Annapolis

The woman who says she represents North American Power is not telling the truth about the benefits of buying electricity from her company. "You can save up to 10, 15, 20 percent of your bill, depending on your usage," she says in a telemarketing call to my house. But the rate she eventually quotes is only about 7 percent less than the standard price offered by Baltimore Gas & Electric — something the average customer would have no way of knowing. And of course the percentage savings won't vary even if my "usage" goes up to that of a steel mill.

Annapolis Opera's fully staged production of Charles Gounod's "Romeo and Juliet" at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts last weekend proved a triumph to close the season. My only complaint when I attended Friday evening was the number of empty seats. Though the lower-than-usual attendance was perhaps the result of the move from the opera's usual March dates to May, the show itself was as satisfying as any this year. Based on Shakespeare's timeless tale of star-crossed lovers Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, Gounod's opera — sung in French to a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carre — debuted at Theatre Lyrique in Paris in 1867 to mixed reviews, some critics pronouncing it tuneless.

Deputed Testamony is 32-years-old. His dark brown coat is shaggy, and his biggest excitement is going into his paddock at Bonita Farm for three or four hours of grazing each day. He is a pensioner, an icon. The oldest living winner of a Triple Crown race. But when Billy Boniface looks at the horse in his paddock, he sees the striking colt that was born and trained at the family farm and raced to victory in the 1983 Preakness - the last horse bred or trained in Maryland to do so. "Oh my gosh, I still get goose bumps when I look at him and remember that day," said Boniface, who was 18 then and had just taken over the breeding operation at the farm.

Annapolis police are looking for a man who pulled a 21-year-old woman into an alley in downtown Annapolis and sexually assaulted her early Saturday morning. About 1:30 a.m., the woman was walking alone in the 100 block of Duke of Gloucester St. near the heart of the downtown area when a man walking behind her grabbed her and dragged her into a nearby alley, according to police. The man threw the woman to the ground and sexually assaulted her, police said. The woman, who had been walking home from West Street, was eventually able to fight off the man, who then fled, police said.

Four trucks laden with 100 slot machines arrived early Wednesday morning at the nearly completed casino at Arundel Mills mall. For the next two hours, workers wheeled banks of the gleaming new machines, one by one, inside on hand trucks. Installation of the first set of slots moved Maryland Live! Casino, the state's largest, another step closer to its scheduled opening in three months. That's progress for Maryland's lackluster gambling program, which has yet to be fully implemented more than three years after voters approved five slots locations statewide.

Albert Lord doesn't like to wait - not in business or on the golf course. The colorful chairman of student loan behemoth Sallie Mae, who's embroiled in a nasty fight over the failed sale of the company, has spent 40 years in the accounting and banking industries. He said that experience should have instilled in him a measure of patience, but it hasn't. Whether in traffic, at the office or on the links, Lord said, he just doesn't like to wait. He can't do much about the first two, but he's got a sure-fire solution for the last one: He's building his own, an 18-hole golf course on land he's acquired amid shuttered tobacco farms and grazing horses in southern Anne Arundel County.

Tall ships -- The Annapolis Maritime Museum will present a Tall Ships Festival on June 24 at Annapolis City Dock. The Schooner Sultana and Delaware's tall ship Kalmar Nykel will be open for public boarding and inspection, along with maritime music and historic exhibits. The Kalmar Nykel, a reproduction of a 1625-era Dutch pinnace, was built in Wilmington, Del., in 1998, to commemorate those who crossed the Atlantic from 1637-1638 and settled in the Delaware Valley. The Kalmar Nykel will be open for tours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Sultana will be open from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets to visit both ships are $10 per adult and $8 for children 3 to 11 years old. 410-268-7601, ext. 104.

Charles Edward Scarlett Jr., retired chairman of Ramsay, Scarlett & Co. Inc., whose 40-year avocation was the painstaking restoration of Whitehall, a historic home built for one of Colonial Maryland's last governors, died of a stroke Sunday at Anne Arundel Medical Center. He was 88.The Scarlett family's maritime roots date to the 1840s, when English ancestor William Patterson built the famous steam passenger vessels Great Western and Great Britain.The venerable Baltimore steamship agency's predecessor firm of Patterson, Ramsay & Co. was founded in 1880 by Mr. Scarlett's grandfather.

They're tucked away in residential neighborhoods, alongside marinas and on the Chesapeake Bay's tributaries. But for those who don't have a navigational system in their car or boat, Anne Arundel County's picturesque waterfront restaurants can be tricky to find. A trek to Deep Creek Restaurant in Arnold, Windows on the Bay or the Cheshire Crab in Pasadena - with a left turn here and a right turn there - takes a visitor through tree-lined neighborhoods, past rows of boats suspended on lifts and ends in laid-back culinary delights.

Annapolis Panthers1996 record: 20-0Coach: Dave GehrdesTop players: Kelly Dirks, Jr., A; Kristen Kapusta, Sr., M; Brooke Wagner, Jr., A; Susan Berotti, Sr., A; Jen Jefferson, Jr., M; Torrey Hunter, Sr., M; Kate Bjorke, Sr., M; Suzanne Graf, Sr., D; Abby Pheiffer, Sr., G.Outlook: All-Metro Player of the Year Amy Brew has graduated to James Madison with her 60 goals and 29 assists, Becky Morris is off to Duke with her 30 goals and 17 assists and premier defender...

Summer arrives early in the state capital with the opening of the Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre's 46th season of presenting "theater under the stars," which begins May 24 with Cole Porter's classic "Anything Goes. " The musical, the updated, 2011 Tony Award-winner, will run Thursdays through Sundays through June 24. Following it are two shows that have never been performed at Summer Garden. Taking ASGT's outdoor stage July 5 to July 29 is "Avenue Q," the 2003 surprise Broadway hit that captured three Tony Awards, including best musical.

Just like our government, the tax-and-spend loving Sun doesn't get it ("Unfinished business," May 16). It's not really about a lousy 1 percent or 2 percent gas or income tax increase. The people of this state are rebelling against wasteful spending and ever-increasing budgets by our greedy, clueless government. If for once in their pathetic political lives, our politicians would start spending our money in a responsible and frugal manner, then just maybe we would be willing to consider an increase in taxes or fees without "hand-wringing and demagoguery" as suggested by The Sun. Here's my suggestion to our legislators: Stop the indiscriminate, wasteful spending, bloated budgets, and stealing of funds and replace all the money pilfered from our transportation fund, and maybe you would have enough money to fund needed projects without raising taxes in this depressed economy of ours.

State Sen. Jamie Raskin likens the prospect of being called back to Annapolis for another special session to the plight of a middle school student being told on the last day of classes that he has to attend summer school. But the Montgomery County Democrat, like the 187 other Maryland lawmakers, came out of the special session on budget issues last week knowing there's a strong likelihood they will be summoned back to Annapolis in July to contend with the thorny issue of expanding gambling.

Now that the tax catastrophe is over, many photos will be snapped of Gov.Martin O'Malley, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House SpeakerMichael E. Buschgloating over their "accomplishments. " Frankly. I don't know how these three can sleep at night. F. Cordell, Lutherville

A routine traffic stop in Annapolis on Monday led to the discovery of a large stash of heroin and three arrests, police said in a Friday news release. The 80.3 grams of heroin seized, which would have been worth $16,000 on the street, were not found in the vehicle stopped but in a rental vehicle parked nearby, police said. The woman and two men arrested were all from Annapolis. According to police, officers first stopped a bright green Lincoln in the 1100 block of Medgar Evers Street for undisclosed traffic violations at about 4:40 p.m., and discovered the driver, Deon Matthews, 20, had a suspended license.

Maryland Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael Busch, both Democrats, have now rubber-stamped Gov. Martin O'Malley's historic tax increases on Maryland families, even though Maryland's continued economic suffering and out-of-control government are direct results of their party's continued dominance in Annapolis ("O'Malley faces political risks of tax increases," May 17). Businesses are fleeing Maryland for Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia because they cannot afford the taxes, regulations and the state's unfriendly attitude toward job creators.

The Blue Angels — the flight demonstration squadron for the Navy and Marine Corp. that has for decades thrilled crowds during the Naval Academy's Commissioning Week festivities in Annapolis, will not perform over the capital city in 2012, officials said. Traditionally, the Blue Angels have performed an hour-long routine, with its C-130 Hercules known as Fat Albert and F/A-18 Hornets wowing crowds in diamond formation and flying just 18 inches apart at times, over downtown Annapolis.

Chris Haley, great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Kunta Kinte, sat at Annapolis City Dock yesterday afternoon, read aloud from his late uncle's acclaimed book "Roots" and extolled the significance of genealogy and family history in the pursuit of self-awareness.But first, he had to clear one hurdle: explain who Kunta Kinte was to his rambunctious audience of 16 Annapolis Elementary School third-graders who yelled, "He played in a movie" when Haley mentioned his ancestor's name."Well, actually, an actor played his part in a movie," Haley said, smiling.

Regarding your story about the ceremonial visit of two French schooners to Annapolis to commemorate the bicentennial of the War of 1812, how was Annapolis chosen as the site given that the most renowned action of that war took place in Baltimore ("2 French ships visit Md.," May 14)? Baltimore, just a few miles further north, would have been a more suitable port, and one where our French guests could have been given an accurate picture of the war complete with the history of our National Anthem.

They did what they had to do, and they went home. That's the best that can be said of the special session of the Maryland General Assembly that concluded today. The tax increases, spending cuts, fund transfers and other measures lawmakers approved in 21/2 days this week protect public education, health and public safety and put the state on a path to fiscal sustainability, all while requiring a relatively minimal additional contribution from taxpayers. After a chaotic end to the regular General Assembly session, order has been restored.