East Berlin

DESPITE THE RECENT reunification of Germany, a revolution of taste marches on.Dinner tables in what used to be East Germany are slowly becoming laden with the rich foods West Germans enjoyed for years. Due to government regulations, East Germans went without luxury foods since World War II. Items such as butter, cream, beef, chocolate and coffee were always scarce. The small amount of dairy products and livestock East German farmers produced were mostly exported to other Iron Curtain countries.

As we hovered over the poppy field in the volatile Helmand province of southern Afghanistan — a square patch of earth unremarkable for its rows of small cabbage-green plants in the furrowed soil — the pilot of the low-flying U.S. gunship told me, "We can land here if you'd like to take some notes and a few photos. You've got two minutes." "Why two minutes?" I asked. "Because," he replied evenly, " al-Qaida's guarding these fields." "Two minutes will be fine, sir."

BERLIN -- Denied a job and threatened by anti-Semitism, Alia Lapitzky decided that the Soviet Union's new freedoms held nothing for her. She arranged a visa through acquaintances in Germany and left Kiev three months ago."There was a pogrom atmosphere, and we couldn't lead a normal life. For us, Germany's [Nazi] past wasn't as bad as the Soviet Union's present," said the 26-year-old doctor.Nearly 3,000 other Soviet Jews have made similar decisions and arrived in what was then East Germany over the summer and early fall.

Berlin. -- I was vehement when a Jewish newspaper publisher called to invite me to go to Berlin to participate in dedicating a conference center. No, I don't want to hear that language. No, I don't want to walk the bloodied streets. And no, I don't want to breathe the air that has been spiritually fouled by the lingering stench of decomposing flesh.But I did go to Berlin for a day of dedication, together with my wife, who had made a solemn vow not to step foot on German soil. What impelled me to go?

BERLIN -- Statues of Lenin lie toppled in some of the remotest outposts of the former communist empire in Europe, but the Soviet Union's founder still dominates a busy downtown intersection in Germany's capital -- protected by an unlikely coalition of artists and working-class locals.Never removed during the East German revolution, the 62-foot granite statue of Lenin originally became part of a quiet debate among historians about the future of 800 memorials to communist heroes in former East Germany.

On February 26, 2004, RUTH MARIE PENNOCK (nee Stambaugh) of Westminster, MD (formerly of Putty Hill, Baltimore, MD); beloved wife of the late John La Free Pennock and devoted mother of Jane A. Gulde of East Berlin, P.A. and Nancy R. Whittington of New Windsor, MD. Dear sister of Florence Miles and Daisy Gagliano, both of Baltimore, MD and the late Sarah Haber, Clay Stambaugh, Emily Hare and Hazel Purdy; loving grandmother of Kimberly Bogue, Stephanie Ogle...

The lawyer for a former Frederick kindergarten teacher says his client is innocent of charges he sexually abused a student last school year. Attorney Thomas Pavlinic said Thursday that 31-year-old Matthew Berresford of East Berlin, Pa., steadfastly denies the allegations. Assistant Frederick County State's Attorney Tammy Leache says Berresford was accused of molesting a 5-year-old boy. Frederick County public schools spokeswoman Marita Loose said Berresford took a paid leave of absence from North Frederick Elementary School in July after the student's parents reported inappropriate behavior.

"Berlin" Lonely Planet, $11.99 This is a small, intimate guide to Berlin, that most modern of cities, perfect for carrying around in your pocket or purse. Berlin is very much focused on the present, not the past. If profligacy seems to be its reason for being, and that is the impression one gets after perusing this guide, it does have its somber sides too, because Berlin is a city that combines the horrific with the hedonistic. Hence, visitors can partake of the city's numerous cabarets and clubs but also visit the Jewish Museum, an interactive journey through 2,000 years of Berlin's Jewish history, or see with their own eyes Checkpoint Charlie, the gateway between West and East Berlin in the Cold War. But, warns author Andrea Schulte-Peevers, it is little more than a "tacky tourist trap" where "uniformed actors" pose in front of the replica of a guardhouse.

On August 9, 2004, ROBERT E. TAVAREZ, 78, beloved husband of Dolores M. (nee Hare) Tavarez; devoted father of Tracie L. Kalb of Elkridge and Kathy E. Healy of Hampstead; son of Antone and Stella Belle (Morris) Tavarez; brother of Howard M. Tavarez of Long Neck, DE; and brother-in-law of Mildred L. Mc Nulty of Baltimore. He is also survived by three grandchildren. Mr. Tavarez was a member of Holtzschwamm Paradise Lutheran Church, Thomasville and Hanover VFW. He served in the US Army Air Corps during WWII and retired from the Baltimore City Fire Dept.

James Howard VanMetre's first chance at parole from a Pennsylvania prison will be delayed at least two years, after a judge increased his sentence for a 1991 rape and kidnapping.Adams County, Pa., Common Pleas Judge John D. Kuhn changed VanMetre's sentence Wednesday from 13-26 years to 15 1/2 -35 years after determining the earlier sentence was illegal, court officials said.Under the previous sentence, VanMetre, 37, of East Berlin, Pa., would have been eligible for parole in 10 years. Under the revised sentence, he first will be considered for parole in 12 years.