Majestic

Fall approaches, bringing chrysanthemums in all their splendor.Big deal.I am allergic to the most handsome of fall flowers. Show me a mum and head for the hills. My reaction is swift and violent. I sneeze. I wheeze. I break out in a sweat.I've been this way since fifth grade when I lost the class spelling bee. The word I missed was chrysanthemum. The teacher gave me three cracks at it. I struck out. Then I cried. In class.More than 30 years later, I've still not fully recovered. Sometimes when I see mums, I tremble, stammer and hyperventilate.

Two brothers whose Rosedale auto body shop became the focus of a federal investigation into widespread corruption in the Baltimore Police Department were sentenced to prison Wednesday. Hernan Alexis Moreno, 32, of Rosedale and Edwin Javier Mejia, 29, of Middle River received prison terms of 33 months and two years, respectively, for paying officers to bring them business. The kickbacks scheme was uncovered last year. Their sentences conclude a federal case that sullied the reputation of the Police Department, implicating roughly 60 officers and resulting in 15 being sentenced in federal court to prison terms between eight and 42 months.

Segall-Majestic Inc., the Baltimore company that has taken nearly every Marylander's high school picture for the last two generations, has been sold to the nation's biggest school photographer, Lifetouch National School Studios of Minneapolis.Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.Ted Koenecke, vice president of Lifetouch, said yesterday that Segall-Majestic will be run as a division under the name Segall-Majestic by Lifetouch.John and Jeffrey Segall, grandsons of the founders of Segall-Majestic, will run the division, Mr. Koenecke said.

This coming week offers a chance to visit two worthy Maryland landmarks. The normally off-limits Gibson Island Club will be open, and you can enjoy a lunch overlooking the Magothy. And I paid an advance visit to the Shrine of St. Anthony at Folly Quarter, a remarkable Roman Catholic monastery complex in western Howard County. Being a fan of pre-World War II buildings and architecture, I opted for a preview of the 1931 monastery, which is open daily for Masses, confessions and other functions.

The Columbia Soccer Association's Maryland Majestic outscored the opposition, 6-0, in three Baltimore Beltway League wins.Last weekend, the Majestic defeated the Wheaton under-14 team, 3-0. Natalie Cox led the way with two goals and Katie Garrity scored the other. Amanda Berman chipped in with an assist, and newcomers Karla and Krista Killian also played well, as did Melissa Grezcy and Noelie Brown.The Majestic then won two games this past weekend, defeating coach Keith Van Eron's Oregon Ridge team, 2-0, and Parkville, 1-0.Karla Killian and Berman each scored goals in the win over Oregon Ridge.

Baltimore newspapers of 100 years ago carried the news that the great Frederick Douglass had died at his home in the Anacostia section of Washington.The life of the former slave, who was born on the Eastern Shore and who learned to read and write in Fells Point, is the story of a passionate American advocate.Scholar Waldo Martin calls him " . . . without question the most important African American leader and personality of the nineteenth century."And so, 100 years after his death, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington has mounted a fitting testimonial, "Majestic in His Wrath, A Pictorial Life of Frederick Douglass."

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Father Time came disguised as Jack Nicklaus, swinging a golf club, not a scythe, with the near magic of all those glorious yesteryears. It was a personal threat to turn back the clock. He pressed on, pushed himself to extract the maximum and then the inevitable He could jump no higher. The top of the leader board was out of reach. But the valiant demonstration produced by this semi-middle-aged man was the most imposing story line of this, the 62nd Masters Tournament.Jack, not so nimble and not so quick, didn't win, but came precariously close to staging what would have been golf's most startling upset in history.

An intriguing new Internet adventure promises to drag players into their own versions of "The Game," the 1997 Kafkaesque cinematic thriller in which the main character receives a birthday present of pranks that turn sinister and malicious. Like the protagonist, played by Michael Douglas, subscribers to the Electronic Arts release of "Majestic" (www.MajesticTheGame. com) will find their real lives invaded by outsiders who prod them into action inside an expanding conspiracy. Unlike the film, "Majestic" will be played across the technological landscape of modern life - through e-mail, voice mail, faxes, Internet video clips, phone calls and hundreds of fake and real Web sites.

Pasadena portrait photographer David Hare is questioning why all 12 county high schools have selected the same Baltimore photography studio to take yearbook photos.Hare claims that Segall-Majestic holdsa monopoly on the county yearbook photography market, and he thinks it's unfair."This policy constitutes a closed shop," said Hare, owner of David Hare Photographers. "There should be freedom of choice. Students should have a right to choose their photographer."The photographer blames school officials for failing to set clear guidelines regardingyearbook photography, allowing schools to select their own photographers.

Trailing by a goal, Columbia's Maryland Majestic players did some soul-searching at halftime. It was obvious they needed to improve on a lackluster first-half performance or the Maryland Cup would be belong to the Bethesda Force.A more intense Majestic side emerged after intermission. Abby Crumpton and Jane Williams then tallied in a two-minute span midway through the second half and defending titlist Majestic dTC had a 2-1 victory over the Force for the girls under-16 crown yesterday in the Snickers Maryland Cup championships at Carroll County Community College.

Before he went out last Wednesday to arrest 15 of the officers charged in the Majestic towing scandal, the police commissioner of Baltimore attended a morning retirement ceremony. It was for a cop who had had a long and honorable career and who, a few years ago, risked it all to expose some bad police work within the ranks. The farewell for Mike Andrew, who retired as a lieutenant colonel after nearly 38 years of service to the people of this city, took place in the commissioner's board room first thing in the morning.

Karl Heinz Segall, co-founder with his father of Segall-Majestic Inc., the North Charles Street photo studio where generations of Baltimore-area high school students as well as brides went to be photographed, died in his sleep Sept. 7 at his home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. The former longtime Pikesville resident was 97. Mr. Segall, whose father was a photographer and film producer, was born and educated in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and raised in Hamburg and Berlin. "He learned photography from his father," said a son, Frank Segall of Baltimore.

On September 26, 2008, ROBERT LEE FREEMAN, JR. Friends may visit the family owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME WEST, INC., 4300 Wabash Avenue on Friday after 8:30 A.M. The family will receive friends Friday, 6 to 7:30 P.M., and Saturday, 10:30 A.M., at Majestic Fellowship Church, 109 Main Street, Reisterstown, MD, funeral service to follow at 11 A.M.

John Clark Mitchell, a retired city housing authority manager who also owned an Ocean City apartment house, died of pneumonia complications Friday at St. Joseph Medical Center. The Towson resident was 89. Born in Baltimore and raised on Maryland Avenue in Charles Village, he attended SS. Philip and James Parochial School and was a 1936 graduate of Loyola High School. He earned a bachelor's degree at Loyola College. Mr. Mitchell served in the Army Counter Intelligence Corps until 1945 and did background checks on military personnel who had access to classified material.

The King and I, Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical tale of a 19th-century English widow who travels to Siam with her young son to teach the ruler's children, receives royal treatment by 2nd Star Productions. The 1951 Broadway masterwork endures because of its exotic setting, great score conveying the East-meets-West theme, and comedy and warmth in the culture clash between the Victorian-era schoolmistress and the leader who strives to improve his kingdom. 2nd Star's version offers the excitement of a first-rate musical production, along with something seldom heard on today's Broadway: a 22-member orchestra in the pit. Director Jane B. Wingard, who serves as producer and set designer, brings a warm understanding to this work.

If you absolutely, positively, can't wait to spend $180 for your authentic Orioles Sammy Sosa No. 21 jersey - and it appears from an unscientific sampling yesterday that you have lots of company - fear not. Majestic Athletic, the official supplier of uniforms to all 30 major league teams, began production at 8 yesterday morning. With any luck, you'll be able to wear that Sosa jersey to work early next week. Chuck Strom, senior brand manager for Major League Baseball apparel at Majestic, said the family-owned company couldn't start making Sosa Orioles jerseys until the deal was official.

In The Majestic, the indisputably gifted Jim Carrey shows the side of him that just wants to be loved - the Riddler on Ritalin, the Mask unmasked. And it turns out to be stultifying. In the latest sentimental pile-driver from director Frank Darabont (The Green Mile), Carrey plays Peter Appleton, a Hollywood screenwriter fired from his studio in 1951 after he is accused of being a Communist. He gets in his car, drives it off a bridge to avoid a furry creature, crashes, and washes up near a small Northern California town that accepts him as a long-lost local hero.

On September 26, 2008, ROBERT LEE FREEMAN, JR. Friends may visit the family owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME WEST, INC., 4300 Wabash Avenue on Friday after 8:30 A.M. The family will receive friends Friday, 6 to 7:30 P.M., and Saturday, 10:30 A.M., at Majestic Fellowship Church, 109 Main Street, Reisterstown, MD, funeral service to follow at 11 A.M.

THIS WEEK, members of the Bay Ridge community south of Annapolis gathered to toast a remarkable tree preservation effort that has spanned 15 years. To preserve the area's magnificent mature forests - 150 acres that were faced with imminent development - residents raised $4 million. More than a decade ago, when that still seemed an almost insurmountable task, L. Eugene Cronin, a leading bay scientist, asked if I could write something on the value of forests to help his community's effort.