Kennedyville

KENNEDYVILLE -- Sprawling over 140 acres of hilly pastures outside this Eastern Shore crossroads, the Horizon Organic dairy farm looks for all the world like a postcard. But lately, it has become a flash point in a national debate about how to raise cows to supply a burgeoning market for organic products. At issue isn't the milk that comes from more than 500 Holsteins at the Kent County farm. It's about whether cows should be cows - or at least how much time they should get to spend outside the barn, grazing in green pastures of grass, clover or alfalfa.

Harry Hurtt Deringer Jr., former editor and publisher of the Kent County News in Chestertown, died of a heart attack Sunday at his home near Kennedyville. He was 70. Mr. Deringer, who was known as Hurtt, was born in Yorktown, Va., and raised in Chestertown, where he graduated from high school in 1954. He attended Sullivan Preparatory School in Washington, the Naval Academy and Washington College. After two years in the Marine Corps in Europe and the Mediterranean, Mr. Deringer began his journalism career in 1961 as news editor at WCHA-AM radio in Chambersburg, Pa. He worked briefly for LaMotte Chemical Co. in Chestertown before joining the Chester River Press in 1963 as news and sports editor.

Gardeners come in all stripes, and so do their favorite garden tools. Whether gardeners tend acres or inches, are gardening professionals or simply putter in their own personal patches, their choice of tools is as individual as the gardener. An assortment of local celebrities share their favorites:Denise Koch,WJZ-TV anchorwoman:"The lawn mower is my favorite garden tool. I love mowing. It instantly looks better and makes me feel like I've accomplished something. I work up a huge sweat, so I know I'm getting good exercise, and I find it very satisfying.

Soybean prices are the lowest he can recall, just about the same with corn, and so are bookings for the Wednesday opener of the Canada goose season."How can a fellow make a living?" asked Kennedyville farmer and outfitter Floyd Price of Vonnies in Kennedyville. Three years ago he had 171 hunters booked for the big day; this year he has eight. He fears for his associated restaurant, motel and sporting goods business, not to mention expensive long-term hunting leases he is obligated to honor.

William B. Nicholson, who reached the peak of his career in the Chicago Cubs outfield and earned the nickname "Swish" for the sound his bat made as it split the air in the on-deck circle, died Friday of a heart attack at his home in the Broadneck area of Chestertown. He was 81.Mr. Nicholson was inducted into the State of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame in 1962 and was the first athlete honored with a statue in a Maryland town. His bridge club in Chestertown raised money to place a statue of him swinging his bat in the Chestertown square in 1992.

From The Sun May 24-30, 1842MAY 26: We were present last evening and witnessed the interesting ceremony of laying the corner stone of a new building at the corner of N. Gay and Monument Streets, in process oferection by the Lutheran denomination and intended to be designated accordingly.MAY 27: The rail road cars on the Philadelphia road were yesterday, for the first time, brought to the depot at President Street by a locomotive. It is designed, we believe, to make the depot at that place the receptacle for freight.

The Rev. David Hyde LaMotte, a production manager for the family-owned LaMotte Chemical in Chesterstown who became an Episcopal rector, died of complications from leukemia June 24 at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Worton resident was 75. Born in Baltimore and raised in Towson, Mr. LaMotte graduated from St. Paul's School in 1948. He attended the University of Virginia until 1952, when he joined the Army during the Korean War. He served with the transportation corps and was honorably discharged in 1954, having attained the rank of second lieutenant.

New positions* Haywood Baker Inc., Odenton-based specialists in ground settlement modification, appointed Robert Rubright president.* Hyatt Regency Baltimore appointed Stefanie Edelman director of off-premise catering.* Cambridge Inc. named James H. Lantz product manager, metal conveyor belting, at the Eastern Shore-based metals company.* Angelica Nurseries, in Kennedyville, appointed Suzy Davis as its customer service representative.Advertising* The Reeves Agency named Shannon Crocken assistant to the president and account coordinator, and expanded its creative staff with the addition of Rachel Haverson as art director.

David Oakley Vanderpoel Barroll, a retired former owner of an Eastern Shore real estate firm, died Tuesday in his sleep at Chester River Manor, a Chestertown assisted-living facility. He was 75. The native and lifelong resident of Chestertown was a 1950 graduate of St. Andrew's School in Middletown, Del. He attended Washington College and was a private in the Army from 1953 to 1955. He sold automobiles and farm equipment before becoming a real estate salesman in the late 1960s. In 1972, he established Cooper-Barroll Realty in Chestertown, of which he later became president.

Three workers at a Kent County nursery were injured yesterday after lightning struck near them as they sought shelter from a storm, a farm supervisor said. The day before, an Oxon Hill teenager was struck and killed by lightning while waiting at a bus stop. The 2,000-acre Angelica Nurseries Inc., in rural Kennedyville, employs about 200 Hispanic migrant workers, said supervisor Chris Atkinson. He was called to the scene because he is trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Atkinson said the employees were following procedures by trying to get to a Ford Econoline van because of reports of violent storms in the area.