Dana

MR. ACREE, a native of Baltimore, MD, departed this life on February 1, 2007 at Duke University Hospital. Mr. Acree was a resident of Nathalie, VA for 25 years. Funeral services were provided by Jeffress Funeral Home of South Boston, VA (434-572-2046).

On February 9, 2008, DANA (aka Doll), in Selbyville, DE, beloved wife of James Henry Conway, Sr., devoted mother of Natalie Butcher and husband Chris, her son, James Conway, Jr. and Kelly Johnson and Kyle Conway. She is also survived by one grandson, Mason Conway, her sisters, Linda, Terry and Marie, her brothers, William, John and Richard, nieces, nephews, and other relatives and friends. Friends may call at the family owned Ambrose Funeral Home, 2719 Hammonds Ferry Rd, Lansdowne, MD on Thursday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9pm. Funeral services from the funeral home on Friday at the funeral hour of 12 noon.

On June 28, 2003, DANA K.; beloved son of Barbara and the late Julius Hill; father of Devon and Ryan Hill; stepfather of Shannon Pindle; brother of Karen Douglass, also Gaye and Christine; a special friend, Marsha Cain; aunts, uncles and cousins, other relatives and friends. Visitation on Wednesday at the Joseph L. Russ Funeral Home, 2222 W. North Avenue, from 3 to 8 P.M. Service on Thursday at St. Ambrose R.C. Church, 4502 Park Heights Avenue. Family hour 10 A.M. Mass to follow at 10:30 A.M. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Sickle Cell Asso.

Kristin Heil Valentino, formerly of Catonsville, now residing in Hunt Valley, is pleased to announce the marriage of her son, Jordon Heil Valentino, to Dana Cullen, daughter of James and Elaine Trezza, of Litchfield Park, Ariz. The ceremony and reception took place at Bridgewaters, in Manhattan, where the couple lives. Nicholas Valentino served as his brother's best man. Erin Mathieson and Lisa Cannavan were chosen as the bride's attendants. The bride is completing a doctoral degree in biomedical sciences at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

UFC president Dana White's comments on the demise of ProElite are fairly predictable. Basically, it's a lot of F-bombs and insults - classic Dana White. Really though, I'm OK with it. EliteXC was considered a rival of the UFC by people who don't know any better, especially since EXC scored the first prime-time network TV deal. I don't doubt that EXC did some serious damage to the sport in the eyes of first-time fans, so White should be able to take some glee in the promotion's demise. (For more, go to baltimoresun.

Fatherhood had kept Dana Sohr from service work. It also brought him back to it. Sohr's youngest son had come home from his first religious education class at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia in September 2006 and told his father about a service project the students wanted to do in New Orleans. “It just kind of struck me,” Sohr recalled more than five years later. “I said, 'I'd like to help you do that.' ” Sohr was among nearly 30 parents and high school students who went to a city still ravaged and reeling from Hurricane Katrina.

Not sure how you feel about the ubiquitous Howard Stern? Take a look at E! tonight; you'll not go away unaffected."The Nanny" (8 p.m.-8: 30 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13) -- Could the Woman With the Most Irritating Voice In the World have had an African-American mother? That's what guest star Telma Hopkins tries to tell Fran. CBS."Battle of the Sexes on Ice" (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45) -- The never-ending parade of ice-skating on TV continues, this time pitting the guys (Scott Hamilton, Brian Boitano, Paul Wylie and Kurt Browning)

Dana Buchman is a name on fashion and fiction best-seller lists. Her classic sportswear has a loyal following of women who dress beautifully but hate to fuss with clothes -- count Hillary Rodham Clinton and Tipper Gore among them. And mystery-book fans may have noticed that the sting operation in Elmore Leonard's latest thriller, "Rum Punch," dodges around the Dana Buchman department of a Macy's designer salon. Talk about name recognition.Ms. Buchman was pleased to figure in the action of a popular thriller, and not at all rattled by the crooks-and-clothes connection.

DEAR CAL -- I'm the mother of a 13-year-old boy who is a natural in baseball. He played in recreation leagues from T-ball through 11 years old. He developed a fear of the ball and kept backing out of the batter's box. Although he never was hit, he hit some batters while he was a pitcher and it scared him so badly that he doesn't want to play in a league again. Every time there's a story about someone getting hurt by the baseball he reminds us that is why he doesn't play on a team. We took him to a baseball academy and he played one more season but kept backing out of the batter's box. All of his uncles, who play ball, say he is a natural and he plays daily at home in our big yard.

Lee Richardson is a pioneer of sorts in taking a new look at a very old energy source. The Wicomico County poultry farmer just finished installing a commercial-sized wood pellet stove to heat one of his chicken houses in Willards, east of Salisbury. When his next flock of chicks arrives from Perdue, Richardson will test how the wood-warmed birds fare compared with those raised in a neighboring house, which is heated by burning propane gas. "We're going to run it for a year and see what happens," Richardson said.