Cf

Vince Gill was cookin' at the 12th annual benefit concert for Cystic Fibrosis. But he wasn't the only one doing so at the Baltimore Arena. Some 30 local chefs cooked up their kind of crowd-pleasers at a preconcert VIP reception.More than 1,000 guests mingled and munched in a tent pitched outside the building, whetting their appetites for the tuneful treats that awaited them inside.Among those tasting and talking: Josie Schaeffer, executive director of Cystic Fibrosis Maryland Chapter; Kenn Roberts, concert committee chair; Larry Kushner, executive director of the concert's underwriter, the M.U.S.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter said he likes having the game in Adam Jones' hands. There's no wonder why. Jones has delivered in the clutch this season. Even during his biggest slump of the season -- Jones snapped an 0-for-18 slump with a ninth-inning single -- he still wanted to be aggressive at the plate. "Oh my gosh!" he said. "Getting a little frustrated there. One thing I'm not going to do is stop swinging the bat. It's part of who I am, it's the reason I got to the  big leagues.

The energy level was turned on high for the Maryland Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Spring Swing. About 450 fun seekers gathered to graze at a sumptuous buffet, bid in a silent auction and boogaloo to Bobby and the Believers at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Among the peppy partygoers: Kendel Ehrlich, CF board chair and event co-chair; U.S. Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., event co-chair; Edie Brown, Sandy Pagnotti, Suzanne Smith Nolan and Jon Koscher, board members; Susan Bancroft, Stacy Danko and Lisa Menowitz Hamburger, event committee members; Josie Schaeffer, CF executive director; Dr. Beryl Rosenstein, director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital; Randy Marriner, chairman and CEO of Marriner Marketing Communications; Lindy Small, director of corporate contributions for Constellation Energy; Clay Richmond, president of Rapid Response Medical Team; Marty Bass, WJZ-TV weatherman; Sheila Silverstein, promotion and marketing director for WPOC-FM radio; Marie Henderson, president and CEO of Marie Henderson Enterprises; Pat O'Hara, Loyola High School teacher; Wanda Draper, director of public affairs at WBAL-TV; and Julie Lombardi, organizational manager at Nordstrom.

As his Orioles teammates packed their bags and headed to Boston to try to revive the team's nine-game roadtrip against the AL East, centerfielder Adam Jones was getting X-rays done on his right wrist down the hall. Jones, the team's best player this season and the recipient of a six-year, $85.5 million contract extension a week ago, felt soreness in his wrist during Sunday's 8-4 loss to Tampa Bay. X-rays following the game were negative, but Jones will remain in Tampa Bay overnight for an MRI on Monday.

With one exception, blond-haired Gunnar Esiason is like almost any other 4-year-old boy. He's big on the birthday party circuit, likes to have friends over, and is active in all kinds of sports.The exception is a flawed gene that makes all the difference to him and his parents, Boomer and Cheryl Esiason.Gunnar is one of approximately 30,000 Americans afflicted with cystic fibrosis, a deadly genetic disease that attacks the respiratory and digestive systems of children and young adults.The defective gene controls the flow of mucus in the body.

The senior medical director for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation said yesterday that he is concerned about Martek Biosciences Corp.'s announcement that a nutritional supplement made by the Columbia-based company had a beneficial effect on mice genetically altered to mimic symptoms of the disease.But the foundation is intrigued by the findings and plans to support a follow-up study to gather information about what role the nutritional supplement might have in treating the inherited, deadly disease that affects more than 30,000 Americans.

The sweet smell of success is in the air at the offices of the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Foundation. The reason -- two successful fund-raisers in one week.Last Friday, CF was the beneficiary of an "All Star Celebration" lunch and fashion show that featured some of the Orioles wives as models. Guests arrived at the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel to rub elbows with sports hoi polloi and to watch Jill Olson, Capri McLemore, Robin Sutcliffe, Mark and Lori Williamson, Jim and Kim Poole, Stan Stovall, Keith and Elizabeth Mills, Sandy Pagnotti, Vicki Biagini, Tanya Biagino and Dina Bosman model the latest fashions from Saks, Fila USA and Gap Kids.

Morgan A. Fogle is battling a fatal disease with the same determination she tackles school tasks and karate chops.The 6-year-old New Windsor girl is the 1997 calendar child for the state Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The photograph of a robust, smiling Morgan pulling a puppy on a skateboard graces the cover on a brochure listing the organization's monthly fund-raisers."That picture told the whole story, and the foundation unanimously agreed it should be on the cover," said Joan Rettaliata, director of special events for the foundation.

People with chronic sinus infections might be prone to the condition because they have inherited a single copy of the gene responsible for cystic fibrosis, scientists say. Scientists from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine said the patients do not have cystic fibrosis, an often fatal disease that requires two copies of the gene. But the two conditions might have a common basis. Dr. Garry Cutting, a geneticist who led the study, said he has long wondered whether the cystic fibrosis gene plays a role in chronic sinus disease, or sinusitis, a condition that afflicts 30 million Americans.

Sandy Scott has a vested interest in raising money to help find a cure for cystic fibrosis.Scott, Westminster's chairwoman for Bowl USA, an annual fund-raiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, has twoyoung children with the inherited disease, which affects the lungs and digestive tract."

Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, whose eighth-inning solo homer was the deciding run in the Orioles' 5-2 win over the Blue Jays on Thursday, said he's not paying attention to the American League East standings. Thursday night's win, which completed Baltimore's first three-game sweep of Toronto since Sept. 13-15, 2010, kept the Orioles in first place in the division, tied with the Tampa Bay Rays at 12-7. But to Jones, who is off to a sizzling start to the season, filling Camden Yards will be a truer indicator of the team's success.

Lauren Groft , of Ellicott City, is a recipient of the Fulton Financial Coporation 2011 Scholarship Award. She will attend theUniversity of Maryland. The following individuals have been named by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation as the 1st Annual Howard County's Finest 39 Under 39, presented by Mercedes-Benz of Baltimore. They will be given the opportunity to display their community involvement and highlight their achievements in the business world, while raising funds for CF research.

The former chief executive of the Padonia Park Club in Cockeysville pleaded guilty Wednesday to distributing child pornography and will serve 18 months in prison. Ira Charles F. Rigger Jr. was sentenced to 10 years with all but 18 months suspended. He will be required to register as a sex offender and, according to his plea agreement, cannot be in the company of any child under the age of 18, with the exception of his now-8-month-old grandson — and then only in the presence of another adult.

The Orioles have asked Gold Glove center fielder Adam Jones to consider playing a little deeper this season to cut down on the number of extra-base hits landing over his head. "When a balls fall in, he feels bad about it," said Orioles first base and outfield coach John Shelby . "He feels like he should catch everything. We're going to work on going back, playing a little bit deeper. He's very confident going back and coming in." In 2009, Jones became the first Orioles outfielder since Paul Blair in 1975 to win a Gold Glove, yet he was scrutinized for much of the season for how shallow he plays.

Two hours a day, Jeff Davis works at staying alive. He inhales a succession of medications, runs on a treadmill and sometimes performs breathing exercises that produce gurgly, crackling sounds. It's tedious work, crammed into a life that includes a full-time job as a machinist and leisure time with his wife and two young children in the horse country north of Westminster. But it has paid dividends: A generation ago, few people with cystic fibrosis lived past their teens - and Davis is 35. If there's a miracle in this story, it's that Davis is fairly typical, having soldiered through childhood with a closet full of medications and parents who spent untold hours thumping his torso to keep his lungs clear.

Five years ago, Elkridge Elementary School could boast a rather unusual distinction. Three families had children with cystic fibrosis in the school. For parents of those children, the chance encounter with other CF parents provided an opportunity to raise funds and awareness about the disease. They started an annual fundraising event at the school, called Hop-Shoot-Jump for Cystic Fibrosis. Children qualified for prizes by raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and also took part in basketball, hula-hoop and jump-rope competitions and activities.

Jamie Maria Ferber, a respiratory therapist and advocate for cystic fibrosis patients, died of that disease Sunday at St. Luke's Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla. A resident of Inverness, Fla., she lived in Sparks until last year. She was 27. During her second pregnancy, Mrs. Ferber was featured on the ABC News documentary Hopkins: 24/7, filmed nearly two years ago. As a child, she appeared on posters promoting awareness of cystic fibrosis. Born Jamie Maria Mick in Broadway, Va., she attended Eastern Mennonite High School in Harrisonburg, Va., before earning joint degrees in psychology and respiratory therapy from Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va. Shortly after her college graduation, she began working as a respiratory therapist at the University of Maryland.

Last year, just before the second annual Hard Travelers . . and Friends Concert for Cystic Fibrosis, researchers discovered the gene that causes CF, one of the most common, fatal genetic diseases of children and young adults in the United States.This year, only a week before the third annual Hard Travelers . . . and Friends benefit concert, researchers announced they have found a method of therapy that replaces the abnormal CF gene with a healthy copy of the gene."I do believe strongly that the concert is our good luck charm," says Larry Kushner, director of development for the Maryland Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

On December 5, 2004, SUSAN CARROLL FRICK von MAUR, devoted mother of Denison Frick von Maur, Winslow Vollmer von Maur and Genevieve Ussher von Maur. Dear sister of Louise Frick Randolph and Catherine Frick Beyer. Loving aunt of Catherine Randall, Carroll Randall Harris, George Randolph and Leslie Randolph Cadby A Memorial Service will be held at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 232 St. Thomas La., Owings Mills on Monday, December 13, at 11:30 A.M. Interment private. In lieu of flowers contributions to the Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Drive, Baltimore, 21218.

Alexander John Jeffries of Ellicott City will crew for his father, Steve, on Labor Day weekend at Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia. Steve Jeffries, a computer specialist at Northrup Grumman, will be driving a Spec Racer Ford in the Sports Car Club of America's "Laps for Liberation" races. Alex, 11, will help prep the car, set the tire pressures, do a bolt-check, torque the lug nuts, operate the stopwatch and check the oil and water. He may wear a two-way radio as crew chief for his father in the qualifying races.