Scavenger Hunt

John Smith explored the Patapsco River here in his search for a passageway to the Pacific Ocean. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad passed through here. Blacks fought against slavery and segregation here, and community members fought here against plans to run a highway through the trees and brush. All of these events happened on soil that is now part of the Gwynns Falls Trail, which winds along Gwynns Falls and up the Patapsco. At 15 miles, it is one of the nation's largest urban nature trails.

NATIONAL Little middle ground on issue This week's setback for immigration reform - President Bush's top domestic priority - illustrates not only the weakened state of his presidency, but the fragile and elusive nature of the middle ground on a wrenching social issue, political analysts say. pg 3a Prostate cancer treatment risk The standard treatment for prostate cancer - shutting off the body's production of androgen hormones - can chop 2 1/2 years...

It's a little after 2 on a hot Saturday afternoon when Carole Kaminski climbs on a bench in the square at South Broadway and Thames Street to announce that the Secrets of Fells Point Scavenger Hunt is about to begin. There are 11 of us gathered around her. Most of us have not been on a scavenger hunt since elementary school. Neither have we taken turns flailing blindfolded at a pinata or playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey since then, but we're here for one compelling reason: We have no social life.

What They're saying Today's Sun Columnists Grads as role models Three graduates from Polytechnic Institute, who ended up in the same graduating class at Howard University Medical School, returned as the three commencement speakers. Maryland baltimoresun.com/kane A wise choice for Orioles When the Orioles make their selection in the amateur draft tomorrow, they should consider picking one of agent Scott Boras' clients. The move could pay benefits down the line. Sports baltimoresun.

A 2000 graduate of Anne Arundel Community College Demetria Brown-Sugar Stallings still keeps in touch with many of her classmates. Now she's about to find more of them. The Severn resident recently signed on to lead a team in an unusual scavenger hunt -- a hunt for alumni. Lured by a $500 first price, at least five teams have accepted the challenge to find the biggest number. The winner will be announced Dec. 1. The idea for the scavenger hunt began with the recognition that community colleges, like their four-year counterparts, benefit when they continue their relationships with former students.

Annmarie Garden events Visit Annmarie Garden in Solomons anytime this week and through the end of the month to take part in several fun and creative summer activities. Tomorrow through Aug. 20, visitors of all ages and artistic abilities can draw on the wooded garden pathway at the second annual Sidewalk Chalk-a-thon. Annmarie Garden will also present various other activities through summer, including a scavenger hunt. Annmarie Garden is on St. John's Creek at 13480 Dowell Road in Solomons.

NEW YORK -- A man loping down Fifth Avenue in a furry jackalope costume the weekend after Halloween usually wouldn't turn a head in New York. But curious police stopped the hybrid mascot that Saturday night, and underneath the antlers found A.J. Ortiz Jr., 16, who was late for a scavenger hunt. "They let me go after a while," he said. "But you know what's worse? I had to sign up to be the school mascot to get the costume. I have to wear it for the rest of the year." Ortiz is part of a loose network of hundreds of New Yorkers who meet through the Internet to play games every week in the city's streets: capture the flag, manhunt - a glorified version of tag - and, most recently, the scavenger hunt.

Halley Boring had mixed emotions. The senior attacker took pleasure in contributing six goals and three assists in the Atholton girls lacrosse team's 17-10 rout of host Long Reach yesterday. But her happiness waned in the wake of an announcement earlier in the day of the suspension of three senior teammates for drinking alcohol during a team scavenger hunt Friday and the removal of their coach Monday. "It's been really hard," Boring, a co-captain, said of the past four days. "We do forgive [the suspended athletes]

Atholton girls lacrosse coach Beth Mazanec said last night that she was relieved of her position in connection with an unspecified incident involving several lacrosse players last weekend. Mazanec, who had coached lacrosse for three seasons, said school principal Connie Lewis informed Mazanec and her fiance Chris Williams, an assistant coach on the lacrosse team, that they would no longer be coaching the Raiders 20 minutes before the team's game against Wilde Lake yesterday. Mazanec said the moves came three days after several lacrosse players committed an unspecified team violation during a scavenger hunt Friday organized by Mazanec at her parents' home.