Holton

Stephanie C. Rawlings and Helen L. Holton remember well their first race for a 5th District Baltimore City Council seat four years ago.Political neophytes, they fought their way to the top of a 15-person Democratic primary field -- and ultimately their seats on the council -- along with the lone incumbent seeking re-election, Rochelle "Rikki" Spector."

Responding to concerns raised about illegal pay phones in Baltimore, a member of the City Council this week introduced a bill that would prohibit installation of the phones without a permit.Under the legislation, sponsored by Councilwoman Helen Holton, anyone illegally installing a pay phone would face a civil fine of up to $500.In addition, the names of those who violate the law would be published in local media."You might compare this to zero tolerance on pay phones," Holton said. "Our communities don't deserve to have illegal pay phones that breed illegal activity."

Saying that Baltimore could be losing millions of dollars because municipal leaders have no idea how much real estate it owns, Councilwoman Helen L. Holton is pushing a bill that would force the city to compile a list of its properties.For months, Holton and the city's real estate officer, Anthony J. Ambridge, have been trying to figure out exactly what properties are owned by the city.They suspect that in some cases the city is not charging the proper rents or selling land at market values.

Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke has instructed his agency heads to compile a list of the city's real estate so that for the first time the city can centrally track how much it owns.The mayor's move has, for the moment, pleased Anthony J. Ambridge, the city's real estate officer, and Councilwoman Helen L. Holton who have been trying to figure out for months exactly what properties are owned by the city.Frustrated because she was getting no answers, Holton introduced legislation Tuesday at a City Council meeting that would create a comprehensive list of the city's real estate assets.

Over the past three decades, Baltimore's Fifth Councilmanic District has served as a northwest corridor to the good life, as those who acquired the means -- particularly Jewish residents -- moved out to Randallstown, Reisterstown and Owings Mills. Middle-class blacks who followed the Jews into the Fifth also followed them out of it, leaving behind a population much poorer and older.The district's past City Council representation has not done enough to bring about needed stability. It's time for that to change.

If Hiram Holton II had scripted the last day of his life, the teen-ager would have died after walking off the Friends School basketball floor for the last time."

Q: Our 3-year-old grandson has become curious about cigarette lighters, candles and other fire. We wonder what would be the best way to instill the danger of fire so he won't get into trouble.Karen Dennis, Phoenix, Ariz.A: Take a positive approach rather than try to instill fear, parents and fire safety authorities advise. And now is the time to child-proof your home if you haven't already.Parents who called Child Life say once fire is no longer such a mystery, children tend to lose interest.

The Orioles signed righthanded pitcher Mike Oquist and catcher Cesar Devares to major-league contracts yesterday, bringing to 19 the number of signed players on the 40-man roster.Oquist was 10-9 for the Double-A Hagerstown Suns last season and ranked second in the Eastern League with 136 strikeouts. Devares batted .251 with three homers and 29 RBIs for the Single-A Frederick Keys.The club continues to wade through the contract season. The first Orioles arbitration hearing is scheduled for Feb. 12 with second baseman Bill Ripken.

Reading Time, Two Minutes:Believe it or not, there was a time when the Orioles could swing a mean trade. Somebody out on 33rd Street would snap his fingers and, voila, out of the sky (or the National League) terrific ballplayers would tumble.It all seemed to start with Frank Robinson, who showed up here as "an old 30," but just in time to win the Triple Crown and lead the O's to a World Series sweep of the Dodgers. Frank cost the Birds a couple of easily replaced pitchers and an outfielder who probably has forgotten his own name by now.Later came Mike Cuellar, who ended up winning about 10 dozen games for Baltimore; underrated Pat Dobson, who had two big years here; and Don Buford, merely the league's best leadoff man. In each case, the cost was hardly prohibitive.

The Baltimore Orioles signed right-handed pitcher Mike Oquist and catcher Cesar Devares to major-league contracts yesterday, bringing to 19 the number of signed players on the 40-man roster.Oquist was 10-9 for the Class AA Hagerstown Suns last season and ranked second in the Eastern League with 136 strikeouts. Devares batted .251 with three homers and 29 RBI for the Class A Frederick Keys.The club continues to wade through the contract season. The first Orioles arbitration hearing is scheduled for Feb. 12 with second baseman Bill Ripken.

Harford deputy fatally shoots man armed with knife A Bel Air man died after being shot Saturday by a Harford County deputy who was responding to a domestic dispute, a police spokeswoman said. Lt. Christina Presberry said the Harford County Sheriff's Department received a call about noon for a domestic argument in the 1000 block of Ellicott Drive in Bel Air. The suspect, a 23-year-old man, threatened a responding police officer with a knife. The officer felt his life was threatened and fired at the suspect, police said.

Baltimore developer Ronald H. Lipscomb apologized in court Thursday for violating campaign finance rules and accepted a sentence of three years of unsupervised probation, 100 hours of community service and a $25,000 fine imposed by Circuit Judge Dennis M. Sweeney. "I have no one else to blame but myself," Lipscomb said at a sentencing hearing for his role in the City Hall corruption scandal. "If I had not made some stupid and selfish decisions, I would not be here today." Sweeney also barred Lipscomb from donating to any city political candidates or attending campaign events during the probation period.

Baltimore City Councilwoman Helen L. Holton's on-again, off-again criminal trial is back on, after a judge's ruling that portends a steady flow of court action in the City Hall corruption case through the remainder of the year. A Circuit Court judge ruled Thursday that campaign finance charges against Holton should stand, meaning her trial will go forward Dec. 7. It marked the second time this week that Judge Dennis M. Sweeney, who is overseeing four City Hall corruption cases brought by the state prosecutor, slapped down defense arguments.

Baltimore City Councilwoman Helen L. Holton appeared in Circuit Court on Wednesday to listen as her defense attorneys argued that the campaign finance charges against her should be dropped. Holton, a deacon, clutched what appeared to be a Bible and sat with family members during the 90-minute hearing. She declined to comment afterward. The West Baltimore councilwoman is charged with conspiracy to violate campaign limits by requesting that developers John Paterakis and Ronald H. Lipscomb fund a $12,500 poll for her re-election campaign.

Developer Ronald H. Lipscomb paid $8,750 for a political survey for a state delegate running against Sheila Dixon for mayor in 2007, according to an account of the transaction in court papers filed Monday. Del. Jill P. Carter, a Baltimore Democrat, denied any knowledge of the poll in an interview on Monday. She has not been accused of accepting donations over the $4,000 limit on individual contributions. The poll was disclosed in documents filed by attorneys for City Councilwoman Helen L. Holton, who has been charged as part of a wide-ranging City Hall corruption probe with accepting a poll from Lipscomb.

The plea deal had been negotiated long before John Paterakis Sr. made it official in a Baltimore courtroom on Friday. And the bread man turned Harbor East honcho seemed more than ready to sign off on his guilty plea to a couple of campaign finance violations and move on. Judge Dennis M. Sweeney had just started listing the terms of the agreement and the details of Paterakis' sentence. He had barely ordered the first fine, for $1,000 - and had yet to mete out a second, $25,000 penalty and probation - when Paterakis reached into a pants pocket, pulled out two blank checks and had a pen poised to fill them out. It was an impressively quick draw for the 80-year-old Paterakis, but then, he's written a lot of checks over the years.

Cardin gives $1,000 to mounted police 3 State Del. Jon S. Cardin said he wrote a check yesterday for $1,000 to the Baltimore Police Department's mounted police unit. The donation comes nearly a month after his elaborate marriage proposal involving a police helicopter and marine unit drew criticism from elected officials and political observers. Officials from the Baltimore Community Foundation confirmed the donation but did not confirm the amount. Last week, Cardin reimbursed the department $300 for the mock police raid, which police said covered fuel and salary costs.

The furs are back. So's the Ritz in Colorado. The $3,200 weekend getaway to New York's Trump International. The $8,400 spending spree at Chicago's Armani, Coach and St. John Boutique. The state prosecutor's do-over indictment puts the bling back into the case against Mayor Sheila Dixon. But the new charges don't just restore the glitzy travel and Jimmy Choos that a Circuit Court judge tossed out on a technicality in May. It also gives us Dixon doing what big-city mayors do best: begging for cash.

Armchair analysts will no doubt try to play down the significance of the indictments State Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh has brought this week against Mayor Sheila Dixon, City Councilwoman Helen L. Holton and bakery magnate, developer and political kingmaker John Paterakis. Mr. Rohrbaugh will be cast as a rogue, Kenneth Starr-like prosecutor bent on taking down Baltimore's powerful Democrats and willing to grasp at any legal technicalities to do it. But the issues raised by those indictments - whether Ms. Dixon perjured herself by failing to disclose thousands of dollars in gifts from someone doing business with the city and whether Mr. Paterakis and Ms. Holton broke campaign finance laws when he helped fund her re-election poll - are fundamental to our trust in our elected officials.

John Paterakis Sr., the self-made baking magnate and developer of the Harbor East complex, was indicted Tuesday on two counts of campaign finance violations accusing him of contributing $6,000 to help pay for a city councilwoman's political poll. The councilwoman, Helen L. Holton, also was indicted for alleged campaign violations, after winning a dismissal two months ago of bribery charges in connection with the political survey. The new charges were handed up by a Baltimore grand jury at the request of State Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh, whose three-year investigation of alleged corruption at City Hall has reached the highest rungs of the city's business community.