Port Deposit

The Port Deposit Heritage Corporation held its 36th annual General Meeting on April 19 in the upstairs board room of the Paw Paw Building. President Judy Leonard opened the meeting and Patsy Grace submitted her Treasurer's Report. Arch McKown, curator of the Cecil County Historical Society, served as guest speaker, giving very useful information to the board regarding museum policies, plans and protocols. The Heritage has scheduled a fundraising bingo for August to help offset its operating costs.

The Port Deposit Heritage Corporation held its 36th annual General Meeting on April 19 in the upstairs board room of the Paw Paw Building. President Judy Leonard opened the meeting and Patsy Grace submitted her Treasurer's Report. Arch McKown, curator of the Cecil County Historical Society, served as guest speaker, giving very useful information to the board regarding museum policies, plans and protocols. The Heritage has scheduled a fundraising bingo for August to help offset its operating costs.

ELKTON - Cecil County health officials say rabies has been found in a sickly stray cat that scratched five people in downtown Port Deposit. The five people were scratched Friday. The cat was captured and euthanized at a veterinarian's office and tested. The five people have been urged to seek treatment. The cat is described as a small- to medium-sized yellow tabby. Anyone exposed to the animal in the past 10 days should go to an emergency room.

ELKTON - Cecil County health officials say rabies has been found in a sickly stray cat that scratched five people in downtown Port Deposit. The five people were scratched Friday. The cat was captured and euthanized at a veterinarian's office and tested. The five people have been urged to seek treatment. The cat is described as a small- to medium-sized yellow tabby. Anyone exposed to the animal in the past 10 days should go to an emergency room.

Four days after Port Deposit was evacuated because of a flooding Susquehanna River, public officials on Sunday began letting some residents move back into their homes but delayed the return for others whose properties suffered the most damage. By Sunday evening, about two-thirds of the town's population of 800 had been cleared for re-entry, according to state Sen. Nancy Jacobs. She said officials hoped to clear the rest to move by Tuesday. Residents of the south side of town, which generally received less damage than the north side, were the first to be approved for re-entry.

CHESTERTOWN'S SECOND annual Jazz Festival featured three days of jazz performed by internationally renowned jazz vocalist Ethel Ennis; Stef Scaggiari, keyboardist; Paul Hildner, drummer; Keter Betts, bass player; Sherry Winston, a Grammy-nominated flutist; vocalist Sue Matthews; pianist Dick Durham; the Hometown Rhythm Section and the Lee Howell Trio.The festival is a dream come true for its founder, Dr. Mel Rapelyea, chairman of diagnostic imaging for Howard County General Hospital.Rapelyea fell in love with the Eastern Shore after working several days a month in the Kent and Queen Anne Hospital.

History buffs: this could be the best $5 you ever spent. Port Deposit town administrator Erika Quesenbery will personally give visitors a walking tour of the historic riverfront town for $5. She'll drop that to $2 with a lunch receipt from one of the town's restaurants. Why the largesse? Quesenbery wants to raise money to restore Beach Fountain, which sits at the corner of South Main Street and Jacob Tome Highway. The funds needed aren't yet known, but Quesenbery expects any grants for which she applies to require matching funds.

A team of state prisoners is headed to the Cecil County town of Port Deposit to help clean up the mud and mess left behind from last week's flood, a state lawmaker said Tuesday. During a meeting about prisons in Baltimore, State Sen. Nancy Jacobs, a Republican who represents Harford and Cecil counties, said she asked Gary Maynard, the state's secretary of Public Safety & Correctional Services, for help with cleaning up the mess made by the flooding Susquehanna River. Maynard agreed, Jacobs said, and will be sending out a 7-man crew of "fully supervised" inmates within the next 24 to 48 hours.

Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011 was not a good day to be appointed Port Deposit's town administrator. The town was about to be evacuated in anticipation of the worst flooding in decades. But Rodney Hines, 64, took the challenge in stride, even though the newcomer from Illinois couldn't pronounce "Conowingo," the name of the dam about to unleash the Susquehanna's muddy waters on the town that had just named him its caretaker. Fortunately for Hines, Port Deposit has had at least two centuries of practice dealing with floods.

Pushing waterlogged belongings out the front door of her duplex, Suzy Cunningham trod over a buckle in the floorboards. "Our porch went all to hell," she lamented as she cleaned up last month after Tropical Storm Lee. "Their ain't a floor in Port Deposit that's even. " Nor was it the first time the waters of the Susquehanna River had rushed through this Cecil County town that locals call "Port. " Most of the houses built in the lowlands between the river and North Main Street show the scars of decades of flooding.

Enjoy a short stack for a tall cause at Applebee's on Saturday. You're invited to an Applebee's Flapjack Fundraiser Breakfast to support Havre de Grace 27 Order of the Eastern Star from 8 to 10 a.m. at the Applebee's at 991 Beards Hill Road in Aberdeen. Cost is $6 for adults and $3 for children. For more information call Diane Smith, 410-939-2754. The annual Perryville Spring Fling will be held on May 12 at 9 a.m. This event will be held at Perryville Middle School and include a fair with craft and food vendors, kids games, entertainment, etc., sponsored by the Perryville Chamber of Commerce.

The first "Port Palooza" of the season (May through October) is right around the corner. Mark your calendars for the first Saturday in May, the 5th, and plan to stop by Port's Town Square that afternoon for live music, food, crafters and vendors. Several families from Harford and Cecil County traveled to northern New Jersey over the weekend to attend the wedding of Dr. Dennis Hernandez and Verna Valdepenas. Making the trip were some of Dennis' Good Shepherd Catholic School-mates including Alvin Santos, who traveled from California, Melvin Santos of Havre de Grace, and our son, Jason Bierly of Columbia.

Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenway 12th annual River Sweep, a volunteer shoreline and roadside clean-up in honor of Earth Day, will take place in Havre de Grace, Perryville, Port Deposit and on Garrett Island on Saturday April 21. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., with the cleanup from 9 a.m. to noon, rain or shine. Volunteers will meet at 8:30 in one of the five locations for registration: Tydings Park, Havre de Grace; Community Park or the boat launch on River Road in Perryville; or Marina Park or Octoraro Creek in Port Deposit.

Principio UMC on Route 7 in Perryville will be hosting a Lunch and Card Party on Thursday, April 12 from 11:30 to 3:30. Cost is $10 per person. Reservations must be made by Monday, April 9. Call Barbara, 410-642-3197 Join The Perryville Lions Club on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Store 19 at the Perryville Outlet to get your photo taken with the Easter Bunny. Support the Perryville Lions Club by visiting and get a photo with the bunny for only $5. Happy Easter, Perryville!

Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenway's 12th annual River Sweep, a volunteer shoreline and roadside clean-up in honor of Earth Day, will take place in Havre de Grace, Perryville, Port Deposit and on Garrett Island on Saturday, April 21. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., with the clean-up taking place from 9 a.m. to noon, rain or shine. Volunteers will meet at 8:30 a.m. in one of five locations for registration: Tydings Park, Havre de Grace; Community Park, Perryville; Boat Launch (River Road)

I saw the Easter Bunny Saturday at the Perryville Outlets with several members of the Perryville Lions Club. Lioness Peggy Morrison advised that you can have your picture taken with the Easter Bunny at the Outlets in Store 19 on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The cost is $5 and your donation supports Lions Club projects in our community. Speedy recovery to Margaret Cifaldo, Perryville, as she has been on the sick list lately. Happy birthday to Sarah Bryanne Stanley, daughter of Steve and Michelle Stanley of Conowingo, as she celebrated March 31. Mike Lowe, North Main Street, enjoyed birthday greetings April 1. And his cousins, Jim Sice and Alice Sice, celebrated their birthdays April 2. The Ladies Auxiliary to VFW Post 8185 sponsored the quarterly dinner meeting of the District 10 Ladies Auxiliary on April 3. Post 8185 Auxiliary President Janet Mortus welcomed District President Dee Russo of Earlville along with the other officers of District 10. Following the dinner and short business meeting, the election of officers was held for 2012.

Artesian Water Maryland, a subsidiary of Artesian Resources Corporation, announced Wednesday it has completed the purchase of several Cecil County local water systems, including the water system of the Town of Port Deposit. Artesian purchased the water system and assets of the Town of Port Deposit, including access to the Susquehanna River as a water supply, the company said in a news release. On the eastern end of the county, Artesian built an interconnection between its Delaware water utility subsidiary and the Town of Elkton and invested in system upgrades to ensure up to 1.5 million gallons of water a day to Elkton and sufficient additional capacity to serve Cecil County's growth corridor as it develops, the company said.

The shipbuilding future of Maryland is 90 feet long and smells of Spanish cedar and fresh paint. Tied to the dock, with tradesmen swarming on deck and below, the Hunting Creek bobs gently on the Wicomico River. Within weeks, the tugboat with the gleaming white superstructure, distinctive green stripe and black "V" for Vane Brothers Co. on its smokestacks will be delivered to Baltimore to begin its working career. The Hunting Creek and its five identical sister vessels, each worth more than $5 million, are the first ocean-going tugs built in Maryland in nearly a half-century.

Christmas has come and gone and all the partying is over for another 11 ½ months. We recover by returning to work and looking forward to the New Year's Eve celebrations this weekend. Christmas has come and gone and all the partying is over for another 11 ½ months. We recover by returning to work and looking forward to the New Year's Eve celebrations this weekend. The Ladies Auxiliary to the VFW Post 8185 enjoyed a covered dish dinner prior to their regular monthly meeting on Dec. 21 at the post home.