbound from Hamburg Street to Pratt Street; Paca Street from Pratt to Franklin Street; and Hamburg from Paca to Russell.

More than 600 students left William Paca Elementary on the city's east side Thursday and marched to Patterson Park for a field day. While they played, about 300 volunteers descended on their school to paint, carpet, tile and landscape. Those not assigned a renovation task organized kids' activities in the park. The student lounge underwent a makeover that turned its dark walls pale blue. Volunteers cleaned the library shelves and recataloged the books. They refurbished the stage in the assembly room, replaced ceiling tiles, repaired the scoreboard in the gym and planted flowers in the outdoor gardens.

Even in a city where senseless killings are not uncommon, the outburst of gunfire that left two people dead and four others wounded outside a downtown nightclub Sunday was shocking. Police are still piecing together what happened, but it appears that officers responding to a disturbance around closing time at the Select Lounge on North Paca Street fatally shot a fellow officer and an unarmed civilian in the course of dispersing an unruly crowd that had spilled onto to the street in front of the club.

There was a time in his life — it turns out, most of his life — when Marco Alva felt like a man without a country. He had become separated by time and distance from Mexico and the culture of his native country, and, while he had married an American and started a family here, he was not yet a citizen of the United States. Sunday morning in Annapolis, the feeling of being adrift went away. On the Fourth of July, Marco Alva became an American. He and 36 other men and women took the oath of citizenship at the annual naturalization ceremony at the William Paca House, home of one of Maryland's signers of the Declaration of Independence.

The 200-year-old Neo-Gothic chapel is so carefully tucked behind a shaded block of Paca Street that many Baltimore natives don't know it exists. But yesterday, Catholic leaders and longtime admirers of St. Mary's Chapel pledged to increase its visibility while celebrating the vital role the church and its surrounding historic site have played in American Catholicism. "We live in such a fast-moving society," said Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien. "It would be easy to overlook our site and the importance to our faith.

THE COUNT Homicides since Jan. 1: 277 THE VICTIM: A man was shot several times in the head and died yesterday in the 2600 block of S. Paca St. in South Baltimore. The shooting occurred about 3 a.m. LAST YEAR: Baltimore had recorded 266 homicides as of Dec. 19, 2006. ONLINE: Details and locations of this year's city homicides are at baltimoresun.com/homicidemap

Mary Minter, a longtime Baltimore principal who oversaw an academic turnaround at William Paca Elementary, was named chief academic officer of the city school system last night. The announcement came as the school board approved the creation of three new charter schools and made two other high-level administrative appointments: Linda Eberhart, an award-winning math teacher at Mount Royal Elementary/Middle who campaigned for Gov. Martin O'Malley, will become director of mathematics. And Roger Shaw, principal of Paul Laurence Dunbar High, is the new executive director of secondary schools.

Mary F. WoltmonFormer nurseMary Frances Woltmon, a former nurse who had multiple sclerosis for about 26 years, died of respiratory failure Tuesday at Church Hospital. She was 53.Ms. Woltmon was a registered nurse at the old Baltimore City Hospitals -- now the Francis Scott Key Medical Center -- when she was diagnosed with the degenerative neurological disease.After graduating in 1961 from the then-Church Home and Hospital nursing school, she worked as a registered nurse for nine years.Her first job was at Church, before a brief move to California.

THE COUNT Homicides since Jan. 1: 277 THE VICTIM: A man was shot several times in the head and died yesterday in the 2600 block of S. Paca St. in South Baltimore. The shooting occurred about 3 a.m. LAST YEAR: Baltimore had recorded 266 homicides as of Dec. 19, 2006. ONLINE: Details and locations of this year's city homicides are at baltimoresun.com/homicidemap

Scotti Preston was a woman on a mission. Her job - to prepare a feast fit for royalty. She prepared bass, candied ginger, mincemeat pies, a boar's head, oysters, pheasant, fresh churned butter and bread. "This is the type of meal that the wealthy people who lived during the 18th and 19th centuries would have eaten," Preston said as she chipped chunks off of what looked like a mound of sugar. Although the food she prepared was artificial, Preston plans to use the dishes as props to portray a character named Cook.

Assistant Principal David Lewis has worked at William Paca Elementary School for seven years. Not one of those years has passed without a student being hit by a car. Lewis joined police officers, city officials and 250 elementary school students yesterday to help promote pedestrian safety as part of Baltimore's 10th annual Walk to School Day. The event marked International Walk to School Month, a global program from the National Center for Safe Routes...