Baltimore Association

On Sunday April 6, 2003, MARY F. (nee Kelly), beloved wife of the late Joseph Anthony Sweeney; loving mother of Kathleen Dougherty, Dennis, Daniel, and Paul Sweeney, Sharon Keech, Charles Sweeney and Maureen Smith; devoted sister of Vera and the late Anne Kessler; cherished grandmother of thirteen loving grandchildren. Relatives and friends are invited to call at the Witzke Funeral Home of Catonsville Inc. 1630 Edmondson Ave. (one mile west of beltway exit 14) on Tuesday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. and Wednesday 12:30 to 1 P.M. at Our Lady of The Angels Chapel Charlestown, where a Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated.

Three Baltimore-area nonprofits have received a three-year, $692,000 federal grant to provide computer training and jobs to persons with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities.The new program, called the Techworks Partnership, will provide training to 55 to 75 people who have a mental or related disability and who live in Baltimore's empowerment zone, said Stephen H. Morgan, executive director of the Baltimore Association for Retarded Citizens (BARC).The other two nonprofits are Learning Independence Through Computers (LINC)

Where: Creative Alliance at the Patterson, 3134 Eastern Ave. When: 7:30 p.m. Monday Why: You'd be surprised how much work goes into a song. Watch eight local songwriters play their original material for critique by the rest of the Baltimore Songwriters Association. In turn, the BSA offers lyrical and other advice that helps shape and polish the music. Information: 410-813-4039, www.baltimoresongwriters.org. Admission: Free.

Rep. Helen Delich Bentley, R-2nd, was named "Port Leader of the Year" by the Baltimore Junior Association of Commerce for her efforts to improve the Port of Baltimore.Bentley received the award in ceremonies in Baltimore yesterday. She previously had won the award in 1974 when she was chairwoman of the Federal Maritime Commission.Noting the progress the port has seen this year, including the addition of several new shipping lines, the congresswoman said she believed 1992 would offer opportunities to strengthen the port's position in the Middle Atlantic and strengthen a sagging economy.

Sapna Patel, a student at the American University in Washington, has been awarded a Presidential Scholarship for $24,000. She has also been chosen to participate in the School of Public Affairs' Leadership Program.*The University of Baltimore Alumni Association honored Bailey A. Thomas, McCormick Company president and chief executive officer; Adrian Teel, Maryland Port Administration executive director, and Ali Asghar Alemi, the U.S. EPA and Maryland Overseas Visitors Coordinator, as its Alumni of the Year.

The Maryland Association of Private Career Schools has awarded Russell Warehime, a Francis Scott Key High School senior, a $1,000 scholarship from the TESST Technology Institute in Baltimore.The association's Scholarship Program Awards offer scholarships to students wishing to attend a career school.Warehime plans to study design and drafting technology.Recipients are chosen on academic achievement, participation in extracurricular activities, leadership qualities and recommendations from school personnel.

Carroll County Sun bowling columnist Don Vitek has been chosen by the Maryland Bowling Writers Association as Writer of the Year, an award sponsored by the Maryland State Women's Bowling Association.Vitek also won first- and second-place honors in both the senior and column categories. The column award was sponsored by the Frederick Women's 600 Club and the Senior awards category was sponsored by Greater Baltimore Bowling Association.All awards were announced at the Maryland Bowling Writers Association's annual meeting June 9.

The 24th annual Butchers Hill house tour is scheduled next week, with the Southeast Baltimore neighborhood association opening 12 historic homes to the public. The Baltimore neighborhood is north of Fells Point and Canton. The event is scheduled from noon to 5 p.m. Oct. 12. Tickets are $15 the day of the tour and $12 in advance. For more information, log on to www.butchershill.org or call Anne Belcher at 410-675-2795 or Sue Noonan at 410-522-6773.

Members of the city's Board of Estimates chastised Baltimore Development Corp. over an agreement to pay a downtown real estate developer more than double the standard real estate commission for selling a city property. The five-member estimates board agreed Wednesday to pay Otis Warren/Svatos Real Estate Resources $46,063 for its work in selling 7 acres at Seton Business Park to the Baltimore Association of Retarded Citizens (BARC). City Solicitor Thurman Zollicoffer challenged the payment because BDC agreed to pay the commission on the asking price of the property rather than on the sale price.

Dr. M. Eugene Hinds, who retired two years ago after having practiced dental surgery in Baltimore since 1952, died Monday after a heart attack at his home on Boxwood Road in Pinehurst.Dr. Hinds, who was 67, had maintained offices in downtown Baltimore and in Northeast Baltimore.He was a former president of the University of Maryland dental school alumni, the Middle Atlantic Society of Oral Surgery, the Maryland Society and the Baltimore Association of Dental Surgeons.He was a founder of the Suburban Dental Studies Club.