Hispanic Community

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon met with a diverse group of Fells Point residents and business owners yesterday to assure them that an official-looking letter warning of a neighborhood curfew was a hoax. "We are working with the Police Department to get to the bottom of this and to find out what the whole motive is behind it," said Dixon, sitting with about two dozen residents at a long table in the back of Jimmy's Restaurant on Broadway. She said a full investigation into the incident is under way. "Please go back and tell your residents and community members that this is fake," she said.

A skeptical group of East Baltimore Latino residents demanded last night that a former city police officer be swiftly arrested and charged for allegedly stopping two Hispanic men and stealing their money."

Prince George's County State's Attorney Jack B. Johnson arrived in downtown Baltimore last night ready to discuss in detail the controversy surrounding the killing of a Hispanic man in Laurel but changed his mind upon learning that The Sun was present.Johnson had been expected to meet with the Rev. Brian Jordan, a Franciscan priest who ministers to the Hispanic community in suburban Washington and has been highly critical of the prosecutor's handling of the Sept. 4 death of Gilberto Hernandez.

Privacy at the cramped Centro de la Comunidad office in East Baltimore is a luxury. Battleship-gray filing cabinets serve as room dividers and crude conversation buffers.For three years, the staff at the outreach and social service center has managed to work there, practically whispering during job placement or family counseling sessions. But as Baltimore's Hispanic community has grown to an estimated 40,000, the center, in the 2700 block of Pulaski Highway, has been pressed to expand.With a long sought-after $200,000 state grant awarded at the end of the legislative session, the center will undergo renovations this summer that will almost double its size.

THE VOICES behind Jose Luaces were too soft in the beginning, as though feeling a little timid, as though not wanting to call too much attention to their own sound. And so Luaces, marching at the front of this demonstration by the Baltimore Circuit Court buildings, raised his own voice heartily, raised it above the din of all noontime traffic yesterday on Calvert Street, and this time he asked the question in Spanish, where it felt comfortable for everyone."Que queremos?" he called out."Justicia," came the response now, louder and louder.

Accompanied by eight interpreters, numerous department heads and bilingual brochures, Annapolis Mayor Dean L. Johnson orchestrated his first major attempt to reach out to the city's rapidly growing Hispanic community last night and tell them about services available to them.More than 120 Hispanic residents packed an auditorium for the meeting to engage in what many said was a much-anticipated dialogue with city leaders."The people in the Spanish community have many questions for the different departments," said Francisco Encina Vega, 38, who has lived in Annapolis for five years.

Confused and angry, a 31-year-old Mexican immigrant returned home to Upper Fells Point yesterday after spending four days in jail on a 1997 warrant that was meant for someone else -- from a state he never visited.On the Fourth of July, state police arrested Adolfo Ramirez, an East Baltimore business owner, because his name, date of birth and physical description, including a few scars, matched that of an escaped convict in Sacramento, Calif.Police say they made an understandable but not malicious mistake.

TOWSON -- County Council members voted unanimously last night to proceed with condemnation of 25 acres on Cowenton Road to be part of a park system for the new planned community of Honeygo.The property owner, Vincent Del Pizzo, refused the county's offer of $385,000 for the land. Although he has tried to sell the land for $1.5 million, his representatives say his first choice is to develop the property himself.Council members also voted unanimously to condemn a 98-acre tract at Falls and Greenspring Valley roads, owned by businessman Clarence Elder.

Annapolis Mayor Dean L. Johnson is taking his "City Hall Comes to You" program to the city's growing Hispanic community next month, the first in the series to target an ethnic group rather than a neighborhood.The forum, scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 13 at the Griscomb building in Truxton Park, is part of a series that Johnson began in February. The previous six or seven meetings have targeted communities such as Eastport and Parole.The Hispanic population is "a growing part of Annapolis," Johnson said yesterday.

Annapolis Mayor Dean L. Johnson is taking his "City Hall Comes to You" program to the city's growing Hispanic community next month, the first in the series to target an ethnic group rather than a neighborhood.The forum, scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 13 at the Griscomb building in Truxton Park, is part of the series that Johnson began in February. The previous six or seven meetings have targeted communities such as Eastport and Parole.The Hispanic population is "a growing part of Annapolis," Johnson said yesterday.

When Enrique Carrillo and his wife moved to the area two years ago from Detroit, they had one non-negotiable requirement: Their new house had to have a backyard large enough to host the couple's Pachanga Cubana. And so yesterday, for the second year in a row, a bit of Cuba found its place deep in the Ellicott City woods. Politicians mixed with bankers and business executives to drink mojitos and discuss how they could be of better service to the region's growing Hispanic community. The word pachanga means "party" in Spanish, and the atmosphere was certainly festive, with guests gathered under tents on the Carrillos' verdant lawn and the smell of mint from the mojitos pervading the air. But for the Carrillos, there was another reason to invite people over on a Sunday afternoon for Cuban sandwiches and croquettes: the opportunity to make inroads in a community that is becoming economically powerful in the region.

At least 150 members of Carroll County's burgeoning Hispanic community gather weekly for Spanish Mass at St. John Roman Catholic Church in Westminster. Programs on everything from health issues to resume writing to traditional music and dance are offered on the third Sunday of each month after the afternoon Mass. Hispanic parishioners will receive an additional benefit at Mass today: a bilingual community guide and business directory, listing Carroll's doctors, stores and agencies that can provide services in Spanish.

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon met with a diverse group of Fells Point residents and business owners yesterday to assure them that an official-looking letter warning of a neighborhood curfew was a hoax. "We are working with the Police Department to get to the bottom of this and to find out what the whole motive is behind it," said Dixon, sitting with about two dozen residents at a long table in the back of Jimmy's Restaurant on Broadway. She said a full investigation into the incident is under way. "Please go back and tell your residents and community members that this is fake," she said.

As certain as the morning chill, the men in work boots, jeans and wool caps flock to the parking lot of the 7-Eleven at Broadway and Lombard Street at the first sign of daylight, eager for work. But a day after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers descended on the parking lot in unmarked sport utility vehicles and arrested 24 men suspected of being illegal immigrants, everything was different. The typical throng of nearly 100 mostly Latino immigrants who gather near the parking lot was reduced to about 40. And the contractors who once boldly pulled up their empty pickups and vans to solicit workers arrived in a modest trickle.

Jose Orlando Ruiz became known throughout Baltimore's Latino community for a brand of tireless advocacy he brought to the administrations of two governors and two mayors. But for Mr. Ruiz, who died Tuesday at age 56 at Good Samaritan Hospital of complications from pancreatic cancer, nothing was more important than guiding Hispanic youth through the mentoring and tutoring organization he founded with his wife more than two decades ago. Since being appointed as the city's first Hispanic liaison in 1979 by then-Mayor William Donald Schaefer, Mr. Ruiz was a familiar - and persistent - figure to policy makers and the grassroots alike for his dedication to the Latino community in Baltimore and beyond.

With a teal electric bass, a keyboard that mostly emitted sounds of an accordion, and a drum set, a homegrown grupera-style band - Herencia de Mexico - lured mainly Hispanic residents to Westminster City Park. Suavely dressed in salmon and black shirts, black cowboy hats and jeans, offset by cream ostrich-leather belts and boots from their native Toluca, the state capital just west of Mexico City, band members headlined at a minority health fair on a recent Saturday, crooning Spanish ballads heavy on romance.

Maria I. Jones, a retired library assistant and Hispanic community activist, died of breast cancer Saturday at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. The Perry Hall resident was 75. The former Maria Isabel Razuri was born and raised in Chepen, Peru, and was a secretary before moving to Baltimore in 1966. She became a U.S. citizen in 1972. From 1967 to 1970, Mrs. Jones worked at the Spanish Apostolate, now the Hispanic Apostolate, providing naturalization assistance and advocacy for Spanish-speaking people.

A historic day for Hispanics Two Sundays ago was a historic day for Hispanics in Howard County, and I was proud I could be there. Tony Salazar of Ellicott City formally kicked off his campaign for the 1st District Council seat. To my knowledge, if elected, Tony would be the first Hispanic to ever hold a seat on the County Council. Aside from being a role model for our small but growing community, Tony is a well-respected and active member of the area's Hispanic community. I was not surprised to see that his kick-off event drew a crowd of nearly 150 people that was diverse, not only from a racial perspective but also a political one. Tony has long been a respected member of the area's Hispanic community and has a proven history of working with people of all backgrounds and political stripes.

The young woman, an illegal alien who speaks only Spanish, waited four days before calling police to report she had been abducted and raped. It was the type of case the Baltimore County Police Department had in mind when it created Officer Carlos Selvi's position a year ago. "She had the sense that nobody was going to care, or do anything for her," Selvi said. "She also was concerned that no one would be able to understand her, and if they did, she'd only get into trouble." Selvi went to the woman's home and put her at ease by speaking Spanish and assuring her the Police Department cares about those who do not speak English.

In some Hispanic cultures, folklore has it that a tea made from a Peruvian vine cures everything from diabetes to high blood pressure. But Evelyn Rosario has spent many afternoons at the Hispanic Apostolate in Fells Point convincing clients that the vine known as UM-qa de Gato, or Cat's Claw, is no substitute for insulin or hypertension medication. Educating the region's growing Hispanic community about the health issue is no small feat, considering cultural nuances, the language barrier and the high proportion of uninsured residents.