Fannin

The phone call had been typical of many calls that reach the small office at Western Maryland College. The caller, the manager of a Westminster retail store, felt he was being undermined at work because he is openly gay."An assistant manager had been cutting him down in front of other employees," said Wade Fannin, a 27-year-old WMC senior who founded the college's Lesbian and Gay Resource Center. "We went to his company and helped to get the problem resolved."Since the center's help line opened in June, 300 such calls have been logged.

WESTMINSTER -- When Wade Fannin moved here in 1987 and became visible as Western Maryland College's only openly gay student, he was subjected to sporadic name-calling. Two years ago, he and his lover were beaten up by a "skinhead" in downtown Westminster.In those days, Carroll's homosexuals had no place to turn for support -- a situation he intends to change with the opening of the new Lesbian and Gay Resource Center of Carroll County, based at the college.The 27-year-old senior recently won the college's first Griswold-Zepp Award for Volunteerism, an annual $1,000 prize for undergraduate projects in the community.

A senior at Western Maryland College plans to use a $1,000 award from college alumni to establish the Lesbian and Gay Resource Center of Carroll County.Gary Wade Fannin won the first Griswold-Zepp Award for Volunteerism, which is intended to help people carry out volunteer projects in the community. Fannin, a psychology and religious studies major, plans to provide a supportive atmosphere for lesbians and gays at the center.He proposes a facility that would use a telephone hot line to provide a clearinghouse for community resource information and crisis intervention.

CATONSVILLE - Glen Burnie volleyball coach Juanita Murdock-Milani knew that Saturday night's Class 4A state championship match against top-seeded Oxon Hill would be won or lost at the service line.To gear up for the season finale, the 13-year coach spent all week drilling her Gophers overtime on their serving skills."We worked strictly on serving for close to 90 minutes the other day," said Milani. "At the end of practice I set up six chairs on the court, each representing a player, and we rotated serves."

WESTMINSTER - Three years ago, Wade Fannin left a powerful gay community in Houston to continue his education at a small liberal arts school in the East."