New Station

Volunteer firefighters say County Executive Robert Neall's proposal to add 27 paid positions to the department and build a new station is a waste of taxpayers' money and a move to further dilute the volunteers' status."

One hundred police officers and one bathroom. Fifty-eight square miles to cover and just 5,000 square feet of work space. More often than not, the numbers at Anne Arundel County's Southern District police station just didn't add up. That has all changed with the opening of its new $5 million, 15,000-square-foot building in Edgewater. Yesterday, County Executive Janet S. Owens and Police Chief P. Thomas Shanahan toured the station, which took more than 18 months to complete and features a "green roof."

The only corner of Ritchie Highway and Jumpers Hole Road without a gas station soon will be getting one. But one of the occupied corners will become unoccupied.The Crossroads Exxon station, which three years ago moved from the southeast corner to the northeast corner of the intersection during a bitter fight between the oil company and the station owner, is moving back to its former site.Rus Warfel, a lawyer who represents Exxon, said the company decided to move back because the original location has more space.

A volunteer fire department is hot over Anne Arundel County's move to snatch up a parcel of land that the volunteers have been eyeing for a new fire station. Last week, the Herald Harbor volunteers learned they had been outbid by the county Department of Recreation and Parks for a 12-acre parcel near Interstate 97 and Generals Highway. The volunteers, who work out of the Crownsville fire station two miles away, want the new station for improved access to service areas. "In my wildest dreams, I never imagined this would happen," volunteer Chief Raymond Gies said about the sale.

Among the ties that bind the Baltimore and Washington areas, the heavily subsidized MARC commuter train service is one of the most important. On an average weekday, 9,500 Marylanders use its Pennsylvania line, 4,000 take the Camden line and 5,000 patronize the Brunswick Line from Western Maryland.The destination of 95 percent of the riders is Washington's Union Station. For $131 a month, a Baltimore resident can take an unlimited number of rides to the nation's capital 36 rail miles away.

Since it opened in 1873, Baltimore's Penn Station has weathered many changes.Formally known as the Pennsylvania Train Station, it has become a fixture in the city, much like the Baltimore Museum of Art or the Belvedere. This grand structure between Charles and St. Paul Streets has been an intimate witness to the city's history, a silent participant in the lives of the millions of people who have greeted others and said farewells within its halls.In 1884, the rail line served by the station was acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad, making it possible for passengers to travel the length of the Eastern Seaboard without interruption.

Baltimore County, state and military officials gathered at the Warfield Air National Guard Base at Martin State Airport in Middle River on Wednesday to break ground for a much-needed fire station. The $8 million, 21,000-square-foot building, scheduled for completion in about 15 months, will include six equipment bays, training rooms, offices and storage facilities. "You deserve all the resources you need to train for whatever your call of duty," said U.S. Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger.

Jeff Weiss may just be the busiest man in Baltimore right now.Four weeks ago, he was named to head a television station that didn't even exist until last Monday, a station cobbled together to ensure the UPN network's continued presence in the Baltimore market.The big problem Weiss and his staff faced wasn't getting the UPN shows on the air; they were ready to go. Problem was, UPN only airs programming three nights a week (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday), and then only from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. What was his new station, WUTB, Channel 24, going to air the rest of the day?

Question: What Baltimore landmark was visited by Queen Mary, Babe Ruth, Clark Gable, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Jimmy Carter?Answer: Pennsylvania Station.We don't attach the rosy aura of history to Baltimore's main Amtrak station.But it is time this 1911 work of solid and honest architecture was given some applause. Thanks to writer-historian Frank Wrabel, there's now a concise, well-documented history of Baltimore's fine old passenger station.His 51-page article, published with excellent color and black-and-white photos, is called "Terminals, Tunnels and Turmoil, the History of Pennsylvania Station -- Baltimore."