Offices Open

This schedule will be in effect in the Baltimore area today:&ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTYCounty offices openCourts openLibraries openPublic schools closedTrash pickup as normally scheduledANNAPOLIS City offices openCourts openParking meters feedPublic schools closedTrash pickup as normally scheduledBALTIMORE City offices openCourts openLibraries openParking meters feedPublic schools closed until April 24Trash pickup#BALTIMORE COUNTYCounty offices openCourts openLibraries...

WASHINGTON -- When the government of Vietnam opened its first diplomatic office here last week, the chief of liaison was met with angry shouts from protesters. In the days that followed, however, the downtown suite of offices has filled up with flowers from U.S. companies eager to do business with the former foe.As Vietnam and the United States move gingerly toward full diplomatic ties, the strains of the past and the hopes for the future overlap awkwardly.Le Van Bang, the chief of the new, six-person liaison office, describes his role as helping to tell America of how Vietnam has moved on since the Communists emerged victorious and unified the country nearly 20 years ago. As he shows a visitor around the largely empty downtown suite of offices, decorated with tapestries of pagodas and the orange-and-yellow Vietnamese flag, he stopped to read cards from some of the floral tributes.

Taneytown Bank and Trust Co. recently announced the opening of its newest satellite office for the Small Business Development Center (SBDC).In response to the demand for consulting services and in an effort to become geographically more accessible, SBDC counselor Michael Fish now meets with clients in an office provided by the bank at 222 E. Baltimore St., Taneytown.The office is co-sponsored by the Taneytown Chamber of Commerce and the city.Information: 756-2655.FIRE* Union Bridge: Units from Union Bridge assisted Frederick County at a barn fire on Dolly Hyde Road yesterday.

Baltimore's newest community policing office opened in the Northeastern District yesterday in a community racked by crime, including the shooting of a policeman and the killing of a Towson State University student.Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and Councilman Martin O'Malley, D-3rd, along with an array of residents, attended the formal opening at vTC the Dutch Village Townhomes in the 7000 block of McClean Blvd., south of Perring Parkway.The office -- to be open 40 hours a week in one of the rental complex's apartments -- is the Northeastern's ninth, said Maj. Bert Shirey, the district commander.

This schedule will be in effect in the Baltimore area today:ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTYCounty offices openCourts closedLibraries openPublic Schools openTrash removal regular pickupANNAPOLISCity offices closedCourts closedParking meters must feedPublic Schools openTrash removal no pickupBALTIMORECity offices closedCourts closedLibraries closedParking meters must feedPublic Schools closedTrash removal regular pickupBALTIMORE COUNTYCounty offices openCourts closedParking meters...

Hoping an increased police presence will help to reduce crime in the Gay Street and Middle East areas, the Baltimore Police Department opened a Community Policing Office in the 1600 block of E. Chase St. yesterday.Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and Police Commissioner Edward V. Woods, joined by police and elected officials, opened the office in a two-story townhouse at the Clay Court Apartments in East Baltimore. At the new Community Policing Office, foot patrol officers assigned out of the Eastern District will be able to talk privately with area residents and answer complaints and calls.

The Child Abuse Prevention Center of Maryland -- a private, nonprofit organization that helps families build safe, nonviolent home environments -- will open an office in Bel Air to serve Harford County residents later this month.The Baltimore-based organization trains volunteer "lay therapists" to regularly visit families in their homes and offer moral support and alternative disciplines to parents struggling with the day-to-day stress of raising children.The Bel Air office will open at 7 W. Courtland St. as soon as a local coordinator is named, said Stephanie Davis, CAPC executive director.

The Carroll County Permits Office has begun offering a new service to homeowners unable to make the regular weekday hours.The office will be open from 7:30 a.m. to noon one Saturday a month to allow residents to acquire permits for such home projects as swimming pools, storage sheds and minor remodeling.The next open Saturdays are June 5, July 10 and Aug. 7.Since the tax office will be closed Saturday, all payments must be made by check.A processing fee (minimum $25) is charged on all county permit applications.