Perryville

On Sunday, April 15, 2007, MICHAEL KENNETH DENK, 55 years, of Port Deposit, MD, died at Sinai Hospital, Baltimore, MD. Survivors include his wife, Nancy Nichols, mother, Margaret Rupple Denk of Westminster, MD; son, Michael Denk of Bel Air, MD; daughter and husband, Christine and Eric Reeves of Elkton, MD; grandchildren, Ethan and Megan Reeves of Elkton, MD; brothers, William Denk of Canton, Baltimore City, MD; Gary Denk of Owings Mills, MD, and Dennis...

A WOOD-BURNING power generator in Perryville. A group home for delinquent teens in Worthington Valley. A racetrack in northern Anne Arundel. A college sports complex in Towson. A minor-league ballpark in Aberdeen. A synagogue in Owings Mills. And a church in Howard County.What do these very different projects have in common? Nobody wanted them in their backyards.Arguments against the projects, and their merits, were as varied as the projects themselves. But the overarching sentiment was that residents opposed anything that would alter where they live.

PERRYVILLE -- Promise followed promise. A high-tech future for a dusty old chemical site. Several hundred well-paying jobs. Enough new tax revenue to take care of much of the town budget.Company officials figured they were making an offer this hard-luck Susquehanna River town couldn't refuse.But Perryville, while eager for economic revival, decided the last thing it wanted was a power plant, even a newfangled one.Just as they were rallying to stop the out-of-state company from building a large wood-burning plant at the entrance of their little town, the people of Perryville won.Providentpower, a start-up energy producer from Wilmington, Del., abandoned its plans this week for a $55 million plant that would have generated electricity from mountains of scrap wood and construction debris.

A freak accident disrupted train traffic in the Northeast Corridor yesterday morning when 33 automobile frames fell off two flatcars of a 100-car northbound Conrail freight train near Perryville, blocking northbound and southbound tracks for more than three hours.No one was injured, and no cars of the freight train derailed. The accident occurred 40 miles north of Baltimore about 8: 15 a.m., strewing auto frames for two miles along the tracks, said Amtrak spokesman Kirk Rostron.Amtrak brought in 20 buses to shuttle passengers north and south around the blockage to make connections in Baltimore, Wilmington and Philadelphia.

No. 12 Dunbar (1-2) atCity (1-2)When: Today, 3: 30Outlook: Dunbar's Poets face City's Knights for the first time in the tenure of fifth-year Poets coach Stanley Mitchell (43-9 career), but neither team expected its playoff hopes to be in jeopardy this early. The Knights of coach George Petrides (129-83-1 career) boast All-Metro WR Warren Smith, second-team All-Metro WR-DB James Gee and linemen who averaged nearly 250 pounds. Dunbar has talented receivers Dahnel Singfield (second-team All-Metro)

CSX Corp. and Conrail yesterday revealed plans to build a $25 million east-west connection facility at Perryville, northeast of Baltimore, if a merger between the two rail giants is approved.The Perryville operation would be the most complicated and most expensive of the 22 facilities the railroad systems would need to link a 29,000-mile combined network.In many places, parallel tracks between the two systems are only a few feet apart. But in Perryville, CSX lines are 60 feet above Conrail's, presenting a complicated engineering problem.

For 14 years, the old Firestone plastics plant in Perryville just sat, a reminder of lost manufacturing jobs and an annoyance to residents who believed it detracted from the nearby Perryville Community Park, overlooking the Chesapeake Bay.By the middle of next month, however, the plant demolition and land clearance that began in February is scheduled to be complete."

PHOENIX -- Baltimore County police have asked for the public's help in finding the 34-year-old son of a retired District Court judge missing since Monday.Aris Rellas , of the 12800 block of Stone Eagle Road , was last seen by his father, retired Judge John Rellas, leaving their home Monday morning for a business trip to Reston, Va., police said.Rellas, a white man, 5 feet 6 inches tall with brown hair and eyes, was driving a 1989 Toyota Camry with Maryland license plates 839 AEH. He weighs 140 pounds and was wearing a gray suit.

Neither the icy temperatures, nor the visiting Perryville football team could prevent second-year coach Steve Turnbaugh and his staff from continuing 11th-ranked Hereford's historic run.Carl Yelton (17 carries, 150 yards) scored his 14th and 15th touchdowns in the first half, and added his 16th -- the Bulls' last -- with 6: 20 to play as top-seed Hereford trounced eighth-seeded Perryville (8-3) by 35-6 for the school's first-ever state 1A playoff victory before a partisan crowd of about 1,600.

Homer Lewis Cook Sr., a civil engineer for 30 years at Edgewood Arsenal and a Boy Scout volunteer, died Saturday of cancer in his home in Perryville. He was 80.Before starting work at the arsenal in 1942, Mr. Cook worked for an army training camp in Aberdeen and at a naval boot camp in Bainbridge. Relatives said he and his wife spent at least eight months a year traveling across the United States in their motor home. From 1980 to 1990, Mr Cook was state director for the Maryland Good Sam Club, a recreational traveling club.

On Tuesday, February 3, 2009, ROBERT LEE WILLUMSEN; beloved husband of the late Doris Willumsen; loving father of Mike, Craig and Chris Willumsen. He is survived by his sister Ida "Puz" Seidenzahl; grandchildren, Daniel, Sara, and Zachary Willumsen; daughters-in-law Cindy, Diane, and Carol. He is also survived by many loving nephews and nieces. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 7, 2009, 1 P.M. at St. Mark's Church in Perryville, MD.

Two schools receive beautification grants Two Harford elementary schools have received county grants that will help volunteers complete several beautification projects. County Executive David R. Craig, who visited both schools last week, commended their PTA volunteers. The program "is an excellent example of an effective government initiative that brings schools, the parent community and businesses together," he said. A $10,000 grant for Riverside Elementary brings to more than $65,000 the funds dedicated to upgrading the playground on the Joppa campus, a project that parent volunteers have tackled for nearly a year.

Construction to begin on offices near APG 1 Construction will start tomorrow on an 84,000-square-foot office building near Aberdeen Proving Ground. The building off Route 22 will be the first structure in the North Gate Business Park at APG. The office park is being marketed to defense contractors and other companies. Lorraine Mirabella MTA considers reducing service from Harford, Cecil 2 Faced with declining revenues, the Maryland Transit Administration is considering cost-cutting reductions in service from Harford and Cecil counties to Baltimore beginning early next year.

3 Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference championships the Fallston field hockey team has won. The latest came when the Cougars edged Perryville, 2-1, recently. 72 Score that both Ryan Triller and Nick Mafale of North Harford shot to tie for first place at the Harford County golf championship. The Hawks won the team title.

As residents of Perryville confront the prospect of a sprawling slot-machine complex opening in their historic town, many recall previous plans for economic development that never seemed to deliver on their promise. An outlet shopping center drew millions of visitors when it opened two decades ago but now struggles to keep stores open; about one-third of the storefronts have lease signs in the window. Waterfront condos drew wealthy buyers from Pennsylvania and elsewhere but only for part of the year when they can launch a boat.

A national casino operator has secured a deal with one of Cecil County's largest landowners that could pave the way for a slots parlor just across the Interstate 95 tolls in Perryville if voters approve November's gambling referendum. Penn National Gaming Inc. announced this week that it secured an option to buy 36 acres to operate a slots venue on the grounds of a proposed 150-acre tourism complex being developed by Stewart Associates, a major property owner in the county. Penn National, which owns Charles Town Races and Slots in West Virginia, among other venues, has also vowed to use its financial muscle to push for the slots referendum.

A national casino operator from Pennsylvania is close to securing an option to purchase Cecil County property near Interstate 95 for use as a slot machine gambling venue if voters this November approve the devices in Maryland. The company, Penn National Gaming, would purchase the land only if the ballot referendum passes and if it is awarded the license that is guaranteed to go to a Cecil County site. The other four guaranteed locations would be in Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Allegany and Worcester counties.

The state Board of Public Works approved more than $1 million in grants yesterday for projects in Harford and Cecil counties that will improve water quality and supply in both jurisdictions, officials said. Harford will receive $490,000 to augment wastewater treatment in an area of Joppa where private septic systems are failing and causing public health and safety risks. Extending public lines into the Oaklyn Manor area at the southern end of the county will provide for better treatment and reduce nutrient pollution, officials said.

Cecil County officials want to do away with the tolls on the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway and at the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge, the oldest toll facility in Maryland. They say the tolls, at Exit 93 on Interstate 95 and at U.S. 40 over the Susquehanna River, have thwarted economic development in nearby Perryville and Port Deposit and would deter Army personnel and other workers from settling in Cecil County when thousands of military jobs move to Maryland. But relocating the tolls won't necessarily guarantee a reversal of fortune for the county, and rapid growth there would strain already taxed water resources.

Alfred Joseph Marini, a retired Havre de Grace businessman who was active in civic affairs, died Saturday of heart failure at Harford Memorial Hospital. He was 86. Born in Trenton, N.J., Mr. Marini was raised in Elkton where he attended high school. During World War II, he served with the Army's 6th Field Artillery, the American merchant marine, and finally, with the Coast Guard, from which he was honorably discharged at war's end. "He was a self-made man," said his daughter, Mary Marini Dougherty of Havre de Grace.