Legacy

The hulking old tanks, left to rust when Soviet forces pulled out of Afghanistan in 1989, still packed a threat when Albert Whittington arrived. Whittington, an ordnance and explosives specialist with the Baltimore district of the Army Corps of Engineers, clambered through dozens of Red Army tanks, trench-digging vehicles, bridge-laying equipment and other derelict machinery at the Pul-e-Charki military base east of Kabul. His mission: Find any unexploded ordnance, unused ammunition and other materials still capable of maiming or killing.

As an NBA assistant coach since retiring after a Hall of Fame career, Patrick Ewing might have a better seat than many of his contemporaries to compare this year's U.S. Olympic men's basketball team to the fabled Dream Team of 20 years ago. Ewing was one of 11 Hall of Famers on that team and played in the shadow of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and even Charles Barkley in Barcelona. But Ewing doesn't't think the current team led by LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant could compete for one simple reason.

I disagree completely with Herman Belz's opinion of Frank Gehry's innovative design for theDwight D. EisenhowerMemorial, but I am happy to see the accomplishments of this great American discussed ("Unworthy of Ike," June 11). All too often, the Eisenhower years get compressed into a single mention during the last week of a history course or squeezed entirely out of social science courses. Having spent a substantial part of my career editing former President Eisenhower's papers, I applaud the Memorial Commission and the General Services Administration for helping Americans remember a leader who guided our forces in defeating the Nazis and then gave Americans eight years of peace and prosperity during the Cold War. And he did all this without ever forgetting that he came from the wrong side of the tracks in Abilene, Kansas.

Grand anniversaries often make us ponder the links between our past and our present. Baltimore's superb bi-centennial commemorations for the War of 1812 have been no exception. Watching the buzz of commercial activity in the harbor has reminded me vividly that our reliance on the sea is even more relevant now than it was when the Royal Navy blockaded Baltimore's port all those years ago. For centuries the sea has fed us and fueled our lives. Our oceans have been a gateway for trade and a cradle for resources.

Cynthia Gross' first interaction with Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III came at a community meeting about seven months ago, when she stood up to complain about officers being overly aggressive. In a room full of stone-faced officers, you could hear a pin drop, she recalled. That night, Bealefeld offered to walk through her East Baltimore neighborhood with her to talk through her concerns. "I was complaining," she said of that meeting. "I wasn't a fan. But he's a man of his word, and we were able to work with him. " During his five-year tenure leading the city force, Bealefeld emphasized community relations, attending sometimes three neighborhood walks per week and trying to repair the Police Department's image.

Sister Shawn Marie Maguire has held numerous titles in her nearly 35 years at Maryvale Preparatory School, but ask any student, teacher or parent and the most used description is "beloved. " "She is that truly rare individual who possesses amazing qualities that inspire her students," said Dr. Victor Ferrans, a psychiatrist whose daughter Morgan is finishing her freshman year this week. "Everyone loves her for a kindness and gentleness that is so rare these days. " The woman who knows every student — 361 in grades six through 12 — and parent by name is retiring from the all-girls Catholic school in Brooklandville this year after serving for more than half its history.

The General Assembly's speedy embrace of Gov. Martin O'Malley's income tax increases this week cleaned up a political mess in Annapolis, but the rate hikes could come back to haunt the Democrat if he seeks national office when his time in the governor's mansion is up. O'Malley's tax package, which won final approval from the Democratic legislature on Wednesday, will give Maryland's top earners the seventh-highest income tax rate in the country....

They pass through the tiny row home at a steady clip, 50,000 pilgrims a year on a mission to visit their mecca. Here, in a second-floor bedroom of a narrow little residence on Emory Street, on a bitter cold day in 1895, George Herman Ruth was born. Humble digs, indeed, for one who'd grow up to be larger than life. But as Lorie Vaughan toured Babe Ruth's birthplace on Tuesday, she said the locale wasn't as important as the aura around it. "I've been to Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's home)

Frederick H. Bealefeld IIImade Baltimore safer. He ascended to the top job in the city's police department at a time when Baltimore was reeling from violence that threatened a return to the dark days of 300-plus murders a year. He immediately brought stability, focus and a no-nonsense attitude that got results. Crime is down, but so are arrests, and - most crucial for any police commissioner - homicides are at a low the city has not seen in two generations. His sudden announcement that he will retire in August, five years after his elevation to commissioner, is without a doubt a blow to the city.

Despite what you may have heard, the "house museum" is not dead in Baltimore City. The H.L. Mencken House (officially closed since 1997 by the bankruptcy of the City Life Museums) has had more than 100 visitors during two recent weekends. The Johns Hopkins University's Odyssey program arranged three tours of the house led by Marion Rodgers, the Mencken scholar and biographer. There was such pent-up demand to see the "empty" house that an additional tour was added, with another waiting list group that was unable to be accommodated.