For the last few years Bryan Chaney, who operates the BikeMobile Warehouse Store in Woodlawn, has been collecting and repairing used bicycles and distributing them through charitable agencies to needy kids for Christmas. We're talking 300 to 600 bikes a year. We're talking major mitzvah!
Chaney picked up the idea at a trade show in Philadelphia and hunched that it would work here because his customers frequently ask him to haul away old bikes.
The bikes are coming in again this year, and the project is expanding. "We want to collect money for helmets, too," says Bryan's wife, Nancy. "We want kids to be safe." The Chaneys are coordinating their venture with Metro Food Markets and the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Bikes can be donated at the BikeMobile Warehouse on Lord Baltimore Drive (1-800-BIKEMOBILE), and sound helmets or cash can be donated at Metro stores through December 7.
Speaking of gifts
You heard that Bruce Bereano won't be teaching at the University of Maryland law school anymore. Students of the Annapolis lobbyist got the news last week, a day after Bereano was convicted on federal fraud charges. I guess the state's leading schmoozer won't be grading students on the last assignment he gave them. The assignment? Draft a bill banning lobbyists from giving gifts to elected officials.
Elvis, perhaps
Doris Kearns Goodwin, whose latest book, "No Ordinary Time," provides extravagantly detailed and colorful descriptions of the Roosevelt White House during World War II, gave an excellent lecture on the art of biography at Goucher College last week. Goodwin is a poised speaker and artful storyteller, refreshingly unpretentious. Most rooms are pin-drop silent when she speaks. But at Goucher Thursday afternoon, someone's cellular phone rang. And that someone answered it. And spoke into it! While Doris Kearns Goodwin was in the middle of her lecture! This
happened as many as three times. So obnoxious.
The mail gets through
Out in Hagerstown, Russell Williams received a nice letter -- even form letters can be "nice," one supposes -- from his local postmaster. "All the employees at the Hagerstown Post Office are committed to providing you the best mail delivery service in the world," it said. "Make no mistake, we are by far the best mail delivery service in the world and yet, we can provide even better service to you. I am in the process of hiring nine additional carriers to help with our overburdened routes." And not a moment too soon. The postmaster's letter was dated Oct. 5. It arrived at the Williams home Nov. 29.
Is your lawyer confused?
The number of complaints against lawyers who advertise went sky-high in Maryland during the last year, but it apparently had nothing to do with unhappy clients. As a matter of fact, John Q. I-Been-Sued rarely complains about the claims lawyers make in their ads. For all the ire and ridicule those lawyers inspire, average citizens hardly ever go to the Attorney Gripe Commission about them. So it was a house-cleaning by the commission -- it's actual title, of course, is the Attorney Grievance Commission -- that resulted in the dramatic increase in complaints. If you're an attorney, you're not supposed to use the phrase "No Recovery, No Fee" on television or in the Yellow Pages, because it's hardly ever the case. Also, you're not supposed to advertise as a "specialist." A rule forbidding such claims went on the books a couple of years ago. After a decent interval, and plenty of warning to Maryland lawyers, the commish started scouring the Yellow Pages for violators. According to "Bar Bulletin," the state bar association's newsletter, 245 advertising violations were docketed between June 1993 and July 1994. (The year before, there had been only seven.) After getting a serious nudge, most of the violators voluntarily changed their ads. So give the bar some crediting for sprucing up its own house. All you guys who had to drop "No Recovery, No Fee," try this one instead: "Reasonable Doubt For A Reasonable Fee." My cousin Eddie uses that in Chicago.
Visual feasts
I came across a most gorgeous flower in the Cross Street Market the other day -- a dendrobium, an orchid the color of Barney the TV dinosaur; or perhaps it was the purple of a Catholic bishop. (They are about the same.) Anyway, if they haven't run out, you can find them at the flower stall in the middle of the market. . . Here's another nice discovery from Cross Street: A double espresso for only a buck. . . . Bumper sticker spotted near Towson: "Be Kind To Animals/Kiss A Rugby Player."
Only 5 bachelors left
Mike Curran has resigned from the Baltimore City Council's Bachelor Caucus. Twenty-four years after his first marriage ended, Curran hitched up with Ellen Givens, administrative director of Paul Sarbanes' Washington office. "There are a lot of pebbles on the beach, but I finally found a gem," says Curran, who is a grandfather four times. The wedding was held at City Hall. The reception was on a boat. Where was the honeymoon? "We went away to Baltimore," Curran said. His marriage leaves five bachelors in City Council -- Tim Murphy (soon to be state delegate), John Cain, Perry Sfikas (soon to be state senator), Lawrence Bell and Carl Stokes.