Pikesville

For many folks headed to Preakness, the focus of the afternoon isn't the race. It's the fashion — and we don't just mean hats. If you're in the grandstands, the Jockey Club area or Corporate Village, you'll want to dress the part. Betsy Dugan, owner of Bettina Collections in Cross Keys and former co-owner of Octavia in Pikesville, has been dressing women for Preakness for years. "This is the time ... to dress up," she said. If there's one rule of thumb, it's that ladies and gentlemen at Preakness should look like ...well, ladies and gentlemen.

Benjamin Lipsitz, whose commitment to the spirit and letter of the law led him to defend a would-be assassin, a Nazi sympathizer and a craven murderer during a career that spanned more than a half-century, died May 10. He was 94. "He was so fundamentally devoted to justice. He was Atticus Finch all over again," said retired Baltimore County Circuit Judge John Fader II. "To me, he was what lawyering and what representation are all about. " Lipsitz was chosen to defend Arthur Bremer, accused of shooting Democratic presidential candidate George Wallace and three others, including a Secret Service agent, at a Laurel shopping center in 1972.

If the Black Eyed Susan were a race horse, it would be a sprinter. It makes one strong move, then fades quickly. The strong move occurs this weekend when the cocktail will be in demand at Pamlico Race Track, during both the running of the Black Eyed Susan Stakes on Friday and the Preakness Stakes on Saturday. Over these two days, about 25,000 servings of the libation, poured into commemorative glasses, will be sold at $8 apiece, track officials say. But as soon as Preakness weekend ends, so does the does the local thirst for the Susan.

A school police officer at Pikesville High School was assaulted after responding to a fight in the gym this morning, Baltimore County police said. The fight broke out between two students shortly before 9:40 a.m., said Cpl. Cathy Batton, a police spokeswoman. No injuries were reported. Charges are pending against both students, Batton said. alisonk@baltsun.com twitter.com/aliknez

Baltimore police have charged three people - a Pikesville woman and two men already in federal custody - with the 2009 homicide of a man who was kidnapped and held for ransom, and later found dead in the Patapsco River. Among those charged is Darryl Nichols, 37, who has been tied to the case since the first day Eric Pendergrass went missing and was convicted on ammunition charges related to search warrants executed during the investigation. Pendergrass had been abducted Feb. 1, 2009, and called his girlfriend and said she needed to retrieve a bundle of money from a closet in her home and give it to a courier named “Darlene.” The girlfriend delivered the money to Pendergrass' mother's home in Northwest Baltimore, where a woman who identified herself as “Darlene” took the money and climbed into a silver-colored Cadillac STS. Witnesses recorded the license plate number, and police discovered that the vehicle was registered to Nichols.

After 120 years of continuous operation, Fields of Pikesville is closing. “It's true,” said Fields co-owner and general manager Jeffrey Levin, whose pharmacist father Norman bought the store from the Fields family in 1946. Levin said that the store and its lunch counter, a longtime gathering spot for Pikesville residents, will close around Labor Day, or as soon as inventory is sold off. Still know as Fields Pharmacy by the locals, the pharmacy stopped operating in 1998, according to Levin.

A male pedestrian was fatally struck in Pikesville while crossing the road on Friday morning, according to Baltimore County Police. Police and fire units responding to a report of a struck pedestrian at Old Court Road and Estates Court said that the victim, Damien Graham, 30, of the 3500 block of Edmondson Ave. in Baltimore, was crossing the road when he was struck by a 2009 Honda CRV. The victim was not in a crosswalk, police said. The 33-year-old driver of the vehicle remained at the scene and was transported to Northwest Hospital with non-life–threatening injuries, police said.

A Pikesville man was seriously injured Friday when he was struck by a sport utility vehicle while bicycling near his home, Baltimore County police said. Melvin Pachino, 52, of the 2700 block of Waco Court, was riding west on Smith Avenue near Carla Road shortly after 11 a.m. when an eastbound Honda Pilot made a left turn and struck Pachino, according to Julia Hardgrove, a county police spokeswoman. The vehicle was driven by Shunji Watanabe of the 7600 block of Carla Road, she said.

Baltimore County police are investigating a non-fatal shooting early Thursday in Pikesville. The victim, who police said is in his late 20s, remains hospitalized with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. Officers had responded to reports of shots fired at 1:19 a.m. to the unit block of Amleht Court, near Milbrook Park Drive. The investigation is continuing with no suspect at this time, police said. Mary.gail.hare@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

It's ironic that the Baltimore Sun recently mentioned how vital farmer's markets are to communities ("Growing faster than zucchini," Aug 20). My local market kept getting moved, and I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't return next year. At least Office Depot was decent and smart enough to offer vendors a spot after they were shuttled from the library parking lot to Boston Market and yet again to a community center. Unfortunately, the new location isn't nearly as convenient: It's unlikely people will (or can)

Baltimore County officials gave proper notice of its meeting where residents could testify about a new stormwater fee, according to state panel that rules on open meeting complaints. In an opinion this week, the Open Meetings Compliance Board said county documentation shows it met legal requirements to advertise a County Council work session where the public could comment on the fee, as well as the legislative meeting where the council voted to adopt it. Both meetings were held in April.

A woman shot Saturday in Pikesville by a Baltimore County police officer - after the officer thought she had pulled a weapon - turned out to be holding a replica of a semi-automatic handgun, according to police. Police had responded to the 3100 block of Northbrook Road in Pikesville just before 2 a.m. for a call about a suspicious person. When the officer arrived, he saw a woman standing in front of the house and saw her throw a large rock at the house, which broke a window, police said.

Baltimore County police say they shot a woman in Pikesville early Saturday after she pulled a handgun on an officer. The woman was in serious condition at a local hospital Saturday evening but expected to survive, police said. According to a news release, the officer was called to the 3100 block of North Brook Road before 2 a.m. to investigate a report of a suspicious person. He saw a woman throw a large rock at a house, officials said, breaking a window. The woman allegedly drew a handgun, and police said the officer repeatedly ordered her to drop, then shot her multiple times in the upper body.

A male pedestrian was fatally struck in Pikesville while crossing the road on Friday morning, according to Baltimore County Police. Police and fire units responding to a report of a struck pedestrian at Old Court Road and Estates Court said that the victim, Damien Graham, 30, of the 3500 block of Edmondson Ave. in Baltimore, was crossing the road when he was struck by a 2009 Honda CRV. The victim was not in a crosswalk, police said. The 33-year-old driver of the vehicle remained at the scene and was transported to Northwest Hospital with non-life–threatening injuries, police said.

A Pikesville man was seriously injured Friday when he was struck by a sport utility vehicle while bicycling near his home, Baltimore County police said. Melvin Pachino, 52, of the 2700 block of Waco Court, was riding west on Smith Avenue near Carla Road shortly after 11 a.m. when an eastbound Honda Pilot made a left turn and struck Pachino, according to Julia Hardgrove, a county police spokeswoman. The vehicle was driven by Shunji Watanabe of the 7600 block of Carla Road, she said.

The Pikesville Chamber of Commerce will host its second annual "Taste of Pikesville" event on May 2. The event is a kick-off for Re-Discover Pikesville Restaurant Week, which will run May 3-11 at participating restaurants. Participating restaurants and retailers at Taste of Pikesville include Mari Luna Latin Grille, Ruth's Chris Steak House , Gourmet Again and Suburban House. Guests at the event can compare notes with Kathy Wielech Patterson and Neal Patterson, authors of the recently published Food Lovers' Guide to Baltimore . Taste of Pikesville is 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Doubletree by Hilton, 1726 Reisterstown Road.

Recently, Baltimore County stepped up efforts to eliminate signs on lawns and poles in residential neighborhoods ("Crackdown on nuisance road signs," April 26), but what we have around Park Heights Avenue and Stevenson Road is a problem with numerous tractor-trailers parked from Friday night to Monday morning on Brooks Robinson Drive (formerly Radio Tower Drive). This road primarily serves a residential neighborhood, and anyone who wants to walk along this stretch of road must do so in traffic as the trucks occupy the shoulder.

The report on the legal wrangling over the Druid Ridge Cemetery in Pikesville demonstrated the extreme remove of professional legal minds from ordinary common sense ("Neighbors see threat to cemetery," Feb. 17). The disputed text from a deed required "That the said property be maintained and operated as a cemetery. " Any reasonable person would suppose that "the said property" was a parcel described precisely earlier in the document, not some fraction of it currently in use, but the entire parcel, as nothing else could be "the said property.

Margaret C. Doyle, a retired public school English teacher and poet who later taught for many years at the Renaissance Institute, died Thursday from complications following surgery at Baltimore Washington Medical Center. The former longtime Pikesville resident was 85. "Margaret was a magnificent woman. She was brilliant and loving," said Jim Holechek, a retired Baltimore public relations executive and author. "Her husband was an artist and she was a poet, and it was always wonderful to interface with her. She was a very sensitive person and able to express herself very well.

The Century boys showed their depth at Saturday's Pikesville Track Classic. Julian Woods won three different events, and Jake Stefanick finished first in another, but it was Chandler Kennell's late win in the pole vault - the last event to finish - that pushed No. 2 Century past No. 6 Digital Harbor at Pikesville. Kennell set a meet record with his effort of 14 feet, one inch. Nicholas Neral added a fourth-place finish in the event, and those 13 points let Century (69) top Digital Harbor (60)