Amass

It's one of those stories that sounds like it could have happened only in the movies.West Virginian John Roby was a World War I doughboy in the trenches in France when a German bullet whistled in and hit him in the chest.It would have killed him instantly if it hadn't been stopped by the Bible he was carrying in his shirt pocket.Roby escaped injury that day in 1917, though a stray bullet claimed his life as the war was ending.Seventy-four years later, the Bible, an angled slash onits brown fabric cover showing the path of the bullet, is on loan from Roby's family for Waterloo Elementary's first school museum.

OVER THE PAST WEEK, the titillating story of a president in crisis has far outpaced the substantiated facts. What is known is that the Whitewater special prosecutor is investigating allegations that a young woman who worked as an unpaid White House intern had a sexual relationship with President Clinton and was asked to lie about it. This gives rise to legitimate questions, along with sordid speculation.The speculation includes a melange of indiscretions, most of which are unconfirmed. These reports come in an atmosphere in which competition fuels the pressure to advance a story that has moved only incrementally since it broke early last week.

If you're at the track today and are suddenly blinded by money, there may be a reason. The combined worth of the owners of the Preakness starters is stunning.The list starts with the Summa Stable partners -- Bruce McNall, Wayne Gretzky and Magic Johnson -- and works its way through other owners who made their fortunes in a variety of endeavors including banking, communications, cattle, insurance, doughnuts, supermarkets, real estate, aircraft, Trivial Pursuit and Pictionary. (For owner biographies, see Page 4C.)

UNLESS A cataclysmic change occurs in Anne Arundel's political landscape in the next year, County Executive John G. Gary should have little trouble winning a second term. He is a popular administrator. He is also on his way to amassing the largest campaign war chest ever by an Anne Arundel County executive, a trend in evidence in other metropolitan counties as well.As of the last reporting period, which ended Nov. 3, Mr. Gary's campaign organization had raised $459,200. Next year, his fund-raising efforts will surely break the 1990 record of $475,577 set by his predecessor, Robert R. Neall.

Forget the record, the imposing bottom-line list of wins and losses. And even minimize the longevity that qualifies Carl Runk with having the longest continual coaching tenure at any level of college lacrosse.Impressive credentials, most assuredly, but they become almost frivolous in measuring Runk the man. He epitomizes what the call to the coaching/teaching profession is supposed to represent.Players, past and present, faculty associates, rivals from opposite sidelines and friends and neighbors gather tomorrow night in tribute at the Timonium Holiday Inn to express their respect, admiration and affection for this extraordinary individual.

A former Justice Department lawyer spent two years amassing 500 fraudulent credit card accounts, federal prosecutors said yesterday.Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Eugene Martin Frese, 64, sat in federal court in Baltimore yesterday, fiddling with his gold Harvard Law School class ring and tie, loudly criticizing the government's portrayal of him as a swindler who hoarded a "treasure trove of assets."Frese was arrested Friday on charges of credit card fraud after a three-month investigation by U.S. postal inspectors.

Shortly before dawn, it hovers low in the northeastern sky: a dim, fork-tailed smudge of celestial light. People in the Northern Hemisphere are delighting in its subtle beauty, and astronomers have called it one of the greatest comets of all time.Formally named Comet C/1995 01, and better known as Comet Hale-Bopp, it is immense, by cometary standards.Astronomers have been watching and measuring it since the night of July 22, 1995, when Alan Hale, an astronomer, and Thomas Bopp, an amateur star-gazer, independently discovered the comet out beyond the orbit of Jupiter.

On the cusp of joining Phil Anthony (1999-2002) as the only players in Goucher's history to accrue 200 points in a career, Kyle Boncaro said he knew, but didn't know. Allow the senior attackman to explain. “I had a sense of it probably toward the end of last year,” he said Wednesday. “But this season, I was more focused on team play rather than individual records.” After racking up 10 points on seven goals and three assists in the Gophers' 27-7 shellacking of Southwestern on Saturday, Boncaro needed three more points to reach 200, and he did that on his second goal of a 30-2 thrashing of Dallas on Sunday.

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is paying $340,000 a month to the Iraqi political organization led by Ahmad Chalabi, a member of the interim Iraqi government who has close ties to the Bush administration, for "intelligence collection" about Iraq, according to Defense Department officials. The classified program, run by the Defense Intelligence Agency since summer 2002, continues a longstanding partnership between the Pentagon and the organization, the Iraqi National Congress, even as the group jockeys for power in a future government.

Democrat Ken Ulman raised nearly double the campaign cash collected by Republican Christopher J. Merdon this year, as both battle to become Howard County's next executive. In campaign finance reports prepared for filing yesterday, both County Council members reported totals that far exceeded what was raised by outgoing County Executive James N. Robey in his last two campaigns. Ulman already has accumulated more money than Robey spent in both of those efforts combined. Ulman reported raising $364,427 to Merdon's $186,181 from Jan. 13 through Aug. 8. That gives Ulman a total of $575,000 raised so far, compared with Merdon's $449,445.