Union City

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Union City, the Kentucky Derby colt trained by D. Wayne Lukas, turned in the quickest workout of the morning yesterday, going six furlongs in 1 minute, 13 seconds.Prairie Bayou, the pre-race favorite, completed his serious Derby preparation with a solid, workmanlike five furlongs in 1:01.But it was Dixieland Heat that caused the most commotion at Churchill Downs yesterday.Did the colt work, or didn't he?Day-long rains on Sunday caused the strip to be muddy and prompted three trainers to cancel planned speed drills for their horses.

After a public challenge by the governor's chief of staff, Bell Atlantic Corp. Chairman Raymond W. Smith committed his company yesterday to providing computers and high-speed Internet connections to a disadvantaged Maryland school and the homes of its students and teachers.Mr. Smith, keynote speaker at the second and final day of the governor's technology conference, opened the door when he departed from his prepared text to boast about a similar project the company had sponsored at a middle school in Union City, N.J.He said test scores improved sharply at the school as a result of the experimental program, launched in 1993 and extended in September for two years.

On Monday afternoon, May 17, 2004, FATHER RAPHAEL AMRHEIN, C.P. was killed in a traffic accident in Massachusetts. Father Amrhein was a noted preacher, spiritual director and retreat master, who for the past eleven years, resided in Our Lady of Florida Spiritual Center in North Palm Beach, Florida. Father Amrhein was born in Pittsburgh, the son of the late Frank and Magdalen (nee Helmbrecht) Amrhein. He attended Holy Cross Passionist Preparatory Seminary in Dunkirk, New York. He was professed a Passionist in 1955 and was ordained a priest by Most Reverend Guthbert O'Gara, C.P. in Union City, New Jersey.

Russell Thomas House, an entrepreneur whose business interests included wigs, plants and restaurants, died of pneumonia Wednesday at a hospital in Palisades, N.J. The former Annapolis resident was 69. Mr. House was born and raised in Baltimore and graduated from Calvert Hall College High School in 1952. He attended the University of Maryland and served in the Army during the 1950s. Mr. House was selling radio advertising in the late 1950s when he realized the potential of wigs while calling on a client at Mondawmin Mall.

A new horse might be joining the Preakness lineup.Trainer Nick Zito said yesterday that he is considering running Too Wild in Saturday's race.The 3-year-old son of Wild Again accompanied Zito-trained Strike the Gold to Pimlico from Belmont Park, but was originally expected to run in the Sir Barton Stakes on the Preakness card.However, Zito said it's possible that he'll try the Preakness."He's an improving colt and ran a strong race last time when he was second in the Cahill Road Stakes [to Koluctoo Jimmy Al]

Andres Alonso and his family left Cuba when he was 12. He arrived in Union City, N.J., speaking no English but found mentors in the public schools who saw his potential and encouraged him to apply to Columbia University. He graduated from Columbia magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, then earned a law degree from Harvard University. "With me, there were people who saw beyond a language problem, people who saw beyond the poverty," he said. Alonso, who is 50, was deputy chancellor of the New York City public school system before taking charge of the Baltimore system this year.

For a few glorious weeks each spring, the Kentucky Derby horses are the most celebrated animals in the world. No horse ever reaches a higher eminence than when marching in the post parade to the strains of "My Old Kentucky Home" at Churchill Downs.Whether finishing first or 15th, whether costing $2 million or $2,000, wherever they go and whatever they do, they will forever be a "Derby horse," a horse upon whom once fell the most garish of Derby dreams.They have left Louisville, Ky., now, most of the 14 Derby horses of 1994, some to run in this weekend's Preakness, some to flaunt their magic names at smaller tracks across America, and some, perhaps, never to run or be heard from again.

From Virginia Kelley to Jack Kent Cooke, Lenny Hale to John "Pappy" Poole, a lot of new names popped onto the Maryland racing scene in 1993.The president's mother made not one, but two trips to Laurel Race Course, when she visited her son at the White House during his first year in office.Cooke shocked a lot of people when, all of a sudden, Joe De Francis became his new best friend and he announced plans to build a $160 million stadium for his Washington Redskins football team on track property.

What do we do with the two guards who were on duty when Dontay Carter escaped through a courthouse bathroom window?"Whoever is responsible for this should be raked across the coals," a state senator suggested the day after the blunder.Others just wanted the men fired.The guards, Frank Beales and Irvin Curtis, have already been suspended without pay from their less-than-$30,000-a-year state jobs. And come Monday, the state will argue before an administrative law judge that they should get the ax.To refresh memories: Dontay Carter, the convicted kidnapper and killer, escaped unshackled through the bathroom window in Judge John N. Prevas' chambers at the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse in January.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- As many as 12 horses are likely to run in this year's Preakness Stakes, including surprise Kentucky Derby winner Sea Hero.The Derby starters are scattering in all directions after Saturday's race. But at least seven, including the first five finishers and also-rans Union City and El Bakan, are expected to compete in the Preakness at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday, May 15.Two non-Derby starters, Derby Trial winner Cherokee Run and local hope Woods of Windsor, are waiting for the survivors from Churchill Downs.