Hunt

If the Black Eyed Susan were a race horse, it would be a sprinter. It makes one strong move, then fades quickly. The strong move occurs this weekend when the cocktail will be in demand at Pamlico Race Track, during both the running of the Black Eyed Susan Stakes on Friday and the Preakness Stakes on Saturday. Over these two days, about 25,000 servings of the libation, poured into commemorative glasses, will be sold at $8 apiece, track officials say. But as soon as Preakness weekend ends, so does the does the local thirst for the Susan.

Hunt Valley-based Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. said Thursday it has closed on the planned purchase of four television stations owned by Cox Media Group for $99 million in cash. The broadcaster also priced its previously announced offering of Class A stock at $27.25 per share and said it is offering 18 million shares. The offering, to raise money for pending and future potential acquisitions, is expected to close May 7. The Cox deal is one of three acquisitions the television station owner and operator announced in the past two months.

One of the colts entered in Saturday's 138th running of the Preakness Stakes can lay claim to a distinction not shared by seven others:  He's actually finished ahead of the expected favorite Orb in a race. Titletown Five, one of three Preakness entries trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, and Orb were both entered in a seven-furlong, maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds at Saratoga last Aug. 18. Maiden special weights are for horses that have never won a race in their career.

Hunt Valley-based Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. reported a 42 percent drop in profit for the first quarter, as operating and interest costs rose and revenue increased but fell short of analysts' expectations. The television station owner and operator said Monday that its income fell to $17 million, or 21 cents per common share, from $29.4 million, or 36 cents per share, during the three months that ended March 31. Its earnings did beat Wall Street's expectations of 17 cents per share, yet its stock fell Monday, closing at $26.69 per share, down 2.9 percent.

Always, there were those lovely old country estates and gracious manor taverns with roaring fireplaces, but in the old days fine dining was associated with the city. Not so anymore. Now, there are more compelling reasons than ever for diners to cross county lines for a good meal. The 50 best county restaurants in Howard County, Anne Arundel County and Baltimore County is a mix of the old and the new, destinations for special occasions and joints for Monday night suppers, the chef-driven and crowd-pleasing.

McCormick & Co., the Hunt-Valley based seasonings company, has added another spice to its rack.The company announced yesterday that it has acquired the Old Bay product line for an undisclosed price. The deal was negotiated in late August but made public yesterday. Both companies said they did not announce the sale because they did not consider it to be a major transaction.Under the terms of the agreement, the Baltimore Spice plant was to continue to make Old Bay until the production could be assumed by McCormick's Hunt Valley operation.

This week"Give us any rough weather, but, please, no rain," George Barker of Joppatowne said the other day while sighting in his .50-caliber Lyman Great Plains front end loader in preparation for Saturday's opener of the Maryland muzzleloader season.The recent modern firearms season was marred by moderate weather, and primitive weapons buffs will settle for any conditions that won't interfere with efforts to keep their powder dry. Snow would be nice, ditto for freezing temperatures, but no rain, thank you."

HAGERSTOWN — The state Department of Natural Resources says Maryland's bear hunt is closed. Sixty-seven bears were killed as of 9 p.m. on Friday and the hunt was closed. The season began on Monday. The hunt was limited to Allegany and Garrett counties.

A 33-year-old Towson man was the first hunter to kill a black bear on the opening day of the state's controlled hunt. James Deriu killed a 72-pound male at around 7:25 a.m. Monday in McHenry, about 30 minutes after the hunt officially opened. A total of 28 bears were killed Monday, according to Harry Spiker, bear biologist for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The hunt will continue until the quota of between 55 and 80 bears have been killed, but won't go past Saturday, Spiker said.

Just when we all were getting over the irony of a team named the “Saints” getting stung in that tawdry NFL bounty scandal, the transplanted New Orleans Hornets of the NBA have announced they will change their nickname to the “Pelicans.” The reason is high-minded, of course. The brown Pelican is the state bird of Louisiana, and it became emblematic of the area's comeback from both Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill. Proponents feel it will remind a new generation about the importance of the environment and the resilience of the gulf coast region.

It took almost 56 years, but I've finally mastered my table manners, and in the process learned something about the curious and controversial history of the fork. And all it took was two hours of bearing up under Carol Haislip's patrician gaze as she waved the silver instrument of torture with the twisted prong known as a "butter pick" through the air, perilously close to my throat. Possibly, the danger was all in my mind. It's true that I lack the higher, lower and intermediate social graces - I am a child of the lawless '70s, after all. And it's equally true that I had never fully grasped silverware's potential for inflicting bodily harm until I attended "Fish Forks and Finger Bowls," a seminar that teaches table manners to adults.

Veteran midfielder Kyle Dixon (Archbishop Spalding) had seven points and tied a Major League Lacrosse record with three 2-point goals as the Chesapeake Bayhawks opened the 2013 season by beating the Rochester Rattlers, 17-14, in front of an announced 3,940 at Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg, Fla. Dixon, a seventh-year professional, increased his MLL career record for 2-pointers to 50. The perennial All-Star also had an assist as Chesapeake began...

Mark D. Sokolik, a corporate lawyer remembered as a fitness and music enthusiast, died last week after complications from a fall. He was 30. A former Hunt Valley resident who attended Loyola Blakefield in Towson, Mr. Sokolik went on to graduate from the University of Baltimore and become a top student at Georgetown University's Law Center. Since 2010, he had worked as a corporate attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in New York, one of the nation's top law firms. "Mark was a real gentle person," said Frank Sokolik, his father, whom Mark talked with constantly on the phone.

To co-workers, he's known as The Racing Guy. His neckties have little horses on them, and James Stierhoff has a different one for each day of the week. The walls of his office cubicle at the investment firm Brown Advisory are peppered with news clippings of recent Maryland Hunt Cup races. Stierhoff has won it twice. Saturday, on the lush, rolling hills in Glyndon, he'll try to win a third Hunt Cup aboard the same horse - a feat last achieved in 1967, and only seven times in the 116-year history of the brutal four-mile steeplechase race.

When Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. completes three deals announced in the past two months, it will own more television stations across the country than any other company. The Hunt Valley company will operate 134 stations in 69 markets, reaching more than a third of all U.S. homes with televisions. It will have more than doubled in size in about two years, and that's presuming it doesn't broker any more acquisitions. It still won't own stations in megamarkets such as New York or Los Angeles, but that's part of its strategy.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.'s shopping spree continued Thursday with the announcement of a $373.3 million deal that extends its television reach to a third of U.S. viewing households. Sinclair will gain 20 additional stations in eight markets by acquiring Seattle-based Fisher Communications Inc. The purchase extends Sinclair's push into new areas, giving the Hunt Valley television station owner access to key markets such as Seattle and Portland, Sinclair CEO David Smith said.

On April 12, 2004 ZELMA HUNT (nee Locklear); beloved wife of the late Charles Edward Hunt; loving mother of Milton Hunt and his wife Cynthia Marie; cherished grandmother of Chad Michael, Chelsea Marie and Cali Marissa Hunt; dear sister of Dora Locklear (Pembroke, NC) and Tillie Deese (Pembroke, NC). Friends may call at the family owned David J. Weber Funeral Homes, P.A., 401 S. Chester St. on Wednesday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. Services and Interment will be held from Revels Funeral Home in Lumberton, NC.

On July 28, 2003, CHARLES H. HUNT JR., beloved son of Evelyn E., and the late Charles H. Hunt Sr., loving father of Christen A. Hunt, dear brother of Debbie Duncan and Donna Ahmed. Also survived by a loving friend and mother of his daughter Margie Lavin and nieces and nephews. Services at the family owned David J. Weber Funeral Homes, P.A., 401 S. Chester Street on Thursday at 10 A.M. Interment Oak Lawn Cemetery. Friends may call on Wednesday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M.

"What's the second paragraph?" That is my boilerplate response when someone suggests a column idea to me. "Yeah. Right. But where do I go from there?" Not every topic is worth 700 words. So, today I will offer a few words on recent headlines in the news. Call it speed-opinionating. •Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, whose aides told everybody he was hiking the Appalachian Trail when he was in fact bedding his mistress in Argentina, has won the Republican primary for his old congressional seat.

An article in the April 4, 1963, edition of the Herald Argus and Baltimore Countian reported on actions by area firefighters in rescuing three boys from a sticky situation. While hunting for frogs along the clay banks in a swampy area in the 1600 block Sulphur Spring road, Lansdowne, last Saturday morning, three boys became trapped waist deep in soft mud and clay. The victims, Ronald M. Trescott , 13, of Summit avenue, Glenn Piekaski , 12, and his brother, Carey A. Piekaski , 14, of Rehbaum avenue were rescued unharmed by 16 members of the Halethorpe Fire Department and Arbutus Volunteer Fire Department.