Pigs

In a driveway along a country road, a sculpture pig sits atop a welcome sign with four residents' names etched above the green clover symbolic of 4-H. The Barbens of Jarrettsville are a 4-H family, steeped in the traditions of the century-old organization that stresses hands-on learning. The pigs, raised in their backyard, will promenade in the show ring this week at the Harford County Farm Fair, a four-day event that highlights local 4-H achievements. Paul and Karen Barben and their sons, Jake and Josh, are used to showing off their pigs.

LE PETIT COCHON 1030 S. Charles St., Federal Hill / 410-528-6001 / Open Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. If you're looking for that perfect gift with a distinctive European flair, there's no need to hop on a plane. Instead, head to Federal Hill's latest au courant gift shop, the lovely and lively Le Petit Cochon. "I love pigs and wanted something with whimsy," says owner Liz Perkins about the name, which means "the little pig" in French. But don't expect to find a store full of merchandise peppered with pigs (although there was an adorable pink pig pillbox)

Now people can begin telling pollsters honestly what they think of the guy.Talk radio is speechless, but they'll think of something.The number of hotels not being built here keeps increasing to meet the demand of conventions not coming here.Trustees of a small college in New Hampshire demand that students living in houses like boozy pigs do it coeducationally. The scholars are outraged.Pub Date: 2/17/99

Cuban barbecue came to Camden Yards yesterday and was mucho successful. Roast pigs bathed in garlicky marinade overshadowed the traditional ballpark fare.The pigs were part of a number of Cuban-style dishes served during yesterday's game between the Orioles and the Cuban National Baseball Team. A fan could find picadillo, fried plantains and black beans and rice in ballpark restaurants and some concession stands. Even Boog Powell added a Cuban sandwich to his menu, which usually features pit beef.

Concerned over reports that a large hog farm is being built near a wealthy subdivision northwest of Westminster, the chair of Carroll County's Environmental Affairs Advisory Board said yesterday that the group may schedule a meeting to debate the issue.Kevin E. Dayhoff, a landscape designer who heads the advisory board, said he plans to poll its seven members this week on the need for an extra meeting.The group declined yesterday to address the issue because both sides were not represented at a two-hour meeting.

Genetic engineering won't change realities of pork productionUnlike the cute pigs featured in The Sun's article about genetically engineering pigs, "Altering pigs for less pollution" (June 29), descendants of the transgenic "Enviropigs" would be nameless numbers in a ruthless, death-dealing business.Rather than finding clever ways to perpetuate the pig industry, we should seek to shift public appetites toward a diet without animal products. Such a change would solve the environmental problems animal agriculture causes, bolster human health and curtail animal suffering.

Renn Roscher scales the fence and climbs into the first pen. "Over here," he commands the pigs as he tries to sweep out the muck. The pigs ignore him. They crowd around, chewing on his boot-covered toes, leaving him no choice but to poke his broom into their hides and push them away. Two boys, one to herd and one to sweep, usually work with the biggest, most aggressive pigs, but tonight he's alone.His slight frame pressed hither and yon by a ton of swaying, squealing pork, Renn remains calm.

MONTREAL -- The stink will stay, at least for now, but in a biotech breakthrough Canadian scientists have created a pig whose manure is expected to do far less harm to the environment than the poop of ordinary porkers.The Enviropig, an achievement of genetic engineering by researchers at Ontario's University of Guelph, could go a long way toward making modern hog operations cleaner and more cost-efficient.Genetic tinkering with creatures and plants is nothing new. But the "transgenic" Yorkshire pigs -- with cells containing DNA spliced from mice and a strain of bacteria -- produced at the university over the past two months are thought to be the first animals designed specifically to combat an environmental problem.

Brianne Bly, 19, says the drought has made it difficult to raise animals for this year's Howard County Fair. She should know.For 10 years, she has been raising steers, sheep and pigs to sell at the fair's 4-H livestock auction. Many of the animals were born on her family's farm.Last night's auction was the last for Bly because membership in 4-H is for those ages 8 to 19.Bly brought three steers, two sheep and two pigs to the auction, and one of each -- Zander the steer, Jacob the sheep and Eve the pig -- were sold for slaughter.

IT'S FAIR TIME again, and for many of us that means spending an evening or two at the Howard County Fairgrounds, letting all our senses absorb the sights, sounds and smells.We see animals, big and small, perfect produce and crafts, brightly lighted rides and colorful refreshment stands. Pigs are snorting, sheep and goats are bleating, and cattle are lowing.Children scream on the rides and whine on the walkways.The smells of a multitude of foods -- cotton candy, clam strips, crab cakes and sausages -- can be overwhelming.

On a recent orange evening as the sun sank and red leaves dropped from the dogwood, I stood in the backyard, grilling bratwurst, racing daylight. Darkness sneaks up on backyard grillers these days. A few weeks ago we could cook in daylight as late as 8 o'clock. Now the sun disappears around 7. Yesterday the season officially changed to fall as the sun crossed the equator. It was the autumnal equinox, when the hours of day and night were approximately equal. That balance won't last long; the night is gaining.

On swine flu and falling pork prices Joyce W.: I think the Egyptians destroying all of the pigs in the country might have been a little, um, overkill. I'm continuing to buy and eat pork. The lower prices are very much appreciated, and if I had a chest freezer, it'd be filled with pork right now. I think the panic is somewhat reasonable owing to the amount of deaths from this illness, but it's been pointed out numerous times that eating pork has nothing to do with it. Dahlink: I agree with ... Joyce W., but it does gives me pause when I read that swine in Canada have been diagnosed with this flu. Robert of Cross Keys: The Egyptians are killing all the pigs?

Hampstead twins Dustin and Dylan Schreibman darted, dashed and splashed in the pit of mud and puddles, but they and two other youngsters couldn't get a good grip on "the other white meat." For 90 seconds, the diminutive pig eluded capture inside a fenced-in ring - sometimes standing still long enough to allow the youngsters to close in, only to slip away again. The audience of 200 that braved yesterday's pouring rain at Spring Meadow Farms in Upperco laughed and cheered. And Spring Meadow Farms owner Stan Dabkowski smiled with delight.

Temporary park use isn't CHAP's concern As a former staff member of the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation, I take exception to the editorial which argued that CHAP "fell down on the job" in resolving community concerns about the recent art installation at Mount Vernon Place ("Art for whose sake?" March 22). CHAP has no authority regarding how public space is to be used. It is authorized to review permanent physical alterations of properties designated within historic districts or as city landmarks.

Taking aim at one of the last bastions of live-animal training for medical students, a physicians' group that champions animal rights has called upon the Johns Hopkins University to stop using live pigs to teach operating room techniques. Calling the practice inhumane and unnecessary, the Washington-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine notes that Hopkins is one of just two top-tier medical schools still convening live-animal labs. "The ethical argument is that you should not use sentient creatures to our purposes unnecessarily," said Dr. John J. Pippin, a Dallas cardiologist affiliated with the group.

James Cromwell is not a farmer, but he plays one in the movie Babe. That gives him the swine cred, he figures, to stick his snout into Johns Hopkins med school business. Spare with words as Farmer Hoggett, the Oscar-nominated Cromwell has plenty to say about the school's use of live pigs to teach surgery. "I have seen firsthand that pigs are highly intelligent, social animals," Cromwell recently wrote to med school dean Dr. Edward D. Miller. "Animal behavior experts agree, and scientific evidence suggests that pigs are very smart, very sensitive animals.

DELTA, Pa. -- Mark and Diane Thomas were accustomed to farm life when they moved from Maryland into a charming 1830s log home on 19 acres. But in the two years since then - as Diane suffered headaches and a persistent skin infection and her husband and two children struggled with diarrhea and other digestive problems - they began to suspect that their health problems were caused by the hog farm next door. And they grew further alarmed when the farm announced plans this year to expand from 450 pigs to 4,400.

The best way to concoct a deadly microbe may not be in a secret lab but out in the open - on a farm. Half a century after farmers began including low-level doses of antibiotics in the feed they provide to their animals in the belief that it speeds growth, drug-resistant strains of several common germs that afflict humans have blossomed. The chicken business has been the most notorious (and the big producers are taking steps to address it). But there are other suspect animals on the farm, and similar remedies are in order.

CHENGDU, China -- A highly infectious swine virus is sweeping China's pig population, driving up pork prices and spawning fears of a global pandemic among domesticated pigs. And animal virus experts say Chinese authorities are playing down the gravity and spread of the disease and refusing to cooperate with international scientists. The mysterious virus - believed to be an unusually deadly form of an infection known as blue ear pig disease - has spread to 25 of the country's 33 provinces and regions, prompting a pork shortage and the strongest inflation in China in a decade.

On a sweltering July day, Becky Remsberg climbs into a pen with her two black-and-white pigs, Humphrey and Javalina, and sprays them with water. The two Hampshire pigs loll in the sawdust, mustering an occasional grunt of satisfaction, as they cool down during a break at the Harford County Farm Fair. With the arrival of the fair, the animals' days are numbered, and Becky knows exactly where her pigs will end up. "They're going into someone's stomach," the 10-year-old Fallston resident said, tapping the 297-pound Humphrey with a plastic rod. "This one is going into mine."