Eastpoint

You don't have to wait for Santa anymore. He's in town, and he's brought along an entourage of photographers and, in some cases, a train crew.Santas started popping up at area malls this month, and they will be coming like a stampede of reindeer in coming weeks. Of course, Santa is only one part of the elaborate Christmas efforts by malls to put people in the Christmas -- that is, buying -- mood.The Santa, the mall decorations, the piped-in music and everything else that goes along can cost a mall anywhere from $25,000 to $250,000 and take up to a year to plan, according to Lisa Bisenius, marketing director for Eastpoint Mall at North Point Boulevard and Eastern Avenue.

Leonard Charles Harris, the Eastpoint physician charged with the 1991 rapes of two White Marsh women, has now been charged with a similar attack on a Towson State University student in 1990.Towson State University police charged the 37-year-old doctor after they noticed similarities between the attacks with which Harris was charged by Baltimore County police and the assault on the student.Campus police Chief Stephen J. Murphy noted that the two White Marsh women, attacked in February and November, were assaulted in their homes during the day by a man with a handgun who wore gloves and red mesh material over his face.

S'MALL WORLD DAYS: Razzle-dazzle in the shopping world. First, there was the VIP celebration of the renovated Eastpoint Mall, which attracted more than 700 people. Among those partying to a Nifty '50s theme were Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley, Joe DiCara, Baltimore County Office of Economic Development; Buddy Fine, Buddy's Men's Shop, and Steve Silber, who has opened his second shop, Tops N Bottoms, at Eastpoint. Out-of-towners at the opening included Dorie Bell, Sears' nationwide fashion-show coordinator; Arnold Praever, Shopco Management Corp.

Red Cross leaders urge Anne Arundel citizens to give blood at its Glen Burnie center, 30 Greenway Ave. N.W., Suite 4, or at one of several blood drives.Hours of operation for the Glen Burnie center through the end of the month are:Today, -- 1 to 8 p.m.Saturday -- 8 am. to 1 p.m.Monday, and Tuesday -- 2 to 8 p.m.Wednesday -- 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.Thursday, Sept. 19, -- 2 to 8 p.m.Saturday, Sept. 21 -- 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.Monday, Sept. 23, and Tuesday, Sept. 24 -- 2 to 8 p.m.Wednesday, Sept. 25 -- 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.Thursday, Sept.

Bloomingdale's? Macy's? Saks Fifth Avenue? Such glitzy, pricey stores are not what Eastpoint Mall has in mind for its nearly completed $30 million renovation."

Entrepreneurs Robin and Arthur Barr were so close to becoming a local retail success story.The Baltimore County couple opened their first record store, Sound Waves, in May 1978 in Ocean City.Over the next 12 years, they added eight record stores in the Baltimore area. For nearly all those years they showed a profit, the Barrs say.Robin, 36, a former special education teacher, and Arthur, 39, a former wholesale record distributor, had realized the American dream of owning their own business.

Staples, the second largest office supply warehouse in the nation, is purchasing the inventories of three Baltimore area Office Stop stores and plans to take over two of those locations as early as next week.The deal reached with San Antonio-based Office Stop, which filed for Chapter 7 under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code last month, would have Staples assume the leases for Office Stop stores in Eastpoint and Towson.Those stores, which are still operating, will be converted to Staples stores and will reopen during the last week of July, said James Forbush, Staples vice president for marketing.

Services for Maurice Rubenstein, who practiced general dentistry in the Eastpoint area for many years, will be held at 11 a.m. today at Sol Levinson & Bros. funeral establishment, 6010 Reisterstown Road.Dr. Rubenstein, who was 62 and resided on Beech View Court in Towson, died of cancer Monday at the Mercy Medical Center.He retired at the beginning of 1988 after practicing in Baltimore and then eastern Baltimore County.He taught part time in the departments of community dentistry and oral diagnosis at the University of Maryland dental school, appeared as a dentist on radio and television talk shows, and was the author of several professional papers.

Mancini reaches Italian Open finalAlberto Mancini, a former Italian Open champion who had to qualify this year, reached the final yesterday in Rome with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over fifth-seeded Sergi Bruguera.Mancini's opponent today will be ninth-seeded Emilio Sanchez, a 6-4, 6-2 winner over Goran Prpic of Yugoslavia.This is the first time a player coming out of a qualifying round has reached the final.Sanchez, who has not lost a set this year at Rome, reached his second Italian Open final with his victory over Prpic.