Metro Station

WASHINGTON -- Talleyrand's wisdom in expressing the sensibility of conservatism -- "Above all, gentlemen, no zeal" -- is unintelligible to some profoundly unconservative conservatives who advocate madly multiplying honors for Ronald Reagan. How many ways are there to show misunderstanding of Mr. Reagan's spirit? Let us count the zealots' ways. Not content with seeing Mr. Reagan's name attached to Washington's National Airport and to Washington's second (to the Pentagon) largest building and to an aircraft carrier, some people want -- seriously -- some sort of Reagan honor in all 3,141 American counties.

It was still dark outside when Conrad Everton Johnson left his family's tidy town house in Prince George's County for his job driving the No. 34 bus route through the leafy suburbs of Montgomery County. His 35-mile commute to work from Oxon Hill crossed the network of highways and thoroughfares along which a sniper had struck: the Capital Beltway and Georgia and Connecticut avenues. He traversed them all safely yesterday in the predawn hours. But as Johnson, 35, was preparing paperwork on his Ride On bus for the morning's first run, idling alongside a well-lit wooded area of garden apartments, basketball courts and playgrounds, an unidentified shooter fatally wounded him. Gino Renne, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1994, which represents 8,000 Montgomery County workers, said Johnson's death devastated fellow bus operators.

A Baltimore County library went out of business last month, and no one said a word.Well, almost no one.Marcia and Julian Klaff had a few choice words. The library was their idea, and they were none too pleased to see it closed.As a public facility, it was a modest affair. The Milford Mill Book Exchange -- really just a bookshelf placed at the Milford Mill Metro station -- allowed subway riders the chance to pick up a book or magazine on the way into Baltimore.All the material -- some 2,000 titles -- was donated.

Moscow. -- On a half-dozen tables outside our Metro station, the booksellers of the new age have spread their wares.Here, and not in the Kremlin two Metro stops south, may be the best place to take measure of the earthquake of change that has transformed this country since we landed here in April, 1988.There is Freud: "Introduction to Psychoanalysis" and "The Interpretation of Dreams." There is religion: "The Bible for Children," "Foundations of Buddhism," and "Aum -- Synthesis of Mystical Teachings of East and West."

For two cities so close whose fortunes are so entwined, Baltimore and Washington have an abysmal lack of transit connections. Greyhound runs a comprehensive schedule but is a bit pricey for regular commuter use at $12 one way. Its Baltimore station is stuck in an industrial district far from the light rail or subway. The MARC train costs $7 between Baltimore and Washington (with discounts for regular users) but runs a restricted schedule -- especially on the Camden Line -- with no weekend service.

At the southwest corner of Baltimore and President streets, just north of the old Fish Market downtown, contractors are putting the finishing touches on Maryland's first architectural curiosity of the new year.Its main elements are eight pairs of white flagpoles that look like ships' masts, aligned with military precision. Four pairs support an undulating fabric canopy; all are connected with steel cables and gently arching beams. The whole creation has a vaguely anthropomorphic quality, like some big, beige armadillo with antennae, lumbering over the landscape.

Newly washed sidewalks still glistened, and the boulangeries weren't quite open. It was 7 a.m. on a Saturday in early March. I was sleep- deprived in central Paris and couldn't check in to my room at the Hotel Victoria until noon. The only folks out and about were other tourists, trudging under the weight of an overnight flight and luggage enough for a lengthy stay. Not I. In Paris on a whim for just 3 1/2 days, courtesy of a weekend package deal too good to pass up, I was traveling light: one knapsack, one tote bag. Those weary tourists had several hours to kill before their rooms opened and the City of Light fully awakened.

There will not be a choral festival at Coppin State College on Sunday as stated in yesterday's Black History Month Calendar in LIVE. There will be a festival sponsored by the Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center at 3 p.m. Feb. 22 at the Coppin campus, 2500 W. North Ave. Call 410-383-5585 or 410-625-3113.The Sun regrets the error.Baltimore honors its African-American heritage with a series of exciting and inspiring Black History Month events. From jazz concerts to African dance workshops, from soul food dinners to Senegalese art shows, all the events reflect rich traditions.

Baltimore police were investigating the fatal shooting yesterday of a 33-year-old man in the 4100 block of Rockfield Ave. in Northwest Baltimore's Woodmere neighborhood. The killing occurred yesterday near the Rogers Avenue Metro stop and a city fire station. Police said a patrol officer received a report of gunfire about 3 a.m. When police arrived at the scene, the victim was found in the driver's seat of a car that was parked on Rockfield Avenue with the engine running, police said. He had been shot in the upper body, said Officer Nicole Monroe, a police spokeswoman.

A man died Sunday morning after authorities believe he jumped in front of a Metro subway train as it arrived at a stop in Pikesville. Terry Owens, a spokesman for the Maryland Transit Administration, said the incident happened shortly before 11 a.m. at the Milford Mill station. Based on observations from the train operator and onboard video cameras, Owens said, MTA police investigators "have reason to believe this was a case of suicide. " The MTA closed the station for several hours during the investigation, until about 5 p.m., and subway trains bypassed the Milford Mills station en route to other stops.