Recreation Centers

The proposal was supposed to enrich the programming at the Roosevelt Recreation Center in Hampden, city officials and social service providers said. College students were to be brought in as tutors at the center's already popular after-school program. Another bonus: Instructors from Baltimore City Community College would be at the disposal of those studying to take the General Educational Development test. But some particularly vocal Hampden residents saw only drawbacks, decrying the plan as a takeover of the facility - an illustration of the challenge facing city recreation officials who want to supplement their tight budgets with nonprofit assistance.

A second charge of petty theft scheme was filed yesterday against a man accused of soliciting donations for children's sports and then keeping the money, and Baltimore County police say at least 80 people have reported they gave the man money.Kirk Russell Bryant, 29, of the 1300 block of Saratoga Ave. was being held in the Woodlawn precinct pending a bail hearing yesterday, said Officer Morgan Hassler.After the first criminal charge was reported by the media, a woman who did not want to be identified called and said Bryant had tried to collect money from her and became angry when she declined.

Baltimore County children would learn and play in refurbished schools and in new recreation centers -- and their parents would spend less time stuck in traffic -- if county officials have their way in the General Assembly session.In unveiling the county's 1999 legislative agenda yesterday, County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger called for legislators to approve nearly $37 million for construction and maintenance of schools, $600,000 for two Police Athletic League recreation centers in northwest Baltimore County and more than $50 million for road improvements.

Inside the Clarence Du Burns Arena, one of the Baltimore area's premier soccer facilities, 9-year-old Matthew Wilson's eyes lock on the ball in front of him. His arms and legs twitch in anticipation of scoring.Young Matthew tunes out the faint din of cheering parents, and with lightning-fast speed catapults the ball toward the goal. He scores. Lights flash and bells ring.Matthew looks over at his buddy as the soccer pinball machine quiets down and says, "You got another quarter? I want to play again."

Nothing being left for parks chiefIn an Aug. 7 editorial, The Sun asks who will lead the city's Department of Recreation and Parks, an agency without a director for nearly three months.A better question, as Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke systematically dismantles that department, might be who would want the job.While the department goes without a director, the mayor has handed almost half of the city's recreation centers over to the Police Department. With this action, ironically in the name of efficiency and budget, the mayor has created two parallel recreation systems -- one managed by police officers originally trained to be on the streets fighting crime.

It's arts and crafts day at the Fort Worthington Police Athletic League center, and, as usual, the small room is bustling with creative minds trying to turn thoughts into reality.Willie Chance, 15, is trying to win a citywide drawing contest sponsored by the Enoch Pratt Free Library. Tavon White, 7, is creating a perfectly wrapped Christmas box to decorate the hallway.Six-year-old Latisha Potts just wants a chance to be creative. At home, she says matter-of-factly, "we don't have crayons."

THERE WAS speculation when Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke appointed a task force to review Baltimore's Recreation and Parks Department that it would recommend new leadership for the agency. Although it stopped short of doing that, its report is so critical of Marlyn J. Perritt, director of recreation and parks since 1991, that the mayor should swiftly decide whether city residents would be better served by replacing her.As has become typical in recent years, Mr. Schmoke is once again considering huge cuts in the Recreation and Parks Department budget to help offset the city's declining revenue.

MANOZiii the magician died doing what he loved most: making people laugh.The former West Baltimore resident, whose real name was Emanuel Valentine Hackett, collapsed and died of a heart attack in the early hours of New Year's Day after he had completed a performance at the Stairway to Heaven music-cafe in Utrecht, the Netherlands.Mr. Hackett, who had lived in the Netherlands since 1990, was 58.With his trademark Cyrano de Bergerac nose, top hat tilted over one eye, black walking stick, cutaway coat with fresh boutonniere and doves perching on his shoulders, MANOZiii was a familiar figure for more than a decade in Baltimore hospitals and senior citizen and recreation centers.

In a move that changes the focus of recreation center programs for Baltimore's youth and elderly, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke is handing over control of at least 10 recreation centers to city police officers this fall.The Oct. 1 changeover, to be announced today by Police Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier, provoked parents and employees to question its effect in neighborhoods."I think it is one of the worst mistakes they can possibly make," said Tyrone Jordan, a volunteer at Robert C. Marshall Recreation Center in West Baltimore, which is to become a Police Athletic League (PAL)

Yeah, youth: It's beautiful, no? Take Friday morning, North and Pennsylvania avenues, where some teen-age kids sit listlessly under hazy sun and talk about all of the grand prospects of the glorious summer ahead of them."

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon bounded up the stairs to a home on Federal Street in East Baltimore ready to make her pitch. "You have kids?" the mayor asked a man sitting on his porch Wednesday morning. He looked stunned. "Grandkids?" Dixon asked. He nodded, and the mayor, surrounded by aides, began selling a city-sponsored summer camp. It is free, it is just down the block, Dixon said. She passed out a white plastic bag bearing a city seal that contained a schedule of camp activities at Fort Worthington Recreation Center (formerly the Fort Worthington Police Athletic League)

Northeast Baltimore teenager Sanchel Brown developed a passion for all forms of dance, from African to tap, at a local recreation center that set her upon her current path to college. But she worries that kids in her neighborhood may be denied the same opportunity because of budget cuts at City Hall. "They complain about the children always making trouble, but we don't have anything to do that's affordable," said Brown, a rising senior at Baltimore City College who is looking to apply to colleges around the state and major in dance.

Amid the alarming headlines about facility closings, there is a glimmer of good news for Baltimore students: For the first time, city recreation centers - a total of 35 - will partner with the city public school system to provide high-quality, seamless summer learning programs. That means a full day of integrated educational enrichment and healthful physical activity, and a more consistent program across the city. It also means that students will have access to breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack - key to keeping kids eating healthily during the summer months.

Prosecutor should reindict mayor I agree with the thrust of your editorial in which you criticize the prosecutor's error and urge him to reindict the mayor on the main charges against her ("Off on a technicality," May 29). Political leaders must have a moral compass and operate in government according to well established rules of conduct. Sheila Dixon - ironically, a talented politician who, in many respects, has been a good mayor of Baltimore - has failed to demonstrate in her long public career that she owns such a compass.

To the city's recreation and parks director, Wanda S. Durden, news that her staff will take over Police Athletic League centers from the cops who have run them for 14 years, and shutter two more, marked a "great day" for Baltimore's youth, a day of expansion, a day "not to talk about closings but to talk about our future." The cops will be gone and put back on patrol to fight crime, but otherwise not much will change, except, a smiling Durden told reporters, maybe a new coat of paint and counselors in khakis instead of police uniforms.

Mayor Sheila Dixon wants to expand the city's gun offender database to include juveniles and to survey Baltimore residents on their opinions, two new ideas presented in a State of the City address tempered by declining city revenues. Rather than outlining a raft of policy proposals, Dixon used her third annual address yesterday to highlight progress on public safety and education and to reiterate earlier commitments. Underscoring the difficult financial situation that Baltimore faces, Dixon said after the speech that she might be forced to close libraries and recreation centers.

Appearing together for the first time since declaring their intention to run, four Baltimore mayoral candidates and three people running for City Council president vowed yesterday to expand or rebuild 30 recreation centers and to spend at least $100 million on affordable housing, if elected. Speaking at a candidates forum organized by Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development, a faith-based civic group, all seven agreed with the organization's broad goals, which also include increasing the availability of after-school programs and demanding that large businesses provide more summer jobs for city youth.

The proposal was supposed to enrich the programming at the Roosevelt Recreation Center in Hampden, city officials and social service providers said. College students were to be brought in as tutors at the center's already popular after-school program. Another bonus: Instructors from Baltimore City Community College would be at the disposal of those studying to take the General Educational Development test. But some particularly vocal Hampden residents saw only drawbacks, decrying the plan as a takeover of the facility - an illustration of the challenge facing city recreation officials who want to supplement their tight budgets with nonprofit assistance.

A toy zebra, a pack of glow-in-the-dark stars, a fire engine and a silk rose studded with plastic dewdrops poke out of the basket that Noah Graham lifts above his head. "Now look at this great stuff," the 7-year-old tells anyone who will listen. "This is for my mother right here." Noah and a throng of neighbors pick through tables of clothes, housewares and toys on the dandelion-speckled lawn of a city recreation center on a recent Saturday - a spring flea market with a twist. "It's free, not flea," says Lucy Hanley of the goods gathered and given away by the Baltimore Free Store, a nomadic emporium that brings unwanted items to neighborhoods in need.

Melvin C. "Butch" Williams of Baltimore, a longtime city recreation director and youth football official, died Dec. 19 at Northwest Hospital Center. He was 55. Mr. Williams worked for 30 years as a recreation center director and leisure services center coordinator for the city Department of Recreation and Parks. He was a coach and commissioner of Park Heights Little League Football - "his pride and joy," according to his family - and also served as a Sunday school teacher and superintendent.