The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • 41

SECTION Weather Obituaries THURSDAY FEBRUARY 23, 1989 cnc THE SUN MICHAEL Troubled marriage blamed in murder-suicide Mr. Perry turned the gun on himself and committed suicide. The couple's daughter was taken to Howard County General Hospital, where she received treatment for emotional distress. She and her older brother are staying with friends of the family in Columbia. The killings stunned the couple's neighbors and Mr.

Perry's friends, who described him as a "straight-up guy" and a "happy-go-lucky" man who seemed to be in fine spirits as late as Tuesday afternoon. That afternoon he had traded in a See COUPLE, ed two nearby houses while six officers armed with M-16 rifles and 9mm semiautomatic pistols waited In the rain outside the home In the iOOOO block of Kings Bench Court. It was not until 4:30 a.m. that the officers were ordered to enter the couple's home. Upstairs, they found Mr.

Perry, dressed in slacks and a long-sleeve sweater, face down on the floor next to the bed with a bullet wound in his head and his revolver next to him. Mrs. Lee was still under the covers, and officers on the scene said it seemed as if she was still sleeping. Police said they do not know when The shooting awakened Jennifer, who ran from the room screaming. Her brother, Christopher Lee, 18, heard her yelling, came running from another bedroom and took her to the home of a neighbor, who called police.

Before leaving the house, Sergeant Park said, Christopher looked into his mother's bedroom and saw that she had been shot and that his stepfather was still kneeling Just to the right of her bed. Police treated the incident as a barricade situation, the sergeant said. They tried to make telephone contact with Mr. Perry and evacuat Report on Dukeland nursing home cites abuse and neglect police spokesman. Mrs.

Lee, 42, was asleep in an upstairs bedroom with her daughter, Jennifer Lee, when Mr. Perry let himself into their darkened home in Burleigh Manor about 1 :30 a.m. He had moved to a friend's home in Baltimore on Friday when the couple decided to separate. Mr. Perry, 35, a Maryland Toll Facilities police officer, walked upstairs to his wife's room, knelt beside her bed, muttered a few words that may have awakened her and then shot her three times in the head with his service revolver, Sergeant Park said.

Hopkins protest i i 'iTt 'Iti' i 111 if fj i i I i .1 i' 1 By Michael J. Clark Howard County Bureau of The Sun On the surface, at least, Rayford Perry and Victoria Lee seemed to be living the American dream. They had two children, an income of nearly $75,000 and an expensive home in one of Ellicott City's finest neighborhoods. But it all came to a tragic end early yesterday as Mr. Perry, apparently distraught that his marriage was breaking up, fatally shot his wife in front of their 7-year-old daughter and killed himself, said Sgt.

Angus Park, a Howard County Chief researcher in flawed study given restriction Hopkins censures eye doctor for 2 years By Patricia Meisol A. Edward Maumenee, a leading doctor in the prevention and cure of blindness, has been barred from directing or overseeing research projects for two years by the Johns Hopkins medical school for violating generally accepted research rules, according to a report obtained yesterday by The Sun. Dr. Maumenee. 75, a trustee of the Johns Hopkins Hospital and for 24 years the director of the hospital's eye institute, was the senior researcher on a project Hopkins found to be flawed.

Dr. Maumenee could not be reached yesterday, and his lawyer said he had no comment. According to Hopkins' report on its Investigation into the project. Dr. Maumenee broke the rules governing clinical research on humans and failed to meet his responsibilities in supervising a resident physician and as the senior co-author on a paper written by a trainee.

"Dr. Maumenee should not serve as a principal investigator or supervisor of the research of others for a period of two years," the report reads. r- On Tuesday, the medical school said a 1985 article published in the journal Ophthalmology by Dr. Maumenee and others should be corrected by its authors. 77 The journal article was written by Schetler C.

G. Tseng, a tormer resident of the Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute at Hopkins in 1983 and 1984. 1 he paper reported encouraging results with a Vitamin A treat- ment of 22 patients suffering from dry eye disease. In its Investigation, Hopkins was able to locate and review only 17 of the patient records involved. In addition to limiting Dr.

Mau-menee's research activities, the Hopkins committee report said Dr. Tseng would receive a "letter of admonition" for using a drug on patients that had been prepared for use in rabbits, for inaccuracies in his article, for failing to retain his records and for "factual inconsistencies in his testimony" to an ad hoc committee examining his research. He is now at the Bascom-Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami. Both Dr. Maumenee and Dr.

Tseng hold stock in a public company founded by Dr. Maumenee to test and sell the drug they wrote about. The company. Spectra Pharmaceutical Services Is the subject of several investigations and a stockholder lawsuit. The remaining authors received no such penalties, although a spokeswoman for the medical See REPORT, lOE.Col.

1 OLESKEft ay rV Sports adviser makes a mockery of his retirement Charlie Eckman is ad-libbing his way through a noontime in Little Italy with all the subtlety of brass bands. Lunching at Sabatino's. waving a cigar like a man orchestrating his own monologue, Eckman is pausing between episodes in what is laughingly called his doing TV commercials for seven different companies, hosting a World Series of Handicapping at two out-of-state racetracks, lecturing here and there, raising decibel levels everywhere, serving as consultant to the governor of Maryland on sports. "Yeah, the governor," Eckman says now, referring to William Donald Schaefer in a voice not unlike an MTA bus backfiring over the 41st Street Bridge. "The only reason Schaefer's governor and I'm not is City College." The two were classmates there some years back, along with someone named Abie Helfant, who apparently studied.

"That's the only reason Schaefer's governor instead of me," Eckman says again, in case somebody on Fawn Street missed it the first time. "Schaefer could see Abie Hel-fant's test paper and I couldn't. He had better eyesight, that's all. He gets the and I wind up going to the racetrack." "Speaking of which," says a guy across the lunch table, "why don't you get me a Pimlico pass?" 'Cause you're a gangster," Eckman says, reasonably enough. "Oh, yeah," the guy says.

"I knew there was a reason." Around the table, everybody laughs. Eckman carries a good time Into a room. After a few decades of coaching and a few decades referee-ing and a few decades broadcasting sports, he says he's been discovered like a brand new debutante. "I'm hotter than a $3 bill." he declares, while a waitress patiently hovers over him. "Would you like to order?" she asks.

"What's that Italian soup?" Eckman says. "Minestrone," the waitress says. "Yeah, minestrone," says Eckman. "Played second base for the Tigers, didn't her Two years ago. at 65, he retired from his daily sportscasting at WFBR radio.

Married to the same saintly (she'd have to be) woman for four decades, he's the father of four, grandfather of three, and will become a great-grandfather this spring. "Had to get out of radio," he explains. "I got tired of getting up 4:45 every morning. Sometimes, I didn't get in till then. I'd get to the studio and not know where I was.

That got a little tiresome." Two days after he retired, the phone rang. It was Schaefer, asking what plans he had for himself. None, said Eckman. Meet me in Annapolis, said Schaefer. The next thing Eckman knew, he was a paid consultant on sports for the state of Maryland.

"And me not even being from somewhere else," says Eckman. It's a favorite old line of his: Around here, the definition of an expert is a guy from out of town. Schaefer knew better. Abie Helfant aside, the governor knew Eckman as a shrewdie, a fellow with a See OLESKER. 2E.

Col. 1 MARYLAND A proposal to charge parents whose disabled children are cared for by the state is defeated unanimously by the state House Ways and Means Committee. 5E The BSO plans to raise subscription prices by 7 percent next year to offset losses caused by cancellations during the recently ended strike. 8E A Meineke Discount Muffler Shop in Northwest Baltimore is fined by the Environmental Protection Agency in a probe of the installation of catalytic converters on cars. 12E Index Obituaries 10E Weather 12E Political science major Kirk Rule was among the protesters outside the Johns Hopkins University's Milton S.

Eisenhower Library yesterday as the university trustees met behind closed doors to approve a long-term financial plan. (Article on Page 9E) By Jonathan Bor State health officials issued a searing report yesterday on life at a West Baltimore nursing home where employees abused patients and threatened them not to complain, mice crawled on patients and chewed on feeding tubes, and nurses falsified records to hide suspicious incidents. The inspection report, released 12 days after health officials ordered a ban on new admissions at the Dukeland Nursing and Convalescent Home, describes a man suffering from cerebral palsy who broke his leg last October when an unidentified man there struck him. And early this month, he broke the same leg again when a nursing assistant was moving him into his wheelchair and heard his leg snap, according to accounts from the employee and patient cited In the report. The man waited five days to report the injury to staff "due to fear," according to an entry in the patient's medical chart.

"In the four years I've been here, this is the worst that I've seen in one time and place," said Henry E. Schwartz, director of the office of license and certification, speaking of conditions undercovered at Dukeland during a 10-day inspection that ended last Thursday. Inspectors found filthy conditions throughout the nursing home, including an infestation of mice so pervasive that droppings were found in dining rooms, cupboards and medicine cabinets. They also discovered malfunctioning "call buttons" that left patients without a way to summon nurses for help. Steven Diamond, one of Duke-land's two owners, refused to comment yesterday on the findings.

Mr. Schwartz said he referred the report to the state's attorney's office assault rifles the foundation for doing something on the issue," he said. On separate gun legislation, the committee voted 11-8 to kill a bill that would have required individuals who sell handguns to other individuals to provide the State Police with a copy of a detailed bill of sale within two days of the transaction. A third gun bill, which would prohibit anyone who has ever been convicted of certain drug-related crimes from possessing a handgun, was passed by the committee unanimously and sent to the full House for consideration. Opponents of the assault-rifle bill See GUNS, 6E, Col.

4 where they lay hidden in a duffle bag until their discovery in 1986. Yesterday when the U.S. Postal Service turned the letters over to Mr. Smith, postal officials completed their 30-month quest to find the soldiers or their relatives. The gray-haired Mr.

Smith sat not in a Philadelphia living room of the Big Band Era, but on a podium in a marble hallway, surrounded by TV cameras and postal officials. He continued to read the words of a young man heading off to war. The sergeant told of playing cards as the troop ship SS Caleb Strong steamed toward Algeria. "Take good care of yourselves. I sure hope there's mail by the time I land." Mr.

Smith tore open the girlfriend's letter and scanned it silently. "All it says is 'I love he said, as he read on. "A little too personal," he said softly. "So I don't think I'll read this." He remembered the young woman as a pretty blonde, but he de-See 4STTERS, 2E, 3 In the Jour years I've been here, this is the worst that I've seen in one time and HENRY E. SCHWARTZ Maryland health official and the Medicaid fraud division of the attorney general's office but declined to comment on what charges might be considered.

"We've made the determination that there seems to be plenty of potential here for seriously looking at a variety of criminal charges, but the prosecutors will have to decide If there's something to be done here," Mr. Schwartz said. Officials with the two prosecutorial departments declined to comment on the matter yesterday. A letter attached to the 56-page report tells Michael Sabo, Duke-land's administrator, that the health department will cut off Medicaid funds from the nursing home on March 1 1 unless dramatic improvements are made. That would effectively close the 104-bed nursing home, which receives Medicaid reimbursement for the majority of its patients.

Mr. Schwartz said he is also considering whether to revoke the nursing home's license to operate, a separate action that would close the facility outright. A decision on the license could come within a week or two, said Mr. Schwartz, adding that the decision may hinge on the ability of a consulting firm to turn conditions around. The firm, Creative Health Services Consultants Inc.

of Baltimore, See DUKELAND, 10E, Col. 3 Winning bidder retains contract for light-rail cars By John W. Frece Annapolis Bureau of The Sun ANNAPOLIS The Board of Public Works unanimously awarded a contested $61 million contract yesterday to build 35 cars for the new light-rail line through Baltimore, declaring that any delay could jeopardize the scheduled November 1991 opening of the Hunt Valley to Glen Burnieline. The contract, already delayed a week by a challenge from the second-place bidder, was given to ABB Traction a Lawrenceville, N.J., subsidiary of ASEA Brown Broveri Inc. of Sweden.

Lawyers representing a team of rival bidders, Breda Co. of Italy and its U.S. partner. General Electric Transportation Systems, argued that the contract was unfairly awarded to ABB because of a mistake in the bidding process by the state's Mass Transit Administration. Breda and GE have already filed a protest with the state's Board of Contract Appeals, and lawyers for the two firms said yesterday they also Intend promptly to fight the award to ABB through whatever other legal channels are available.

"We're concerned about this not becoming moot or academic while the appeal is being decided," said Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for GE. The Board of Contract Appeals has scheduled a four-day hearing on the BredaGE protest, beginning March 15, but state officials suggested that a decision may not be made until mid-May or early June a prediction disputed by Breda and GE. The three members of the board headed by Gov. William Donald Schaefer said they decided to award the contract to ABB without regard See RAIL, 3 THE SUNBO RADEH defeats bill on defeated, 17-5. Immediately after the vote, committee Chairman William S.

Home, D-Talbot, said the issue would be thoroughly studied by the committee this summer in the hope that a new, more acceptable approach could be tried in the 1990 legislative session. "This is certainly a subject for summer study, no doubt about that," he said. "That's what it is it's a starting point, not an ending point." Mr. Franchot made the best of the one-vote defeat on the pivotal amendment, saying that opposition from both the National Rifle Association and House leadership had held the bill back this year. "I think we did very well.

We laid House panel ByJohnW.Frece Annapolis Bureau of The Sun ANNAPOLIS The House Judiciary Committee, which a year ago drew national attention to Maryland by proposing a novel approach to restricting Saturday Night Special handguns, shied away yesterday from a follow-up attempt to ban military assault rifles in the state. A bill sponsored by Delegate Peter Franchot, D-Montgomery, and co-sponsored by a third of his colleagues in the 141 -member House, died after a key amendment that would have banned 28 specifically identified weapons failed on an 11-10 vote. The bill itself was then Maryland man opens last of undelivered war letters 'HI By Tom Bowman Washington Bureau of The Sun "May 19. 944 "Hello Folks, I send hope you are all well. Today may be the last letter you receive Jrom here so don't worry If you don't hear from me In a while WASHINGTON As his wife wiped tears from her eyes, a Maryland man opened and quietly read yesterday a letter written by his brother on a World War II troopship and left undelivered for 45 years.

"He signed it That was his nickname," said Norman T. Smith, 70, of Henderson, as he finished the one-page letter from Staff Sgt. Clarence F. Smith. Two months later the 26-year-old tailgunner was killed In a bombing run over Italy.

The "V-Mail" letter was meant for Webster Street in Philadelphia, and another was destined for a girlfriend In nearby Darby, Pa. But a shipmate who promised to mail these and 233 other lettfrs forgot and stored them in his aunt's North Carolina attic. TVC SUNPAUL HUTCHNS Norma? Smith (right) and U.S. Postmaster General Anthony Frank hold lexers written 45 years ago aboard a Wo(d War II troopship..