Hurrah

At its last gathering, the ready-to-disband Mount Royal Democratic Club drew one of its biggest crowds in recent years to mark the end of an era Saturday evening at the club's annual holiday bash. Organizers said it was the final hurrah for a club that no longer has a place in an age of community association activism, the Internet and too many other demands on members' time. Several hundred formally dressed people, including current and former members and invited guests, mingled with top elected Democrats over cocktails and pate while a brass quartet entertained in the marble lobby of the MICA building in the 1300 block of Mount Royal Ave. Gov. Martin O'Malley joked that the club's president, former state Sen. Julian L. Lapides, had come up with a great marketing gimmick, advertising the bash each year as the final one, likening it to "the Cher farewell tour.

Nobody asked me, but I'm betting - and hoping - that 85-year-old Roscoe Bartlett, Buckeystown's most durable Republican, will seek re-election in the reconfigured 6th Congressional District. There's been a lot of buzz about this lately, with political gossips saying Mr. Bartlett is doomed, and with numerous Republicans and Democrats lining up to run in the 2012 primaries. A political blogger reported that Mr. Bartlett's chief of staff, Bud Otis, has been exploring a run. Mr. Bartlett apparently hasn't been raising much money for a re-election bid, either.

For 37 years, Baltimore's most dramatic sports moments have happened at Memorial Stadium. Rabid football fans transformed it into "the world's largest outdoor insane asylum" for their beloved Colts, giving the home team a keen advantage over opponents. Baseball fans have known it as the major-league Orioles' only home, a neighborhood ball field that both players and spectators found endearing.Today, the park hosts its last baseball opener. Next year, the Orioles will inaugurate their spanking-new playpen at Camden Yards.

This weekend, Whartscape hits two milestones. The annual celebration of underground arts and culture marks its fifth year — and it won't be back for a sixth. After half a decade of sweaty lo-fi spaces and experimental bands, videos and art, this will be the last Whartscape, according to co-organizer Dan Deacon. "We've taken the idea of we want to do with Whartscape and brought it to a pretty good place," Deacon said. "We do it for the love of arranging the festival, and I still love doing it, but I don't want to repeat it. I don't want it to become an institution — something that just happens.

SHROUDS OF GLORY: FROM ATLANTA TO NASHVILLE: THE LAST GREAT CAMPAIGN OF THE CIVIL WAR. By Winston Groom. Atlantic Monthly Press. 256 pages. $23.IT WAS A case of Forrest-"Cump" in September 1864. U.S. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman -- "Cump" to his friends -- had captured Atlanta, and was about to implement a campaign partly inspired by his keenest opponent.That was cavalryman Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Confederacy's Wizard of the Saddle," with whom federal armies clashed during the Atlanta campaign.

LAUREL -- For all he had done since shipping his stable ofwell-bred runners to Maryland last year, trainer Ben Perkins Jr. had not won a stakes race in the state.Until yesterday, that is, when Hero's Hurrah defeated Molly Bolt by a length in the $45,000 Francis Scott Key Handicap at Laurel Race Course.With a .34 winning percentage last year, Perkins was the leader in that category among Maryland trainers."But we didn't run many horses in stakes, and when we did they didn't run too well," he said.

Hero's Hurrah furnished trainer Ben Perkins Jr. and jockey Rick Wilson with their second victory on the card by capturing the $35,000 Easter Parade Purse at Pimlico Race Course yesterday.The even-money favorite in a field of seven fillies and mares shook off In the Curl early in the stretch and coasted to a 2 3/4 -length victory in 1 minute, 11 seconds over six furlongs.In the Curl finished second by a length over Ismelda.Hero's Hurrah, winner in the Francis Scott Key Handicap and seventh in the $200,000 Barbara Fritchie Handicap in two starts this year, earned $21,000 for owner Richard L. Golden of Chesapeake City and paid $4 to win.In the eighth, Perkins and Wilson clicked with Triple Crown nominee Tank, a son of 1985 Preakness winner Tank's Prospect.

In the Curl barely held off a stretch-long surge from heavily favored Hero's Hurrah to win the $43,750 Primonetta Handicap at Pimlico Race Course yesterday."

ROSS PEROT vows he will stay in the race for president "to the bitter end." And for him, that's the end it is likely to be. Once a fresh political voice who electrified America, threatened the reigning major parties and won more votes (19 percent) than any third-force candidate since 1912, he now is scrambling just to make the 5 percent mark that would qualify his Reform Party for federal funds in the next election.Given his love of the limelight, the Texas billionaire was accurate in dismissing Bob Dole's plea that he pull out as "weird and inconsequential."

Noise DayLet's have one day for girls and boysesWhen you can make the grandest noises.Screech, scream, holler, and yell -Buzz a buzzer, clang a bell,Sneeze ` hiccup ` whistle ` shout,hTC Laugh until your lungs wear out,Toot a whistle, kick a can,Bang a spoon against a pan,Sing, yodel, bellow, hum,Blow a horn, beat a drum,Rattle a window, slam a door,Scrape a rake across the floor,Use a drill, drive a nail,Turn the hose on the garbage pail,Shout Yahoo -...

At its last gathering, the ready-to-disband Mount Royal Democratic Club drew one of its biggest crowds in recent years to mark the end of an era Saturday evening at the club's annual holiday bash. Organizers said it was the final hurrah for a club that no longer has a place in an age of community association activism, the Internet and too many other demands on members' time. Several hundred formally dressed people, including current and former members and invited guests, mingled with top elected Democrats over cocktails and pate while a brass quartet entertained in the marble lobby of the MICA building in the 1300 block of Mount Royal Ave. Gov. Martin O'Malley joked that the club's president, former state Sen. Julian L. Lapides, had come up with a great marketing gimmick, advertising the bash each year as the final one, likening it to "the Cher farewell tour.

As Wilde Lake football coach Doug DuVall guided his players through practice for the final time in his career yesterday, the 61-year-old with the jovial attitude and cherubic face went about his business as if it were any other day. Preparing his team for tonight's Class 3A state championship against Westlake at M&T Bank Stadium, DuVall was the picture of focus. Deep down, however, he was very aware of the occasion and the fact that the end of what has been a magical 36-year ride is near.

Forget City Councilman Schaefer. Forget City Council President Schaefer. Forget Governor Schaefer and State Comptroller Schaefer. For many Baltimoreans out of knee pants and patent leather shoes by the early 1970s, there could be only one "Mr. Mayor," and his name, pronounced like a drum roll, was William Donald Schaefer. Now, as his decades as a popularly elected official come to an end - a sad end - he reminisces about his long career. "You can take all those jobs except the job as mayor," he says, and figuratively trash-ball them.

WASHINGTON -- As the curtain prepared to fall on the Republican-controlled Congress, GOP leaders pushed for approval of what is likely to be the last major pro-drilling bill during the Bush presidency - a measure that would open a large swath of the Gulf of Mexico to energy exploration. The drilling provision was part of a $45 billion tax and trade bill that was pending before the House. If that chamber passed it before the night ended, it would likely go to the Senate today as the lame-duck Congress wrapped up its business.

Amid all the anticipation over Nancy Pelosi's ascension to the House speakership, often eclipsed and cropped out of the picture is her second in command and fellow Marylander, Steny H. Hoyer, who's also on the verge of fulfilling a cherished ambition. Mr. Hoyer, 67, of Southern Maryland by way of Prince George's County, has spent his life in politics of one sort or another - beginning with student government in junior high, becoming state Senate president by age 35 and absorbed for the past quarter-century in rising by fits and starts through leadership ranks in the House, where he now serves as minority whip.

Tom Glavine said he thinks about it only when someone else brings it up. But Glavine, one of baseball's greatest straight shooters, isn't going to lie and say it's just another number. Now that he is this close, the New York Mets lefty wants to reach 300 wins, which, if he stays healthy, he'll likely get sometime next season. "It's just a difficult thing to do nowadays," said Glavine, 40, who lost in his bid for career win No. 288 at RFK Stadium Friday. "If I am able to do it, No. 1, that would certainly be a cool thing.

Louis Goldstein, a tax collector, was beloved. Why can't the IRS be more like Louie?Americans only pretend to re-enact their Civil War. Ulstermen really do re-enact theirs.Gee, Larry Young could be Baltimore's answer to New York's Rush Limbaugh.It's Willie Don's last hurrah. What if Joan Pratt beats him?Jenny Chuasiriporn for governor!Pub Date: 7/08/98

When Johnny comes marching home again, hurrah, hurrah! That's the chorus being sung at Frederick's of Hollywood corporate headquarters.It seems that the private, oh-so-personal celebrations being planned for returning troops have fortified the already-healthy lingerie business in very big ways. The largest increases have been at locations situated near military bases, like the one in Clarksville, Tenn., near Fort Campbell, which reported a 300 percent increase in sales over a comparable period last year, though many stores are feeling the warm afterglow of war's end.Business is bursting at the seams here in the Baltimore area too. Sales have doubled over previous rates last year at certain Virginia locations, according to Frederick's, and the Glen Burnie store is doing better than all of them.