Tara

As 30 million Americans tuned in last week to the "Scarlett" miniseries, developers were seeking investors for a $50 million "Gone With the Wind" Country theme park near Atlanta.The park, if built, will finally provide an answer to the question Atlanta visitors most often ask: "Where's Tara?"And, recently, developers provided the first detailed glimpse of their vision for the project.Tara will be a 7,000- square-foot walk-through mansion on 300 forested acres in Villa Rica. Accompanying it will be an 1800s-era town, old-style farms, wooded walkways and a restaurant/convention center modeled after the white-columned Twelve Oaks plantation home.

About 40 friends and relatives of Tara Gladden spent Saturday soliciting donations from drivers along Little Patuxent Parkway, hoping the lure of a sizable reward will help police find the teen-age girl's killer.From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the group approached vehicles stopped at traffic lights along a four-block stretch. As vans, trucks, Corvettes and family station wagons drove by, the volunteers would run through traffic with their pails and ask for money. At times, they were lured by horn-blowing motorists with handfuls of dollars or coins.

NAGANO, Japan -- She slept with her gold medal, just as she always dreamed of doing. She appeared on David Letterman's television show to trade quips and celebrate her triumph. She skated in an exhibition in which the only thing that mattered was pleasing the crowd.But now comes the tough part for 15-year-old Tara Lipinski.What do you do for an encore?History's youngest Winter Olympic gold medalist faces a tricky future after defeating American teammate Michelle Kwan in Friday's women's figure skating final.

A Howard County judge yesterday sentenced a Baltimore man to life in prison without parole for killing a 15-year-old Columbia girl in 1993 to cover up his unlawful sexual relationship with the minor.Curtis A. Jamison, 30, showed no emotion as Circuit Judge James Dudley told him he could never hope to leave prison. He scratched his head with one finger and glanced at his mother, father and sister after hearing the sentence.On the other side of the courtroom, tearful relatives of the victim, Tara Allison Gladden, greeted the ruling with the cry, "Yes!"

Shawn Gladden won't forget his little sister, Tara. She had looked to him all her life for protection, security and a little brotherly love.Until the state medical examiner's office identified the body found in a culvert under Little Patuxent Parkway in Columbia Tuesday morning as Tara's, 19-year-old Shawn had hoped against hope."

The Gladden family had a reunion of sorts: Parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends greeted one another with hugs and kisses.John and Johanna Gladden circulated Friday through the group that included Howard County police officers and Columbia Foundation officials, making sure everyone felt welcome and comfortable.But the smiles and chatter could not hide the absence of the person who brought them together. The crowd gathered to establish the Tara Gladden Memorial Fund on what would have been the teen-ager's 19th birthday.

IN WASHINGTON, people are questioning the maturity and judgment of professional basketball stars in their mid-20s.Perhaps a 15-year-old figure skater could offer a lesson or two.Tara Lipinski was immensely poised when she won the Olympic gold in women's figure skating with brassy performances in Nagano, Japan. Widely admired was her insistence on living in the athletes' dormitory, undaunted by potential distractions.Ms. Lipinski, in Baltimore this week for a skating exhibition, showed her wisdom again when she announced she would turn pro and, under skating's muddled rules, forfeit eligibility for the 2002 Olympics in Utah.

Being a new vampire ain't easy. And Tara's learning the hard way. Escaping from Sookie's into the woods, Tara experiences vampire sensory overload - her vision is heightened, she can hear things very clearly. She can see the entire universe and stars above her, but can also see a creepy opossum in a tree. She can also see a stranded motorist looking for help. She bears her fangs and approaches.  "Listen ... I ... have no problem with vampires," the woman begs. Tara's not having it. She's hungry and pissed, so we grabs her neck and is about to sink her teeth in until she sees her reflection in the car window and backs away.  "I'm sorry," Tara says and backs off. Apparently, if you were a good person and had a soul before you turned vampire, that carries over into your new vampire conscience.  Or something.

You may think you know a lot about Tara Lipinski. How she was named for a plantation. How she mounted a Tupperware podium at age 2. How she won a world championship at age 14, hangs out with Todd Eldredge, weighs 82 pounds, lived it up in Nagano.But what do you really know about the youngest figure skating gold medalist in history? Nothing -- unless you've read "Triumph on Ice" (Bantam Books, 1997), the 15-year-old skater's autobiography.That's right: The prescient pubescent penned her life story -- before the Olympics!

It has been easy for Tara Foran to get caught up in the euphoria of St. Mary's girls basketball this season.The 9-0 Saints keep winning all the close games, they've beaten highly regarded Severna Park and Annapolis to gain the No. 4 ranking in the metro area, the crowds keep getting larger every game and Foran senses this could be the school's best girls basketball team ever.This team is out to surpass the 1991-92 St. Mary's squad that went 28-3.There also is a much-anticipated Jan. 12 date with No. 1 Seton Keough and a chance to possibly leap past the Gators into the top spot.