Side Door

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

A man clung to the driver's side door of his 1995 Isuzu Trooper while two men tried to steal it from a Shell gas station at 6616 Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie Saturday morning, according to Anne Arundel County police. The victim was able to grab the steering wheel, which led the driver to lose control and crash the car into a building of the station. The men ran away toward the Morris Hill neighborhood. The 22-year-old victim from Linthicum, who police did not identify, was thrown from the car during the crash but had only minor injuries when he was taken to Harbor Hospital by paramedics and treated for a cut on his lip. The men had jumped into his car while the victim was making a purchase at the gas station, police said.

POLICE LOG* Elkridge: 6000 block of Old Lawyers Hill Road: A VCR, TV, microwave and grandfather clock were stolen from a home Saturday night or Sunday. Police said burglars apparently broke a side door window, reached through and unlocked a side door.

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."

POLICE LOG* Jessup: 7700 block of Route 1: Coins were stolen from a home after a burglar pushed in a pane of glass in a side door Tuesday, police said.

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.

POLICE LOG* Ellicott City: 9900 block of Windflower Court: A resident who heard a noise at the side door of a home saw someone dressed in black running from the house Monday morning, police said.

POLICE LOG* Marriottsville: 700 block of Driver Road: A .357-caliber Magnum handgun and other items were stolen from a home Monday after someone kicked open the side door, police said.1200 block of Marriottsville Road: A burglar kicked open the door of a house and its garage Monday, ransacked the interior and stole cash, a car phone and video games, police said.

* North Laurel: 9200 block of North Laurel Road: Pry marks were found on a side door at Laurel Woods Elementary School between Saturday and Monday. Entry wasn't gained.9400 block of Mayflower Court: A 1985 Chevrolet Spectrum, which had been reported stolen in Baltimore on April 28, was recovered at 8 p.m. Monday.

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

If you'll be holiday shopping online this year -- and there are many good reasons to -- make sure you enter online stores through the right door. And the right door is not the retailer's front Web page. Instead, try using a side door to discounts, otherwise known as a rebate shopping portal. A shopping portal, or entrance, is a separate free Web site that has an arrangement with retailers. Retailers pay a commission to portal operators in return for sending Internet consumer traffic to the retailer's site -- a kind of referral fee. When the consumer makes a purchase, the retailer pays the portal a commission.

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 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 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.

* Hickory Ridge: 10300 block of Little Patuxent Parkway: Someone stole a multi-colored wallet containing $25 cash from a chair in the Columbia Library between 7:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. Tuesday.5800 Cedar Lane: Someone stole a $250 Magnavox VCR between Friday and Monday from the Nature's Way Children's Center. There were no signs of forced entry into the building.* Wilde Lake: 10600G Green Mountain Circle: Someone broke the door handle of the driver's side door and the lock of the passenger's side door of a gray 1986 Honda Prelude between 9 p.m. Monday and 7 a.m. Tuesday.

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