Kent

A seven-alarm fire swept through about 40 acres of timber farmland on the southern end of Kent Island on Sunday, burning for nearly 12 hours before firefighters from across Maryland and Delaware contained the flames, according to aQueen Anne's Countyfire spokesman. At its height, the fire forced about 25 homes to be evacuated and brought fire personnel from at least 10 agencies to the small island on the eastern end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, said Chief Kevin Aftung, the spokesman for the county's all-volunteer fire department.

An Eastern Shore man is dead and two people remained hospitalized after their small boat hit the south jetty at Kent Narrows late Sunday, police said. The body of David R. Whitlow, 43, was recovered at 12:30 p.m. Monday by a team from Charles County Dive Rescue, Maryland Natural Resources Police Lt. A.A. Windemuth said. Whitlow, of Hebron in Wicomico County, was thrown from the 21-foot-Boston Whaler when it hit the concrete jetty at about 11 p.m. Sunday, Windemuth said. He was one of four people on board for the trip from Annapolis to Kent Narrows, Windemuth said.

The body of a swimmer who disappeared Sunday near Howell Point on the Eastern Shore, was recovered by the Maryland Natural Resources Police Monday. Brandon M. Greene, 21, of Edgewood, was reported missing shortly before 2 p.m. on Sunday, authorities said. The boaters with whom he was traveling had stopped off Howell Point in Kent County to go swimming when they noticed he was missing. Boat crews from Coast Guard Station Still Pond in Kent County, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland Natural Resources Police and Kent County Fire Rescue and helicopters from the Maryland State Police and Coast Guard Station Atlantic City, N.J., joined in the search of 80 square miles over nine hours.

Autopsies showed that deaths of a father and his two teenage sons found in a Kent County manure pit Thursday were accidental. Maryland State Police said Glen W. Nolt, 48, Kelvin R. Nolt, 18, and Cleason S. Nolt, 14, all of Peach Bottom, Pa., died of suffocation during a farming accident. Their bodies were recovered from a pond of liquid manure at Centerdel Farm, a 200-acre dairy farm in the 12000 block of Vansant Corner Road in Kennedyville. Multiple injuries contributed to Cleason Nolt's death, police said.

— Many farmers in this rural Kent County community were left shaken after a father and his two teenage sons were found dead early Thursday in a pond full of liquid manure on a local dairy farm. The deaths appear to be accidental, but investigators will wait for autopsy results before ruling out foul play, said Greg Shipley, Maryland State Police spokesman. The bodies, tentatively identified as those of Glen W. Nolt, 48, and his two sons, Kelvin R. Nolt, 18, and Cleason S. Nolt, 14, all of Peach Bottom, Pa., had taken hours to find, submerged in a 20-foot-deep, 2-million-gallon manure pit on Centerdel Farm, state police said.

A bomb threat closed all eight Kent County public schools Tuesday morning and forced Maryland State Police and local officers to search the buildings with bomb-sniffing dogs. The schools were closed soon after classes began and approximately 2,500 students were sent home for the rest of the day. The search continued throughout the day, but no explosive devices had been detected by late afternoon, school officials said. School officials confirmed they had found a note early Tuesday at Kent County Middle School in Chestertown.

When Dunbar guard Shylia Buie talks about the No. 4 Poets' drive toward the state Class 1A girls basketball final, she refers to a favorite saying of assistant coach Tyesha Clark: "Teamwork makes the dream work. " Buie led that team-oriented charge in Friday night's Class 1A semifinal against Kent County, dishing out nine of the Poets' 20 assists and helping Michelle Wright and Damisha Hazelton dominate the paint en route to an 84-43 victory at UMBC's RAC Arena. The Poets (19-6)

100 Years Ago Lime Green An advertisement in the Times: "Stone lime, oyster shell lime, hydrated lime, ground lime, ground lime stone, rail or water shipments: Robert S. Green, 853 Frederick Ave. Baltimore, Md. " Another ad: "THE NEAL SANATORIUM treats alcoholic cases and drug habitués with better results and in less time than any other institution in existence. For proof and information call The Neal Institute Oakland Ave and York Road 206 Courtland St. Telephone, Tuxedo or St. Paul 2564, Baltimore, MD. " 75 Years Ago Thrown throne In the Times national news section: "Americans in England: Renewed excitement has been aroused in the British isles by the discovery that yet another member of the royal family - this time it's the young duke of Kent - not only shows a regrettable tendency to enjoy himself as any normal natural, healthy youngster might, but, what is even more distressing, has lately been seen in the company of an American woman.

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.