Baltimore Club

Have you heard the one about the for-profit organization with 3,500 members, dedicated to fun and exercise, staffed entirely by volunteers, and which raises more than $1 million for charities every year? Neither had I, until I sat down with Merle Kaplan, president of the Baltimore Bicycling Club.By year's end, the local club, the largest one in Maryland, will have helped raise about $1.5 million by assisting charities of every size and description in organizing and carrying out a bicycle touring event.

KINGSTON, R.I. - Moments after the Soccer Club of Baltimore Bays won the under-12 boys championship for the northeastern United States yesterday, Matt Beckman grabbed a Maryland flag and led teammates around the University of Rhode Island. There was no better flag bearer after the Bays' 2-0 win over Connecticut's Oakwood Soccer Club for the U.S. Youth Soccer Association's Region I championship. Beckman, who also hit the semifinal game-winner, scored both goals in the last 10 minutes. The first, ripped into the upper-right corner, came in the 50th minute off a flick-on from Wade McHugh at the top of the box. He secured the win in the 57th minute, chipping a stolen ball just over the charging Oakwood goalkeeper's head from about 18 yards.

When I heard a live K-Swift set for the first time at age 13, I knew there was no one else on the radio like her. Her mixes, on-air commentary and obvious love for music inspired me and my interest in music and radio. Of course, I had no idea what Baltimore Club music was then - I just knew that whatever she dropped was infectious. I was certainly not alone in my love for K-Swift's radio show. An avid listener throughout high school and into college, I got a show at my school's radio station and, following her example, got into live DJing.

After three days of jury deliberations, Kevin Lamont Richardson was found guilty yesterday of the fatal shootings of two college students who were killed in a hail of gunfire outside Volcano's nightclub last year.The jury, which appeared to be deadlocked several times during the deliberations, delivered its verdict hours before a deadline the judge had set for a mistrial.The 25-year-old was convicted of second-degree murder in the deaths of Donte P. Young, a 22-year-old student at Coppin State College, and Lori McDaniel, 19, a second-year civil engineering student at Morgan State University, on Oct. 24, 1996.

A half-hour before the 5th Regiment Armory doors opened, the vestibule was packed with folks, noses pressed against inner door windows. Inside the huge hall, rows of meat slicers and mountains of bread loaves stood at the ready. Getting a head start, a flank of oyster shuckers pried open the gnarled shells revealing a treasure trove of glistening gastronomic jewels ripe for plunder. At noon, the Rotary Club of Baltimore's annual oyster roast officially opened and the charge began. Some 2,750 folks poured into the armory -- arming themselves with shellfish, pit-beef sandwiches and buckets of beer.

As you watch Ryan Conrad zip around the lacrosse field, dodging defenders and pounding the net with an endless variety of shots, it's easy to forget his age. Talk to him on the phone, however, and the Loyola High sophomore sounds like, well, a high school sophomore. A great many things in his life are summed up by the catchall adjective "amazing!" Young players such as Conrad - equal parts precocious and normal teenager - stand at the center of a debate raging across the lacrosse landscape.

A memorial service for Emma Robertson Richardson, the first woman to become a partner in a major Baltimore law firm, was to be held at 11 a.m. today at Broadmead, the Cockeysville retirement community at 13801 York Road.Mrs. Richardson, 82, who also had been a private pilot, died of pneumonia Dec. 23 at Broadmead.The former Emma S. "Bobbie" Robertson was born in Baltimore, graduating in 1930 from Friends School and 1934 from Goucher College -- where she majored in physics.She began working after graduation on a Treasury Department study of the income tax, and recalled in a 1950 interview how that sparked her interest in tax law: "I decided if so many people can be so dumb about their income taxes, there must be money in straightening them out."

(Update : Looks like Michael Lohan doesn't have a place in Baltimore to promote "Celebrity Rehab 5" after all. Mosaic, where he had been scheduled to appear with Octomom Nadya Suleman abruptly canceled the event Tuesday, said spokesman and general manager Vincent Martinez. Goodlife Boys, which was promoting the event, also backed out Tuesday.) Michael Lohan will promote his stint on "Celebrity Rehab 5" with, what else, a party at a Baltimore club. Call it another success story for the addiction show and Dr. Drew Pinsky's counsel.  A rep for Lohan said the tabloid nuisance isn't actually in recovery because he didn't go on the show for alcohol or drug addiction treatment.

It's time for your Saturday-morning yoga class. You meet your fellow fitness buffs in a scenic outdoor setting, lay out your mats and begin your hourlong workout. It's a great way to start the weekend. And even better, it's entirely free. No-cost yoga classes aren't the only options for free exercise in the Baltimore region. Many gyms and exercise studios in the area offers free trial memberships. Most also give free memberships to employees, so if you're willing to teach a class or two, or even work the front desk, you probably qualify.

John Norris Renneburg Sr., former president and owner of a Canton machinery manufacturing company, died of a bleeding ulcer Monday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. He was 93. Mr. Renneburg was born and raised in Baltimore and lived for 83 years in his Midvale Road home in Roland Park until moving to the Brightwood retirement community in Lutherville a decade ago. He was a 1929 graduate of the Gilman School and earned a bachelor's degree in politics from Princeton University in 1933.