Conowingo

In an action that could cut electric costs by 13 percent for 35,000 northeastern Maryland residents, PECO Energy Co. of Philadelphia has agreed to sell its Maryland Conowingo Power Co. to Delmarva Power & Light Co., which already supplies electricity to the Eastern Shore.Under the proposal, which must be approved by the Maryland Public Service Commission, Delmarva will pay $150 million for the distribution system that provides electricity to Cecil County and parts of Harford County. The sale does not include the Conowingo Hydro-Electric Station on the Susquehanna River, which is owned by a PECO Energy subsidiary.

Dale and Deborah Tobin of Havre de Grace announce the engagement of their daughter, Diana "Shelly" Tobin to Michael W. Shenk, son of Dee Hewitt of Havre de Grace and Woodrow Shenk of Conowingo. Tobin is a 2006 graduate of Havre de Grace High School and a 2012 graduate of Harford Community College with a degree in nursing. She is a registered nurse at St. Joseph's Hospital in Towson. Shenk is a 2000 graduate of Havre de Grace High School and is an electronic technician with Intelect Corporation in Baltimore.

Over the next few weeks, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and its technical committee will finish sorting out the future of the rockfish, which earlier this year was said to have flourished to the point of amazement over the past decade.Flourished to the point of being declared recovered as of Jan. 1, 1995.And while that is good news to most bay fishermen, there are anglers in the upper bay and on the Susquehanna River who might not benefit from the resurgence of the rockfish.

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH BRADFORD: Emily Angel of Stewartstown, Pa, was expected to graduate Sunday, April 28, from the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford with a bachelor's degree in elementary education. MIDWESTERN UNIVERSITY: Meredith Riddle, D.O., of Baldwin, has completed the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree at the Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University. An official graduation ceremony and conferring of degrees will take place on the Midwestern University campus in Glendale, Arizona, on May 30. Dr. Riddle is the daughter of Baldwin residents Jeff and Glenda Riddle.

Conowingo Power Co. customers will see an average 35-cent increase in their monthly electricity bills due to company rate changes that took effect Feb. 1.Conowingo serves about 4,000 customers in northeastern Harford County and 29,000 customers in Cecil County. The company hasn't increased its rates since 1986.The rate increase means that the typical residential customer using 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity in a month will pay $53.19, up from the 1991 average bill of $52.84, the company says.

Conowingo Power Co. customers could see an average 34 percent increase in their electric bills over the next five years if a rate increase is granted.Conowingo serves about 4,000 customers in Harford County and 29,000 customers in Cecil County, according to utility statistics.The Elkton-based company filed a rate-increase request with the state Public Service Commission on Monday. The company last increased rates in 1986.If approved, the increase would mean that the average residential customer using 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity in a month would pay $52.87 annually for that service by 1992, up $2 from the 1991 average annual bill of $50.87, the utility said.

Boaters using the Susquehanna River near the Conowingo Dam are beingcautioned to beware of unusually shallow waters.The river's flowhas dropped to an all-time low for this time of year, say dam operators.Philadelphia Electric Co., which operates the dam located betweennorthern Harford and Cecil counties, issued an advisory last week that water levels near area marinas and creeks might not be deep enoughfor boaters entering the river.Bill Jones, spokesman for the electric company, said "There's no danger.

Trying to find cheaper electricity for Cecil County residents, the Maryland Public Service Commission today will begin considering whether the Conowingo Power Co. in Elkton must solicit bids for electricity rather than routinely buy it from its parent company, Philadelphia Electric Co.Cecil County officials are pressing for competitive bidding as a way to reduce electric rates, which they say are 10 percent to 15 percent higher than in other parts of...

Citing safety concerns, the owner of the Conowingo Hydroelectric Station has expanded the boating no-trespassing zone upstream and downstream on the Susquehanna River. But to help offset that loss, the utility has opened two facilities that had been closed in response to last year's Sept. 11 attacks. Exelon Generation opened the old Conowingo boat ramp upstream from the dam on the Cecil County side and the Lower Boat Launch downstream near the main entrance to the dam at Shure's Landing on the Harford County side.

In the last six months, vandals have struck five Conowingo Power Co. facilities in northeastern Harford, causing thousands of dollars in damage and temporary outages of electrical services.The vandals also pose a threat to the environment: The damaged equipment contains mineral oil that could contaminate soil and ground water if it leaks.To prevent further damage, the Harford County Crime Solvers group is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the vandals.

One of two Pennsylvania men involved in an early Monday morning crash on the Harford County side of Conowingo Dam has died, Maryland State Police confirmed Monday afternoon. Anila Vadala, 28, of the 4000 block of Locust Street in Philadelphia, died following the two-vehicle accident, which occurred around 5:45 a.m. Monday on Route 1 near the dam, according to State Police. The accident involved a pickup truck and Honda, according to Sgt. Comer, duty officer at the Maryland State Police Barrack, which is investigating the crash.

The body of a Harford County man who had been missing since early last month was recovered Tuesday from the Susquehanna River below Conowingo Dam, Maryland State Police said. The man has been identified as Scott R. Hammer, 57, of Havre de Grace. His body has been transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death, according to a news release from State Police. Shortly before 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Maryland Natural Resources Police officers were contacted by workers at Conowingo Dam, who reported seeing a body lying on a rock in the river after the water level was lowered, State Police said.

Divers and rescue personnel searched in the waters around Conowingo Dam Wednesday night for a 56-year-old Havre de Grace man who was reported missing and may have jumped from the dam, Maryland State Police said. As of Thursday afternoon, however, there was no confirmation that anyone had jumped from the dam, nor had anything been found. Around 7:20 p.m Wednesday, a dive team and other rescue personnel were dispatched to the dam for a report of a possible suicide A monitored Harford County emergency radio broadcast advised rescue personnel that an abandoned vehicle, with a suicide note inside, had been found near the dam. Rescue personnel called from both Harford and Cecil counties were instructed to meet in the "fisherman's wharf" area.

This letter was sent to the head of the Maryland Department of Environment and a similar one was sent to the head of the Department of Natural Resources. A copy was provided for publication. In August, the U.S. Geological Survey published a report titled "Flux of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Suspended Sediment from the Susquehanna River Basin to the Chesapeake Bay during Tropical Storm Lee, September 2011, as an Indicator of the Effects of Reservoir Sedimentation on Water Quality.

Four more days remain until St. Nicholas arrives. By this time next week, there will be nothing left but leftovers. Last weekend in church, our minister blessed the straw in the manger. The story goes that if a husband/father takes a piece of straw and keeps it in his wallet or pocket, his family will never go hungry. May that be my wish for you and yours. The Ladies Auxiliary units from Singerly, North East, Rising Sun, Chesapeake City, Perryville and Water Witch fire companies gathered at North East Fire Hall for their quarterly dinner meeting.

The Susquehanna River and its big dams have been in the news lately. A handful of Maryland county officials would like you to believe the dams are the primary ill of the Chesapeake Bay. They claim that because sediment reservoirs behind the Conowingo Dam are at capacity, instead of trapping pollutants during storms, the dam now allows two pollutants - phosphorus and sediment - to flow downstream at alarming rates. They argue that years of restoration progress have been erased and that current bay restoration efforts do not address these issues.

"Reported for Harford County November 20, 1900 by special dispatch to The Baltimore Sun, the suit of Jacob Hetrick against the Conowingo Bridge Company ended in a judgment of non-suit. The jury agreed upon a verdict for the defendant, but when the plaintiff was called, he declined answer. Mr. Hetrick was permanently injured two years ago while crossing the bridge at night. The plaintiff was seeking installation of lights along the bridge to further avoid accidents. Council was Albert Constable and James J. Archer for the plaintiff, and George L. Van Bibber and Thomas H. Robinson for the defendant."

The annual spawning run of shad and herring has ended on the Susquehanna River, and the fish lifts at Conowingo Dam recorded transport upriver of 103,945 American shad, a 70 percent increase over the record set in 1995.The east lift at Conowingo operated for 58 days and passed 90,071 American shad, 242,900 blue-back herring, 1,015 striped bass and 384,400 others, mostly gizzard shad.The average daily catch was 1,568, but during the peaks of the run on May 4, 9 and 18, catches ranged from 6,395 to 6,725.

Why does the Chesapeake Bay Foundation refuse to take seriously the threat posed by the Conowingo Dam's inability to hold back Susquehanna River pollution? With respect to the effect of Susquehanna River pollutants, the bay foundation has taken an inexplicable U-turn in its long-held doctrine regarding pollutants and the Chesapeake. In August, the U.S. Geological Survey reported last year's Tropical Storm Lee contributed 39 percent of the sediment, 22 percent of the phosphorus and 5 percent of the nitrogen flowing through the Conowingo Dam over the entire previous decade.

Personnel from the Conowingo Hydroelectric Station will move crest gates Thursday from the upper parking lot at the Conowingo Visitor Center to the Conowingo Dam after the completion of regular maintenance and repairs. To move these large crest gates, it will be necessary to temporarily delay traffic on Route 1 in both directions from Route 222 to Shures Landing Road, just south of Conowingo on the Harford County side. The temporary delays are expected to occur any time between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 11. The delays on the highway will last from 15 to 20 minutes at a time.