Keswick

Russia and the United States are shocked to discover that the other is still spying. Shocked.The Christmas lights on 34th Street between Chestnut and Keswick in Hampden are the best, again.Moscow's thinking is that when Grozny no longer exists, Chechens will be better Russians.The West Side plan calls for removal of businesses that work. What's to understand?

The Keswick Multi-Care Center has emerged empty-handed from talks it had hoped might salvage a share of a $28 million bequest it was unable to accept because of the will's racist conditions.Settlement negotiations between Keswick and the University of Maryland Medical System broke down Tuesday. Keswick's attorneys said they have no choice but to appeal a Baltimore judge's ruling last week awarding the money to University.Dr. Jesse C. Coggins' 1962 will promised the money to Keswick if it would build new housing for white patients and name it after him. If Keswick could not accept those terms, the money was to go to University.

When Dr. Jesse C. Coggins wrote his final will in 1962, he promised his $2.3 million fortune would eventually go to the Keswick nursing home in Baltimore. He had just a few conditions: He wanted Keswick to use the money to build housing for patients, and he wanted it named after him.Anticipating the money, Keswick went ahead and spent $11 million on its new Coggins Building. It even hung a portrait of its benefactor in the lobby.But Keswick was unable to meet a third condition in the will: that the building be used only by whites.

When Joan Kelly began teaching ceramics and painting at Keswick Multi-Care Center in North Baltimore in September, the students were content letting her tell them what to do.But seven months after the Baltimore artist's arrival, the residents of the home for elderly and disabled people are creating personal and powerful images -- everything from portraits of the family dog to statements about their physical disabilities.Sunday, the artists will display their work in show with a Valentine's Day theme.

Vincent L. Schwing, founder of one of the city's oldest automobile dealership and the holder of several racing boat world speed records, died Thursday of Alzheimer's disease at the Keswick Multi-Care Center.He was 91 and was a former Mayfield resident.A self-taught auto mechanic, Mr. Schwing decided during the Great Depression to establish an automobile dealership with his wife, the former Louisa Storath. In 1930, they opened Schwing Motor Co. Inc. in Roland Park and began selling Fords from a showroom in the 3300 block of Keswick Road.

Dorothy Kerfoot is a woman of few words. Asked what she thinks of Companion Radio, a Rochester, N.Y.-based service with an old-time play-list that dominates the airwaves at Baltimore's Keswick Multi-Care Center, she comes straight to the point."

HANNAH MORE SCHOOL'S recent fund-raiser was a fun-filled evening, chaired by Sandi Dennison of Trammell Crow Co.; Sandy Pagnotti of P. W. Feats; and Karen Adler, the owner of Wedding Pages.Highlights included performances by two terrific groups -- the Jones Falls Express, an a cappella group that includes Mark McGrath, who's married to Channel 2 news anchor Mary Beth Marsden, and the Hard Travelers, with guest Bill Danhoff, who wrote "Country Road" and "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" for the late John Denver.

The new position of Andrea A. Braid was reported incorrectly in The Sun on April 29. Braid is executive director/chief executive officer of Keswick.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 5/07/96

The new position of Andrea A. Braid was reported incorrectly in The Sun on April 29. Braid is executive director/chief executive officer of Keswick.The Sun regrets the error.HealthKeswick center appoints Braid executive directorThe Keswick, a multicare center, announced the appointment of Andrea A. Braid as executive director and chief financial officer of the North Baltimore nursing, assisted living and adult day care facility. Before joining the Keswick, she was with Medlantic at Layhill, in Silver Spring and is a former vice president at Good Samaritan Hospital.

Claire A. JohnsonSocial Security workerClaire Allen Johnson, a retired field representative for the Social Security Administration, died Feb. 21 of heart failure at Keswick, where he had lived since November. He was 65.After working as a speech therapist in public schools in Illinois and Arizona, Mr. Johnson went to work for the Social Security Administration in San Mateo, Calif., in the mid-1960s. He was transferred to Baltimore in 1968.After his retirement in 1988, Mr. Johnson traveled throughout the world.

The Keswick Multi-Care Center in Baltimore scrapped its plans yesterday to build a multimillion-dollar retirement community on Roland Park land long owned by the Baltimore Country Club after learning the City Council would not support the proposal, Keswick's chief executive officer said. Keswick overcame the first hurdle to purchasing the 17 acres when two-thirds of the club's voting members approved the $12.5 million sale last year. But the transaction also was contingent on City Council approval of the more than 275-unit development, which many Roland Park residents actively opposed.

Reality of fibromyalgia merits more respect The Baltimore Sun's article "Drugmakers fuel buzz on fibromyalgia" (Feb. 9) did a disservice to the millions of Americans suffering needlessly with pain from fibromyalgia and reinforces the skepticism about that condition shown by a minority of the medical community. Instead of focusing on the pharmaceutical companies' sales figures, the reporter should have interviewed patients who are leading productive, quality lives because of effective treatment options approved by the Food and Drug Administration for fibromyalgia.

No compromise found for Keswick proposal The letter from the CEO of the Keswick Multi-Care Center misses the mark about preserving green space in Roland Park ("Care center will save open space, create jobs," Jan. 2). Keswick is trying to clear the zoning obstacles so that it can construct a massive independent-living and nursing facility on 17 acres of land now owned by the Baltimore Country Club. But the proposed development is so large and out of scale for the location that it would require either a fundamental rezoning or a planned unit development (PUD)

Series ignores success in effort to rebuild Iraq The Baltimore Sun's recent coverage of the Iraq war borders on treasonous ("Sun special report: Exodus from Iraq," Dec. 28-Dec. 30). In three related articles, reporter Matthew Hay Brown chronicles what he determines to be a "humanitarian crisis." Unfortunately for Mr. Brown, the definition of the term "crisis" requires the situation to be in the direst of straights, when in fact the situation in Iraq is improving daily. In his highly questionable understanding of the region, Mr. Brown neglects the countless humanitarian relief efforts and reconstruction projects that are helping to improve the lives of ordinary Iraqis every day. Most notably, while constantly assailing the U.S. war effort and the subsequent rebuilding operations by focusing on negative information and ignoring the unprecedented amount of positive news coming out of Iraq on a daily basis, Mr. Brown neglects to include any interviews with U.S. service members and commanders on the ground.

A piece of Baltimore Country Club history was demolished last week: the tennis clubhouse that served four grass courts that were built in 1903. Over the years, it was home to local tennis champions and even hosted the occasional star, including Pancho Gonzalez and Billie Jean King. Phil Spevak heard about the demolition hours after it occurred Tuesday, though he had met that morning with club leaders. It's not surprising. Mr. Spevak is the president of the Roland Park Civic League, which has masterfully rallied the neighborhood against the club's sale of 17 acres for a proposed continuing care retirement community.

Hundreds of Roland Park residents packed a community meeting last night to hear Keswick Multi-Care representatives promote their plans to build a facility for the elderly, but few were persuaded by the company's arguments. Keswick administrators and project architects told the crowd at Roland Park Elementary School that the $195 million proposal would not increase traffic in the neighborhood and would leave undeveloped most of the 17 acres being acquired for the project. Baltimore Country Club is planning to sell the land to Keswick for $12.5 million.

Representatives of the Keswick Multi-Care Center intend tonight to address concerns of many Roland Park residents that acres of green space in their neighborhood would be eaten up by a proposed senior facility. Keswick administrators will publicly unveil their proposal for 17 undeveloped acres that they are buying from the Baltimore Country Club for $12.5 million at a 7 p.m. meeting at Roland Park Elementary/Middle School at 5207 Roland Ave. The $195 million facility would have 225 independent-living units, 58 assisted-living units and 40 beds for residents in need of skilled nursing.

We have encountered many questions about the Keswick Multi-Care Center's plans to develop a senior center on the Baltimore County Club land parcel. More than four years ago, we set out to create an extraordinary new environment for the Baltimore senior community. Our goal is to create a special place in the form of a continuing care retirement community that incorporates green spaces and classic residential architecture within Baltimore. In the run-up to the decision to purchase the Baltimore Country Club parcel, we considered and reviewed approximately 35 sites.

Baltimore Country Club members voted last night to sell 17 acres of unoccupied land in Roland Park to a care facility, a potential $12.5 million deal that has met strong opposition from the surrounding neighborhood. The proposal still needs approval by the City Council, which would have to take up a request to rezone the property to accommodate the retirement community. Phil Spevak, president of the Roland Park Civic League, said the organization is disappointed that club members supported the plan.

Let's take a broader view of the issue The Sun presented in letters to the editor as "Open space fight roils Roland Park." Keswick Multi-care Center desires to build a high-end senior living facility, including 225 independent-living units, 58 assisted-living units and 40 beds for residents in need of skilled nursing. Across the street from Keswick's current facilities, Hekemian & Co. desires to develop the many acres of impervious surface that surround the Rotunda shopping center, including residential units (302 apartments, 44 condos and 12 townhouses, according to the last publicly available description)