Inauguration

How do you plan for a transportation tsunami? Where do you park 10,000 charter buses? How do you accommodate a possible 1 1/2 million would-be riders on a subway system with a capacity of about 1 million? How do you explain to people who are used to driving everywhere that their cars aren't welcome in downtown Washington? What happens on the roads, at the airports and aboard the trains when millions of visitors flood the capital region to witness history at the Jan. 20 inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States?

Oronde Short from Woodlawn, a volunteer for Martin O'Malley's campaign, had watched previous inaugurations on television and thought the shivering people who gathered outside the State House to cheer were crazy. But there he was yesterday, one of hundreds braving 30-degree temperatures to attend the O'Malley festivities. "This year," he said, "I wanted to be one of them." Anna and Ramon Ruiz of Silver Spring similarly said they felt it was important to wait an extra half-hour in a receiving line to be able to shake O'Malley's hand.

Amid a sea of black and gold banners in the War Memorial Plaza, Mayor-elect Martin O'Malley will become the city's 47th mayor today in an inauguration ceremony celebrating the diversity of the city's neighborhoods.Nearly 2,000 people are expected to attend the noon ceremony, at which ethnic dance troupes and groups playing Irish, Big Band and gospel music fill the Plaza with the sounds of the city.In the evening, more than 3,000 people are expected to attend a 7 to 10 p.m. celebration at the Baltimore Convention Center, where musical groups such as the Grammy Award-winning Neville Brothers and 70 city restaurants will provide food and entertainment.

WASHINGTON -- This is the word that keeps coming to my mind, like a single emotional flag raised over the week of the 53rd presidential inauguration: Sober.I do not say that to rain on the Inaugural Parade. I remain a goose-bump patriot. I came here for the pageantry, the sound of Jessye Norman's voice, the citizen collage of hats and scarves, the democratic ritual. And I got what I came for. But the weekend celebration carried a sober aura around its glittering, glitzy center. The subdued image of the times kept reappearing, like the pentimento under a painting.

SALISBURY -- When William C. Merwin is inaugurated this morning as the seventh president of Salisbury State University, the ceremony will be heavy with symbolism -- literally.During the procession that will begin the inauguration at 10: 30 a.m., senior faculty member John Knowles will carry the university's new symbol: a sizable mahogany mace created for the inauguration. The mace is embellished with words and images representing the university: a sea gull, the school seal and pewter bands etched with the names of the seven men who have led the school in its 72-year history.

The economic and social impact of the Blizzard of 1996 -- in terms of damage sustained by individuals and business -- will be enormous, with merchants alone suggesting hundreds of millions of dollars lost during and after the storm.Bad weather in modern America has a far more dramatic and costly impact than it did earlier in history when there were fewer buildings and fewer densely populated areas. Why? Because early Americans showed a healthier respect for Mother Nature and planned for her. Contemporary society is apt to pay less heed to weather, thinking instead that man and technology are paramount.

WASHINGTON -- Even if you're not politically connected, there is still a way to get a glimpse of the inaugural festivities next month from somewhere other than in front of your television set.Tickets to Washington's many inaugural balls and the presidential gala range from $150 to $3,000 and often go to party stalwarts and big campaign contributors.But thousands of free tickets to President Clinton's swearing-in are just a phone call away. Staffers in several Maryland congressional offices say they still have tickets left for the Jan. 20 inauguration ceremony in front of the Capitol.

WASHINGTON -- Marion S. Barry Jr. completed his remarkable political comeback yesterday, triumphantly taking the oath of office that returned him to the mayor's job he left in disgrace four years ago.The inauguration ceremony, held before about 3,000 people in the University of the District of Columbia gymnasium, was rich in the symbols of redemption that have fueled Mr. Barry's campaign to recapture his old job.The poet Maya Angelou, who spoke at President...

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico -- Two men have taken the oath of office to be governor of the deeply divided southern state of Chiapas, both promising a new constitution and electoral reform.Eduardo Robledo, the ruling party candidate and official winner of the Aug. 21 election, was inaugurated during a special legislative session yesterday at the modernistic City Theater with Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo in attendance.Amada Avendano, who claims the election was stolen from him by vote fraud, was installed yesterday at the main plaza several blocks away, where 3,000 protesters gathered in front of the statehouse to witness a Mayan ceremony of incense and chanting in the unrelenting sun.Both events were peaceful.

Immediately after Bill Clinton became president last week, more of the post-inaugural clamor dealt with Hillary Clinton's bright blue hat than with the first poem read at a presidential inaugural in 32 years.But in the week since Maya Angelou, writer, poet and professor at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., ended the inauguration of Mr. Clinton by reading "On the Pulse of Morning," people have been talking about it, and the poem has quickly found a place in classrooms of area schools.

Man is shot to death in Greenspring area An unidentified assailant shot and killed a man shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday on a street in the city's Greenspring community, police said. Officers responding to a report of multiple shots fired in the 2500 block of Loyola Northway found Ramon A. Williams, 21, of the 3900 block of Amy Lane bleeding from at least one gunshot wound to the chest. The victim was rushed to Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. It was the first homicide in the Northern District this year.

Traffic backed up on the Capital Beltway starting about 3 a.m. Washington subway riders were packed together like Tokyo commuters. Lines at some stations forced would-be riders to wait for hours amid the crowds seeking to return home after witnessing the inauguration of President Barack Obama. But overall, the transportation system in the Washington region appeared to have passed with flying colors its biggest-ever stress test - moving more than 1 million people to the National Mall and inaugural parade route and getting them home.

Blustery winds and bitter cold are chilling reminders that the hope and excitement of Inauguration Day can sometimes run headlong into brutal winter realities. The inaugurations of past American presidents have been held in blizzards, washouts and arctic cold snaps. The festivities have been shoveled out, drenched and driven indoors. Tomorrow's forecast looks mild by comparison. After a few snowflakes predicted to fall tonight, the weather will be mostly cloudy by the time Barack Obama steps to the lectern on the West Portico of the Capitol at noon.

The Washington transit system will expand its bus service between Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and that city's subway system for a six-day period around Inauguration Day. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority plans to increase service on its B30 bus line between BWI and the Greenbelt Metro station so that buses run every 20 minutes between Friday and Wednesday, the day after the Jan. 20 inaugural. The B30 typically runs at 40-minute intervals, connecting the airport with the Metro Green Line.

Washington - Next week's presidential inauguration of Barack Obama is expected to cost the state of Maryland at least $11 million, state officials said yesterday. That figure includes costs related to Obama's train trip through Maryland and his planned stop in Baltimore on Saturday. The inauguration committee has yet to release details of that event, but local officials say they are planning for an afternoon speech in front of the War Memorial building across from City Hall in downtown Baltimore.

Moments after Joe Biden is sworn in as vice president of the United States on the West Front of the Capitol and just before Barack Obama takes his oath as president, four classical musicians will perform a work created by John Williams for the history-rich inauguration. One of those players is Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and a newcomer to the Peabody Conservatory faculty. When he got the word last month that he would be participating in what might be considered the mother of all gigs, McGill's initial reaction was: "Wow, this is absolutely unbelievable.

Officials of the Washington Metro subway system said yesterday that they will open the parking lot of the Greenbelt station to passenger cars on Inauguration Day, reversing an earlier decision to reserve it for charter buses. Greenbelt, the northern terminus of the Metro Green Line, is the most convenient station for many travelers from the Baltimore area. The decision opens almost 3,400 spaces there to drivers who might want to use mass transit to get into Washington on Jan. 20 for the swearing-in of Barack Obama.

How do you plan for a transportation tsunami? Where do you park 10,000 charter buses? How do you accommodate a possible 1 1/2 million would-be riders on a subway system with a capacity of about 1 million? How do you explain to people who are used to driving everywhere that their cars aren't welcome in downtown Washington? What happens on the roads, at the airports and aboard the trains when millions of visitors flood the capital region to witness history at the Jan. 20 inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States?

Most of the year, Rodney James is in the van business - performing such tasks as shuttling Baltimore hotel guests to the airport. But come Inauguration Day, James will be transformed into a charter bus entrepreneur - with plans to transport as many as 550 people from Baltimore and the Eastern Shore to the swearing-in ceremony for President-elect Barack Obama aboard 10 leased motor coaches. James' mini-fleet will be joining a horde of thousands of charter buses expected to rumble into the Washington region for the festivities surrounding the Jan. 20 inauguration of the first African-American to be elected president of the United States and the first Democrat to hold that office in eight years.

They began lining up at 3 a.m. yesterday, and a few hours later, about 100 people were waiting for Maryland Transit Administration officials to start selling MARC train tickets to Washington for the presidential inauguration, authorities said. Ticket sales at the Camden Station were brisk all day, MTA officials said, with a steady flow of patrons paying the special $25 rate to ride the MARC for the Jan. 20 event. "We didn't think people would be out there that early, so we opened up an hour earlier than expected, at 8 a.m.," MTA spokeswoman Jawauna Greene said.