The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page B01

INSIDE Convicted killer avoids return to death row. Page 2. News in brief 2 Weather .3 SECTION SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 2003 Wk iPfnlaMpfna ilnquirer WWW.PHILLY.COM 4 i Roots of Opening Day The tradition of opening day of trout season can be traced to the colonists' early attempts to conserve wildlife by banning the hunt during reproductive cycles. Milestones in hunting, fishing and conservation nationwide: Barnes: Keep audit closed ft; The request is part of the Barnes' bid to move to Phila. Lawyers say the audit could be embarrassing to some.

By Don Steinberg INQUIRER STAFF WRITER In telling a judge why it does not want to release an audit of its 1990s finances, the Barnes Foundation produced a surprise yesterday. The financial report contains "candid discussions about former personnel that might be embarrassing to these individuals if publicly disclosed," attorneys for the Barnes said in a legal filing. The filing also said that Richard Glanton, who was president of the Barnes from June 1990 to February 1998, "explicitly threatened" the accounting firm and the law firm that prepared the report "with suit if allegations investigated in connection with the report SCOTT S. HAMRICK Inquirer Suburban Staff Ron Pearson browses amid sinkers and hooks at French Creek Outfitters in Phoenixville. Pennsylvania and New Jersey are two of many states that designate an opening day of the trout season.

Why an official opening? "Boy, I just have no idea," said Charlie Meek, author of 1 0 books on trout fishing. Some think the tradition is related to the stocking of streams in the 1 880s. Anglers hit trout streams in a mysterious custom. Lure of opening day 1646: Portsmouth, R.I., establishes a closed deer season. 1675: New Jersey's wildlife regulation provides a bounty of 15 shillings for each grown wolf killed.

1694: Massachusetts becomes the first full colony to establish a closed deer season. 1722: New Jersey establishes a season closed to killing deer; nighttime hunting is outlawed in 1765. 1866: A state convention to investigate water pollution leads to establishment of the Pennsylvania Fisheries Commission. 1886: Brown trout are introduced to Pennsylvania in the form of 10,000 eggs from Germany. 1888: Rainbow trout are planted in Pennsylvania, in the Susquehanna River.

(Brown and rainbows are both introduced in New Jersey in 1913.) 1895: New Jersey begins requiring fishing licenses, with funds used for enforcement. 1922: Pennsylvania begins requiring resident fishing licenses ($1 fee). 1925: Pennsylvania sets fish limits (trout maximum: 25 per day). 1970: Brook trout, the only trout native to Pennsylvania (and New Jersey and Delaware), is named the official state fish. 1980: The longtime tradition of opening day is codified in Pennsylvania law and defined as the first Saturday after April 1 1 were made public." That was the latest bit of intrigue in the court case surrounding the Barnes Foundation's proposal to move its multibillion-dol-lar art collection from Lower Merion to Philadelphia.

Richard Glanton: Ex-Barnes head threatened to bring suit, court filing says. As a public trust, the foundation must convince Montgomery County Orphans' Court Judge Stanley Ott that moving the art ini If lF By Don Sapatkin INQUIRER STAFF WRITER A million anglers will hit trout streams in Pennsylvania and New Jersey today, an opening day ritual that reconnects long-lost buddies, passes the intricacies of fly-tying from father to son, and officially marks the end of winter and the beginning of the fisherman's spring. The tradition goes back for years. Decades, according to old-timers. And not just here: Many states around the country celebrate opening day, most in mid-April.

But why? "Boy, I just have no idea," said Charlie Meek, 70, the author of 10 books on trout fishing, eight of them still in print (and one more scheduled for publication this year). The archives of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission don't help. Press secretary Dan Tredinnick has searched back to the agency's founding, in 1866. Opening day is never mentioned. Streams here and elsewhere have been stocked since the 1880s that's in the archives so some figure the tradition has something to do with that.

It is easier to stock streams without fishermen nipping at your heels to get at the trout. But biologists say there is no scientific reason it can't be done outside the closed season, which in Pennsylvania goes from March 1 through today. In fact, the roots of the ritual appear to date back quite a ways. To 1646. The colonists, whose survival depended on the availability of fish, game and waterfowl, started noticing that wildlife populations were not what they had been, apparently the result of over-hunting.

So that year, Portsmouth, R.I., established the colonies' first known closed season, for hunting deer. The entire colony of Massachusetts Bay followed suit in 1694, according to the History of the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. The idea was to protect deer during their reproductive season. Soon, hunting of various other game animals was See TROUT on B2 Sources: "History of the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission; New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife For many, opening day is a family ritual. Here, 9-year-old Victor Luce III tries on a set of waders with the help of salesperson Leif Sybesma.

Victor was shopping with his father, Victor Luce Jr. The Luces live in Phoenixville. to a more accessible location along Benjamin Franklin Parkway and rewriting the foundation's bylaws are necessary to its survival. Glanton, a partner at a Center City law firm, did not respond to phone calls and e-mail yesterday. Contents of the forensic audit performed by accounting firm Deloitte Touche in 1999 have never been disclosed publicly, although the audit is known to document the Barnes' finances during a turbulent period when it was engaged in several lawsuits, its reported expenses rose dramatically, and it began running a budget deficit.

The Barnes argued in its filing that "what happened in 1993 through 1998 is old history" and unrelated to the current plan. It also said the report's privacy is protected by attorney-client privilege because it was prepared in collaboration with the foundation's law firm at the time, Paul, Weiss, Rif-kind, Wharton Garrison. The Barnes has rebuffed requests by outsiders to see the report, including one in 1999 by the state Attorney General. But Lincoln University, which is involved in the case because some of the proposed bylaw changes would diminish its role in governing the Barnes, has asked to see the report. Ott, who last month ordered the Barnes to give good reason why the report should stay private, yesterday seemed inclined to order its release.

"They are using their financial circumstances to justify a move," he said in an interview. "It seems to me this See FILING on B3 Two charged in sex assaults on teen patients By Chris Gray INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Two former technicians at a Montgomery County psychiatric hospital were accused yesterday of sexually assaulting teenage female patients while they were receiving treatment. Alexander DeMary, 27, and William J. Harper, 29, both of Philadelphia, worked last summer at the Progressions facility in Fort Washington, a private, 146-bed hospital also known as the Northwestern Institute of sexual later that month, after Harper suggested that they meet in a bedroom or a bathroom. They also allegedly had sex in a linen closet on the adolescent unit of the hospital, according to the police affidavit.

Police records say that Harper and the patient met several times after the girl was discharged from Progressions on June 28. The girl allegedly told police that Harper would pick her up at her house in Philadelphia, take her to bars, and buy her drinks. See ASSAULT on B3 In two incidents that were reported to police by the hospital, the men are accused of starting sexual relationships with underage girls who were admitted for mental or behavioral problems. Both men face felony charges of institutional sexual assault and sexual assault and misdemeanor charges that include corruption of minors. DeMary, of the 1900 block of Nestor Street, was arraigned before a Montgomery County district justice yesterday and released on $100,000 bail.

Harper, of the 3500 block of North 21st Street, did not turn himself in to authorities, and Whitemarsh police issued a warrant for his arrest. According to police, Harper allegedly became "very friendly" with a 16-year-old patient shortly after she was admitted to the adolescent unit of Progressions in June 2002. Harper gave the girl his cell phone number so she could contact him "at all times," police records say. The relationship allegedly turned Rainy day to give way Police captain's tack on protesters: Communicate with them. His job is to keep disobedience civil 1 mm By Robert Moran INQUIRER STAFF WRITER At first glance, Police Capt.

William Fisher seems to be leading every antiwar march in Philadelphia, striding back and forth across Center City, often to the dismay of motorists cut off by the surprise parades of protesters. But Fisher is not demonstrating against the war in Iraq. As commander of the Civil Affairs Unit, he has the job of keeping the peace at home, balancing the constitutional right of free speech with the demands of public safety. Scream till you're hoarse. Chant to your heart's content.

Bang those drums as long as no one gets hurt and no windows get broken. "No violence and no vandalism," Fisher says. "That's my definition of a successful day." After several weeks of nonviolent dem al day for a demonstration by supporters of death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Ja-mal. "It's going to be an interesting time," Fisher predicted. In 1964, facing the growing turmoil of the times, the Philadelphia Police Department formed the Civil Disobedience Squad.

Rather than having uniformed officers wielding batons and making mass arrests to deal with street demonstrations, the department sent out officers in plain clothes to establish a dialogue with the protesters. The new approach was hailed as a success. In 1966, Time magazine declared: "However small in numbers, the squad is worth a division of old-time head bashers." See PROTESTS on B2 onstrations in Philadelphia, antiwar protesters seem to be taking a break But there's always someone complaining about something. Budget cuts. Labor strife.

Mumia. And a host of other concerns. And on the horizon looms what may be the greatest challenge for Civil Affairs since the Republican National Convention in 2000: the scheduled July 4 opening of the National Constitution Center. For the gala celebration, organizers have invited President Bush and his wife, Laura, as well as all of the living former presidents and their spouses, key members of Congress, and the entire U.S. Supreme Court.

They might not all come, but a gathering of that magnitude would almost certainly draw multitudes wanting to protest something. July 4 is also a tradition ERIC MENCHER Inquirer Staff Photographer A pedestrian starts to open an umbrella as she emerges into the rain from the subway concourse at Broad and Vine Streets in Center City. In the background is the William Penn statue atop City Hall, enveloped by yesterday's rain. Today, winds and clouds are expected to clear by the afternoon; tomorrow's forecast includes relief from the week's dreary weather a breezy and sunny day..