Kamikaze

When Theodore R. Brown awoke at 4 a.m. yesterday, he had no idea he would be returning to a home he hadn't seen for 54 years.But seven hours later the 90-year-old Baltimorean looked around the Coast Guard Cutter Roger B. Taney and said, "She's just as beautiful as I remembered her."Mr. Brown, who lives in the 1000 block of Ashburton St., served for three years on the Taney, starting when it was commissioned in October 1936.He returned to the historic cutter, now a museum piece moored at Pier 4 in the Inner Harbor, to take part in ceremonies honoring the 203rd year of the U.S. Coast Guard.

At 9 p.m. last Tuesday, Hampden was still murky and desolate from the afternoon rain. The funky urban hamlet offered only one beacon of summer nightlife hope: Frazier's on the Avenue. The 36th Street restaurant was open, though it was virtually empty, save for a few old folks at the bar and a half-dozen college kids who chomped on fries, barely moving from their slumped positions in the old wooden booths. The mood was grim and gloomy. But just as the place seemed ready to pack it in for the night, a motley pair of Baltimore scenesters began setting up lights and speakers in the adjoining bar room, all the while promising throngs of people and hours of good times.

Bernard Carter Boykin, a retired Baltimore businessman and World War II Navy veteran, died May 12 of leukemia at Gilchrist Hospice Care. He was 89. The son of a businessman and a homemaker, he was born in Baltimore and raised in Ruxton, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a 1939 graduate of Gilman School and earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1943 from Williams College. In 1954, he earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the Johns Hopkins University.

Charles Mason "Daffy" Russell Jr., who coached lacrosse and football at St. Mary's High School in Annapolis for 35 years and during World War II survived the kamikaze bombing of the carrier USS Franklin, died Thursday of cancer at the Atria Manresa, an Annapolis assisted-living facility. He was 91. The lifelong Annapolis resident grew up playing football, baseball, basketball and lacrosse, and started the lacrosse program at Annapolis High School in 1929. After graduation from Annapolis High School, he went to work at the old United States Naval Engineering Experiment Station as a storekeeper in the supply department, and continued playing semi-pro baseball during the 1930s for Annapolis Coca-Cola and Arundel Rug Co. teams.

Flashing lights and loud noises will be coming from the Earleigh Heights Volunteer Fire Station this week, but the commotion won't be coming from the trucks parked inside and out.The annual Firemen's Carnival will add glamour and glitz to the otherwise ordinary fire grounds, at 7 p.m. every day until Saturday.Chief Mike Robinson said the carnival kicked off Monday with 3,000 to 4,000 visitors, even though it had to be shut down after less than two hours because a storm threatened.He said he hopes to draw about 20,000 people throughout the week.

AFTER A DOSE of Newt Gingrich negativism and Bill Clinton minimalism, American voters can write off any chance of meaningful reform this year of the nation's big entitlement programs -- Medicare, Medicaid, farm subsidies, veterans benefits and the biggest enchilada, Social Security. Budget experts have long contended that there can be no permanent cure of Washington's addiction to deficit financing so long as these programs run on automatic pilot, going up each year regardless of the budget situation.

Broadway, Virginia -- In our nation's capital, it has become more difficult to get from Capitol Hill to Georgetown. The reason, of course, is the need to take a detour around that anachronism on Pennsylvania Avenue.Why do I call the president's lovely mansion an anachronism? Is it necessarily anachronistic to have a stately country home sitting in the middle of a bustling modern city? That kind of anachronism we call ''charm.''What doesn't fit between this place and our times is the growing difficulty of keeping its occupant -- our head of state -- from being murdered.

Democrats have long enjoyed a monopoly on elected offices in Baltimore. Few Republicans have bothered to challenge. But this one-party stranglehold is slowly loosening. Republican voter registration is growing faster than the Democrats; the quality of candidates is improving. Still, most GOP candidates lack resources and their quests have kamikaze-like qualities.Among this year's Republican candidates, two stand out: J. Gary Lee, who is running for the state Senate from the new city-county 42nd District, and Edward J. Eagan, who is hoping to stage an upset in West Baltimore's 41st District.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Bernie Tschirhart taps his temple, remembering the kamikaze attack that almost destroyed his ship 55 years ago. The Shawnee, Kan., man was a gunner's mate on the USS Mullany in World War II. On April 6, 1945, the destroyer was stationed off Okinawa when a Japanese suicide pilot drew a bead on the Mullany and slammed his plane into the ship. Shrapnel from that collision lies beneath the skin of Tschirhart's temple. "It happened so fast" says Tschirhart, now age 74. Dozens of sailors were killed in the attack.

Scene Frazier's on the Avenue draws a varied -- but very devoted -- crowd to its Kamikaze Karaoke events, organized by Landis McCord of the All Mighty Senators and Jeff Bradford of landspeedrecord! page 33. Eats The Wild Duck Cafe on Frog Mortar Creek has a water view and beachy atmosphere that draw customers from all around. page 16. Stage Three of the big names behind Hairspray team up Monday at the Mechanic Theatre for a program called "An Evening With John Waters, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman."