Bethesda

BETHESDA -- The pupils assigned to greet Chile's new president on her visit to her old middle school yesterday had their instructions: Stay in line, let the president come to you, wave those tiny American and Chilean flags. "They just told us to be polite, use good manners," said Nanatwum Agyire, a seventh-grader from Chevy Chase, as he stood with a few dozen classmates at the entrance to Westland Middle School. They were awaiting the arrival of Dr. Michelle Bachelet, 54, a pediatrician, a former Chilean defense minister, the first woman elected president of Chile, a survivor of dictator Augusto Pinochet's terrors and a former pupil at the school.

BETHESDA - President Bush said yesterday that even though the United States has toppled Saddam Hussein's regime, the military mission in Iraq would not be over until that country is cleared of chemical and biological weapons. After an emotional visit with wounded troops at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Bush offered his first public remarks since the fall of Baghdad. He spoke on a day when U.S. forces were still engaged in dangerous combat in scattered areas of Iraq. "The priority of this campaign," Bush told reporters, "is to rid the Iraqi people of any vestiges of Saddam Hussein and his regime, so we can not only free the people, but clear that country of weapons of mass destruction.

Chew on this urban legend: There are more restaurants in downtown Bethesda than downtown Denver. So what? Ask that when you're heading out after work for the usual peanuts-on-the-floor happy hour. Or on a Saturday night, when going out to the same-old, same-old has you sighing. Or Sunday morning, when your joie de vivre matches the nooks and crannies of the beige English muffin on your plate. With Bethesda as your place mat, you could go entire months without seeing the same food twice.

COLLEGE PARK - This season of milestones for the Bethesda-Chevy Chase boys basketball team is one that hadn't been witnessed in 21 years - certainly longer than the lifetime of senior Christian Hernandez or any of his teammates. First-year coach Steve Thompson's Barons rode a 10-game winning streak into yesterday's first game of the Class 3A semifinals against No. 10 Annapolis, a contest that marked the Bethesda school's first berth in the semifinals since being state champion in 1984.

GERMANTOWN - The Bethesda Fury under-18 girls soccer team didn't waste a minute - literally - in its quest for an unprecedented ninth straight Maryland Cup state championship yesterday. Kelly Hammond, a senior at St. Mary's who will play at the University of Virginia in the fall, scored in the first 10 seconds against the Arundel Wildcats to get things started and by the time things were done, the Fury had a 9-0 win. The Fury's strong performance closed out a busy afternoon of state-play soccer at the Maryland SoccerPlex, the site of the 2002 Snickers U.S. Youth National Championships on July 24-28.

BETHESDA -- Juan Miguel Gonzalez took refuge in the most bourgeois of places yesterday, holing up amid the golf courses and minivans of American suburbia as he waited in the house of a Cuban diplomat for a hoped-for reunion with his son. After Fidel Castro bid him good-bye in Cuba yesterday morning, the father of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez found himself bumper-to-bumper with the Washington middle class as he headed from Dulles International Airport during...

BETHANY BEACH, Del. - Bethesda resident Jean Holland's dream of owning a home by the ocean had been fueled by the decades she and her family had vacationed in Bethany Beach. It was a dream she never thought would come true. "Then, I made some money in the stock market, and my aunt left me some," recalled Holland, who retired last year after 22 years working for Talbots Inc. "My financial consultant told me to go ahead and follow my dream." Knowing the importance of staying within a budget, Holland knew she couldn't afford an oceanfront home.

ProFund Advisors LLC, a Bethesda investment firm whose logo features the bull and the bear may soon adopt the Washington Nationals' mascot, the eagle, as well. The firm, which specializes in risky mutual funds for sophisticated investors, is close to a deal with the D.C. Sports & Entertainment Commission for the rights to put its name on the Nationals' temporary home, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, until a new stadium opens in 2008. At that point, the Nationals would choose a name.

For years, Fallston field hockey coach Alice Puckett has admired Bethesda-Chevy Chase's success from afar. But yesterday, in the first meeting between two of the state's most successful programs, Puckett got a firsthand look at just how good the Montgomery County team can be. Fallston had its chances yesterday, but its failure to convert on a series of opportunities early spelled doom for the top-ranked Cougars in a 3-1 loss to the talented Barons in...

BETHESDA -- On a green field ringed with pines, men who become boys at the crack of a bat are building a tribute to some of their heroes.When the floodlights go on and the red brick ticket booth opens June 4, Bethesda will have a baseball diamond and team named for two Hall of Famers -- Shirley Povich and Walter "Big Train" Johnson.The Bethesda Big Train will play in the six-team Clark C. Griffith Collegiate Baseball League, where the bats are wooden and the promotions are pure corn.The team's ballpark, Shirley Povich Field, honors the Washington Post sportswriter who logged more than 15,000 columns in a 75-year career that ended with his death June 4.The diamond in Cabin John Regional Park is down the road from the high school that bears Johnson's name and the Victorian farmhouse in which he lived during his final seasons with the Washington Senators.