Side Door

A Riviera Beach man accused of killing his father and shooting at a police officer told a district judge yesterday he didn't do it.Via closed-circuit television, 44-year-old Steven Francis Fortmann appeared before Judge James W. Dryden for a bail review hearing with his arm in a sling and bandages on the right side of his face.He twice denied shooting and killing his father, Francis Joseph Fortmann, 72, while the older man sat in the living room watching television Monday."Judge, I didn't do nothing," he said.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes in Howard County.Wilde Lake: Bryant Woods Pool, 10400 Green Mountain Circle: Someone attempted to enter a sauna by kicking in a door Tuesday or Wednesday. There was no entry.Clarksville: 5400 block of Trotter Road: Two men entered a house by forcing open a side door yesterday morning. A wallet and $60 in cash were taken from a bedroom.Pub Date: 7/18/97

Police logElkridge: 6300 block of Green Field Road: Someone broke into a house Monday by breaking a window in the rear door, then reaching in to unlock the deadbolt. No property was taken.Elkridge: 6200 block of U.S. 1: A High's convenience store was broken into through a rear cinder block wall yesterday. The telephone wires were cut, and a safe was pried open and emptied. The intruders escaped through a side door.Pub Date: 11/28/96

Police logGlenwood: 14200 block of Rover Mill Road: Someone stole a stereo and jewelry from a home between 10: 30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesday. The side door was kicked open and some ransacking was reported.Pub Date: 10/10/96

Police logNorth Laurel: 9000 block of Old Scaggsville Road: Someone kicked open the side door of a house Wednesday and took a television, video cassette recorder and pistol from a bedroom.North Laurel: 10000 block of U.S. 1: Burglars entered a Meineke muffler shop and stole an undetermined amount of property.Jessup: 8800 block of U.S. 1: Someone kicked open a side door at Cactus Jack's Snowballs Tuesday or Wednesday, destroyed a candy machine during an attempt to take cash from it and then stole a snowball machine.

Police logOwen Brown: 6500 block of Overheart Lane: Someone entered an unlocked apartment Saturday or Sunday and took a television.Owen Brown: 9100 block of Guilford Road: Someone pried open the side door of Fast Track Training Thursday or Friday and stole cash from the office.

Police logHighland: 13400 block of Villadest Drive: The basement door of a house was forced open Thursday between 11 a.m. and 12: 25 p.m.; nothing was taken.Fulton: 10600 block of Johns Hopkins Road: The side door of a house was kicked open Thursday between 1: 30 p.m. and 4: 30 p.m. and cash was taken.Pub Date: 6/24/96

Two men, one of them with a handgun, robbed the Odenton Roy Rogers restaurant Wednesday night of an undisclosed amount of cash, county police said.Employees at the restaurant, in the 1100 block of Annapolis Road, said the men came in shortly after 10 p.m., ordered food and sat down at one of the tables. When the workers were about to close for the evening, one of the men tied a green bandanna over his face and leaped over the counter, police said.The man then pulled out a black revolver and ordered the employees to lie on the floor.

Police logWest Friendship: 2600 block of McKendree Road: Someone forced the side door of a home on Wednesday and took jewelry.

POLICE LOG* Glenelg: 13900 block of Burntwoods Road: Vandals pried open a side door of the Glenelg United Methodist Church Friday or early Saturday and destroyed property inside, police said.

John Hopkins geriatrician Dr. Robert Burton has heard far too many stories like that of Nancy Schmidt, the 74-year-old woman who was attacked in her Remington home this week. "I think older people are particularly vulnerable to crime ..." Burton said, ticking off horror story after horror story of patients he has known who have been similarly victimized. "Particularly single women living alone are somehow preferentially targeted." From 1993 to 2002, people age 65 or older were less likely to be victims of violent and property crimes than younger persons, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Emerging NASCAR star Carl Edwards risks life and limb every time he gets into his No. 99 Ford. Not to mention every time he gets out of it after a victory. Edwards, 25, who won a Busch Series race March 19 and a Nextel Cup race the next day, celebrates his first-place finishes by doing back flips off his driver's side door - after removing his helmet. At the Busch race, he stuck his landing. "Even the Russian judge would give him a 10 on that one," a radio announcer joked. The next day, he came down with more of a Weebles wobble - enough to remind you that a misstep could break one of Edwards' legs - or his back or his neck or his skull.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes in Howard County.Wilde Lake: Bryant Woods Pool, 10400 Green Mountain Circle: Someone attempted to enter a sauna by kicking in a door Tuesday or Wednesday. There was no entry.Clarksville: 5400 block of Trotter Road: Two men entered a house by forcing open a side door yesterday morning. A wallet and $60 in cash were taken from a bedroom.Pub Date: 7/18/97

A Riviera Beach man accused of killing his father and shooting at a police officer told a district judge yesterday he didn't do it.Via closed-circuit television, 44-year-old Steven Francis Fortmann appeared before Judge James W. Dryden for a bail review hearing with his arm in a sling and bandages on the right side of his face.He twice denied shooting and killing his father, Francis Joseph Fortmann, 72, while the older man sat in the living room watching television Monday."Judge, I didn't do nothing," he said.

Police logElkridge: 6300 block of Green Field Road: Someone broke into a house Monday by breaking a window in the rear door, then reaching in to unlock the deadbolt. No property was taken.Elkridge: 6200 block of U.S. 1: A High's convenience store was broken into through a rear cinder block wall yesterday. The telephone wires were cut, and a safe was pried open and emptied. The intruders escaped through a side door.Pub Date: 11/28/96

Police logGlenwood: 14200 block of Rover Mill Road: Someone stole a stereo and jewelry from a home between 10: 30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesday. The side door was kicked open and some ransacking was reported.Pub Date: 10/10/96

Police logOwen Brown: 6500 block of Overheart Lane: Someone entered an unlocked apartment Saturday or Sunday and took a television.Owen Brown: 9100 block of Guilford Road: Someone pried open the side door of Fast Track Training Thursday or Friday and stole cash from the office.

Police logHighland: 13400 block of Villadest Drive: The basement door of a house was forced open Thursday between 11 a.m. and 12: 25 p.m.; nothing was taken.Fulton: 10600 block of Johns Hopkins Road: The side door of a house was kicked open Thursday between 1: 30 p.m. and 4: 30 p.m. and cash was taken.Pub Date: 6/24/96

Police logNorth Laurel: 9000 block of Old Scaggsville Road: Someone kicked open the side door of a house Wednesday and took a television, video cassette recorder and pistol from a bedroom.North Laurel: 10000 block of U.S. 1: Burglars entered a Meineke muffler shop and stole an undetermined amount of property.Jessup: 8800 block of U.S. 1: Someone kicked open a side door at Cactus Jack's Snowballs Tuesday or Wednesday, destroyed a candy machine during an attempt to take cash from it and then stole a snowball machine.

Police logWest Friendship: 2600 block of McKendree Road: Someone forced the side door of a home on Wednesday and took jewelry.