Porch

Greg Cantori plans to downsize when he retires. Really, really downsize. His retirement home is 238 square feet — one-tenth the size of the average new American house — and sits in his Anne Arundel County yard. He and wife Renee can hitch it to a truck and take it with them wherever they go. "It's so cheap — that's what's so cool about this," said Cantori, 52, who envisions a surf-and-turf future, alternating between the house and a sailboat. "We bought the house for $19,000.

When 302 Glenrae Drive in the heart of Old Catonsville went on the market March 27, 2013, it didn't remain there long. Only three days, in fact. The Bob & Ronna Team of Long & Foster Realtors brought a potential buyer to see the home on that very day, and a bid was placed immediately. "Not only that, it listed and sold at the same price — $425, 000," Ronna Corman-Chew said. "This is an incredible, completely remodeled three-bed and two-bath split-level with a retro flair," Bob Chew said.

Gardeners are forever looking for something to wrap a flower bed around. There has to be a bed along the front of the porch, and others might be carved out around a garden shed, a birdbath or the trunks of shade trees. For many people, there's another opportunity right out by the curb: the mailbox. A garden bed around a mailbox gives gardeners a chance to put their horticultural stamp where it's sure to show. In the midst of handsome shrubs, interesting ornamental grasses or hard-working annual and perennial flowers, a standard-issue mailbox on a post becomes a piece of functional art. When there's a flower bed to visit, the trip out to the mailbox is much more interesting, even if the postman brings nothing but bills.

State police said Saturday that David M. Montgomery, 28, of no fixed address, was arrested and charged with first- and second-degree murder in connection with the death of a man in Westminster this morning. Edward C. Zepp, 61, of the 100 block of West Main Street, Westminster, was found dead on the back porch of his residence early Saturday morning. Shortly after 4 a.m. Jan. 5, Westminster Police responded to a 911 call reporting an assault at the address. Police said they found Zepp on the back porch of his residence with trauma to his neck.  Medics pronounced him dead.

Two people were injured Sunday when the porch on a house in the Coldstream-Montebello-Homestead community collapsed, said a spokesman for the city Fire Department. Their names were not released. Shortly after 6 p.m., a man and a woman standing on the rear porch of a house in the 2000 block of E. 32nd St. fell about six feet to the ground when the porch suddenly collapsed, Capt. Roman Clark said. Clark said the pair suffered undetermined injuries and were taken by ambulances to Maryland Shock Trauma Center as a precaution.

An Annapolis couple has lost a bid to keep the fiberglass columns on their early-20th-century home's porch in the city's Historic District, in a case that has pitted homeowners against historical preservationists over building standards in the area. The Court of Special Appeals ruled this week against Valerie and Bryan J. Miller, saying the Historic Preservation Commission was within in its authority to demand that the couple tear down the fiberglass columns that were installed without approval, and replace them with wood columns approved by the commission.

Federal prosecutors have announced that a second suspect has pleaded guilty to hanging a dead raccoon from a porch of a family from Africa who live in Middle River in order to frighten them. Authorities said Billy Ray Pratt, 24, of Halethorpe, faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced Aug. 17. A co-conspirator, Joshua Wall, 20, of Essex, is to be sentenced the same day and faces the same penalty. Both suspects pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deprive a citizen of their civil rights.

Baltimore police are investigating a shooting Sunday evening in Cherry Hill. Police responding to a report of shots fired at about 9:30 p.m. discovered a 20-year-old man, who had been shot three times. The victim was sitting on the steps of a home in the 2800 block of Winwood Court, when he was shot twice in the shoulder. A third shot grazed his elbow, police said. He is being treated at an area hospital for injuries not considered life-threatening, investigators said. mary.gail.hare@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Police were awaiting autopsy results to determine the cause of death of a man who was found lying atop another bloodied man on the porch of a southwest Baltimore residence. About 10:20 a.m. yesterday, city police responding to a call found two men lying on a porch in the first block of Benkert St., near Caton Avenue, said Agent Arlene Jenkins. The dead man, Jeffrey Jackson, 29, of South Morley Street, had blood running from his nose, Jenkins said. His death was listed as "questionable" pending autopsy results.

A teacher at the Bay Country Children's Learning Center discovered the body of a man hanging from the school's porch as she was leading children out to play yesterday morning, county police said.Melissa Fullerton was leading a group of 3-year-olds to the playground about 9 a.m. when she saw the body, said Carolyn Nutwell, a kindergarten teacher and director at the day care center in the 100 block of Admiral Cochrane Drive, just outside Annapolis.Mrs. Fullerton closed the door immediately and sent the children back into the school before any of them saw the body, Ms. Nutwell said.

A 21-year-old woman was found lying with a laceration across her head on the porch of a Edgewood home Tuesday after an apparent assault, the Harford County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday. Deputies are now asking for the public's help in identifying her assailant. About 6:50 p.m., deputies arrived in the 1600 block of Candlewood Court for a report of a stabbing and found Cassandra Tittle, who lives on the same block, on the porch, the sheriff's office said. Tittle was transported to the University of Maryland Medical Center, where she was treated and released.

A 32-year-old Millersville woman faces child neglect and desertion charges after she abandoned her infant son at a Severn church Monday, police said. After a multi-state search, Pettricia Finch-Miller, 32, of the 600 block Water Wheel Court, was located at a motel in Fredericksburg, Va., with her two daughters, aged 10 and 13. The girls were unharmed and are in the care of family members, police said. Her two-month-old son, who was last seen about 8 a.m., was found by a passerby at 12:15 p.m. Strapped into a car seat, he had been left under a porch at the entrance to Grace Point Presbyterian Church in the 600 block of Donaldson Avenue, near Telegraph Road.

The following is compiled from police reports. It is the Baltimore Messenger's policy to include descriptions only when there is enough information to make identification possible. If you have any information about these crimes, call the Baltimore City Police Department's Northern District at 410-396-2455. Beech Avenue 3500 block, between 9:30 p.m. July 30 and 6:45 a.m. July 31. CDs, sunglasses, hand gel stolen from vehicle. Bellona Avenue 5700 block, between 11 p.m. July 29 and 8 a.m. July 30. Two hammer jacks, two blowers, rear Maryland tag 17X227 stolen from vehicle.

When Katie Byram and her family moved to a 1920s farmhouse in Baltimore County, they were charmed by its old-fashioned wraparound porch. Only one thing would make it even better: a porch swing. "I knew our kids would enjoy it," said Byram, who tapped interior designer Katherine Crosby to sketch plans for a "bohemian" seating area. They envisioned teak furniture from Thailand, outdoor rugs, potted plants — and a dark wooden swing. While the project is still in the early stages, Byram is already dreaming of relaxing in the swing as it sways in the summer breeze.

A mother and daughter from Middle River have pleaded guilty to a civil rights violation for their involvement in an incident in 2010 in which a dead raccoon was hung by a noose from an African family's Middle River porch, prosecutors said Tuesday. Dena Whedlee, 42, and her daughter Brittany Whedlee, 20, admitted to encouraging their co-conspirators - including Billy Ray Pratt, 24, of Halethorpe, and Joshua Wall, 20, of Essex - to hang the raccoon from the family's porch after a boy in the family got into a fight with Dena Whedlee's son, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein.

From the bucolic setting of her country home in Monkton to the gentle hum of the palm leaf paddles on the ceiling fans in her covered porch, Kim Eastburn's philosophy of decorating is apparent. "The focus of my design practice ... is to elevate interior design beyond just the esoteric," she said. "I think there is a huge opportunity to expand the conversation of overall wellness by bringing mindfulness to where we live. " Eastburn, who blogs as The Interior Design Shrink (theinteriordesignshrink.com)

A 32-year-old Woodlawn man died yesterday afternoon after being shot once in the chest while standing on a porch of a home in the 1600 block of Normal Ave. in Northeast Baltimore. Rodney Rogers, of the 100 block of Duke of Windsor Court in Woodlawn, was alone outside the house at 3: 20 p.m. when a gunman opened fire, said homicide Detective Vernon Parker. Rogers died at the scene. Police said they do not know who shot him or what the motive might have been. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Baltimore Police homicide unit at 410-396-2100.

Q: I'm thinking of enclosing the second-floor porch off the master bedroom and turning it into a bath or sitting area. Can you give me any ideas? We both love Victorian and have a lot of it throughout the rest of the house.A: One of the fun things about the Victorian style is its inherent sense of whimsy -- at least, seen through our eyes. While some of the Victorians were no doubt stuffy and proper to the breaking point -- you can see it in the stiff, upright furniture they favored for the front parlor -- there also were many things that fascinate us today.

Seven decades later, retired Baltimore Circuit Judge Thomas Ward still remembers the details of his Baltimore Sun paper route, calling the Windsor Hills terrain "horrible. " For $2.40 a week, 4 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., Monday through Saturday, he walked. His final paper of the morning went to a house far distant from the street, deep within Gwynns Falls Park. "I was hoping they would stop taking the paper, but it never happened," says Ward, now 85. Early-morning darkness shrouds most paperboys and girls, granting a little anonymity.

Federal prosecutors have announced that a second suspect has pleaded guilty to hanging a dead raccoon from a porch of a family from Africa who live in Middle River in order to frighten them. Authorities said Billy Ray Pratt, 24, of Halethorpe, faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced Aug. 17. A co-conspirator, Joshua Wall, 20, of Essex, is to be sentenced the same day and faces the same penalty. Both suspects pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deprive a citizen of their civil rights.