Vmi

Moves BASEBALL BREWERS -- Added 1B Brad Nelson to 40-man roster. Designated 3B Corey Koskie for assignment. DEVIL RAYS -- Claimed P Kurt Birkins off waivers from Orioles. RANGERS -- Claimed OF Nick Gorneault off waivers from Angels. TIGERS -- Traded P Jair Jurrjens and OF Gorkys Hernandez to Braves for SS Edgar Renteria. TWINS -- Exercised option on P Joe Nathan for 2008. BASKETBALL HEAT -- Released G Jeremy Richardson, G Brian Chase, F Marcus Slaughter and F Devin Green. NETS -- Exercised third-year options of G Marcus Williams and F Josh Boone (South Carroll)

COLLEGE PARK -- They've faced the Princeton-style offense of Western Carolina and watched the shot clock wind down Wednesday with almost each of Delaware State's possessions. Now, the Maryland men's basketball team will try to crank up the tempo again this afternoon when it faces Virginia Military Institute (5-5, 0-0 Big South) at 2 p.m. at Comcast Center. Although the 16th-ranked Terps (9-2, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) have defeated their past three non-conference opponents by a combined 70 points, coach Gary Williams said there is a lesson to be learned from each one, and today it will be transition defense - no easy layups or jump shots allowed.

Eighteen months after making a scandalous exit from La Salle, Gary Neal had a record-tying but hollow debut for Towson, which blew a 17-point lead in an 80-78 home loss to VMI last night. Neal made his first five shots and tied a Towson record with six three-pointers. The junior transfer had team highs of 28 points and eight assists, but it all went for naught as VMI scored on 17 of its last 18 possessions. "Offense wasn't a problem," Neal said. "Defense, talking and communicating with my teammates at that end, was a little bit of a struggle."

New Loyola College coach Jimmy Patsos has spent the early part of the season trying to teach the Greyhounds how to overcome youth, a stacked schedule and a recent tradition of losing. Facing Virginia Military last night at Reitz Arena, Loyola had to overcome yet another obstacle - blown leads. The Greyhounds lost advantages of 12 points at the outset and nine points with 10 minutes to play before forward Josko Alujevic tipped in Linton Hinds' miss with 9.4 seconds left to give Loyola a dramatic, 70-69 win. "The kids have been believing."

Economically, county seen `in good shape' for next few years The weather outside may be cold, but county officials maintain that Howard's economic outlook is warm and rosy. Office vacancies are down sharply, job growth is predicted to be strong and unemployment is low, and Howard's coveted AAA bond rating was recently reaffirmed by three New York bond rating houses. That means the county's bonds can attract the lowest interest rates - under 4 percent - and have the lowest risk factor.

Services will be held today in Columbia for Adrian A. Cmerek, 20, a standout athlete at River Hill High School who went on to play college football and lacrosse at Virginia Military Institute. Mr. Cmerek died Monday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center of injuries he suffered in an early-morning automobile accident last week near his Clarksville home. He was home on holiday leave from VMI in Lexington, Va., where he was a junior majoring in psychology, according to the school's athletic department.

Services will be held today in Columbia for Adrian A. Cmerek, 20, a standout athlete at River Hill High School who went on to play college football and lacrosse at Virginia Military Institute. Mr. Cmerek died Monday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center of injuries he suffered in an early-morning automobile accident last week near his Clarksville home. He was home on holiday leave from VMI in Lexington, Va., where he was a junior majoring in psychology, according to the school's athletic department.

The winter of 1864 was bleak. According to The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac 1861-1864, entry for Friday, Jan. 1, 1864, "Extreme cold swept across much of the North and South and temperatures below zero as far south as Memphis, Tenn., and Cairo, Ill., caused much suffering among the soldiers." President Abraham Lincoln's prospects for re-election were dreary. The fourth year of the war was dragging on and increasingly unpopular. Hope of a decisive military victory by the Union was dim and even dimmer for the Confederacy.

The past is present and on duty at New Market, Va., and its watchwords are "where 257 cadets from the Virginia Military Institute made the difference between victory and defeat." "The heritage [of New Market] looms over VMI," explained Scott Harris, the New Market Battlefield State Historical Park director. The Civil War battle is ingrained in the mind of every cadet, and the school's identity is rooted in the response of its 257 cadets to the call to serve. Ten died and 45 were wounded in the fighting.