Neon

It all began a couple of years ago in Washington, when Steven Saleh called up Craig Kraft, an artist who makes sculptures using light, and asked him to make a pair of neon crutches.Out of that grew "Light as a Helping Hand," the exhibit now on view at the new Merrick School of Business building at the University of Baltimore. It's a show that uses light to address communities with special needs -- among them the sight- and hearing-impaired, people with seasonal affective disorder and people with AIDS.

Deli owner left in dark on neon lawThe owner of Chick & Ruth's Delly says he never received a letter from Annapolis City Hall suggesting he apply to the town's Historic District Commission for an exemption for his suddenly controversial five-word blue and orange neon sign."

At the end of the year, Katzenstein Gallery on Pratt Street wil become the latest downtown gallery to suspend regular art shows, owner Stanley Katzenstein said this week.The art and framing gallery, which also has a Lutherville location, will remain open at 729 E. Pratt St., but without the regular, curated monthly shows inaugurated with the move to the present location six years ago.Like other gallery owners, Mr. Katzenstein blamed the economy for his decision."It was financially draining" to do shows, he said.

The sign on the door of a soup kitchen in Glen Burnie speaks louder than any treatise on the poor economy: Sorry -- No Funds.As winter winds down, shelters and soup kitchens in the county are running out of money to help the needy.Charities such as the North County Emergency Outreach (NEON), a non-profit coalition of 28 churches, report a dramatic increase in thenumber of families needing help in the last few months -- and not enough money to help them."NEON was drained of funds in November and December because of the great need," says Leo Zerhusen, who hopes to raise money for the coalition with a bike-athon this spring.

Gunman forces driver from car, takes vehicle A man was carjacked in the parking lot of a Wendy's restaurant in Millersville early Saturday, Anne Arundel County police said. The victim said that at 1:05 a.m., a man pointed a handgun at him and demanded that he get out of his 2000 Plymouth Neon, police said. The man then got in the car and drove west on Nursery Road, police said. Police said that as of yesterday, they had not found the car, tag number 949BHD, or made any arrests.

Arrive at night. You'll find succor in this fluorescent room,my city. View its miniatured decor from a high terracenecklaced to the eighteenth floor: you'll see below howfurnished avenues, neon corridors, confine the lurching darknessto one lampless park. Empty moors and frozen grasslie far beyond this bright pavillion's door; here, the lamplesssea depths meet our human, wide, full-candled shore; here,the incandescent landscape has no curfew.All these cities, luminous, implore anew: relightthe unpartitioned sky tonight.

A 20-year-old St. Mary's County man was killed in his hometown of Hollywood early yesterday when the car he was driving veered out of control, overturned and struck a tree, the county sheriff's office said. Police responding to the crash about 4:30 a.m. found a 2003 Dodge Neon SRT 4 flipped over and its driver, James W. Wendler, dead. The car had been traveling north on Clark's Mill Road near Paige Lane, the sheriff's office said. Speed and alcohol were believed to have contributed to the crash, authorities said.

In Chaucer's wood, the branches bud with birds.Song showers fill the air.Each little heart, no bigger than a corn,with diminutive lust is stirredfor on this date,the legends say, each birdwill surely find its mate.Now windswept parking lots are bare.Under eaves, small birds cluster,vociferous in the drug store's neon light.They mustseem choir to pilgrims come to venerate,in shrines of scent and powder and paint,the candy heart of the old red satin saint.Pub Date: 2/14/97@

The 14-year-old boy charged with driving a stolen car in last week's fatal Fort McHenry Tunnel crash was one of a group of youths who went on a joy-riding spree in at least five cars taken from several suburban neighborhoods, investigators said yesterday. Three youths in the group - two 15-year-old boys from Baltimore and a 14-year-old girl from Joppa - were arrested Tuesday night by Harford County sheriff's deputies, who also are seeking several more juvenile suspects in connection with the car thefts.

Edward Deaton, former co-owner of a Baltimore neon sign company, died Feb. 26 of pneumonia at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 86. Mr. Deaton, the son of farmers, was born and raised in Frozen Creek, Ky., where his parents also owned and operated a store. He attended local public schools and moved to Baltimore in 1942 when he went to work for the Triangle Sign Co. In 1948, Mr. Deaton and his partner, Bob Coufal, established Century Neon Sign Co., which they owned and operated until selling the business and retiring in 1989.