Limousine

"Limousine, huh?"Leslie Vass shakes his head in wonder. There was no limousine for him, no cigar and no cold beer and no adoring fiancee waiting when he left the House of Correction after 10 years for a crime he never committed.Kirk Bloodsworth is different. He walked out of prison Monday with television cameras awaiting him, and his loved ones standing nearby, and Bloodsworth stood before a microphone and gave a moving little speech before ducking into a luxury limousine provided by a radio station and everybody roared off to a welcome-home party.

Police said a suspicious man seen jumping into a black, chauffeured Lincoln limousine Tuesday night tossed out a loaded semiautomatic handgun after officers stopped the vehicle in Northwest Baltimore. A department spokesman said the officers arrested the suspect, a passenger and the driver and found marijuana in the car. Anthony Guglielmi, the spokesman, said officers patrolling the 3900 block of Edgewood Road spotted the limo with West Virginia license plates about 9:30 p.m. About the same time, the officer saw a man in an alley "exhibiting characteristics of an armed person," the spokesman said.

An article in yesterday's editions stated incorrectly that Del. James E. Malone Jr., D-Baltimore County, arrived for the first day of the legislative session in a limousine. In fact, the delegate's parents and several other family members rode in the limousine. He arrived by car.The Sun regrets the error.

Sunshine Royston chose Sept. 20, the day of her late father's birthday, as the day of her wedding. She was a year old when Chet Royston died in a motorcycle accident in Baltimore. Now the relatives who had helped arrange her wedding are preparing for her funeral. Royston and six of her friends had arranged to use a stretch limousine for her bachelorette party, which included time at the Power Plant in the Inner Harbor, said her maternal grandfather, Fred Thiess. About 4:30 a.m. yesterday, a tractor-trailer collided with the limousine in the 4000 block of E. Monument St., killing Royston.

ATLANTA - Jurors in the Ray Lewis murder trial heard yesterday about the football player's evasive interview with police, in which he denied knowing anything about the killing of two men hours earlier and confided, "I was just with the wrong people." Prosecutors say the encounter, including Lewis' refusal to name fellow passengers in the limousine he had rented, proves Lewis was covering up a crime. Defense lawyers had tried repeatedly to keep Lewis' interview out of the trial. The remark that seemed to cast aspersions on Lewis' co-defendants was immediately challenged by their attorneys.

John Sununu reminds me of a child who, having promised not to sneak into his mother's wallet ever again, sneaks into her change purse instead.Having been caught and chastised for using military jets for ski trips and visits to his dentist, Sununu, the White House chief of staff, has now switched to White House limousines for his personal travel.Ann McDaniel and Tom DeFrank of Newsweek revealed that Sununu took a White House limousine for a five-hour trip to New York last Wednesday so he could buy some rare stamps for $5,000 at an auction and take care of other "personal business."

WASHINGTON -- In giving the commencement address at Boston College in 1982, then Vice President George Bush said it was an especially great day for him because he had a daughter in the graduating class.It was news to most of the students there.Just as it was news to the public affairs director of Maine's tourism office that the young woman who had started work there one morning in 1988 was the president's daughter. And news to the customers at Deering Ice Cream shop in Portland, Maine, that the woman coming in for lunch, dressed in a sweat suit and lugging one kid under one arm, another by her side, was anything more than just another mother, just another Mainer.

WASHINGTON -- What a car week for President Clinton! On Sunday, he was reunited with his beloved '67 Mustang convertible. And yesterday, he accepted a new Cadillac presidential limousine at the White House.Cadillac General Manager John Grettenberger handed the gold keys for the black armored car to Mr. Clinton in a brief ceremony near the South Lawn, and the president said he wished he could take the fancy tank-on-wheels out for a spin.Neither Cadillac nor the Secret Service would release the car's "sticker price," but it reportedly cost about $600,000.

A Glen Burnie man was killed early yesterday as he rode a bicycle on Quarterfield Road when he was struck by a limousine under the Route 100 overpass.The victim -- a 35-year-old man whose name was being withheld pending notification of relatives -- was pedaling west on Quarterfield Road about 2 a.m. when he was hit by the 1994 Lincoln Town Car limousine, police said.The limousine driver was in the right lane attempting to pass a car to his left when the bicyclist was struck and thrown 150 feet, police said.

CONDOMS AND limousines. Limos and condoms. It seems an odd combination for discussion. But these two things stand as symbols -- evidence, really -- of the helplessness and ambivalence of parents of teen-agers. Condoms and limousines represent our desire to protect our children from harm, but also our inability to prevent them from engaging in harmful behavior. Limos and condoms are props in the twilight zone of parenting: between caution and control; between hope and reality. We rent limos to carry our kids to dances because we are afraid they will drink, and if they do, at least they won't be driving.

The Rev. Arthur L. "Billy" Corbin Sr., founder and pastor of the Full Gospel Church of Phoenix and a retired postal worker, died Wednesday at his Phoenix, Baltimore County, home of kidney failure. He was 79. Mr. Corbin, who was born and raised on Warren Road in Cockeysville, attended Baltimore County public schools. "He was 11 when he started preaching and was 18 when he began pastoring his own church," said his wife of 36 years, the former Darce J. Ward, who is a church organist, pianist and soloist.

Philip Rolfe Chauffeur Classic Limousine and Sedan Service LLC, Baltimore Salary --Earns 29 percent of each job, tip included; about $3,000 a month Age --27 Years on the job --Three How he got started --About five years ago, Rolfe began driving a limousine part time. Two years later, he decided to go full time because he liked the commission Classic was offering. Typical day --Rolfe's work week is usually split between airport and chartered work. He usually works from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. when he does airport runs, making five to seven trips between BWI and local hotels.

CONDOMS AND limousines. Limos and condoms. It seems an odd combination for discussion. But these two things stand as symbols -- evidence, really -- of the helplessness and ambivalence of parents of teen-agers. Condoms and limousines represent our desire to protect our children from harm, but also our inability to prevent them from engaging in harmful behavior. Limos and condoms are props in the twilight zone of parenting: between caution and control; between hope and reality. We rent limos to carry our kids to dances because we are afraid they will drink, and if they do, at least they won't be driving.

ATLANTA - Jurors in the Ray Lewis murder trial heard yesterday about the football player's evasive interview with police, in which he denied knowing anything about the killing of two men hours earlier and confided, "I was just with the wrong people." Prosecutors say the encounter, including Lewis' refusal to name fellow passengers in the limousine he had rented, proves Lewis was covering up a crime. Defense lawyers had tried repeatedly to keep Lewis' interview out of the trial. The remark that seemed to cast aspersions on Lewis' co-defendants was immediately challenged by their attorneys.

ATLANTA - A woman who was with Ray Lewis on the night two men were stabbed to death in a street brawl testified yesterday that she saw the Ravens linebacker shoving a man during the fight but said he appeared to be protecting a friend. Evelyn Sparks, a 24-year-old physical therapy student from Chicago, proved a mixed bag for prosecutors. She bolstered the defense when she described Lewis co-defendant Joseph Sweeting being attacked by two men and then Lewis pushing one of the attackers away.

A friend of the men murdered after a Super Bowl party in Atlanta has told police he fired a gun at Ray Lewis' vehicle as it sped from the scene. Solving a mystery that has lingered since the Jan. 31 double stabbing in Atlanta, the Decatur, Ga., man told police a few weeks ago that he fired the bullets found in the side of Lewis' rented limousine, according to sources familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The identity of Marlin Burros, 33, was disclosed for the first time to the defense teams in an exchange of evidence this week, sources said.

A limousine company driver was robbed of $225 Sunday evening as he cleaned the Z Best Limo Co.'s car, parked in the 8000 block of Corkberry Lane, police said.Donald Edward White, 29, told police a man approached him and started a conversation about 7:30 p.m. When he turned to get a business card, the man stuck a metal object in his back and demanded money, police said. Mr. White gave the money to the man, who then fled, police said.

Sunshine Royston chose Sept. 20, the day of her late father's birthday, as the day of her wedding. She was a year old when Chet Royston died in a motorcycle accident in Baltimore. Now the relatives who had helped arrange her wedding are preparing for her funeral. Royston and six of her friends had arranged to use a stretch limousine for her bachelorette party, which included time at the Power Plant in the Inner Harbor, said her maternal grandfather, Fred Thiess. About 4:30 a.m. yesterday, a tractor-trailer collided with the limousine in the 4000 block of E. Monument St., killing Royston.

The Arab princess arrived with so much luggage -- 250 pieces of it -- that a U-Haul had to be rented to cart it away. When the football players were too big to fit into their hired limousine, a second six-person stretch was dispatched to carry them all in comfort. Waiting on the tarmac or curbside for these celebrity clients -- and attending to their unique requests -- are guys such as Gary Day, Eugene M. Smith and Clark Jones, one-time salesmen and department store managers who now earn their living in front seats of limousines crisscrossing Baltimore.

The Atlanta lawyer representing Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis made an unannounced visit to Baltimore yesterday and inspected the stretch limousine that carried Lewis to a Super Bowl party and then away from the scene of a stabbing that left two men dead. After examining the 40-foot vehicle, the lawyer, Edward T. M. Garland, said he found evidence in the black limo but declined to describe it, and he again proclaimed his client's innocence. "He is 100 percent, absolutely innocent," Garland said in an impromptu news conference last night.