Vendors

Though they had received two letters this month from Baltimore police ordering them to cease and desist, 30 vendors at the Patapsco Flea Market were arrested yesterday morning and charged with selling counterfeit clothing.More than 60 Baltimore police officers and private investigators dressed in military fatigues raided the popular small-business venue at Patapsco Avenue and Annapolis Road about 8: 50 a.m.They confiscated more than $1 million worth of what police said was counterfeit Nike, Timberland, and Tommy Hilfiger clothing.

Eddie Brooks sold his colorful array of baseball hats, sweaters, pennants and sunglasses during Orioles FanFest at the corner of Camden and Eutaw streets, an area off-limits to vendors during games the past two years. The event Saturday wasn't an actual contest, so Brooks was able to sell at a spot that will be closed to vendors again come today's Orioles season opener against the Tampa Bay Rays. The event provided Brooks a brief flashback to the good old days. "If you came to a game in 2003 or 2004, everything was set up. All up and down Camden Street, people were selling pizza, there were umpteenths million hat stands.

Carroll County Farm Museum officials agreed yesterday to explore a proposal that would change the fees that festival vendors must pay to sell their wares at the popular tourist attraction, saving many businesses money.Under the proposal, vendors would pay a flat fee to reserve a sales booth at farm museum events. Nonprofit organizations are required to give the Westminster museum 10 percent of the money they raise. All other vendors must give 15 percent."I've talked with several vendors, and I think they would favor a flat fee," said Commissioner Julia Walsh Gouge, who suggested the change during yesterday's Farm Museum Advisory Board meeting.

A top state purchasing official might have violated ethics laws by insinuating that vendors could get preferential treatment if they participated in a fundraiser for a nonprofit organization, according to an investigative audit released yesterday. Sparked by calls to state fraud hot line, legislative auditors began the investigation in September. The 11-page review details how a senior official overseeing the Office of Procurement and Logistics sought monetary sponsorships from vendors for a "reverse" trade show held Oct. 16 by a professional organization of procurement employees.

The Carroll County commissioners approved yesterday a resolution requiring vendors who provide goods and services to the county to comply with federal immigration laws or face having their contracts terminated. "This is a limited response within the scope and the reasonable expectation of what county government can do on this," Commissioner Dean L. Minnich said. "We need to do something to show our intent to follow the law and our intent to require others to follow the law, to the extent that we can enforce it."

Nine vendors whose companies include major names in the U.S. food industry were charged in federal court in New York yesterday with helping Columbia-based U.S. Foodservice Inc. perpetrate an $800 million accounting fraud that illustrated the pressure on suppliers to engage in a cover-up to maintain lucrative business relationships, attorneys said. The vendors, whose companies included General Mills Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc., were charged with aiding executives of U.S. Foodservice in producing false records that created the illusion of $800 million in added revenues over three years.

MEXICO CITY -- Americans aren't the only ones worried abou losing business to low-cost operations in Mexico. Some Mexicans are hit by the same phenomenon.And the conflict this has aroused threatens to put an end to the street vendors of handicrafts that attract many tourists here, and anyone else looking for a bargain.Two Mexico City city businessmen -- Francisco Padilla Lopez and Guillermo Gazal Jafif -- illustrate the conflict that has sparked violence in Mexico City's historic central district.

ATLANTA -- If the beer vendors at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium look a bit familiar during a CBS crowd shot, there's a good reason.Some of Memorial Stadium's best beer hawkers have made the trip south to assist their Southern brothers in making sure that Braves fans stay refreshed between tomahawk chops."

The Maryland state prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into dealings between the Prince George's County schools CEO and education software companies doing business with the county, a government official familiar with the inquiry said last night. The office of state Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh has contacted schools CEO Andre J. Hornsby with questions about his interactions with education vendors, said the official, who requested anonymity. Hornsby, who assumed the $250,000 CEO position in the spring of last year, did not return a call to his home seeking comment last night.

For the first time in the 20-year history of Westminster Fallfest, vendors at the four-day celebration will be prohibited from selling carbonated beverages, a move that has drawn criticism from a local nonprofit group.The Westminster Optimist Club has complained to the nine-member Fallfest Committee, criticizing its decision to bar the club and 17 other food vendors from selling carbonated drinks."Fallfest is one of our biggest moneymakers," said Henry Lysy, Optimist president. "With this policy, they take about 50 percent of the funds we usually raise at this event and basically give the money to another organization."