Lawn Mower

ABERDEEN -- There is, in sports, a nobility that comes from effort, a beauty and grace that emanate from the intricate movement of the body, a serenity that comes from having withstood the competition. Then there's . . . this stuff.Lawn-mower racing.On the other hand, if your thing is watching heavyset men in windbreakers and flannel shirts atop riding mowers, their guts jiggling violently as they race around a grassy, tire-laden course, the place to be yesterday was at Harford County Airpark, site of the STA-BIL East Coast Regionals of the U.S. Lawn Mower Racing Association.

THREE YEARS ago this week I wrote my first column as an editorial writer in Anne Arundel County. I dug it up last week because this column will be the last I write for The Sun in Anne Arundel.As of next week, I'll be assigned to the paper's Baltimore County bureau. Norris West, another member of the editorial department, will take over here.On rereading my first column, I realize that I had committed myself to mastering the county's geography. I promised to travel to corners of the county I had never visited.

"The Straight Story" starts out like any David Lynch film, with an aerial shot of a pretty little Midwestern town, its neat streets, tidy yards and picket fences barely belying the depravity, angst and sexual perversity that seethe underneath. Lynch's fans will brace themselves for the inevitable shock to come, but the real shock here is that the wholesome surface is exactly what it seems.A radical goodness suffuses "The Straight Story," a populist belief in the quiet heroism of courtly decency so strong that you leave the theater stunned.

Charles "Roy" Hare was not a man of single interests.He was a businessman who had several successful enterprises in Northeast Baltimore. He was an inventor who created a pay phone, car-dent fixer and remote-controlled lawn mower that resembled a Jeep. He was an animal lover whose pet pig lived in an apartment next to his.Mr. Hare, 82, a lifelong Baltimore resident who died Monday of heart failure at Good Samaritan Hospital, was known throughout the Hamilton community for his magnetic, but slightly unconventional, personality.

ALL I WANT FOR Christmas is a handyman.Not a man who considers himself handy. I've got one of those. I want a handyman.A guy who will fix everything that is loose or broken in my house when I tell him to because I am paying him.I want a man who will change the faucet in the bathroom, fix the leak in the shower, paint the interior shutters and then winterize the windows in the kids' rooms.I want somebody who will fix the chandelier in the dining room, who will paint the trim in the hall and then tighten the front door knob.

Police logWilde Lake: 5100 block of Brook Way: A vehicle was reported stolen early Wednesday. No details were available.Town Center: 6000 block of Waterloo Road: Someone entered a building Nov. 4 through an unsecured stairway and hurricane door in the basement. An air compressor, lawn mower and tools were taken.Pub Date: 11/11/96

Police logKings Contrivance: 6600 block of Seneca Drive: A lawn mower, a snow blower and a saw were stolen from a storage shed sometime between Jan. 15 and Sunday, police said.

A Glen Burnie woman surprised a man who was trying to steal a lawn mower from her shed Tuesday morning, county police said. The man got away with a tackle box.Jo Ann May, 52, of the 500 block of New Jersey Ave. told police she went to her shed about 6 a.m. after she heard a noise. She saw a black pickup truck parked at the end of her driveway, she said, with a man in the driver's seat and a woman standing outside the truck.Ms. May asked the woman what they were doing, then walked into the shed, where she saw another man trying to take a lawn mower.

As I write this, my husband is cutting the grass.As you read this, he is probably cutting the grass. Still. Or again.At this time of year, my husband is usually always cutting the grass.I am sure it is because the grass is growing, fed by melted snow and spring rains. I am sure it is not personal. I am sure he is not cutting the grass because that is the one place he is certain I will not be. Out there, cutting the grass.I am sure it is not because he will never hear my voice over the roar of the lawn mower, calling him to dinner.

IT WAS A MILD December day, one of the last chances before winter hit that a guy would have to suck the leaves off the lawn with a power mower. I stood on my parents' yard in the suburbs of Kansas City, trying to look like I knew what I was doing, like I was a guy with suburban skills. Like I wasn't too dumb to figure out how to attach a leaf-catching bag to the lawn mower.There were power mowers in my past. I grew up using them. However, in the intervening years I had left the grasslands, and moved to a Baltimore rowhouse.

Police say six in burglary ring Anne Arundel County police have arrested six people accused of participating in a burglary ring in Pasadena, and have returned more than $20,000 in stolen property. The monthlong string of arrests began on May 2, with Joseph Leo Baumgarten III, 35, of the 1000 block of Cayer Drive in Glen Burnie. He and Laura Michelle Bruce, 24, of the 100 block of Lake Shore Drive in Pasadena, were accused of kicking in the front door of a home on the 8300 block of Beachwood Park Road on March 26 and stealing cash, jewelry and other items.

To save a buck, would you separate two-ply toilet paper to create two rolls out of one? Would you duct-tape holes in your winter coat? Scavenge in trash bins for unspoiled food to eat? "There are stores and restaurants that do throw out perfectly good food," says J.D. Roth, who blogs about personal finance at getrichslowly.org. "But it's too extreme for me." It seems everyone these days is trying to find ways to pinch pennies, although, granted, the examples above could be labeled extreme personal finance.

As soon as grass grows and hedges sprout, legions of mowers and trimmers cart their dull tools to sharpeners, guys who work the grindstones. According to craftsmen I spoke with last week, the sharpening season has begun. From Harford to Anne Arundel, blunt blades are being fined. The tradesmen hone hedge trimmers, pruning shears, hatchets, saws and the occasional trowel for prices from $2 to $10 a tool. But power lawn mower blades ($5 for regular, $7 for mulching) account for most of the springtime sharpening.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes from police reports in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Baltimore City Northwestern District Shooting: East Baltimore resident Ali Colven, 23, was walking in the 3700 block of Park Heights Ave. about 12:10 a.m. yesterday when an unknown assailant shot him in the left arm and left buttock. Colven hailed an unlicensed taxi that took him to Sinai Hospital, where he was reported in good condition. Southeastern District Stolen vehicle: A white 2000 Mercedes Benz 327 with tags LTE 034 was stolen Sunday in the 2300 block of Cambridge St. Eastern District Burglary: Copper fittings valued at $200 were stolen from a house under renovation in the 1700 block of Llewelyn Ave. between Saturday and Monday.

A tree service recently looked at one of our trees and said it had cankers. Can you explain what a tree canker is and what causes them? If you have a dead area of tissue on a tree leaf, it is called a leaf spot or blight. A comparable area on a tree branch or trunk is called a canker; it is often sunken and discolored. Diseases cause most cankers, but there may be other reasons. For example, if a tree trunk were hit by a lawn mower, some of the tissue would be killed. This damaged area would technically be a canker.

NASCAR met the 4-H Fair in Jessup yesterday as fast and furious racers duked it out for bragging rights and trophies. The vehicles of choice weren't stock cars, though, but something more likely to be found in the back yard: mowers. Kicking up a whirlwind of dust at Blob's Park, souped-up riding mowers and hot-off-the-yard standards went round and round in the Great American 250, a new event for a sport that has slowly been gathering a following in the past decade. Safe behind an orange mesh barricade and gigantic bales of hay, about 300 people - mostly families - sat on a grassy knoll overlooking the winding course, heads turning in sync from right to left as they followed racers tearing up the vast, bumpy course.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes from police reports in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Baltimore City Southwestern District Drug arrests: District drug enforcement unit officers aiding Western District colleagues Tuesday in seeking information about homicides on the west side arrested 12 people on charges of possessing narcotics or attempting to purchase them from officers posing as dealers. They seized $600 and heroin and cocaine valued at $1,300. Southern District Burglary: Power tools valued at $390 were stolen overnight Monday from a house in the 1100 block of Cleveland St. Southeastern District Burglary: A collection of jewelry and 1800s-era coins - all valued at nearly $2,000 - were removed during the weekend from a safe in a house in the 1100 block of S. Bonsal St. Baltimore County Essex Precinct Burglary: Tools and a lawn mower - all valued at more than $2,000 - were stolen from a shed in the 100 block of Alcock Road between Sunday and Tuesday.

A 17-year-old Lineboro youth was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore yesterday after suffering leg injuries when the lawn mower he was riding was hit by a sport utility vehicle, Maryland State Police said. The teen-ager of the 4600 block of Water Tank Road was riding the mower near his home when he was struck by a 1998 Chevy Blazer, police said. They would not release the teen's identity because he is a juvenile. Kathy Marie Hale, 41, of Manchester, the driver of the Blazer, and several witnesses said the teen-ager pulled out in front of the SUV, which was traveling south on Water Tank Road about 1 p.m. No charges will be filed against Hale, police said, adding that they did not know if charges would be filed against the teen-ager.

Mr. Mowjangles was there. So was Mr. Mow It All. And the Mow Lady, also known as Mary Lou Boris of Clarksville, who was riding her signature mower with the pink wheels. But mowing grass was the last thing on their minds. Winning points and trophies in an East Coast regional lawn mower race was the reason these men and women hopped on souped-up mowers and zoomed up to 60 mph around a track in Harford County yesterday. Boris, a first-place finisher, explained the attraction. "I race because of the people you see here," said Boris, 54, an Anne Arundel County middle school art teacher.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes from police reports in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Baltimore City Northeastern District Burglary: An electric lawn mower and a gas-powered lawn mower, valued at $200, were stolen Sunday from a shed in the 3500 block of Darley Ave. Southeastern District Burglary: Power and hand tools, electrical fixtures and 100 feet of extension cord, all valued at more than $1,600, were stolen Sunday from a house being...