Ramp

An 11-year-old boy was in serious condition last night, a victim of apparent crossfire in West Baltimore, police said. The boy was shot in the right shoulder about 5 p.m. yesterday in the 1500 block of McKean Ave. in Sandtown-Winchester, police said. He was taken to the pediatrics unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where police said he remained in serious but stable condition. Police are searching for two unidentified suspects but know of no motive. Carroll County : Westminster Thieves strike at historic farm The Carroll County Sheriff's Office is investigating at least two incidents of theft from a historic property in the 1800 block of Bachman Valley Road, Westminster.

A tanker rig overturned and burst into flames yesterday evening on a curving interstate ramp over Baltimore's South Hanover Street, killing the driver and sending a burning stream of its load of ethanol into the street below, igniting a row of parked vehicles, authorities said. The wreckage burned for more than three hours as firefighters sprayed water and foam into the flames - with the driver's body still in the truck cab. His name and the company he worked for were not divulged last night, but the tanker - which was carrying 8,000 gallons of ethanol - was from a local trucking company, said Cpl. Jonathan Green, a spokesman for the Maryland Transportation Authority Police.

EARLIER THIS WEEK I found myself on the 10th floor of Mercy Medical Center in downtown Baltimore. I looked across the distance of the late afternoon skies in search of a sign to cheer me up and give me a much needed injection of hope.There, amid the orange and iris of the setting sun, I danced over the city skyline. My thoughts were reinforced that cities are at their best at this time of the calendar. There was the peculiar, Gothic steeple of St. Alphonsus Church, Druid Hill in the distance and the dome of Oheb Shalom.

Hanover Street between McComas Street and Brooklyn was closed overnight while crews worked to remove about 8,900 gallons of gasoline that spilled into the Patapsco River when a tanker truck overturned about 5 p.m. yesterday on an on-ramp to southbound Interstate 95.Battalion Chief Hector L. Torres of the Baltimore Fire Department said firefighters and crews from the Maryland Department of the Environment were cleaning up the spill.Witnesses told police the tanker, owned by Dana Transportation, whose address was not available, was rocking back and forth on the ramp from northbound Hanover Street before it overturned near the top of the ramp and landed on its right side against a wall.

A LOT OF our friends and acquaintances are dealing with a particular housing problem: aging parents who don't want to, or shouldn't, live alone.One solution that's proving a major trend in home remodeling is the "in-law" apartment.There's been a huge growth in the number of options available to seniors these days -- "adult" communities, assisted-living communities, and adult day care included. But there are sometimes excellent reasons for creating a multigenerational home.Children get to know their grandparents, who probably remember a different world from that any youngster is growing up in today, and it gives adults a chance to interact with their parents as peers.

A Westminster man remains in fair condition at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore after a single-car accident in Howard County Thursday night that left one dead.Thomas A. Picket, 27, of the 1900 block of Littlestown Pike was trapped for two hours in a 1993 Ford truck that skidded from an off-ramp, killing the driver, Victor A. Buckley, 33, of the 2000 block of Bollinger Mill Road in Westminster.State police say Buckley was driving onto the ramp from westbound Interstate 70 to northbound Route 32 about a mile south of West Friendship about 9: 40 p.m. when he lost control of the truck, which went over a guardrail and rolled down the adjacent embankment.

An Annapolis man died in a traffic accident on Route 50 yesterday morning, minutes after sideswiping two cars on the road, police said.Craig V. Downs, 27, of the 1400 block of Regent St. was partially thrown from his 1990 Mazda 929 and hit his head on the pavement when the car he was driving overturned on the westbound ramp to Interstate 97. He was not wearing a seat belt and was pronounced dead at the scene.A passenger, Antoin E. Green, 23, of 1800 block of Robert Small Road, Annapolis, was in stable condition last night at Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

In Baltimore CityTanker truck hauling gasoline overturns; 1,500 gallons leakA tanker truck carrying 8,900 gallons of gasoline overturned about 5 p.m. yesterday on a ramp leading to southbound Interstate 95 from Hanover Street in South Baltimore, forcing authorities to detour evening rush-hour traffic on both sides of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge for several hours.Fire Department Battalion Chief Hector L. Torres said about 1,500 gallons of gasoline leaked into a storm drain and then a drainage ditch under the ramp.

A pickup truck overturned on a ramp leading from Interstate 70 to Route 32 about a mile south of West Friendship last night, killing one man and trapping another, state police reported.Sgt. Dan Austin of the Waterloo barracks said a 1993 Ford truck occupied by two men went out of control on the ramp from westbound I-70 to northbound Route 32 about 9: 40 p.m., crashed through a guardrail and tumbled down an embankment.Austin said one occupant was pronounced dead at the scene and that Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue units worked for almost two hours to free the man trapped inside the truck.

Two Columbia teen-agers were hospitalized in critical condition and a Chestertown man in serious condition, and traffic on U.S. 50 near Annapolis was held up for hours yesterday after two accidents in which vehicles overturned, state police said.The first accident occurred on the southbound Interstate 97 ramp to eastbound U.S. 50 shortly before noon when Elizabeth A. Perry, 17, lost control of her 1995 Nissan Pathfinder. Police said the driver of a 1989 Ford delivery truck changed lanes in front of Perry, apparently startling her.The Pathfinder flipped over and came to rest on its roof on the right shoulder of the ramp, police said.

A Baltimore County teenager was killed after veering off the ramp from southbound Interstate 83 to the Baltimore Beltway westbound near Lutherville, according to Maryland State Police. Kwest T. Logan, 17, of the 200 block of Lord Byron Lane in Cockeysville, was found dead about 10 a.m. Monday, shortly after police responded to a report of a possible vehicle in the woods near the exit ramp. A motorist called police after noticing light reflecting off the car while driving in slow-moving traffic this morning, police said.

Because the image is frozen on my computer screen, the fear is burned into my brain. I still get somewhat scared visiting the dentist, so maybe I'm the last guy to rationalize why this motorcycle is upside down, 20 feet above the ground. That's Annapolis native Jim DeChamp hanging there, in the middle of attempting the first front flip on a dirt bike. The video is from last summer's X Games, and because I've now seen the clip about 100 times, I know what happens next: The motorcycle doesn't complete the rotation, and DeChamp falls to the ground like a lifeless doll, his body skidding to a stop about 10 feet later.

The most significant moment during Friday night's episode of Smackdown occurred on the entrance ramp just after Jeff Hardy's countout victory over The Big Show. As Jeff was taking his bows, Matt Hardy suddenly appeared on the ramp to celebrate with his brother. Matt got so excited that he grabbed Jeff's arm and raised it in a symbol of victory. Jeff, however, was selling an injury to the arm, and he immediately jerked it away, grimacing. I believe it's another hint that the Hardy boys are going to end up feuding.

If the weather has behaved, drivers should see a new ramp from northbound Interstate 95 to Interstate 695 in White Marsh today. The Maryland Transportation Authority planned to close lanes along I-95 and I-695 last night through this morning to open the ramp. Signs notified the 19,000 motorists who use that interchange daily about the new ramp, which exits I-95 from the right lane and enters I-695 from the right. The old ramp, constructed 45 years ago, had drivers exit I-95 and enter I-695 from the left.

For years, Annie and Eugene Hamm worried about the stairs. Their daughter was physically and developmentally disabled, and it was becoming harder to carry her up and down the front stairs of their Aberdeen house. "It got to be where we couldn't handle the steps," says Annie Hamm, who is 81; her husband 82. "It was dangerous." What the Hamms needed was a ramp so their daughter, Betty, could roll down in her wheelchair. But a ramp would cost thousands of dollars. "More than we could afford, I'll tell you," says Annie Hamm, who is a housewife.

Interstate 70 and U.S 29 in Ellicott City meet at one of the more puzzling interchanges around Baltimore. To many who live nearby, it looks like a death trap. Janet Tillman of the Mount Hebron area of Howard County wrote to call attention to the July 19 death of Andrew Noel, 19, of Ellicott City at the site. She noted that his mother, Valerie Noel, has begun a petition to close one of the entrances to westbound I-70. According to Tillman, the petition has 2,500 signatures, and the number is growing.

The ramp from southbound Hanover Street to southbound Interstate 95 remained closed yesterday evening and likely will be closed this morning while engineers repair damage from yesterday's early-morning tanker fire, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority police. The South Baltimore bridge was shut down about 3 a.m. after a tanker-truck overturned on the ramp, leading to traffic delays forcing the Maryland Transit Administration to temporarily shut down the Camden MARC train line between Baltimore and Washington.

A 9-year-old Prince George's County boy remained in critical condition yesterday after he was hit by a car on an Interstate 95 ramp after his family had vehicle trouble near Laurel, state police said. About 7:20 p.m. Saturday, the boy and his family, who live in Greenbelt, fled their vehicle when it caught fire on the shoulder of the ramp from eastbound Sandy Spring Road leading to the interstate, according to state police at the College Park barracks. Several minutes later, the family was crossing the ramp to examine their damaged vehicle when the boy was struck by a 1997 Ford Taurus, whose uninjured driver remained at the scene.

Boaters launched their vessels. Three men fished from the boardwalk, and one smiled after reeling in a yellow perch. Cliff Little waded in the water, taking a break from riding his personal watercraft. "It's nice," the North Point man said of Wilson Point Park, the county's newest park. "The ramps are nice, and the water is a lot better than in most places." Wilson Point Park, near Martin State Airport in Middle River, was formally opened yesterday. The $8.8 million project was designed to transform the former site of a run-down and crime-ridden apartment complex into a destination for fun. "It's one of our most magnificent waterfront parks," said John D. Markley, deputy director of recreation and parks for the county.

Earlier this month, X Games skateboarder Jake Brown lost control of his skateboard high above the Big Air event's quarter-pipe at Staples Center in Los Angeles. He fell 45 feet to the flatter part of the ramp, feet first. He bounced as he landed and slid a few more feet down the ramp. After lying unconscious for a few minutes, he got up and walked away. Here's a medicine-and-physics look at what happened and how it could have been worse. As injuries go, skateboarding is a middle-of-the-road sport, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, sending 50,000 children from ages 5 to 14 to emergency rooms each year, more than from inline skating or skiing, but less than from baseball, basketball, bicycling or trampolining.