Public Offering

At least 150 members of Carroll County's burgeoning Hispanic community gather weekly for Spanish Mass at St. John Roman Catholic Church in Westminster. Programs on everything from health issues to resume writing to traditional music and dance are offered on the third Sunday of each month after the afternoon Mass. Hispanic parishioners will receive an additional benefit at Mass today: a bilingual community guide and business directory, listing Carroll's doctors, stores and agencies that can provide services in Spanish.

Columbia network security company Sourcefire Inc. is expected to go public later this week, hoping to raise as much as $77.3 million to fund growth. Sourcefire plans to offer 5.77 million shares for between $12 and $14 per share, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week. Of those, 450,000 shares are being offered by stockholders and 5.32 million are for new shares of the company's common stock. The company's stock will trade on the Nasdaq stock market under the ticker symbol FIRE.

Kris Peters stretched sheep's wool across wire teeth protruding from the face of a wooden paddle. Then she picked up a second paddle, placed one on top of the other, and brushed them together back and forth. "I try to use the type of tools and equipment that colonial women used," said Peters, a Spring Grove, Pa., resident. "It helps me appreciate and better understand the efforts of 18th-century homemakers." Peters, 60, was cleaning the debris from a piece of wool, sheared from one of her sheep.

Newly installed County Executive Ken Ulman wants to know what's on the public's mind. The answer can be summed up in a word: Everything. That was evident after almost three hours of public testimony this week. What is less apparent is what the new administration will do with it all as it shapes short- and long-term strategies and priorities, because what the public is thinking is often conflicting, sometimes costly, and in other cases would require a reversal in county policy. But Ulman asked, and residents answered unambiguously.

MIAMI -- For the first time in Burger King's 52-year history, the public will be able to own a piece of the fast-food institution. Burger King announced yesterday that it intends to sell shares in an initial public offering that would make the restaurant chain among the 10 largest public companies in Florida. The offering marks a major milestone in the company's evolution from the days when founders James W. McLamore and David Edgerton sold 18-cent hamburgers and milkshakes. As a public company, Burger King will have better access to capital to help fight the war against its rivals McDonald's and Wendy's.

Golfers from all over the country tee off every day from Harford County's premier public golf courses. Rolling terrain and picturesque views disguise the challenges pieced into the course designs. An informal poll of golf professionals and players divulged what they see as some of the county's toughest golf holes. Tom Monty of San Diego said he plays courses all over the world and the courses in Harford County are above average in difficulty. He played Mountain Branch and Beechtree during his stay.

When analyst David Menlow scans the market for initial public offerings of stock these days, a scene from the 1987 movie Wall Street springs to his mind. "Why do you need to wreck this company?" Charlie Sheen's character, Bud Fox, asks investment banker Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas. Comes the snap reply, "Because it's wreckable, all right?" Indeed, along with the backdrop of a discouraging overall stock market, analysts say one reason the IPO market has slumped this year is a perception that greedy, well-heeled buyout investors have run amok.

The public nature of Pope John Paul II's suffering - from the trembling of his hands brought on by Parkinson's disease to his final appearance at St. Peter's Square last week, when he tried tobut could not speak - was an extended lesson in the dignity and value of the lives of the most frail among us, theologians say. The pontiff did not hide his many ailments as he grew more infirm. Though his speech was slurred and his head often slumped to his chest because of the Parkinson's, he appeared in public frequently and rejected seclusion.

DavCo Acquisition Holding Inc. of Crofton withdrew its registration for an initial public offering this month, fearing lukewarm sales of the stock, a company executive said yesterday. DavCo, owner of more than 150 Wendy's and Friendly's restaurants in the Mid-Atlantic, planned to sell enhanced-income securities, which Chief Financial Officer David Norman said have not sold well in the U.S. market. The company had hoped to raise about $114.5 million through the sale to help pay off about $103.

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo. -- Re/Max International Inc., the real estate franchiser that ascended to the top of the home-sales industry with its revolutionary commission structure, is setting the groundwork for an initial public offering. Re/Max officials confirmed last week that they are considering an IPO for the company but that it is at least several years away. Such a move "is inevitable," said co-founder and Chairman Dave Liniger, who owns the majority of the company with his wife and co-founder, Gail.