University Of Virginia

Peter Taylor, 77, a Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist whose stories poignantly chronicled the slow disappearance of the Southern aristocracy, died of pneumonia Wednesday night at the University of Virginia Hospital at Charlottesville, Va. He had suffered a series of strokes over the last few years. He won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for the novel "A Summons to Memphis," about a man called home by his sisters to stop their widowed father from remarrying. It was Taylor's first novel in nearly 40 years.

Towson Catholic's Keith Jenifer, one of the Baltimore area's best high school basketball players last season, has announced his intention to play at Virginia despite interest from Maryland and several other colleges. Jenifer, who will first attend Hargraves Military Academy in Chatham, Va., for the coming school year, spoke of his decision at a tournament in Las Vegas. The 6-2 guard, who expects to enter Virginia in 2001, averaged 18.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.5 steals for Towson Catholic last season.

Douglas F. Gansler Occupation: Montgomery County state's attorney. Gansler is serving his second term. He oversees 65 prosecutors in Maryland's largest jurisdiction. In the news: Virginia Gov. Mark Warner announced last week that convicted snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo will be transferred to Maryland so that Montgomery County, the site of six of the 10 Washington-area killings, can prosecute them. The trials will focus national attention on the prosecutor's office as Gansler approaches an expected run for state attorney general next year.

In yesterday's Howard section, a feature article on Greg Seward should have said that he is a student at Hammond High School.The Baltimore Sun regrets the error.Recipient: Greg Seward, 17, of ColumbiaSchool: Wilde Lake High SchoolWhy Greg was chosen: He holds a 4.0 grade point average and is president of the National Honor Society. He played varsity football as well as varsity lacrosse. He won the school's scholar-athlete award. He volunteers for the American Cancer Society as well as the Leukemia Society of America.

Richard and Martha Dauphinais of Bel Air are pleased to announce the marriage of their daughter Jennifer Lynn to David Zachary Cearfoss, son of Victoria Cearfoss of Catonsville and the late David A. Cearfoss. The couple was married on September 30, 2006, at the Bel Air United Methodist Church by the Reverend Barry Hidey. The reception followed immediately at the Liriodendron Mansion in Bel Air. Jennifer's maid of honor was Meredith Demaso, her college roommate, and her attendants were Katie Heer, Briana Tiede, Jessica Cearfoss, sister of the groom, Laura Lokey-Flippo, Lauren Egee, Karen Tiedemann and Brian Ellis.

Cristi Samaras, 16, of AnnapolisSchool: Annapolis HighAccomplishments: Cristi, vice president of her junior class this year, has been elected vice president of her senior class.She is a member of the girls soccer, basketball and lacrosse teams at school in addition to the basketball team at St. Constantine and St. Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Annapolis.One of Cristi's greatest thrills occurred when, during a trip to Vail, Colo., with the lacrosse team, she was invited to play on an adult lacrosse team.

Does Eric McCarty ever regret helping recruit the teammate who would supplant him as the No. 1 runner on Loyola's cross country team?The situation was most delicate two years ago, when Eric, then a sophomore, was an on-again, off-again member of the Dons' Maryland Scholastic Association champions."

Thousands of Midshipmen paraded through Annapolis Saturday afternoon on their way to the football season opener, helping to spread pre-game spirit throughout the downtown area for the first time in 44 years.Residents, shopkeepers, tourists, football fans and motorists lined streets from the Naval Academy to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium to watch the brigade march by and sing victory songs.At times, it seemed like an endless stream of officer-candidates blanketed Main Street from City Dock to Church Circle, pumping up fans for the game against the University of Virginia.

Washington.--Just when it appeared that our government had run up the flag of surrender in the war on drugs, law-enforcement authorities dropped a ''bombshell'' on the University of Virginia at Charlottesville.In raids on three fraternity houses on this prestigious campus, police seized 12 sandwich bags of marijuana, three bags of hallucinogenic mushrooms, a bag of LSD tabs and scales, pipes and bongs that are used to smoke marijuana and other drugs. Twelve students have been indicted on charges of selling or distributing illicit drugs, including an amphetamine called ''ecstasy.

Alfred Hall Drummond Jr., a retired Social Security Administration personnel director who composed dozens of New York Times and Sun crossword puzzles, died of a heart attack March 27 at Memorial Hospital of Salem County in Salem, N.J. The former Timonium resident was 76. Born in Allentown, Pa., Mr. Drummond sang bass with the Bethlehem Bach Choir during high school. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia, where he was a member of the Raven Society. He studied at the Wharton School of Finance in Philadelphia before serving in the Air Force during the Korean War. He moved to Baltimore in 1956 and joined the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's personnel staff.