Pigtown

THE COUNT Homicides since Jan. 1: 186 THE VICTIMS A man was fatally shot late last night in Rosemont. Another man died early yesterday after being shot in South Baltimore's Pigtown. . Also, a man who was shot late Monday night near the home of Mayor Sheila Dixon died Tuesday evening. ONLINE: Details and locations of this year's city homicides at baltimoresun.com/homicidemap

Minutes before the start of their trial yesterday, five defendants pleaded guilty in the fatal shooting of a Pigtown barmaid, promising an end to a case that sparked an unusual 13-month ordeal for her family and exposed racial divisions in the Southwest Baltimore neighborhood.The five, ranging in age from 15 to 26 at the time of the shooting, were friends and runaways who had plotted the robbery of Rainbow's Pigtown Bar just before midnight Feb. 11, 1998. Barmaid Theresa E. Ambrose, a 35-year-old mother of two known for giving Christmas presents to the Washington Boulevard homeless, was the only staffer on duty in her father's tavern.

Police have arrested and charged a suspect in the beating death of a 42-year-old man Friday night in Pigtown.The body of Larry Steven Lloyd Sr., of the 1200 block of W. Cross St., was found in the 1100 block of Cleveland St. about 5: 30 p.m., shortly after a fight involving four people, including Lloyd's son, police said.David Randolph Keats, 38, of the 1300 block of Sargeant St. was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, police said. Larry Lloyd Jr., 23, of the 1200 block of W. Cross St. was charged with first-degree assault.

Until Pigtown's community artist arrived last fall, William Chambers says he was the only one on the block who swept away the litter left by kids, petty drug dealers and their clients.Then came Mary Carfagno Ferguson, wielding buckets, brushes and the notion that public murals, children's art on boarded-up windows and vigilant graffiti control can be a catalyst for a neighborhood's revitalized identity and pride.Now, Chambers, the unofficial mayor of Carrolltown, a seven-block, predominantly African-American swath of greater Pigtown in southwest Baltimore, has company during his daily sweep.

Jeff Anderson haunts Carey and James and Sargeant streets. He tugs nervously at his bluejeans and tennis shoes, exchanges pleasantries with drug dealers, and recruits children to a growing local enterprise. Young and tired, his hair close-cropped, he looks like another Southwest Baltimore boy.The collar gives him away.Anderson, 29, is pastor of the Power House, a 4-year-old Christian congregation so successful that, with little notice, it is taking a step that Baltimore zoning officials say is unusual.

For Bill Danos, Pigtown is like heaven.The Southwest Baltimore neighborhood with the funny name is where the Ellicott City bagel shop manager found what he needs most, and what otherwise rich suburbia can't supply -- eager employees.Yesterday, the five best prospects from among the 40 people who applied for his $6.50-an-hour jobs at Einstein Bros. Bagels arrived for orientation in taxicabs, courtesy of the federal, state and county governments.They are the first group of what could eventually be hundreds of West Baltimore job-seekers benefiting from a so-called "reverse commute" pilot program that pays for transporting them from the impoverished West Baltimore empowerment zone, where jobs are scarce, to Howard County, where unemployed workers are just as rare.

For Bill Danos, Pigtown is like heaven.The Southwest Baltimore neighborhood with the funny name is where the Ellicott City bagel shop manager found what he needs most, and what otherwise rich suburbia can't supply -- eager employees.Yesterday, the five best prospects from among the 40 people who applied for his $6.50-an-hour jobs at Einstein Bros. Bagels arrived for orientation in taxicabs, courtesy of the federal, state and county governments.They are the first group of what could eventually be hundreds of West Baltimore job-seekers benefiting from a so-called "reverse commute" pilot program that pays for transporting them from the impoverished West Baltimore empowerment zone, where jobs are scarce, to Howard County, where unemployed workers are just as rare.

Theresa E. Ambrose's parents wept, but her daughter refused to listen when the five people who killed the Pigtown barmaid told family members yesterday in Baltimore Circuit Court that they were sorry."

When the 25 members of the Old Friends Paint Club meet, the banter rolls on as easily as a spread satin finish.Organized in honor of the linseed oil-scented environment of local paint manufacture, the group consists of retirees from mixing rooms for pigments and compounds -- an industry drying up in the Baltimore area as paint producers leave town for larger operations in distant states."

Seniors need to appreciate young mournersThis letter is to all those young people who built the shrine and those who were drawn to it at a tree on Monroe Avenue in Eldersburg.The shrine was erected in memory of one of their friends and classmates and her cousin who were killed in a horrible accident when an auto slammed into that tree last month.Those young folks came each day and night placing little momentos such as coins and candy. They congregated there consoling each other, remembering their friend.

After plans fell through for new restaurants, shops and apartments along Pigtown's main commercial district, city development officials are seeking new proposals for a dilapidated block of Washington Boulevard. The Baltimore Development Corp. said Monday that it has reissued a request for proposals for five contiguous properties in the neighborhood southwest of downtown, also known as Washington Village. The BDC hopes to attract proposals for the 900 block of Washington Boulevard that could include a restaurant, coffee shop, small grocer, bookstore, bakery, video store, pharmacy, florist, ice cream shop, hardware store or art gallery.

It was a classic Sister Katherine moment. She was standing on a forlorn stretch of West Pratt Street when three people shuffling past stopped to inquire about the nearly finished building behind her. Eagerly, almost thankfully, she engaged them. Soon, she said, it will be a place where drug addicts can talk about their demons or just duck out of the chaotic streets for a while. Soon it will be evident why the glass-fronted building is called an Island of Hope. "It'll be a beautiful spot for beautiful people," said Katherine Nueslein, a gray-haired veteran of the Sisters of Mercy religious order.

As autumn approaches, it brings with it a flurry of festivals, an opportunity to celebrate the region's bounty and diversity. You can go high-brow or low, jazzy or classical and taste the homiest or the most exotic of flavors - sometimes all at one event. There are many opportunities to be festive. Here are just a few: Many Moons Festival 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sept. 6. Towson University's Center for the Arts Celebrate Asian cultural traditions with performances by dancers and musicians, hands-on crafts workshops and martial arts demonstrations.

Forget the city-financed hotel and tourism slogans. Seems all Baltimore needs to reel in out-of-towners is pigs - pigs going to slaughter. Or rather, a festival celebrating the doomed porkers. The annual Pigtown Festival is one of Baltimore's quirkier events - and that's saying something - recalling the days when pigs were herded from the B&O and Union rail yards to the slaughterhouses of South Baltimore. Highlight: the Running of the Pigs, a sort of porcine Pamplona, except the pigs tend to take their time along Washington Boulevard, just as they did when they really were headed for the abattoir.

Four rowhouses on Sargeant Street in Baltimore's Pigtown neighborhood burned yesterday afternoon, sending plumes of black smoke into the air and over the lanes of nearby Interstate 95, slowing traffic. Three of the houses in the 1200 block of Sargeant St. were vacant and in the process of being renovated, said Chief Kevin Cartwright, a city fire spokesman. The other rowhouse was occupied, but nobody was home. One person was hospitalized after being overwhelmed by smoke, Cartwright said.

While Shawn Eigenbrode was at work one day, burglars hit his house the same way they have hit many others in the Pigtown neighborhood over the past six months. They broke in, yanked a ringing alarm off the wall and then ransacked his Southwest Baltimore house. They stole a desktop computer and other smaller items, Eigenbrode said. Some good news came last week, when word spread that police had arrested a man who they believe is responsible for at least 10 of the 83 burglaries in Pigtown during the last half of 2007.

The house price started at $375,000 in July -- a spacious townhouse on a wide Baltimore street, close to highways, near stores and restaurants. But despite five brisk open houses with snacks and cookie-scented candles -- including one the day of the Pigtown Festival -- and three price drops, it has generated compliments but no contract. Last week, the sellers turned to divine intervention. They gathered on the front steps with their real estate agent and buried a 4-inch statue of St. Joseph, the patron saint of the household, while saying a quick prayer.

THE COUNT Homicides since Jan. 1: 186 THE VICTIMS A man was fatally shot late last night in Rosemont. Another man died early yesterday after being shot in South Baltimore's Pigtown. . Also, a man who was shot late Monday night near the home of Mayor Sheila Dixon died Tuesday evening. ONLINE: Details and locations of this year's city homicides at baltimoresun.com/homicidemap

Carol Ott said the change came when she started to think of them as fellow businesspeople who have set up shop on the main street of the neighborhood just as she has. Only thing is, they sell drugs, and she sells coffee. She had tried calling the police, she tried going to community meetings. Still, they remained. Finally, she took matters into her own hands and laid down her own law. "One was standing outside the restaurant, and I said, `Don't even think about it,'" said Ott, who owns a sweet little coffeehouse and cafe, Evelyn's, on Washington Boulevard in Pigtown.

Paul's Place Outreach Center is a wide-ranging community center in Southwest Baltimore's Pigtown neighborhood. The center has a dining room where lunch is served five days a week. Paul's Place also includes a clothing center, literacy program and computer lab, as well as programs for children. The mission of Paul's Place is to improve the quality of life in Southwest Baltimore, according center's Web site. A quote in the dining room reads, "Hope, personal dignity and growth in a welcoming, safe and respectful environment."