Russell Baker

INSIDE Edge, a magazine published by and for college students, has rated 300 colleges and universities as most-fun and least-fun schools. The bottom five (absolute least-fun) are:296. U.S. Naval Academy297. Johns Hopkins University298. Rochester Institute of Technology299. U.S. Military Academy300. University of ChicagoAs a graduate of Johns Hopkins, I am distressed by this list. The assertion that the University of Chicago is less fun than Hopkins strikes me as outrageous.In my student days the University of Chicago was constantly boasting about its superior funlessness.

Denyse D. Godenne, 69, data management librarianDenyse D. Godenne, a retired data management librarian and former Columbia resident, died Oct. 30 of complications of emphysema and cancer at her home in Enfield, Conn. She was 69.She was born in Brussels, Belgium, and lived Connecticut before moving to Columbia in 1980, after her divorce. She was a sales associate for Russell T. Baker Co. and later a parts analyst for AAI Corp. in Cockeysville. She was a configuration management and data management librarian for Daedalean Inc. before returning to Enfield in 1990.

On February 12, 2003; VIVIAN GRAFTON SHERMAN (nee Ward), graduated from Bard Avon and worked for Russell T. Baker & Company for 37 years as Executive Director. Beloved wife of John H. Sherman; devoted mother of Craig G. Sherman and Cynthia L. Hill; dear grandmother of Rebecca Kathleen and Rachel Elizabeth Hill. A Funeral Service will be held at the family owned Ruck Towson Funeral Home, Inc., 1050 York Road (Beltway Exit 26 A) on Friday at 1 PM. Interment Old Brick Baptist Church Cemetery.

Thanks to all who played our latest quiz on Baltimore-area authors. For those who were stumped, here are the answers: 1. A frequent heroine in Laura Lippman novels is former reporter (and Lippman alter-ego?) Tess Monaghan, whose greyhound is named Esskay. 2. Russell Baker worked at The Sun before becoming a commentator for The New York Times. His wonderful memoir about Baltimore is called Growing Up. 3. Anne Tyler, whose novels include The Accidental Tourist, Saint Maybe and Digging to America, often chronicles the love and conflict of family life.

City College, the nation's third-oldest public high school, whose alumni include former mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and newspaper columnist Russell Baker, added another laurel yesterday. The high school has been named a Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education, one of 198 middle and high schools nationwide to receive the commendation this year. The award was announced yesterday in the school's auditorium, with cheering students packing the seats and a row of city, state and federal dignitaries sitting onstage.

John Charles Hott, a former Charles Village moving and storage firm owner, died of stroke complications Wednesday at his Fort Myers, Fla., home. The former Perry Hall resident was 71. Born in Fabius, W.Va., he left home at age 14 after completing eight years of schooling. He moved to Alexandria, Va., and began work as a tire changer for Smith's Moving and Storage Co. Family members said the man for whom Mr. Hott worked saw potential in him and encouraged him to go to business school. "With hard work and determination he finished business school and rose through the ranks to become a branch manager for Smith's," said his son, Donald Joseph Hott of Severn.

The "Unhappy Halloween, Hon" (Nov. 3) commentary by Michael Cross-Barnet was a scream. Like a Holy Roman emperor or a demented totalitarian dictator, it dictated what was appropriate free speech for all times and all places. It also chastised the owner of Cafe Hon for apologizing for a Halloween depiction of a white person with a black face only twice and not at least three times. Moreover, the writer actually spelled out in several sentences what it deemed as the only appropriate wording of a theoretical third apology by the Cafe Hon . And what was the Hon's verbal trespass?

In the words of a prosecutor, longtime crime figure Dominic J. "Crowbar" Carozza was the "mastermind" behind the June murder of Russell Charles Baker, a reputed drug courier who owed Carozza money.In the words of Carozza's lawyer, his client was a hard-working city public works superintendent with a "soft touch" for helping people.A Baltimore Circuit Court jury now must decide whether Carozza, 59, and co-defendant Robert "Tattoo Bobby" Vizzini, 26, plotted and carried out Baker's murder June 22 near Carozza's Little Italy home.

Dominic J. "Crowbar" Carozza swallowed and muttered something to his lawyer.Other than that, the longtime crime figure from Albemarle Street didn't display much reaction when a jury found him guilty yesterday in the murder of a junkie who owed him money.His equally guilty co-defendant, Robert J. "Tattoo Bobby" Vizzini, didn't do much either. Just blinked and lowered his head for a second or two.And then they left the courtroom, Vizzini in handcuffs, Carozza in his wheelchair.On his way out, 60-year-old Carozza turned toward his sister and offered a look that seemed to say, "Can you believe this is happening again?"

THE Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) is out with its annual survey of teachers' salaries in the 15 Southern and border states covered by the organization, and Maryland is way ahead of the pack.Maryland's public school teachers earned an average of $39,141 in the year just ended, well ahead of second-place Virginia's $32,356 and nearly $10,000 above the average for SREB states ($30,017). In fact, Maryland is the only Southern/border state with teachers' salaries higher than the national average ($35,334)