Jamboree

SCENE Open-mike events, which are happening in different atmospheres all over the city nearly every week, are the front line for the poetry revolution. EATS Yin Yankee's fresh and tasty seafood comes with high prices, but the creative flavors and a dollop of humor make it worth the money. Waitress Nina Tukarski shows off the special of the day: seared sea scallops, littleneck clams and black tiger prawns with sticky rice noodles in a coconut curry sauce. CDs Annie Lennox's new album, Bare, delivers songs that inspire such superlatives as "best" and "most gripping."

film Cinema Sundays: Cinema Sundays at the Charles has never had a more urgently topical entry than I.O.U.S.A., the prescient documentary about the catastrophic rise in America's national debt and deficit spending, co-written and executive-produced by Addison Wiggin, the executive publisher of Baltimore-based Agora Financial. Coffee and bagels will be served at 9:45 a.m.; the program starts at 10:30 a.m. Individual tickets are $15. Go to cinemasundays.com. Michael Sragow pop music Coldplay: Since the recent release of one of its best albums, Viva la Vida, Coldplay has been crisscrossing the country on a well-received tour.

THE HOWARD County Fair is a festival, a competition, a place to learn about agriculture, a marketplace and a forum. It is also an exhibition and a wonderfully informal social gathering.On Saturday, midway rides and concessions open. Exhibitors bring their animals, plants, baked goods, crafts and much more for judging and display. Judges begin to award ribbons.On Sunday, grand opening day, you can see contests all day and enjoy a parade at 2 p.m. Stay for more contests and attractions such as a precision performance by the Spur and Stirrup Club's 22-member Mounted Drill Team at 6: 30 p.m. and 7: 30 p.m. Joan Bosmans coaches this group.

She's a first-place winner in the First Virginia Bank's Maryland Student Art Competition, current Maryland National Preteen Miss Personality, reigning Junior Miss Fire Prevention of Anne Arundel County, Girl Scout, member of the Pride of Maryland Majorettes, and an honor roll student.At 10 years old, Amber Lynn Coffman already has accrued an impressive resume of awards and activities. Her most recent endeavor is a program that addresses the problems of the homeless."Happy Helpers for the Homeless" is a project developed by Amber to involve area youth in the homeless problem.

Boy Scouts Deserve Better CoverageThe article "Illinois man charged in sale of fake Scouts' merit badges" (Aug. 13) is typical of The Sun -- as well as large city papers -- printing the negative, as opposed to the positive activities of youth in the United States.The paper should have noted the gathering at the National Boy Scout Jamboree of over 35,000 scouts and leaders from every state, including 500 foreign scouts from nearly 50 countries including Russia, Mongolia and Kuwait that has just concluded at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia.

OYSTERBACK, Maryland -- As excitement over the annual Decoy Jamboree Weekend continues to mount, a prominent Eastern Shore judge, decoy Collector and Socialite prepares to judge an entirely different event that annually creates lots of excitement among downtown merchants and waterfowl decoy lovers everywhere who come to Watertown just for this annual excitement.The Decoy Jamboree Weekend Special Supplement caught up with Judge Findley F. Fish at his palatial and tasteful waterfront gracious home in order to interview him about his part in Decoy Jamboree Weekend this coming month in Watertown.

WHEN MORE THAN 40,000 Boy Scouts gather, there's a lot of work to be done. Nobody knows that better than Michael Fratantuono and John McCarty. Troop Committeeman Fratantuono and Assistant Scoutmaster McCarty - both of Boy Scout Troop 550, which is sponsored by the Linthicum Elementary School PTA - recently returned from two weeks at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, where they served on the staff of the 2001 National Scout Jamboree. Fratantuono and McCarty were members of a staff of 7,400 that provided programs for more than 41,000 Scouts from all over the United States and several foreign countries, including Russia.

With 73 boats on the starting line last weekend, the Eastport Yacht Club's third annual J Jamboree was the biggest ever and counted as a success despite the early lack of cooperation from the wind gods.Five classes, including J/35s, J/30s, J/29s, J/24s and J/22s, competed in the series, which consisted of three races sailed on Saturday and two on Sunday. And for the class winners, getting over the finish line of the first race in extremely difficult, fluky and light air before the time limit expired made all the difference.

FORT A.P. HILL, Va. -- The civilian is lost. He has not been a Boy Scout, obviously. You can spot that right away. He is the only person in camp not wearing khaki.He needs help.He has come to the right place.For here, on a military training installation, are 30,000 boys between the ages of 11 and 17 who have memorized the third plank of Scout Law and are eager to show him that they can be:HelpfulA scout is concerned about other people. He does things willingly for others without pay or reward.

Stella C. Gersuk, a retired Northern High School English teacher who was also a well-known Baltimore square dance instructor, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease Saturday at Milford Manor Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in Pikesville. She was 90. The former Stella Cohen was born and raised in Baltimore. She graduated in 1932 from Western High School. After earning a teaching certificate from what is now Towson University in 1934, she began teaching in Baltimore elementary schools.