Kent Island

Cross country Scorpion Crawl (Oct. 10 at Oakland Mills) Boys team scores: 1. Winters Mills, 39; 2. River Hill 61; 3. Howard, 112; 4. Oaland Mills, 121; 5. Mt. Hebron, 128; 6. Marriotts Ridge, 136; 7. Atholton, 150; 8. Liberty, 214; 9. Long Reach, 235; 10. Kent Island, 237; 11. Franklin, 299; 2. Coppin Academy, 400; 13. McDonough, 415. Top Howard County boys: 1. Gary Smolyak, A, 16:42; 4. Sam Andrews, OM, 16:59;...

— Residents of Kent Island are never far from the water. That's what drew many of them to the largest island in the Chesapeake Bay, where they're close to boating, fishing and all nature's bounty. But for the mostly tidy cottages, bungalows and other homes built decades ago on the southern end of this low-lying island, there's just one problem. Far from the nearest sewer line, they all rely on septic systems to dispose of their waste. Four out of five homes here are pumping water-fouling nitrogen into the bay every time they flush, Queen Anne's County health officials estimate.

Harry Blauvelt had just dropped off his beloved yellow lab, Elvis, at doggy day care Monday and was returning home to Kent Island when his car became disabled on the Bay Bridge. The retired USA Today golf writer, who chronicled the rise of Tiger Woods during a long career in sports journalism, had stepped out of his 2001 Honda Accord when, police said, a 2003 International truck slammed into the vehicle and pushed it into Blauvelt. The 70-year-old Chester resident was flung from the bridge's eastbound span into the water more than 50 feet below.

Six Eastern Shore men were charged Thursday with stealing oysters from a state sanctuary in the Corsica River, and Natural Resources Police officers discovered another illegal striped bass net in the waters off Kent Island. NRP officers saw the men hand tonging for oysters just before noon Monday in the Possum Point Oyster Sanctuary, a 3.67-acre site in Queen Anne's County that is designated by markers. As the patrol boat followed the boat toward the harbor, the men threw the oysters overboard.

Natural Resources Police officers recovered another 1,500 yards of illegal fishing net containing 300 pounds of striped bass Wednesday night in Eastern Bay off Kent Island. This is the eighth time in three weeks that patrol boats dragging grappling hooks have snagged submerged nets. The total length of confiscated nets is 5.5 miles and the weight of the poached striped bass, also known as rockfish, is 12.6 tons. NRP Sgt. Art Windemuth said the latest nets had been in the water for some time because officers found decomposing mud shad in them along with live striped bass.

Rockfish, or striped bass, holds a treasured place in Marylanders' hearts and palates. It, along with the black-eyed Susan, the skipjack and the diamondback terrapin, serves as a symbol of our state. It swims in our waters. It tastes really good. So the news this month that Department of Natural Resources Police had pulled up almost 3 miles of illegally anchored gill nets that had trapped thousands of rockfish near Kent Island was a shocker. The illegal catch was so large — some 10 tons, almost fulfilling the allowed catch for the month — that Maryland officials rightly closed the February harvest in the bay. A $10,000 reward has been offered for information leading to conviction of the poachers who set the nets.

Natural Resources Police found two more illegal nets off Kent Island on Friday, filled with nearly two tons of striped bass. Officers worked until midnight to pull the submerged nets from the Chesapeake Bay and count the fish. One net was about a mile south of Bloody Point, where more than 10 tons of fish have been confiscated. The other net was about 21/2 miles inside Eastern Bay. The 3,879 pounds of fish and more than a mile of nets both appeared to be fresh, indicating that poachers are continuing to net despite increased patrols and public awareness.

Mary Staylor, who worked in the McCormick spice firm's purchasing department, died of renal failure Dec. 21 at St. Agnes Hospital. The former Ednor Gardens and Kent Island resident was 95. Born Mary Frances Heckwolf in Baltimore, she was raised on Riverside Avenue. She attended St. Mary Star of the Sea Parochial School and was a 1933 Seton High School graduate. She began work as a substitute teacher at St. Rose of Lima School in Brooklyn, where her uncle, Monsignor Leonard J. Ripple, was pastor of the adjoining church.

John Root, and those of his ilk, who are opposing the proposed State Department Training Facility in Ruthsburg, are erecting one straw man after another to attempt to justify what is, at it's heart, NIMBYism at its worst (Readers respond, Jan. 26). Does Mr. Root bemoan the Glen Burnization of the Kent Island/Grasonville corridor? I think not. He probably welcomes it because it keeps his taxes lower. There are plenty of historical places in this area that have been affected by development.