New Psalmist

Martin Luther King III will lead the nation's new crop of civil rights activists into Baltimore today to participate in the city's first African-American Economic Summit.The two-day free event at New Psalmist Baptist Church hopes to lure young black entrepreneurs into the city to create new business and jobs.Baltimore City Council President Lawrence A. Bell III organized the conference as the next step in the African-American civil rights movement. Bell hopes new black-owned businesses can begin to replace companies and jobs that have fled Baltimore in the past 30 years.

Ann Marshall Nichols, who fought to rid her West Baltimore neighborhood of drugs and gathered children into her home for fun and learning, died at her home Thursday of a suspected heart attack. She was 68."First and foremost, she loved children," said City Council President Mary Pat Clarke, in whose office Mrs. Nichols was committee clerk. "We have to make sure all these children continue to receive nurturing from the community. That's what we have to do for Ann."She said Mrs. Nichols stayed busy sending out birthday cards, keeping in touch with community members and representing the council president around the city.

The Rev. Herbert R. Compton Sr., a Baptist minister for more than 50 years, died of a heart attack Sunday, a day before his 86th birthday, in his apartment in the 2600 block of Mosher St.Services will be held at 7 p.m. today at New Psalmist Baptist Church, 100 W. Franklin St.A Virginia native, Mr. Compton came to Maryland with his family when he was 9 and was educated in Baltimore public schools. He left school in 1920 and began working as a cook in various country clubs in Ocean City, Atlantic City, N.J., and Long Island, N.Y.In 1930, he married the former Esther M. Barnes, who died in 1986.

Linda Ervin didn't wake yesterday intending to chase blue sky.But the 44-year-old owner of E & S Janitorial & Associates couldn't help steering her car toward New Psalmist Baptist Church after hearing a radio report about Baltimore's first African-American Economic Summit.Ervin joined 175 fellow black entrepreneurs for the two-day free event aimed at attracting more black businesses and jobs to the city. Ervin and her partner, Valerie Daniel, started their janitorial service a year ago, after working 10 years for other companies.

The Rev. Frank M. Reid III stirred a packed congregation to whoops and shouts of affirmation, as the Rev. Walter S. Thomas and Bishop Oscar E. Brown sat behind him, nodding and smiling. Among Baltimore's most prominent African-American ministers, each has had his own congregation and his own following. Until now. The trio -- pastors of Bethel AME, New Psalmist Baptist and First Mount Olive Freewill Baptist churches, respectively -- are pledging to work together in a collaboration that will combine the resources and the 30,000 members of the three West Baltimore congregations.

One of Baltimore's biggest and fastest growing congregations won approval yesterday to build a new sanctuary on the grounds of an old religious institution in Irvington.With softly murmured prayers and promises to be good neighbors, about 70 members of the New Psalmist Baptist Church persuaded the city's Planning Commission to permit the construction of a $7.5 million complex on a 20-acre estate the church owns in Southwest Baltimore.Several residents near the wooded campus at 4501 Old Frederick Road, once a home for elderly Episcopalians, expressed concern that their community would be clogged with traffic on Sundays.

Gordon Andrew Stith, 64, chief baker at a hospital Gordon Andrew Stith, who was chief baker at Spring Grove Hospital Center, died Monday of a cerebral hemorrhage at Maryland General Hospital in Baltimore. He was 64. From 1980 until retiring in 1992, Mr. Stith oversaw and directed the production of all baked goods used at Spring Grove in Catonsville. He began his career in 1955 working for Silber's Bakery, the noted Baltimore institution that closed in 1980. Mr. Stith also owned a baking business that provided wedding, anniversary and custom-ordered cakes.

Berley Roberts Sr., a World War II veteran and retired streetcar driver, died Thursday of cancer at Joseph Ritchie Hospice. He was 76 and lived in Baltimore. In 1952, Mr. Roberts became one of the first African-American streetcar drivers in Baltimore. He was assigned to the No. 8 streetcar, the well-traveled line that ran from Towson through Baltimore to Catonsville. As one of the few such drivers for the Baltimore Transit Co., he endured racial prejudice and harassment. "He would come home and tell me incidents that happened," his wife of 54 years, the former Fannie M. Pretty, recalled.

The federal agents went through the lesson plans, step by step. How do you deal with someone who is screaming at you? How do you say "no" to the popular girl who wants you to smoke a joint? How do you tell your friend you don't want to join a gang? That's when the harsh realities of Baltimore streets ran into the four walls of the classroom at New Psalmist Baptist Church on Old Frederick Road on Thursday. "What if the gang members find you snitched and come to try to kill you?" one little boy asked.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is set to announce a plan next week to enable churches, synagogues and other faith organizations to seek government money to develop low-income housing, drug treatment initiatives and after-school and child care programs. The governor said yesterday that he is finalizing details of the "faith-based" initiative - prominently mentioned during his campaign and his recent inaugural speech - as a way to encourage religious groups to help solve social problems. "It's not to exclusively fund religious groups," Ehrlich said.