Fargo

In suburban bars tonight, you can hoist a few farewell chuckles at "Seinfeld" parties. It says so on the signs on York Road. On radio station WWMX-FM (106.5), you could answer questions yesterday about "Bonanza, Tony Danza and George Costanza" with an Elaine-like "Yada yada" or a Kramerian "Giddyap." So naturally, this causes me to think of Dale Robertson.Robertson starred on a 1950s television show called "Tales of Wells Fargo," about which I remember nothing except the stunning revelation that I was not watching it alone.

The Maryland Stadium Authority awarded a security contract to a Waldorf firm during its board meeting yesterday at Camden Yards.Black Hawk Security, owned by Joseph P. Jones, has worked with the minor-league Bowie Baysox for the past three seasons and also provided security for Jack Kent Cooke Stadium in Landover during its construction phase.Jones, 35, said Black Hawk would employ 34 officers to protect Camden Yards during the first phase of its operation at the complex, with each officer getting $11.56 per hour.

Imagine Philip Marlowe as conceived by Cheech and Chong, and you get some idea of "The Big Lebowski," the boisterous, confounding new comedy from Joel and Ethan Coen.With their signature visual antics and off-kilter world-view, the Coens have ricocheted out of the grave moral universe of "Fargo" into the flightier world of a pothead living in L.A. during the early 1990s. That temporal setting is crucial to "The Big Lebow- ski," in that it provides endless quotes from Persian Gulf War rhetoric, not to mention a social backdrop exploding into a thousand self-indulgent points of light.

Yesterday's article about Oscar nominations gave an incorrect studio for "Fargo." The film, which was nominated for seven awards, was released by Gramercy.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 2/13/97

FARGO, N.D. -- When the moment they feared most came and the Red River finally reached its crest yesterday, the town of Fargo was still standing. But people here didn't stop to celebrate. As usual, they worked.But in between manning water pumps and shoring up dikes, they allowed themselves a newfound luxury: hope. After months of punishing blizzards, ice storms and now floods, this stoic community began to warily believe that its endurance test against the elements may soon be won."I compare it to a pregnancy without the good outcome," says Yvonne Gunderson, 34, a homemaker who has volunteered with the flood effort.

Police investigating the strangulation death of 8-year-old Marvin Wise in a city public housing high-rise were trying to learn yesterday if a convicted child molester charged in the killing was on parole at the time.The suspect, Shawn Brown, 27, who was being held without bail yesterday, served nine years at a New York state prison for attempted murder and child molestation and was released in June, police said.Police said they had not confirmed if he was on parole or had served his full sentence before he arrived several weeks ago in Baltimore, where he was staying with relatives in a 10th-floor apartment at the Flag House Courts high-rise on South Exeter Street.

Baltimore police commanders may oust the private security guards who watch over the downtown headquarters because of two security breaches that have left top officials concerned, a department spokesman said yesterday.Discussion on whether to replace Wells Fargo guards will come up during the annual contract review with the security company, said spokesman Sam Ringgold.More than 500 police officers, commanders and civilians work in the Fayette Street building."The two breaches are being taken very seriously," Ringgold said.

Less than two months after the federal government forced Nation of Islam Security Agency guards out of Baltimore's public housing, tenant leaders say drug dealers, thieves and vandals have returned to the high-rise projects.At a news conference yesterday -- arranged with the help of the Nation of Islam -- four tenants made their accusations against Wells Fargo Guard Services, which took over security at public housing from NOI under court order Dec. 14.But while the tenants said crime has increased, they offered no statistics to support their claims that vandals are breaking elevators, drug dealers are roaming the buildings and thieves are breaking into apartments.

Saying he broke no rules to hire the Nation of Islam Security Agency, housing chief Daniel P. Henson III vowed yesterday to fight the federal government to keep the guards that have restored calm to Baltimore's crime-plagued public high-rises.Even though the security agency affiliated with the Nation of Islam was the highest bidder, Mr. Henson said, the Housing Authority followed federal guidelines in selecting the company over 10 other firms last year for a $4.6 million contract."For years, security guards were selected on a low-price basis, ,, and we got what we paid for," he said at a news conference.

A federal judge refused yesterday to interfere with the cancellation of the Nation of Islam Security Agency's contract to patrol Baltimore's high-rise housing projects.NOI Security claims in a lawsuit that severing its $4.6 million contract with the city will devastate the security operation, cost hundreds of jobs and lead to increased crime in public housing.But Senior U.S. District Judge Edward S. Northrop chided NOI lawyers for less-than-prompt action. If the situation is so serious, he wrote in a three-page memorandum, why did the lawyers wait more than two weeks before requesting a hearing?

A federal judge on Thursday denied Wells Fargo's motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Baltimore over what city officials said were racially discriminatory lending practices that led to a wave of foreclosures that cost the city millions. The courtroom victory means the city, whose lawsuit is being closely watched by other municipalities, could gain access to the inner workings of one of the largest mortgage providers in the region. U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg wrote in a memo Thursday that the city had produced enough evidence to continue its claim and is entitled to discovery.

While city, state and federal leaders held a conference yesterday announcing the new Maryland mortgage fraud task force devoted to prosecuting scam artists, Baltimore lawyers assured a federal judge that they had proof that Wells Fargo Bank was one of the bad guys. The bank's "predatory lending" caused vacant properties and increased crime in the city's black communities, according to a federal lawsuit filed by the city last year. Wells Fargo mortgage brokers purposely steered black "prime borrowers into subprime loans," attorney John Relman said.

Attorneys for Baltimore City argued yesterday for the continuance of a potentially groundbreaking federal lawsuit against Wells Fargo Bank, alleging that the mortgage provider has a pattern of predatory lending in black neighborhoods that leads to foreclosures, vacant properties, lost tax revenue and significant legal fees. Wells Fargo filed a motion to dismiss the year-old lawsuit, claiming it is "legally deficient," in part because the city's complaint doesn't detail actual injury caused by the California company.

With 1996's Fargo (8 p.m., AMC), Joel and Ethan Coen found mass acceptance without sacrificing a scintilla of their indie cred - no small accomplishment in an era when popular and critical tastes were becoming increasingly polarized. This, the brothers' sixth film together (they both write; Joel gets the directing credit), follows the classic Coen formula: a bunch of doofuses get together and try something either illegal or stupid (often both). They find themselves in way over their heads and don't have a clue what to do next.

Baltimore is defending its practice of selling houses that have tax liens for unpaid water bills and other municipal fees, denying accusations by a major national bank that the city is responsible for a recent increase in mortgage foreclosures. The city defended the city's tax-sale practices in federal court filings this week as part of a groundbreaking lawsuit filed by Baltimore against Wells Fargo Bank. The city alleges in U.S. District Court that the bank exploited African-American families in Baltimore by offering them higher-interest loans than they offered white buyers, stripping them of equity through refinancings and charging them excessive points and fees.

Baltimore homeowners could receive counseling and financial support - including short-term loans to help avoid foreclosure - if the city wins the predatory and discriminatory lending lawsuit it filed yesterday against Wells Fargo Bank, Mayor Sheila Dixon said. After reviewing foreclosure data, city attorneys concluded that the leading mortgage lender was steering black homebuyers into high-cost, subprime loans, a contention Wells Fargo denies. City officials believe theirs is the first attempt by a municipality to recoup losses as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis.

Former Arundel High wrestler Nicole Woody became the first female four-time junior national champion yesterday, capturing the 102-pound title at the Junior Freestyle Nationals in Fargo, N.D. Woody, 19, swept her best-of-three match against Amy Whitbeck of New York, winning by scores of 2-0 and 8-1. "It feels great," said Woody, who plans to wrestle at Oklahoma City University in the fall. "Ever since I won my first championship, my goal was to be the first four-time champion." The Odenton resident, who took second place earlier this year competing against boys in the state high school wrestling finals, did not lose a period the entire tournament, earning the Outstanding Wrestler award for the second consecutive year.

FARGO, N.D. -- A federal jury announced Friday its unanimous decision that Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. should be sentenced to death by lethal injection for the Nov. 22, 2003, kidnapping and killing of University of North Dakota senior Dru Sjodin, a 22-year-old from Pequot Lakes, Minn. Rodriguez, 53, who has spent 31 of the past 32 years behind bars for attacks on women, showed no reaction to the sentencing decision as it was read aloud in court. His attorneys said they will ask for a new trial and appeal if denied.

On October 16, 2005, BARBARA A. JORDAN (nee Fargo); beloved wife of Francis Ray Jordan; beloved mother of Michael L., Patrick A., Paul E. Jordan and Jo Anne Winschel; loving grandmother of Christian, Cynthia, Bobby, Andrew, Amanda, Jennie, Sean and Timothy. Also survived by her parents Blair and Ruth Fargo and her brother Thomas Fargo. Relatives and friends are invited to call at the Schimunek Funeral Homes of Bel Air, Inc., 610 W. Mac Phail Road (at Rte 24) on Tuesday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. A Funeral Mass will be held at St. Ignatius Catholic Church (Hickory)

IT'S A white-hot legal issue within the home real estate field, but for consumers it basically boils down to this: Should you as a homebuyer or refinancer ever be charged $450 for an appraisal that cost your lender $175? Should you ever pay $45 for a credit check that cost the lender less than $10, or be asked to fork over $65 for Federal Express document shipments that actually cost $18? After a new move by a major mortgage lender, those questions will continue to generate diametrically opposite answers for consumers around the country, depending on where they live.