Car Business

Falafel has caused an uproar on a street corner in downtown Baltimore.When Vassos Yiannouris and his wife, Maria Kaimakis, introduced the Middle Eastern chick pea ball a year ago from their cart on the sidewalk, they only wanted to make a living. They had lost their jobs in the car business.At first, the Cypriana Sidewalk Gourmet cart's business was slow at Light and Water streets. Few people had ever heard of falafel. But soon the couple's food caught the fancy of lawyers, dentists and bankers who stood in line to eat their falafel and grilled chicken in pita bread.

Here's a challenge for The Sun writers: At your next staff meeting, have everybody dig into their pockets (or pocketbooks) and count the number of Susan B. Anthony $1 coins you have collectively. My guess is zero ("Sensible change: Switch to $1 coins," April 25). This raises the question, how does op-ed writer Dave DuGoff get almost 700 words on the commentary page to promote an idea that coincidentally would be quite convenient for his car-wash business? Readers should know that the U.S. Mint has hundreds of thousands of Susan B. Anthony $1 coins on its hands, but it can't get banks to order them due to lack of demand.

Sykesville resident becomes new owner of car repair business Sykesville resident Gary Rotholz is the new owner of Appaloosa Auto Paint & Glass Repair, formerly owned and operated by Jeff Price of Ellicott City. The 5-year-old repair company is a mobile service providing windshield, cosmetic paint and minor body repair and gold plating for automobiles. Rotholz recently added glass etching and automobile upholstery repair. Commercial exhibitors needed for 50+ Expo The Office on Aging, Department of Citizen Services, is seeking exhibitors for Howard County's 50+ Expo to be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 20 at Wilde Lake High School, 5460 Trumpeter Road, Columbia.

At the instant that a hijacked jetliner crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York, an investment deal fell apart in York, Pa. A new venture was conceived in Baltimore just after the towers collapsed. A Pikesville tour company lost half its business in the days that followed. An Annapolis-based Web site was reborn. Like the human costs, the financial and economic impact of the terrorist attacks Sept. 11 was both immediate and beyond calculation. The effects continue and are felt well beyond Manhattan, and by many more businesses than those in the twin towers.

RIDEMAKERZ 8157 A Honeygo Blvd., The Avenue at White Marsh, 21236 / / Open 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sundays / / 866-587-4339 or 410-933-4866 ........................ IT'S HARD TO TRICK OUT A BEAR WITH hood scoops, side pipes and running boards. Wouldn't look right anyway. What you need is a cool ride. Modeled after the popular Build-A-Bear Workshops, makers of Ridemakerz have created a build-it-yourself toy car business where children (and adults)

Francis X. McSweeney Sr., a longtime automobile dealer in Baltimore who later worked for the State Department of Licensing and Regulation and retired in 1991, died Oct. 15 of cancer at his home on The Alameda. He was 72. A Mass of Christian burial was offered Oct. 19 at Immaculate Heart of Mary Roman Catholic Church.He was general sales manager of a Ford dealership before operating McSweeney Pontiac on West North Avenue between 1955 and 1958, when it was destroyed by fire. Later, for about 10 years, he operated K&M Auto Sales, a used-car business on Belair Road.

RICHMOND, Va. -- Circuit City Group said yesterday that fiscal fourth-quarter earnings fell 16 percent largely because of losses from its investment in digital-disc players and its majority stake in the CarMax Group used-car business.Net income in the quarter ended Feb. 28 fell to $57.4 million, or 58 cents a diluted share, from $68.5 million, or 70 cents, a year ago. The earnings were in line with expectations, said Ursula Moran of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.The company's earnings fell because of Digital Video Express, or Divx, and a 77 percent interest in CarMax, which had a loss.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Lee A. Iacocca says that the Big Three automakers should consider promoting federal legislation zTC to limit the Japanese car industry to a fixed percentage of the American market.Speaking at the dedication of Chrysler Corp.'s $1 billion technology center outside Detroit, Iacocca, Chrysler's chairman, said yesterday: "We've never favored a complete restriction, but we'll have to decide our collective position. We have to deal with our own self-interests. At some point, you have to decide what you stand for."

Dunbar Armored Inc. lost a quarter of its armored car business in Lower Manhattan when the World Trade Center towers fell. It didn't lose workers or assets, but the Hunt Valley company had more than 15 clients in the World Trade Center - from a Borders bookstore to the Bank of Tokyo - for which it transported money by armored car and provided armed security guards. "We've lost them, billing has stopped, we can't service them and they're gone," said Kevin R. Dunbar, president of the armored security services company.

Adella "Alli" Russel, a retired Pikesville travel agent who made her way out of Nazi-controlled Germany in the 1930s, died of congestive heart failure Sept. 3 at the North Oaks retirement community. She was 96. Born Adella Zipser in Leipzig, Germany, she was the daughter of a wholesaler of milk and dairy products. She received a grade school education and worked in a department store while in her teens. A practicing Jew, she and her family came under increasing scrutiny by Nazi authorities.