Tennis Shoes

A 29-year-old man was arrested at a Baltimore mission last night and charged with killing a man in September 1989 for his shoes.Alvin L. Milam, of no fixed address, was taken into custody about 7:30 p.m. at the Helping Up Mission, 1000 E. Baltimore St., according to police.Milam was charged with killing Kevin M. Smith, 25, of the 4400 block of LaPlata Ave. in northwest Baltimore. The slaying occurred Sept. 29, 1989.Police found the victim's body on top of some newspapers on the second level of the Quill-Crown Parking Garage in the 300 block of W. Franklin St. Milam had been struck in the head with a metal bar from a scaffold jack.

Three banners hang from the wall in the wrestling room at Kenwood. One lists the school's state champions, another honors the school's Baltimore County champions and a third commemorates a junior varsity county championship. At first, that third banner embarrassed Nyonbou "Boo" Farley. He doesn't like to call attention to himself. But two years later, he knows how much it means. After finishing second in the Baltimore County championships last week, Farley's 30-2 record in the 160-pound weight class earned him the top seed in this weekend's Class 4A-3A North regional tournament with a chance to earn a berth in the state championship on March 1-2 at the University of Maryland's Cole Field House.

Three people were victims of strong-arm robberies Wednesday night -- two in the same block in Wilde Lake village and one in Ellicott City, Howard County police said yesterday.About 9 p.m., a man snatched a woman's purse as she was leaving the swim center in the 10400 block of Twin Rivers Road, police said.The man, described as wearing a green or gray sweat shirt, blue jeans and tennis shoes, fled on foot toward the tennis courts, police said.An hour later, a man was robbed of his tennis shoes in the same block, police said.

" Snow Cone Maker " by Tiny Toys Inc., is in the top 30 of free gaming apps on the Apple store, which is not surprising since half of the country is experiencing oven-like conditions this summer. Snow cones (or "snow balls," or "shaved ice" depending on your region) represent Americana in July like few other traditions. As an enterprising 16 year-old desperate to buy a used car, I toiled one summer at my local snow cone stand to earn a few (under the table) dollars.

Thief with a key takes 500 tennis shoesSomeone who apparently had a key stole nearly 500 tennis shoes from a sportswear store in Hanover last week, county police said.The suspects took tennis shoes, valued at $17,764, from Levtran Enterprises Inc., on Candlewood Road sometime on Thursday or Friday.POLICE LOG* Ferndale: Vandals threw soda bottles through three classroom windows at George Cromwell Elementary School in the 500 block of Wellham Ave. Wednesday night, county police reported.

POLICE LOG* Chatham Mall: A man grabbed a purse from a woman leaving the Giant supermarket about 6:50 p.m. Thursday. Police said the man was black, about 30 years old with a dark complexion and a mustache. He was wearing a dark baseball cap, a dark shirt and vest, knee-length black shorts and tennis shoes.

WORD ON the street is the Reebok Blacktop is hot.The outdoor court basketball sneakers are one of the latest offerings from the No. 2 athletic shoe company, and they've been spotted all over Baltimore city. They've been slam-dunking on playgrounds, running through streets and walking in malls.And based on the demand at different sports stores, the sneakers are this summer's big hit with city youths. Athletic shoe stores are reporting brisk sales. "One of the hottest items on the market," said K.C., assistant manager at Foot Locker in Mondawmin Mall.

Two Glen Burnie girls were arrested on drug charges Monday after an officer stopped their car for speeding near North Arundel Hospital and found marijuana in a pair of tennis shoes on the back seat, county police said.Police said Officer Stephen Perron stopped a 1994 Chevrolet at Hidden Brook Drive and Elvaton Road about 9: 15 p.m. Perron and Officer Gavin MacCubbin searched the car with the driver's permission and found 11.3 grams of marijuana and a smoking pipe in the tennis shoes on the back seat, police said.

Three banners hang from the wall in the wrestling room at Kenwood. One lists the school's state champions, another honors the school's Baltimore County champions and a third commemorates a junior varsity county championship. At first, that third banner embarrassed Nyonbou "Boo" Farley. He doesn't like to call attention to himself. But two years later, he knows how much it means. After finishing second in the Baltimore County championships last week, Farley's 30-2 record in the 160-pound weight class earned him the top seed in this weekend's Class 4A-3A North regional tournament with a chance to earn a berth in the state championship on March 1-2 at the University of Maryland's Cole Field House.

Westminster police are investigating the disappearance of 14-year-old twin sisters who left a note saying they were running away, authorities said yesterday. Lisa Marie Keys and Sheila Ann Keys, students at Westminster High School, were reported missing by their stepmother, Beatrice Keys, about 3:25 p.m. Friday after she found the note, said Maj. Dean A. Brewer, a Westminster police spokesman. Fliers seeking information about the girls' whereabouts are posted throughout Westminster. The teen-agers were last seen at Wampler Lane and Royer Road in The Greens development on the city's west side, Brewer said.

An Exxon gas station attendant in Bel Air was shot during an armed robbery late Saturday night, according to Harford County police. At about 11 p.m., a suspect entered a gas station at 600 W. MacPhail Road with a black handgun and shot the attendant, police said. The suspect was last seen running away wearing a ski mask, long-sleeved shirt and shorts, and tennis shoes - all black, police said. The attendant was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore where his condition is unknown.

Jimmy Johnson Shoe Shiner Shoe Shine Gallery, Baltimore Salary --About $100 a day, depending on the number of clients Age --65 Years on the job --17 How he got started --Johnson started shining shoes when he was 14. But he has been shining shoes professionally for 17 years. He started in his hometown of Norfolk, Va. Nine years ago, his father-in-law introduced him to the owner of the Shoe Shine Gallery in the Gallery mall at the Inner Harbor. He's worked there ever since. Typical day --Johnson rents the space from the Shoe Shine Gallery owner and runs the operation on his own, six days a week.

By Nadine Khtikian's count, Americans can do their part to end poverty in west Africa just by donating a pair of used sneakers. It may seem an odd approach, but since January, Khtikian has been collecting athletic shoes from around Baltimore with the aim of shipping thousands of sneakers to Ghana, where they will be refurbished and sold. Half of the proceeds will go toward training a needy farm family in environmentally sound agricultural techniques. At $3 each, 500 pairs of shoes will pay for a water pump, a well, a bicycle, chickens, assorted trees and additional items.

I WAS TRAPPED in an airport security cattle call early one morning on my way out of Baltimore when a disturbance erupted just ahead of me in the long, serpentine line. A man wearing dress pants and a dress shirt open at the neck was berating a woman of Middle Eastern descent who was wearing a head wrap. "Why don't you dress like an American?" he said to her. "Because your people flew planes into our buildings, we have to stand in lines like this." Another man just ahead of her in line and wearing jeans and a T-shirt took up her cause, saying that because this was America, she could wear what she damn well pleased.

For almost 20 years, Baltimore's Campaign for Our Children has been using its symbiotic relationship with one of city's top marketing agencies, Carton Donofrio Partners, to produce hip and eye-catching ad campaigns designed to catch the public's fleeting attention and turn it toward the troubling issue of teen pregnancy. From graffiti on buses ("Virgin. Teach your kids it's not a dirty word") to posters of chickens in tennis shoes ("What Do You Call A Guy Who Makes A Baby, Then Flies The Coop?"

MURPHY, N.C. - For five years, the mystery of Eric Rudolph's whereabouts provided a kind of parlor game for residents here along the forested flanks of the Appalachians. But the arrest over the weekend of the man accused of four bombing attacks placed a new question on the lips of just about everyone in this western North Carolina town, locals and visitors alike: How did he do it? As authorities began yesterday to retrace the steps that led to Rudolph's capture behind a supermarket on the edge of town, there was only speculation about how the former handyman managed for years to elude a manhunt by federal agents seeking him in connection with several blasts across the South.

A 29-year-old homeless man who was charged with killing a man for his tennis shoes may be linked to the deaths of at least six other homeless men since 1987, Baltimore police said yesterday.Alvin Lewis Milan was arrested Monday at the Helping Up Mission in the 1000 block of East Baltimore Street and charged with first-degree murder, said Detective Kevin J. Davis of the homicide unit.His arrest came after police received information linking him to the slaying of Kenneth Maurice Smith, 25, who was found bludgeoned to death Sept.

When Dawn Marie Romano Garvin's father found her slain in her White Marsh apartment, she was lying nude on her bed, clutching a teddy bear.Her killer apparently had raped her and sexually assaulted her again before shooting her twice in the head.Garvin was killed Nov. 2, 1987. She was just 20 years old and four months into her marriage to her high school sweetheart, Keith Garvin.Yesterday would have been her 24th birthday.Instead, it was the first full day of trial for Steven H. Oken, the man accused of raping and killing Garvin.

Alvin H. "Bud" Noble, a retired Baltimore City public school teacher who bought tennis shoes for poor pupils so they could take his physical education classes without difficulty, died of an apparent heart attack Wednesday at his Towson home. He was 81. Born in Chicago, Mr. Noble earned a bachelor's degree in physical education and a master's in education from the University of Illinois, the latter in 1949. He moved to Baltimore after teaching anatomy at the university for a year. He took a job in 1951 teaching physical education at what was then Robert Poole Junior High, and retired from the school in Hampden in 1977.

Westminster police are investigating the disappearance of 14-year-old twin sisters who left a note saying they were running away, authorities said yesterday. Lisa Marie Keys and Sheila Ann Keys, students at Westminster High School, were reported missing by their stepmother, Beatrice Keys, about 3:25 p.m. Friday after she found the note, said Maj. Dean A. Brewer, a Westminster police spokesman. Fliers seeking information about the girls' whereabouts are posted throughout Westminster. The teen-agers were last seen at Wampler Lane and Royer Road in The Greens development on the city's west side, Brewer said.