Playground

City sophisticates seek out Mount Vernon's museums, galleries and fine dining. But what could soon become the urban neighborhood's hottest ticket is designed to appeal to a less-cultured, though no less discriminating palate: that of toddlers. A determined cadre of Mount Vernon parents united two years ago with the mission of bringing child's play to an area of town better known for more mature cultural pastimes. And after raising an impressive bankroll, the neighborhood will soon turn a run-down park into what promises to be one of the city's most deluxe playgrounds - including a computerized water feature and a hedge maze.

Three children - an 8-year-old boy and two 9-year-old girls - who police took out of their elementary school in handcuffs earlier this year had hearings before a juvenile judge on Tuesday. They had been charged with aggravated assault, accused of vicious playground attacks in Southwest Baltimore. But while the allegations were well published, driven by the ages of the children and where they were arrested, at a school in Southwest Baltimore's Morrell Park, what is happening to them now is shrouded in the secrecy of the juvenile justice system.

A Harford County boy might earn Scouting's highest honor with a community project thousands of miles from his home in Jarrettsville. Life Scout Alex Griffith, 15, knows the criteria for the rank of Eagle involve service to the community, a school or church. Alex, adopted in 1994 by Dwight and Jenny Griffith, lived the first year of his life at a hospital for abandoned children in Krasnoyarsk, a city in the Siberian region of Russia. He wants to give the children living at Hospital No. 20 a playground.

UPDATE: Seeking to end a spate of playground fights that authorities said escalated into a near drowning and a child's head being forced onto a railroad track in Morrell Park, Baltimore police officers went into an elementary school Thursday and took four young children out in handcuffs. But news of three 9-year-old girls and an 8-year-old boy shackled inside a school and then held in a juvenile detention center nicknamed “Baby Booking” for nearly 12 hours has riled some parents and raised questions about whether the arrests were proper under state law. “There was no need to handcuff children,” said Michael Vogel, the grandfather of one of the girls who was arrested.

As the school year winds down, a spirited group of fifth-graders from East Baltimore's Tench Tilghman Elementary has made sure it won't soon be forgotten.Since February, eight pupils and their teacher have undertaken three projects to improve their elementary school in the 600 block of N. Patterson Park Ave.Calling themselves the Legacy Club, the pupils have written letters to the school board asking for more classroom space, decorated the boys' and girls' bathrooms and, this weekend, they will finish fixing up their playground.

Marion Jean had just started bringing her young children back to the playground at the old Memorial Stadium site in Waverly. An intentionally set fire at the playground in 2008, as well as more recent reports of a stabbing, had caused her to take her children to other YMCA sites in the area. So on Tuesday, she was shaken when she learned that a man had been shot in the head just steps from the playground. On Wednesday morning, the 30-year-old man died from his injuries at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Baltimore county fire officials are investigating a fire reported Thursday morning at a playground in Parkville. Fire units responded to a call for a fire in the 3000 block of Balder Ave. about 6:30 a.m. No further details were available.

Prosecutors will seek the maximum sentence, life in prison, for a 17-year-old boy who pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree rape of a 7-year-old girl he took from the playground of his Crofton neighborhood. But the attorney for David B. Raszewski, of the 1700 block of Granite Court, said he will propose that Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge William C. Mulford II sentence the teen-ager more like a juvenile -- not confine him to an adult state prison and, instead, ensure he receives treatment.

A man walking his dogs shortly before 10 p.m. Wednesday alerted Baltimore police to a body lying in a playground in the Norwood Heights neighborhood in Southwest Baltimore. The unidentified male victim, who had been shot in the head, was pronounced dead at 10:02 p.m. at the scene in the 4300 block of Cedargarden Road, investigators said. Police released no further information and said the investigation is continuing. mary.gail.hare@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

The weeds behind the vacant lot next to Carolyn Pitt's Aiken Street home had reached her clothesline, but on Tuesday, volunteers mowed the plants down, picked up trash and painted the nearby playground to ignite efforts to revitalize the neighborhood. "Beer bottle, glass, needles — you name it" can be found in the small patch of pavement with a missing basketball hoop, Pitt, 54, said from her tidy front steps. "It's wonderful they are giving kids a chance to play over there," she said as she sat with two of her grandchildren, who she will not allow to play in the area because of the constant drug traffic.

Seeking to end a spate of playground disputes that authorities said escalated well past a typical fracas, Baltimore police officers went into an elementary school this week and took four children out in handcuffs. But news of three 9-year-old girls and an 8-year-old boy shackled Thursday afternoon inside Morrell Park Elementary School — and then held for nearly 12 hours in a juvenile detention center nicknamed "Baby Booking"— has riled relatives and raised questions about whether the arrests were proper under state law. "There was no need to handcuff children," Michael Vogel, the grandfather of one of the girls who was arrested, said Friday.

A man walking his dogs shortly before 10 p.m. Wednesday alerted Baltimore police to a body lying in a playground in the Norwood Heights neighborhood in Southwest Baltimore. The unidentified male victim, who had been shot in the head, was pronounced dead at 10:02 p.m. at the scene in the 4300 block of Cedargarden Road, investigators said. Police released no further information and said the investigation is continuing. mary.gail.hare@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

This column is in honor of my mother, Margaret Copeland Vought Smith, who died at age 90 on Dec. 11. We didn't spend much time together after I moved to Maryland following college in 1971. In fact, the last time we did anything together away from her own home was around 1994, when my mother and my wife and I had lunch together in Havre de Grace one afternoon. At the time, my mother was recently widowed from her second husband and was preparing to move to a continuing care community in Pennsylvania where she would live the rest of her life.

Annie's Playground in Fallston will remain closed until at least Nov.21, while routine maintenance continues at the popular play area, the Harford County Department of Parks and Recreation reported Thursday. The playground was closed last week and was expected to open by the middle of this week; however, some of the work was delayed, county government spokesman Bob Thomas said. A contractor is power washing some of the equipment and staining some of the wood structures. Thomas said the staining has been taking longer than anticipated and was further pushed back because of the weather.

The popular Annie's Playground in Fallston has been closed for repairs since the middle of last week but, aside from a few somewhat inconspicuous roadside signs, little appears to have been done to let the public know. The playground is supposed to reopen sometime in the middle of this week, a spokesperson for the county said Monday. A white sign with red lettering was affixed to one of the Annie's Playground directional signs on Connolly Road, just before the turn onto Smith Lane where the playground is located.

The city has received $150,000 in state funding to replace old playground equipment at the Cypress Street field, adjacent to the Robert J. DiPietro Community Center. The funding came from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Community Parks and Playground program. The Community Parks and Playground program has funded new playgrounds for many of Laurel's parks, including Riverfront Park, Leo E. Wilson Community Park, Emancipation Community Park, Alice B. McCullough Field, Discovery Park, Roland B. Sweitzer Community Park and Snowden Place Park.

The call is out for energetic community volunteers to rebuild the popular Waverly playground destroyed by an arsonist last year. "We need at least 1,000 persons to step forward," said Marisa Canino, president of Friends of Our Playground. "The fire was a senseless act of arson and we instantly moved to start rebuilding. I can't belive we are so close." Work crews began preliminary regrading and site work last week. The once-popular playing area - north of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Family Center YMCA at Stadium Place, the former location of the old Memorial Stadium on 33rd Street - burned Sept.

Marion Jean had just started bringing her young children back to the playground at the old Memorial Stadium site in Waverly. An intentionally set fire at the playground in 2008, as well as more recent reports of a stabbing, had caused her to take her children to other YMCA sites in the area. So on Tuesday, she was shaken when she learned that a man had been shot in the head just steps from the playground. On Wednesday morning, the 30-year-old man died from his injuries at Johns Hopkins Hospital.