The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • Page 26

MarylandObituaries Page 4b Thursday, February 20, 1997 The Sun nns ATT1A John Bartels, oldest sitting 99, nations federal judge i DOUG KAPU8TIN BUN STAFF Rest Stop: Don LeMay, a 65 -year-old Pasadena after a long bike ride. It's spring in February Weatherjrom Page 1b around children with bread scraps as if they hadn't been fed in months. The bathing suits and surfboards in a store window looked oddly appropriate. The birds seemed to chirp a bit louder. Tim Hutcherson, manager of the Ben and Jerry's ice cream store near the water, said he can remember only a handful of winter days this pleasant, and he hoped to profit from it.

Sales increase "We've definitely done a little better than usual," Hutcherson said. "We expect to do very good by the time we close today. Usually weekdays aren't so good in the winter. It's tough to be stuck in here, but I'll get my chance to enjoy the weather." Hutcherson can thank a high pressure system that moved north from the Gulf Coast for yesterday's sales increase. The lingering system should keep temperatures in the lower 50s for the next few days.

That's not such good news for Jennifer Curreri, who has the challenge of trying to sell coffee at a Vaccaro's stand in Harborplace. Curreri seemed to have more requests for bottled water than hot coffee yesterday. Trouble is she doesn't sell bottled water. "This is definitely slow," she said. "I'd much rather be in here Michael Olesker at Downs Memorial Park in "We must have really messed up the environment to have the seasons this sporadic.

It's terrific weather, but it's kind of sad when you think about it." Said Fred GadomsM, a meteorologist at Pennsylvania State University: "Nothing about the weather patterns, when I analyze them, makes me say, 'Oh my god, I can't believe It's just a warm southwesterly flow. "That it has been mild this winter compared to last winter is stunning, but it's not going be one of the mildest winters ever." Golfers around the state merely thanked Mother Nature for the fluky weather. Towson State senior Mike Gately was sitting in class watching students flock to "the beach," an outdoor hangout in the center of campus. Eventually, Gately got sick of watching his shorts-wearing peers frolic in the sunlight and decided to have some fun of his own. Gately blew off his last class and headed for the greens.

'Golf or "I was getting spring fever just looking out the window," Gately said. "After a while I couldn't take it anymore. Sometimes you have to make a stand. Golf or class? It's not that hard of a decision." Chances are, Gately encountered chaos at the course. The overflow of would-be golfers nearly overwhelmed the staff at Baltimore's Clifton Park.

Golf carts lined the path leading to the first green waiting up to three hours to tee off. Men in suits gathered at the practice green to do a little putting before heading back to work. Others had trouble just finding a parking spot, much less chippingoutofa sand trap. Roy Harper, who handles the golf carts at Clifton Park, said the crowds caught him by surprise. Twenty carts were scheduled for repairs yesterday, he said, adding to the confusion.

"This is unbelievable for the dead of winter," Harper said. "Totally amazing." Twelve people were still waiting to get on the course at 2:30 p.m. Chuck Davies, said he had to turn at least 30 golfers away, pointing to his schedule book as proof. "I've been doing this seven years, and I've never seen anything like this in February," Davies said. "Most of the time it snows in February.

I think the wait is worse than it is in the summer because people have been cooped up all winter. Everybody came out of the woodwork." Who could blame them? business targeted with law Page 1b "arisen over who should be allowed to operate a home-based business, how much space the business can occupy in a home and what kinds of equipment should be permitted. Mike Britton ran a successful Amway business from his home for 10 years before county zoning officers closed him down for storing detergents, cleaning supplies and other Amway products at his home. "I actually struggled like I was wounded for two years," said Britton, who today operates a lawn-care business and keeps his equipment away from his Mays Chapel home. Allen Perlin and his wife, Lynn, potters who live in Timonium, ran afoul of the zoning laws after someone lodged an anonymous complaint when they advertised a pottery sale at their home.

"For the first time we realized we can make anything we want, but we can't store it," he said. They now keep their wares in friends' houses. And although county officials have never cited anyone for having office equipment at home, the current law says the owner of a home-based business cannot have "mechanical equipment" unless It "may be used for domestic purposes" which wouldn't apply to computers and fax machines used mainly for business. The proposed law would divide home-based occupations into three categories, according to their impact on surrounding neighborhoods. A business such as Garrity's with only one employee and few regular visitors would have the right to operate without permits in residential and rural conservation areas.

Home-based business owners who receive 10 to 25 visitors a week or store commodities at home would have to apply for annual permits. They also might have to take their request to a zoning commissioner if neighbors requested it. A third class medical offices would be allowed by a special exception only if they fronted a major street and were in a residential neighborhood of single-family, detached homes. Dr. Pat Lewis, an Owings Mills dentist, says the proposed law would make it more difficult for medical practitioners to work at home.

She has been trying to win a special permit to work out of her home on Winands Road since last fall. The zoning commissioner denied her request after neighbors complained her office would create too much traffic. The proposed law's requirement that a medical office be on a main road would make it impossible for her to win a permit to practice at home, she said. "They would be making it more stringent." Some community leaders want more time to study the proposal before the planning board votes. Justin King, past president of the Greater Towson Council of Community Associations and a member of the advisory committee, said, "On its face, it appears to be a good bill the planning board can work with.

But the communities don't feel they've had enough of a chance to review the legislation to give insightful testimony before the planning board." Richard Parsons, a West Tow-son resident who also served on the advisory committee, points out that the proposal doesn't answer such questions as what would happen to existing home-based businesses that did not comply with the new law. Another complaint, he says, is that the formula used for calculating the space a home business may occupy is too vague. Hillorie Morrison, the planner who has been in charge of crafting the legislation, says there is plenty of time to solicit opinions from community associations and make changes. "It's just the beginning of the process." Although changes are likely before the County Council votes on the proposed law, the Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce supports its intent, says Stuart D. Kaplow, the group's legislative vice president.

The Maryland Home-Based Business Association also Is backing the bill. Don Grauel, a member of the association's board of directors, said, "Our goal wasn't so much to revolutionize zoning laws as evolu-tionlze them. Our best hope has now been realized." Today's hearing on the proposed law will be at 5:30 p.m. in Room 106 of the County Office Building, 111 W. Chesapeake 'Towson.

By Fred Rasmussen John R. Bartels, a senior federal judge of the Eastern District of New York and former Baltlmor-ean, died Feb. 13 of heart failure In Brooklyn, N.Y. He was 99 and had been the oldest sitting federal judge in the nation. "He was still sitting on cases up until six months ago," said a son, lawyer John R.

Bartels Jr. of Stamford, Conn. "He'd walk to the courthouse each day from his house and, at the end of the day, walk back home." Judge Bartels, the son of a lawyer-accountant, was born and raised on Lake Avenue. He was a 1916 graduate of Polytechnic Institute. He worked in the Bethlehem Steel Sparrows Point shipyards during the early days of World War I before enlisting in the Army and serving with a cavalry unit.

He earned his bachelor's degree from the Johns Hopkins University in 1920 and his law degree from Harvard in 1923. He was admitted to the New York state bar in 1924. "Hopkins gave him the opportunities that opened up his life, and he never forgot them," his son said. He was founder and first president of the Johns Hopkins Club of New York and received the university's Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1967. He specialized in general civil litigation and corporate law before being appointed to the federal bench by President Dwight D.

Eisenhower in 1959. He retired in 1973 but continued to hear cases as a senior judge at the Eastern District courthouse in Brooklyn. He made his home in Brooklyn Heights. Judge Bartels heard a variety of high-profile cases during his long career and was past 90 when he presided over the 1989 trial of Gene Gotti, brother of convicted mob boss John Gotti. Gene Gotti was convicted of operating a multimillion-dollar heroin ring.

Until recently, Judge Bartels traveled by train to Baltimore once or twice a month to visit friends and dine at Haussner's. "He was considered a tough judge but he really had a soft heart," said former Rep. Helen Delich Bentley, who often dined with him at the famous Eastern Avenue restaurant. Judge Bartels and Anne Bell Willson were married in 1930. She died in 1967.

He is survived by another son, William G. Bartels of Brooklyn Heights; five grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter. Graveside services will be held at 1 p.m. today at Parkwood Cemetery, 3310 Taylor Ave. in Northeast Baltimore.

FrancisJ.PirogSr.,67, founded Oriole Contractors Francis J. Pirog the founder of a residential contracting company who formerly owned and operated a Dundalk motorcycle and boat dealership, died of a heart attack Friday while exercising at Bel Air Athletic Club. He was 67 and a KingsviUe resident. In 1981, he founded Oriole Contractors in KingsviUe, from which he retired as president last year. The business is operated by a son.

From 1957 to 1979, he owned and operated Frankie Johnny's, a motorcycle and boat dealership he had started on North Point Boulevard. The son of Polish immigrants, "ffthe city says it vMgive no money at all, we will cbsedown," Sally Zinno, the museum's executive director quickly. Last year, the museum embarked on a multimillion-dollar reconstruction of its newest showpiece: the Morton K. Blaustein City Life Exhibition Center on South Front Street. The museum's history campus at Lombard and Front streets includes the 1821 Carroll Mansion, the 1840 House, the Center for Urban Archaeology, Brewer's Park and the Courtyard Gallery.

It also operates the Shot Tower on Fayette Street, the Peale Museum and the H. L. Mencken House in Union Square. Museum officials said yesterday that all they can do is wait for a response from the mayor and hope for the best. Stupid? Childish? Maybe, but real men don't forgive retired steel worker, naps on a bench "You have to take advantage of weather like this." Charles Wilson, extending his lunch break to take in the scenery from the Light Street Pavilion.

on days when it's busy than have nothing to do and not be able to enjoy it outside." If the waterfalls on Pratt Street were running and a crowd was cheering at Camden Yards, it could have passed for a summer day downtown. People were piled in line waiting to enjoy summer seafood cuisine at Phillips. Benches, wall tops and steps were full with workers enjoying their lunches in the breeze. Three blenders loaded with fruit shakes were churning at once to accommodate the crowd. Charles Wilson was one of many extending their lunch break to take in the scenery.

Wilson said he normally works out in the afternoon but couldn't pass up a chance to sip a soda and gaze at the harbor from the second-floor of the Light Street Pavilion. "You can put the groundhog back in the ground, this is spring," Wilson said. "You have to take advantage of weather like this. But it's a mixed thing when you start to think about it. he asked if we could talk.

He said he wanted us to be pals again. He said he didn't want the two of us to wind up as old men living in Miami Beach, wondering what all the years of silence were about. I haven't talked to him since. You know why? Because he said nothing about doing me dirty. This, he brushed aside.

It was like Germany saying, Let's be friends, and never mind that business about World Warn. This is what Alomar and Hirschbeck are now thinking. Each believes he is the victim and is bathing in the warm bath of self-righteousness, and will never let it go, no matter what language Is used in public. All perceived injustice provokes a response of precisely equal anger. The deeper the anger, and the longer it continues, the more you become committed to that anger.

To let it go is to admit that perhaps the injustice wasn't so bad, or perhaps you overreacted, or perhaps time should be allowed to heal all wounds. This is the same as saying: Maybe I was wrong. And this, naturally, Is unthinkable. Was Roberto Alomar wrong to spit? Of course. Can we understand his anger that Hirschbeck refuses to admit he provoked the spit? Of course.

Is Alomar crazy to let his agent reopen the wounds as the new season approaches? Well, would you want to be Alomar with two strikes against you and Hirschbeck's behind home plate? As for Hirschbeck, was he victimized by Alomar? Of course. Was he insulted by Alomar's insensitive remarks about Hirschbeck's child's terrible Illness? Of course. But, might Hirschbeck have shown a little more grace, since he subsequently threatened to kill Alomar and since Alomar donated huge money to medical research into the disease that afflicted Hirschbeck's child? Of course. But each man now nurtures his wounds too deeply to give them up. Each is emotionally invested in his anger.

It's what men do. Of course, this is why nations go to war. NEWBOAY Judge John R. Bartels received the Johns Hopkins Univer- sity's Distinguished Alumnus Awardinl967. he was born and raised in High-landtown.

He was a 1948 graduate of Mount St. Joseph High School and attended Peabody Institute. A gardener, Mr. Pirog designed an elaborate Japanese garden around a pond that he had constructed. The three-quarter-acre garden featured roses' and rare fish.

He was a member of Polish Home Club Inc. on Broadway. He taught catechism at St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church, 8023 Bradshaw Road in Bradshaw, where he was a communicant and a Mass of Christian burial was offered Tuesday He is survived by his wife of 42 years, the former Elizabeth McGuire; two sons, Francis J. Pirog Jr.

of Bel Air and Brian J. Pirog of Kingsville; two daughters, Mary Ellen Kourey and Michele F. Michael, both of Bel Air; a brother, Joseph Pirog of Baltimore; and six grandchildren. Florence F.O'Donnell, 84, secretary and homemaker Florence F. O'Donnell, a retired secretary and homemaker, died Sunday at Stella Maris Hospice after a three-year struggle with cancer.

She was 84 and lived in Towson. Mrs. O'Donnell retired in 1977 from the State Department of Education, where she had worked since 1969. Earlier, she was a medical secretary for a number of Baltimore area physicians. She was born Florence Reich In Catonsville, where she graduated from high school in 1930.

She attended business school before be-; ginning her secretarial career. She was married in 1939 to Thomas J. O'Donnell, a former Sun reporter and war correspond-; ent who was later an aide to Mayor Thomas J.D'Alesandro Jr. In addition to her husband, she is survived by two sons, Dr. Thorn- as J.

O'Donnell Jr. of Wittman and Francis J. O'Donnell of Kensing-; ton; and two grandchildren. Services were private. Elsewhere CoL Alfredo Enrique Peralta Azurdia, 88, a former Guatemalan president, died yesterday of natural causes in a Guatemala City military hospi- tal, army spokesman Col.

Edgar Noe Palacios said. The army installed Colonel Peralta, then defense minister, as! president in 1963, a year after the first Guatemalan guerrilla groups formed and nine years after civil-; ian rule was overturned by a CIA- backed coup. In 1966, he was re-1 place by elected president Julio; Cesar Mendez Montenegro. T. Christopher Pettit, 51, a former president of Lehman Bros.

Inc. i who helped build the company's bond trading business, was killed Saturday in a snowmobile acci-; dent in Maine. He was thrown from his snowmobile while riding on Little Sebago Lake with friend. His helmet flew off and he hit his head on the snowmobile, authorities said. i i Ellis B.

Bodron, 73, a blind former! state senator whose influence over Mississippi's finances spanned two decades, died Monday in' Jackson, from brain cancer. He spent 36 years in the Legislature, 32 of which were in the Senate. He lost a re-election bid In 1984. Mr. Bodron, who lost his sight as a child, served on the Council Association of Americans with Disabilities from 1991 to 1996.

Emily Hahn, 92, who wrote a handbook on seduction and covered the Chinese revolution for the New Yorker, died Tuesday in New York. Ms. Hahn wrote 54 books on a wide range of subjects, such as animal communication, feminism and diamonds. Her first book, "Seduction ad Absurdum: The Principals and Practices of Seduction A Beginner's Handbook," was published in 1930. City Life Museums threatens to close, seeks public funding Olesker, from Page 1b You wonder why this business between Alomar and Hirschbeck resurfaces? Better, you should be amazed if it didn't.

Five months after the argument known as Great Expectorations, Alomar's marketing agent now says the umpire Hirschbeck should apologize for the nasty thing he said that prompted Alomar to hoist a wet one. Hirschbeck replies, with the language of all great male diplomacy, Get lost. And Orioles owner Peter Angelos, never one to miss a chance to mix in, says he's tired of Alomar taking all the heat over this and wants Hirschbeck to admit he said a bad name. If everyone is honest about this and they won't be, because that's also part of the male pattern they'll admit that the Alomar-Hirschbeck feud will never be forgotten. Each guy thinks he's been dissed; each will nurture the slight for the rest of his career, while claiming publicly, no, no, I'm a professional, I'm cool, I'm putting all this anger behind me; and then go Into retirement years from today and give speeches in which he feels the anger afresh with each telling of this momentous baseball confrontation and fail to notice he's now boring everyone in the room.

Holding onto the anger, it's what we do. Does anyone forgive Irsay for moving? Do we forgive Nixon for giving us Watergate, or Eisenhower for giving us Nixon? I got a black eye from a classmate on Liberty Heights Avenue outside Howard Park Elementary School on a spring afternoon in 1957, and I'm still trying to find that kid, because I got a lot taller since then and I'm pretty sure I can take him now. Children's stuff, sure. But men being who we are still idiotically embracing the playground ethic forever we hold onto boyish things. Including, wishing to punch out anybody who ever slighted us and we imagined it a crime against all humanity.

I used to know a guy who did me real dirty. I went years without speaking to him, an then one day City Life, from Page 1b $837,000 a year, a total of nearly $4.2 million. "We're saying We have the agreement. We didn't meet said board chairwoman Marcella Schuyler. "This is yet another sad case of people not having the resources to do what they want." The museum is in financial trouble because there aren't enough private donations, paying visitors or corporate sponsorships to cover operating costs in a city with 27 other museums, Zinno said.

Schuyler said they have no plans to sell museum collectibles that are from Baltimore or Maryland. Instead, they would sell pieces from elsewhere. City Life officials have discussed selling pieces to local museums first. Because City Life Museums once was part of the city, it is unclear who owns some of the collectibles, Zinno said. Critics say that City Life is in trouble because it expancjpd too.