Two Sides

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - As the fire from thousands of thundering guns outside turned the sky smoky and gray that warm morning of July 3, 1863, Jennie Wade worked the dough for biscuits for the Union soldiers, pressing and patting it on the dough table in the small kitchen of her sister's home on Baltimore Street.In the next room, her sister, Georgia McClellan, lay on a walnut bedstead near the cradle where her 5-day-old son slept.Jennie Wade, her mother and younger brother had come for the occasion of the birth from their home on Breckenridge Street some blocks away in the small southern Pennsylvania farm town of Gettysburg.

The criminal and civil cases filed by an Ellicott City man who alleged that Ravens defensive line coach Rex Ryan beat him up will go away as part of a settlement between the two sides, lawyers said yesterday. Attorneys for Ryan and Robert Wheatley confirmed yesterday that a misdemeanor assault charge filed against Ryan has already been dismissed in Howard District Court. A civil lawsuit alleging assault, battery and emotional distress - and seeking $3.6 million - will also be dismissed in Howard Circuit Court, the lawyers said.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Cal Ripken's negotiations for a multi-year contract extension with the Orioles are moving forward again, with the two sides attempting to reach an agreement to virtually ensure Ripken would finish his career in orange and black.Orioles general manager Pat Gillick acknowledged yesterday that he'd been in recent contact with Ripken's agent, Ron Shapiro. "We've got a good dialogue going," Gillick said.Asked if Shapiro or the Orioles had made new proposals in recent days, Gillick offered a small smile and replied, "Possibly."

The jury in Timothy Cumberland's first-degree murder trial will be given two versions of Gregory Lamont Howard's death when attorneys present their closing arguments tomorrow.After a week of testimony from about 20 witnesses, the panel of nine men and three women has heard conflicting descriptions of Cumberland and Mr. Howard, the 22-year-old Westminster man who was killed on South Center Street on Jan. 28, 1993.Prosecutors have said that Mr. Cumberland was agitated and bent on getting revenge after he was cheated out of $40 when he was sold a bag of bogus crack cocaine that night.

Alan Foreman, lawyer for the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, and Greg White, a member of the Cloverleaf Standardbred Owners Association board, confirmed last night that their two sides have reached a tentative agreement designed to unite the industry on all main issues for the next decade and beyond. The Maryland Horse Breeders Association, Maryland Standardbred Breeders Association, Cloverleaf SOA (the owners group that owns Rosecroft), Cloverleaf Enterprise Inc. (which operates Rosecroft)

For the first time since last winter's train accident in Silver Spring that left 11 people dead, representatives of CSX Transportation Inc. and the state transit agency yesterday resumed contract talks over the future of Maryland Rail Commuter (MARC) service.Both sides described the discussions over the now-expired contract between CSX and the Mass Transit Administration as cordial, but inconclusive.CSX, which operates MARC for the state, suggested that the MTA and federal government pay for a third track on the CSX-owned Washington-to-Brunswick line to relieve congestion.

The most remarkable feature of yesterday's Opening Day transportation news conference wasn't news of some new parking spaces, or the promotional campaign that was unveiled to encourage mass transit.It was the fact that both the Orioles and Maryland Stadium Authority were represented.A year ago at this time, with the two organizations openly feuding over everything from parking lots to hotels, the annual get-people-to-take-the-bus photo opportunity degenerated into dueling news conferences.

WASHINGTON - Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening and other Democratic chief executives expressed concern yesterday about President Bush's proposal for a 10-year, $1.6 trillion tax cut, which comes as the economy shows signs it may be slowing. "There is some concern as to how that impact would hit us and when," Glendening said at a news conference to open the four-day winter meeting of the National Governors' Association. Bush, who will fully detail his tax and spending priorities to Congress this week, has said that the tax cut is justified by projected surpluses and his plan to hold the growth rate of most programs to 4 percent.

The county is willing to pay $3,000 to bury any prison guard killed in the line of duty.Beyond that, the Neall administration and theFraternal Order of Anne Arundel Detention Center Officers agreed on little else that mattered yesterday, when they took their contract negotiations impasse to the County Council.County Executive Robert R. Neall pleaded poverty this year and asked the unions to extend their contracts until next year, when there might be money for a cost-of-living raise.Every union agreed except the prison guards, who have been fighting the county since January1990, when Detention Center Director Richard Baker added 13 1/2 daysto their annual work schedule without added pay.The contract stalemate involves 42 separate issues, but three major disputes are leftunresolved.

WASHINGTON -- Though weary from a long night of watching the abortion issue get pulled this way and that in the election returns, both sides started to gear up yesterday for the next round of fights -- probably starting in Michigan and Ohio -- over new laws against abortion.Those two big states were singled out by abortion foes as the first places to test in state legislatures the political gains they claimed in the Tuesday results.In Ohio and Michigan, the aim of anti-abortion forces will be the same as it has been in recent years: get the legislatures to pass tough new restrictions on abortion and to set up new tests in court of theirauthority to curb the right to end a pregnancy.