Main Office

You work at home and communicate with the office by computer and telephone. (Or you'd like to.) It's called telecommuting.In the past, those of you who worked at home encountered barriers, and you still do, such as zoning and taxes. Are you conducting business in a residential area? If you have the option of commuting to a conventional business office, can you take the home office deduction on your tax return?Now many of these barriers may be swept away. Why? Credit the environment and the war. At first the connections may seem strained, yet the Environmental Protection Agency has come up with some compelling statistics.

Hammond High's restrooms not up to Third World'sOn Feb. 18, at 1: 55 p.m., I arrived for a scheduled appointment with a guidance counselor at Hammond High in Howard County. After an extended ride around the Capital Beltway, I attempted to utilize the men's restroom located next to the main office at Hammond High prior to the 2 p.m. appointment.However, I found the restroom too unsanitary to be used by humans or animals. Both urinals were extremely dirty and one had overflowed.The two toilets were even worse.

SINCE HE has only been working at Hess Shoes since the Kennedy administration, nobody knows about Steve "Stoney" Blumberg. The chain collapses, and we dwell on the death of a corporate logo. But those who kept the thing going over the decades become afterthoughts.For 127 years around here, Hess sold shoes to the entire family, and now this will cease. Two weeks ago, the chain's officers announced that their final 11 stores would hold going-out-of-business sales and close their doors.This puts Hess into a lengthening line of local retailers, once flourishing but now gone, whose names evoke not only a product but an era: Hutzler Bros.

Howard County police have charged a Glenelg High School teacher with abusing and assaulting one of his students twice almost two years ago, authorities said yesterday. David Leland Stevens, 55, who until November was the head of the school's science department, turned himself in yesterday at the Southern District police station. He was charged with two counts of child abuse and two counts of second-degree assault. After a short hearing at District Court, a commissioner released him on his own recognizance.

The port of Baltimore got a boost yesterday as NSCSA (America) Inc., general agent for National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia, said it would move its North American headquarters to Baltimore from New York and increase the amount of cargo it moves through the port."

TWO FORMER home businesses have moved into the fast lane -- opening an office on Main Street in Hampstead. On Friday from noon to 8 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., they're opening their door to show the public what they can do.Eagle Embroidery, co-owned by Chris and Cathy Cavey and Kym and David Cavey, took root four years ago in the family basement.J&K Graphics, owned by John and Kathy Rampolla, started about 12 months ago.The two businesses have moved to joint quarters at 838D S. Main St., between Dean's Restaurant and Pearson Signs.

With the school board's blessing, Baltimore County Superintendent Joe A. Hairston quietly rewarded each of his top deputies with raises of at least $11,000 last year, while teachers and principals worked without cost-of-living increases. Hairston, who confirmed the raises in an interview this week, said he was making the salaries of his three assistants more competitive, but union leaders said he chose the wrong time to do so. "Last year, everyone was asked to recognize the county's financial concerns and do without a raise.

The proposed budget that Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso will present to the Board of Education tonight would cut $110 million from the central office, redistributing $70 million to schools and using $40 million to help close a budget shortfall. More than 300 central office jobs would be eliminated under the proposal, cutting the number of full-time positions at system headquarters from 1,531 to 1,222, according to a draft copy of Alonso's board presentation. Alonso has said that administrators with a background in instruction would have the opportunity to be transferred back to schools as teachers or principals, likely taking a pay cut. While that would avoid the need for large-scale layoffs, it appears that some layoffs of noninstructional personnel would be necessary.

The nation's beleaguered real estate market last month seemed suddenly reborn on Wall Street, where the stocks of home builders Kaufman & Broad Home Corp. and PHM Corp. spurted to yearly highs after the Federal Reserve Board cut interest rates sharply.But on Main Street, where many office buildings and homes continue to languish unsold, the ravages of last year's real estate slump won't so easily disappear, experts say."I don't expect an upturn in real estate for several more months," said Richard Peiser, director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate Development, a nonprofit study organization.

Relief is a step closer for the school and court workers who for nearly a decade have shared cramped quarters at 55 N. Court St.Work on a new home for the Carroll County Schools central offices could begin as early as November, and builders and designers from at least five companies have shown interest in submitting a bid, said J. Michael Evans, director of public works for Carroll County.The project includes adding 30,000 square feet to the County Office Building on 225 N. Center St. The county has estimated the cost for the two projects at $4.5 million, although no bids or proposals have come in yet.The school offices will move from the Courthouse Annex one block north on Court Street to the Winchester Building, after 30,000 square feet are added and the whole building designed to accommodate the schools.