Virginian

Lucky Virginian drew off from six rivals turning for home and posted a 2 1/2 -length victory in the $44,675 Jet Pilot Stakes at Pimlico Race Course yesterday.Mike Luzzi rode the 2-year-old colt for owner Buckland Farm and trainer Ross Pearce."He just cruised home," Luzzi said.Lucky Virginian led from the start of the 5-furlong turf event, with Older But Smarter in closest pursuit. Into the stretch, Lucky Virginian pulled away while Coin Collector, the 9-10 favorite, rallied inside of Older But Smarter.

Wedding date: March 23, 2013 Her story: Ashley Cook, 30, grew up in Woodbridge, Va. She is a literary academic content liaison for Baltimore City Public Schools. Her mother, Sherry, is a facilities manager for a government contracting agency in Virginia. Her father, Patrick, passed away last year. His story: Phillip Plymouth, 29, grew up in Randallstown. He is an accountant for the American Postal Workers Union Health Plan. His mother, Bernice Brooks-Plymouth, is a psychiatric nurse at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

A Virginia man was sentenced to 25 years in prison this week after pleading guilty to raping a fellow trucker behind a warehouse on Route 175.Darryl Jones, a trucker from Roanoke, Va., pleaded guilty to first-degree rape just before the first witness took the stand in his trial Wednesday.Prosecutors and defense attorneys had presented opening statements when Jones, 39, pleaded guilty at 3: 30 p.m.Jones raped a 26-year-old Long Island, N.Y., woman last December.The two were staying at the Truckers Inn in Jessup and had gone out to a bar with another trucker.

The most atmospheric way to experience the Castleton Festival, which opens Saturday, is to travel down to Virginia's Rappahannock County and catch opera productions or orchestra concerts on the spacious, idyllic estate of celebrated conductor Lorin Maazel. But this summer, Castleton is expanding beyond the rolling hills of the farm where Maazel and his wife, Dietlinde Turban Maazel, launched the festival two years ago. If you're not up for the two-hour-plus drive from Baltimore, you can get a taste of the Castleton magic a shorter distance away.

STERLING, Va. -- A notable par and three successive birdies catapulted Tom Offutt into the lead midway through the back nine, and the Arlington, Va., resident hung on for a one-stroke victory in the 90th Middle Atlantic Amateur championship at the Lowes Island Club yesterday.Despite a final-hole bogey, Offutt, who did not even know he was entered (his wife sent in the entry) until receiving his confirmation and a starting time, recorded a 1-over-par 73 and a 72-hole total of 296.Paul Kane, a former Montgomery Village resident and Maryland tournament player now living in Charlottesville, Va., tied for second with a past champion, Vince Zachetti, at 297. Dave Rasley finished fourth at 298.When the day began, there were 10 players within two strokes of the lead.

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- William Lanier of Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville, Va., shot 1-over-par 73, but hung on for a one-stroke victory in the annual Assistants championship of the Middle Atlantic Golf Association at Ford's Colony. Lanier finished 67-73140, 3-under par for the two tournament courses.Wayne DeFrancesco, teaching professional at Woodholme CC in Pikesville, had a 15-foot birdie putt to tie for the lead, missed it, and settled for part of a three-way tie for second with 67-74141.

WASHINGTON - The fight Maryland's senators are waging against 4th Circuit Court nominee Claude A. Allen, a Virginian whom they say would be snatching a Maryland seat, is taking its place among the many bitter partisan battles Democrats have fought this year against President Bush's conservative judicial picks. But this one is different from the straight ideological grudge matches surrounding Bush's other nominees, pitting Democrats opposed to what they call right-wing candidates against Republicans eager to advance them.

LAST TUESDAY'S election returns in Virginia and last Wednesday's announcement by the state's best known and most popular resident that he will not seek political office in 1996 will prolong once more the barrenness of the state that calls itself ''the Mother of Presidents.''It has now been 175 years since a Virginian was elected president. That would be James Monroe, who was re-elected to a second term in 1820. (He followed Virginians George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison into the office.

A dozen passengers and two crew members complained of injuries today after a four-car commuter train rear-ended a 10-car Amtrak passenger train in a tunnel near Pennsylvania Station in Baltimore.Officials said that none of the injuries appeared to have beeserious.Amtrak spokesman Chris Black said 12 passengers -- some from each train, complained of injuries, but six declined medical attention.Katherine Waters, a spokesman for the Maryland Railroad Commission, said five of the other six passengers were taken by taxi to Union Memorial Hospital with minor injuries.

A spokesman for Amtrak said yesterday that "preliminary indications" were that the engineer of a northbound MARC train was responsible for a low-speed collision with an Amtrak passenger train in the tunnel south of Penn Station Friday.And the spokesman, R. Clifford Black IV, confirmed that Amtrak officials were investigating a report that the Maryland Rail Commuter engineer was urinating into a bottle when his diesel locomotive rear-ended and coupled with the northbound Amtrak Virginian. But Mr. Black cautioned that "it's not been determined one way or another whether that's the actual fact."

Republican Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia, one of the most influential voices on military matters in Congress, announced yesterday that he would not run for re-election, paving the way for a battle between Democrats and Republicans to claim his seat. Warner is a pivotal figure in the debate over what to do about the war in Iraq and is likely to be squarely in the middle of efforts to craft legislation this fall to dictate the return of U.S. troops. He has become increasingly critical of the war, and upon his return from Iraq recently, he angered the White House when he said some troops should leave by year's end. Warner, 80, is a former secretary of the Navy, former chairman of the Armed Services Committee and a World War II veteran.

WASHINGTON - The Democratic leadership in the Senate vowed yesterday to fight President Bush's nomination of Claude A. Allen, a conservative Virginian whose selection for a federal appeals court seat is vehemently opposed by Maryland's two Democratic senators. The move heightens the resistance to the Allen nomination and could lead to another bruising battle in Congress over Bush's drive to reshape the federal judiciary. To underscore his opposition to Allen, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota negotiated with Republicans to ensure that when the Senate recessed Monday for the holiday season, Allen's nomination was sent back to Bush.

WASHINGTON - The fight Maryland's senators are waging against 4th Circuit Court nominee Claude A. Allen, a Virginian whom they say would be snatching a Maryland seat, is taking its place among the many bitter partisan battles Democrats have fought this year against President Bush's conservative judicial picks. But this one is different from the straight ideological grudge matches surrounding Bush's other nominees, pitting Democrats opposed to what they call right-wing candidates against Republicans eager to advance them.

Philip Mahone, from Earlysville, Va., took a two-stroke lead with a 2-under 68 that included five front-nine birdies as the Middle Atlantic Golf Association's Men's Amateur championship opened yesterday on Baltimore Country Club's East Course. Leaders: Philip Mahone, Earlysville, Va., 30-38-68; Frank Alafoginis, Potomac, 35-35-70; Rick Wakefield, Fairfax,Va., 36-36-72; Pat Tallent, Vienna, Va., 36-37-73; Dan Hosek, Alexandria, Va., 38-36-74; Tim Dilli, Towson, 35-39-74. * Two-Woman Team: Baltimorean Andrea Kraus took care of the front nine and Lisa Schlesinger posted two birdies on the back nine, giving the pair a combined par 72 to win the Maryland State Golf Association's 10th championship at Beechtree Golf Club in Aberdeen.

WIMBLEDON, England - So, Jeff Morrison, what's the difference between playing on the tennis minor-league Challenger circuit and Wimbledon? "Here, you get a locker room and a shower," Morrison said. Such perks. But Morrison, who just might be the best modern tennis player to come out of Huntington, W.Va., continues to grow accustomed to life at the All England Club. Yesterday, Morrison became the latest lucky loser turned upset specialist at Wimbledon, defeating No. 9 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (5)

In the lounge adjoining the grand House of Delegates chamber in Annapolis, there's a 1931 history titled The Epic of America. It stands in the corner of a bookshelf, perfectly concealing two cans of hair spray: Rave Ultra Hold and Mega Hold. The juxtaposition is apt. In the hairdo-mussing final days of the General Assembly session, the House and Senate lounges are where some of the legislature's most important and most mundane moments occur. Lobbyists aren't allowed in the lounges, and reporters can go in only so long as they don't report.

NEW SECTIONMystic HarbourMystic Harbour, on 300 acres on the Sinepuxent Bay in West Ocean City, is selling 65 lots in the recently opened Goose Run section.Six waterfront lots have a view of Assateague Island National seashore.Mystic Harbour has an Olympic-size swimming pool, a playground and tennis, basketball and volleyball courts.A $40 monthly homeowner's fee covers grass cutting and the recreational facilities.To comply with zoning for the Worcester County community, only manufactured homes -- built elsewhere and brought to West Ocean City -- are allowed in Mystic Harbour, where 230 houses have already been erected.

Boston. -- When you make a living telling people what you think, you expect that people will write to tell you what they think of what you think. It's a fair enough exchange except that you're often outnumbered. Writer, 1; Readers, 101, that sort of thing.So it happened with a recent column in which I dissented from Judge Jackson Kiser's opinion upholding the all-male Virginia Military Institute. He said the state-supported school could legally ban women from its hallowed, Stonewall Jackson-haunted grounds.

WASHINGTON - Executives from competing steel companies stood shoulder to shoulder yesterday with a top union official and Sen. Jay Rockefeller in their push for President Bush to impose 40 percent tariffs on imported steel. The fate of the American steel industry is in "the cup of the hands of the president of the United States," the West Virginia Democrat said yesterday prior to a Senate committee hearing on tariffs. Imported steel that has been flowing freely into the United States has helped drive down prices and has in part lead to dozens of steel makers filing for bankruptcy protection over the past several years.

ISLE OF WIGHT, Va. - A mere mention of the phrase - "the Revolution" - sets Tom Finderson turning. "Unlike Massachusetts," says the Isle of Wight resident, "Virginia never wrote her Revolutionary War history." Here Finderson doesn't mean that the details of Yorktown are lacking. Quite the opposite. He is frustrated that the headline-grabbing battles and names have obscured the stories about men who weren't generals. A 10-year search For the past 10 years, Finderson has been intent on knowing the life of Col. Josiah Parker, a man whose story, Finderson says, has been kept only by history-minded stalwarts within Isle of Wight and the Parker family.