Crisfield

CRISFIELD -- Rodney Riggin hopes he soon will be able to taste the Blue Jimmy Pillows that won him the grand prize in the 1999 Crab Cooking Contest held here recently.Less than a year ago, doctors discovered Riggin had a leaking aneurysm in his brain. Surgery saved his life, but, for now, has left him unable to smell or taste the food he makes.Riggin, 46, said he relied on memories of how food should taste, as well as the comments of family, neighbors and friends who sampled his recipes. "You know who won it for me, don't you?"

CRISFIELD -- For lifelong residents like Sandy Sturgis and Lee Ann Grosky, much has changed in the hometown that still bills itself as Maryland's seafood capital.They've watched the industry decline that's left the waterfront community of 2,700 with three crab processing houses where a dozen once thrived. They've seen other employers pull out one by one.They've heard the statistics showing Somerset County as one of the state's poorest. They've read the grim test scores that rate its schools among the worst.

Two weeks into battle -- dodging artillery fire and stepping over the bodies of his fallen comrades -- Austin Cox crouched behind a Norman hedgerow, laid down his rifle and picked up the other weapon that helped save his life in the Second World War: a pen.My Dearest Jeanne, he wrote to his bride.. . . I am in my little home which is about 3 ft. underground, sometimes called a foxhole. I've always wondered why they call it that, now I know; it's not the nicest place in the world but at times you sure wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world.

OCEAN CITY -- As it passed over the Eastern Shore yesterday, Hurricane Floyd took one last vicious kick at Maryland, flooding towns and highways from Crisfield to the northern Chesapeake Bay.A high school principal helping set up a shelter in Princess Anne died of a heart attack.Two girls were missing and presumed drowned after playing in a creek near Bear, Del. The girls, who were swept into a 300-foot storm drainage pipe, were identified as Erica Fisher, 11, and Sarah Robinson, 12. A third girl was rescued from the raging creek.

CRISFIELD -- Anybody who is anybody in Maryland politics -- and plenty more who want to be somebody in Maryland politics -- converged yesterday on the seafood capital of the Lower Eastern Shore.Up to their elbows in Old Bay, almost 5,000 visitors wielded crab mallets at the 23rd J. Millard Tawes Crab and Clambake, a shindig that raises as much as $70,000 for the local Chamber of Commerce and for one day each summer turns the waterfront town of 2,700 into ground zero for campaign-style schmoozing, even in a nonelection year.

Patapsco defeated Bethesda-Chevy Chase, 1-0, last night at Thomas Johnson to advance to the state Class 2A finals against River Hill.Greg Hopper, the Patriots' leading scorer with 10 goals and seven assists, cut inside his defender after a quick restart, received a pass from Joe Pugh and scored from the left wing with 2: 19 left in the first half.Patapsco (12-4) outshot Bethesda (9-3-1), 23-14. "But I thought it was a very even game," Patriots coach Dave Ingle said.The unranked Patriots will play the fourth-ranked Hawks (18-1-0)

CRISFIELD -- In this remote corner of Maryland, Charles I. Ecker found a likely supporter -- Frank Johnson, a 53-year-old businessman, co-owner of a crab processing plant. And a Republican.In 2 1/2 hours of campaigning here last week, he was the only Republican Ecker met.A luncheon in Ecker's honor drew three voters. All were Democrats. So were the owner and clerk at a marine hardware store where Ecker stopped to chat. None can vote for him in Maryland's GOP primary for governor.That kind of day would discourage most politicians.

CRISFIELD -- Two years ago, doctors from India, the Philippines and Nigeria started coming to this sleepy crabbing capital to set up practices. They made little Edward J. McCready Memorial Hospital the most ethnically diverse place in town -- and probably saved it from financial ruin.McCready's new chief executive had realized that American doctors weren't interested in a place that could offer hospitality but not a lot of money, prestige or excitement. So he tapped the foreign market, finding 10 of 16 new physicians from overseas.

CRISFIELD - Jeanette Lalonde of Severn transformed a simple crab meat mixture into eight different appetizers to win the annual Crab Cooking Contest here earlier this month.She tucked the crab into cherry tomatoes, sweetened it with pineapple and mango, sealed it inside won-ton wrappers and gave it a touch of Dijon for dip.It seemed like a daunting undertaking for a contest with a one-hour time limit, but the payroll manager from Washington Hospital Center pulled off her Maryland Blue Crab Meat Appetizers with ease.

Since it opened in the spring of last year, Helen's Garden Cafe (2908 O'Donnell St.) on Canton Square has done so well that it has slowly changed from a gourmet-to-go with a couple of eat-in tables to a full-fledged restaurant with a liquor license.On the first floor of the handsomely renovated rowhouse, the buy-by-the-pound counters have been replaced by a couple of coffee bars, a selection of wines and a dessert case. There's now a dining room upstairs where lunch and dinner are served Tuesday through Friday, and breakfast, lunch and dinner Saturday and Sunday.

Wade D. Ward, who practiced law in Crisfield for more than 50 years and was active in numerous civic, Masonic and veterans organizations, died Monday of cardiovascular disease at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury. He was 85. Mr. Ward, the son of a State Roads Commission worker and a homemaker, was born and raised in Crisfield. After graduating from Crisfield High School in 1941, he was inducted into the Army. He served in Europe and the Pacific with an artillery unit. At the end of World War II, he enrolled at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1950.

CRISFIELD - Despite gloomy predictions, watermen have been finding a bounty of crabs so far this season as they work the waters off the lower Eastern Shore. "Honestly, it's been good right from the beginning - we've been blessed," says John Tull, 47, who docks his boat in a harbor here that's been a haven for watermen since the 1950s. First came the best run of "peelers" - crabs just about to shed their shells - that Tull's seen in 20 years. Now he's finding a respectable catch of both soft and hard crabs all around Tangier Sound.

MANOKIN -- Somerset County Detective Sgt. George Wilson was always perplexed about the disappearance of 31-year-old Rhonda Lee Parks two years ago. Despite a history of drug abuse and a fractured family life, Parks would never skip town without trying to contact her three children, Wilson said. "It looked for a while like she might have been hiding out from some upcoming court cases she was facing," said Wilson, a member of the county sheriff's office. "But as time went on, with no contact with her kids, we thought it was going to turn out something worse."

Philip Wesley Tawes, a retired insurance executive and son of former Maryland Gov. J. Millard Tawes, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease Dec. 7 at his Crisfield home. He was 85. Mr. Tawes, who was born and raised in Crisfield, was also the son of the late Avalynne Gibson Tawes. He was a 1939 graduate of Crisfield High School and left the University of Maryland to enlist in the Army during World War II. He served with Company L 1229th Division from Crisfield and landed at Normandy, France, on June 12, 1944.

The owner of a Crisfield company pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to selling undersized Chesapeake Bay crabs, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Isabel Dryden, who owns N.R. Dryden and Co., admitted to a felony violation of the Lacey Act, which "prohibits the interstate sale of fish knowingly taken or possessed in violation of state law," according to prosecutors. Prosecutors said federal agents received information that crabbers from Tangier Island, Va., were selling Chesapeake Bay soft-shell crabs to dealers in Crisfield.

CRISFIELD --For years, Sam Matthews and three dozen other watermen have docked their sturdy wood work boats in the town marina here along the Little Annemessex River. But with pricey high-rise condos and townhouse developments sprouting all around the waterfront, local crabbers and oystermen are worried they might be pushed out to accommodate the pleasure boats of newcomers. "This harbor is the only place a waterman can go anymore," says Matthews, 63, who was readying the Sassy Lady for another season tending the 400 crab pots he drops in the waters of Tangier Sound.

Maj. Michael L. Tabor, a 25-year veteran of the Baltimore Police Department, is retiring from the force to become chief of police in Crisfield, a small town on the Lower Eastern Shore. Tabor, 49, who said he comes from a long line of watermen on Virginia and Maryland's Eastern Shores, said yesterday that he is excited to return to a waterfront community while continuing to serve in law enforcement. He said he and his wife plan to build a house in the town. The Crisfield Police Department has 15 officers and has been struggling recently with spates of burglaries and thefts driven by addicts fueling the area's illegal narcotics trade, Tabor said.

On Novemeber 16, 2006, MARGHERITA C. DELGROSSO of Crisfield, MD; beloved mother /aunt of Tony Breeback of Falston, MD and Cindy Meehan of Owings Mills, MD; beloved sister of Emily Stiemke of Salisbury, MD; cherished grandmother of Jeffrey Gilpin, Casey Meehan and Little Tony Breeback; wonderful friend of Rhonda Powell and many others. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to a charity of your choice in memory of.

Federal wildlife officials are investigating whether three Crisfield crab processors, watermen and others in the Maryland and Virginia seafood industry have been involved in the widespread sale of undersized soft-shell crabs - possibly marketing the young blue crabs on Internet sites. Agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, backed by Maryland Natural Resources Police and the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, raided the three crab houses Sept. 7, authorities confirmed yesterday.

CRISFIELD -- The J. Millard Tawes Crab and Clam Bake is billed as Maryland's must-attend, see-and-be-seen political institution, equal parts seafood, sweat and schmooze. And yesterday's gathering drew politicians from Ocean City to Cumberland, all intent on letting it be known that the event is an unparalleled chance to gorge on seafood and sway voters. But the truth is this: The politicians eat no crabs, and there are few voters to convince. Many attendees are either working for campaigns or from out of state.