They Were 'huntin' to rob someone'.........

Joshua Eicher, part of a street-cleaning crew with the Charles Village Community Benefits District, pauses from his work to look at flowers and birthday cake left at a makeshift memorial in the 2600 block of St. Paul St. for Stephen Pitcairn. (Kenneth K. Lam, Baltimore Sun / July 27, 2010)

Prior brushes with law highlight long-standing problems with local criminal justice system

The suspects accused in the killing of a Johns Hopkins research assistant had been out that night "hunting to rob someone" and told witnesses that they had robbed and "hurt" a "white boy," according to court records.

Lavelva Merritt, 24, and John Alexander Wagner, 34, charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Stephen Pitcairn, have lengthy criminal histories and have been passing through the region's justice system for years, seemingly without repercussion.

A Baltimore Sun review of court records and interviews with law enforcement officials and a recent victim found:

•Wagner pleaded guilty to a vicious assault on his then-girlfriend in 2008 and received eight years in prison, but the entire sentence was suspended. He was charged with violating his probation on four occasions, but each time a city judge ordered that the terms of his supervision remain unchanged.

In April, Wagner was caught on city surveillance cameras robbing a man at a downtown gas station and was arrested at the scene after the victim gave a detailed account and identified his attacker. But the victim later got skittish and refused to cooperate. Prosecutors dropped the case.

•And on July 22, a Baltimore County judge issued an arrest warrant for Wagner for violating his probation in a 2009 car theft conviction. But it was added to a backlog of tens of thousands of unserved warrants.

"The police can only take this so far — we can lock people up and we can move the baton, and we have to rely on our partners in the system to carry that baton to the finish line," said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. "In this case the baton was dropped."

Wagner and Merritt, according to court records, had struggled with addiction. They had apparently married within the past year and have been arrested together before. Merritt, who is on probation, has at least five prior convictions, most for drug offenses, according to a pre-trial investigator.

Pitcairn, who would have turned 24 today, was on the phone with his mother as he walked to his Charles Village apartment from Penn Station on Sunday night. He was approached in the 2600 block of St. Paul St. by a man and woman who demanded money.

Police say Pitcairn was stabbed in the chest and died in the street as a neighbor held his hand. Bloody shoes, a wallet and Pitcairn's iPhone were found during a search Monday of the nearby Maryland Avenue home of Merritt and Wagner.

Pitcairn had come to Baltimore from Florida after attending college in Michigan and spending a year conducting stem cell research in Japan. Friends and colleagues said he studied breast cancer at Hopkins while teaching MCAT classes, and said he was a "foodie" who loved to travel. He had developed close friendships in his brief time in the city, they said. He was poised to attend medical school and wanted to become a physician to help those less fortunate than him.

"He had so many dreams," said friend Medha Darshan, who trained him when he joined the Hopkins lab last year.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake called Pitcairn's death "an absolutely senseless tragedy" as she walked through Brooklyn on Tuesday evening with a Citizens on Patrol group. "It's incredibly painful for his family, his friends, for the witness and for the community that works so hard to make the neighborhood a safe place to live."

She said police are working hard to target the most violent offenders but was skeptical of the way that Wagner's previous charges had been handled. "I question whether the male suspect should have even been on the street," given his lengthy rap sheet, she said.

Wagner, whose birth date varies in public records, has armed robbery convictions dating to 1991 and received a 15-year prison sentence in the early 1990s.

His most recent charge came in April. After receiving a call for a robbery in progress near a downtown gas station, police tracked down Wagner and Akil Meade using city surveillance cameras. Meade told police Wagner approached and asked if he was a member of the Black Guerrilla Family gang, saying that he "did not want to do this if you are."

He said Wagner then hit him in the face and put him in a headlock while another man rifled through his pockets, an account corroborated by CCTV footage reviewed by The Baltimore Sun.

Meade, 26, worked at the time for Baltimore Rising, a city agency that works with wayward youth and ex-offenders. But when prosecutors spoke to him as they prepared to take the case to court, he expressed reservations.

"You have camera footage, so that's enough," he told prosecutors, according to case notes. He was told that, in fact, his cooperation was necessary. "V [victim] says he's not coming to any court. … V did not want to speak further," the notes show.

"No victim, no case," said Margaret T. Burns, a spokeswoman for Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy. "Without the victim's presence, the evidence is hearsay. Even if they recant their original statements, we need them present in court so we can play the statements back and let the jury decide."

Meade insisted on Tuesday that prosecutors had a strong case without his testimony. He cited the independent witness who called 911, the CCTV footage that corroborated his story, and the fact that the arrest was made on the scene and his belongings were found in Wagner's possession.

Meade said the responsibility for Pitcairn's death falls on the prosecutor who declined to continue with charges against Wagner.

"That's on him," Meade said. "They shoulda gone forward and the dude wouldn't be dead. Tell him to do his job and not put [blame] on me."

University of Baltimore law professor Byron Warnken said a 2004 Supreme Court decision upheld the right of an accuser to confront witnesses. He said prosecutors have the ability to compel victims to testify or seek "body attachment" warrants to have them brought to court, or they can discard the victim's testimony and use the accounts of others who will testify.

"But the practical reality is that in most of these assaults, rapes, robberies, the victim has a lot of control. If the victim doesn't want to play ball, the typical response is to drop the case," Warnken said.

Defense attorney Gregg Bernstein, who is challenging Jessamy in the Democratic primary, railed against the chief prosecutor at a news conference Tuesday for not doing more to keep the defendants off the streets. "If the state's attorney had done her job … Stephen Pitcairn might still be alive today," Bernstein said, calling the murder "not just senseless, but preventable."

Bernstein said he would have pushed harder to obtain the victim's testimony. Even if he couldn't, he said the state's attorney's office under his leadership still would have prosecuted the case.

In a statement, Jessamy accused Bernstein of "politicizing" the tragedy.

Wagner had come before Baltimore Circuit Court Judge John Addison Howard at least four times since a 2008 domestic violence conviction, charged repeatedly with violating a probation term that required him to stay out of trouble, check in with a probation agent and attend anger management classes at the House of Ruth.

He failed to attend the classes and check in with his agent, and was charged with car theft in Baltimore County. In that case, he and Merritt were found driving a stolen vehicle. In the passenger's side door was a bag containing suspected crack cocaine and needles, and a knife was in the center console. Wagner was also arrested in the city for drug possession with intent to distribute.

Howard, who did not return phone calls seeking comment, found Wagner guilty of violating his probation at least twice, but never punished him. Joseph Svitako, another spokesman for Jessamy, reviewed the tape of an April hearing and said prosecutors appeared alongside probation agents and asked that Howard sentence Wagner to three years in prison.

Wagner countered at the hearing that he was attending his anger management classes, working at a law firm, and was making his required check-ins with his probation agent.

"I will tell you, you do not want to be back here," Howard told Wagner, according to Svitako.

Baltimore County judges weren't any stricter with Wagner. Baltimore County District Judge Philip N. Tirabassi sentenced him to two years on the car theft charge but suspended the sentence. Wagner failed to pay $300 restitution to the car theft victim, triggering a violation that did not result in a change to his probation.

A warrant for his arrest was issued July 22 after Wagner failed to report to his probation agent. Officials from the Baltimore County sheriff's office said the warrant was sent to a police station in Pikesville, and police would not comment on whether attempts had been made to serve it. Regionally, there is a backlog of more than 40,000 outstanding warrants.

Merritt, wearing a red tank top and blue track pants, was denied bail during a hearing Tuesday afternoon.

The public defender had asked for a $250,000 bond, claiming that Merritt had no "history of violence" and that she had ties to the community through her brother, who was described only as "a high school graduate."

The attorney also raised questions about the strength of the witness accounts against Merritt, saying they didn't see the actual event, but allegedly gave details about the situation "after the fact."

But Judge Devy Patterson Russell countered with a list of the evidence collected from Merritt's apartment — including the victim's belongings — and the statement she gave police.

"The court considers [her] an extreme risk to the public safety," Russell said.

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Stranger Held Stabbed Victim's Hand

A 23-year-old Johns Hopkins research assistant was fatally stabbed Sunday night in Charles Village during an apparent robbery, two days before the victim's birthday, according to city police.

Officers responded to a call of an attack at about 11:30 p.m. in the 2600 block of St. Paul St. and found the man in the road, suffering from stab wounds all over his body.

A man, who would not give his name, said he witnessed the attack and ran outside to comfort the victim. He was in his home ironing when he saw three people who appeared to be fighting, then heard a scream. He ran outside and saw the victim lying on his stomach in the gutter, then called 911.
"I made it back and held his hand, and I told him that everything was going to be OK," the man said. "He said, 'Help me,' and then I held his hand until he expired. I didn't want him to be alone.

"Nobody wants to die alone."

Police said the victim was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police have not identified the man, pending notification of kin.

About 8:30 a.m. Monday, a police SWAT team executed a raid in the 2700 block of Maryland Ave. and took away a man and a woman in plastic handcuffs. Detectives at the scene would not comment about whether they were considered suspects, but a spokesman confirmed that the raid was connected to the homicide investigation.

The stabbing was the second fatal attack in the city Sunday night. At about 7 p.m., officers responded to a call for shots fired in the 1500 block of Lanhorne Court in East Baltimore and found a 30-year-old man sitting in a vehicle, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head, according to police. Medical crews pronounced the man dead at the scene. Police were waiting to identify the man, pending notification of kin.

Police had no suspects and had not determined a motive in that incident.

In two other unrelated incidents Sunday night, two men suffered nonfatal gunshot wounds.

A 23-year-old man was shot in the left thigh at about 10:15 p.m. in the 5200 block of Wilton Heights Ave. in Northwest Baltimore, according to police. The victim was taken by a friend to an area hospital. The victim told police that he was outside his home when an unidentified man attempted to rob him. Police said the victim was trying to run away when he was shot.

Later in the night, an unidentified man was shot in the leg in the 1500 block of Baker Ave. in West Baltimore, according to police. The man was taken to an area hospital at about 1:30 a.m., and his condition was unknown.
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Suspected Female Arrested After 7 Bank Robberies

A woman who used heavy makeup as a disguise and is suspected of robbing seven Baltimore area banks was arrested on Saturday when a teller hit a panic button, trapping her inside a vestibule until police arrived.

Special Agent Richard J. Wolf, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore FBI office, said the 27-year-old suspect became "extremely aggitated" while stuck Saturday between the entrance way doors of the Madison Bank in the 6800 block of Harford Road.

Wolf identified the suspect as Darion Randle of Lansdowne. She had been sought since early July after the FBI says six banks were robbed by a woman wearing a long black wig and used notes to threaten tellers that bank employees and customers would be injured if she didn't get money. Authorities say that female bank robbers are "rare."

Police say that they've linked four bank robberies in Baltimore County and three in the city to the woman.

The latest occured Saturday about 11 a.m. at the Madison Bank on Harford Road. Wolf said the woman -- who sometimes wore an Arab head covering, but not this time -- handed a teller a note and got money. The teller pushed the alarm button as the suspect left, trapping her in the vestibule.

A city police officer said cops rushed to get a picture of her before her makeup came off. Wolf said her makeup was melting in theheat. "She was extremely agitated," he said. ""She tried to bang the glass off. She pulled some weather stripping. Her make-up was running because of the heat. There was a lot of make-up."

Peter Hermann

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Hopkins Leads List of American Hospitals

The widely regarded U.S. News and World Report is out with its annual hospital rankings and several Maryland hospitals, led by Johns Hopkins Hospital, made the list.

Hopkins placed first in five specialties (Ear, Nose and Throat; Gynecology, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Urology and Rheumatology) and ranked in 11 more categories (Cancer, Diabetes & Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Geriatrics, Heart & Heart Surgery, Kidney Disorders, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics, Psychiatry, Pulmonology and Rehabilitation).

That gave the hospital top ranking for the 20th year in a row.

The University of Maryland Medical Center ranked in nine categories (Cancer, Diabetes & Endocrinology, Ear, Nose & Throat, Geriatrics, Heart & Heart Surgery, Kidney Disorders, Orthopedics, Pulmonology and Urology).

Ranking in three were Good Samaritan Hospital (Gastroenterology, Geriatrics and Orthopedics) and Union Memorial Hospital (Orthopedics, Heart & Heart Surgery and Neurology & Neurosurgery).

And ranking in one were Franklin Square Hospital Center (Gastroenterology), Johns Hopkins Bayview (Geriatrics), Mercy Medical Center (Neurology & Neurosurgery) and Sheppard Pratt Hospital (Psychiatry).

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Federal Grand Jury Indicts 15 In Connection With Gang

Correctional officer among those accused of working for Black Guerrilla Family

A Jessup correctional officer was arrested Tuesday morning on federal drug charges, revealing a sweeping effort to wipe out one of Maryland's most notorious gangs through related racketeering indictments.

Alicia Simmons, 34, is accused of smuggling cell phones and heroin into prison for incarcerated members of the powerful Black Guerrilla Family, which court documents say has used such connections for years to live luxuriously behind bars and maintain mafioso-type control of its widespread criminal organization.

Simmons is the fifth Maryland prison guard implicated in the far-reaching scheme, which goes back to 2006 and includes a total of 37 defendants charged since last year.

But court papers unsealed Tuesday after Simmons' arrest show that 14 BGF members also face fresh racketeering charges from a new federal indictment returned June 23. That means each of the alleged gang members could be held responsible for their comrades' crimes if convicted.

This is the most powerful tool we have in our federal toolbox to prosecute" criminal organizations, Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said Tuesday during a news conference to announce the charges.

His office has already used racketeering laws to prosecute local members of the Bloods, Latin Kings and MS-13 gangs en masse, "And today," Rosenstein said, "we add Black Guerrilla Family to that list."

The case was first highlighted in April 2009, when a federal indictment and related court papers outlined a surprisingly good life being led by BGF members serving terms in Maryland prisons. With the help of corrupt officers, they feasted on fresh salmon and shrimp, swilled Grey Goose vodka and smoked pricey cigars, while using contraband cell phones to order assaults, arrange drug dealings and run day-to-day gang operations.

The 23-page indictment unsealed Tuesday supersedes last year's version and builds on it. It describes the BGF as a sophisticated paramilitary operation that kept a "treasury," made motivational T-shirts (slogan: "Revolution is the Only Solution"), held meetings in Druid Hill Park, developed a gang manual, conducted counter-surveillance on law-enforcement agents and paid off prison workers like Simmons with cash and debit cards.

The four Maryland prison guards charged in last year's indictment have all pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy. And all but one of them have been sentenced, receiving federal prison terms between 12 and 24 months.

Two other Maryland guards were sentenced within the past year for doing BGF's bidding in unrelated cases. Lynae Chapman received two years in state prison last month after pleading guilty to supplying drugs and a cell phone to her boyfriend, an alleged BGF member in the Baltimore City Detention Center. And officer Fonda White was sentenced to six months in federal prison for extorting "protection money" from prisoners and their relatives with the help of her locked-up lover, a BGF member.

Maryland Correction Commissioner J. Michael Stouffer acknowledged Tuesday that the BGF has been a "negative influence" within the state's prisons for a long time, adding that the recent investigation and indictments are part of a clamping-down on both inmates and crooked staff.

The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services has added cell-phone-sniffing dogs and body-orifice scanners to help keep contraband out, improved its gang intelligence efforts and adopted new regulations that subject potential employees to expanded background checks.

"Today's indictments show that developing our intelligence capabilities has become a top priority in the last three years," DPSCS Secretary Gary D. Maynard said in a statement. "They also serve notice to those employees who would break the law, that you will be caught. We're working more effectively with law enforcement on everything from gang issues to contraband interdiction on a daily basis."

Tuesday's indictment culminates nearly two years of collaboration by state and federal authorities who used wiretaps, surveillance and countless man-hours to target the BGF. Baltimore assistant state's attorneys and assistant U.S. attorneys worked together with city police, Drug Enforcement Administration agents and corrections officials to bring the case together.

"It has to be a comprehensive strategy when it comes to dealing with gangs in our community," Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy said during the news conference.

Maryland beefed up its anti-gang statute during the past legislative session, but the state doesn't have a racketeering law and often relies on the federal statutes for these cases. And Rosenstein has made dismantling gangs a focus, hiring three prosecutors last year dedicated solely to prosecuting gang members.

According to Tuesday's unsealed indictment, the BGF — also known as the "Black Vanguard," "Black Family" or just the "Family" — was founded in California in the 1960s and infiltrated Maryland's prison system roughly 30 years later (factions here tend to spell "Guerrilla" with two Rs, while others use one). Today, it's considered among the most powerful gangs in the state.

Its leaders, known as the "Supreme Bush," are organized into a "strict rank structure," according to the indictment, and they oversee similar "Bubble Regimes" within Baltimore neighborhoods and state prisons. Members must follow a code of behavior or risk physical violence, and they're expected to recruit new "seed" members to keep the gang alive, while furthering its criminal activities.

The superseding indictment covers activity going back to 2006, and includes claims of narcotics trafficking, robbery, extortion, bribery, witness intimidation and money laundering through the use of pre-paid debit cards.

Among those charged are the gang's alleged local leader, a 41-year-old named Eric Brown, who wrote the BGF handbook, entitled "Empower Black Families;" and Todd Duncan, 36, who worked for the Baltimore nonprofit Communities Organized to Improve Life Inc. while allegedly running much of Baltimore's BGF activities.

Brown is accused of ordering an assault on a BGF member behind in debt payments, handling illegal funds, and arranging for contraband to be smuggled into prison. Duncan is accused of selling sub-par heroin that had to be cut with better stuff to "improve the marketability."

Other defendants include Rainbow Williams, 31, who's accused of dealing drugs and arranging a meeting of 100 BGF members in Druid Hill Park last year; husband-and-wife team Cassandra Adams, 49, and Kevin Glasscho, 47; and Ray Olivis, 57; Deitra Davenport,39; Randolph Edison, 52; Zachary Norman, 53; Kimberly McIntosh, 41; Duconze Chambers, 36; Davon McFadden, 24; James Harried, 47; and Erik Ushry, 26.

All of the defendants, including Simmons, live in the city or in Baltimore County, and they're all charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin. Everyone but Simmons is charged with racketeering.

Some defendants are also charged with money laundering, using a gun to commit a robbery, and illegal possession of ammunition and a gun.

They face a maximum of life in prison on the racketeering and drug conspiracy charges.

"It does not matter if you wear the colors of a gang or a badge of gold," Ava Cooper-Davis, special agent in charge of the DEA, said during the news conference Tuesday. "If you break the law or try to destroy our communities, we will go after you."

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Marine Fatally Shot While Celebrating Before Deployment

In the latest of a string of Baltimore-area killings involving servicemen, a Marine about to be redeployed to Afghanistan was shot at a downtown hookah bar early Friday.

Chase Love, a 26-year-old from New Orleans, was shot once in the chest after an altercation in the lounge between 3:15 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. He said Love was celebrating with fellow Marines before returning to Afghanistan.

Guglielmi said police are interviewing bouncers and other witnesses but have identified no suspects or persons of interest in the shooting.

"Chase was one of the funniest, most loving people I've ever known," said Kathey Early, who knew him from the Road Runners Club, the summer track team she and her husband run in Louisiana. "We've had many kids come and go, but Chase was one that my daughters accepted as a brother and that I thought of as the son I never had."

Early said Love's mother died of breast cancer when he was a senior in high school and that he entered the Marines shortly after graduation.

"He felt that as the man of the house, it was an opportunity for him to take care of his [two] sisters," Early said. "He loved it. He knew he was going to make a career of it."

Love lived with his wife and two stepchildren in North Carolina, where he recently bought a home, Early said. He had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and his Facebook page says that he was a radio operator.

Early did not know why he was in Baltimore. Through tears, she laughed at the memory of a picture of Love in Iraq with lollipops spilling from his pocket.

"That was Chase," she said. "Always a jokester, such a joy to have around."

Guglielmi said Queen's Hookah, in the 200 block of E. Baltimore St., has no history of violent incidents.

The lounge, located in the space formerly occupied by the hookah bar El Basha, opened within the past several weeks, neighboring business owners said. The door was locked and the storefront dark on Friday afternoon.

"I was shocked this morning," said Paul Kuppalli, who owns the greeting card shop next door. "I've been here for 24 years, and I've never seen anything like this. Sure, it worries me to have a killing next door."

Queen's Hookah sits two blocks west of The Block in a stretch of convenience stores, check-cashing windows and financial buildings. Save for a few robberies, the area is usually devoid of trouble, Kuppalli said.

The city has experienced several violent weekends recently, and a shooting at the Inner Harbor last weekend prompted Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III to outline a strategy for preventing trouble during the Fourth of July weekend.

Bealefeld said 300 police officers will patrol the harbor and downtown area during Sunday's fireworks, an increase from last year that had been planned before the shooting. State police and other agencies, such as the Maryland Transportation Authority, will assist.

Several active and former servicemen have been the victims of killings in the Baltimore area in recent months.

In June, unarmed former Marine Tyrone Brown was shot by Gahiji H. Tshamba, an off-duty Baltimore police officer, outside a Mount Vernon bar. Tshamba has been charged with first-degree murder.

In January, Pfc. Darius Ray of Potomac was stabbed after an altercation at a late-night house party in Northeast Baltimore. Three men were charged with first-degree murder.

In December, Clifford Jamar Williams, an Army private on leave from Afghanistan, was shot while driving home from a city grocery with his wife.

In November, former Marine Grayson Edward Kenney Jr. was found in his neighbor's driveway in western Baltimore County, dead of gunshot wounds.

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Ty Pennington And Design Team Coming To Baltimore

ABC'S "Makeover" Show To Be In Baltimore Next Week

For the second time in less than three years, ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" reality TV show is coming to Maryland to build a dream home for a family.

Host Ty Pennington and his team of celebrity designers will arrive in the Baltimore metro area next week to begin the whirlwind construction-design project that provides families with a brand-new home equipped with all the bells and whistles.

The show considered five families from the Baltimore region before deciding on the winners, who will be disclosed July 9, according to Shane Swisher, spokesperson for Excel Homes, a Camp Hill, Pa.-based custom modular manufacturer, which will be leading construction of the project.

A pep rally has been planned for 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Thursday at Grace Fellowship Church, 9505 Deereco Road in Timonium, to help identify volunteers and donations.

"The more the merrier," Swisher said about the effort, which usually involves hundreds of volunteers and thousands of supporters. The project is looking for those with skills ranging from graphic design to sewing to drywalling. Volunteers skilled in excavating, painting, framing and roofing are also needed, along with donations of construction materials and furnishings.

Although the details of the Maryland home will not be revealed until the show airs, past seasons have included such features as a practice football field in the backyard of one family's home, and a barn-themed room anchored by furniture made of bales of imitation hay for a horse-loving member of another.

The project is expected to take a week to complete, according to Swisher, and will air sometime in September when the popular feel-good show enters its eighth season.

"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" last visited Maryland in October 2007 when a Port Deposit woman and her two children received a new home in Cecil County. That show aired in January 2008.

For more information, go to excelhomes.com/baltimoreextreme.

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Babe Ruth Museum Has A Mystery To Solve

It hangs in an upstairs display case at the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum on Emory Street, an old baseball card at the center of a Baltimore mystery.

Inside the faded red border is a photo of the great Babe Ruth gazing off to his left, somehow looking pensive and mischievous at the same time.

The future Hall of Famer is 19 years old, tall and lean, not yet showing the effects of a prodigious appetite for beer and hot dogs that developed over his lifetime.

This is the 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth rookie card. It's one of the most valuable cards on the market, priced at a cool $500,000 in good condition. No more than 11 of the cards are believed to exist.

Museum officials are ecstatic to have it in their possession. While displaying the card for 12 years, they learned only recently that its value had skyrocketed.

"The Honus Wagner tobacco card used to be the Holy Grail of collectibles," says Mike Gibbons, the museum's executive director. "Now the Ruth card is the Holy Grail."

Gibbons and his staff are so excited about the card that they plan to make it the centerpiece of a "blockbuster" display on the history of baseball card collecting.

But before they do, they want to contact the card's owner, the Baltimore man who generously loaned the card for display. They want to let him know about their grand plans for his wonderful gift.

Except … they can't find him.

In this age of computer databases and search engines and 24/7 social media connectivity, the man has flat-out disappeared.

He vanished in a way that seems almost impossible to do in this day and age.

And all he left behind was one of the most expensive baseball cards in the world.

An offer they couldn't refuse

If you ask Babe Ruth Museum officials, they'll tell you the story begins in June 1998. That's when a local man named Richard Davis approached them with an offer.

He was in possession of the 1914 Ruth rookie baseball card in good condition, along with 14 other cards issued that year, mostly of Ruth's teammates. Davis agreed to allow the museum to display them on a long-term basis, with no time-frame for their return.

The cards were from a series issued by the old Baltimore News when Ruth had only recently left St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, the Baltimore orphanage where he had been consigned at age 7 by his parents for "incorrigible behavior."

A 19-year-old pitcher, he had just signed his first professional baseball contract with the Baltimore Orioles of the International League. The team was managed by the legendary Jack Dunn, who had agreed to be Ruth's guardian. As the story goes, Ruth's teammates took to calling him "Jack's newest babe," and the nickname stuck for the rest of his life.

Museum officials were delighted with Davis' loan. Even back then, they knew the card was valuable. But they didn't think it was worth anything approaching the amount the 1909 Wagner tobacco card was fetching. A card of the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame shortstop had sold for $640,000 in 1996.

"We're in the sports heritage business, not in the business of buying and selling memorabilia," Gibbons says of why the Ruth card wasn't appraised back then.

Still, Gibbons knew the Ruth card was rare. Not a lot of people had come across it back in 1914. And the ones who did apparently weren't excited enough to hold on to it.

"It had a very limited distribution, just in the Baltimore area," says Brian Fleischer of memorabilia evaluator Beckett Media in Dallas. "And couple that with the fact [Ruth] was a rookie."

In addition, World War I had just begun, in July of that year, about the time that baseball card experts believe the Ruth card was issued. And even though the U.S. would not enter the war until 1917, Americans seemed to have little passion for frivolous pastimes such as collecting baseball cards.

"There could have been more important things to worry about than the … card of an unknown future Hall of Famer," notes Fleischer dryly.

Richard Davis died in August 2001. His son, Glenn Davis, then entered into the same loan agreement with the museum concerning his father's card collection.

And for the next eight years, the Ruth rookie card was displayed with little fanfare in an upstairs room adjacent to where Ruth was born.

Then last year, Gibbons and his staff were alerted to a story in Forbes magazine on the world's most expensive baseball cards.

There, at the top of the list, was the 1914 Ruth rookie card. And now the price listed for the card was an eyeball-popping $500,000.

Not only had its price taken off, but the Honus Wagner tobacco card had nose-dived in value. Now a Wagner card in comparable condition was worth only $300,000, according to Beckett Media.

Part of the reason, according to Fleischer, is that experts now believe there are some 50 or 60 Wagner tobacco cards in existence, compared to the far smaller number of Ruth rookie cards. So while a Wagner card in almost mint condition sold for $2.35 million three years ago, it's estimated that a Ruth rookie in similar condition could command between $3 million and $5 million.

At this point, museum officials had their Ruth card photographically appraised by Beckett Media. The judgement was, yes, the card was in good condition. Therefore it was worth a half-million dollars.

Hearing this, museum officials quickly decided the Ruth card needed to be displayed more prominently. The museum, which opened in 1974, has struggled in the down economy. A blockbuster display of a rare Ruth card would only help attract interest.

"We knew we had a valuable piece" before, Gibbons says. "But what Forbes was saying made it a totally unique and rare situation."

In search of the owner

Their first order of business was to try to contact Glenn Davis to let him know of their plans for the card.

But he was no longer at the address he had listed on the original loan form. He had left no forwarding address, either. And an Internet search and dozens of phone calls also failed to turn up the right Glenn Davis.

On the original loan form, Davis had listed his employer as Duron Paints. But the company, which had been taken over by Sherwin-Williams, told Gibbons and his staff that it couldn't release private information about an employee.

When museum officials persisted and sent a certified letter to Duron headquarters in Beltsville, they say, the company promised to try to locate Davis.

But they say Duron never got back to them. Calls by the Baltimore Sun to Duron's Human Resources department Monday were not returned.

The search for Davis had arrived at another dead end.

Not that museum officials are giving up.

Now they're hoping a newspaper article will help them locate the mysterious Glenn Davis.

They're eager to find him, eager to get started on their new display. And they're anxious to tell the world that the Baltimore museum that celebrates the most iconic figure in sports also has one of the rarest, priciest memorabilia items associated with his name.

"For a long time, we've had this jewel, this gem," Gibbons says of the card. "And we never tooted our horn about it. Now we're proclaiming publicly that we have this incredible artifact. And we're hoping the public will come to see it."

It would be nice if Glenn Davis comes to see it, too.

Although right now, museum officials would probably settle for a phone call.

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Ehrlich Will Announce Running Mate On Facebook!

Having accomplished his quest to reach 25,000 Facebook fans, Republican gubernatorial candidate Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. now says he will use the social media site for a major announcement this week: His selection of a running mate.

Ehrlich this morning confirmed via a video posted on his Facebook page what Kendel Ehrlich mentioned on their final radio show Saturday. His status update: "Can you guess who it will be? Stay tuned this week right here on facebook to find out who will run with Bob."

As of 1:30 p.m., many of the 58 commenters mention Dr. Ben Carson (who has said he is not interested). One commenter proclaims, "I am available," while others name-drop Republican favorites like party chairwoman Audrey Scott.

The former governor has been an avid Facebook user throughout his campaign, recently using it for a live chat and revealing tidbits now and again to supporters.

Gov. Martin O'Malley also has an active Facebook page with more than 10,000 fans. His latest posting, on Friday, was a link to his most recent attack ad.

Ehrlich says on the video that his lieutenant governor choice will be revealed in a few days. O'Malley is running with his current lieutenant governor, Anthony Brown.

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Bicycles Stolen From South Baltimore Home Of Jenna Bush Hager

Baltimore police are searching for two Trek mountain bicycles that were stolen from the rear garage of the South Baltimore rowhouse owned by former President George W. Bush's daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, and her husband.

The break-in occurred Friday afternoon, but officers who initially responded to a burglar alarm reported at 1:22 p.m. did not find signs of a break-in and left, according to city police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

But the private alarm company notified the Hagers, who were out of town, and they called a neighbor and asked him to check the South Charles Street rowhouse when he returned home from work.
Guglielmi said the neighbor also did not see any problems, but the Hagers asked him to check on their bikes. That's when they were discovered missing, and the neighbor called police, who returned about 6:15 p.m.

The police spokesman said officers found two small pry marks on a rear garage door that opens to an alley, which was secured but not deadbolted. Police said it's possible the burglars closed the door behind them and that it locked.

"There is no intelligence to suggest that this residence was targeted because of who owns it and who lives there," Guglielmi said. "It looks like a very minor residential burglary."

Jenna Bush Hager, a reading resource teacher with the city school system, and her then-fiance Henry Hager bought the two-story 128-year-old rowhouse a few blocks south of Federal Hill in April 2008.

They had Secret Service protection when they initially moved into the neighborhood. But Guglielmi said the couple, who are now married, no longer have that protection. The spokesman said city police notified the White House and the Secret Service of the burglary.

Police described one bicycle as a men's black and red Trek Fuel-style with dual suspension worth $2,500 and a female blue Trek worth $1,000. Guglielmi said nothing else was taken and the burglars did not get into the rowhouse.

Officers from the Southern District, along with detectives assigned to the Regional Auto Theft Task Force, have been put on the lookout for the bikes.

In addition, officers who monitor the CitiWatch camera surveillance system have been notified. Crime lab technicians went to the house to search for fingerprint evidence. Top police commanders, including the major in charge of the Southern District, also responded. Police released a heavily redacted offense report Saturday.

Guglielmi said neighbors did not report any unusual noises Friday afternoon, with the exception of city recycling trucks making their routine rounds.

In March 2009, city transportation officials towed a van connected with the couple's security detail. The van had been parked near the Charles Street rowhouse and accumulated six parking tickets. The agent in charge of the regional Secret Service office paid the fines and retrieved the van from the impound lot on Pulaski Highway.

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Ex-Raven Player Turns Firefighter

Few people could compare being a firefighter and a professional football player, but former Ravens long snapper Joe Maese knows they have one thing in common.

It's called preparation.

"The biggest thing is that you need to be professional," said Maese, a firefighter for Long Reach Station 9 in Howard County. "You go through all those practices, meetings and all of that training. There might be that one fire a year, which is like having that one playoff game, and you had better [have] done your homework and be prepared. If not, you could be in a lot of trouble."

In the NFL, few players make the successful transition from player to another professional career, and even for those who do, it's not always easy. And then there is Maese.

From 2001 through 2004, Maese was the Ravens' long snapper, and he played one season after that in Detroit. Maese always wanted to be a firefighter when he was a child. A career in the NFL didn't become a dream until he was a junior in high school.

"That's all I thought about when I was a kid," Maese said. "It kind of gets in your blood and runs in the family. If you look back, there is usually a history of uncles, grandfathers and fathers who have been firefighters."
In Maese's case, it was his father, Joseph, who has been a fireman in Phoenix the past 23 years. Obviously, Maese hung out at the fire hall with his dad when he was younger, and those impressions were deeply rooted.

"There are a lot of similarities in football and firefighting," said Maese, "especially as far as camaraderie and teamwork. Both are blue-collar in nature because it's physical work. Both can be extremely emotional, but in both sometimes you have to keep the emotion under control."

It didn't take Maese long to learn that as a firefighter. He has been in the department for less than a year, but on his first day on the job he had to answer a call about a teenage suicide.
Since then, he has been involved in his share of fires, nasty automobile accidents and medical assistance calls. That's where the comparisons to the NFL end.

One is a game played by grown men, and the other is about life and death.

"I guess when you've been around this kind of work most of your life, it's easier to walk away from things that happen on the job," Maese said. "I've never been the kind to take work home with me.
"Even when I played in the NFL, I eventually couldn't see myself doing anything different than I do now," he said. "I always knew I wanted to help somebody. It wasn't about money, but doing something constructive with my time."

Maese tried to prolong his NFL career. After Detroit, he spent a year getting various tryouts but couldn't catch on with another team. He even spent a season playing indoor football with the Baltimore Blackbirds.

Who could blame Maese for trying to hang on?

Being a long snapper was an ideal job. He didn't make the big money or have the publicity of a quarterback or running back, but his salary was still larger than the average person's. Besides, a long snapper's body doesn't take the abuse of a regular starter on offense or defense.

Maese traveled the country, stayed in nice hotels and got most of his meals free. The only time he ever got attention was when he messed up, and that didn't happen often, especially when you have a kicker the caliber of Matt Stover.

Maese acknowledges that he made enough money playing pro football that he didn't have to work again. He had a house here in Maryland and another one in Phoenix. But something was missing.

"It's tough to walk away from the game, especially when you didn't have an injury," Maese said. "For years, I just went to work and had a great group of guys to work with, like Matt Stover. You get different tryouts, but sometimes they weren't looking at you, but a kicker."

Even before Maese entered the NFL, he had prepared to be a firefighter. At age 19, he had earned a fire science degree from a college in Phoenix. He got sidetracked from that when the Ravens made him a sixth-round pick in 2001 out of New Mexico.

But soon after his NFL career ended, Maese was back in school, this time at the academy in Howard County. Before joining Station 9, he spent five months training in various areas from swift-water rescue to working with hazardous materials and weapons of mass destruction.

Maese said he expects to spend the next 25 to 30 years as a firefighter. There are still times, though, that he gets questions about playing pro football. He says he is in better shape now endurancewise than when he played in the NFL. At a rock-solid 6 feet 1, 260 pounds, he stands out on a firetruck.

Maese still snaps the ball and he might try out again.

"I've always wanted to live a simple life," he said. "When I was in my second or third year, I only wanted to own a house and truck. If I got another opportunity, I'd consider it."

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96 -Year-Old Volunteer Still Helping Others

This gentleman seems to always have a wonderful day every day! Helping others and staying busy just seems to keep this 96 year old on the go. At the age of 96 he probably knows the days well enough to not need the alarm clock and goes to bed after "setting his agenda for the next day" in his head then wakes in the morning and seeks to meet his goal. Remarkable!


Charles Pollard offers advice on how he's lived to be 96 and remained so healthy: "I keep active, every day." That's another way of saying that he helps others.

Pollard, who never seems to stop moving, has been a volunteer at downtown Baltimore's Waxter Center for senior citizens since 1976. He holds the center's record for continuous service.

Most days of the week he drives his Buick to the Mount Vernon building, where he starts the coffee urns at 7:30 a.m. He also cleans the tables and has the dining area organized for the other seniors who begin their day here with breakfast at the center's Eating Together Meal program. Then he washes the breakfast trays and spruces the place up again for lunch. If he has the time, he'll shoot a little pool.

"He is always willing to jump in at any time," said Kenya Cousin, director of the senior center. "He is a proactive person. His answer is always yes."

Among his many roles, Pollard has also worked in adult day care. He rode a bus to their homes, assisted them as they rode to the center, then helped with meals.

The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging and MetLife Foundation recently honored him with its 2010 MetLife Foundation Older Volunteers Enrich America Award for his "exemplary contribution" to his community and his promotion of "volunteering among older adults nationwide."

Pollard does not look his age. Erect and slim, with unwrinkled skin, he says he keeps young by helping people. He also keeps his own house, rides an exercise bike daily and is an usher at the Enon Baptist Church, where he's been a member for more than 60 years. He's also an animated talker.

A native of Gloucester County, Va., he was the fourth of nine children who all grew up on a farm.

"I did a lot of hard work, but I was young then and it was fun," he said.

An uncle owned cars and Pollard learned to drive when he was 13. He practiced driving along rows of harvested corn. He quickly tells you his first car was a 1927 Chevrolet. He's owned and driven many more since then.

Because he could drive, Pollard found a job with a dairy. He picked up milk cans and later made home deliveries. By the 1930s, he had enrolled in a federal program, the Civilian Conservation Corps. He lived in a camp and cut trails through forests.

Pollard helped raise his siblings and after all had left the family home, he moved to Baltimore in about 1940. He joined the Army during World War II and served in an engineering unit.

"We landed at Anzio Beach," he said. "I saw plenty of action. I drove nearly every vehicle the Army had. And being a country boy, I could do practically anything I was asked to."

He drove trucks while under attack and also had the job of digging graves for the dead.

Pollard was called up again during the Korean War and served a second time.

He settled on being a bricklayer and then joined Procter & Gamble at its Locust Point plant in South Baltimore. He repaired the brick firewalls within the plant's furnaces and also wound up making the Ivory soap before retiring at age 62.

Not willing to do nothing, he walked into the Waxter Center and started a second career as a volunteer. That was more than 30 years ago.

"What can I say? I like to be busy and I like to work," he said.

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Census Worker Fatally Shot In Southeast Baltimore

A U.S. Census worker was killed while dropping off a co-worker in Southeast Baltimore last week, according to police and the Census Bureau.

Spencer Williams, 22, was found shot June 7 inside his vehicle, which had pulled onto a median in the 1100 block of New Hope Circle, police said. He died Friday morning at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Williams was a crew leader responsible for a group of census takers who are doing follow-up visits at the homes of people who did not mail in their questionnaires by April, a Census Bureau spokeswoman confirmed. Malkia McLeod confirmed a Washington Post report that Williams was returning home after driving a co-worker home at the end of the day, and was considered to still be on the job.

Police and census officials said the shooting was not believed to be related to any census field work but was considered an on-the-job death. Officials were investigating the death as possibly domestic-related. Spencer did not have a criminal record.

Since the Census Bureau began making follow-up house calls in late April, workers across the country have been harmed or threatened 252 times, McLeod said. That includes 11 times when shots were fired at them, and 86 times when they were threatened with weapons such as guns, axes and crossbows.

Also, police said a man who was shot early Sunday in the 200 block of N. Rose St. has died. Police found Avon Beasley, 25, lying in a rear yard, suffering from a single gunshot wound to the torso about 2 a.m. He was transported to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:50 a.m.

Beasley had multiple drug convictions, most recently in 2007, and a handgun conviction. Police do not have a suspect or know of a motive in his killing.

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Small Tremor NNW of Baltimore..........

Did anyone in Baltimore feel the earth move under your feet today?

The U.S. Geological Survey is reporting a small earth tremor Thursday morning just 57 miles north northwest of Baltimore. The Mag. 2.9 shake occurred at 8:25 a.m. EDT northeast of Franklintown, Pa., and 14 miles south southwest of Harrisburg.

USGS reported the quake was very shallow, centered less than a mile below the surface.

www.marylandweather.com

Daughter/Mother Gone Again.......

Story continued ~~~~~
The Pocomoke mother that went missing during the first week of April and then returned to her home in Pocomoke has gone missing again.

Back in April it was reported to the police by the mother, Theresa Parks, that her daughter, Kristen Shockley, was missing. Kristen has a toddler son and attends WorWic Tech. When she did not arrive home from class one evening and her mother could not reach her daughter by cell phone the mother of the young woman became concerned. Contacting the local police department after waiting the required 24 hours Theresa was told they couldn't do much since her daughter was an adult and would more that likely, return home. Theresa began to reach out to the community for assistance in locating her daughter and the community came to her need.

Also during the week of April 5 th a phone call from Kristen to her mother lead her mother on a chase to Baltimore, Maryland where Kristen said she was and wanted to come home. Even though Kristen was calling from a police station the department could not hold her because she is an adult. And unfortunately Kristen was gone by the time her mother had completed the two hour or more drive to the city.

A few days after Theresa's trip to Baltimore Kristen returned home to Pocomoke and was reunited with her small son and family but only for a short time.

She has left her son and family once again ending up in Baltimore.

The missing mother from Pocomoke, Kristen Shockley, was arrested May 11, 2010 and is being held in a Baltimore jail. Also arrested was Paul Daniel Brown, Jr. Giving their addresses as unknown and homeless the two have been arrested and charged with fourth degree robbery and malicious destruction of property.

Wounded Veterans Ride Bikes Through Baltimore

( Written by: Brent Jones)
Sgt. Miguel Antia, an Army Airborne Ranger whose body is peppered with seven gunshot wounds from a 2005 attack in Iraq, survived that incident only to find himself suffering from a debilitating disease he contracted while on duty in South America last year.

Antia has spent the past five months at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, battling leishmaniasis, a disease caused by parasites that causes skin sores and spleen damage and nearly paralyzed him permanently. Bedridden until the past couple of months, Antia has since undergone a speedy and somewhat miraculous recovery, leaving him strong enough to participate Thursday in a 13-mile bike ride through Baltimore designed to help other injured veterans.

"I volunteered to do this ride because it is taking care of our own," Antia said. "It helps our morale. If your morale goes down, then everything else goes south."

Antia and more than 30 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are riding bikes for three days in Maryland to raise awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit group that provides services to those injured in combat.

The cyclists departed Thursday afternoon from Under Armour headquarters in Baltimore for a three-hour ride, followed by trips to Andrews Air Force Base and Annapolis today and Saturday.

Most of the cyclists lost limbs during the wars and use adaptive equipment to bicycle.

Sgt. Larry A. Draughn Jr., 22, said he was participating in his first organized bike race. Draughn did so without his legs, which he lost after stepping on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan last May.

Draughn spent months going from hospital to hospital, learning how to live with his injuries.

"It's great that people support us and the other wounded vets," Draughn said. He joined the Marines in January 2007 after proposing to his girlfriend. "I knew I was going to be starting a family, and I wanted to serve my country."

Army Sgt. Jack Schumacher lost his right leg last year after a bomb went off in Afghanistan. A Washington native, Schumacher, 25, has served since June 2005 and done tours in Iraq.

Dozens of Under Armour employees and other onlookers cheered the veterans as they set off for the Baltimore ride.

"It's awesome to see people come out and spend their free time with you just to support you," Schumacher said.

The project is in its seventh year, switching from cross-country rides the first three years to regional routes since 2007.

Vice President Joe Biden helped launch this year's tour, welcoming the veterans at the White House on Wednesday before they rode through the streets of Washington.

"We do it to assist the warriors in their rehabilitation," said Steve Nardizzi, executive director of the Wounded Warrior Project. "It gives them the opportunity to get out of the hospital and see that they can be physically active again."

The route took the riders from the Inner Harbor to Fells Point, through East Baltimore, Lake Montebello and Waverly, and back downtown.

It was Antia's first time participating, and he said he plans to use some of his vacation after he returns to duty to volunteer in future rides.

"I feel great," said Antia, originally from Greenwich, Conn. "Everybody helps each other push up hills. The support we get, it's good."

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Poe's Birthday "Toaster" Is a No-Show

Edgar Allan Poe
Born January 19, 1809 Died October 7, 1849

On the birthday each year of Edgar Allan Poe and mysterious figure appears at the graveof the famouse writer leaving a bottle of cognac and 3 roses. It is thought that one rose is for Poe's wife, another for his mother-in-law Maria Clemm and the third for Poe himself Between the hours of midnight and 5:30 a.,m. the Poe Toaster (unoficially named) walks into the Westminster Burying Grounds in Baltimore, Maryland at the corner of Fayette and Greene Streets and leaves the gifts for Poe. After a short and touching ceremony of kneeling and placing his hands on the stone the toaster leaves. The persons identity has never been known and the tradition has been kept since Poe's 100th birthday in 1949.

However, this morning the Poe Toaster did NOT visit the burial site of Poe! For the FIRST time since 1949 no one crept into the cemetary leaving the traditional cognac and roses. Last night 30 to 50 people stood outside the gate singing Happy Birthday to Poe several times during the night while awaiting the mysterious visiter.

At 5:30 this morning the curator the Edgar Allan Poe House, Jeff Jerome, broke the news to the crowd that had been standing vigil outside the locked gate through the night. The Poe Toaster had not had not shown. Jerome did make the statement that he plans to keep the vigil through 2012.

"After two years if he doesn't show up, I think we can safely assume the tribute has ended," Jerome said.

Teen Girl Killed by Amtrak Train

MIDDLE RIVER, Md. (Jan. 5) – Amtrak says it expects a normal rush hour after a fatal accident near Baltimore caused delays along the Northeast corridor for much of the day.

Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero says delays continued for several hours after the 9 a.m. Tuesday accident, and some midday trains were canceled. Maryland's commuter train service was also affected.

Baltimore County police say the 14-year-old victim was struck and killed by a southbound train that hit her from behind as she walked along the tracks on the way to school. Friends and relatives of the victim, Ann Marie Stickel of Middle River, placed a plastic foam cross with a picture of her near the scene of the accident Tuesday afternoon.

A friend walking with Stickel was not injured.

"Good Without God"

This electronic billboard near M&T Bank Stadium and three others show messages from the Baltimore Coalition of Reason, the local arm of a national campaign to bring atheists, agnostics and others together. The messages will appear through Sunday. (Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston / December 1, 2009)

Reporter Matthew Hay Brown

Teresa Cherry was out running errands when she saw the question floating over Interstate 95.

"Are you good without God?" the electronic billboard asked. "Millions are."

The Baltimore woman does not believe in the existence of a supreme being. And in that moment, she did not feel so alone.

"My friend and I were just discussing a few days ago whether or not there was a community of others like us in Baltimore," said the 28-year-old Cherry, a student at the Community College of Baltimore County. Checking out the Web site advertised on the billboard, she said, "we found out that there are some local groups, and it's exciting to me."

Which is just what the Baltimore Coalition of Reason wants. The new organization, a collection of atheists, agnostics and others, is introducing itself to the area this week with a billboard campaign aimed at reaching out to nonbelievers while telling the rest of the community that goodness is possible without godliness.

"Sometimes people have negative stereotypes or impressions about people who are atheist or agnostic," local coordinator Emil Volcheck said. "They think that just because they don't believe in God that somehow they're not good people."

Baltimore becomes the latest target of a national campaign, funded by an anonymous businessman from Philadelphia, intended to join atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers and other nonbelievers - a diverse lot, not universally inclined toward organization - into something resembling a community, and one that ultimately could wield the sort of social, cultural and political power now enjoyed by the larger religious denominations.

"A lot of people who don't believe in traditional religion or don't believe in a god, they tend to think they're the only ones," said Fred Edwords, national director of the United Coalition of Reason. "And thinking they're the only ones, they tend not to communicate their feelings to others, others don't communicate similar feelings they may have to them, so they don't realize there are groups out there."

Edwords says the organization, which drew worldwide notice last spring with a bus advertising campaign in New York, will have 20 chapters nationwide by the end of the year, in small communities as well as large, in red states as well as blue. More launches are planned for the new year.

The effort comes as atheism enjoys a new vogue. Emboldened by the success of best-selling books by Christopher Hitchens ("God Is Not Great") and Richard Dawkins ("The God Delusion"), and wary of attempts to require instruction in "intelligent design" in public schools, efforts to promote religious messages on government property and other challenges to the separation of church and state, nonbelievers have grown vocal as never before.

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