Speed

In an informal agreement reached after almost a year of negotiations, the nation's manufacturers of personal watercraft have agreed to cap the speed of their controversial but highly popular products at 65 mph.The craft continue to be involved in a disproportionate number of accidents, and the Coast Guard has pressed since January for an industrywide speed limit on all new models. The agency hinted it might hold up regulatory approval of some model designs if the industry did not agree.The manufacturers have several motivations for agreeing to the pact.

Western Tech's most potent weapon -- its speed -- was on full display at Lansdowne last night.The Wolverines converted on several deep passes, and got a 77-yard touchdown reception from tight end Zack Oleszczuk, to blaze to a 28-20 win over the Vikings before an overflow crowd."

Nearly a year ago, cornerback Duane Starks was nowhere to be found on the practice fields, but now he is all over them.Starks, entering his second year, has clearly been the best defensive back in the Ravens' training camp. He is no longer overthinking or hesitating, just reacting and beaming with confidence. This Starks isn't the same Starks.As a rookie, he reported to training camp late after a weeklong holdout. The new guy couldn't wait for training camp to open."If you had asked me last year what I needed to learn, I would have said, `A lot,' even though I didn't know how much," said Starks.

Speed and alcohol are believed to have been factors in a head-on crash that resulted in the death Monday of a Pasadena man, county police said yesterday.Sean Allan Krick, 20, was flown to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center with head and chest injuries after his 1990 Honda Civic skidded across the center line on Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard near Waterford Road and slammed into a sport utility vehicle shortly before midnight Sunday.Krick of the 800 block of Deering Road was pronounced dead shortly after 7 a.m. Monday.

About those speeds...In last Sunday's article on the off-season Orioles exercise program, it was stated that both B. J. Surhoff and conditioning coach Tim Bishop approached speeds of 23 mph on a treadmill. The article further asserted that world-class sprinters can do 31 mph.I admire Surhoff for his work ethic and I know he is in excellent shape, as is Bishop. However, I question the attaining of such speed (for any length of time) by any athlete other than those competing with Michael Johnson, Donovan Bailey, etc., in a world-class track event.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Via conventional placement, Eugene Kingsale would be headed to Triple-A Rochester this season to continue his quest for the major leagues.But the speedy outfielder does not expect to go any farther north than Maryland when the Orioles' minor-league camp breaks up next month."I'm expecting that I'll probably end up going to [Double-A] Bowie," said Kingsale, the first native Aruban to play in the big leagues. "I don't know why except that I need to play and get at-bats and I might not do that at Rochester.

Give kids enough time to learnBecause we know some children learn faster than others, can we reasonably expect "Reading by 9" for all children ("Same goal, different speeds," Feb. 22)?Education is currently organized around an "average" learning speed, which, by definition, is too slow for some and too fast for others. Those who learn more quickly are accommodated with enrichment, gifted and advanced academic programs, and then with A's and B's.Those who learn more slowly, if they do not have a "handicapping condition," which qualifies them for special education services, are doomed to what can only be termed "programmed failure"; they are dragged along at a speed that at best provides only exposure and results in ever-widening learning gaps.

An increase in traffic fatalities on Carroll County roads -- seven people died in the first four months of this year -- may be a fluke, authorities say.A mild winter may have been responsible for more deaths, said 1st Sgt. Andy Mays, a state police spokesman in Westminster.The most recent fatality occurred in early April. The driver of a van was killed when a pickup truck crossed the center line and struck the van head-on near Taneytown. The weather was sunny and the road dry. Six others were injured in the accident.

There's only one real problem with the Internet -- getting connected to it.For most computer users, that means using a modem to dial up another computer a few miles away that's directly attached to the Net via a high-speed communication line.Those few miles might as well be a thousand, because the phone lines that connect you to that big, fast Internet computer are too slow to bring you all the information waiting out there for you. Until somebody does something about this, you'll grow old watching graphics-laden Web pages trickle onto your screen.

STOCKTON, Calif. -- How can a team with the best defense in the NFL last season and a pass defense ranked No. 2 hope to get any better when it loses one of the best cornerbacks ever to play the position?The 49ers feel they improved now that Antonio Langham, one of the best young, veteran defensive backs in the NFL, has joined them to replace Rod Woodson, who clearly had lost a step off his legendary coverage skills last season.Woodson had a career-high 12 penalties -- twice as many as any other player on the team -- called on him last season.

Police investigate double shooting in Hampden 1 Baltimore City police were investigating a double shooting that occurred late Saturday on The Avenue in Hampden. The shooting in the 1000 block of W. 36th St. was reported at 11:02 p.m., according to Detective Nicole Monroe, a police spokeswoman. One person was shot in the leg and another person was shot in the arm, Monroe said. Their injuries were not considered life-threatening. Additional information was not immediately available. - Baltimore Sun staff Balto.

A proposal to install speed monitoring cameras in Baltimore County school zones drew the ire of many residents attending a meeting with officials Wednesday at the Towson Library. About 25 speakers expressed their opinions, with most being opposed to the cameras. Del. Bill Frank said this is "Big Brother run amok." But his legislative colleague Steve Lafferty said, "If you're against this legislation, you're concerned less about children than you are about making a statement." Police Chief Jim Johnson gave statistics to show that the technology works and decreases speed-related accidents.

COLLEGE PARK -- Maryland opened preseason practices Monday with coaches saying that nine players are contending for starting receiver positions - a glut of speed, raw talent and youthful arrogance, but also inexperience. The competition for Maryland receiving jobs is intriguing because there is loads of potential - junior Emani Lee-Odai and sophomore Quintin McCree each possess sprinter's speed - but no clear favorites to fill two of the three starting posts. "It's kind of unusual to have nine guys who could possibly start," said receivers coach Lee Hull, who must find replacements for Darrius Heyward-Bey and Danny Oquendo.

INDIANAPOLIS -Darrius Heyward-Bey sounded like a track man yesterday when he talked about tomorrow's 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine. "I just want to run something comfortable. Nothing too crazy," the wide receiver from Maryland said. "I don't want to strain myself out there." What, he was asked, would be comfortable? "Somewhere around 4.4 [seconds], 4.3," he said. Anything less than 4.4 will elevate the pulse of scouts on teams that need speed at wide-out and improve Heyward-Bey's chances of landing in the first round of the draft April 25. Wide receivers don't run until tomorrow, and the No. 1 wide receiver of this year's class, Michael Crabtree of Texas Tech, isn't going to run until his pro day next month.

Among the favorites in tomorrow's Barbara Fritchie Handicap for fillies and mares at Laurel Park are a promising but largely untested 4-year-old coming in from New York, a speedster trying to protect the local turf and a veteran sprinter from Florida. The Fritchie Handicap, a Grade II seven-furlong sprint with a $150,000 purse, is part of Laurel's biggest winter weekend, which will also feature the $50,000 John B. Campbell Handicap tomorrow and the General George Handicap, also a $150,000 Grade II seven-furlong race, Monday.

Most motorists never get an opportunity to visit a highway work zone on foot and to watch as workers lay asphalt just feet away from where the traffic is whizzing by. Reporters occasionally get an opportunity to put on a hard hat and psychedelic-colored vest and observe the action -- if only for brief periods. It gives you a new appreciation of the men and women who work on our highways. And you gain some insights into the mindset of the people who speed by them -- apparently oblivious to the mismatch between flesh and blood and a few tons of steel.

Those who played in the inaugural Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship at Baltimore Country Club in Timonium left Sunday afternoon with mostly good feelings about the event, the course and the setting for the last major of the season on the Champions Tour. But their one concern was the slowness of the greens, even from the player who ran away from the field to win. "It's a great golf course, but if they want to take that extra step, they could probably speed the greens up and firm the greens up just a little bit if they wanted to," Loren Roberts said after shooting a four-round score of 13-under-par 267 to win by six strokes over Tom Watson.

President Bush likes his books and his bike. The leader of the free world was recently quoted as saying he likes to burn at least 1,000 calories during his daily workout. And he has a reading race going with former adviser Karl Rove to see who can log the most books in a year. Rove told Rush Limbaugh that when Bush fell behind, 110 to 94, the president said it was because he was busy being the leader of the free world. My question is this: How does the leader of the free world have time for daily two-hour workouts and to read 100 books?

The Ravens' problems on the offensive line can be traced to training camp, when they didn't complete the most basic concept: They didn't hit enough. Coach Brian Billick's training camps have always been light on hitting, and this past one was no exception. Billick likes the light hitting because it cuts down on possible injuries and saves wear on the players later in the season, but the young players on the offensive line shouldn't have enjoyed the same privileges as some of the more accomplished veterans.

THE PROBLEM Three speed humps on Walker Avenue in North Baltimore appear too high for cars to safely traverse, even at slow seeds. THE BACKSTORY The speed limit on Walker Avenue, a winding and hilly residential street at the far northern edge of the city, is 25 mph. To drive the point home, the city installed three speed humps between The Alameda and Leith Walk. They are called "humps" for a reason. Each is about 12 feet wide. But it is the height of the hump that has raised the ire of Walker Avenue resident Nancy M. Monti.