Nanticoke River

The supervisor of Maryland's bald eagle recovery program said yesterday that recent shootings of the endangered birds on the Eastern Shore raise questions about whether hunters are deliberately gunning for the national symbol."

A barge carrying 420,000 gallons of black oil that went aground Wednesday morning on the Nanticoke River in southern Dorchester County was refloated last night after some of its contents were removed to lighten the load, a spokesman for the Coast Guard in Baltimore said. Petty Officer John Edwards, the spokesman, said about 140,000 gallons was pumped into another barge, and that the vessel was refloated about 7:15 p.m. and towed to a power plant in Vienna, about halfway to its original destination, Seaford, Del. Edwards said the double-hulled barge was not damaged.

Albert Vaughn Williams, a road building contractor who was active in real estate development, died of heart failure Thursday at his home in the Woodbrook area.A memorial service for Mr. Williams, who was 97 and known as A. V. Williams, is scheduled for 2:30 this afternoon at the Second Presbyterian Church, 4200 St. Paul St.He was president of the Williams Construction Co., which he started in 1929 and which built many parts of interstate highways in Maryland and nearby states, including the Baltimore and Washington beltways.

Perry Mace said he was a little worried about catching a sick fish yesterday morning. He carried rubbing alcohol on his boat, just in case.But as he pulled into Phillip's Landing near Laurel, Del., at 3 p.m., Mace seemed very pleased about his day on the Nanticoke River.Mace was one of 94 anglers vying for a spot on the Delaware Bass Federation Team that will compete in a regional tournament next year. The qualifying rounds continue today in Laurel."They looked pretty good today, fought pretty good," said Mace, of Wilmington, Del. "A bad day of fishing is still better than a good day at work."

Maryland will spend nearly $2 million to preserve 615 acres of environmentally sensitive land on the Eastern Shore. The Board of Public Works agreed yesterday to pay private landowners for easements to protect tracts in Wicomico, Dorchester and Cecil counties. The state will pay nearly $710,000 to preserve 292 acres about 10 miles south of Vienna, in Wicomico County. The tract, near the mouth of Quantico Creek, includes about 150 acres of woods that provide habitat for certain songbirds and other animals that live only in deep forest.

VIENNA -- The state has pushed back the planned completion date for its $33 million acquisition of 58,000 Eastern Shore acres owned by Chesapeake Forest Products -- noting the complexity of the deal, the largest ever in the state.Previously set for Tuesday, the closing now is set for Sept. 2, state officials and industry spokesmen said yesterday.Gov. Parris N. Glendening, who took a tour yesterday of some of the parcels to be preserved along the Nanticoke River, said the delay did not indicate that the overall deal was in trouble.

Michael G. Delss, a materials coordinator for AAI Corp. and an avid fisherman and crabber, died Aug. 23 from complications of diabetes at his Essex home. He was 52. Michael George Delss, the son of a brick mason and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in Essex. He was a 1978 graduate of Kenwood High School. "While he was in high school he worked as a brick mason with his father," said his wife of 14 years, the former Leslie Elaine Kolakowski. In 1985, Mr. Delss went to work for the Linen Locker as a distribution manager.

A dense Eastern Shore swamp was no match this week for a 90-pound Boy Scout armed with a Charms Blow-Pop.Chris Belknap, a 13-year-old camper who got lost trying to take a shortcut, survived 32 hours in swamp waters up to his waist before he was rescued on a riverbank Thursday evening.He had no water to drink and ate only the Blow-Pop, a watermelon-flavored Jolly Rancher sucker and another piece of candy."I'm basically OK," Chris said from his Denton home yesterday, suffering from more than 40 mosquito bites.

Crab Days in St. Michaels Celebrate the Chesapeake Bay's favorite crustacean - the blue crab - this weekend during the 18th annual Crab Days at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels. For two days, blue crabs will be served in every way imaginable - steamed crabs, fried crabs, crab cakes and crab soups, to name a few. There also will be plenty of hot dogs, French fries, corn-on-the-cob, ice cream and home-baked treats. In addition to food, the museum is cooking up some fun activities.

A yearlong evaluation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has found that the overwhelming majority of the more than 5,600 pursuits at 500 national wildlife refuges are compatible with refuge purposes.No hunting programs were found to be incompatible, although hunting on a 48-acre NWR tract near Salinas, Calif., is under review to determine whether it impacts the endangered brown pelican.Modifications are proposed for one fishing program, set tackle fishing at Tishomingo NWR in Oklahoma, to reduce the mortality risk for migratory birds.