Van Hemert

If there were a dress code for visitors to the current exhibit in Howard Community College's Rouse Company Foundation Gallery, it would stipulate that people must wear blue jeans when going to see Julie van Hemert's "Peopled Jeans. " That's because the artist uses blue jean material for her wall-hanging fabric art. Van Hemert does not significantly alter or transform this material. Instead, she typically clusters a few pants legs together in order to suggest that several close friends are, er, hanging out together.

A chance to compete in the World Championships or the Pan American Games will spur Baltimore-area swimmers in the Phillips 66 National Championships, which begin a seven-day run today in Indianapolis.A first or second will qualify a swimmer for the team the United States will send to the World Championships Sept. 1-11 in Rome. A third or fourth is good for a trip to the Pan Ams next March 11-26 in Mar Del Plata, Argentina."Aside from the Olympic Trials, these world trials are the most competitive, demanding meet in U.S. swimming," said North Baltimore Aquatic Club coach Murray Stephens.

Four people were arrested on drug charges after Howard County narcotics officers raided an Oakland Mills home Friday night.Members of the county Police Department's Street Drug Section executed a search and seizure warrant at 9:40 p.m. Police said they confiscated a vial of cocaine and drug paraphernalia at the home in the 9600 block of Basket Ring Road.All four people in the home at the time of the raid were arrested and charged with possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia, police said.

For some, it will be a steppingstone toward a spot on the U.S. Olympic swimming team. For others, it will be their first taste of international competition.American record-holder Anita Nall and 12 other local swimmers have qualified to compete in the U.S. Open Swimming Championships, a three-day event starting Friday in Minneapolis.It was in the U.S. Open in Indianapolis a year ago that Nall, then a 14-year-old freshman at Towson High, burst onto the national swimming scene. On the final night of the meet she swam the 200-meter breaststroke in 2:30.

Bangles, banjos and bovines are just some of the exhibits and activities slated for tomorrow's Ellicott City May Arts Festival that promises Windows of Art and an art tent of entertainment.The free event will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. along Main Street in the historic district.So visitors will know they're in the right place, a line on Main Street, extending from the log cabin at Ellicott Mills Drive to the bridge near the railroad, will be painted an understated shade of magenta.Although this is the festival's 12th year, it is the first time it will be sponsored by the Ellicott City Business Association, Howard County Arts Council, Howard County Tourism Council and New Arts Alliance.

$TC For some, it will be a steppingstone toward a spot on the U.S. Olympic swimming team. For others, it will be their first taste of international competition.American record-holder Anita Nall and 12 other local swimmers have qualified to compete in the U.S. Open Swimming Championships, a three-day event starting tomorrow in Minneapolis.It was in the U.S. Open in Indianapolis a year ago that Nall, then a 14-year-old freshman at Towson High, burst onto the national swimming scene. On the final night of the meet she swam the 200-meter breast stroke in 2:30.

The Retrievers Aquatic Club will have its largest representation ever in individual events at the Phillips 66 National Swimming Championships, which start a five-day run tomorrow in Mission Viejo, Calif.The Retrievers, directed by UMBC coach Sid Burkot, qualified five swimmers in individual events and a sixth in a relay. They'll join a North Baltimore Aquatic Club contingent of six that will be minus Olympian Anita Nall."This isn't the meet Anita was pointing for this summer," NBAC coach Murray Stephens said of the 16-year-old who won three Olympic medals.

The countdown to the U.S. Olympic trials continues for Anita Nall and the rest of the Baltimore area's swimming elite.Nall, a Towson Catholic High sophomore and the American record-holder in the 200-meter breaststroke, is Baltimore's best bet in the trials on March 1-7 in Indianapolis.The first two finishers in each event, plus four men and four women to round out freestyle relays, will make the team that will go to the Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.Nall, 15, qualified for the trials in the 100 breaststroke as well as the 200. She will make her bid in the 200 on March 2 and in the 100 on March 4.Aside from Nall, who swims for the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, the locals most likely to make the U.S. team are NBAC teammate Julie Gorman, Fallston's Julie Kole, now at Stanford, and Jill Johnson, a Dulaney High and Stanford grad who's training at Harvard.

The snake has an image problem.That's why the slimy, sneaky, evil creature will be used as a symbol for an elaborate art exhibit that confronts fear, hatred and prejudice.Beginning Monday, "The Realm of the Serpent" will be on display through April 30 at the Columbia Art Center.The exhibit will feature a "serpentine labyrinth" -- constructed from hundreds of strips of material submitted by artists from across the nation -- that will be large enough to walk through.The display will be accompanied by a series of lectures about culture, myth and the misunderstood snake.

That wasn't a quick case of the flu Anita Nall had last spring. It was mononucleosis.Before the spring nationals in April, the 1992 Olympic triple medal winner spent five days in bed with what was believed to be the flu. Still, she bounded out to win the 200-meter breaststroke, although in more than three seconds above her world record of 2 minutes, 25.35 seconds.It wasn't until mid-June that Nall discovered she had mono, and probably had had it for at least three months. She was run-down, tired easily and was unable to recover quickly after strenuous workouts.