The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • 42

MARYLAND cue THE SUN THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1989 IN THE Charlie Eckman is not the retiring type Review urged for defense of minority-contract law MICHAEL OLESKER, from IE near-photographic memory for details and a life history of absorbing every inch of the business of sports. Always, he turned the business into a party. Coaching the Fort Wayne (later, Detroit) Pistons of pro basketball, he was a master of simplicity. "When I got fired," he recalled this week, 30 years after the fact, "Pistons owner Fred Zollner told me, 'We're making a change in your department." I said to myself, 'Who's in my "I realized, it was only me. I had no assistants, no notebooks, not even any plays.

They asked me, 'What plays do you I said, 'There's only two plays: "South Pacific" and put the ball in the Sandwiched around the pro coaching career were 38 years of ref- beer. You call a foul and I'll argue with you. My mom and dad ain't never seen me on TV." "So," Eckman is saying now, "we did four minutes on TV, yelling at each other over a non-existent foul, just posing for the cameras because Faulks had never been on TV." The quintessential Eckman story is still the time he officiated N.C. State and North Carolina and Coach Dean Smith put In his four-corner stall. "Guys are standing there, holding the ball instead of playing," Eckman remembers.

"I said to myself, 'What am I doing I go to the press bench and ask for a chair. They look at me like I'm crazy. I said, 'Just give me a chair." He took the chair out to the middle of the floor and sat himself down to watch. The crowd, equally miffed at the non-action on the court, cheered him wildly. "I said, 'Hey, you ain't playing, I ain't refereeing.

If you start to play, let me And with that, Eckman puffs deeply on a cigar of a noontime In Little Italy, and is warmed by the memory of that long-ago moment. Shy, he never was. Quiet, he never was. Retiring, he never could be. unanswered and the difficulty of looking back more than a decade at the legislative record, this conclusion is not entirely free from doubt," Mr.

Curran said in a 22-page opinion written at the request of the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus. "The General Assembly cannot rely indefinitely on evidence of a decade ago," he wrote. Members of the caucus had asked the attorney general to evaluate the state law in the wake of the high court ruling. The court ruled 6-3 that Richmond lawmakers never proved that businesses had been victimized by racial discrimination. The caucus said yesterday that it would follow Mr.

Curran's recommendations and request that an independent study on the state's MBE program be completed by Dec. 3 1 Mr. Curran said the Maryland law, which was passed in 1978, is constitutional because it was based on findings by the General Assembly that showed minority firms got a disproportionately small number of state-awarded contracts. And unlike the Richmond law, he said, it is based on flexible goals. fflMTEE Maryland man receives letters from brother who died in war BALTIMORE SCHOOL BOARD Voters to settle dispute over length of terms Mayor Kurt L.

Schmoke and City Council leaders agreed yesterday to end their dispute over the lengths of the terms of six newly appointed school board members by submitting the issue to the voters as a proposed charter amendment in 1990. But it is about the only agreement between them on the issue. Mr. Schmoke continued to insist yesterday that the terms of the six school board members who were sworn in yesterday expire when his term as mayor ends on Dec. 31, 1991.

Members of the City Council, on the other hand, remained equally adamant that board members will serve for four years, as they say the City Charter mandates. The mayor made a passing reference to the controversy after the new or reappointed members President Joseph Lee Smith, Phillip H. Farfel, Meldon S. Hollis Linda C. Janey, Arnita H.

McArthur and Ste-lios S. Spiliadis took their oaths of office. He said the language of the City Charter is "vague" and open to "wide interpretation" when it comes to the length of the terms. ELKR1DGE More tests ordered for bones in trunk The skeleton of the infant found last week inside a steamer trunk that belonged to a deceased 67-year-old Elkridge woman is being sent to the Smithsonian Institution for further testing after the state medical examiner's office ruled the cause of death "undetermined." The medical examiner ruled that the skeleton found in a trunk owned by Martha C. Shields, who died Fca.

13, was "a newborn, full-term infant that was vaginally delivered," state police Detective Michael E. Davey said yesterday. The state police investigator said the examiner found "no sign of trauma to the bones" or evidence of physical abuse to the infant. State police earlier said the baby, whose body was wrapped In blankets, could have been dead for more than 30 years, given the condition of the remains; The Smithsonian will attempt to determine sex, age and possible cause of death. Detective Davey said.

From Staff and Wire Reports By Martin C. Evans Attorney General J. Joseph Cur-ran Jr. has urged state lawmakers to gather legal ammunition to defend a Maryland law passed 1 1 years ago to ensure that minority-owned businesses get a fair share of state contracts. However, Mr.

Curran said the law Maryland's Minority Business Enterprise law is constitutional and could survive a Supreme Court test similar to one that struck down a Richmond, law last month. Mr. Curran said lawmakers should update studies done in the 1970s, before passage of the MBE law, which showed that minority firms received relatively few state contracts. If the law were challenged, new data could help his office show that the MBE law is valid, he said. "Our Maryland law is in fact defensible under the court's decision, and we will defend it if challenged," Mr.

Curran said. "Nonetheless, we must candidly say that, given the questions that the Supreme Court ruling leaves Squadron Association, a World War veterans' organization, for help. Letters from two of the soldiers were recently delivered to their families in Ohio and California. But the Smith letters were the most difficult to return, since the name was so common and only the initials were used on the envelope. Using records from the National Archives and old phone books, post-: al officials tracked the Smith family to Philadelphia and soon learned there was a brother in Maryland.

Letters from the troopship were also returned to Harold Moyer of Ian-coning, a former corporal, and to the family of Sgt. William Wick in Baltimore. "It does hurt a little bit," said Mr. Smith after receiving the letters. He added wistfully that if his brother were still alive he would likely have children and they would continue to spend time together.

"He was my brother and we were very close." And he regretted that his mother was not at the ceremony. She died in 1981. But on his left lapel. Mr. Smith wore her "Gold Star" pin presented to mothers whose sons were killed in the war.

ONLY OLESI1EI3 1 ereeing ballgames. Once, in 1948, he officiated a pro game televised on the old Dumont network, when a player named Joe Faulks asked Eckman to call a foul on him. "You crazy, Faulks?" Eckman said. "Come on, Charlie, I'll buy you a ACCESSORIES Delivery Best Price 1979 ITA Tf TrhVDi(H Mnmusr sun. CEILING FANS AUtoS Mkirrn JS4 West Baltimore boy killed by MT A bus A 6-year-old boy was killed yesterday afternoon when he ran between two parked cars and into the path of an MTA bus as he left his West Baltimore elementary school, authorities reported.

Police and school officials said Shawn Jones, a first-grader at Lock-erman-Bundy Elementary had been escorted across the intersection of Saratoga and Payson streets by a crossing guard seconds before he dashed into the path of the bus. The guard told police she had turned her attention to other children when she saw the bus come to a stop in the eastbound lane of Saratoga and saw Shawn lying In the street. He died instantly, police said. Police said the bus driver had just picked up passengers and was accelerating when Shawn ran Into the vehicle's path. A passenger on the bus told police she saw the boy run out from between the cars.

A student notified Shawn's mother of the accident, and she arrived as paramedics were pronouncing him dead, police said. Mr. Holden said that members of the school system's crisis intervention team will be sent to the school today to counsel and console FAN FAIR STOCKS HUNTER'S COMPLETE LETTERS, from IE dined to reveal her name because she may be married. "They were very much In love. I know he wrote more to her than me," he said with a chuckle.

"I don't know where she is today." Still, Mr. Smith said he would try and locate her. Mr. Smith, who retired from a wallpapering and painting business, said he was "absolutely shocked" when postal officials called last month and told him of the letters. Behind him on the wall were photos of the Caleb Strong and the two brothers, frozen in time in their military uniforms.

By grim coincidence, Norman Smith enlisted on July 6, 1944 the same day his brother's B-1 7 was shot down by the Germans over Verona, Italy. An Italian family buried his brother, recalled Mr. Smith, and U.S. forces later moved the remains to a nearby military cemetery. In 1949, the Smiths disinterred the body a final time, laying it to rest In the family plot in Philadelphia.

Postal officials found all but three of the 92 soldiers last spring when they turned to the 781st Bomb LINE OF FANS Phone Orders Overnight SINCE TT A TXT ii rui THE LEADER IN YORKRIDGE SHOrPINvi ltnicn jm YORK ROAD, LUTHERVILLE r. 561-9777 i QUALITY CEILING FANS ARE OUR ONLY BUSINESS WETTW3D THE ONLY from Long Fence mmmi ssi bs mmmmmmmmmmmm mmxmimz i It After. Before. ENJOY WINTER SAVINGS on WYNGATE 24' patio enclosures completely installed for Before the new Lotto Game, life was dull, boring and uneventful. Now life is more exciting than ever because a dollar can take you farther than ever.

And winning can really change your life. In the new Lotto Game, jackpots are bigger (average $3 million) and your chances of winning are better because there are more ways to win. So play today, and with a little luck, you won't ever have to stop playing. Play Maryland's big new 6 of 44 Lotto Game. $3,000,000 This week's jackpot hu in Minuted nnuity value of $3,000,000 for a tingle winner.

Drawing February 23, 1989. Call now for FREE estimates on installation. West wood Ih the xlraordinar) prolili-iii Tree fence with features surh as: Won't turn grry Kesiutlful rrdar finish Won't rrark, split or chip Weather resistant Completely moisture damage resistant Ask about our l-OW introductory installed prices. LOTTO CALL TODAY SAVE! See samples in your home. RAITrD METRO AREA 793-0600 WASHINGTON METRq AREA 261-3444 Liiiirfiavtnd Bulk fhundra tvlltjbfcl aim credit cards honored Saleorice-O' (Xjgri March 15 1989.