Skating Rink

Skaters will have to glide farther away this winter: The city of Westminster has decided not to open its portable outdoor ice rink."I wanted to put out the announcement now so people won't go buy ice skates," said Ronald J. Schroers, the city's supervisor of recreation.A permanent site for the portable rink will be included in the development of the Dutterer Family Park and should be ready for public use by the 1997-1998 season, he said.Work on the park was delayed so the Baltimore Ravens could use the land for parking during summer training camp at Western Maryland College, said Thomas B. Beyard, Westminster director of planning and public works.

TWO PROBLEMS conspired recently to scuttle any hope that the village of Wilde Lake in Columbia would succeed in securing the time-honored democratic system of one-person, one-vote.One is the virtually impossible task of getting 90 percent of homeowners to support a covenant change, a benchmark required under the system established by Columbia's developer, the Rouse Co.American presidential elections are lucky to turn out two-thirds the number of people who care enough to register to vote.

HAMAR, Norway -- Viktor Petrenko remembered the little girl who was alone, the one that would sleep inside a skating rink, that would practice at all hours, refining jumps and spins, finally growing into an Olympic champion.He was once Ukraine's greatest skating champion. She was an orphan, Oksana Baiul. She never knew her father. Her mother was dead. So were her grandparents."She has had a difficult life," said Petrenko, the 1992 Olympic men's skating gold medalist. "And now, it's like she has gotten back what she has lost.

He May Be a Liberal, But He's Your LiberalReading political stories and editorials in The Sun for Anne Arundel County these days makes me wonder a great deal about the matter of credibility -- specifically, is it something that interests The Sun or your writers personally, or is the more important objective simply pushing the message? During the days when I was promoting my property tax cap (and The Sun was calling me crazy), the reporters at least tried to understand my facts and figures and the thinking behind them.

Stacy Lewis of Pikesville braved yesterday's cold to give her son a birthday present -- ice skating at Rash Field in the Inner Harbor."It's freezing but you have to take the time and the opportunity to expose children to new things," Mrs. Lewis said, quickly lacing her mustard yellow ice skates to catch up with her 6-year-old son, Alexander.L "He loves roller skating but the jury is still out on this."Some 125 skaters -- parents and their children -- crowded the Baltimore On Ice skating rink near the Maryland Science Center yesterday.

It was a day for shirt sleeves and spring jackets, eating ice cream and driving with the car windows down.But at Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis yesterday afternoon, some people refused to believe it. They dressed in parkas and down-lined coats -- some even wore mittens and gloves -- and they went ice skating.After all, the temperature had dipped all the way to 66 degrees.Leaves were still falling from trees as 40 skaters sped around the rink, which opened two years ago in December, a month more commonly associated with outdoor ice skating.

In its only performance this season in the greater Washington-Baltimore area, Windham Hill's Winter Solstice concert comes to Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts at 8 p.m. Friday.Featured are the pianist Paul Aaberg, singer Barbara Higbie and the Modern Mandolin Quartet, with Mike Marshall, John Imholz, Dana Rath and Paul Binkley. The musicians share a varied background of classical, jazz and folk music training, and bring fresh interpretations to traditional music.Tickets are $21 for general admission, $19 for Maryland Hall members.

About 500 skaters whirled around the Sportsman's Hall Skating Rink, showing their support for 9-year-old leukemia patient, Jennifer Zile.The evening, dedicated to raising money for Jennifer's medical bills, raised $2,376 in admission and skate rental fees at the party Monday night, said Nadine McCoy, organizer of the event.Another $50 was collected in buckets by the concession stand, shesaid.Fees were donated by Harry Morfoot, owner of the skating rink."He ate the cost of electricity to run the place," McCoy said.

The Piney Orchard Ice Arena is a very cool place to be on these hot,hot days. Susan Flamino, special events public relations coordinator, has a lot of exciting ideas for the rink.Along with open skate sessions, the rink is available for birthday parties and special skating events as a back-to-school skate, a Halloween skate and a Christmas skate.Some clubs practice and hold games at the rink. The Chesapeake Chiefs, a youth hockey club for children ages 4 to 17, practices at therink and plays in the Capital Beltway Hockey League.

The former coach of a roller skating team and his 14-year-old son have been indicted on charges they raped one of the son's girlfriends at a skating rink in Howard County and in their trailer home in Jessup.The 37-year-old former coach also has been charged with raping another of the son's girlfriends, a regular at the rink.The Jessup man, who is on parole after serving part of a prison sentence for daytime housebreaking, is charged with first-degree rape, child abuse and first-degree sex offenses in cases involving a 12-year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl.

Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps said last night that he is starting a new endeavor involving a pool he and coach Bob Bowman are purchasing in Baltimore. "My goal is to change the sport of swimming," Phelps told NBC's Nightly News anchor Brian Williams in an interview broadcast last night. "Bob and I are starting up a new business back in Baltimore with the pool that we just bought, so we're going to make some adjustments and see what we can do to take that sport to the next level."

Many Marylanders may not realize it, but blind people like to skate, and many know how to take to the ice safely. For years, the local affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind has held its annual convention at a hotel in Ocean City that features an ice skating rink, and the blind convention participants enjoy the rink along with other hotel guests without problems. Blind skaters use their canes on the ice, just as when walking, in order to avoid colliding with other skaters and to observe the boundaries of the skating area.

Staring at the terra cotta facade of the Mayfair Theater, with its graceful female statues and intricate relief work, Sean MacCarthy is amazed it has survived so much turbulence in the century since it went up. The rest of the historic building on Howard Street has not fared nearly as well. The inside was remodeled again and again, the arched windows were filled with masonry, the mosaic floors were torn up. And, in the final indignity, the roof collapsed in 1998, leaving a two-story-high pile of debris that has not been cleared to this day. But more than 20 years after the Mayfair stopped showing movies, MacCarthy sees new life for a theater left for dead.

The Laurel Skating Center -- a roller skating rink off Route 1 in Prince George's County -- is just what you expect: Squares of blue, gray and orange carpeting cover the lobby. Two disco balls hang above opposite ends of the rink. It's chilly inside, and organ music plays from the sound system. You can imagine all the skaters shuffling around the hardwood rink, which at 4 p.m. is almost empty. Almost empty, but not quite. Larry Cook and Susan Brown, who compete in the sport of roller skating team dance, glide around the rink.

The ice skating rink at Quiet Waters Park near Annapolis will not open this winter - and probably won't next year either - because Anne Arundel County officials say it would cost too much to fix the apparatus that freezes the pond. "You can't be laying off ... police and spend $250,000 for coils at an ice rink," county recreation director Dennis M. Callahan said, referring to the 16 police officers who were laid off because of a budget crunch earlier this year. The rink typically opens after Thanksgiving and remains open until March.

Robert D. Miller, Robert D. Miller's plans to build Carroll's first indoor skating rink fell through, but he still says the county seat needs more recreational venues - and, for that matter, more economic development of any kind. "I see Westminster becoming a bedroom community and it'll hurt Westminster if it doesn't get more businesses," says Miller, who is running for a seat on the city's Common Council. Miller, 39, has never run for elected office, but he says it is time for him to do more than sit on the sidelines.

Remember when indoor roller-skating was really, really big in the 1970s? When movies such as Rollerball, Roller Boogie and Skatetown U.S.A. were all the rage? Well, indoor roller-skating is still alive and well. There must be something about strapping wheels to your feet that never goes out of style. We checked out local rinks to give you an idea of what's going on today in the world of roller-skating. Most rinks in this area were built in the '70s and '80s, but the newest one, the Wheels Skating Center in Odenton, is only 4 years old, indicating there's still a growth market for the sport.

You agreed to have houseguests over the holidays. What were you thinking? The idea is to keep chaos at a minimum this time of year. Having other people in your home, even ones you love, is only going to make things crazier. It's human nature to feel ambivalent about holiday visitors -- the traditional tug between enjoying having friends and family around and not wanting the extra work. Well, first of all, pat yourself on the back. "It's a great act of mercy and love to have people staying with you this time of year," says manners expert Letitia Baldrige.

In Baltimore City Man who bludgeoned Guilford resident gets life sentence Michael P. Stewart, 47, was sentenced yesterday to life in prison without parole for bludgeoning an elderly Guilford man with a telephone and robbing him of $2,500. Stewart attacked James Chilis, 79, in his home in November 1998. Chilis died three months later of his injuries. Stewart, sentenced in Baltimore Circuit Court, also faced charges stemming from a string of attacks on the elderly in October and November 1998 in North Baltimore, including the robbery and fatal beating of Eunice Heath of Charles Village.

Skaters will have to glide farther away this winter: The city of Westminster has decided not to open its portable outdoor ice rink."I wanted to put out the announcement now so people won't go buy ice skates," said Ronald J. Schroers, the city's supervisor of recreation.A permanent site for the portable rink will be included in the development of the Dutterer Family Park and should be ready for public use by the 1997-1998 season, he said.Work on the park was delayed so the Baltimore Ravens could use the land for parking during summer training camp at Western Maryland College, said Thomas B. Beyard, Westminster director of planning and public works.