Garrett County

BARTON -- The search for two miners buried in the collapse of a wall of rock into an open coal pit was slowed yesterday by fears that the cliff could crumble again. Rescue workers removed more than half of the huge pile of dirt and rock that fell Tuesday morning, trapping two miners who had been working at the Tri-Star coal mine, which straddles the Garrett-Allegany County line. The miners, whose names were not released, were operating heavy equipment, a bulldozer and a large backhoe, said Bob Cornett, acting district manager for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Police think man killed his 2 children, himself A mother discovered the bodies of her two young children and their father yesterday afternoon in a wooded area of Montgomery County, an incident that police are calling an apparent murder-suicide. The mother called police at 3:11 p.m. to report "a possible suicide," after the children's father called her and was seemingly distraught over their relationship, said Montgomery County Police Officer Melanie Hadley. The father had called the mother yesterday and threatened "to harm their children," police said, and told her he would be in the area.

Arrests afflict job hunters More than 21,000 people were arrested in Maryland last year and released without charges, most of them in Baltimore. After they were freed, though, the records of their arrests lived on. But momentum in the General Assembly is building behind a bill to automatically wipe out those arrest records. Taser use is scrutinized The death of a mentally ill Baltimore County man as police attempted to subdue him with a Taser has revived a debate about the safety of the high-voltage stun guns and whether police might be too quick to use them.

Maryland's third black bear hunt was twice as long as the first one but only half the length of the one last year. On the other hand, it had 90 percent fewer snowflakes than the 2005 edition and Garrett County avoided another paralyzing, ice-induced electrical blackout, so call it a draw. The two-day hunt ended Tuesday, after hunters checked in 41 bears, almost dead-center between the high and low targets set by state wildlife managers. Early on the second day, William Corbin of Oakland showed up with the largest bear, a 464-pound male taken in Garrett County.

Two Jessup men have been charged with baiting black bears - with cookies and cake- while hunting this week on private property in Garrett County, Maryland Natural Resources Police said yesterday. Kendall T. Hayden, 51, and Frederick C. Wieland Jr., 42, were issued citations about 10:30 a.m. Monday in Oakland for hunting black bears with bait after police received an anonymous tip from a concerned citizen, Sgt. Ken Turner of the Natural Resources Police said in a news release. When officers arrived in the area off Cranesville Road near the Youghiogheny Mountain Resort, they observed Hayden hunting from a tree stand over a baited area covered in cookies and cakes, the release said.

MOUNT NEBO WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA -- Sitting in his tree stand yesterday morning, Danny Fyffe barely had time to raise a decent-sized goosebump when a black form ambled into view. "Should I shoot?" he asked his friend, Greg Haberkorn, huddled next to him. Before Haberkorn could answer, a larger form came into view less than a football field away. Shouldering his rifle, Fyffe fired twice. The black bear stumbled a few yards and rolled over. He fired once more. With that, the Baltimore City police detective recorded the first bear kill of the season, a 290-pound male that had been tagged as a nuisance animal by wildlife biologists last year.

McHenry -- Garrett County has some of the prettiest rivers you'll see anywhere: the Youghiogheny, the Savage, the North Branch of the Potomac and the Casselman. They are well known to paddlers, to people who like to fish for trout and to people who just like to look at rivers and allow themselves to be mesmerized by them. Now they're installing a fifth river up on 3,000-foot Marsh Mountain, if you can believe it, and while it won't ever be stocked with trout, the place should see a steady flow of kayakers starting next spring.