Rescue

Somebody has finally said "boo" to the idea that every bathroom needs to be a spa and every kitchen a gourmet palace. That somebody is Dan Ho. A recovering decorating addict -- he'd finish one house and buy another -- Ho believes that we're going about style in the wrong way. "Style can't be bought," Ho says. "Your spirit is your style." On both The Dan Ho Show, which had its debut this month on the Discovery Health Channel, and in his new book, Rescue From Domestic Perfection (Bulfinch, $19.99)

BUSINESS DOW +233.30 13,079.08 NASDAQ +53.96 2,505.03 S&P +34.67 1,445.94 SUN INDEX -2.88 340.87 NATIONAL Mine rescue suspended After 10 days of setbacks, nerve-jangling "bumps" and a second collapse in the Crandall Canyon Mine that killed three workers trying to rescue their comrades, authorities suspended the rescue operation indefinitely yesterday. pg 3A ACLU demands public ruling A secret federal court has ordered the Bush administration to respond to an ACLU request asking the court to make public its rulings that approved the National Security Agency's controversial Terrorist Surveillance Program.

Among the places cyberspace can't reach: into a coal mine. The real-life drama near Huntington, Utah, where six miners are trapped underground and presumed dead, and where three of their fellow miners died in a rescue attempt, has been all but immune from the blogging and new media that often blanket modern tragedies. The parameters of the story lend themselves to what the new media typically do best - following news in hard-to-reach places in real time around the clock. But the chronicle of the accident that began early Aug. 6 seems as riven with uncertainty as the reports of epic mine disasters of the past.

Canine benefit -- Paws Pet Boutique will present the sixth annual Happy Tails Day from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday at 64 State Circle, Annapolis. It will include a raffle, walking tour, silent auction, refreshments, and animal care information. Proceeds will benefit Golden Retriever Rescue, Education and Training. Tickets for the walking tour are $14 for adults, $4 for children ages 3 to 11 and free for accompanied dogs and children younger than 2. Registration is recommended. 410-263-8683 or www.pawspet boutique.

In the makeshift studio, the models pose in beachwear or rain gear, even a bunny suit. They peer through cool sunglasses, present a smile-like grimace or just gaze into the camera. At times, a pink tongue hangs out between pointy teeth. Marlene Barnes dresses and poses her pets against backdrops that hang in the living room of her Jarrettsville home. She has converted the space into a photo studio and made it the hub of her greeting-card business. Her company - Dogonfunny Creations - is built around three dogs, all of which she and her husband rescued.

Critic's Pick -- Colleen blames Tommy (Denis Leary) for her failed relationships in the season finale of Rescue Me (10 p.m., FX).

As more Americans move to coastal communities and frolic in sailboats and personal watercraft, the Coast Guard and Air National Guard are becoming increasingly worried that their elite -- and expensive -- search-and-rescue teams will be called upon more frequently to help troubled boaters."

Frustrated by failed attempts by the Baltimore Police and Fire departments to rescue a cocker spaniel trapped under Pier Six since Tuesday, the general manager of an Inner Harbor restaurant plans to launch his own mission this morning.A four-hour rescue attempt failed yesterday when Fire Department divers, facing high tide and an approaching storm, refused to risk their lives for the black-and-white dog."They are not going underneath that pier and putting their lives in danger for a dog," said Robert Anderson, director of Baltimore Animal Control.

Isabelle Autissier, the 42-year-old French sailor who has experienced the absolutes of success and failure during her years of ocean racing, has been rescued from the desolate reaches of the Southern Ocean -- again.In the last solo around-the-world race, named the BOC Challenge, in 1994, Autissier was forced to abandon her boat after it was severely damaged in the Southern Ocean far west of Australia. A complex and expensive rescue operation mounted by the Australian military saved her life.

As more Americans move to coastal communities and frolic in sailboats and personal watercraft, the Coast Guard and Air National Guard are becoming increasingly worried that their elite -- and expensive -- search-and-rescue teams will be called upon more frequently to help troubled boaters."

The students surveyed the photographs spread out on the table - a mix of black-and-white and color pictures depicting schoolchildren, a wedding and other family moments. "This is gonna be hard," said senior Harry Mikula, 17, looking at a partially discolored fourth-grade class photo dated 1968-1969. Katie Calkins, his teacher at Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts, picked up a more recent picture of an older woman that was stuck to another photograph, posing a different problem.

The body spotted Friday by a Verizon worker in an underground cable vault in North Baltimore's Mid-Govans neighborhood was that of a decomposed white female, and detectives are awaiting the results of an autopsy, according to police. The telephone cable splicer, Barry Schwaab, said he had been preparing to do routine maintenance on buried lines and was about to climb down into the vault through a manhole when he saw the body lying face-down in about 5 feet of water. The vault is on a wide alley off Benninghaus Road, just east of York Road.

Sometimes - not often - a walk in the woods becomes more like a scene out of "The Blair Witch Project." Hikers wander off course. Hunters get turned around. Older people get confused. Children lose their way. Someone has to go look for them. Quite often, those folks are Natural Resources Police officers. And when the going really gets tough, they call in Sgt. Mel Adam and the Search Tactics and Rescue (STAR) Team. In 2006, the STAR Team found a 17-month-old girl in Harford County as she stood barefoot in only a diaper at the edge of a creek, and an 82-year-old Alzheimer's patient who had been missing for almost two days in the Quantico area of Wicomico County.

It could not have been a more memorable proposal. A man took his girlfriend hiking Sunday afternoon on the gorgeous - albeit rocky and rough - Billy Goat Trail near Great Falls in Montgomery County. At some point, he popped the question. She said yes. As they continued their walk, the woman apparently slipped, fell down a rock face and was injured. Unable to easily reach her any other way, emergency responders had to use a U.S. Park Police helicopter to pluck her off the path. Authorities said the woman, who briefly lost consciousness, suffered bumps and bruises and injuries to her head and chest, but her injuries were not life-threatening.

On June 29, 2009, Berdina "Dineke" Harris Services Private. Memorial contributions in Dineke's name may be made to Animal Rescue P.O. Box 35, Maryland Line, MD 21105 and American Cancer Society, White Marsh Office, 8219 Town Center Drive, Baltimore, MD 21236. Memory tributes may be sent to the family at www.evansfuneralchapel.com.

Last October, in the early stages of a mad scramble to rescue the American economy from a financial heart attack, Congress gave the Treasury Department $750 billion to buy toxic securities from banks. From that not-so-paltry beginning, the rescue effort has evolved into 12 separate programs that cover up to $3 trillion in direct spending, loans and loan guarantees. The potential for waste, fraud and abuse is enormous, the man assigned to protect those trillions doesn't like what he sees, and we are glad he's on the job. Last week, Neil M. Barofsky, the special inspector general overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program, said he has already opened 20 criminal investigations and six audits into whether tax dollars are being pilfered or wasted.

WASHINGTON -The Obama administration has enough money left for its economic initiatives with $110 billion remaining in the federal financial rescue fund and $25 billion more coming this year as some banks return bailout money, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Tuesday. Geithner disclosed the new numbers as he defended the administration's bailout efforts in the face of tough questioning from a panel overseeing the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. In his first appearance before the panel, Geithner said federal funding has helped stimulate consumer and business lending, but more work was needed to revive an economy mired in recession.

WASHINGTON -After days of tense negotiations, the Navy rescue of an American sea captain came in a matter of seconds Sunday when a few sniper bullets killed three Somali pirates who authorities feared were about to kill him. The commanding officer of the guided-missile destroyer Bainbridge had already received approval from President Barack Obama to attempt a rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips by force if the seafarer's life appeared to be in imminent danger after five days of captivity off the coast of Somalia.

A 55-year-old skater was rescued from Middle River yesterday morning after he fell through the ice and endured about 30 minutes in the frigid water, Baltimore County fire officials said. Rescuers who borrowed a civilian's rowboat pulled the man out near where Hopkins Creek meets the river, said Battalion Chief James Devers. He did not have the name of the victim, who was in guarded condition at Franklin Square Hospital Center after being treated for hypothermia. A second skater knelt on the ice during the rescue and then skated off. A Maryland State Police helicopter attempted a basket rescue after the victim was in the rowboat but abandoned the effort because there was too much downwash from the rotors, Devers said.

On December 3, 2008, Denis David Canavan Services will be held at the family owned McComas Funeral Home, P.A., Bel Air, MD on Sunday, December 7, 2008 at 12 noon. Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, NY. Friends may call at the funeral home in Bel Air on Saturday, December 6, 2008 from 2-5 P.M. and on Sunday from 10-12 noon prior to the service. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Golden Retriever Rescue, Gold Heart, P.O. Box 206, Mount Airy, MD 21771 or the Mason Dixon Bernese Mountain Dog Rescue Club, 19241 Middletown Rd., Parkton, MD 21120.