Mantua

Double vision abounds at Kennedy Memorial Hospitals-University Medical Center/Stratford Division, where four sets of twins were born between Dec. 4 and Tuesday. The parents and their bundles of double trouble (from left): Michael Koppel of Deptford, with Michael and Alexander; Terri Shafer of Pine Hill, holding Erin and Devon; Dina Yaffa of Cherry Hill, with her as-yet-unnamed identical boys; and Roseann McAlister of Mantua, holding Daniel and Michael.

The shade of an old tree isn't nearly enough to provide relief from the scorching heat, as Robert Griffin (left), McKinley Robinson (wiping his brow) and Joe Purdie found yesterday at their favorite hangout, 36th Street and Haverford Avenue in Mantua. Today will be another blistering one, but by Monday, you'll really have to labor to find better weather than what's in store for the holiday. Accu-Weather forecast on Page 69.

Camelot existed not only in the time of our young president, John F. Kennedy but also in the same decade in a section of Philadelphia known as Mantua. Our times demands a black hero who can be admired by white, Hispanic, Asian and black youth. Like the legendary King Arthur, this hero, Dr. Herman Wrice, assembled his troops around a "round" table in his house in Mantua. These soldiers were outcasts to many, but to Wrice, they were youth, whose gang violence needed to be brought to an abrupt end. Herman Wrice guided 17 gang leaders to attend a 21-week community service leadership course in the University of Pennsylvania.

Police this morning released the names of three men who were fatally shot during four bloody hours late Saturday and early Sunday. A fourth victim was previously identified. For details, see Inquirer story on the Sunday morning stabbing of bartender George Fox in South Philadelphia. The four deaths happened at four separate locations, although the two West Philadelphia shootings might have been connected, according to police. A victim found by police about 1:10 a.m. Sunday might have been shot in retaliation for a fatal shooting less than an hour and a half before.

A 30-year-old West Philadelphia man has been arrested and charged with killing his ex-girlfriend and trying to cover up the crime by setting fire to a car with her body inside, police said today. Tinesha Carr, 33, a mother of two from Wynnefield, was found dead in the burning car early Sunday in Feltonville. Police said she had been shot several times. On Wednesday, homicide detectives arrested Daniel Soler, of the 3200 block of Brandywine Street in the Mantua section, and charged him with murder, arson, and related offenses.

Ask Bob Folwell to describe himself in 25 words or fewer and the Friends' Central basketball coach comes up with the following response: "Robert Folwell is a people person," he said. "He's a person who has a lot of passion, a lot of love. He's a person who wants to pass that passion, that love on to his family and to people around him. " He then talks about making a difference. "I don't care if it's to one kid or to 30 kids," Folwell said. "That's what life's all about.

By the time he was 42, Miles Mack had become a neighborhood icon in Mantua, running basketball games and changing lives at McAlpin Playground. Then a bullet took his life in that very park. When the idea of naming the park after him was proposed after his death in September, his mother, Sandra Mack, didn't see much use in it. But as the months passed, she came to believe that having his name there would remind kids that there was at least one person who always had their back. "Miles loved the kids in Mantua," she said.

There was a time when Franklin Kelly had to sorta bribe kids to stay after school for a little intellectual extracurricular activity. Gave them juice, punch, TastyKakes, an occasional pizza. No more. Now they look forward to it. Look forward to putting a move or two on their opponent. To backing them into a corner with nowhere to turn. Most important, they've developed a deeper interest in school, their studies and themselves. Kelly's kids are members of the McMichael Elementary School chess team, a squad Kelly whipped up almost three years ago to give young boys and girls an opportunity to compete in an activity that doesn't require athletic ability.

For someone like Rondell Turner, having to absorb elbows and shoves from some of the taller and beefier stars in Public League basketball did not prove very intimidating. Turner has been fighting and scrambling for much of his life. Turner, a 6-6 sophomore from University City, has lived for the past year in Mount Airy, with his foster mother, Peaches Kirkland. Before that, in about a three-year period, he bounced from a group home in South Philly to another in suburban Flourtown to another in Mantua.

Luckily for University City's basketball team, Corey Shinholster is better at producing than he is at predicting. "Coming into this season," he said, "I was figuring on getting maybe 11 points and six rebounds a game. " Try approximately doubling that, at least yesterday. Shinholster, a muscular 6-4 forward who patrols the baseline in coach Steve Kane's system, shot 9-for-16 and 8-for-8 for 26 points and swept 13 rebounds as the Jaguars thumped host George Washington, 85-65, to run their overall record to 11-3.