Chesapeake

A man was killed in a head-on crash involving two vehicles on Chesapeake Beach Road in Anne Arundel County on Saturday morning, police said. Ronald Lignelli, 61, from Chesapeake Beach was pronounced dead at the scene. His Ford Taurus had crossed into the path of a Ford Expedition in the westbound lane of the road about 5:45 a.m., police said. When officers arrived, the Expedition was on its side and on fire, but its driver, Andre Mackall, 33, from Owings had been pulled free by passers-by shortly before it caught fire, police said.

Wedding date: Jan. 26, 2012 Her story: Shellie Bronis, 27, grew up in Baltimore. She is a marine biologist for the Department of Natural Resources. Her father, Joseph Bronis Jr., is a retired water taxi captain, and her mother, Paulette Bronis, is a meetings coordinator. His story: Kenneth Spencer III, 31, grew up in Plymouth, Mass. He is an officer for the U.S. Park Police. His father, Kenneth Spencer Jr., is a telecommunications specialist for a veterans hospital in Washington, and his mother, Kimberly Spencer, is a Target cashier.

Few sports can claim participants from toddlers to retirees, but BMX is one of them. BMX - short for bicycle motocross - will begin its local season when the first event in 2013 for Chesapeake BMX is held Sunday at Severn-Danza Park in Severn. The season will be highlighted by the BMX national championships in Severn in mid-June. According to Karen Bean, whose 5-, 7- and 11-year-old sons are seriously into BMX: "We're trying to draw some attention and attract families to the sport.

Mary Louise Bennett, a longtime Anne Arundel County educator who was a founding member of the Chesapeake Academy, died Sunday from complications of an infection at Genesis Health Care Facility in Severna Park, where she had lived for the past three years. She was 94. "Mary Lou Bennett was a wonderful person who made a great contribution to the educational system of Anne Arundel County," said former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Holt, a longtime friend. "She was also very active in our church and was just a good all-around citizen.

For 30 years, the Chesapeake Bay Program - a partnership including the six bay states, the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies - has been measuring and assessing the bay's health and working to restore the ecosystem. In many of those years, the health findings were troubling. This year, as we release our annual Bay Barometer summarizing the bay's condition and our restoration progress, there remain many results related to water quality that reinforce our need for continued action.

As a concerned mother and environmentalist, I want to thank The Sun for its recent article on pollution in the Chesapeake Bay ("Report finds widespread contaminants in the bay," Jan. 22). Meaningful efforts to significantly improve the bay must address pesticide runoff. The Pesticide Use Reporting Bill would require certified pesticide and fertilizer applicators to report usage data to a centralized database. Centralizing such information would benefit public agencies in their response to fish kills, dead zones and human health outbreaks.

Hardly a month goes by that The Sun does not further document how Chesapeake Bay pollution is eroding the livelihoods of our watermen. In a cynical moment, I once wrote in my book, "Bay Country," of a day when "we will memorialize the vanished watermen in a Colonial Williamsburg - Watermens' World, we'd call it ... tourists could view actors tonging Fiberglas oysters from the comfort of underwater viewing lounges.... " Now I'm encouraged to report that the Chesapeake Conservancy has an innovative program up and running that trains real life watermen to share their skills with tourists, supplementing their incomes while we work to restore the Chesapeake's seafood bounty.

Chesapeake Shakespeare Company is following through on the Bard's famous statement that all the world is a stage. As if it weren't enough that this Ellicott City-based theater company already uses various Howard County sites for its indoor productions, it's moving ahead with its plan to convert a former bank building in downtown Baltimore into a new permanent home. When that new home opens in 2014, all of the company's indoor productions will be staged there. Its outdoor summer productions will continue to be done at the Patapsco Female Institute Historic Park in Ellicott City.

High winds are forecast across the region Saturday with a gale warning in effect on the Chesapeake Bay until noon, according to the National Weather Service. A gale warning means winds of 34 to 47 knots (39 to 54 mph) are expected. Forecasters say that could mean dangerous conditions for anyone venturing out onto the bay, especially in smaller boats. Even after the gale subsides, condtions will remain treacherous for inexperienced sailors, according to the Weather Service. In response to conditions, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge is operating under a wind warning, with the Maryland Transportation Authority urging drivers to use caution while crossing.