Leaf

On August 1, 2003, HERBERT EUGENE LEAF, 68, of Chester, MD; husband of Shirley W. Leaf; father of Herbert E. Leaf, Jr., Laurie Caizzi and Valeria Coughlin; grandfather of five, Jonathan, Michael and Benjamin Coughlin, Michaela and Chelsie Caizzi; brother of Robert Leaf of Chester and Lars Leaf of Ocean View, DE; and numerous nieces and nephews. Per Mr. Leaf's request no public services will be held. Rev Roy Phillips offered private prayers with the immediate family. The family requests contributions to Hospice of Queen Anne's, Inc. 300 Del Rhodes Ave., Queenstown, MD 21658-1305.

The deadline for submitting sports copy is 9 a.m. on Mondays. We prefer email (howardcountysports@patuxent.com). We do not accept results by phone. When two Howard County teams play, players from both teams (first and last names) must be mentioned in the write-up. Questions? Call 410-332-6578. Ice hockey Metro Maple Leafs The Metro Maple Leafs U-18AA travel hockey team won the Tier II Maryland State Championship March 9-10, sweeping a best-of-three series against the Howard Huskies at Kettler Ice Arena in Arlington, Va. The Maple Leaf team is made up of senior, junior and sophomore players, primarily from Howard and Anne Arundel counties.

On April 26, 2005, LARS E. LEAF, SR., beloved husband of Beverly J. Leaf; loving father of Lars E. Jr., and his wife Vicki, David E. Sr., and his wife Janet, Gary L. and his wife Tina, Mark A., and his wife Donna and John K. and his wife Brenda Leaf. Also survived by 10 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, brother Robert H. Leaf and many loving nieces and nephews. Relatives and friends may call at the family owned AMBROSE FUNERAL HOME, INC., 1328 Sulphur Spring Road, Arbutus on Thursday and Friday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. where a service will be held on Saturday at the funeral hour of 1 p.m. Interment to follow at Meadowridge Memorial Park.

I am deeply concerned about the process being used to alter the county school board. Our county executive says he does not like the way the school board is acting and wants to change the way the school board is constituted. To validate his viewpoint, he appointed a commission dominated by people with the same viewpoint as his. Then, when they recommend exactly what he wanted in the first place, he claims it to be an "independent" recommendation. If there is such a thing as "money laundering," this is certainly its equivalent: "politics laundering.

WASHINGTON -- While in Washington the other day I ate a leaf for lunch, at an embassy.The embassy was Canadian, the lunch was to promote the country's food and wine, and the leaf was a maple. The maple leaf, as everyone who knows how to pronounce "about" can tell you, is on the flag and is a symbol of our neighbor to the north. I ate two maple leaves. One was fashioned out of maple sugar and was served, along with blueberries and a Canadian whiskey sauce, as dessert.The other leaf was the real thing, right from the tree.

My garden was built on impoverished soil, but I've worked hard to improve it. I bury kitchen scraps in the back yard. I salvage clippings from a barbershop. After rainstorms, I scoop up earthworms from the sidewalk and place them in the soil.Anything organic is fodder for my garden -- the cheaper the mulch, the better. What I relish most are leaves -- bags and bags of them -- removed from neighbors' lawns at night.Each fall, I cruise the streets at dusk in search of leaves, stopping at curbside just long enough to toss the chubby plastic bags into my pickup truck.

The last gasps of a leaf that built empires There's a certain poetry to growing tobacco, a rhythm and lyricism that has risen from Maryland's crumbly soil for centuries. Farmers coax baby tobacco plants into existence, carefully cultivate the plants, cut them by hand, hoist them onto their barns' top rafters to dry them, strip each leaf, determine the grade, delicately tie them together, stack them and, finally, haul the papery, reddish leaves to market. The plants are manually handled as if each one were a perfect French pastry, and for good reason.

Carville B. Leaf Sr., who in 1944 landed with Allied troops in the Normandy invasion and fought across Europe, died Saturday at Augsburg Lutheran Home in Lochearn of complications from a stroke. He was 83. Born in Reisterstown, Mr. Leaf graduated from Franklin High School, where he played soccer and baseball. He worked several years at the Bethlehem Steel Corp.'s Sparrows Point plant, but, like many Americans then, was watching unsettling events unfolding in Europe. He enlisted in the Army in 1940 and was with the 29th Infantry Division.

Ryan Leaf isn't exactly making a good first impression with his new boss.While new San Diego Chargers coach Mike Riley was conducting a "voluntary" summer camp over the weekend, Leaf was in Clinton, N.J., playing in the Cadillac NFL Golf Classic. He shot rounds of 88 and 89 and was eliminated.He obviously needs as much work on his golf game as he does on his football game.Leaf had a nightmarish rookie season on and off the field and was supposedly going to get a fresh start this year.But he has been the same old Leaf recently.

Kerry Collins and Ryan Leaf, who were the victims of negative comparisons a week ago, are now being compared in a more positive sense.A week ago, the two young quarterbacks were being held up as examples of everything that's wrong with today's modern, immature athletes.Now they've both taken the first step toward showing they still have a chance to grow up and become responsible adults and players.Collins had been tagged as a racist and a drunk in Carolina and then -- depending on which version you believe -- was shipped out after telling Panthers coach Dom Capers he had lost his passion for the game.

Alex Ovechkin scored the winner in the shootout as the Washington Capitals took a 5-4 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Verizon Center. In the second round, Ovechkin used a wrister to be Jonas Gustavsson through the five-hold and, after Michal Neuvrith made a blocker save on Nikolai Kulemin's wrister, Alexander Semin sealed the win as he blasted a slap shot past Gustavsson. Semin had a goal and an assist while Tomas Fleischmann, Jason Chimera and Mike Green each lit the lamp for the Capitals, who have won four of their last five.

Is good luck something you can amass and store up for future use, by simply acquiring large numbers of items that are widely regarded as good-luck charms? I certainly hope so, because we in Janet's World are positively stockpiling good luck around here. And I'm talking tasteful good luck, not tacky good luck. For example, when you queue up at my residence early Monday morning for the opportunity to touch a good-luck Gilbert on his or her way to work, you will not have to wade through distasteful piles of dingy rabbits' feet or rusty horseshoes.

Albert T. Schmith, a retired career Army officer who later was dean of students at the Johns Hopkins University, died of respiratory failure Feb. 23 at his Havre de Grace home. He was 75. Mr. Schmith was born and raised in Providence, R.I., where he graduated from La Salle Academy in 1951. He enlisted in the Army in 1951 and through the ROTC earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1958 from Boston University and later a master's degree from George Washington University. Mr. Schmith, who was a graduate of the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., served two tours in Vietnam from 1964 to 1965 and from 1969 to 1970.

Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson wasn't happy with his team's 6-2 loss to the Flyers on Wednesday, and his players paid for it, according to multiple Internet reports. Wilson ripped the team at practice Thursday with reporters looking on, then singled out winger Phil Kessel : "You have one (expletive) goal in your last 10 games," Wilson said. Reporters then asked Wilson why he had addressed Kessel, particularly in front of the media. "I could single out a bunch of guys, but he's our best player," Wilson said.

Phil Kessel and Niklas Hagman scored shootout goals in a 2-1 NHL victory over the Washington Capitals, giving the host Toronto Maple Leafs their first win in six games. Hagman also scored in regulation for the Maple Leafs (4-11-6). Alex Ovechkin replied for Washington (13-5-5) with his 16th of the season. Laurel Park: Trainer Eddie Gaudet wrapped up a productive week with a win in a $30,000 allowance test. Lamster ($15.40) gave the Bowie-based conditioner his fourth win of the week in six starts.

Nothing motivates me to rake leaves quite like having a neighbor who has already done it. The juxtaposition of his bright-green lawn with my leaf-carpeted one highlights the fact that my turf needs to breathe; this sodden leaf layer must be suffocating poor Blade O'Grass and the rest of his family. So I assembled the tools - garden gloves, rake and trash bags - and attacked the yard with gusto last week. Initially, it was almost a meditative activity; the gentle scrape-scrape of the rake matched my breathing.

Opinion: It won't be a surprise if Ryan Leaf gets drafted ahead of Peyton Manning. Leaf has a big arm, thinks fast, hung tough in the Rose Bowl and looks like the better long-term prospect.Fact: The AFC championship game is being played at Three Rivers Stadium for the third time in four years.Opinion: Broncos 23, Steelers 20.Fact: The average National League game (2: 48) was nine minutes shorter than the average American League game (2: 57) in 1997.Opinion: If I'm either of the college football champs, Michigan or Nebraska, I'm just glad I didn't have to play No. 3 Florida State, which lost one game, by three points at Florida.

For the fourth straight year, the Maple Leafs are the NHL's most valuable team, according to Forbes magazine's annual survey. The Leafs are worth $470 million, an increase of 5 percent over last year. They easily are worth more than the next franchise, the Rangers at $416 million, up just 1 percent. The Canadiens are third ($339 million), followed by the Red Wings ($337 million), Flyers ($273 million), Bruins ($271 million) and Blackhawks ($258 million). The Hawks had the biggest rise in value, up 26 percent, followed by the Capitals at 15 percent to $183 million.