Herd

HUNTERS ARE now thinning deer herds in the 1,018-acre Middle Patuxent Environmental Area in Howard County. Faced with overgrazing that might have permanently altered the park's ecological balance, county officials had little choice but to allow a managed hunt to thin the herds.County officials hope to kill about 120 deer out of a herd estimated at more than 350. On the first three days this week, 50 were killed. Even organizers were surprised by the tally, an indication of the high degree of overpopulation.

Standing on Route 1 near Rehoboth, Del., witnessing an ocean of people surge over acres of tax-free outlet stores, you'd never guess that the locals call this place "Slower, Lower Delaware."Sometimes, even a well-mannered beach resort like Rehoboth can seem too hectic. Traveling a slower road through the rest of Delaware's Sussex County can fill more than one weekend with adventure. "Inland Sussex County is the Delaware you never knew," says Millsboro shop owner Pete Marconi. Eight years ago, Marconi's signature T-shirts first publicized the county's calmer approach to life.

Suburban deer hunt seeks to protect kids, not flowersThe recent publicity regarding the deer cull on my property calls for a response ("Neighbors concerned by deer hunt permit," Oct. 11).I am not holding this hunt because of plant and shrub damage, though we and our neighbors have experienced substantial losses through the years.I am taking this step because my grandson contracted Lyme disease this summer while living with us.He was hospitalized for six days and endured terrible pain. He was unable to use his arm and was on intravenous medication day and night.

No. 11 Marshall (12-0) vs. BYU (8-3)When: Today, 1: 30 p.m.Where: Pontiac, Mich.TV: ESPNLine: Marshall by 3Outlook: Marshall has played in every Motor City Bowl since the game began in 1997, losing the first to Mississippi, 34-31, and winning the second over Louisville, 49-29. Chad Pennington has been the Thundering Herd's quarterback in each one. Pennington passed for 3,799 yards and 37 touchdowns while leading the Herd to the Mid-American Conference championship this season, and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting.

C. MILES, the bilious buffoon of WOLB talk radio, promised last week he would do no more shows with a certain columnist as the topic.He was lying through his teeth, of course, since he's already broken that vow. I can't make a similar promise to readers of this column. Frankly, Miles is a columnist's dream. Sometimes mildly buffoonish, often malevolently so, Miles is simply too tempting a target. His ever-expanding ego constantly needs deflating. Members of his "Talk How You Like Underground Posse" -- which should be renamed the "Do Anything C. Miles Tells You Under a Rock Herd" -- need to know when their Fuhrer is misinforming them.

SUNY-Buffalo repeated as champion in yesterday's 21st Crab Pot ice hockey tournament at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. The Thundering Herd (17-6-1) used a herd of five players to score a goal each in a 5-1 romp over host Navy.Also for the second year in a row, Crab Pot MVP honors went to Buffalo's goalie, this time freshman Norris Polean, who rejected 27 Navy shots. Senior Greg Myers turned back 33 shots in last year's 2-1 victory over Navy to take home the MVP trophy.Penn State (1985-87)

State University of New York-Buffalo repeated as champion in yesterday's 21st Crab Pot ice hockey tournament at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. The Thundering Herd (17-6-1) used a herd of five players to score a goal each in a 5-1 romp over host Navy.Also for the second year in a row, Crab Pot MVP honors went to SUNY-Buffalo's goalie, this time freshman Norris Polean, who rejected 27 Navy shots. Senior Greg Myers turned back 33 shots in last year's 2-1 victory over Navy to take home the MVP trophy.

An infrared survey of heavily wooded areas in Howard County shows there are three times as many deer as is ecologically healthy.Results of the March count, released last week, found between 41 and 118 deer per square mile in the 7,500 park acres surveyed.On about 1,900 acres of the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area in Clarksville, off Route 108 -- where almost 50 deer were killed last winter in the county's first managed hunt -- the study found large herds: 106 deer per square mile.The $7,500 study done by a private Wisconsin company also looked at several other areas, including Schooley Mill Park, near Clarksville, Rockburn Branch Park, in Ellicott City, and the Gorman Area, outside Columbia.

Pity the suburbanites. We want our deer and our subdivisions, too.From Annapolis to Germantown, residents are begging officialdom to spare the lives of the brown-eyed creatures that inhabit our woods, our parks, our golf courses.The white-tailed deer, it seems, has become suburbia's unofficial lawn ornament.Seeing them so close to our gas grills and in-ground pools tricks us into believing our sprawl is not so destructive, that we can be one with nature.We cannot.To look at the rapidly increasing numbers of vehicle accidents in Maryland that involve deer is to know that we are living a lie. In 1991, the state logged 1,600 deer kills; in 1996, Montgomery County alone had 1,800.

REDFORD, Texas -- A Marine will be the subject of a grand jury inquiry into the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old who was tending a herd of goats on his family's farm near the Mexican border.District Attorney Albert Valadez said he would proceed with the investigation of the Marine, whom he did not identify, based on reports from Texas Rangers who are investigating the shooting of the youth, Ezequiel Hernandez Jr.Hernandez died May 20 after he was shot by a member of a Marine team from Camp Pendleton, Calif.

The decrepit mansion once served as home to the president of the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, but two decades of brush has grown and, along with vandals, has made it uninhabitable. Cue the goats. In what's the first step to a $10 million project to transform this piece of Druid Hill Park into an environmental and recreational center for the city, the four-legged weed whackers have cleared a half-acre ring of ivy and other invasive species. The herd of 40 will be brought back to clear the rest of the 9-acre parcel that few have used, legally anyway, for years.

Hometown: Baltimore Members: Peter Wile, vocals, guitar and harmonica; Gena Smith, guitar, vocals and pedal steel; Corey Zook, guitar; Lance Smith, drums; Nick Jewett, bass Founded : 2007 Style : rock/Americana Influenced by : Bob Dylan, the blues, Hank Williams Notable: Tomorrow, the band will officially release its first full-length album, Hearts, Roads and Tears. Instead of building a song layer by layer, band members set up and recorded live in studio. Quotable : "We're a live band, so we figured we'd play them live," Zook said.

To cull a burgeoning deer herd that is rapidly destroying vegetation and stripping trees, the Baltimore County Council is expected tomorrow to approve a program to allow firearms hunting for the first time in Loch Raven Reservoir. "We absolutely have to do something," said Harry Spiker, game mammal leader with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. "All you have to do is look at the landscape." The use of sharpshooters with rifles in February would follow a 4 1/2 -month season of bow hunting, also a first-time event, in a 1,600-acre northern area of the Loch Raven watershed.

1 Shoot 'em up: The NBA regular season begins, and TNT has a doubleheader (Cavaliers-Celtics, Trail Blazers-Lakers) starting at 8 p.m. 2 What's it all: about, Ralphie?: Check in with our Maryland blog, baltimoresun.com/ terpsblog, to see what Ralph Friedgen has to say about his team. 3 Tournament action: Regional semifinals in field hockey abound today, including Towson at defending state champ and No. 3 Fallston (3:30 p.m.). 4 They are Marshall: Your Tuesday night college football: Houston at Marshall (8 p.m., ESPN2)

GIRLS SOCCER No. 9 South River @ No. 5 Archbishop Spalding WHEN: : Monday, 6 p.m. OUTLOOK:: The host Cavaliers have not slowed despite graduation hits and are right in the hunt for the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference crown. South River is loaded with senior experience and is in contention for the Anne Arundel County title and a Class 4A state crown. The Cavaliers are led by senior Erica Page and the Seahawks by senior Sarah Pfundstein. Spalding has a young, highly skilled technical team surrounding Page, while the Seahawks are smart, aggressive and fast.

On August 16, 2008, NAOMI M. ODUM (Miss Lee); beloved mother of Donna Ferate, Dawn Odum, Phyllis Herd, Denise Herd, and Raymond Herd; loving grandmother of Megan Ferate, Camelia Webster, Felicia Herd, Beth Herd, and Jasmine Herd; loving great-grandmother of Nevaeh Herd. Also survived by other loving relatives and friends. We will all miss her very much. Services and entombment to be held at Glen Haven Memorial Park, 7215 Ritchie Highway, Glen Burnie, MD 21061 on Monday, September 22, 2008 at 12 Noon.

On a rainy night in November 1970, an airplane crash took the lives of 75 people, including nearly every member of Marshall University's Thundering Herd football team. One year later, with a team composed almost exclusively of freshmen, the squad - renamed the Young Thundering Herd - pulled off one of the great victories in collegiate sports history. We Are Marshall is the story of that tragedy, that team and that victory. It's a story of grief, of moving past loss, of honoring the departed by not neglecting those who remain.

Applewood Farm will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends from Saturday through Dec. 17 at 4435 Prospect Road in Whiteford. A highlight of the farm is a herd of reindeer descended directly from the original Alaskan herd established at Teller, Alaska, in 1898. Reindeer educational programs will be conducted by reindeer breeder and farm owner Brian Adelhardt at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. weekends. An After Christmas Reindeer Day will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 27 with live reindeer programs at noon and 2 p.m. The rain date is Dec. 28. Reindeer Village includes two males, one born in spring 2004, and two females; a 1773 log barn with a display of lights and greens; eight model train displays; Santa's workshop; a gift shop and refreshments; a petting zoo; hayrides to the Christmas tree fields and the children's maze; snowball bowling; and a reindeer antler toss.

Tiffany Jackson scored 24 points to lead the No. 25 Texas women to a 78-55 victory over UMES in the Basketball Travelers Classic tournament last night in Austin. Jackson was 8-for-14 from the field, Erika Arriaran scored 15 points and Earnesia Williams added 10 for the Longhorns (1-0). Erneisha Bailey had 11 rebounds. Kristi Veltkamp led UMES (0-2) with 14 points. The Longhorns held UMES scoreless for the first 5:28 of the second half. Loyola 66, Drexel 57 -- Brittany Dunn and Jill Glessner (17 points each)

Silver Spring-- --Doe No. 8 is a party animal. With acres to graze, she's looking fat and sassy. In each ear, hanging like flashy earrings, are orange tags with her number. It's almost breeding season and the bucks aren't far away. But thanks to a dart in her rump two years ago, Doe No. 8 - like her running mate, Doe No. 14 - is more than likely to be practicing safe sex this year. Biologists are using the fenced-in campus of the Federal Research Center at White Oak, just outside the Capital Beltway, to see if a new contraceptive can keep a white-tailed deer herd in check.