Crutches

NEW YORK -- Dennis Byrd steadied himself on his crutches at the doorway of the conference room at Mount Sinai Hospital yesterday afternoon. He stood there for a moment -- flanked by his wife, Angela, and his therapists -- to gather his nerves. Then, leaning on his crutches, Byrd gingerly put one foot in front of the other and walked the 15 feet to a chair in the front of the room to take his seat next to his wife.The scene held the wonderment of Neil Armstrong's walking on the moon. It embodied the joy of a baby's first step.

NEW YORK -- The distance from the doorway to his seat in front of this hospital boardroom wasn't long. Maybe 30 feet. Forty, tops. Measuring each tiny step with the aid of crutches, it took Dennis Byrd almost a minute to cover the territory.But no one was rushing him. Reporters sat mesmerized during the packed news conference yesterday at Mount Sinai Medical Center, knowing that Byrd's journey from the door to his chair could not be counted in seconds. It had taken almost 11 weeks, really.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's proposal to raise the piggyback income tax city residents pay from 50 to 55 percent has caused a predictable hue and cry in the City Council. "We're taxing ourselves out of business here," Councilman Anthony J. Ambridge, D-2nd, harrumphed. "It's going to be a hard sell."The council members who echoed that sentiment have a point. With Baltimore City already taxing its property owners twice as much as the suburban counties, an increased piggyback tax would seem to be a ticket to disaster.

DALLAS -- Major-league umpire Steve Palermo sat in his wheelchair yesterday and explained that the robbers who shot him were in worse shape than he was."I'm going to walk again long before their punishment may be up," he said. "So who got the worst of it?"During an emotional hourlong news conference at the Dallas Rehabilitation Institute, the American League umpire vowed to come back fully from the injuries he suffered while aiding robbery victims outside Campisi's Egyptian Restaurant in Dallas on July 6."

I CREATE advertising, among other things, for a living. I come up with ideas for ad campaigns, and I write commercials, and I translate marketing mumbo jumbo into ideas that sell things. I am also an African-American.I tell you all of this because I recently had an unexpected skirmish. It has to do with the long-standing battle to improve the image of black people in the American media. And it left me wondering which side of the barricade some self-styled black media critics are really on.A client of mine, for whom I recently created a TV commercial, called me on the telephone the other day. She was perplexed and upset.

HERNDON, Va. -- The Washington Redskins, "in as much trouble as we've ever been in," are hoping Mark Rypien is ready to play quarterback again this week. They are hoping desperately."We may have to win with just our defense for a while," coach Joe Gibbs said after checking the multiple damages suffered in Monday night's debacle at Philadelphia."Or with just our special teams," Gibbs added. "We've got serious problems, major problems."Quarterback Stan Humphries, kick returner Walter Stanley and running back Gerald Riggs all came out of the 28-14 defeat with "four-week injuries," Gibbs said.