Control

With no thanks to the Democratic state senator who represents the area, the Baltimore County community of Perry Hall is safer from gun violence than it was six months ago. We can say that much. Sen. Kathy Klausmeier might have voted against the important gun control bill that her colleagues in the Maryland Senate passed on Thursday, but Bobby Gladden has gone to prison, and that means his former fellow students at Perry Hall High won't have to worry about seeing him with a gun in the cafeteria again.

NORPLANT is the most revolutionary contraceptive for women since the birth-control pill. But its potential is being seriously undermined.In three states -- Louisiana, Kansas and California -- conservatives are trying to use it to control the lives of poor women.Implanted in the upper arm, Norplant takes effect immediately. Its failure rate is less than 1 percent, and once it is removed, fertility returns rapidly.Dr. Sheldon J. Segal, the creator of Norplant, thought coercive measures might become an issue if it were introduced in India or China, but he says he is "shocked that these draconian measures are coming from the conservative right in this country."

Q. When presented with the issue of a child harming other children or siblings by biting, hitting or pushing, you usually recommend that the parents "leave it to the children" so they can "learn about each other." You add the caveat "while still ensuring their safety." Yet I don't believe I've ever seen you give an example of how one allows the children to work it out and at the same time ensures their safety. Specifically, if an older brother (9 years old) continues to hit a younger sibling (5 years old)

Maryland's work to clean up the Chesapeake Bay needs the backing of tough federal standards to control animal waste, Gov. Parris N. Glendening told the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee yesterday.Glendening praised Sen. Tom Harkin's bill to impose nationwide controls on waste from livestock."No matter what steps Maryland or any individual state takes" to clean polluted water, without consistency from state to state "only incomplete solutions will ever be achieved," Glendening said.North Carolina, Idaho and Kansas officials also back the proposal by Harkin, an Iowa Democrat.

A Naval Academy report being prepared for Congress calls for stricter control over the academy's private athletic association but does not recommend that the federal government take financial control of Navy sports, according to Navy and congressional sources.Taking over the private, nonprofit Naval Academy Athletic Association would force the government to spend about $25 million to buy Navy-Marine Corps Memorial stadium and its 59 acres from the NAAA.Also, the Navy sports program would lose control over the money it receives from such sources as the millions of dollars in television rights for Navy football and the annual $223,000 that the state and Annapolis pay to rent its stadium parking lot.Adm.

Baltimore Health Department investigators say they have controlled an outbreak of tuberculosis among gay and bisexual men who belong to African-American social clubs that stage dance competitions along the East Coast. The department found 19 active and 23 dormant cases of TB, a serious respiratory infection. The outbreak came to light in mid-1998 and was contained within a year when health officials traced the disease to members of clubs known as "houses." More than half of the men who contracted tuberculosis were also infected with the AIDS virus, which lowers defenses against disease.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture is boosting its mosquito control efforts in the wake of what health officials fear could be the first human case of West Nile virus in the state this year. Agriculture officials have more than doubled mosquito trapping on the Lower Eastern Shore, said Cy Lesser, the department's chief of mosquito control. The move came after the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported last week what they suspect is a human case of the virus. Officials decline to say much about the case except that it involves a resident of Worcester County.

Heard much talk lately about Maryland's ''Saturday Night Special'' law? Can you recall a lot of discussion on how the law has contributed to the reduction of violent crime in this state? Probably not.No such reticence characterized supporters of the law when it was placed on a state referendum in 1988. One Sun editorial said that the law ''would make ours a model state insofar as dealing with the special threat of the Saturday Night Special.'' In a column, Barry Rascovar put it bluntly: ''Get rid of the Saturday Night Special and the crime rate should fall.

Control will put you in a bluesy swoon. It locates the raw lyric impulse in post-punk rock as it tells the story of Ian Curtis (Sam Riley), lead singer and songwriter for the Manchester, England, group Joy Division, who committed suicide in 1980, on the eve of the band's first U.S. tour. Control (Weinstein Co.) Starring Samantha Morton, Sam Riley, Alexandra Maria Lara. Directed by Anton Corbijn. Rated R. Time 121 minutes.

A Columbia man was killed Saturday afternoon after he lost control of his car on a wet road in Colesville, Montgomery County police said. Michael Abiola Phillips, 33, of Stevens Forest Road was driving his 1986 Honda on East Randolph Road about 2:30 p.m. when the car skidded, crossed the center line and collided with a 1984 Oldsmobile. Phillips was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Carl Stephen O'Briant, 55, of Washington, driver of the Oldsmobile, and his two passengers, Sally O'Briant, 47, of Washington and Vivian O'Briant, 86, of Silver Spring, were injured but not critically, police said.