Campaign For Mayor

U.S. District Senior Judge Norman P. Ramsey stepped down from the bench yesterday to rejoin the law firm of Semmes, Bowen & Semmes today, giving a boost to the 135-lawyer firm that has been hurt by the recession and by defections of attorneys over the past several years."

In late 1989, former Annapolis Mayor Dennis M. Callahan abandoned a write-in campaign for mayor after the city board of elections ruled that stickers bearing candidates' names couldn't be used because they would jam voting machines.Now the Maryland Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is contending that the stickers wouldn't havebeen a problem.In a letter to City Clerk Patty Bembe dated Dec. 17, ACLU special projects attorney Carl Gabel said the city's voting machines would have accepted the stickers if they were smaller than 1 inches long and inch high -- the size of the opening on the machines for write-invotes.

Thomas W. Eckard Sr., a businessman, civic activist and former member of the Westminster City Council, died Thursday in a boating accident off the Delaware shore. He was 62.He was elected to four-year terms on the Westminster City Council in 1970 and 1983. He resigned midway through his first term because of a heart ailment.During his years on the council, he looked to balance the need for additional services in a growing Westminster and a desire to hold down taxes."He appreciated that you had to run city services like a business -- we didn't have a bottomless pit of money here," said Mayor Kenneth A. Yowan, who was elected to the council with Mr. Eckard in 1983.

Charles V. "Chick" Lord, a Baltimore investment banker who was a trustee, fund-raiser and devoted volunteer for New Song Academy in Sandtown-Winchester, died Thursday. He was 58. The longtime Roland Park resident took his own life. In recent months, he had been suffering from and was treated for clinical depression. Until founding C.V. Lord & Associates LLC, an investment firm last year, Mr. Lord had been a managing director of BT Alex. Brown Inc. for 17 years. Earlier, he had worked for Noxell Corp.

Security checks are under way to put all in readiness if the American League approves the effort of the triple play combination of Clancy-to-Weinglass- to-Angelos in their late-inning rally to buy the Baltimore Orioles out of bankruptcy proceedings.It's a hometown bid to purchase the team and if all three of the would-be owners pass inspection the final decision on the deal will be determined by a judge. The other strong proposal has been put together by William DeWitt Jr., the son of awell-respected executive with the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees and a part-owner of the St. Louis Browns and Cincinnati Reds.

The director of a government watchdog group said he plans to return this week to review campaign finance reports at the Annapolis city clerk's office, where he says staff improperly monitored him as he looked at the documents. James Browning, the executive director of Common Cause Maryland, said staff told him Thursday that he could not view files listing campaign contributions for Mayor Ellen O. Moyer without someone sitting next to him. "We're going back on Tuesday to resume the search," Browning said.

The governor's race may be over, but the campaign for Baltimore's mayor is just beginning. And City Council President Sheila Dixon will have the advantage if she can distinguish herself as the city's mayor over the next year. This is an opportunity for her to shine, to show she has what it takes to govern, to enhance the city's strengths and attend to its very serious ills. The city needs a leader, not a caretaker. Ms. Dixon will succeed Mayor Martin O'Malley, the governor-elect, with nearly 20 years in the City Council, the last six as its president and chair of the city's powerful Board of Estimates.

Mayoral candidate and Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. called yesterday for weekly debates with his competitors, a challenge that seems unlikely to become a reality. The campaign manager for Mayor Sheila Dixon, Martha McKenna, said the candidates have participated in three forums and have several more scheduled. "There's no shortage of forums and time to have all the candidates on a stage talking about their ideas," McKenna said. Eight Democrats are vying for the Democratic nomination in the Sept.

Cars play big role in drug traffickingIn reference to your editorial dated March 10 entitled "Larry's Used Car Specials" and Brian Sullam's column of March 23, these are the most irresponsible pieces of journalism I have ever read.Why would you print an editorial sending a mixed message that is so irresponsible and misleading? I have worked undercover narcotics investigations during 10 years. I have traveled with street-level drug dealers and drug abusers. Cars are a very big part of facilitating drug trafficking and drug abuse.

Gene L. Michaels can't find a fare anywhere. That's not good for his candidacy for mayor.A cab driver on and off for 30 years, Michaels conducts his campaign for mayor of Baltimore from the front seat of his Checker cab. When he gets a fare, the fare gets his spiel. When he drives around for 90 minutes on a hot August afternoon and can't find a single fare, a reporter gets it."I definitely think I have a chance to win," Michaels said, as his eyes searched the sidewalk for a lost and befuddled face.