Garrett County

FRIENDSVILLE -- Roger Zbel battled deadly walls of whitewater in Tibet, but that did not prepare him for wrestling with what's left of the Upper Youghiogheny River.Zbel, owner of Precision Rafting in Garrett County, has been stymied by the drought of 1999.Business is off because Zbel can't guarantee that the Youghiogheny will look anything like the 8-by-10 color photos dotting the walls of his shop, showing helmeted customers shooting the rapids.In fact, those days are getting harder and harder to remember for Zbel and the eight other Garrett County rafting companies licensed to run the Upper Yough, as it is called.

MCHENRY - In 1880, the national census recorded 112 African-Americans living in rugged, scenic Garrett County. But by 2000, much about Maryland's westernmost county had changed. Railroads had come and gone, Deep Creek Lake had become a tourist magnet and Garrett's white population had doubled, to almost 30,000. Nevertheless, the number of blacks had barely budged. There were 45 blacks in 1920 and nine in 1950 -- eight men and a woman. The 2000 census counted 128 blacks, or about 0.4 percent of Garrett's population.

Deep in Savage River State Forest - a long scramble and slither from the nearest road - stands a forest so old that its giants were already standing tall at the start of the Civil War. Here, on a steep slope overlooking the ravine cut by the Savage River, black bears' trails ramble among towering red oaks, white oaks, maple and beech that ecologists say are at least 200 years old. The soft gray of the winter forest is hazed by the green of ancient, moss-covered...

MOUNTAIN LAKE PARK - After running a children's summer camp in Garrett County for nearly 20 years and living there year-round, you would think Fred and Nancy Learey would decide to take it easy. But instead the couple decided to renovate and expand a historic cottage not far from the camp. "That was hard work and a lot of responsibility," Fred Learey said about running Camp Minnetoska. "We reached the point where it was time to do something different." The Leareys knew they wanted to stay in the area after selling the camp.

GRANTSVILLE -- The formal stone cross stands on a moss-touched pedestal by a rushing stream -- a picture of serenity in the deep woods.It's a picture seen more often this time of year. Spring brings out more hikers. They cross Poplar Lick Run several times on the Poplar Lick Trail, but when they see the cross, the simple beauty often stops them. It recalls Gen. Stonewall Jackson's last words: "Let us cross over the river and rest under the trees."Close up, though, the memorial reveals the unexpected.

OAKLAND -- All Elaine McDonald wants is a glass of wine with Sunday dinner.McDonald doesn't eat a Sunday meal in her restaurant because Garrett County bans liquor sales of any kind that one day. If she hates dinner without a drop of alcohol, how must her customers feel?"

AS THE COUNTRY gears up for the November election to decide national policies and issues, Maryland's westernmost county is embroiled in its own controversial issue: whether to allow diners the choice of being served an alcoholic beverage with their meals on Sunday.It is an issue that is pitting community leaders, residents and business owners against one another. It is also an issue raised again and again in Garrett County, only to fall soundly in all its various forms, from proposals to allow unlimited liquor sales on Sunday to the most recent measure, which would provide restaurant patrons the option of an alcoholic drink with a meal.

1962: Jousting is named Maryland's state sport1962: Baltimore Civic Center opens1963: B-52 crashes in Garrett County

Jacqueline Evelyn Williams, a retired Garrett County mathematics teacher and librarian, died of a heart attack July 28 at St. Joseph Medical Center. She was 66. A Glen Arm resident, she had lived in Grantsville in Garrett County. Born in Baltimore and raised in Northwood, she was a 1960 Eastern High School graduate. She earned a bachelor's degree at what was then Frostburg State Teachers College. Miss Williams was a math teacher and high school librarian for 25 years in Garrett County before retiring in 1989.

A 95-year-old Garrett County man died yesterday when the lawn tractor he was driving on a road near his home was struck from behind by a car.State Police said Raymond R. Gnegy, of Oakland, was driving his lawn tractor west on Pleasant Valley Road at 2:50 p.m. when a westbound car crashed into the rear of the tractor.Gnegy died of multiple injuries about 7 p.m. at Garrett County Memorial Hospital in Oakland.