Memories

Tom opens calling it the "hardest fought season ever. " I'm not sure about that, but I will say that this is one with a lot of strong competitors, few loathsome personalities, and a satisfying final three. It starts with the pro dancers (the "real" pro dancers, not just the troupe) dancing to a song I would probably know if I were 20 years younger, but I'm not and the only 16-year-old in this house is a cat. At the end of the song, we get the pros walking the floor with their celebrity partners.

A powerful stench was in the air Saturday at the Inner Harbor as 12-year-olds Alison Chase and Marissa Westerbeke hunched over the water's edge, studying tiny crabs floating to the surface. The girls were in town from Connecticut for a relaxing annual vacation with Alison's family, but the pervasive smell of dead fish and rotting plant matter — caused by a massive algae bloom — had them totally grossed out. "It's, like, sad and disgusting," said Marissa. "It's gross.

Today in New York, I am wearing an autographed "Baltimore is Best" necktie in memory of former Governor and Baltimore Mayor William Donald Schaefer, which signed necktie was sent me by this amazing advocate for Baltimore. While I am profoundly sad to have heard of Don's passing, I am simultaneously profoundly proud of the "Maryland memories" which his unique style and effervescent personality allowed my wife and me to share. Edward B (Woody) Ryder IV, Greenlawn, N.Y.

WESTMINSTER — The 145th observance of the Memorial Day parade and ceremony in Westminster will be available for viewing on Carroll County's cable channel 19 and online at the Community Media Center website, http://www.CarrollMediaCenter.org. A CMC television crew will be set up along the parade route on Main Street in downtown Westminster. Another crew will be set up in the Westminster Cemetery to film the ceremony saluting military servicemen and women. CMC volunteers will also be on hand over the weekend, covering the Civil through Revolutionary War reenactor encampments at the Carroll County Farm Museum.

Women of my generation could do worse than to have Nora Ephron doing the voice-over narration of our lives. Our Sarah Jessica Parker, but in slimming black and sensible flats. Our "Sex and the City," but with coffee instead of Cosmopolitans. She has been there for us since our twenty-somethings, when Harry met Sally and we learned that friendship can morph into comfortable love, even for those, like us, who once blithely dismissed commitment. I was feeling bad about my neck, but it was Nora Ephron who said it out loud in a book by the same name.

Do you have a favorite or unusual memory of spending vacation in Ocean City? If so, we'd like to hear about it - in writing (no more than 175 words, please). We'll publish some of the memories in the Home & Family section. Please mail your stories to Harry Merritt, Features, Baltimore Sun, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore MD 21278 or e-mail to sun.fea tures@baltsun.com, with the subject field labeled Ocean City. Make sure to include a daytime phone number. If possible, include a photo from the O.C. vacation you're describing.

I received a piece of clarification on one of the photos used with yesterday's retrospective of the Ash Wednesday Storm that I found interesting. As one reader remembers it, the "motel" shown above was perhaps a forebear of the condominium towers that arose from the beaches of Ocean City in the 1970s. As the article pointed out, the storm helped clear the way (literally) for towering development over the following decades. Writes Neal Haynie of Reisterstown: Just wanted to thank you for the article in today's SUN - and to identify the photo on page 8. The "motel" was actually the Ocean Side Apartments.  It was built by Alger "Tiny" Abbott and wife Ann, local well-known denizens of O.C.  The two cottages behind the right side of the destroyed complex were their first two ventures (on 36th St.)

Morris Martick, the inimitable Baltimore restaurateur, has died at 88. Martick died of lung cancer early Friday at Union Memorial Hospital. Read Jacques Kelly's obituary . We've started to hear from people who knew Morris Martick, or just about him. We will collect comment, tributes and memories from Baltimore chefs, restaurateurs, friends and former employees here. We'll also add in Martickana from the Baltimore Sun archives. What are your Martick memories?

It's easy to get all romantic about the great Orioles teams of the past, especially when the alternative is a current version of the team that is so far under water that it's almost eligible for a federal bailout. Who wouldn't wax nostalgic about the guys who represent everything that was ever good and true about the franchise — who were the cornerstones of a team that would run off 18 straight winning seasons — when they are placed in juxtaposition with the guys who are well on their way to a losing record for the 13th straight year?

Eight people were shot — including six in two triple shootings — Thursday night in Baltimore, an "intolerable" burst of violence that killed three and which police said would spur extra patrols going into Memorial Day weekend. Hoping to avoid a replay of the 2010 Memorial Day weekend, during which nine people were killed, police said they would move some officers into patrol from administrative assignments and specialized units to beef up their presence downtown and in neighborhoods where the shootings took place Thursday.

The Howard County Police Department is launching a new, volunteer mounted patrol unit, just in time for Memorial Day weekend, the department announced Friday. The unit, made up of 12 volunteers and their horses, will patrol parks, pathways and other locations in the Savage area, acting as a "high visibility deterrent to crime," according to a news release from the department. It is the county's first mounted patrol. The volunteers, who will ride in pairs, will watch for and report violations and concerns, and assist in investigative and administrative work.

The Memorial Day weekend is a great time to pick up a book about the men and women who have helped preserve America's freedoms, and have fought for our country around the world. There are lots of great books on the topic, and some more personal readings such as diaries. For me, the one that resonates is a yellowed map and journal called "The Thunderbolt across Europe," which describes the route my dad's division, the 83rd Infantry, took in World War II. It led from the beaches of Normandy, across France, into Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge, and into Germany.

The gang at Mission BBQ is inviting the public to have lunch with a group of World War II veterans visting from California. You'll find no sunshine patriots at Mission BBQ , these guys stick to their mission of honoring Americans in uniform every day. So, go, and get there at noon for the daily singing of the National Anthem, and stay for the good barbecue and a chat with the vets.

This schedule will be in effect Monday: Government offices, courts and libraries Closed in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, Howard and Frederick counties, and in Baltimore City and Annapolis. Public schools Closed in all jurisdictions. Trash No pickup in Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Howard counties, and in Baltimore City (landfills and transfer stations closed) and Annapolis. Harford waste disposal center is closed. Check with contractor in Carroll, Harford and Frederick counties.

Graham Motion can't help but hear snippets of news coming from Elmont, N.Y., where I'll Have Another is preparing for a shot at the first Triple Crown in 34 years. "It's great for the sport," the Fair Hill-based trainer said. "But for us, it's tough, too. The length that he won by at Preakness, we lost by that much last year. " Motion can take some solace in knowing the colt that gave him such a gallant run, Animal Kingdom, is finally headed back toward the race track.

State transportation officials hope you'll do a lot of sightseeing this Memorial Day weekend. Just not on the Bay Bridge. Travelers headed to the Eastern Shore for the first time since last summer might be surprised. For one thing, the toll has risen to $4 from $2.50. For another, the westbound span is being painted for the first time since it opened in 1973, and scaffolding is likely to be a distraction — and potential hot spot for fender-benders. "You're sightseeing. They're sightseeing.

The Rev. Marion C. Bascom, a leading Baltimore civil rights activist remembered for his lifetime quest for social justice, died of a heart attack Thursday at the University of Maryland Medical Center. He was 87 and lived in Reservoir Hill. "A giant has fallen," said former Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, a close friend and a member of Douglas Memorial Community Church, where Mr. Bascom was pastor for 46 years. "He affected thousands of lives in our community and was a positive life force.