Larry Young

Speculation abounds that Larry Young is running for president of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP to mount a political comeback. But it's questionable whether the local branch - in the shadows of the headquarters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People - is a strong enough political forum for that. Although nearly 630,000 people live in Baltimore, fewer than 1 percent - or 4,000 people - are branch members. What's more, branch President G.I. Johnson acknowledges that of the 4,000 members, only about 500 are active.

LARRY YOUNG is right when he says the Baltimore NAACP needs effective leadership. And perhaps he's right when he says the local organization is too passive. But members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's branch also need leadership they can trust. So where does Mr. Young fit in? Mr. Young's colleagues expelled him from the state Senate in 1998 after finding he used his public office for private gain. Even senators who didn't want to boot him concluded he had done something wrong.

Baltimore Urban League Inc., one of the city's venerable social organizations, is struggling financially and trying to raise money to balance the books and meet its payroll. "I think there's no secret in town that we've been struggling to generate as much financial support as we can," said Lenneal J. Henderson Jr., chairman of the league's board of directors. "We're trying to raise at least $600,000 or $700,000 in the next several months." All this comes as Roger I. Lyons, the league's long-serving president, sits at home, recovering from a mild heart attack and related medical problems.

EDWARD T. NORRIS, the new police commissioner of Baltimore, is built like an industrial fire hydrant. But is he built to last? In his first appearance Tuesday as the city's top cop, he spoke in a soft New York accent that sounded like the actor Alan Arkin. But, around him, you could hear all manner of shrieking. Was that the sound of another parent crying over a slain child, or just Larry Young looking for a constituency? Norris, who will be 40 Monday, became a father for the first time last year.

MONDAY NIGHT, as Larry Young and others shouted for the resignation of the acting police commissioner, presumably because he is white and from the city of New York, the city of Baltimore recorded its 69th homicide of 2000, and the victim was black. Within the hour after Young and others had assembled in a West Baltimore church to call for Ed Norris to pack his bags, 21-year-old Dante Bryan was running for his life through the streets of East Baltimore. Another young man with a gun chased Bryan on a red mountain bike.

ATLANTA -- As Baltimore Ravens star linebacker Ray Lewis eats bologna sandwiches while locked away on murder charges in the city's 11-story jail, family members who have gathered here anxiously await word on whether he will be released on bail. The 24-year-old's mother, Sunseria Keith, flew to Atlanta, only to find out that she can visit her son just twice a week -- on Wednesdays and Sundays -- and then only for 20 minutes at a time. Keith spends most of her time 15 blocks from the Atlanta City Detention Center, gathered with other relatives in the towering Peachtree Center Marriott Marquis in the heart of downtown.

The old-timers say they never meant to make a living off politics, never said to themselves: "Once I get to the State House, only dynamite will get me out." Yet, 10, 20, 30 years later, they're still in Annapolis, pushing bills, working the halls, living the legislative life. The elected ones aren't alone in staying with the political game. Year after year, you find the same lobbyists. And every session another legislator signs on to lobby old friends. You could go on a 10-year odyssey, and chances are most of the same crowd would be here when you returned.

Baltimore's mayoral hopefuls worked the crowds yesterday at city churches and Halloween events, as the two candidates entered the final stretch toward Election Day tomorrow.Democrat Martin O'Malley and Republican David F. Tufaro had a fairly light schedule in their campaigns, which have survived an often brutal 12-month mayoral race that had as many as 27 candidates."We've said and done about everything we can," said Tufaro as he campaigned at the Baltimore Zoo. "There isn't much more to say."

Recently cleared of bribery and extortion charges, former state Sen. Larry Young is wasting no time getting back in politics -- helping raise campaign funds for a Baltimore legislator and dropping hints that he intends to run for office again.Stepping once more into the political world that was his for a quarter-century, Young is serving as chairman of a fund-raising event Tuesday for Del. Nathaniel T. Oaks, a West Baltimore Democrat.Always adept at raising money, Young has sent out letters, distributed tickets and made phone calls on Oaks' behalf.

Stop giving away public money for private profitI read in The Sun on Sunday that clever and sometimes unscrupulous companies are making off with state and county treasure by threatening to move out of state or not locate here ("A business bonanza paid by taxpayers," Oct. 10).Who would have thought that if you offer to give away the store, someone will take it?This has been going on for years: state against state, even county against county -- as foolish state and county managers compete to give away public money, present and future.