Californians

Dr. David J. Ramsay, a British-born physiologist and long-time administrator at the University of California, San Francisco, was named president of the University of Maryland at Baltimore today.The announcement came after a vote here this morning by the University of Maryland Board of Regents."Dr. Ramsay brings to this post an impeccable record of $H academic and administrative experience," said George V. McGowan, chairman of the Board of Regents.Dr. Ramsay, 54, will take over June 1 and will be paid a salary of $215,000 -- making him the highest-paid president in the 11-campus UM System.

EIGHTH-GRADER Erica Mallare is a lot like the other kids in her class at Severna Park Middle School: intelligent, talented and adventurous. But the depth of that last quality separates her from the rest of the youngsters who auditioned for their school's spring musical. In addition to being theatrically talented, she is absolutely fearless when it came to flying. A girl who can sing like a bird and fly like one, too? She was a natural to play the lead in the school's production of "Peter Pan" that will open next week.

Thomas C. Frazier, deputy chief of operations for the San Jose, Calif., Police Department, was named today to be Baltimore's police commissioner.Mr. Frazier, 48, a 27-year veteran of the San Jose department, will assume his duties Jan. 30, subject to confirmation by the City Council.Introducing Mr. Frazier at a news conference today, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke praised his choice as a "outstanding administrator, leader and crime fighter."Mr. Schmoke described Mr. Frazier as a "person who understands policing and community concerns, someone who can talk effectively with people whether on the streets or in the suites."

High above Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles nests th three-room headquarters for the California Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI). Looking out the 14th-floor window, a visitor notices a lush green golf course across the street.''That's the Hillcrest Country Club,'' explains Joe Gelman, the 35-year-old campaign manager for the CCRI, which, if passed by California voters next year, would wipe out government-sponsored racial and gender preferences in the Golden State.As recorded in Neil Gabler's ''An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood,'' Hillcrest was founded by the Los Angeles Jewish community in 1920, when the existing country clubs were WASP-only preserves.

ST. HELENA, Calif. -- When Californians talk about varietals, harvests and pressing these days, they may have olives, not grapes, in mind.The same undaunted pioneer spirit that over the years has successfully conquered the gastronomic frontiers of wines, goat cheeses and sun-dried tomatoes is now tackling olive oil."With olive oil, we are exactly where we were with wine in the 1960s," said Darrell Corti, an owner of Corti Brothers, a wine and food company in Sacramento that has been selling California olive oils for several years.

The National Aquarium Institute has tapped a California aquarium industry veteran to be the organization's next CEO. John C. Racanelli, 55, will be expected to increase the ocean conservation and educational messages delivered through the National Aquariums in Baltimore and Washington. Visitors should see some physical improvements in the public exhibit areas, too, according to the board chairwoman, Jennifer Reynolds. The new CEO will also take over the organization's key fundraising role, including the $50 million capital campaign for construction of a new National Aquarium building on the Mall in Washington.

LOS ANGELES -- Fed up with crime, drugs and traffic jams, George Williams packed up and moved out.Out of Honolulu and back to Los Angeles."Paradise? Hawaii? You should hear what I went through!" he said.Janet and Tom Wing abandoned San Diego for greener pastures in northern Idaho. Now they're back, settled happily in a house just down the street from the home they left."What passes for intellectual conversation in Coeur D'Alene is who won the wrestling match on TV," Mrs. Wing said.As for Todd Polk, he found a better job in Portland, Maine, than in his hometown of Yorba Linda, Calif.

Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger III has hired Allen A. Thomason, San Diego's assistant fire chief, to run the county Fire Department -- the first time an outsider has been named to the post.Chief Thomason, 49, will assume his new job July 3 at a salary of $91,522. The department has been run for the past year by acting chief James H. Barnes Jr., 40, who was in contention for the top job.A 23-year veteran with a reputation for fairness and management skills, Chief Thomason is second-in-command of the 842-member San Diego department, a post he has held since 1993, when San Diego named Robert Osby chief.

LOS ANGELES -- Gray Davis, the lieutenant governor of California, threw his arms over his head in mock celebration and, grinning playfully, proclaimed: "I'm the governor today!"The scene was Democrat Davis' hideaway office near the Los Angeles Airport and the occasion was one of those days when the elected governor, Republican Pete Wilson, was out of the state, prospecting his chances back East for the 1996 Republican presidential nomination.California law declares that when the governor is out of state, the lieutenant governor assumes not only the duties of the governor as a standby but the actual office itself, with all its powers.

In Galesville last weekend, the first Melges 24 U.S. National Championship Regatta drew 22 boats and crews for a five-race series in the West River managed by the West River Star fleet.The field included world-class sailors such as current Star World Champion Joe Londrigan, Olympic gold medalist Mark Reynolds and several E-Scow U.S. champs, including Andy Burdick and Harry Melges III.The regatta was dominated by Californians, who have more one-design experience racing in Melges 24s than local sailors, who started racing the boats one-design in September.