Randallstown High School

Given what happens daily around here - and just about everywhere else these days - it comes as no surprise to discover, after a search of The Sun's computerized news morgue, that the last time this columnist mentioned Randallstown High School it was in commentary about a shooting on the vast parking lot there. Some young fool with a 9 mm semiautomatic Glock drove up to the school and handed the pistol to another young fool, who got into a brawl and opened fire on a crowd of students. That was on a lovely Friday afternoon in early May 2004, right after a charity basketball game that had finished the school day. Bullets hit four young people, leaving one of them, William "Tippa" Thomas III, paralyzed from the waist down, another tragedy wrought by fools empowered by guns.

Dena Love Raitzyk, a commercial artist in Randallstown, died of lung cancer Saturday at the Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. She was 46. Dena Love was born and raised in the Baltimore area and graduated from Randallstown High School in 1979. She then attended the Maryland Institute College of Art, studying graphic arts. While at MICA she met Neil Raitzyk, and the couple married June 27, 1982. Mrs. Raitzyk left school to work in Baltimore for Williams & Wilkins, a Philadelphia-based publisher of specialized media for the health professions.

A finding by the state attorney general's office suggests that Maryland law could be changed to ban cell phone towers from public school properties in Baltimore County, a state senator assured a group of residents hoping to thwart plans for a tower at Randallstown High School. It is possible to draft such legislation in a constitutionally sound format, and possibly apply it retroactively to void a contract between the school system and T-Mobile, state Sen. Bobby A. Zirkin told about a dozen residents at a community meeting this week in Randallstown.

Silveria Sylvester Chambers, a retired Baltimore County school custodian who later worked for an armored car company, died of cancer Sept. 25 at his Randallstown home. He was 73. Mr. Chambers was born and raised in Jamaica and moved to Baltimore in 1967. He became a naturalized citizen in 1981. He was employed for 26 years as a custodian at Reisterstown Elementary School and later was chief custodian at Randallstown High School. He retired from there in 1994. He also worked as a custodian at Dunbar Armored Inc. for 12 years before he retired last month.

An advocacy group for minority students in Baltimore County asked the school board last night to do away with what it sees as a dual system of education and help black students succeed.Wyatt Coger, president of the Educational Coalition of Organizations, spelled out what his group expects the public TTC schools to do for minority students, who, he says, "perform well below all other groups academically and are suspended more."Mr. Coger commended the board for hiring the new superintendent, Stuart Berger, "a progressive superintendent with the experience and expertise" to meet the needs of the county's black students.

Sherry L. KellmanRegistered nurseSherry Lynn Kellman, a registered nurse, died Friday of liver failure at Presbyterian University Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pa. She was 34.Ms. Kellman, who grew up in Randallstown, was a graduate of Randallstown High School and Catonsville Community College.She worked as a traveling nurse in the Baltimore area before moving to Redondo Beach, Calif., about three years ago.Ms. Kellman enjoyed outdoor activities, including swimming, biking and camping. She also traveled extensively through Europe, visited Hawaii and backpacked through New Zealand.

Steven Oken and his mother talk on the phone nearly every day, and she visits him every week. But in 17 years of conversations about such varied topics as local sports teams and world events, there's a topic that Davida Oken says she hasn't ever broached: the crimes that put her son on death row. "Why bring it up?" she asks. "I have never asked him for details, for an explanation. What good would it do?" Steven Oken, the son of a pharmacist, was 25 years old and married in November 1987 when he raped and killed three women.

Angry about a decision they say was made without community consultation, local legislators and advocates are pressing the Baltimore County school board to scrap plans for a cell phone tower to be built at Randallstown High School -- a project that would pump an estimated $450,000 into the school system. State Sen. Bobby A. Zirkin said he plans to submit legislation designed to ban cell phone towers from school properties in the county and will file an injunction, if necessary, to stop construction of the 110-foot tower at Randallstown High on Offutt Road.

Marjorie Ruff Stanfield, a lifelong Randallstown resident and volunteer, died Friday of congestive heart failure at Robosson Court Nursing Center in Randallstown. She was 97.Mrs. Stanfield spent all but the last six months of her life in the granite house that her father, Seymour W. Ruff, a prominent Baltimore stonemason and contractor, built in the late 1800s. "She wanted to die in that house, but it wasn't possible," said a son, Richard Stanfield of Baltimore.After graduating from Randallstown High School, Mrs. Stanfield attended business school.

Shower singers, come out in public: Verdi's 'Requiem' needs 0) youAll those who have sung Verdi in the shower will now get their chance to take their acts out into the open. This Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the First English Lutheran Church (Charles Street at 39th Street), the Handel Choir of Baltimore is sponsoring an audience sing-along performance of one of Verdi's greatest works, the masterful "Requiem," which will be conducted by the choir's music director, T. Herbert Dimmock. Admission is $5, and, if you don't own a score, you can rent one for $1. To make matters even more inviting, the church is air-conditioned and refreshments will be served.