Natural Resources Police

A 34-foot boat carrying 10 people hit an unlit channel marker in the Severn River near the Route 450 bridge about 3 a.m. Saturday, injuring four, police said. Cpl. Steve Stauffer of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police said the four were treated for non-life threatening injuries. Police are investigating the accident, Stauffer said. He said alcohol may have played a factor, but no charges had been filed. One person was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center with breathing difficulties, but was later released, Stauffer said.

A 34-foot boat carrying 10 people hit an unlit channel marker in the Severn River near the Route 450 bridge about 3 a.m. Saturday, injuring four, police said. Cpl. Steve Stauffer of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police said the four were treated for non-life threatening injuries. Police are investigating the accident, Stauffer said. He said alcohol may have played a factor, but no charges had been filed. One person was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center with breathing difficulties, but was later released, Stauffer said.

A Rock Hall waterman with numerous poaching convictions was charged with stealing oysters twice in one week and has had his license suspended for the rest of the season - the first time the Department of Natural Resources has used that penalty. The action comes as Natural Resources Police up and down the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries are cracking down on oyster violations and employing new tools, such as a network of radar installations and infrared cameras, to monitor commercial activities.

With guns bristling, police officers in full tactical gear sweep across the vast deck of a cargo ship and creep up the stairs to the bridge. Their mission: Take the vessel back from armed intruders. Twice a month, the Natural Resources Police Tactical Response Team practices its craft. Tuesday morning's exercise was aboard the USNS Gilliland, a 956-foot vessel operated by the Navy Military Sealift Command and tied up at the Clinton Street Marine Terminal. "Basically it's a high-rise lying on its side, but it's a lot more complicated," said Sgt. Mel Adam, the squad leader, of the vessel.

You could have put every Natural Resources Police field officer in the state into the Annapolis hearing room Saturday - two times over - and still had room for the coffee urn, doughnut tray and a small dance band. That was the sobering reality hanging over the Conservation Law Enforcement Summit, which attracted recreational and commercial fishermen, hunters, fish and game cops and state lawmakers - all looking for a way to boost the police agency during the next session of the General Assembly.

Maryland Natural Resources Police have recovered the body of a man who was reported missing after his boat capsized Saturday near the Bay Bridge. James Thomas, 44, of the 5600 block of Whitby Road in Baltimore was boating with four family members in a 16-foot runabout when the vessel began sinking late Saturday. The others aboard -- including three children ages 8, 11 and 12 -- made it to shore safely early Sunday, police said. Early yesterday, an angler spotted a body in the Chesapeake Bay, west of Love Point.

John W. Rhoads Sr. will take over as superintendent of the Maryland Natural Resources Police July 5, Department of Natural Resources Secretary Torrey C. Brown said yesterday.Mr. Rhoads, 58, is chairman of the Prince George's County Planning Board and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. The Bowie resident was Prince George's County police chief from 1975 to 1979 and has had 22 years of law enforcement experience.He will replace Col. Franklin I. Wood, who announced his retirement May 25 amid complaints of racial bias and sexual harassment on the 223-member force.

Maryland Natural Resources Police are seeking the identity of a woman whose body was found at the mouth of Weems Creek in Annapolis.The woman's body, which apparently was in the water for a few months, was found about 6 p.m. Saturday near Wardour Drive, said DNR spokesman John Surrick.The cause of death appeared to be drowning, he said.Police say the woman was African-American, between ages 35 and 55, about 5 feet 7 inches tall and 140 pounds, Surrick said.Anyone with information is asked to call the Natural Resources Police at 410-260-8888.

The chief of the Maryland Natural Resources Police resigned yesterday, as a judge dismissed a complaint alleging he had threatened violence and harassed and stalked another state employee. Col. Scott A. Sewell, 53, of Baltimore County left his state job to "pursue other career opportunities," according to a news release issued by the Department of Natural Resources. No further details were given. Shareese DeLeaver, a spokeswoman for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., said the administration would not comment about Sewell's departure because it is a personnel matter.

Call them poachers, not hunters: the guys who blast out of their pickup windows when they see a deer by the side of the road.To curb this hazardous and illegal practice, Maryland Natural Resources Police are willing to sit in the cold for hours at a potential hot spot -- assisted by a remote-controlled stuffed buck.They don't call their decoy Rudolph or any other cute name. The battery-packing buck can spin its head around like Linda Blair in "The Exorcist," although the officers go for more subtle movements.

The Department of Natural Resources Police are investigating the discovery of a body that washed ashore this morning from the Chesapeake Bay near Annapolis. Sgt. Art Windemuth, of the DNR Police, said the body, which had no identification, was found along Chesapeake Harbor Drive south of Annapolis. "We are investigating the incident and the Medical Examiner's office is responding," said Windemuth. "We should know more later today. " fred.rasmussen@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

ELKTON - Natural Resources police have recovered a man's body from the Elk River. The body, which police said had been in the water for some time, was found Thursday afternoon near the slips at Triton Marina Services. The Cecil Whig reported that officials had no reports of missing boaters or swimmers. - The Associated Press

Maryland Natural Resources Police is investigating the shooting death of a bald eagle that was found Friday in Allegany County near the Pennsylvania line. The mature eagle was found by a farm caretaker along the banks of Evitts Creek, just west of Rocky Gap State Park. "It was probably sitting in a tree when it was shot in the chest," said NRP Sgt. Art Windemuth. "It couldn't have been mistaken for anything else. It had the white head and tail and golden beak and talons. It was the American symbol in full plumage.

On Labor Day weekend, Ocean City sunbathers may notice an unusual come-on among the aerial banners touting happy-hour drink specials and marriage proposals: an invitation to join Maryland Natural Resources Police. Facing what it believed to be the largest manpower shortage in its 143-year history, the state law enforcement agency is using every platform possible — including the salty air above sandy beaches — to fill its next academy class and those beyond. "It's scary," says Capt.

Boating deaths in Maryland have reached their highest level in more than a decade, with 20 so far this year. But authorities say they can't find any explanation for the increase other than nice summer weather. "Boating is a recreational activity, and when the weather is good and conducive to boating, we're going to find a lot more activity," said Sgt. Art Windemuth, spokesman for the Natural Resources Police. But Windemuth said insufficient attention to safety has also been a factor.

Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police recovered the body of a man who had fallen from a 24-foot pontoon boat in the Assawoman Bay near 126th Street, Ocean City Saturday evening. The body of Jordan Craig Hock, 23, was recovered Sunday at 9:50 a.m., according to a spokesman for Natural Resources Police Monday morning. This is Maryland's 16th fatal boating accident victim of the year. According to a release from Natural Resources Police, the boat was being operated by Robert Stanley Holmes, 53, of Lansdowne.

THE DRAMATIC comeback of the bay's rockfish in recent years has meant the resumption of fishing and -- inevitably -- the resumption of illegal netting by a handful of renegade watermen.Nevertheless, a remarkable shift has occurred since the old, wide-open, no-limits days that led in 1984 to a six-year moratorium after the species' population plummeted.It is a shift that commercial fishermen scarcely want to talk about, let alone take credit for -- yet they deserve public support for courageous action to put their own house in order.

Anne Arundel County officials have recovered the body of a 48-year-old man who jumped from a boat into Stony Creek on Saturday and never resurfaced. Charles Ryder, 48, of Glen Burnie, was found at about 12:30 p.m. Sunday after authorities said the man jumped Saturday from a moving Sea Ray vessel on Stony Creek at around 5:15 p.m. Officials from several agencies searched for Ryder in the water on Saturday, but could not recover him by nightfall. Diving teams with the Anne Arundel County Fire Department and the Department of Natural Resources Police began searching for the man early Sunday morning, said Sgt. Brian Albert, a spokesman for Natural Resources Police.

Two men were injured and one remained missing Saturday night after two separate boating incidents in Anne Arundel County. Passersby picked up two men whose boat had overturned near Thomas Point shortly before 5:30 p.m. Saturday, said Sgt. Brian Albert, a spokesman for the Department of Natural Resources Police. The two men, ages 32 and 39, were taken to a nearby U.S. Coast Guard station, he said. The older man was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center with life-threatening injuries.