Lexington Market

Accused in gun sales, man is ordered held A man accused of illegally selling guns from his potato chip stall at Lexington Market must remain in custody while awaiting trial, U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Blake ruled Thursday during a detention-review hearing. Michael Papantonakis, 53, was arrested last week, accused of selling 13 firearms to undercover federal operatives he believed were gang members. He is also accused of trying to have a Lexington Market manager beaten. His attorney said the guns were from a personal collection that his client was trying to deplete and called any statements about harming the manager or dealing with gang members "venting," "silliness" and "stupid comments" that weren't meant or true.

Will this be the year when that elusive magic touch arrives at Howard and Lexington? My eyes have glazed over while I've read stacks and more stacks of redevelopment plans for Baltimore's old downtown shopping district. Seriously. There were proposals for Lexington Street during the mayoral administration of Theodore R. McKeldin. That's a long time for a place to be ailing - 40 years and counting. And because I enjoyed so many good times in this part of Baltimore, I hope that it can make the transition to a new day. Other places have been reconstituted and recovered a lot faster.

CHARLES SMOTHERS sat on the couch of his mother's Northeast Baltimore home, telling of his 18-month battle against unemployment."[One area police department] told me they had an opening," Smothers said. "I thought I had the job. Then a guy asked, `Are you the police officer involved in that Lexington Market situation?' " Smothers answered truthfully. The opening was suddenly filled. He was told the agency would call him when the next opening became available.That "Lexington Market situation" has dogged Smothers since Aug. 9, 1997.

The Mass Transit Administration is extending hours of operation on the Metro and light rail for New Year's Eve revelers:The Metro subway will operate until 2 a.m. between Owings Mills and Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Lexington Market, Charles Center and Shot Tower/Market Place stations serve the downtown area. Free parking for 8,000 vehicles is available along the system.The light rail, which operates between Hunt Valley and Cromwell Station/Glen Burnie, will operate until 2 a.m. The Camden Yards, Baltimore Street, Convention Center and Lexington Market stops serve the downtown area.

MICHAEL GREEN, lawyer for Charles Smothers, the former Baltimore police officer who received the Order of the Shaft in late 1997, remembers the day he represented his client at a Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation hearing in April of last year.``The [Police] Department representative submitted two pieces of paper,'' Green recalled. ``Both papers said the No. 1 reason for the discharge was the Lexington Market shooting. The representative tried to brush off the No. 1 reason as an administrative/personnel department snafu.

Preakness and moreCheer for your favorite thoroughbred at the 124th running of the Preakness Stakes -- the middle jewel of horse racing's Triple Crown -- Saturday at Pimlico Race Course. Post time for the first of the day's races is 10:45 a.m. Tickets are limited, and prices vary. You also have two more days to enjoy pre-Preakness celebrations, including the Preakness Crab Derby at noon at Lexington Market (410-685-6169) today, the Great Schooner Race from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Inner Harbor today, the ninth annual Phillips Preakness Celebrity Crab Picking Contest from noon to 1 p.m. at the Harborplace Amphitheatre tomorrow, the Budweiser Clydesdales (pictured)

To prevent the debt-ridden Avenue Market from having its power turned off, the Board of Estimates approved $200,000 in city funds yesterday to help the faltering operation pay its utility bills and other debts.Half of the money will be held until the market provides city officials with its audited financial reports from fiscal year 1999, which ended June 30. The city will allocate $100,000 immediately to help the market pay for security personnel and a $50,000 utility bill that had accumulated in the last three months.

I see a guy I haven't seen for a long time. He's leaning on the wet, wooden counter at Faidley's raw bar in Lexington Market, the one with the sign that says, "Forget Viagra, eat oysters." I say hello. Right away, Tom -- that's the guy -- announces that he's getting out of Baltimore. He hates this town. It's a backwater.Tom, I say, what's wrong? What happened?"Everything," he says, in answer to the first question.I don't know how long Tom has been standing at the raw bar, or whether he's been imbibing malt beverages.

Robert Rawls, a chef and fish cutter who distinguished himself as the oldest working man at Lexington Market, died of natural causes Sunday at St. Agnes HealthCare. He was in his 90s and lived in Baltimore.Born on a farm near Suffolk, Va., Mr. Rawls began his career as a chef with the merchant marine in 1920. After 28 years, he moved to Baltimore, where he married and was a chef for Faidley's restaurant on Lexington Street for several years.In 1964, after the restaurant closed, he started working at the market cutting fish, a job he held until March, when he retired because of declining health.

Baltimore officials settled a $200 million lawsuit yesterday that was filed over a police shooting -- caught on videotape outside Lexington Market -- that left a man dead and sparked community protests.The settlement in the case against former police Officer Charles M. Smothers II and the Baltimore Police Department was reached as a jury was being selected to hear the case in the city's Circuit Court. As part of the deal, the settlement amount was kept confidential and sealed in court records.

Baltimore is a dirty city with few good jobs. But its also a green city whose residents love their neighborhoods, public parks and libraries. Their biggest worry is crime, but they consider their own blocks quite safe. Those are among the sometimes-contradictory feelings to emerge when 1,812 Baltimoreans were asked about their city. Mayor Sheila Dixon, who commissioned the $60,000 survey by the Schaefer Center for Public Policy, said it is the first of its kind for the city and would help her determine where to focus her attentions - and budgetary dollars.

Next time they road-trip to Baltimore, two well-known food writers won't get to eat the local delicacy they just talked up on national radio. Lexington Market squirrel, alas, does not exist. On National Public Radio's The Splendid Table last weekend, Jane and Michael Stern raved about Lexington Market, saying it was better than San Francisco's Ferry Building Marketplace. The Daily Record noted the Sterns' compliment on a blog earlier this week. That caught the attention of my colleague Jean Marbella, who'd just visited the Ferry Market on vacation and enjoyed a rosemary-pine nut shortbread, in no small part because the vendor vouched for the virtuous provenance of every ingredient.

Ever since stumbling across chef/author Anthony Bourdain's hedonistic food/travel show No Reservations on cable a couple of years ago, I've imagined him taking on Baltimore. Clearly we'd see him elbow deep in crabs, Old Bay and Natty Boh; talking shop with the young owner of any of the myriad hip new restaurants that have sprouted up in town in the last few years and maybe visiting the bakery where they make the world's most calorie-dense food, the Berger cookie. In retrospect, though, I'm not sure why I was surprised to learn that Mr. Bourdain went on a Wire-tastic tour of some of Baltimore's most depressed neighborhoods, feasted on lake trout and paired the city with Buffalo and Detroit in a Rust Belt-themed episode.

Baltimore City health officials say full health coverage is just an application away for nearly half of the city's 100,000 uninsured residents. But a surprising number of them are not applying. "Many people just don't know about it," said Kathleen Westcoat, president and chief executive officer of Baltimore HealthCare Access Inc., a city health agency connecting eligible families, singles and kids to seven free or low-cost managed care plans housed under the Medicaid roof. The agency enrolled 9,074 residents of its target 10,000 in one of its Medical Assistance for Families programs by the end of June, not counting those enrolled in its other programs, for which the agency said it does not have figures.

FRIDAY LIVE MUSIC AT LEXINGTON MARKET: Whether you've got the day off or you're simply looking for an escape from the office, Lexington Market, 400 W. Lexington St., delivers plenty of afternoon diversions. Once you've locked down what lunch will be, head to the Arcade Stage to hear American roots music by The Voo Dudes from noon to 2 p.m. This show is free. Call 410-685-6169 or go to lexingtonmarket.com. MICHAEL JACKSON DANCE PARTY: Honor the King of Pop with your best moonwalk and anti-gravity leans as DJ Mills and Craig Boarman play Jackson's hits all night at Fletcher's, 701 S. Bond St. Videos will also play.

Michael Papantonakis says he's in jail, awaiting trial on federal firearms-dealing charges, because of his big mouth and his big heart. One led him to sell guns to help pay for his sister's cancer treatments, he said, and the other to lie about trading weapons to gang members and to spout off - more than once - about wanting to see a business associate "beaten up," perhaps by baseball bat. In a recent 5-minute jailhouse interview at the Maryland Correctional...

Lexington Market doesn't want the Utz potato chip stand anymore. The workers say they sell chips and always have. The feds say that - at least until one of the owners, a former bounty hunter, was busted April 1 - they also sold guns to gangs. Crab cakes and Uzis may fit the stereotype of a violent city, but it's not what the purveyors of a world-famous market want to promote. So Lexington Market Inc. filed suit in Baltimore's Wabash District Court against Stella Tsourakis, the woman they say owns the place along with her brother, Michael Papantonakis, who is in jail facing federal firearms charges.

Accused in gun sales, man is ordered held A man accused of illegally selling guns from his potato chip stall at Lexington Market must remain in custody while awaiting trial, U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Blake ruled Thursday during a detention-review hearing. Michael Papantonakis, 53, was arrested last week, accused of selling 13 firearms to undercover federal operatives he believed were gang members. He is also accused of trying to have a Lexington Market manager beaten. His attorney said the guns were from a personal collection that his client was trying to deplete and called any statements about harming the manager or dealing with gang members "venting," "silliness" and "stupid comments" that weren't meant or true.

John E. Larkin Jr., a seafood dealer whose raw oyster bar became a popular downtown gathering place, died of cardiac arrest Sunday at St. Agnes Hospital. The Catonsville resident was 71. Born in Baltimore and raised in Catonsville, he attended Leonard Hall Junior Naval Academy and was a 1955 Mount St. Joseph High School graduate. Family members said that he remained close to his teachers, members of the Xaverian Brothers, throughout his life. He entered the seafood business as a young man. Multiple generations of Larkins had worked in the Baltimore seafood industry and owned stalls at Lexington, Hollins and Belair markets.

Back in 1996, the manager of a downtown Burger King handed out discount coupons for ammunition and guns along with the Whoppers with cheese. A week ago, police told us you could buy cocaine from a Shell gas station in Severna Park. And now, the feds tell us your potato chips could come with a Beretta at the Utz kiosk in Lexington Market. I went to lunch Wednesday at the historic shopping stalls in an area the city is trying to revitalize, but all I got was a scowl from the clerk when I ordered a 9 mm. I watched customer after customer, but none left with weaponry.