Elk River

ELKTON - Natural Resources police have recovered a man's body from the Elk River. The body, which police said had been in the water for some time, was found Thursday afternoon near the slips at Triton Marina Services. The Cecil Whig reported that officials had no reports of missing boaters or swimmers. - The Associated Press

ELKTON - Natural Resources police have recovered a man's body from the Elk River. The body, which police said had been in the water for some time, was found Thursday afternoon near the slips at Triton Marina Services. The Cecil Whig reported that officials had no reports of missing boaters or swimmers. - The Associated Press

A 45-year-old man drowned in a boating accident on the Elk River Saturday, authorities said. Maryland Natural Resources Police said officers were dispatched to the private Chesapeake Isles Community along the Elk River to investigate a capsized vessel and persons in distress. They said vessel had taken on water before capsizing in a mooring area near the community. The operator and three passengers were pulled from the water by witnesses. The operator was unconscious.

Maryland Natural Resources Police are investigating a fatal boating accident on Saturday involving a 45-year-old man from Westminster. According to Natural Resources Police, officers were dispatched to the Chesapeake Isles Community along the Elk River June 25 to investigate a capsized vessel and persons in distress. The vessel had taken on water before capsizing in a mooring area near the private community, police said. The operator and three passengers were pulled from the water by nearby witnesses who found the operator unconscious.

Maryland Natural Resources Police are investigating a fatal boating accident on Saturday involving a 45-year-old man from Westminster. According to Natural Resources Police, officers were dispatched to the Chesapeake Isles Community along the Elk River June 25 to investigate a capsized vessel and persons in distress. The vessel had taken on water before capsizing in a mooring area near the private community, police said. The operator and three passengers were pulled from the water by nearby witnesses who found the operator unconscious.

The tugboat that sank on the Elk River last week was on its way back to Virginia yesterday, and salvage crews continued to retrieve debris in hopes of reopening the shipping channel by midweek. Lt. Cmdr. Brendan McPherson, Coast Guard spokesman, said investigators confirmed that the Swift sustained damage to its starboard, or right, side in the collision Feb. 25 with the A.V. Kastner, a 520-foot freighter. The Swift was loaded on a barge and is being transported to Norfolk, Va. Investigators are examining communications between the ships, the crews' procedures, equipment, seamanship and the weather in an effort to determine how the accident occurred, McPherson said.

A salvage crew raised a barge yesterday that had sunk Jan. 30 in the Elk River in Cecil County, and pumped the craft's potentially harmful 1,000-ton load of sodium silicate into the tanks of another barge. The barge, which sank in water about 30 feet deep, had been hindering navigation in that part of the river, near the C&D Canal. The corrosive sodium silicate, an industrial polishing agent, also posed an environmental threat, said Senior Chief Petty Officer Tim Zernick, who is a marine science technician for the Coast Guard in Baltimore.

A body recovered by the Maryland Natural Resources Police and the Cecilton Volunteer Fire Department about 5 p.m. yesterday could be one of two missing victims of a tugboat accident Feb. 25 on the Elk River, DNR police said. The body of a man was discovered by people riding a boat on the Elk River. The body was floating about a half-mile from the shore in the shipping channel, said Heather Lynch, a spokeswoman for Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Lynch said officials think the body could be that of one of two remaining victims of the accident, but the identity has not been confirmed.

The tugboat that collided with the freighter A.V. Kastner and sank in the Elk River yesterday was part of a roughly 1,000-foot flotilla of dredging equipment that was slow and hard to maneuver in the narrow shipping channels leading to and from the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. Industry experts and ship pilots say such collisions are extremely rare, but it's possible for lengthy dredging rigs to drift in strong currents or maneuver off course in foggy conditions, which likely was the case at the time of the collision.

ELK NECK STATE PARK -- If all goes according to plan today, marine salvage crews plan to raise a sunken tugboat that has blocked shipping traffic at the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal since Monday's fog-shrouded collision with a 525-foot cargo vessel on the Elk River -- an accident that left four crewmen missing and presumed dead. Coast Guard officials said last night that divers were attempting to attach steel cables and straps beneath the tug, the Swift, the last step in a delicate weeklong recovery effort before lifting the 60-foot vessel.

A 45-year-old man drowned in a boating accident on the Elk River Saturday, authorities said. Maryland Natural Resources Police said officers were dispatched to the private Chesapeake Isles Community along the Elk River to investigate a capsized vessel and persons in distress. They said vessel had taken on water before capsizing in a mooring area near the community. The operator and three passengers were pulled from the water by witnesses. The operator was unconscious.

Searchers combing the Elk River for a drowned Cecil County man found his body Monday evening, according to a Maryland State Police spokesman. Deforrest Timlin, 49, who lived in Rising Sun, went missing Saturday after the 28-foot Power Quest motorboat he was piloting struck a buoy near Elk Neck State Park. A passenger was rescued. Search crews spent much of Sunday and Monday combing the Elk River for his body, a quest that was occasionally interrupted by the threat of thunderstorms.

Prettyboy Reservoir -- Joe Butta describes the bass as lethargic, with the recent cold front driving them down to 25-35 feet, suspended over deep water. White perch can still be found on trolling spinners and night crawlers. Liberty Reservoir -- Doug Geis at Old Reisterstown Bait and Tackle reports that rockfish are starting to come up the reservoir. For now, blue gills, crappies and walleye are plentiful for anglers using small worms and night crawlers near the Nicodemus Bridge. Susquehenna River -- Mike Benjamin of Herb's Tackle Shop reports that rockfish near Susquehanna flats are being caught on live bait and top water.

Howard Councilman Rakes says he will resign A key member of the Howard County Council announced late yesterday that he will resign Friday for "reasons of health." David A. Rakes, 69, an east Columbia Democrat, revealed his plans to step down in a brief letter distributed to other members of the council. Rakes' vote recently gave Republicans a 3-2 council majority to kill a bill to ban smoking in all Howard bars and restaurants, and he also made a Republican chairman of the majority-Democratic council.

Eleanor K. Kahle, an avid hiker and world traveler who with her husband restored an old farmhouse overlooking the Elk River, died of respiratory failure Monday at Ivy Manor Assisted Living in Ellicott City. She was 90. Born and raised Eleanor Kennedy in Philadelphia, she graduated from West Philadelphia High School, where she was an accomplished athlete. After earning her bachelor's degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania in 1937, she taught home economics for 12 years in Philadelphia public schools.

A year after the tugboat Swift sank in the icy waters of the Elk River, the Coast Guard's report of the incident has not been released, and lawyers for the three companies involved are still collecting evidence for civil trials set to start early next year. It was one year ago today that the tug and a 520-foot freighter collided in heavy fog 40 miles northeast of Baltimore, about two miles south of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. The boat's captain and three crew members were killed after the 60-foot tug rolled and sank about 20 seconds after the crash.

A year after the tugboat Swift sank in the icy waters of the Elk River, the Coast Guard's report of the incident has not been released, and lawyers for the three companies involved are still collecting evidence for civil trials set to start early next year. It was one year ago today that the tug and a 520-foot freighter collided in heavy fog 40 miles northeast of Baltimore, about two miles south of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. The boat's captain and three crew members were killed after the 60-foot tug rolled and sank about 20 seconds after the crash.

Salvage crews raised yesterday the tugboat that sank on the Elk River last week, and state officials recovered the bodies of two of the four men who were killed in the accident. The bodies of crew members Ronald L. Bonniville, 32, of Hayes, Va., and Clarence McConnell, 47, of McClellanville, S.C., 47, were recovered about 5:20 p.m. from a berth compartment below deck. Two other missing crewmen, Captain William Bryant of Virginia Beach, Va., and his nephew, Justin Bryant of Supply, N.C., made it off the boat but were pulled underwater, according to witnesses.

ELK RIVER, Minn. -- The last time I saw Sen. Paul Wellstone was the afternoon before his death, in Daddy-O's CafM-i in this small town about 30 miles north of Minneapolis where he had brought his campaign for a third term. As usual, he was in high dudgeon about everything from the threatened war in Iraq to unmet social and economic needs at home. Only 30 or so Minnesotans were on hand, but he gave them the full Wellstone treatment, pounding his fist in the air as he spoke. "Part of the definition of our national security is to be strong," he said.

A body recovered by the Maryland Natural Resources Police and the Cecilton Volunteer Fire Department about 5 p.m. yesterday could be one of two missing victims of a tugboat accident Feb. 25 on the Elk River, DNR police said. The body of a man was discovered by people riding a boat on the Elk River. The body was floating about a half-mile from the shore in the shipping channel, said Heather Lynch, a spokeswoman for Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Lynch said officials think the body could be that of one of two remaining victims of the accident, but the identity has not been confirmed.