Avalon

On Sunday, June 8, 2003, BELLE SACK (nee Essrick), beloved wife of George Sack; devoted mother of Dr. Stanley Sack and Karen Sack; dear sister of Gussie Konig; loving grandmother of David and Michelle Sack. Service and Interment will be held at the Maryland Veterans Cemetery, Garrison Forest Rd., on Thursday, June 12 at 10 A.M. Please omit flowers, in mourning (Avalon East) 201 Maeve Place (21208) Thursday only. Arrangements by SOL LEVINSON AND BROS INC.

You'll never see it on toy store shelves, but Eric and Jackson Dott had the secret hit of this year's Toy Fair, the annual New York extravaganza where retailers stock up for the coming year.The father-son management team of Baltimore's Monarch Avalon Inc. had toy executives and retail managers clustered around their latest board game, a one-of-a-kind spoof on the toy industry they called Pursuit of Insolvency.The Dotts, who made their sample of Insolvency to entertain their friends and not to sell, designed the game so that players would lose money while marketing games.

Marshy Point birding Get a glimpse of the region's avian wildlife Sunday at the Marshy Point Nature Center. The center will offer a guided bird walk that's free and open to all ages. Led by a local birdwatcher, the expedition will begin at 9 a.m. and last for about two hours. The Marshy Point Nature Center is located at 7130 Marshy Point Road off Eastern Avenue (Extended). For more information, call 410-887-2817. River of history Learn how one waterway shaped the state's past Saturday during Patapsco Valley State Park's River of History tour.

PHILIP T. YOCHUM, Age 79, of Avalon and formerly of Towson, MD, died Friday evening at the Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital Cape May Courthouse, NJ. Born in Quakertown, PA, he was the son of the late Theodore and Margaret (Scheetz) Yochum. He was a retired motel and cafeteria chain executive and WWII Army Veteran who received a Purple Heart for injuries sustained at the Battle of Anzio. he also served as president of the A.L. Mathias Company. A resident of Towson, MD for 30 years, he enjoyed summering in Avalon with his family since 1967.

Police logLong Reach: 5900 block of Fox Glen Court: Sometime between Friday afternoon and Tuesday morning, someone entered a house through an open rear window. Kitchen cabinets were taken.Long Reach: 5900 block of Avalon Drive: Building materials were taken from a garage that was used to store supplies between Friday afternoon and Tuesday morning. There were no signs of a forced entry.Owen Brown: 7100 block of Carved Stone: A blue 1989 Chevy Cavalier was stolen from the parking lot of Brunswick Columbia Lanes Tuesday night.

Phil Donahue is bringing his talk show to the Eastern Shore tomorrow morning with a live broadcast from Easton. The subject will be the recent controversy in Talbot County concerning the distribution of condoms in schools.The show, which can be see on Channel 2 (WMAR) at 9 o'clock, will take place at Easton's Avalon Theater. It is part of what Donahue is billing as "Heartland: A Week in the Life of America," which will also include shows from towns in Maine, Illinois, Texas, Alaska and Arizona.

Programming for open-air festivals is like programming for neighborhood theaters: You've got to know your audience. The Little Italy Outdoor Film Festival almost started a mini-riot one year when organizers decided not to open with "Moonstruck. " Never making that mistake again, they keep their surprises to the middle of the schedule. (They always close with "Cinema Paradiso. ") Here's what draws fans to some of Baltimore's other open-air series: Eclectic AVAM crowds flip for everything from 'E.T' to 'Avalon' According to the American Visionary Art Museum 's Pete Hilsee, the Flicks from the Hill audience has responded to everything from musical comedy to sci-fi fantasy and broad comedy.

''Avalon''"Avalon" is Barry Levinson's valentine to Baltimore. The city and outlying areas have never looked lovelier. This gentle and appealing film is all about four generations of Levinson's family, beginning with the five Krichinsky brothers who came to Baltimore and settled in an area called Avalon. ''Avalon'' is about the American dream and how well it wears. Joan Plowright, Elizabeth Perkins, above, and Aidan Quinn are in the cast. Language. Rating: PG. ****"Bubbling Brown Sugar," the bouncing musical revue on stage at the Arena Playhouse, has a number of scintillating moments.

NEW YORK -- Forget the fantasies of yesteryear. Baltimore-based manufacturer Monarch Avalon has arrived here for the annual Toy Fair to find that board games on sex (e.g., the Dr. Ruth Game) have little appeal and that Class Struggle is obsolete, while Gulf Strike and Insolvency are given the best shot for capturing today's mood.The two-week Toy Fair traditionally serves as an outlet for the obsession of the moment, and this year is no different. Monarch Avalon's war-game clientele has clamored for a game set in the Middle East.

Monarch Avalon Inc., a Baltimore-based publisher of board and video games, posted a loss of $13,000 in its first fiscal quarter as sales fell to nearly $1.4 million from $1.6 million, the company said yesterday.The loss, which amounts to 1 cent a share, is in contrast to a profit of $4,000, or less than 1 cent a share, in the first quarter of 1991.Eric Dott, the company's chairman and chief executive, said the loss did not indicate any fundamental trend."It wasn't that big of a deal," he said.