Suitcase

MY BEST SHOTA study in Aeolian shapesBy Jerry Sherman, PikesvilleThe Aeolian Islands, off Sicily's northeast coast, offered many unique land and sky scapes to the camera. This photograph, which I took in September on the island of Lipari, turned into a composition with the approaching black cloud above, the silhouetted mountains and dark water below, with the white, less threatening buffer zone in between.A MEMORABLE EXPERIENCEThe case of the missing suitcaseHans B. AlbertsonSPECIAL TO THE SUNIt happened three months ago in beautiful Vienna, Austria.

Thank heaven for little wheels.These days, you'll find them on everything from backpacks to duffel bags, as well as those ubiquitous boxy suitcases no well-equipped business traveler seems to leave the office without. Increasingly, traveling families -- including mine -- swear by them too."With the kids holding on to their own luggage, I've got a hand free to hold on to a kid," explains Brian Beihl, a New Hampshire dad of three who checked out more than a dozen kinds for his new Family on Board travel products catalog.

Isn't that your suitcase on the luggage carousel?The one with the yards of duct tape holding it together and the handle that's half torn off?Looks as though it's time for a new one.Though packing a suitcase is a grim but unavoidable part of traveling, shopping for that suitcase can be fun.You've no doubt noticed those confident travelers who breeze through airports wheeling neat black bags that glide smoothly over tile floors, asphalt parking lots, even...

Police logLong Reach: 8300 block of Tamar Drive: Someone stole a computer, compact disc player, videocassette recorder, television and a suitcase from an apartment Thursday after entering through a patio door.Pub Date: 11/18/96

BERLIN -- A man called Herbert the Saw, three derailed trains, a bombed-out luggage locker and a million dollars scattered in the air like confetti make up what police say is a bizarre but real threat to Germany's 2.8 million daily rail passengers.As police only now have made public, Herbert the Saw has been trying to blackmail the German railway for 18 months. But due to a series of odd developments, he hasn't received his money. He is still at large, holding the railway hostage and becoming the talk of the nation.

2 positions added for McLean's officeBALTIMORE -- The number of new jobs created by city Comptroller Jacqueline F. McLean increased by two yesterday as the Board of Estimates approved a series of personnel actions.The jobs -- a supervisor and manager in the auditor's office -- bring to 10 the number of new positions Mrs. McLean has created in a reorganization aimed at increasing her power to appoint new staff.In the reorganization, Mrs. McLean stripped several key posts of civil service protection and abolished seven jobs.

Art Donovan puts one meaty paw around the shoulders of old friend Sisto Averno, wraps him in an affectionate if muscle-bending hug, and issues a proclamation intended for the ages.''This guy,'' says Donovan, the former Baltimore Colts defensive tackle and well-known author, television personality and bon vivant, ''was the toughest of us all.''''Nah,'' says Averno, modestly lowering his eyes.''Yeah,'' insists Donovan.''Nah,'' says Averno.Let history declare, in any event, that Sisto Averno, who performed on both the offensive and defensive lines of the early 1950s Baltimore Colts, and at a cost of $4,000 per season (Donovan, the future Hall of Famer who played only defense, was considered vastly overpaid at $4,500)

McLean puts 2 more on payrollThe number of new jobs created by Baltimore Comptroller Jacqueline F. McLean increased by two yesterday as the city Board of Estimates approved a series of personnel actions.The two jobs -- a supervisor and a manager in the auditor's office -- bring to 10 the number of new positions Mrs. McLean has created in a reorganization aimed at increasing her power to appoint new staff.In the reorganization, Mrs. McLean stripped several key posts of civil service protection and abolished seven jobs.

So what's it going to be, law school?"Well, 'L.A. Law' is my favorite show," Elise Burgin said.But . . ."You want me to trade this nightmare for that one? I don't think so."OK, we understand. What about television?"I'd love it. I could have my own talk show. My morning gossip show. I could be out there with Oprah."But . . ."Somehow, I don't think that's going to be it."No, probably not. But then what will it be, Elise? What now after seven years on the tennis tour, seven years of seeing the world and living out of a suitcase -- what do you do when you're 29 and feel the end coming?

ATLANTA -- When she was 8, she became a mother. Not in the physical sense, but a mother nevertheless.Her own mother -- a dear woman who used to keep them dressed in such pretty dresses, their curly hair in bows -- died suddenly that year of pneumonia. They were living in Charlotte, N.C., in that big old Victorian house, during the Depression, before penicillin. She remembers the doctor and his black bag and how sorry he was when he told them there was nothing he could do."It was a loving home," Betty Glover, 63, now of Rockdale County, Ga., was saying.

There was no casket, no bouquets of flowers, no pews filled with people. Instead, there was a small wooden toybox and pictures of a 15-month-old baby drinking his bottle and playing, and the dozen mourners who came to say good-bye to him. "I fought hard to save this little boy's life ... but nobody would help me," said Seeta Khadan-Newton, Javon Thompson's grandmother. "So I was fighting a fight by myself which ended with me losing my grandson and my daughter where she is now." Javon's mother, Ria Ramkissoon, 21, is among five people Baltimore homicide detectives have charged with first-degree murder in connection with the toddler's death.

Two women were ordered held without bail yesterday on charges that they participated in the starvation death of a child whom they considered a "demon" because he wouldn't say amen after his meals, according to police charging documents. Standing side by side in court, Queen Antoinette, 40, and Trevia Williams, 21, refused to be represented by city public defenders during their bail review at the Central Booking and Intake Center. Police say Antoinette was the leader of a cult and that Williams was one of her followers; each is charged with first-degree murder.

Tiffany Smith, unemployed and seeking help, said she joined 1 Mind Ministries on promises of free food and lodging. She became a caretaker - cooking and cleaning for the group, which at its peak numbered 12, including five children, packed inside an East Baltimore rowhouse. She said members adhered to what they believed was a strict reading of the Old Testament - using honorifics such as "Queen" and "King," "Prince" and "Princess." Outside the house, she said, they were required to move in pairs, even to the corner store.

I've heard that bedbugs are being reintroduced in the United States by travelers returning from other countries. When I travel, I always drop a few mothballs in my luggage and use them in closets or drawers. Does this help? Probably not, said Greg Baumann, senior scientist at the National Pest Management Association, a trade group. Although he said he couldn't rule out mothballs' effectiveness, he's not aware of any studies that have been done. Bedbugs are making a comeback internationally and domestically.

A 32-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced in federal court yesterday to serve 15 1/2 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute heroin. Payton Green, who pleaded guilty in April, will also serve five years of probation after his release from prison. On Feb. 16, 2005, police officers attempted to stop Green's vehicle and a high-speed chase ensued. Green's car struck another at 28th and Sisson streets. Authorities found a black suitcase that Green was seen carrying earlier, according to court documents.

The "report card" issued by the 9/11 commission this week was a frightening indictment of the administration and Congress for their failure to protect Americans at home. "Scandalous" was the word used by the commission's chairman and vice chairman, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean and former Congressman Lee H. Hamilton of Indiana. Scandalous that police and firefighters in the major cities still can't communicate reliably in a major crisis, scandalous that airline passengers still are not screened against a terrorist watch list and scandalous that homeland security money is doled out politically to communities at less risk, rather than to places where the risk is highest.

A 27-year-old Coast Guardsman trained to intercept drug smugglers trying to enter the United States was sentenced yesterday to more than 17 1/2 years in prison for orchestrating a cocaine shipment through Baltimore-Washington International Airport. U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles Jr. also sentenced Wendy Bens of Boston to four years of supervised release for conspiracy to import cocaine and related drug and firearms charges. Bens could have received a sentence of up to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine.

SAN MIGUEL, El Salvador - On Thursdays, she brings out the knife. The dull steak blade is part of an unimpressive array of tools - nose, fingers, plastic tub, afternoon sun - that Angela Maritza Carballo uses to detect contraband in packages being sent to the United States from this smallest of Central American countries. She is the sole inspector for Umana Express, one of hundreds of mom-and-pop courier services that have linked families in El Salvador and the United States for more than 20 years.

Heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic was disrupted for two hours last night while the city police bomb squad investigated a suitcase left unattended across the street from the Pratt Street Pavilion at Harborplace. Arriving at the scene at 6:47 p.m., police blocked eastbound Pratt Street from Light to Gay streets, Commerce Street between Pratt and Lombard streets and westbound Lombard Street between Commerce and South streets. Police blasted the suitcase and knocked it over with a remote-controlled high-pressure water gun. When officers opened it, they found clothing and traffic resumed at 8:45 p.m., police said.

Here's a hint: Don't forget your bed bag on your next trip. That's what Heloise always has tucked into her suitcase. "You know -- your bed bag," she says. "The bag you always keep by your bed with flashlight, alarm clock, ear plugs, eye mask and clothespin." If you don't travel with such accessories, heed the words of one of America's most popular advice-givers: Heloise Cruse. Yes, that Heloise, the newspaper columnist and author of books such as her recent volume, Heloise Conquers Stinks and Stains.