Ushers

Some of the regulars in Section 41, right behind home plate, were a bit confused yesterday. Oh sure, after all these years, they could find their seats by themselves. It's just that their usher, Gerry Siegel, wasn't there to seat them as he's always been since, well, time imMemorial.This Opening Day briefly took the 70-year-old Mr. Siegel away from his beloved Section 41, where he's ushered in ticket holders since 1954. He and five fellow employees who have worked in Memorial Stadium ever since that first year were honored in an on-field ceremony before this last season opener on 33rd Street.

Maryland lawmakers are wringing a tax from the rain that falls from our roofs. It won't be long before Gov. Martin O'Malley and the General Assembly come up with a way to tax the rain that falls from our umbrellas ("Arundel council overrides stormwater veto," May 2). They can use the same criteria that they use for the roofs and the driveways. I can visualize the Maryland Raindrop Police running after us with their measuring tapes, assessing all parasols, umbrellas and large golf umbrellas.

Seventy-two-year-old Aliceteen Wade has been putting on her white gloves and white usher's uniform and little black beret every Sunday for more than half her life.Even after 40 years, the volunteer job for this queen of ushers doesn't seem like a chore. For Wade, who trains younger ushers at Mount Moriah African Methodist Episcopal Churchin Annapolis, the task is more like a calling."Being an usher at church is something very special," says Wade."It gives the people a good frame of mind when they're in service if you can greet 'em properly (when they come in)

Charlie Zill, the popular long-time usher at Camden Yards who entertained Orioles fans with his “Zillbilly” dance during the seventh-inning stretch, died late Saturday night of lung cancer. He was 56. Zill, who had been diagnosed with cancer three and a half years ago, attended his final Orioles game April 17 as a guest of the club.  Wearing an Orioles cap and jersey over his trademark “Zillbilly” overalls, he threw out the first pitch from his wheelchair before the Orioles took the field against the Tampa Bay Rays.

A Howard Transit bus driver yesterday stopped her vehicle and ushered the passengers to safety just before the vehicle caught fire outside Howard Community College in Columbia. Sharon Smith, deputy administrator for Corridor Transportation Corp., which manages the 26-vehicle fixed route system, said the incident occurred about 9 a.m. The driver, who did not want her name released, smelled gasoline and got her three passengers out of the 2000 Ford bus, which then caught fire. The bus had traveled 459,781 miles, well over the normal 300,000 replacement standard, according to Smith.

In the last innings of the last game, usher Ralph Williams kept an eye on anyone who might try to take home memories of Memorial Stadium in the form of an unbolted seat or sign, or the orange hat off his head.Since September, fans had been offering him as much as $500 for the hat and $100 for his orange blazer."I got to watch for everything," Williams said yesterday.Just before the game, Cecil Maczka, another usher, seated fans in their lower reserved seats as always with a smile -- but also with a warning about making off with unauthorized souvenirs.

Dave Eley was the first customer who ever called Howard Hart by name."He asked me my name, and I told him Howard," Hart said. "He said, 'Well, Howard, my name's Dave. You're my beer man."That was nine years ago, when Hart started hawking Buds at Memorial Stadium. Hart is now the top vendor, thanks in part to Eley, a fan from Newport News, Va., who since meeting Hart has not bought a beer from anybody else at the stadium.Yesterday, as a token of the last day at Memorial Stadium and of relationships that had developed, Hart gave T-shirts to his favorite customers.

Begin with the charcoal slacks. Pleated. Loose fitting. Deep pockets. Perfect for storing your seat-wiping mitt.Add a striped dress shirt, polyester blend for that no-iron look.And an orange bow tie, orange suspenders and a dark cardigan sweater, decorated with the ball team's "new" turn-of-the-century logo.What have you got?Something never before seen at a Baltimore Orioles baseball game -- a suavely dressed usher.The folks who escorted Orioles fans to their seats at Memorial Stadium for a couple of decades were loyal, hard-working and fountains of ballpark information.

Orioles ushers steaming about their sauna-like uniforms received good news last night: Cooler clothes are coming back.In response to complaints from ushers -- 16 of whom needed medical attention during a game last week -- and from fans concerned for their discomfort, the club has relaxed the dress code for its warmest employees.Beginning today, long-sleeved shirts are out and short sleeves are in for all ushers, guards and ticket-takers who work in non-air-conditioned areas of the ballpark.

COLLEGE PARK -- One of the first visible signs of discontent with Maryland athletic director Andy Geiger's handling of former football coach Joe Krivak surfaced during yesterday's Maryland-Florida State men's basketball game.A banner, which read "Duffner's OK, But Geiger's Got to Go," was held aloft by two alumni from their seats behind the basket at the closed end of Cole Field House late in the first half.An usher ordered the men to put the banner away, then confiscated it. Shortly after the banner was taken away, new head football coach Mark Duffner and members of his coaching staff were introduced to the crowd of 13,360, which gave them a rousing ovation.

Charlie Zill got his wish - and then some. The long-time usher at Camden Yards, who has stage 4 lung cancer, watched his beloved Orioles play one more time Wednesday night. Wearing an Orioles cap and jersey over his trademark "Zillbilly" overalls, he also threw out the first pitch from his wheelchair to new Orioles pitcher T.J. McFarland. "Sinkerball," Zill said in a weak voice of the pitch that was low and away and drew a nice ovation from the crowd. "Incredible. I didn't think this was going to happen.

A weather system that is spawning severe storms across the southern Plains states is forecast to reach the East Coast on Friday, bringing a chance for strong (but not likely severe) storms here and colder temperatures. The Storm Prediction Center is cautioning of a risk for tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds Wednesday afternoon and evening in parts of Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Most of Missouri was under a tornado watch as of early Wednesday afternoon. Storm risks are expected to shift eastward Thursday , with the most danger along the Mississippi River Valley.

Tears filled my eyes as I read Kevin Cowherd 's column this morning about the illness of Charlie Zill or Zillbilly, the "country boy" usher at Camden Yards ("Cancer-stricken 'Zillbilly' usher hopes to see 1 or 2 more games," March 18). Having taken zillions of photographs of Mr. Zill over the years during the 7 t h -inning stretch, I was sure Mr. Cowherd would need one of them to highlight his tribute to Charlie. I was completely wrong. Charlie's Zillbilly character has been so admired, loved and photographed by others, including The Sun's photographers, that any pictures I had were superfluous.

Charlie Zill leans forward and adjusts the lines to his oxygen supply before slipping a CD into his laptop. "This is a good one," he says softly. Up pops a video of Zill, the long-time fixture at Orioles games, doing his "Zillbilly" dance in full cornpone regalia (overalls, straw hat, fake teeth, orange fiddle) as John Denver's "Country Boy" blares over the Camden Yards PA system during the seventh-inning stretch. Now here's footage of him joking with Orioles fans and doing magic tricks, and what you notice right away is how everyone lights up when they see him. When the video ends, though, Zill's smile fades.

When Harborplace first opened, it was hailed as one of the crown jewels of Baltimore's renaissance, and millions of visitors from across Maryland and around the country beat a path to its door. On a typical Saturday afternoon, the Light and Pratt street pavilions were beehives of activity, crowded with tourists who came to the Inner Harbor to eat, shop and gawk. More than 30 years later, Harborplace is still viable and still commercially successful, although not necessarily what it once was. There are any number of reasons for this, from competition elsewhere to the natural evolution of any attraction - but surely one big problem involved its owners and the lack of sufficient investment in the properties as ownership transferred from Rouse Co. to Chicago-based General Growth Properties, which subsequently landed in bankruptcy.

When Gordon Huggins reported to Oriole Park on Sept. 30, he knew it might be his final time in the stadium. His fellow ushers knew it, too. After 50 years as an Orioles usher, Huggins decided to retire at the end of this season. His 50-year recognition by the Orioles in May included an opportunity to throw out the first pitch at a home game, and he was also featured on a WBAL-TV segment. But his co-workers and the season-ticket holders in his lower-deck sections weren't about to let the longtime Eldersburg resident leave without some additional fanfare.

Close to the southern boundary of Annapolis, near the mouth of the 340-acre park deemed the jewel of Anne Arundel County's park system, proposed developments have sparked citywide debate on how to protect trees. These last two big tracts of undeveloped forest along Forest Drive are projected to become the site of hundreds of homes and a senior community. Plans for that development have drawn 1,500 petition signatures and opposition from 19 environmental and community groups. "People get really upset when they see the last of the forests going down, and they ask hard questions like, 'Shouldn't they be protected?

Waiting two years for a shot at Division I basketball was something Davon Usher   had accepted over time. But the six extra weeks the former Digital Harbor star spent hoping for that elusive DI offer seemed nearly interminable. Usher, a 6-foot-6, 190-pound wing, had a solid junior college career at Polk State College in Winter Haven, Fla., averaging around nine points and seven rebounds for the Eagles as a sophomore. North Carolina Central, Western Illinois, San Jose State, Quinnipiac and North Carolina A&T were among the many DI programs interested in the former Rams standout, but reluctant to offer a scholarship.