ASH

One day after state officials meted out punishment to a coal-ash disposal site in Gambrills, Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold signed into law yesterday emergency legislation that bans the opening of fly-ash dumps for a year. Although the bill does not address Constellation Energy's 12-year use of a disposal site operated by BBSS Inc., Leopold said the one-year deadline provides "important leverage" over the Maryland Department of the Environment as the agency looks to institute stronger regulations over how coal-fired power plants dispose of waste ash. "The council responded to the voice of the people," said Leopold, who introduced the bill after a county investigation in August revealed cancer-causing metals in 23 private wells near the 80-acre BBSS property.

They once knew it as a rural playground, a meadow with cornflowers and willow trees perched above a clear-running stream. Then it became an Eisenhower-era landfill, a stop along Baltimore's trash belt that produced snowfalls of fly ash, where exploding oil drums shot sparks into the night like rockets on the Fourth of July.Now, four decades later, comes word that the long-closed 68th Street Dump/Industrial Enterprises site in Rosedale might be added to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's list of Superfund cleanup sites.

Circuit Court clerk to speak at Republican club meetingRobert Duckworth, the clerk of the Circuit Court of Anne Arundel County, will be the featured speaker at the meeting of the North Anne Arundel County Republican Club at 7 a.m. Friday. The meeting will be at Johnny's Family Restaurant, 3023 Mountain Road near Edwin Raynor Boulevard in Pasadena. Admission is free.Duckworth is president of the Maryland Circuit Court Clerks' Association and has served as a policy adviser on Capitol Hill. Information: 410-437-2685.

The Taneytown City Council is considering how much of a stretch of East Baltimore Street should be changed from a residential zone to one that allows some restricted business.One proposal is to let the new zone extend from Fairground Avenue to Ash Drive, on the south side of East Baltimore Street. The north side of that stretch is a less restricted general business zone.But nearby residents say the proposed zone would endanger a block of the historic district and put more commercial development close to their homes.

ON WEDNESDAY, THE first day after the fire, people gathered in disbelief at the corner of Old Columbia Pike and Main Street in Ellicott City. Then they pulled together to begin restoring their lives.10 a.m.People clustered in small groups in a tiny park outside the cordoned-off area.A police officer asked whether there were shop owners in the group and escorted them -- a few at a time -- to their burned buildings at the bottom of the hill.Carole and Bill Sachs, owners of Spring House Design, sat on a bench and answered questions from reporters about the damage to their store.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Bring back Boomer.It doesn't have to be now. It probably can't be now. But at some point, the Orioles should attempt to re-acquire David Wells.And if Wells can't be had, the Orioles should target another of their former pitchers, Philadelphia right-hander Curt Schilling.For two years now, they've been trying to add a No. 2 starter. Either Schilling or Wells would qualify as a co-No. 1.Schilling predicted yesterday that he might be traded, and he lists the Orioles and Cleveland Indians among the teams to which he would accept a deal.

FireSykesville: Firefighters from Gamber and West Friendship in Howard County assisted Sykesville at 12: 15 p.m. Tuesday, responding to an oven fire in the 7300 block of Ash Brook Court.Pub Date: 3/05/98

SEATTLE -- A veneer of wax on the bodies of pioneer beetles resisted the drying power of ash that in a searing landscape like Mount St. Helens' can spell quick death for less hardy insects.The carabid's small size made it easy for the scavenging beetle to dart under pumice pebbles to escape the sun.Other post-eruption pioneers -- who became beetle food -- came in via parachute, riding the wind for miles to enter the mountain's barren waste land.As new vegetation began to take hold, the insect Adams and Eves mysteriously died.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Orioles' flirtation with acquiring Roger Clemens from the Toronto Blue Jays has not placed them among the five finalists for the five-time Cy Young Award winner, Blue Jays general manager Gord Ash said during a conference call yesterday.Instead, the Orioles intend to battle at least four other large-market organizations for free-agent pitcher Kevin Brown during baseball's winter meetings, which begin today at The Opryland Hotel.At the same time, Orioles chief operating officer Joe Foss said acquiring Brown -- who is expected to command a six-year contract approaching $85 million -- would not shackle the organization financially, even with the Orioles headed for an $80 million payroll next season without Brown.

The Orioles apparently have entered the bidding for five-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens by offering a package of at least three players to the Toronto Blue Jays earlier this week, a source familiar with the trade talks said yesterday.Committed to obtaining a premier starting pitcher as the off-season's No. 1 objective, Orioles general manager Frank Wren is prepared to deal a left-handed reliever, believed to be Arthur Rhodes, along with two significant prospects, second baseman Jerry Hairston and third baseman Ryan Minor.

City police identify victim of fatal shooting Yesterday, police identified a 22-year-old man who was fatally shot Sunday night in East Baltimore as Wayne Robinson of the 400 block of Hornel St. Southeastern District police responded to a report of shots fired in the 3400 block of E. Baltimore St. about 9:30 p.m. and found Robinson suffering from gunshot wounds. He died a short time later at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Police knew of no motive in the shooting, and no arrest had been made. Robinson's killing was one of three that occurred over the weekend, in addition to a police-involved shooting in which a man later died.

For years, Harry Jennings and his neighbors on Summerfield Road put up with bad-tasting, corrosive water that ate through plumbing and ruined appliances. They also endured a dark, gritty dust wafting in the wind that would coat their cars and clothes and even stain the outside of their homes. "When the leaves weren't on the trees in winter, it would blow right through the woods," recalls Jennings, a truck driver who has lived all his 60 years in the wooded enclave off Route 3 in Gambrills.

Annapolis City prepares for peace conference The date is finally set, and the invitations to guests of this week's Mideast peace conference in Annapolis have been sent. And in the host city for Tuesday's talks at the Naval Academy, local residents are looking to find even the smallest ways to take part. The city is expected to have a very limited role in the international event, but the local government and businesses are relishing the chance to welcome foreign diplomats and hundreds of media representatives -- even if that means only lining the streets with American flags, putting out "peace" cookies for hotel guests or renaming a sandwich for a dignitary.

On October 22, 2007, IDA MAE ASH. On Thursday, friends may call at VAUGHN C. GREENE FUNERAL SERVICES (RANDALLSTOWN), 8728 Liberty Road. from 4:00-8:00PM. On Friday, Mrs. Ash will lie instate at Leadenhall Baptist Church, 1021 Leadenhall Street, where the family will receive friends from 10:30-11:00AM, with services to follow. Inquiries to 410-655-0015.

One day after state officials meted out punishment to a coal-ash disposal site in Gambrills, Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold signed into law yesterday emergency legislation that bans the opening of fly-ash dumps for a year. Although the bill does not address Constellation Energy's 12-year use of a disposal site operated by BBSS Inc., Leopold said the one-year deadline provides "important leverage" over the Maryland Department of the Environment as the agency looks to institute stronger regulations over how coal-fired power plants dispose of waste ash. "The council responded to the voice of the people," said Leopold, who introduced the bill after a county investigation in August revealed cancer-causing metals in 23 private wells near the 80-acre BBSS property.

A Dunkirk woman was killed when her minivan was struck head-on in southern Anne Arundel County, police said yesterday. Barbara Jackson Ash, 48, was declared dead at the scene of the crash on Route 2 at Polling House Road in Harwood about 5 p.m. Saturday, after her 2000 Honda Odyssey was hit. Justin M. Sellman, 20, of the 3000 block of Beards Point Road in Davidsonville, was driving a 2007 Mercury Grand Marquis north when it crossed the centerline into...

Constellation to stop ash dumping Under threat of a lawsuit from state regulators, Constellation Energy Group said that it will stop dumping coal fly ash at a site in Anne Arundel County. Numbers of chronically homeless Nearly one-quarter of homeless people in the city have not had housing for more than three years, according to a census report on Baltimore's homeless population. Muslims expand outreach Using food drives and community events, Muslims statewide are organizing councils to interact with local leaders and to improve understanding of Islam within their communities.

On October 17, 2006 ALICE MAY SWANN (nee Benjamin) beloved wife of the late Richard Stanley Ash, Sr.; beloved mother of Richard Stanley Ash, Jr. (Mary Catherine), Carolyn L. Bankert, Ronald Douglas Ash (Patsy), Brenda J. Forgrave (Christopher P.), Ralph P. Ash and Robert B. Ash; sister of Norman Benjamin and sister-in-law of Joan Benjamin. Also survived by 15 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. Services at Myers-Durboraw Funeral Home, 91 Willis St., Westminster on Friday at 11 a.m. Interment in Lake View Memorial Park, Sykesville.

Nuclear holocaust has reduced the world to ash and rubble. A man and his son, "each the other's world entire," trek without purpose down a road to nowhere in death-defying starvation. Along the way, they pass renegades barbecuing their infants. There is no plot to Cormac McCarthy's harrowing, brilliant new novel, a worthy successor to his masterpiece, Blood Meridian, because human history has drawn to a close. The Road at times resembles Robinson Crusoe. The man reveals a profusion of ingenuity, siphoning drops of gasoline, digging deep into the burrows of an abandoned survival shelter for precious stores of food, even suturing his own deep, bloody wound inflicted by a sniper.

A newspaper described it as "the little town nestled between the mountains and reality," so it's hardly a surprise that folks here have a pretty offbeat definition of what's normal and what isn't. Take Amy Ash, a 30-something entrepreneur originally from Baltimore who for the past four years has run Crazy Amy's, a funky secondhand store on Pearl Street. One of the many Boulderites who have come here from someplace else, she was calling her business "Boulder Consignment" until one creative staffer drew a caricature of her on a signboard out front.