Hale

Edwin F. Hale Sr., the soon-to-be-ex-chairman of Baltimore Bancorp, definitely has his sights on another bank in town. He just can't have his first choice.That choice was Bank Maryland Corp., the Towson-based company whose largest shareholder is its chairman, H. F. "Bert" Criste. Mr. Hale, whose bank is about to be acquired by a New Jersey-based company, said yesterday that his negotiations to buy out Mr. Criste's nearly 20 percent stake in Bank Maryland have fallen through.Mr. Hale said he still would like to have a controlling interest in Bank Maryland, if not an actual management role.

If every dog has his day, yesterday belonged to Edwin F. Hale Sr., the Baltimore Bancorp chairman whose dogged determination helped rescue one of Maryland's largest banks from a federal takeover.The 176-year-old company, parent of the Bank of Baltimore, held its last full annual stockholders meeting. A truncated meeting will be held this summer for shareholders to vote on Baltimore Bancorp's proposed $346 million sale to First Fidelity Bancorp., of Lawrenceville, N.J.But yesterday was Mr. Hale's chance to take his final bows for a job that many in Baltimore's corporate establishment felt he couldn't do.Mr.

Hale Intermodal Transport Co. announced yesterday that it would spend $8 million for four barges to be built at Bethlehem Steel Corp.'s Sparrows Point shipyard -- the first new vessels to be made there since 1988.Although the company could have saved money by ordering the barges from cheaper shipyards in Mississippi or Louisiana, it wanted to give Bethlehem's Baltimore County complex a boost, said Hale Intermodal Chairman Edwin F. Hale."They were good enough to hire some of us right out of high school to allow us to make tuition payments," he said.

Dissident stockholders of Baltimore Bancorp have appealed a federal judge's ruling ordering a new stockholder vote on a proposal to expand the company's board of directors to 28 members.The proposal is critical to the hopes of dissidents led by Edwin F. Hale Sr. to gain control of the parent company of the Bank of Baltimore, because only six of the 18 existing board seats were up for election this year. The Hale slate hopes also to win the 10 new seats to gain a majority on the board.The dissidents asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Monday evening to overturn a ruling last Friday by U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz, who said that he couldn't resolve what to do about more than 1 million disputed votes in the bitterly fought proxy contest.

Baltimore Blast owner Ed Hale said last week that he will propose scheduling changes in the Major Soccer League that would have the most far-reaching effects in the 13-year history of the league.Hale said his proposals will come Tuesday at the league meetings in Kansas City, Mo., and would result in "37 changes that will make the product less diluted and more action-packed."Hale would not be specific about the changes except to say they would "affect every aspect of league operations."Hale is chairman of the MSL player relations committee and a member of the league expansion committee.

Owner Ed Hale said Friday night he doesn't believe there is any dissension on the Baltimore Blast.But this team has too much talent to be faltering three and fougames under .500 and possibly more before the season is over.After one game a couple of months ago when the Blast wabeaten at home by the Tacoma Stars, Tim Wittman said: "They don't worry about who scores the goals, and that's why they won."Wittman ended his comments right there, but it was obvious hwas implying there are some Blast players who do think too much about scoring goals.

Edwin F. Hale Sr., the scrappy entrepreneur who took on a venerable Baltimore institution, has claimed his fruits of victory with his election as chairman of Baltimore Bancorp.Hale took over the helm of the parent company of the Bank of Baltimore yesterday at the first meeting of the new board of directors dominated by Hale allies. The board also elected Charles H. "Buck" Whittum Jr., a retired executive of Signet Bank/Maryland, as chief executive officer of the fifth largest banking operation in Maryland.

At a family-owned restaurant in Dundalk one evening this spring, 1st Mariner Bank CEO and Chairman Edwin F. Hale Sr. stood before school teachers, retirees and business owners and made an urgent pitch: Buy stock in Baltimore's largest independent bank and help ensure its survival. Among those who have purchased shares: friends of Hale's mother and substitute teacher Will White. "We didn't have a lot to invest, but we felt more comfortable investing it locally," said White, an Edgemere resident who ponied up $2,000 with his wife, Meg. "Of course Ed, he's a guy who's larger than life."

When he walked into the 25th-floor reception area yesterday at the company where he was about two hours away from becoming chief executive officer, Buck Whittum didn't get the royal reception."

Hale Intermodal Marine Co., a Canton-based trucking and barge firm, filed suit yesterday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore against a competitor, charging that the competitor is trying to monopolize the market for coastal barge services on the East Coast.The lawsuit filed by Hale Intermodal, whose chairman is Edwin Hale Sr., alleges that Columbia Coastal Transportation Inc. and Columbia Coastal Transport LLC of Clark, N.J., targeted Hale's largest customer, the Tricon Group.Hale Intermodal alleges that Columbia submitted "a predatorily low and anti-competitive bid" to Tricon in March to provide coastal barge liner services between Baltimore and Norfolk, Va., at rates substantially lower than the rates offered by Hale Intermodal, and below Columbia's average variable and marginal costs.