Palermo

Q: My daughter and I will be traveling to Rome in April. Are there any tours from there to Sicily, preferably in English?A: For an English-speaking tour of Sicily it is easier to make your own way to the island by plane, train or bus and contact one of the following when you arrive for a variety of tour options.The tours leave from Palermo and Catania.All the companies mentioned below offer guaranteed departures from April to June and from September to mid-October.* Compagnia Siciliana Turismo, 12 Via Richard Wagner, 90139 Palermo, Sicily, (091)

A golf tournament to benefit the Steve Palermo Foundation For Spinal Cord Injuries will be held Aug. 8 at the Chestnut Ridge Golf & Country Club. A four-man scramble format will be used with a shotgun start at 1 p.m.Palermo, the American League umpire who was shot while trying to prevent a robbery three years ago, will serve as master of ceremonies for the event, which is being sponsored by the Timonium restaurant that bears his name. There will be long drive and closest-to-the-pin contests, with a car offered as the prize for a hole in one on two designated holes.

That Steve Palermo responded to the call of trouble didn't cause him even a remote reason to ponder the circumstance. Vigilance and courage signaled his attention. Go help. He did.There were two waitresses being robbed that July night in 1991 on the parking lot outside a Dallas restaurant and he had no time for asking questions. Rush to them as quickly as possible. Drive off the attackers. Lend assistance. Do what had to be done.He was doing precisely that when he took a shot in the back from a hoodlum's gun. A flash of fire.

Palermo's Grill, 106 W. Padonia Road, (410) 252-0600. AE, DC, MC, V. Open every day for lunch and dinner. No-smoking area: yes. Wheelchair-accessible: yes. Prices: appetizers, $3.95-$9.95; entrees: $8.95-$19.95. I had heard that Timonium's newest restaurant was named after baseball umpire Steve Palermo, so in the back of my mind I was expecting a sports bar.And I remembered the Parlay Cafe, a down-at-the-heels bar-restaurant that had previously occupied the space at 106 W. Padonia Road, so I wasn't expecting much in the way of atmosphere at Palermo's Grill.

I woke up on the couch at 2 a.m. to a small nightmare -- a particularly bile-inducing edition of "The Jenny Jones Show" on Channel 13.In the center of the TV screen was this guy who had the looks of John Kruk and the mumbly demeanor of Ratso Rizzo; he was the Stud From Hell.Amazingly, on either side of this loser was an attractive, handsomely attired woman, each in her early 30s. One was the wife, one the mistress. Each guest was identified with superimposed graphics: "Had affair with wife's best friend.

The Toronto Blue Jays are certainly happy to be at the 90th World Series, although most of their players say the thrill is not quite so dramatic as it was a year ago.The Philadelphia Phillies are thrilled to be here, because no one outside of the Delaware Valley gave them a chance to beat the Atlanta Braves. Who can't like another worst-to-first story, anyway?But nobody could have been as happy to walk onto the artificial turf under Toronto's SkyDome as were Rich Hacker and Steve Palermo.

Mention food and baseball, and most of us think of hot dogs, peanuts and beer.That may change tomorrow when Palermo's Grill, a new Italian restaurant, opens in Timonium.Palermo's is a tribute to a baseball hero -- American League umpire Steve Palermo, who was shot while preventing a mugging roughly two years ago.After learning that Mr. Palermo had become paralyzed, Jerry and Pam Schiavino decided to name their restaurant after him. The couple has remained friends with Mr. Palermo since meeting him years ago in Little Italy.

Palermo throws out ball, but wants to get back to it as 0) umpireSteve Palermo, an American League umpire who was partially paralyzed in a shooting incident almost two years ago, threw out the first ball before last night's game between the Orioles and the Minnesota Twins.It was the first visit to Oriole Park for Palermo, who was injured July 6, 1991, while attempting to catch a robbery suspect in Arlington, Texas.Although originally told that his spinal cord injury would prevent him from walking again, Palermo moved well last night, aided by a pair of walking canes.

Every day Steve Palermo knows pain and trauma but never recrimination or self-pity. He is a true, honest-to-God hero. Revere the name. His presence creates a feeling of awe within those around him. This is a man of courage and, of course, the kind of character that carries a glorious, even mystical, wonder.To his profound credit and unwavering religious beliefs, Palermo doesn't look to the heavens searching for an answer and asking, "Why me, Lord?" He accepts the burden put upon him in this modern sequel to the Good Samaritan, wronged while on a mission of mercy.

Ex-Royal asks fans to help daughterIt was in July, two days after watching her father, former Kansas City shortstop Fred Patek, inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame, that 20-year-old Kimberlie Patek lost control of her pickup truck. She suffered a serious spinal cord injury and is paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe without a respirator.She was uninsured and her medical bills since the accident approach $1 million. Her father needs another $350,000 as a down payment for treatment at a special Houston rehabilitation center.