Yocum

It took John Wathan only one year to return to the helm of a major-league team, but he would have preferred to do it under other circumstances.Wathan, dismissed a year ago yesterday as manager by the Kansas City Royals, took over the California Angels yesterday on an interim basis. He'll fill in while manager Buck Rodgers recuperates from injuries suffered early Thursday, when one of two buses carrying the team crashed on the New Jersey Turnpike en route from New York to Baltimore for a three-game series with the Orioles that began last night.

AMONG AREA SHOWS, sculptors David Yocum and Nicole Fall at Katzenstein make a happy combination, for each is outrageous in an idiosyncratic way. Yocum's pieces combine ceramic, neon, and sometimes acrylic that looks like thick plates of glass, into pieces that have some elements of landscape and also appear futuristic. In some ways they're awful, but they do exert a definite fascination; "Blue Window" looks like a bathroom basin supporting a super large bar of soap with a window in it.Fall's metal sculptures resemble some sort of sea creature mutants that have struggled to shore and are waiting for anything to love them.

Pete Rose is going to play Ty Cobb in a made-for-TV movie titled "The Babe Ruth Story.""It's something that just came in out of the blue," said Cal Levy, the partner at Hamilton Projects in Cincinnati who handles Rose. "It's not a huge role or anything, so they must have figured they didn't need a name actor to play the part."And you have to admit," he added, "it is a nice twist on things."Rose broke Cobb's career-hit record when he got No. 4,192 in September 1985.Rose, who has been banned from baseball after being accused of betting on games, could not be reached for comment about the movie.

Nolan Ryan was put on the 15-day disabled list yesterday by the Texas Rangers because of continuing problems with his right shoulder.The 44-year-old pitcher was examined Monday by Dr. Lewis Yocum, a longtime friend and orthopedic specialist for the California Angels. Yocum said he does not consider the problem be serious.* YANKEES: George Steinbrenner, the team's principal owner, might be planning to engineer the dismissal of Robert Nederlander as the club's managing partner, The New York Times reports in today's editions.

From: Kathy YocumEllicott CityHere it is -- Sunday morning. I open my Howard County Sun to see what is going on in my little corner of the world.Well, that was a mistake.I've turned to Page 5, where a News Brief headline reads: "Ecker, Gray plan bill to end growth cap." I'm so mad I can't evenread the article.End growth cap!?!These two people haven't been riding around the county lately!Just ride down routes 104, 103, 108, 99.No growth -- what a joke!If these two people cannot manage our county on the tax base we currently have, maybe they should step down and let people who can have their jobs.

MOUNT AIRY - More than anything, Susan G. Hornick wanted to live for her children, to see them through their growing years.That wish gave her the will to fight against cancer for nearly two years.At 4:45 p.m. Monday, though, the 33-year-old mother of Danny, 12, and Ashley, 5, lost her battle."Her body just gave out on her," said her friend, Cathy Davis. "She fought so hard to be here with those kids. She was so involved in all they did."Carol C. Yocum, Hornick's friend and pastor of Calvary United Methodist Church, echoed those sentiments.