Farm Animals

Havre de Grace. -- The old dog was obviously in distress. He had wandered into our barn from the nearby house where he lived, and lay on the floor breathing heavily. He was so shaky on his hind legs he could barely stand.We knew him, liked him. Knew his owners and liked them. We knew he was about 14 years old, as old as most dogs get.His prospects didn't seem good, and when we looked him over carefully they seemed a lot worse. Under his fur we found a gaping wound above his backbone. It was festering, rotten and alive with maggots.

Within the next week, please send old photos of kids with farm animals to Way Back When, Sun Magazine, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimoire, Md. 21278. You must include caption information and your daytime phone number. Also, enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope if you'd like your photo returned. If your photo is your only copy, please send a good-quality duplicate, not the origional. No faxes or newspaper clippings, please.

Student's TV script is most wanted by Fox showMartin Brandwin will get more than just an "A" on his class assignment. He will get his chance at stardom on network television.The Fox network (WBFF -- Channel 45) will use Mr. Brandwin's script for an episode of "America's Most Wanted" scheduled to air July 15.Mr. Brandwin and his 14 classmates at American University were assigned to develop two parts of a three-part script highlighting an actual crime that had been researched by a reporter for the show.

For the fearful flier, these are trying times indeed. Not only does every other plane seem to be making an unscheduled landing into somebody's living room, but now the airlines are engaged in another fierce price war.Southwest has announced some sort of buy-one, get-one-free ticket policy. Continental lets you fly for peanuts. USAir practically says: "Look, we'll fly you anywhere in the world for 20 bucks. What day is good for you?"While the rest of the flying public reacts enthusiastically to these price wars, the fearful flier does not.Because the fearful flier thinks: "OK, they're cutting the cost of a ticket.

A bitter neighborhood battle over Donald Parlett's pig farm on Bird River will not spawn a new Baltimore County law regulating farm animals.Councilman Vincent J. Gardina, D-5th, had planned to introduce legislation requiring anyone keeping large farm animals in rural waterfront areas to obtain a special zoning exception. But he gave up on the plan because he could not get any support on the council.That was a relief to the county's farmers, but not for most residents of Earls Beach, a tiny waterfront community in the eastern part of the county that is embroiled in a long-standing fight with Mr. Parlett over the use of his 72-acre farm.

Carroll County is experiencing a population explosion -- not just in people, but in horses. The University of Maryland Cooperative Extension Service just released a report showing there are five times as many horses in the county as there were just seven years ago.Carroll now is home to 10,163 horses, according to the survey conducted by Malcolm Commer Jr., a livestock economist with the Extension Service. That compares to 2,658 in 1987, when the U.S. Department of Commerce conducted its last agricultural census.

Jostling each other out of the way, Heather Shulman's third-graders eagerly nudged forward for a look at the white box's glass panel.It wasn't the latest Nintendo game that had these Mount Airy Elementary students glued to the glass, but chickens hatching in an incubator."

Anne Arundel has become an increasingly urban place over the past two generations, which may explain why its annual farm fair receives less fanfare than those in counties such as Carroll and Frederick. Nonetheless, the 41st edition of the fair, which ended last weekend, was evidence that county residents continue to value their agricultural heritage.Though the Anne Arundel fair boasts rides and a midway, its main draw remains the agricultural exposition itself -- the hundreds of sewing, canning, baking and craft projects, farm animals and picture-perfect garden vegetables.

Cathy Gaynor's dream of becoming a veterinarian was quickly dashed in college when she was faced with killing a chicken for a science experiment and couldn't bring herself to do it.She switched her major to English and psychology and taught for the next 12 years. But she couldn't shake the longing to work with animals.Now, two months shy of her 40th birthday, the Elkridge woman is realizing a lifetime dream of caring for animals. In December, she opened a refuge and adoption operation for neglected and abused farm animals at her home near the Patapsco Valley State Park.

Lancaster, Pa. -- As dawn breaks over the Landis Valley Museum in Pennsylvania Dutch country, 40 pies are baking, a 300-pound pig is roasting, 21 gallons of funnel cake batter are ready for making, 100 little chickens are hatched and peeping.At noon today, the entertainment, demonstrations, exhibits and games of the 37th Landis Valley Fair begin. The fair runs through tomorrow. About 3,000 visitors are expected."One complaint we've had in recent years is that there is too much to do in one day," says Elizabeth Johnson, museum educator in charge of the annual fair.