Eastern States

CONSERVATION may not be hard science but it is certainly common sense. If a resource is obviously threatened, conservation is prudent. That is the thrust of the deliberate decision to cut back on catches of Atlantic horseshoe crabs, those dark olive, helmet-like creatures often seen along our ocean beaches and bays. Informal surveys have found their numbers declining; one count traced a drop of 50 percent over the past decade. Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey imposed commercial harvest limits in recent years to reduce pressure on the crab, used primarily as bait to catch conch and eel. Recognizing the danger, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission ordered all Eastern states to reduce their take of horseshoe crabs by 25 percent as of May 1. Virginia is the lone holdout, claiming a lack of scientific basis for the quotas.

Bid to cut vehicle pollution dies in Senate committee A bill to reduce air pollution from cars and trucks died yesterday in a state Senate committee after it was opposed by the Ehrlich administration, automobile manufacturers, car dealers and business groups. The so-called Clean Cars Bill was killed in a 6-5 vote by Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. Environmental and public health groups, including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the American Academy of Pediatrics, had supported tighter standards employed by California and seven Eastern states because of rising child asthma rates.

Brian Link won the third Pro Spot Qualifier for the $150,000 Fair Lanes Open to be bowled Feb. 16-22 at Fair Lanes Woodlawn. Link, bowling at Fair Lanes University in Adelphi, rolled games of 219-267-246-216-227-2131,388 to win a place in the tournament and $300.Jeff Harding finished second with 244-214-217-238-247-2031,363 and earned $275. Anthony Champman had 184-245-239-249-188-2371,342, good for third place and won $200.The next Pro Spot Qualifier was set for today at Fair Lanes Woodlawn, and the final one is scheduled next Sunday at Fair Lanes Kings Point in Randallstown.

Baseball Orioles -- Placed OF Harold Baines on the 15-day DL, retroactive Wednesday. Recalled OF Mark Leonard from Triple-A Rochester. Signed utility man Randy Ready to a Triple-A contract.Colorado Rockies -- Placed SS Freddie Benavides on the 15-day DL. Purchased the minor-league contract of IF Nelson Liriano.Philadelphia Phillies -- Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre placed P Tyler Green on the 15-day DL.St. Louis Cardinals -- Placed OF Bernard Gilkey on the 15-day DL. Recalled OF Ozzie Canseco from Triple-A Louisville.

Two boys from Gymnastics Plus in Columbia are the only qualifiers from Maryland this year to earn trips to a competition in Colorado Springs, Colo., this month in hopes of making the U.S. national junior development boys team. As on any national junior team, participants receive high-level training intended to help them reach for elite-athlete status in the sport, although participation is no guarantee of eventual membership on a national team. The two are Mario West, 10, of North Laurel and Johnny Schell Jr., 12, of Laytonsville, Montgomery County.

James E. Conner, a retired sales manager, book collector and amateur prestidigitator, died of heart failure Dec. 3 at Baltimore Washington Medical Center. The Odenton resident was 79. Mr. Conner was born in Baltimore and raised in Catonsville. After graduating from Catonsville High School in 1944, he served in the Coast Guard for two years as a storekeeper and trumpet player. He earned a bachelor's degree from Loyola College in 1949, and went to work for Garamond-Pridemark Press Inc., a division of Cadmus Communications Inc. He was a vice president and sales manager when he retired in 1989.

Annapolis Symphony elects board membersThomas Cleaver, John Neely and Joan Ruch have been elected to three-year terms on the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra's Board of Directors.Re-elected to three-year terms were James R. Carman, James A. Dale, Anna E. Greenberg, Madeleine D. Hughes, Pamela McKee, Mitchell E. Nathanson and Dolores Queen.Elected as officers to three-year terms were James W. Cheevers, president; Dr. Stephen E. Faust, vice president; Nathanson, vice president; John Crummey, secretary; and Dr. Leo A. Courtney, treasurer.

From Jay Hancock's Blog: A cold weather forecast has pulled natural gas prices up from an eight-year low, Bloomberg reports. That will probably be reflected in BGE's residential natural gas price for January. But while prices may have notched up, they're rising from really low levels. The recession and a worldwide natural-gas glut have depressed gas prices and profits. The default natural gas price for BGE customers this month (the floating price you get if you don't lock in with another supplier)

William Russell Filbert Sr., a retired auditor and former athlete, died of a heart attack Wednesday at Sinai Hospital after being involved in a traffic accident the day before near his Cockeysville home. He was 80. Born in Baltimore and raised on North Curley Street, he was a 1942 graduate of Calvert Hall High School, where he played baseball, soccer and football. He was elected captain of the baseball and soccer teams in his senior year and was named All Maryland by local sportswriters.

PRESTON -- Hundreds of tiny green heads peek from a manmade pond behind Rodney Lewis' farmhouse on the Eastern Shore. As he approaches, the eyes watch him warily, then vanish into the murk. Lewis, a 59-year-old waterman, has transformed himself into the terrapin king. Over the last year, he used a bulldozer to dig five large holding tanks in former cornfields, and he's stocked the ponds with more than 2,000 diamondback terrapin. He's created Maryland's only turtle farm -- breeding tens of thousands of hatchlings for sale for food or pets in China and elsewhere.