Inaugural Parade

With all the pomp surrounding Winfield-area residents Judy Gray and Naomi Durdock as they ride their paso fino horses in today's inaugural parade, it should be easy for them to feel tall in the saddle.But since Ms. Gray is a beginning rider and Ms. Durdock is nervous about the whole thing, they'll be satisfied just to stay on their mounts."This is a very nerve-racking situation, but we are looking forward to a good time," said Ms. Durdock, a purchasing agent for a biotechnology firm in Gaithersburg.

They've played for the queen. They've played for four presidents. And Monday, the "Mighty Sound of Maryland" will add President Barack Obama to their list of famous fans. Led by the sounds of booming drum lines and trombones, the University of Maryland marching band will serenade Pennsylvania Avenue during the 57th Inaugural Presidential Parade. The band is one of 60 acts chosen to perform from a pool of more than 2,800 applicants. L. Richmond Sparks, associate professor, conducting and director of bands, says he submitted video and audio tapes of the band during the application.

Most people feel lucky to get one glimpse of a first family in a lifetime.During her first visit to the nation's capital Wednesday, Westminster teen-ager Megan Roland will share the limelight with them.Megan is one of eight Maryland Special Olympians who will march in the inaugural parade."She has been so excited about this," said her mother, Peggy, a volunteer for the Special Olympics who also works with other nonprofit groups. "She was very interested when they approached us about participating."

LANHAM - At a production studio in suburban Maryland, a worker is applying glitter to a replica of the Liberty Bell - part of the Pennsylvania float in this month's inaugural parade - when Earl Hargrove strolls in. He's carrying a toy bugle in one hand and wearing a huge grin on his face. More than most people, Hargrove loves a parade. Barack Obama has promised to bring change to Washington, but when the inaugural committee hired Hargrove Inc. to orchestrate events around his swearing-in, it instead chose experience.

They've marched for presidents before, but it's still a thrill for the Original 27 Flags marching unit of Dewey Lowman American Legion Post 109 of Arbutus, which will represent Maryland in the Clinton-Gore Inaugural Parade in Washington on Jan. 20."We think it's an honor. It's tough to get in the parade, but we fit in with the theme," said Johnnie Thompson of Glen Burnie, the post member who handled the application that was quickly accepted by the inaugural committee's parade division.Formed in 1975, with 27 flags borrowed from the Maryland Department of the American Legion, the unit displays each of the U.S. flags used over the years.

LANHAM - At a production studio in suburban Maryland, a worker is applying glitter to a replica of the Liberty Bell - part of the Pennsylvania float in this month's inaugural parade - when Earl Hargrove strolls in. He's carrying a toy bugle in one hand and wearing a huge grin on his face. More than most people, Hargrove loves a parade. Barack Obama has promised to bring change to Washington, but when the inaugural committee hired Hargrove Inc. to orchestrate events around his swearing-in, it instead chose experience.

LOUIS GOLDSTEIN, 79, was in the crowd on Pennsylvania Avenue again for the Clinton inaugural. His first was in 1929, as he explained on the Opinion * Commentary page yesterday.Had there been an 80-ish spectator there in 1929 who had started going to inaugurals as a teen-ager, she would have seen Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural. And had there been an 80-ish spectator at that 1865 inaugural parade, he could have watched Thomas Jefferson's first inaugural in 1801.That was before the parades even started (1805 or 1809, depending on which history book you read)

WASHINGTON - A bone-chilling rain drenched spectators and participants at yesterday's inaugural parade, but the raw weather did little to dampen the enthusiasm of thousands who turned out to cheer or to jeer President Bush on Pennsylvania Avenue. John Ziemann, president of Baltimore's Marching Ravens, bubbled with excitement over the band's first appearance in an inaugural parade - and with the team set to play in Super Bowl XXXV next week. The band was invited to Richard M. Nixon's 1973 inaugural when it was the Baltimore Colts Marching Band, but team owner Robert Irsay would not pay its way, Ziemann said.

WASHINGTON -- Lauchlin Kelly's mission was accomplished the moment Bill and Hillary Clinton strolled into view on 15th Street yesterday at the head of the 52nd inaugural parade and hung a left onto Pennsylvania Avenue.Mr. Kelly had come to Washington from St. Mary's County with his daughters Heather, 14, Bridget, 12, and Kaitlin, 7, in tow "because I saw [Lyndon B.] Johnson's inauguration in 1964 and I wanted them to have the same experience."President Clinton's gray hair glinted in the late-afternoon sun as he abandoned his limousine and leisurely walked the last three blocks to the White House, mostly hand in hand with his wife, past the Kelly family and the rest of a cheering, flag-waving crowd.

POOR WILLIAM Donald Schaefer. Not only did it rain on his inaugural parade (though he missed the worst downpour by a couple hours) but those pesky Queen Anne's County Republicans are still nipping at his heels."

WASHINGTON - A bone-chilling rain drenched spectators and participants at yesterday's inaugural parade, but the raw weather did little to dampen the enthusiasm of thousands who turned out to cheer or to jeer President Bush on Pennsylvania Avenue. John Ziemann, president of Baltimore's Marching Ravens, bubbled with excitement over the band's first appearance in an inaugural parade - and with the team set to play in Super Bowl XXXV next week. The band was invited to Richard M. Nixon's 1973 inaugural when it was the Baltimore Colts Marching Band, but team owner Robert Irsay would not pay its way, Ziemann said.

Baltimore, a city that exploded in anger and riots after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. nearly 33 years ago, celebrated the slain civil rights leader's birthday yesterday with a joyous parade down the boulevard named in his honor. The inaugural parade - an affair that included high school bands, hip-hop dancers and robed choral groups - is likely to mark the start of a tradition that many in the crowd said was too long in coming. Along the parade route, residents talked about King, the social changes for which he died and the long road still ahead.

I WOULD LIKE to bring today's meeting of TJI readers to order. We'll forgo the reading of the minutes and the usual sing-along and get right to new business. First, some good news: Baltimore's Marching Ravens, the band formerly known as the Colts Marching Band, will for the first time strut in the presidential inaugural parade next week in our nation's capital. Please put your hands together for band president John Ziemann. "Thank you ... and that's right. The band will be marching in the inaugural parade Jan. 20. The Modell family [owners of the Ravens]

Black-on-black violence must be condemnedIn 1964, the late civil rights activist, Fannie Lou Hamer, coined the famous phrase, "I am sick and tired of being sick and tired." As a proud and involved African-American male, I must echo the sentiments Ms. Hamer expressed in her struggles during the '60s civil rights movement.I am sick and tired of reading about the killing of our sweet, young and innocent children at the hands of uncaring black men who conduct their drug wars and turf battles at anytime and anyplace without regard to others who may be in their presence.

WASHINGTON -- Enthusiastic Marylanders showed up on the streets of the capital and celebrated Inauguration Day by cheering the first family, carrying flags in the parade and dancing the night away at the Maryland ball.Representing the state in the inaugural parade yesterday afternoon was American Legion Post 109 from Arbutus.Upholding "the Original 27 Flags" as they marched, the veterans group carried each of the 27 incarnations of the American flag, starting with the one with 13 stars and stripes.

They've marched for presidents before, but it's still a thrill for the Original 27 Flags marching unit of Dewey Lowman American Legion Post 109 of Arbutus, which will represent Maryland in the Clinton-Gore Inaugural Parade in Washington on Jan. 20."We think it's an honor. It's tough to get in the parade, but we fit in with the theme," said Johnnie Thompson of Glen Burnie, the post member who handled the application that was quickly accepted by the inaugural committee's parade division.Formed in 1975, with 27 flags borrowed from the Maryland Department of the American Legion, the unit displays each of the U.S. flags used over the years.

When Bob Kemp takes out his saxophone, everybody notices.This morning, thousands of Beltway motorists will see Mr. Kemp's sax -- bright yellow and 27 feet tall -- looming overhead.The Glen Burnie balloon maker was hoping his helium-filled creation would be included in the inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, but he was rejected by the Clinton people."I didn't have a commitment for anything," said Mr. Kemp of his talks with the Clinton staff.Disappointed but not deflated, the president of Kemp Balloons Inc. instead will tether the balloon near the intersection of the Baltimore Beltway and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway around dawn to greet 130,000 bleary-eyed motorists.

WASHINGTON -- Enthusiastic Marylanders showed up on the streets of the capital and celebrated Inauguration Day by cheering the first family, carrying flags in the parade and dancing the night away at the Maryland ball.Representing the state in the inaugural parade yesterday afternoon was American Legion Post 109 from Arbutus.Upholding "the Original 27 Flags" as they marched, the veterans group carried each of the 27 incarnations of the American flag, starting with the one with 13 stars and stripes.

The Sounds of Silence choir from Canton, Ohio, put good manners ahead of the political pecking order when it stopped by the governor's mansion for lunch yesterday.This group of mentally retarded and developmentally disabled young adults had turned down an appointment with the week's top celebrity, President Clinton, to meet with Hilda Mae Snoops and William Donald Schaefer."They wanted us when no one else did," Pat Fehlman, the group's communications director, explained as the 22 choir members and about 40 of their parents, friends and other organizers filed out of their bus on State Circle.

LOUIS GOLDSTEIN, 79, was in the crowd on Pennsylvania Avenue again for the Clinton inaugural. His first was in 1929, as he explained on the Opinion * Commentary page yesterday.Had there been an 80-ish spectator there in 1929 who had started going to inaugurals as a teen-ager, she would have seen Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural. And had there been an 80-ish spectator at that 1865 inaugural parade, he could have watched Thomas Jefferson's first inaugural in 1801.That was before the parades even started (1805 or 1809, depending on which history book you read)