The pesky red dot has been plunked onto the rear ends of bikini-clad bathers, beamed into the faces of school bus drivers and shined into the eyes of NCAA basketball players poised to shoot free throws.

Now, some state senators are setting their sights on the dot. They're targeting laser pointers, those cheap devices that cast a pea-sized red point across long distances.

A bill heard in a Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee yesterday would outlaw sale of the pointers to minors and ban the gizmos for all but educational purposes -- where they are typically used by lecturers to point to charts.

The proposal is based on a local ordinance passed last summer in Ocean City, after police dubbed the laser beams an unbearable nuisance.

"This is really a growing problem," said Sen. Leo E. Green, a Prince George's Democrat, who sponsored the bill. "Ocean City has jump-started the effort to address it, but it's a statewide concern."

Anti-dot sentiments are rising sharply here and beyond the Maryland border. Similar laws are under consideration in Washington and Illinois, and dozens of local ordinances from New York to Michigan have banished the key-chain-sized pointers.

The dots have frustrated basketball players -- last week, play was halted during the Duke-Clemson game when spectators were zapping Clemson players. The pointers wreaked similar havoc at several of this year's Stanford

University basketball games, prompting the Pacific-10 Conference to issue a communique calling for a technical foul against the home team in such instances.

More serious concerns prompted New York City to outlaw sales to minors in December.

Police officers thought they were being targeted for gunfire because some weapons have laser-guided red dots that help improve aim.

A Baltimore college student was jailed in Pennsylvania in August for casting his laser light into the eyes of a roller-coaster operator at a crowded amusement park. In Ocean City, police say red dots have zapped the eyes of police horses, buzzed the faces of motorists and zig-zagged across the private parts of unsuspecting sunbathers.

"It just got out of control," said Ocean City Police Lt. Bernadette A. DiPino. "We saw it becoming a potentially serious safety issue."

The laser lights sell for about $15. They rarely inflict harm, though the beam can burn the retina with prolonged exposure directly into someone's pupil.

But police in Ocean City said the pointers can quickly incite trouble.

"We had people putting dots on women's breasts, which would get their boyfriends riled up and start them fighting," DiPino said.

Capt. Jeff Kelchner said that on summer nights, when thousands are packed into the 2 1/2-square-mile resort, the beach used to look like a scene from "Star Wars," with laser dots buzzing around people like swarms of bees.

Since the city passed its emergency ordinance, 17 people have been charged with misusing the pointers. Kelchner did not know how they were sentenced. A conviction can carry a $500 fine and up to 30 days in jail.

The state bill would include penalties not exceeding $1,000 for inappropriate use of a laser pointer or sale to a minor. It would be a misdemeanor.

DiPino said she is glad the Senate is taking action.

"There's no good reason for these things to be out there," the lieutenant said. "And plenty of good reasons to get rid of them."

Pub Date: 3/03/99