Kent County

CHESTERTOWN - Karen Somerville admits it takes a little imagination to see past the sagging roof, the vine-covered walls and the sizable mulberry tree that might be the only thing propping up the 93-year-old building. But if you look closely, she says, you might see the ghosts of the black Civil War veterans who built the Grand Army of the Republic lodge hall that served as a focal point for African-Americans in rural Kent County for more than 40 years. Look again, and Somerville, a local singer and preservationist, hopes one day you'll see the neglected Centennial Lodge, in Chestertown's oldest African-American neighborhood, become a cultural center once more.

CHESTERTOWN -- Two Kent County brothers, accused of killing a 73-year-old grandmother as she returned from a Christmas shopping trip last weekend, were arrested in the small town of Millington yesterday, near the spot where police say the pair began a 21-mile chase that ended with the shotgun killing of Germaine P. Clarkston.Charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, assault and reckless endangerment were David Wayne Starkey, 24, a carpenter and painter, and Daniel Robert Starkey, 19, a truck driver.

CHESTERTOWN - The Kent County planning board voted last night against a 9-year-old plan to build a Wal-Mart store on the outskirts of this Eastern Shore town, a huge victory for residents worried that the retail giant's presence would dilute the community's identity. The County Planning Commission, in a 5-1 vote, decided that locating the store in Chestertown would hurt local retailers. The proposed 107,000- square-foot discount store would be "out of proportion with the economics of the market area," said Commissioner Marjorie C. Brown, one of the leading opponents of Wal-Mart's plan.

Odds are that when George "Bud" Debnam gets on a plane, his seatmates are animals.But then, that's what happens when you're a livestock exporter. "I rode to the Caribbean with a load of pigs one time," said the 56-year-old Kent County resident, who's done the job for more than 30 years.When farmers around the world want high-quality breeding animals to upgrade their stock, Debnam takes the orders, finds the right animals, jumps through the hoops of financing, and arranges health tests and flights.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture announced today that a horse euthanized last week on a private Kent County farm was infected with the equine herpes virus (EHV-1). One horse on the farm which was exhibiting neurologic signs appears to be improving and moving toward an anticipated full recovery. One additional horse, which had a fever, is being treated. Initial PCR tests on all clinically affected horses were positive for EHV-1. The farm received a horse from Pimlico Race Course on Jan. 10 before track officials closed movement to and from the facility.

FREDERICK -- Owings Mills coach Guy Pritzker was not surprised when Kent County jumped out to a quick 28-point lead after only five matches yesterday.Pritzker had said before the match that he expected his team would be in the hole after the lighter weights. He also hoped that, with eight matches remaining, the No. 10-ranked Eagles could mount a comeback.But Kent County never wavered. The Trojans split those final eight matches to blunt an Owings Mills comeback and rolled to a 43-18 victory in the Class 1A-2A state dual meet semifinal at Frederick.

George Bacon Rasin Jr., a former Kent County circuit judge who led a movement to modernize juvenile justice in Maryland, died of congestive heart failure Friday at the Edenwald Retirement Community in Towson. He was 94. "Judge Rasin was widely known and respected for his integrity, knowledge of the law and absolute fairness," said retired Baltimore County Circuit Judge John Fader, who was a friend. "He was a man who ran a very tight ship. " Born in Worton in Kent County, he was a 1937 graduate of Washington College and earned his law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law. After enlisting in the Army in September 1941, he was assigned as a special agent to the Counter-Intelligence Corps in the Division of Military Intelligence.

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.

CHESTERTOWN -- After waging a winter-long battle that has pitted neighbor against neighbor over the face of commercial development here, opponents of a proposed Wal-Mart store suffered a major defeat yesterday when local officials voted not to impose tighter zoning limits on new retail buildings.The Kent County commissioners voted 2-1 against a zoning amendment that would have effectively scuttled plans to build TC the giant store on the site of a former airstrip on the northern outskirts of this county seat.

TOLCHESTER -- Starfleet Academy in rural Kent County? Well, yes, that's what Kenneth E. Beatty has in mind.To be precise, the 68-year-old former teacher-artist-Scout leader planning the Delmarva Space Training Center for a 24-acre abandoned Nike missile base about 20 nautical miles across the Chesapeake Bay and a world away from downtown Baltimore.The orbiting U.S. Sen. John Glenn, it seems, isn't the only American bent on contributing to the space program late in life.If Beatty's dream becomes reality, bright young people from across the nation would be arriving each week for intensive training in an array of futuristic fields including solar and wind energy, propulsion, robotics, telemetry engineering and astronomy.