New Proposal

The Go RVing Coalition, one of Eisner Communications Inc.'s five largest clients, announced yesterday that it will put the marketing account out for review in March. Baltimore-based Eisner has worked for six years with The Go RVing Coalition, a national trade association representing manufacturers, suppliers and dealers in the recreational vehicle industry. As the incumbent, Eisner will be an automatic finalist for the account, worth about $15 million annually, and will be considered along with two other agencies, said Steven C. Eisner, president and chief executive of Eisner Communications.

Responding to opposition to a plan that would have removed all paid firefighters from the Ferndale station, Fire Chief Roger C. Simonds Sr. proposed yesterday staffing the stations at Riviera Beach and Ferndale weekdays, leaving weekends and evenings to volunteers. Under the latest proposal, the two stations would keep two career firefighters weekdays between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Paid workers would staff the county's paramedic unit at Riviera Beach 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Simonds said.

The chairman of the Carroll homebuilders association said the industry won't be inconvenienced while Mount Airy puts new development proposals on hold for a few months to study the town's water supply. Richard L. Hull, who works in Mount Airy as owner of Carroll Land Services Inc. and serves as chairman of the county chapter of the Homebuilders Association of Maryland, said he's had no complaints. "The plans that have been previously submitted in the concept phase or beyond they're allowing to move forward," he said.

A new proposal for 25 large, detached homes in a retirement community to be built on 19 acres in Glenwood got enthusiastic approval last night from the Howard County Planning Board. "I love this plan. I hate townhouses in the west," said board member Joan Lancos, referring to an earlier proposal by developer Donald R. Reuwer Jr. to build 116 townhouses for seniors near Cattail Creek Country Club. "I really think it's a high-end retirement community," board member Gary Kaufman said about the 2,400- square-foot homes that would cost $400,000 to $500,000.

Glossing over sharp policy differences with self-deprecating humor, George W. Bush signaled that he felt the principal message of his speech to the NAACP convention yesterday was that he thought enough to show up. And while there was much disappointment among some members that he offered no new specific proposals and largely avoided the emotional issues that divide them, Bush's audience responded cordially. Some members said they recognized that through his presence, Bush had opened the door to a new era of mutual respect between Republican candidates and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

AFTER 32 public hearings, you might think the last word had been uttered on the subject of Maple Lawn Farms, the mega-development slated for the Iager Farm in Fulton. You'd be wrong. If you're an opponent of the project, you'd like to think what we have is the first word. The first word on a whole new approach. If you want the project to proceed, then, yes, it could be the last word because the new proposal might look like a poison pill. Two members of the County Council, sitting as a zoning board, have proposed that no work be done on the big development until various road projects are completed.

IT'S LIKE the limbo chant: How low will they go? Michael E. Hickey, retiring after 16 years as Howard County superintendent, says the top item on his list of unfinished business is countywide schooling for 4-year-olds. To the south, Montgomery County Superintendent Jerry D. Weast enlists county Head Start operators in an effort to instruct poor children long before they enter his public schools. Baltimore City will spend $640,000 to reach 288 low-income preschoolers this fall. The city's eventual goal is to expand from the 11 schools in the pilot to all 121 elementary schools.

LONDON -- In a land where subways shut after midnight and all-night shopping is rare, a new late-night public service could soon be on tap: the 24-hour pub. Round-the-clock sales of alcohol in pubs and shops in England and Wales were among proposals unveiled yesterday by a British government determined to rewrite licensing laws, many of which have been on the books since World War I. Yesterday, the government presented a "white paper" and solicited responses....

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of a key congressional committee said yesterday that an increase in the number of immigration visas for high-tech workers should be contingent on the issuance of new rules to protect American workers. Rep. Lamar Smith, chairman of the House subcommittee on immigration, said that any increase in the number of high-tech or H-1B visas should be held up until the U.S. Department of Labor issues the regulations to implement a law passed by Congress in 1998. "The administration, for reasons that I don't know, has been dragging its feet.

School Superintendent Michael E. Hickey unveiled last night a capital spending plan that would commit the county to building a new northeastern elementary school to alleviate overcrowding.The plan would dedicate more than $11 million to open the school by 2003 and allay the concerns of residents like Courtney Watson of Ellicott City, whose two children attend the crowded Ilchester Elementary School.Watson said she was pleased that the school was included in the building plan, but was afraid the time line was too slow.