Owings Mills

Adoption Day: time for cheers, tears

Each mom got a single red rose. Each child, whether toddler or teenager, got a brown teddy bear. Fifteen children in all, most living in foster homes, got permanent families.

Owings Mills eyes end of an era

Moments after suffering a loss at Pikesville last Friday, Owings Mills football coach Brian Bandurchin gathered his weary team in the end zone and reiterated that he wants it to focus on its next opponent and not look back. The players and coaches then put their hands together and enthusiastically chanted, "Family!"

Peter Hermann: Tiny suburb considers private policing

The village of Oakside is a suburb within a suburb within a suburb - a pinprick of a development lost in the sprawl of Owings Mills, well past the mall and the familiar big-box stores, backed against an environmental preserve that prevents building any farther west.

Torah survives ordeal, finding a home in Md.

Today, a fledgling Jewish congregation in Baltimore County will rededicate sacred Torah scrolls, originally inscribed in czarist Russia and rescued decades later from the communist Soviet Union by a rabbi persecuted for his faith.

Jay Hancock: So, anybody out there in the market for a mall?

Bernard Freibaum, chief financial officer for General Growth Properties, began dumping his company stock six weeks ago.

Owings Mills man charged in wife's strangulation

A 54-year-old Owings Mills man was charged yesterday with first-degree murder in the strangulation of his wife, whose body was found Wednesday at their home, Baltimore County police said. Nankisoor Ramnath of the first block of N. Ritters Lane was denied bail and is being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center, according to police. Authorities were called to the residence about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday by the woman's 19-year-old daughter, who said she found the body of her mother, Nirmala Maharaj, 50, in a crawl space under the house. The cause of death was determined to be strangulation. Ramnath was charged with murder after police interviewed him and other family members. Police said the couple had quarreled early Wednesday. Maharaj had obtained a temporary protective order against Ramnath in March 2007, but it was dismissed after she failed to appear at a hearing a week later, according to court documents.

Desirable Spaces

A private paradise nestled in the woods

One gaze from the back porch of this Owings Mills home toward a grove of trees is the clue to the property's name, Walnutwood. There are more than 2 acres of walnut trees where the ground slopes away from the house toward a spring-fed pond.

Judge's action questioned again

It took just a half-hour court hearing to convince the judge that Parbadee Ann Bisnath's ex-husband had threatened her with a kitchen knife in front of their children and vowed to kill her if she did not leave their house.

Malea Mitchell

Malea Mitchell has a passion for fashion, and that takes some work. "I try to go to the mall once a week. I like to go when I know a new shipment has come in at my favorite store(s). If a hot new collection drops, and you've skipped a week, everything could be gone by the next time you get there," says this 24-year-old underwriter for Meritain Health. When we "glimpsed" the Parkville resident hanging out with friends at Cibo Bar & Grille in Owings Mills, she showed off her "versatile, fabulous, modern, chic" style in a moss-colored cashmere Xhilaration puff-sleeve sweater from Target, khaki wide leg pants from Express ("I had to get them tailored because I'm so short: 4 feet,10 inches"), Linea Paolo bronze peep-toe slingback wedges from Nordstrom, a Coach patchwork shoulder bag, and Bulgari glasses embellished with Swarovski crystal and silver discs from Lenscrafters. "I wouldn't say that I go out of my way to look for bargains, although it is nice when I come across one. I'm really more about balance than bargains. Like my Glimpsed picture for example. ... You would never know the shirt was from Target, because the rest of the outfit elevates the look and feel of the sweater." However, there are those times when passion becomes an obsession for Mitchell. "When I set my mind on a ridiculously expensive item - it could be anything from a purse, to a pair of shoes, to an expensive leather coat - if I have to have it, I have to have it. I'll really go above and beyond everything to come up with the cash. I mean, who really needs a whole meal at work, right? It's funny because I'll eat nothing but a bag of Cheez-Its at my desk everyday for two weeks straight if - at the end - I can finally get that new pair of Versace's!"

A life of 'selfless service to others'

As a child, Mickey Lippy dreamed of becoming a rescuer and pretended to fight fires with a vacuum cleaner hose and transport victims on an old TV stand that doubled as a makeshift gurney.

Teen gets 50-year term in Owings Mills assault

An Owings Mills teenager was sentenced in Baltimore County Circuit Court yesterday to 50 years in prison for trying to rape a 63-year-old woman whose home he robbed. Loren D. White, 18, was convicted in June of attempted first-degree rape for the January attack. The woman was returning home from grocery shopping when White forced his way into her Owings Mills townhouse, pointed what appeared to be a handgun at her and ripped off her clothing, prosecutor Robin S. Coffin said. He stole her purse and tried to rape her, but the woman fought back, even getting the weapon - which turned out to be a pellet gun - away from him. White then pushed her down the basement stairs, took her car keys and fled in her car. The teenager was caught several hours later when a police helicopter looking for suspects in the assault spotted White and some friends running from a vacant house in which a real estate agent had found them drinking, the prosecutor said. The victim's stolen car was parked in the garage of the empty house that was burglarized. Judge John G. Turnbull II sentenced the defendant to life in prison, suspending all but 50 years of that term.

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Man dies in crash while en route to help father

When Aleksandr Skalozub's car skidded off the road during a rainstorm Friday evening in Owings Mills, he called his son for help. Minutes later, his son, Stanislav Skalozub, 31, was killed as his car careened off the road about 100 feet from where his father waited for him, Baltimore County police said yesterday. Aleksandr Skalozub, 58, called his son for help shortly after 6:30 p.m., and as Stanislav Skalozub drove west on Lakeside Boulevard, approaching Silverbrook Lane, he lost control of his car, striking a guardrail and trees. Police said it was raining when the accidents happened, but it was unclear yesterday whether the weather was a factor. The fatal accident remains under investigation, authorities said. Stanislav Skalozub, who lived in the 4900 block of Lockard Drive in Owings Mills, was pronounced dead at the scene. The Skalozubs moved from Russia to the United States about 11 years ago, said Victor Ayzenberg, the brother-in-law of Aleksandr Skalozub.

Marine dies in blast in Afghanistan

A Marine captain from Owings Mills was killed Tuesday while serving as a communications officer in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said yesterday.

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Watchdog

Tracks to nowhere give drivers a headache

The problemUnused railroad tracks crossing Reisterstown Road in Owings Mills have led to deterioration of the road surface, slowing down traffic.

Hospitals' acreage is lure for developers

Chicken coops and cornfields surrounded the state asylum in Owings Mills when it opened almost 120 years ago. The quiet countryside was considered by 19th-century health experts as the best place to care for the developmentally disabled, and over the years the number of patients grew from nine to nearly 3,000.

More stares but less fuel

Gas prices may have risen steadily all year, but Steve David's 40-mile round-trip commute from Randallstown to downtown Baltimore has only been getting cheaper.

All-Baltimore County: Wrestling

Wrestlers of the Year

Watchdog

Owings Mills manhole cover leaky for 3 years

THE PROBLEM // Water leaking from a manhole cover puddles and freezes in an Owings Mills intersection, despite numerous calls for repairs.

Glimpsed

Lola Massey

In the future, when one envisions ladies who lunch, consider Lola Massey, who owns her sophisticated style the way few young women seem to do. Hers is a throwback to another age, when women pulled it together from head to toe, even just to go to the grocery store. No pajama pants and Ugg boots, wrinkled athletic shorts and baby tees. Hers was an age when shirts were blouses, pants were slacks and clothes didn't see the outside world until they'd seen an iron. "Modern" may be what's in. But we think "old-fashioned" never looked so good.

Cody Rosen-Stone, Owings Mills, wrestling

Rosen-Stone went 3-0 last week for the Eagles, all pins. His third win, Thursday against New Town, was the 100th in his four-year varsity career.

Music Column

Tim Smith: Hear 'Messiah,' watch 'Messiah' or sing it yourself

It's Messiah time again, when choral groups large and small tackle Handel's stirring oratorio. Looking around at this year's many performances, some offer extra points of interest.

Finding the deals

Bad economic news could bring good buys for holiday shoppers this year.

A high-tech look at the art of Matisse

A mechanical engineer by training, Jeff Mechlinksi used to spend his days poring over 3-D images of helicopter parts and other industrial gizmos on the glowing screen of his high-tech computer work station.

Rocky relation ends in murder arrest

When Veronica Fludd moved to Baltimore from Summerton, S.C., three years ago to study at Coppin State University, she planned on going back home to become an elementary school teacher, her family recalled yesterday.

Police Blotter

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes from police reports in Baltimore and Baltimore County.