Elk River

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.

The tragic events earlier this week when the freighter A.V. Kastner collided with a tug hauling barges in fog on the Elk River, killing four crewmen, recalled just how busy and important this river, which leads to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, is to both commercial shipping and recreational boating traffic. The accident occurred near the western approach of the 14-mile long C&D Canal, which links the upper Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River, making it the busiest canal in the country, and the third busiest in the world.

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.

Federal authorities are trying to seize $10 million from reputed drug kingpin Steven Blackwell Jr., who was indicted along with two others on federal heroin distribution charges last month. The brief court filing in U.S. District Court indicates for the first time the scope of Blackwell's alleged drug empire and links him to two real estate companies that own property in East Baltimore and a home along the Elk River in Cecil County that was purchased for $740,000. Authorities have labeled Blackwell, 26, a key player in a violent drug feud that began with the abduction of his two younger brothers and included a quadruple shooting outside an appliance store and a shootout at a backyard cookout that injured 12 people, including Blackwell.

Summertime in Baltimore . . . and the living is right out of Dante's "Inferno."But it won't last forever. Trust me: The cooler weather of late summer and early fall is on its way, bringing us some desperately needed relief.That's the time we can pull out our fat-tire bikes and set sail for the mountains -- and enjoy one of the best-kept secrets in American mountain-biking: the panoramic alpine views and lush forests of nearby West Virginia.Consider: With almost a million acres of peaks and ridges soaring to nearly 5,000 feet, the Mountain State's Monongahela National Forest is in the same class as distant cycling meccas such as Colorado, Northern California and New Zealand.

A week after the fatal collision between a freighter and a flotilla of tugboats and barges on the Elk River, three lawsuits have been filed in federal court by companies involved in the incident. Norfolk Dredging Co. of Chesapeake, Va., has filed two suits, one in U.S. District Court in Baltimore and the other in Norfolk. The suits seek a total of $30 million in damages as a result of the accident, in which the captain of its tugboat Swift and three crewmen died. The suits center around the events leading to the collision Feb. 25 of the freighter A.V. Kastner, owned by Gypsum Transportation, a Bermuda company, and a flotilla of barges, tugs and dredge equipment.

On April 28, 1813, a detachment of British troops under Adm. George Cockburn landed on Spesutie Island. Congress had declared war on Britain on June 19, 1812. A Royal Navy fleet had come to blockade the Chesapeake and conduct raids on centers of commerce along the waterways. Havre de Grace fishermen were busy at the island setting nets for the spring run of shad, so town residents must soon have known about the British presence. The troops occupied the 2,300-acre island and took livestock, paying $16 a head for cattle and $3 a head for sheep.

A Cecil County grand jury has indicted a New Jersey man on charges of manslaughter in the death of a 21-year-old Philadelphia woman during a boating accident on the Elk River last summer, authorities said. Mark D. Rosati, 51, of Mount Laurel has been charged with manslaughter by vessel, homicide by vessel while under the influence of alcohol, operating a vessel in a reckless or dangerous manner, reckless operation and negligent operation. The Cecil County Sheriff's Office served Rosati with the indictment Monday.

If you are out on the water and get tossed overboard, as happened over the weekend when a boat carrying two men struck a buoy in the Elk River in Cecil County, your chances of survival increase markedly if you are wearing a life jacket. Initially, the two boaters involved in the accident late Saturday night were not wearing life jackets. One donned a jacket as he floundered. Later, he was rescued and taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The body of the other, who was operating the 28-foot power boat, was discovered by searchers Monday evening.

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Municipal bond issuers announced yesterday the early redemption of seven issues totaling more than $89.2 million.The issues being called are:, The issues being called are:* Maricopa County School District No. 66, Ariz., Series 1985, refunding bonds (Roosevelt Elementary) maturing July 1, 1993, through July 1, 1995. $3.965 million called at 101 on Jan. 1, 1993.* Maricopa County School District No. 66, Ariz., Series 1986, school improvement bonds (Roosevelt Elementary) maturing July 1, 1993, through July 1, 1995.