The Yellowed Pages: News from 25 years ago in The Baltimore Guide
by Jacqueline Watts
editor@baltimoreguide.com
July 22, 1982
State Senator Joseph Bonvegna (D-46) filed suit to remove Robert N. Santoni from the ballot, claiming that Santoni actually lived in Joppa.
Santoni said that he indeed did live in Joppa, Harford County, but that he should be able to represent the area where he still worked as co-owner of Santoni’s Markets.
“I moved out of the city but never changed my residency,” he told The Guide. “The house I am registered to vote at has been my parents’ home for 50 years. I dine there 60 percent of the time. My wife can tell you that if I’m home for dinner even once a week the kids throw a party.
“I’m surprised by Sen. Bonvegna’s actions,” Santoni continued. “He’s always come to me in the past asking for my vote, but now he’s raising opposition.”
Bonvegna declined to comment.
Mayor William Donald Schaefer, Mickey Mouse and a British Beefeater kicked off the “Pasport to Summer Fun” program at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. The program encouraged children to complete their passports by visiting 11 city attractions, including the Peale Museum, Top of the World and the Carroll Mansion, and reading eight books from a list. They could then drop their passports in a drawing for hundreds of prizes, including a trip for four to London and a trip for four to Disney World.
Harry Wheeley Jr. didn’t realize it at the time, but the wire-wrapped pipe he found at work and carried around in his trunk for three weeks was live.
Wheeley found the pipe on the grounds of the Ryder Truck Rental in the 800 block North Point Rd. where he worked. He eventually showed it to a neighbor who identified it as a bomb, and they called the cops. Residents near Wheeley’s house were ordered into their houses, and the police rigged a hoist to move the pipe bomb into a bomb transport vehicle.
The bomb squad took it to Herring Run Park and dismantled it. Packed inside the pipe were gunpowder, live explosive, shotgun pellets, 25.22 caliber bullets and an auto light bulb, enough, the cops said, to blow up Wheeley and anyone else nearby. No one knew the source of the bomb, or how it got onto the truck lot.
The Baltimore school board voted unanimously to charge 20 cents to ride the bus, saying it was necessary to balance the school system’s transportation budget. Secondary school students were to pay 40 cents a ride. Hardship cases could discuss their situation with their school principals and continue to get a free ride to school.
The Dundalk American Legion Post 38 U-19 soccer team won the world championship, beating a team from Israel, two teams from West Germany and two from Holland on their way to winning the International Amateur Soccer Tournament in Monchengladback, West Germany. The team, back in Baltimore, posed for a picture with Councilman Dominic “Mimi” DiPietro.
Victor H. Clash, 25, a seven-year veteran of the Baltimore Police Department, pled guilty to obstruction of justice. His guilty plea was the result of an investigation by city police and the state special prosecutor’s office into why prostitutes in the Southeastern District seemed to be able to practice their trade without interference from the police. Clash told the judge that he protected a prostitute with whom he regularly had sex and smoked marijuana while on duty. Clash received two years in jail, all suspended, and two years probation.
The Maryland Poison Center reported that 79 people who mistook samples of dish soap for lemon juice had called the center for help, but none suffered any symptoms more serious than nausea. Lever Bros. distributed thousands of samples of Sunlight dish soap through the mail, and the packages noted that Sunlight “contains real lemon juice,” so the victims drank the dish soap thinking it was lemon-flavored drink.
The Southeast Baltimore Committee to Save Our Kids started a volunteer initiative to control juvenile prostitution around Patterson Park. Volunteers in the Prostitution Block Watch sat on their steps and took down license plate numbers and descriptions of cars that picked up kids or circled the block several times. They also took down the numbers of police cars that passed children on the street after the midnight curfew.
Chicken Hawk Patrollers had the same duties as Prostitution Block Watch, except they made their observations driving along Eastern Avenue and around Patterson Park. Court Monitors went to court to observe juvenile prostitution cases and wrote down the name of the defendant, the verdict and the sentence. All of the block watchers and monitors worked anonymously.
