Maryland S Eastern Shore

Drugstore giant Rite Aid Corp. will expand on Maryland's Eastern Shore and double its presence in Delaware by acquiring Edgehill Drugs Inc., the largest drugstore chain on the Delmarva Peninsula, Rite Aid said yesterday.The nation's third-largest drugstore operator, with more than $12 billion in annual sales, said it will add privately owned Edgehill's 25 stores to its empire.Rite Aid did not disclose the purchase price. The company is scheduled to close the deal March 2 and expects the acquisition to add to earnings starting with the first quarter of fiscal year 2000.

THEODORE R. McKeldin was born 98 years ago tomorrow into a working-class family in South Baltimore. In his long life of public service, he became Maryland's most successful politician, serving two terms each as mayor of Baltimore and governor of Maryland.He would have found incredible the widespread use today of polling by candidates, who put a finger to the wind to see what position they should take.Parade leaderMcKeldin did not follow the parade, he led it by persuasion, conviction and shoe leather politicking.

ST. MICHAELS -- After planning some of the most highly acclaimed new towns in America, architects Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk have brought their talents to Maryland's Eastern Shore.The Florida-based designers recently unveiled plans for a $100 million-plus community in St. Michaels, a waterfront area with about 1,300 residents in Talbot County.Perry Point, which is the community's tentative name, would have 350 to 375 residences, a 30-room inn, corner store, post office, performing arts center, pools, tennis courts and a 3,000-foot-long park along the Miles River on 89 acres.

Artist Frank Wright remembers Maryland's Eastern Shore and the Chesapeake Bay when the water was clear and grasses grew in abundance. He details those memories in vivid colors on canvas in "Annapolis and the Bay, Paintings 1989 to 1996."The exhibit is on display in the Cardinal Gallery at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts on Chase Street in Annapolis through Oct. 17.The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays except Thursday, when it closes at 8: 30 p.m. Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Information: 410-263-5544.

Towson-based Bank of Maryland said yesterday that it will sell five branches on Maryland's Eastern Shore to First Virginia Banks Inc. for an undisclosed price.The branches, which have $87 million in deposits and $59 million in loans, are in Bishopville, Crisfield, Federalsburg, Princess Anne and Salisbury.The sale would reduce Bank of Maryland's total number ofbranches to five from 10 when completed, pending regulatory approval.David Shumpert, Bank of Maryland's president and chief executive, said management wanted to sell branches that were outside of its main banking area, which is Baltimore, Harford and Anne Arundel counties.

One summer afternoon I was driving some Midwestern relatives through Maryland's Eastern Shore on our way to the Atlantic Ocean when one of my kinfolk asked me a question. What kind of life form, he wanted to know, are "lopes"?"Lopes," sometimes spelled "loupes," are, of course, cantaloupes. These spellings, which my relative had seen at several roadside stands along the edge of Route 50, are Eastern Shore shorthand for the sweet fruit that makes summer breakfasts memorable.The question reminded me that one of the duties of playing host to visitors to Maryland is translating our food-talk.

WASHINGTON -- If it walks like a political action committee and quacks like a political action committee it may be "Duc Pac," the private campaign contribution fund of a prominent Washington lobbyist and duck hunter.Virtually all of the fund's few thousand dollars appears to come from the family of lobbyist J.D. Williams.Most of Duc Pac's political contributions go to members of Congress who have helped block Interior Department interference in the operations of private duck "shooting preserves" -- such as one owned by Mr. Williams.

Q: Blackbone Mountain in Garrett County is Maryland's highest point at 3,360 feet. It is part of what major mountain chain?Q: Many Maryland rivers are named for Indian tribes. One is the Susquehanna, which begins in New York. As it enters Chesapeake Bay, it forms the boundary between what two Maryland counties?Q: What central Maryland city was the site of Stonewall Jackson's reputed Civil War encounter with Barbara Frit?Q: The single bloodiest battle of the Civil War was fought near Sharpsburg in WEstern Maryland.

Leave it to kids to articulate concepts simply. It would be hard to disagree with the sentiment of a little girl who says, "I had this dream that I was cleaning up the environment -- and everybody was helping me."The girl is one of a number of youngsters who speak clearly as part of "Earth to Kids: A Guide for a Healthy Planet," a documentary which premieres at 8 tonight on HBO's premium cable service. And like a previous HBO show last year which tipped children off to some deceptive advertising techniques, this show (produced with Consumer Reports Television)

There are days when the currents of history flow together to illuminate a particular place or time. So it is here in Baltimore where President-elect Barack Obama will pause today to speak on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend as he travels to Washington. Mr. Obama's trip by rail from Philadelphia to his inauguration Tuesday is intended to evoke memories of Abraham Lincoln's inaugural journey, and Baltimore is rich with the ghosts of people who played significant roles in the long struggle of African-Americans , a journey in which his election represents an important milestone.

A regional web of fiber-optic cable would spread from Maryland's Eastern Shore to its western mountains under a plan by local governments to tap federal stimulus money for communications expansions. If the effort is successful, it could mean $100 million or more flowing into Maryland, out of a $7.2 billion chunk of federal money set aside for fiber-optic projects. Working separately, two groups of local governments are working to snare their share of funds, which officials said could create networks that would be cheaper than buying the service from private companies.

There are days when the currents of history flow together to illuminate a particular place or time. So it is here in Baltimore where President-elect Barack Obama will pause today to speak on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend as he travels to Washington. Mr. Obama's trip by rail from Philadelphia to his inauguration Tuesday is intended to evoke memories of Abraham Lincoln's inaugural journey, and Baltimore is rich with the ghosts of people who played significant roles in the long struggle of African-Americans , a journey in which his election represents an important milestone.

Arthritis Walk includes contests The Arthritis Foundation Southern Maryland Branch will hold its 15th annual Annapolis Arthritis Walk from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Quiet Waters Park Concert Pavilion. The walk highlights children and pets at a "Kids Get Arthritis & Dogs Too!" medal of courage ceremony. There will be raffle prizes, face painting, arts and crafts, and a magician for the kids. "Best Dressed Pet" and "Owner-Pet Look Alike" contests will be held. Admission is free, but donations are accepted and participants are encouraged to form teams and obtain pledges.

Three illegal immigrants from South Asia were sentenced yesterday to time served in prison for their attempts to bribe a government official and receive green cards illegally. Mohammad Akaram Khan and Hasar Ahmad, both originally from Pakistan, and Muhammad Razzaq Butt, originally from India, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Baltimore and were sentenced the 106 days they have served and three years of supervised release. The men, who have been living in Maryland, were immediately turned over to federal immigration officials for deportation proceedings, prosecutors said.

Emergency legislation allowing foreign workers to return to jobs at crab-picking houses on Maryland's Eastern Shore cleared its last major hurdle yesterday as the House of Representatives easily approved the measure, which supporters slipped into an unrelated military spending bill. The Senate is expected to send the whole bill to President Bush for his signature next week. That should start a process that will let hundreds of Mexican workers, mostly women, come back to the United States to spend the rest of the crab season working in seafood processing plants that are anxious to have them.

Earle DeWitt Battams, a retired artist, died of cancer April 25 at his Guilford home. He was 87. Born in Kingston, Ontario, he moved to Cambridge on Maryland's Eastern Shore in 1930 and earned a degree in advertising art from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Mr. Battams became a commercial artist for the Lord Baltimore Press and then design director for its successor, the Eastern region of International Paper Co. He retired in 1979 as director of...

F. DeWitt Battams, a retired artist, died of cancer April 25 at his Guilford home. He was 87. Born in Kingston, Ontario, he moved to Cambridge on Maryland's Eastern Shore in 1930 and earned a degree in advertising art from the Maryland Institute College of Art. He became a commercial artist for the Lord Baltimore Press and then design director for its successor, the Eastern region of International Paper Co. He retired in 1979 as director of consumer products....

On Friday, June 18, 2004, WALTER O. WRIGHT, 83, of Baltimore, MD. A native of Kent County, MD, he was born in Chestertown on July 25, 1920, the son of the late Walter and Johanna Tollinger Wright. A Marine Corps veteran who served in WWII, he began his Bell System career in 1941 and continued it following his military service. He worked in various supervisory positions in Baltimore and on Maryland's Eastern Shore, retiring after 42 years of service in 1982 as Government Relations Division Manager of C & P Telephone Company of Maryland.

Hurricane Isabel left such an impression on the Tilghman Island Inn on Maryland's Eastern Shore -- about $400,000 worth -- that its owners gave it a permanent marker. The inn's remodeled restaurant now is called Isabel's. "She was the one that destroyed it, and she stayed for awhile -- so we figured we'd have some fun with it," said Jack Redmond, who has co-owned the inn for 15 years. "It's better than crying. "We say, 'She came, she saw, she conquered' -- and we redecorated," Redmond added.

ONE WAY TO tell the native Marylanders from the "come-heres" is to put plates of shad roe in front of them and see who dives in and who shies away. That is what Jerry Pellegrino, chef and owner of Corks restaurant, told me shortly after he had sent out servings of the sauteed fish eggs to diners. Those receiving the roe were some 48 area winemakers, government types and assorted scribes who had convened at the Federal Hill restaurant for a shindig dubbed "An Evening of Maryland Wine and Seafood."