Camden Club

Mission: To seek the cause and eventual cure of leukemia and related diseases, including lymphoma, myeloma and Hodgkin's disease, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families. The Maryland chapter supports the five programs of the Leukemia Society of America -- research, patient aid, public education, professional education, community services. Volunteers give generously of their time to help implement these programs.Latest accomplishments: This year, the chapter is funding 18 researchers in Maryland.

The concessionaire for Oriole Park at Camden Yards wants to hire more than 400 people to sell food and drinks at the new downtown ballpark and will start taking applications at Memorial Stadium from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. today.ARA Leisure Services Inc. will also hold "open houses" at Memorial Stadium's Hit & Run Club from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday."This is new for us. We don't know how many people to expect," said ARA personnel manager Debbie Wyda. "We'll be here until midnight if we need to to accommodate the people who come in."

Police have ruled that the death of a Bolton Hill woman who was hit by a police car early Friday was a result of pedestrian error, a department spokesman said. The woman was hit in midblock by an officer trying to reach a colleague breaking up a bar fight in Southeast Baltimore, police said. Alyssa Caezza, 27, of the 1700 block of Linden Ave. was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash at 1: 30 a.m. in the 1500 block of Aliceanna St. in Fells Point. A graduate of Towson University, she was a server at the Cheesecake Factory, a Harborplace restaurant, and had just gotten a second job at the Camden Club at Camden Yards, her friends said.

Fearing for its survival, Baltimore's Engineering Society is launching a full-scale marketing drive in an attempt to stop the decline in its membership rolls. The 87-year-old club has hired a public relations firm, laid plans for corporate advertising, begun a direct-mail drive and cut fees for a membership drive that began recently.Those are only the latest moves. The club restructured its rules last summer to allow up to 49 percent of its membership to consist of non-engineers. Still, its membership has slipped to 1,200 -- down from 1,500 five years ago."

THE MAN SITTING across the table from me in the Camden Club was telling me what I wanted to hear: "It is a great time to be a beer drinker in America." So said James Koch, the scion of a Cincinnati brewer and founder of the Boston Beer Co., maker of Samuel Adams beers and the most prominent microbrewery in America. "Sam Adams and the other American craft brewers are making the best beer in the world," he said. At 51, Koch is still the slim, boyish-looking type he was 14 years ago, when I first met him at a beer tasting in Washington.

The Orioles may have raised prices for the top tickets at Camden Yards, but at least their best customers will be more comfortable this season. The Maryland Stadium Authority this week began tearing out the 6,650 field box seats in sections 16 through 58 so they can be replaced with padded seats that have higher backs. The 1 1/4 inches of foam padding may better cushion fans' posteriors, since their wallets will be thinner. Last week, the Orioles notified season-ticket holders that field box seats between the bases will cost $45, up from $35. The back of each new seat measures 18 3/4 inches, which is 3 inches higher than previously.

To celebrate his marriage, lifelong Orioles fan Joseph Wiedorfer wanted to throw out the first pitch during last night's game against the Chicago White Sox at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.But when the Orioles said no, the 33-year-old Baltimore native and his bride, Mary C. Johnson, settled for watching the game.They had plenty of company -- more than 200 wedding guests among the other fans at the sold-out stadium. And their reception, sporting Camden Yards-green and the team's orange and black colors, was at the ballpark, too.The cost?

When the Orioles and the Maryland Stadium Authority set out to create an old-fashioned ballpark in Camden Yards, they didn't have to invent history.It was there all along in the form of the B&O Railroad warehouse, the massive, brooding hulk of a building that dates from the era when Baltimore's western edge was a bustling rail yard -- and Babe Ruth's father had a saloon right down the street.Looming behind right field, just 460 feet from home plate, the long-as-a-train warehouse rivals Fenway Park's Green Monster as one of the most distinctive features in baseball.

SHOWSThrough Sept. 26: Chesapeake Changes, a natural history exhibit that focuses on the geology, geography, wildlife and human settlement in the 64,000 square mile watershed of the bay, Explorers Hall of the National Geographic Society, 17th and streets NW, Washington, D.C.Sept. 11-12: Gun and Knife Show sponsored by the Camrod Hunting Club, Agriculture Center, Westminster, 9 a.m. each day. 250 trade tables. Admission is $4 with children under 12 admitted free when accompanied by an adult.