Leonardtown

Only one person stood between No. 3 Centennial and its first trip to the state field hockey final -- Leonardtown keeper Katie Jackson.Under constant pressure for the last 16 minutes of the game, Jackson made several spectacular saves to preserve a 1-0 win for her Raiders (14-0-1) in a state Class 3A semifinal yesterday at Goucher College."We did everything we could to get a goal," said Eagles midfielder Liz Sturm. "That goalie was incredible. Without a doubt, she won the game for them. The whole second half we were down there, corner after corner."

The Glen Burnie boys basketball team tested its new No. 15 ranking Tuesday at Leonardtown, getting off to a slow start before eventually taking over and winning, 78-46. After settling down, Glen Burnie took a 41-27 lead at halftime. Brandon Spain and Clarence Watkins led the visiting Gophers (6-0) with 26 and 21 points, respectively. The Raiders fell to 1-4. No. 9 Forest Park 63, FAST 51: Rysheed Corbin scored 16 points and Antone Waters had 14 points and 10 rebounds to power the host Forresters (5-1)

A Southern Maryland chef swept the National Oyster Cook-Off on Saturday at the St. Mary's County Fairgrounds, a festival organizer said. Chef Loic Francois Jaffres, who owns and operates Café des Artistes in Leonardtown, took the contest's three top prizes with his white wine-sautéed appetizer, oysters casino wrapped in spinach. Jaffres' oysters were poached in seafood stock, dusted with panko breadcrumbs and served in shot glasses. There were contestants from more than 10 states.

A Southern Maryland chef swept the National Oyster Cook-Off on Saturday at the St. Mary's County Fairgrounds, a festival organizer said. Chef Loic Francois Jaffres, who owns and operates Café des Artistes in Leonardtown, took the contest's three top prizes with his white wine-sautéed appetizer, oysters casino wrapped in spinach. Jaffres' oysters were poached in seafood stock, dusted with panko breadcrumbs and served in shot glasses. There were contestants from more than 10 states.

Only one person stood between No. 3 Centennial and its first trip to the state field hockey final -- Leonardtown keeper Katie Jackson.Under constant pressure for the last 16 minutes of the game, Jackson made several spectacular saves to preserve a 1-0 win for her Raiders (14-0-1) in a state Class 3A semifinal yesterday at Goucher College.nTC "We did everything we could to get a goal," said Eagles midfielder Liz Sturm. "That goalie was incredible. Without a doubt, she won the game for them.

LEONARDTOWN -- Mark Vogel heads toward the center of town, past the sad brick buildings and boarded-up storefronts on Fenwick Street."Just look at this," Vogel says, gesturing toward the signs of Leonardtown's decline. "This is a crime right here."He turns down Washington Street, stopping finally on the parking lot of a dilapidated ice house in front of the rotting piers of Leonardtown's waterfront.Vogel's dream -- and Leonardtown's rescue, as he describes it -- lies in the woods along the shore of Breton Bay, just to the west on 435 acres known about town as the Mattingly Farm and on Vogel's drawing board as Tudor Hall Farm.

State Sen. Thomas M. Middleton, a southern Maryland Democrat, said last week that he will not agree to spend state money to build a public golf course that has been proposed as part of a private housing development in Leonardtown.Prince George's County developer Mark Vogel has proposed developing 435 acres with 600 to 650 houses, a hotel and the golf course, which will be built on environmentally sensitive land that is otherwise unsuitable for construction. Vogel's initial proposal called for selling the land for the golf course for $3 million to a nonprofit corporation formed by the city of Leonardtown.

For all the season-long accolades about its talented pitching staff and potent offense, South Carroll understood that last night's state championship game against Leonardtown would be its defining moment.The Cavaliers lived up to the hype.No. 2-ranked South Carroll won its first state title, 8-1, over its opponent from St. Mary's County at Joe Cannon Stadium in Harmans.South Carroll (21-4) made it three titles for Baltimore area teams in the finals. Glen Burnie (4A), Glenelg (1A) and Centennial (2A)

Long before mass-manufactured ceramic villages hit merchants' shelves, Baltimoreans fashioned their own "Christmas gardens," homespun hamlets built from scraps and ingenuity and set beneath the family Christmas tree.Some families continue to create these miniature towns; others unwrap from storage the churches and bungalows their fathers and grandfathers made on the pretelevision nights of the Depression.And in some areas, these Christmas treasures still exist. In Linthicum, for instance, there is "Leonardtown," named for a master Christmas garden builder, Leonard Woehlke, an electrician who constructed his tiny suburbia in the 1930s.

LEONARDTOWN -- Michael K. Blankenship was all very nonchalant about his contacts and his accomplishments. He mentioned only casually that he was a friend of the Clintons, had helped write the last State of the Union address, was a Vietnam War veteran who recently rose to the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Army Reserve. No, Blankenship -- a humble-looking mortician with big, roundish specs looped over two oversized ears -- never bragged. Whatever good things fell upon him, he would tell friends, were caused by his good luck and a loving, gracious God. But then, not long after penning his will, the general was strangled.

Several bicyclists were injured after someone threw tacks along a Leonardtown race course Sunday, officials said. In a press release, the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office asked for the public's help in identifying the person who disrupted Patuxent Velo Cycling Club's Leonardtown Criterium Cycling Event. Crashes caused by the tacks left several racers injured, including at least one participant who suffered a broken bone. Cyclists commonly travel at speeds of 30 miles per hour or more in such racing events.

Yesterday was a good day to be a member of the Palmieri family. Caitlyn Palmieri's seeing-eye single drove in Amanda Hedgepeth in the bottom of the eighth inning to give No. 7 Arundel (14-5) a 1-0 victory over Leonardtown in a Class 4A East regional softball quarterfinal. Angel Palmieri, Caitlyn's twin sister, advanced Hedgepeth to third with a sacrifice bunt. Winning pitcher Kayla Martinez struck out 14 without a walk. No. 5 Franklin 5, Hereford 4 -- Emily King singled home Nicole Snee in the bottom of the seventh as the Indians (20-0)

On April 19, 2008, Richard Knight Gardiner, Visitation Saturday, April 26, 2008 from 10 A.M. to 11 A.M. in the Brinsfield Life Celebration Chapel, Leonardtown, MD 20650. A Memorial Service will be conducted at 11 A.M. in the Life Celebration Chapel. Interment will follow in St. Aloysius Catholic Church Cemetery, Leonardtown, MD. Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice House, c/o HOSPICE of St. Mary's, Inc., P.O. Box 625, Leonardtown, MD 20650 or Leonardtown Volunteer Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 299, Leonardtown, MD 20650.

Christmas in Leonardtown The lowdown -- Tomorrow, Leonardtown hosts its Christmas on the Square. The free event offers sleigh and carriage rides, live music, a petting zoo and tree lighting. Santa is expected. If you go -- Christmas on the Square is 5 p.m.-9 p.m. tomorrow at the Leonardtown square. The rain date is Saturday. For information, call 301-475-9791 or go to leonardtown.somd.com. Four-day dog show The lowdown -- Four dog clubs will bring their pets to the Howard County Fairgrounds this weekend for the four-day Turkey Cluster All Breed Dog Show.

What separated the Perry Hall girls soccer team from making a fifth Class 4A state title game appearance was a formidable Leonardtown team that showed all season long it could put the ball in the net. Despite getting an early goal and defending valiantly throughout, the Gators simply couldn't keep the Raiders from St. Mary's County in check. Leonardtown ended the first half with a tying goal from Kaitlyn Devine and produced the game-winner four minutes into the second half when Taelor Errington pounded a header home off a corner kick from Devine for a 2-1 win at Churchill in Pocomoke.

Leonardtown -- These days, Maryland's front line of defense against an invasion of the deadly bird flu looks, quite literally, like a wild goose chase. On foot, in trucks and by boat, a team of biologists from the Department of Natural Resources is swooping down on flocks of geese to test them for avian influenza, specifically Asian H5N1, a strain that has caused the death of more than 100 people and millions of birds overseas. Wildlife experts suspect that if the deadly form of the virus enters this country, it will most likely be through birds that mingle in the arctic during the breeding season before returning to their wintering grounds.

SANDY SPRING -- The Cinderella run for Broadneck ended last night, when Leonardtown scored in the third minute of the second half, then withstood a late rush by the Bruins for a 1-0 victory in the state Class 3A semifinals at Sherwood High School.Cyprian Gillingham, a sophomore who broke the St. Mary's County scoring record with 25 goals and 18 assists, scored in a one-on-one with Broadneck goalkeeper Lori Southard.The play developed when a kick came out of the middle with a lot of spin on it, and as the sweeper came out to clear, the ball bounced over her head.

North Carroll, on a victory crusade for the last two months, found the ending bittersweet.On the one hand was the fact not much had been expected of this team, so simply playing in the state championship game was a dream. On the other hand, to get so close and come away empty turned the dream into a nightmare.It was Leonardtown (17-2) which survived the physical contest to live its dream, as it scored on an indirect kick with just under five minutes remaining to collect a 2-1 victory over North Carroll (11-6-2)

On Sunday, June 25, 2006, ELIZABETH MORGAN FLYNN of Hollywood, MD, wife of Edward C. Flynn, mother of Christopher M. Lewis of Port Republic, MD, Megan E. Kersch of Suffolk, VA, sister of Kenneth W. Morgan of Baltimore, MD and six grandchildren. Friends received on Friday, June 30, 2006 from 5 P.M. to 8 P.M. with a Funeral Service at 7 P.M. in the BRINSFIELD FUNERAL HOME, P.A., 22955 Hollywood Road, Leonardtown, MD 20650. Interment private. Memorial contributions may be made to Catholic Charities Angels Watch Shelter, P.O. Box 613, Hughesville, MD 20637

Take public transportation. Carpool. Recycle. Those suggestions are given by people and organizations stressing the preservation of the environment, but people don't always pay attention to them until April 22 rolls around. That day -- Earth Day -- was created in 1970 to help improve the environment and create awareness of problems, such as global warming, that would eventually become a concern for future generations. Now, those threats are real, and it is more important than ever to be educated about the small things that can be done to help create a more stable environment.