Unfinished Business

More than anything else, the three-way District B Republican primary might turn on three-term incumbent Veronica L. "Roni" Chenowith's health. The 67-year-old county councilwoman from Fallston has bounced back from a bout with leukemia that sidelined her for a month, but she had a scare weeks later in council chambers when she left a council meeting in an ambulance. Privately, some have suggested that she consider dropping out of the race, but Chenowith says she is fine, and her challengers tread lightly on the issue.

Maybe the best thing about being young is that there's no sense of wistfulness, no feeling of lost or missed opportunities. If you miss that bus, there will always be another one coming. Surely, that's what must have run through Amanda Fefel's mind three years ago, when she pitched Catonsville to the brink of a state softball championship as a freshman. Fefel struck out seven that day against North Caroline and gave up five hits, only one of which left the infield. She was struck on the knee with a line drive in the sixth inning but continued.

Atlantic City, N.J. -- It wasn't pretty, and he got away from his game plan, but Baltimore native Hasim Rahman finally made a successful title defense. The 33-year-old two-time world champion battled 37-year-old challenger James Toney to a 12-round majority draw last night, retaining his World Boxing Council heavyweight title and maintaining a seven-bout unbeaten streak before 8,427 at Boardwalk Hall. Referee John Stewart had it 117-111 for Rahman (41-5-2, 33 knockouts) and Tommy Kaczmarek and Nabuaki Uranti had it 114-114 for the Las Vegas resident.

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. -- Some days, Angela Ruggiero is a "D." Other days, she's a "C." She's even, on occasion, been an "F." Chances are the defender-center-forward on the U.S. women's hockey team would take tickets, wash uniforms or even run the Zamboni machine between periods to win another Olympic gold medal. "Yeah, there's unfinished business," Ruggiero says. It has been eight years since the U.S. women's team wore the gold and four years since dejected team members could barely stand to look at the silver medals around their necks.

As the third year of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s reform of the juvenile justice system draws to a close, much remains to be done - and much more remains to be started. It is not clear that children are better served now, and there is evidence that many are still being harmed - by abuse, neglect, ignorance and lack of options - in a system intended to help heal them. The administration and its Department of Juvenile Services have had to respond to continued reports of abuse and maltreatment at its facilities, the questions of federal investigators and the demands of state legislators angered by the slow pace of promised reform.

Some people just can't let go, and I'm one of them. I'd like to wish you a happy new year and look ahead to an upbeat year of sports in Maryland -- I mean, what other direction could we go at this point? -- but I've still got a few things to get off my chest about 2005. This is going to be something of a stream of consciousness, so wear a life jacket and try to pay attention: Does anybody really care about anything that Rafael Palmeiro has left to say about his positive drug test and his lingering suspicion that Miguel Tejada slipped him a tainted vial of injectable vitamin B-12?

Two prominent Baltimore Democratic fund-raisers have joined Montgomery's county executive in his campaign to discourage Mayor Martin O'Malley from joining the race for governor - not through threats or insults, but by praising him for good work that shouldn't be left unfinished. "With Doug Duncan as governor and Mayor O'Malley at the helm of our city, we are confident that our best days are before us," write Calman J. "Buddy" Zamoiski Jr., Thomas Segal and their wives in an invitation to a Dec. 14 fund-raiser for Montgomery's county executive.

U.S. SEN. Paul S. Sarbanes will be Mr. Maryland Democrat at his party's national convention this week in Boston. It's an honor for Mr. Sarbanes - and an indirect statement of his party's underlying challenge this week. It's a tedious necessity to recall that the party has no really exciting, unfinished business to accomplish in Massachusetts. Its national ticket - Sen. John Kerry for president, Sen. John Edwards for vice president - has been in place, it seems, forever. Maryland Democrats, though, have plenty of unfinished business.