The Yellowed Pages: News from 25 years ago in The Baltimore Guide
by Jacqueline Watts
editor@baltimoreguide.com
June 17, 1982
Maryland Comptroller Louis Goldstein gave the Maryland Bankers Association a tongue-lashing at its annual meeting. Goldstein said the local banks’ recent decamping to Delaware to avoid taxes had “spawned a tidal wave of public indignation” and that the combination of high interest rates and an uncertain economy was creating an unsympathetic public attitude toward the bankers.
Goldstein noted, though, that Maryland was maintaining its triple-A bond rating, and that the Maryland State Retirement Systems was ready to commit $50 million for residential mortgage programs.
A short look around should have told Goldstein that moving out of state would not be a big deal to the Maryland banks, however: The Maryland Bankers Association was holding its annual meeting in Boca Raton, Florida.
Filmmaker Barry Levinson came back to Baltimore to visit the Fells Point Diner, where his breakthrough movie “Diner” was filmed. Levinson wore an Orioles cap and posed for a picture with Del. American Joe Miedusiewski.
A combination of high speed and bald tires was the cause of a fatal crash at Pulaski Highway and Monument Street. Harry Phillips Sr., 33, of the 1900 block Christian Street, lost control of his car, ran over a curb and hit two utility poles Sunday morning at 10 a.m.
Mayor William Donald Schaefer pleaded with the Baltimore City Council to amend the city charter to allow the Baltimore Colts to start its games at 1 p.m. instead of 2 p.m. and to open the ticket windows at 11 a.m. instead of noon.
Pastors in the neighborhoods around Memorial Stadium objected, saying that the football crowds would discourage parishioners from attending church services. City Council members, reluctant to offend the city’s powerful clergy, remained unsympathetic to Schaefer’s entreaties.
The City Council was also considering a 30 percent increase to their pensions, despite a bleak outlook for agencies coming before the council for operating funds. Under the bill, which was sponsored by 11 of 19 council members, a councilman retiring after 20 years would receive $9,750 a year instead of $6,501.
Councilman Dominic “Mimi” DiPietro said the bill wouldn’t affect him because he already had 25 years in as a councilman, but he supported it anyway. “It’s for the younger councilman…who may not survive the next election,” he said.
The City Solicitor gave the go-ahead for the Baltimore Fire Department to sell smoke detectors at cost to city residents. The fire department was ready and wanting to sell the detectors after two fires killed 17 people in mid-May, but had to await the law department’s decision.
City residents could fill out a form at their local firehouse to get a smoke detector for $8.25, slightly over the wholesale price of $8.01.
Norman Wilfong, a bench hand at Best Battery, won $10,000 in the Highlandtown Exchange Club’s annual raffle. Given the choice of the cash or a Cadillac, Wilfong chose the cash and was presented with a check by Exchange Club president Bernard Eckert.
Tracy Steinacher and Denise Rocks, representing William Paca Elementary School, were winners in the Southeast Region Scrabble Tournament.
The American Automobile Association lobbied Congress for relief from high gasoline prices. Leaded gasoline was $1.09 a gallon and unleaded was $1.15.
The Patterson Park High School class of 1942 set its reunion for October at Overlea Hall.
The Julie Community Center announced that it would offer a fitness program as well as nutrition and weight control counseling. Partners in the project were the Baltimore Health Department’s risk-reduction project and the YWCA.
The U.S. Customs Service announced that it was closing operations in Baltimore despite protests. The government was transferring the Baltimore functions to Boston. City officials protested the move, saying that the employees spent about $2 million a year in the local economy, and pointing out that the feds had just spent $5.1 million to renovate the Customs House.
The Walters Art Gallery announced that it would start charging admission October 1, citing reduced support from state and local government. Children’s admission would be free, but adults would be charged $2 to enter.
The gallery’s board of trustees had also decided to bump up the $20 price of an annual membership, but did not announce how much the increase would be.
You could buy a nice house on Gough Street in Little Italy for $32,000, but don’t kick yourself for passing it by—the mortgage rate was 13.9 percent in those days.
