The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • A1

EH! THE SUN HOWARD COUNTY Tuesday, December 3, 2002 Baltimore, Maryland 50 cents Bush has low hopes on Iraq miM HiH -H 'lft 9H MHrcfllfllKf ALGERINA PERNA SUN STAFF Martin O'Malley and former Mayor Thomas J. D'Alesandro III talk during a meal in Little Italy. O'Malley finds a confidant in a predecessor also has great political instincts." For his part, D'Alesandro seems to relish his role as elder statesman and is content to play it behind the scenes. Let his kid sister Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the newly elected House minority leader be the high-profile politician in the family.

If D'Alesandro, now retired, can help in a quiet way, he is glad to do it. "A lot of times, you get the feeling that no matter what the administration is, constructive criticism is See Mayors, 4a JED KIRSCHBAUM SUN STAFF Inauguration Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. and his wife, Sandy, watch a presentation of colors by three county honor guards during the swearing-in ceremony for him and other county officials. Yesterday's event was at the Towson University's Towson Center arena.

(Article, Page 8b) Bargain-hunting consumers grant stores' fondest wishes But retailers need to keep promoting, experts say By Lorraine Mirabella and Scott Banerjee SUN STAFF Bargain-hungry consumers went on a spending spree over the post-Thanksgiving weekend, sparking hope of a better-than-expected holiday season for retailers. But stores will need to keep promoting heavily to meet if America's Research Group, which tracks consumer trends, said retailers will need to rely on big discounts to boost holiday sales over last year's figures. "It may hurt their profits slightly, but the alternative is worse," Beemer said. "If you don't do much business and have good margins, you're dead anyway. Retailers are somewhat in a Catch-22." On Friday and Saturday, shoppers spent $12.6 billion an increase of 12.3 percent and 9 percent, respectively, over the two days after Thanksgiving last year, according to Chicago-based consultant ShopperTrak RCT.

Sales growth was twice as strong as the year-to-date pace of 5 percent. By comparison, last year's sales on Black Friday which came 10 weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks grew only 2.7 percent over 2000. "There were lots of bargains and lots of See Shopping, 6a President says actions by Hussein show he is not on 'path of compliance' List of weapons due Sunday Quick military response unlikely, even if demands are not met, officials say By David L. Greene SUN NATIONAL STAFF WASHINGTON President Bush warned Saddam Hussein yesterday that he had less than a week to fully disclose his weapons programs.

Bush offered scant hope that the Iraqi regime would comply with this and other international demands, calling Iraq's behavior so far "not encouraging." The president's bleak assessment came as Hussein faces a Sunday deadline, under a United Nations Security Council resolution, to catalog for the world his weapons of mass destruction. "That declaration," Bush said in a speech at the Pentagon, "must be credible and complete, or the Iraqi dictator will have demonstrated to the world once again that he has chosen not to change his behavior." White House officials said it was unlikely that Bush would take any immediate military action against Iraq, even if Hussein denies Sunday that he possesses any weapons of mass destruction. Rather, they said, U.S. intelligence officials would likely share with inspectors what they have learned about Iraqi weapons programs to help contest Hussein's claims. At the same time, Bush began to build a case See Bush, 5a More inside Sun Journal: Say what you will about President Bush's intelligence just not in a British TV spot.

Page 2a Al-Qaida: Statement on Islamic Web site claims responsibility for hotel blast, jetliner attack. Page 14a During 13 seasons in Baltimore, Dave McNally played a big part in the emergence of the Orioles. The biggest victory of his career, however, did not come on a pitcher's mound. Mr. McNally and Andy Messersmith changed the financial face of Major League Baseball forever when they See McNally, 10a SUN FILE 1969 Guidance: Baltimore's mayor takes his most delicate problems to Thomas J.

D'Alesandro III, a trusted friend and adviser. By Laura Vozzella SUN STAFF By all accounts, Thomas J. D'Alesandro III had had his fill of City Hall by 1971. He'd been mayor for a single but tumultuous term, marked by the 1968 riots, racial strife and strikes by city laborers, bus drivers, even symphony musicians. "It's all over," he told reporters as he left office to resume his private law practice.

"I'm all through." But three decades and four mayors later, D'Alesandro is back as an informal adviser to Mayor Martin O'Malley, who consults him on some of the stickiest City Hall issues and appointed him to serve as a Housing Authority commissioner, a volunteer post. O'Malley has had prickly relations with one of his predecessors, William Donald Schaefer. But he and the 73-year-old man still known as "Young Tommy" seem to have forged a rare political friendship, one based on mutual respect rather than quid pro quos. This despite Schaef-er's contention that the 39-year-old O'Malley doesn't listen to anyone older than 40. "He's been a great source of advice and counsel, especially when stuff is hitting the fan," O'Malley said.

"Everybody who tries to pour advice into your ear does it with some sort of bias or agenda. He's got no agenda, nothing to gain. He's just happy to contribute. He INSIDE It takes a galaxy to raise a young star Lots of young performers have stage moms. Chad Williams, a Ran-dallstown 12 -year-old on the road with the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, gets his own supporting cast.

Page 1e Weather Partly sunny. High, 29; low, 15. Yesterday's airport high, 47; low, 25. Page 14b Bridge Classified 5e Editorials 10b Horoscope 18a 5e 2b 3e 5e Comics 6e Crosswords 6-7e Deaths 9b Lottery Movies Television SunSpot The Sun on the Internet: htt sunspot The Sun's 166th Year: No. 337 08345N0 0002' 1 2 3 High court to take up affirmative action cases 3 white students challenge U.

of Mich, policy designed to increase racial diversity NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON The decades-long wait for the Supreme Court to return to the heated topic of affirmative action in university admissions ended yesterday when the justices announced they would review two cases challenging the University of Michigan's consideration of race to ensure a diverse student body for its law school and undergraduate program. Coming a generation after the Bakke decision in 1978 invalidated the use of fixed racial quotas but upheld diversity as a valid goal, the new cases, to be decided by early summer, are certain to attract enormous attention and to renew a debate that has never completely died down. The court in these cases could prohibit the use of race in university admissions, allow its widespread use to continue or pronounce new standards for evaluating affirmative action case by case. Getting the issue back on the Supreme Court's docket is the culmination of a long litigation campaign by a public interest group here, the Center for Individual Rights, which opposes affirmative action and helped recruit the three unsuccessful white applicants who are the plaintiffs in the two cases. One, Barbara Grutter, applied to the University of Michigan Law School, one of the most selective in the country, in 1996 at the age of 43.

The two white students who failed to win admission to the university's College of Literature, Science and the Arts, the basic undergraduate program, are Jennifer Gratz and Patrick Ha- See Court, 7a More inside Sodomy laws: Court to review how much protection the Constitution offers in the bedroom. Page 7a not beat last year's holiday sales, retail experts said. After several months of slow consumer spending, retailers slashed prices after Thanksgiving by up to 80 percent, and shoppers responded, jamming malls and shopping centers. "This is one of the best years we've ever had," said Cindy Win-ningham, manager of Bead Wear, a jewelry kiosk at Towson Town Center. She said that sales had started to pick up early last month.

Britt Beemer, chairman of Metro system. Officials say the line from Bethesda to New Car-rollton would speed the commutes of thousands of workers who rely on slow, crowded buses. But the country club says the line would force it to move the 15th tee and realign the greens on the 1st, 14th and 17th holes. In an unusual show of force, members have held fund-raisers for politicians who oppose the route, and the club has given thousands of dollars to anti-Purple Line lobbyists. Opponents call the project an environmental disaster because the trains would run at surface level on a quiet, leafy trail used by bikers and hikers.

The trail happens to bi- See Metro, 8a DAVE McNALLY 1942 2002 Orioles pitching great dies; led struggle for free agency ANDRE F. CHUNG SUN STAFF Purple Line opponents Ira Shesser (left), John Warnock and Ed Finn, all of Chevy Chase, walk on the Capital Crescent Trail. Plan to extend Washington's Metro tees off golfers and users of trail Key figure challenged baseball's reserve clause, clinched '66 Series for O's By Peter Schmuck SUN STAFF Pitcher Dave McNally, one of the cornerstones of the greatest starting rotation in Orioles history and a key figure in baseball's economic revolution of the 1970s, died of cancer Sunday night in his hometown of Billings, Mont. He was 60. Longtime Orioles fans might remember Mr.

McNally best for his world title-clinching 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1966 and a string of four straight 20-win seasons from 1968 to 1971. He and Orioles pitchers Jim Palmer, Mike Cuel-lar and Pat Dobson in 1971 became the first four 20-game winners on the same team since 1920. Purple Line would bisect Montgomery country club By Stephen Kiehl SUN STAFF CHEVY CHASE The 15th hole at the Columbia Country Club is 365 yards of paradise. Golfers chase dimpled balls down fairways framed by majestic oak and pine trees. Too bad, golfers say, that the state wants to run a train through it.

More precisely, the state wants to run at least 100 trains through the golf course every day as part of the Purple Line extension of the Washington.