Gardiner

POLICE LOG* Priest Bridge Business Park: Someone stole $5,000 worth of construction equipment Friday morning from Gardiner and Gardiner Contracting in the 2100 block of Baldwin Ave.

The Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company handled nearly 500 calls in January, a single-month record for fire and emergency calls.Firefighters and emergency service personnel responded to 198 fire-related calls and 300 emergency calls, an average of more than 16 calls per day, said Richard Gardiner, spokesman for the fire company.In contrast, the all-volunteer organization handled only 96 calls during January 1993, he said. The fire company handled an average of 309 calls per month in 1993 and 288 calls per month in 1992.

2 architects finish state requirementsMarilee Tortorelli and Pam Davison of John E. Harms Jr. and Associates recently completed requirements for becoming registered landscape architects in Maryland.Ms. Davison is the senior planner within the land planning division at Harms and Associates, which is based in Pasadena.Ms. Tortorelli manages the Land planning division.Gardiner to chair membership driveFrancis E. Gardiner Jr. president of Gardiner and Gardiner Inc. has been named area chairman to the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC)

Last season, bad weather washed out what would have been the first White Marlin Open Release Classic in Ocean City. Next ** month, tournament organizers will try again."

LANDOVER -- The administration of his new place of employment is convinced that Bob Valvano's troubles at Catholic University are behind him.So, Valvano was officially introduced as the new St. Mary's College basketball coach yesterday at a news conference at the Capital Centre."

St. Mary's will introduce Bob Valvano as its men's basketball coach today, according to a source at the college.The Southern Maryland school has called an 11 a.m. news conference at the Capital Centre.The younger brother of former North Carolina State coach Jim Valvano, Valvano spent the last three seasons at Catholic University, where his teams improved from 8-18 to 9-17 to 21-6. He was fired last March, however, when the administration said that his coaching methods did not meet school standards, particularly in his use of profanity at practices.

BOSTON -- When Butch Hobson pulled starting pitcher Mike Gardiner with two out in the seventh inning yesterday, he had a lot of people questioning his motive, not to mention his sanity.By the time the inning was over, the rookie Red Sox manager was wondering if he ever was going to push the right button. The Orioles got three straight hits off reliever Peter Hoy, scoring three times to tie the score, 4-4."I was thinking everything I do ain't working," Hobson said. "Maybe this will turn it around."

John Miller was grateful when Jim Rogers let him live in a trailer on his Davidsonville farm.Miller, 53, couldn't do much work. He had lost an eye and part of a hand to an artillery shell in Korea in 1958. Over the years, degenerative arthritis had crippled his hands andback. But he could help Rogers care for his horses, and that was enough."We couldn't afford a place to live," said Betty Miller, John's wife. "Then we heard about Jim, came to see him, and we moved in the next day."That was three years ago. The Millers, and their 15-year-old daughter, Carol, may soon be out on the street.

BOSTON -- It all happened so fast that Baltimore Orioles JTC right-hander Jose Mesa didn't have time to adjust. Maybe he didn't have the right idea. Maybe he didn't have the right stuff. Maybe he just came up against the wrong team.The only thing he could be sure of was the outcome. The Boston Red Sox scored six runs in the first two innings and ended the Orioles' three-game winning streak with a 7-2 victory last night at Fenway Park.Mesa, who has had trouble in the early innings on a couple of other occasions recently, gave up base hits to the first four batters he faced and never recovered.