Rocky

The fictitious Maine lighthouse in Stephen King's eerie miniseries "The Storm of the Century" may have toppled, but dozens of real ones still remain along the state's coastline.While Interstate 95 heads north toward Augusta, Maine, U.S. 1 skims the coastline and passes through the center of quaint little towns such as Damariscotta, Wiscasset, York, Ogunquit and Kennebunk.We thought we had pretty good maps with directions to the lighthouses, but we discovered they were vague. We would have saved some time if we had invested in a guidebook with specific directions.

HAGERSTOWN -- There's gold in Jim and Gladys Fazenbaker's back yard. On the rocky, wooded slope behind their house near here grows a tiny patch of a nondescript plant, the roots of which could fetch as much as $400 a pound these days.It's ginseng, one of the most sought-after herbal remedies in the world. Prized for centuries in China and other countries as a tonic and stimulant, it can be found by the knowledgeable in the mountains of Western Maryland.The Fazenbakers are practitioners of a fading Appalachian tradition known as "sanging," searching the woods for wild ginseng and digging up the roots for sale or personal use.The patch behind their house is too small to merit harvesting, but the couple say they know of other secluded spots in Allegany, Garrett and Washington counties where they can find several pounds of ginseng roots.

Rocky Coppinger was back in the Orioles clubhouse yesterday after being recalled from Triple-A Rochester. Unlike his last stop here, when he made two starts and compiled a 13.50 ERA, Coppinger will be used out of the bullpen. Five of his six appearances with the Orioles last season came in relief."I think it will help him because Rocky is a pretty fierce competitor who builds himself up with a lot of emotion," manager Ray Miller said. "When you call him up with all he's been through and say, `You're starting Thursday,' he sits around and puts a lot of undo pressure on himself."

Baltimore County Sailing Center -- whose officials feared it would lose a berth at Rocky Point on the Chesapeake Bay -- will get at least one more summer at that site, under a temporary arrangement worked out with the county.The agreement calls for the nonprofit school to operate without a building until June and pay $3,500 to use a smaller portion of the stretch of beach it has used for several years next to the county's Rocky Point Park."We can live with it," Gene M. Nuth, the school's leader, said of the deal, though he said the school's relationship with the county remains touchy.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Like his friend Sidney Ponson is now, two years ago Rocky Coppinger was the new kid on the Orioles' pitching block.He took a lightning-like route through the organization, arriving in the majors in June 1996, less than two years after launching his career in rookie ball at Bluefield.Single-A. Double-A. Triple-A. No problem for the rampaging big guy from Texas who averaged more than a strikeout an inning after the Orioles beat the deadline to sign him out of the 1993 draft.

Police have identified the body of a man found Saturday in Rocky Gorge Reservoir as 40-year-old Burtonsville resident Loc Ngoc Tran. They have ruled out homicide.Tran was reported missing by his family a week ago.Pub Date: 10/21/98

Rocky Gap music festThe Rocky Gap Music Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary this weekend with a lineup of country singers, family activities and an arts and crafts show.The three-day event, tomorrow through Sunday at Allegany College in Cumberland, features performances by the Mavericks, Kentucky Headhunters, Ruthie & the Wranglers and Marge Calhoun Friday. Saturday's lineup includes Sawyer Brown, Collin Raye, Kevin Sharpe, Lee Ann Womack and Lee Roy Parnell. And stepping on stage Sunday are John Michael Montgomery, Diamond Rio, Chely Wright, Wade Hayes and the Dixie Chicks.

I WASN'T present for the birth of my family's best-loved pooch, a black Lab named Rocky, a great dog born Feb. 20, 1962, the day John Glenn blasted off. The name fit as naturally as he found a place within that Guilford Avenue household of 12.The John Glenn flight was one of those defining moments of the 1960s -- a pinpoint of time you always remember. I was in school, sixth grade, the day the astronaut took off.I retain a a recollection of Sister Mary Magdeline, in her full black habit and long veil, clutching a transistor radio, calling out the news reports to the class.

All the graveside prayers had been said. The Rev. Bruce M. Kelley of St. Luke's Lutheran Church read from scripture, closed the book, expressed his profound regrets to the sister of John "Rocky" Thornton, and stepped aside as she accepted the presentation of the folded American flag that had draped his coffin.But there at the cemetery, where the crowd had gathered, friends remained to reminisce among themselves. They knew it was time to leave, but a feeling of camaraderie held them together.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- B. J. Surhoff was once a shortstop. He was once a catcher, and a third baseman. He has played center field, right field, first base. He has been a designated hitter.But Surhoff will be the Orioles' left fielder this season, and though he dabbles in the infield during workouts, he spends most of his time in the outfield.Orioles bench coach Andy Etchebarren has known Surhoff for years, back to when both were in Milwaukee. "You give him time to get prepared out there and he'll be a pretty good outfielder," Etchebarren said last year.

What started as a way to enhance the open house of a Glen Burnie animal hospital has grown into a donation of supplies for the two dogs of the Anne Arundel County Sheriff's Office. A group of donors led by a woman who makes pet jewelry and the Alpha Veterinary Center gave the sheriff's office $800 Wednesday for supplies for dogs Grim and Rocky. The money is earmarked for two attack-training sleeves, leather leads, a first-aid kit for a dog and equipment for explosives training, said Deputy Michele Goodman, whose partner is the security dog Rocky.

This weekend, thoughts turn to love and a town made famous for its hand-stamped Valentine cards. Loveland, about an hour north of Denver, is perhaps best known for its Valentine Re-Mailing Program, where, every year, volunteers carefully stamp cards with the Loveland postmark and a verse before forwarding them to the intended recipients. But this town, nestled at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, isn't just for romantics; it's for art lovers and nature lovers as well. 1 Scope out the sculptures.

Rocky Balboa, Hollywood's favorite heavyweight, will be all over AMC today. The franchise started in 1976 with Rocky (3 p.m., repeats 2:30 a.m.), a little film starring a beefy grade-B actor no one had heard of that became a giant, Oscar-winning hit. Sylvester Stallone, whose previous resume included playing a street tough in The Lords of Flatbush (and a stud in the soft-core porn The Party at Kitty and Stud's), almost through force of will alone got this film made. It seemed destined to fail from the start; who wants to watch an unknown actor in a film about a third-rate boxer getting an unexpected shot at the heavyweight title?

1 Wiz fizz: Caron Butler (left) and the Wizards take their third crack at a first win, this time in Milwaukee vs. the Bucks (8 p.m., Comcast SportsNet). 2 New-look Nuggets: Check out the revamped Nuggets, with Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess joining Carmelo Anthony against the host Warriors (10:30 p.m., ESPN). 3 Regional kicks: Parkville plays at Perry Hall (6 p.m.) in boys soccer for the Class 4A North region championship. 4 State sticks: Four area field hockey teams compete in state semifinal games that begin at 5 and 7 p.m. at Arundel or Broadneck.

Suddenly on October 18, 2008, ROCKY DAVID WILLIAM TORRES; loving son of Tina and Rafael Torres; step-son of Gary Hare; dear brother of Tyann James and Joey Hare; grandson of Iris Torres and Silverio Colon and the late Andrew and Hilda Shroyer. A Funeral Service will be held at the family-owned Duda-Ruck Funeral Home of Dundalk Inc., 7922 Wise Avenue, on Thursday at 8 PM. Cremation to follow. Friends may call on Thursday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 PM.

The state of Maryland has contracts with at least four public employee uniform companies that allegedly use sweatshop labor to turn out inexpensive shirts, jackets and pants, according to a report by SweatFree Communities, a group that wants to create a consortium of federal, state and local governments that oppose such labor practices. In the first report of its kind, SweatFree Communities reached out to workers in factories in China, Bangladesh, Honduras and several other nations to gauge working conditions.

As a young boy, Orioles reliever Rocky Cherry found a poster of a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader while rummaging through his house. Then he found out that his mother had been more than a third-grade Catholic school teacher. Surprise. Merry Cherry was part of the famed cheerleading squad in 1975 and 1976 - three years before her son was born. "Now that I look back, it was a pretty cool accomplishment," he said. "She's done well with it. She does those reunions and gets to go back, and I get to meet some of the newer cheerleaders because she's hanging out with them, so that's a good thing.

It is a triumph of some kind that in battling hunger in America, obesity has come to be a problem associated with the poor. The problem seems especially dramatic in South Los Angeles, where 30 percent of adults are obese, up significantly over the last 10 years, compared with 21 percent in Los Angeles County as a whole. That has a rough correlation to the poverty rate, 28 percent in South L.A. vs. 16.2 percent for the county. According to the Los Angeles Times, the City Council will weigh a proposal to combat obesity by imposing a two-year moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in the neighborhood.

The Russian leadership probably hoped that the world would lose interest in the murder in London of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, as it had for such high-profile murders in Russia as that of crusading journalist Anna Politkovskaya. But this week the British charged another former KGB agent, Andrei Lugovoi, with that murder and said they would seek his extradition. To show that they were serious, they summoned the Russian ambassador to the Foreign Office. Mr. Litvinenko received a lethal dose of radioactive polonium-210, a material that would suggest some level of state involvement, and in the three weeks it took him to die, he accused the Russian Federal Security Service, the successor agency to the KGB, of the attack.

On February 21, 2007, JAMES R. TAYLOR, beloved husband of the late Eulah M. (nee Dunston), loving father of Argyrie McCray and Gloria Taylor of Windsor Mill, MD, and Warren R. Taylor of Jackson, MS, father-in-law of William H. McCray and Marie Taylor, adored grandfather of Terrell Puckett, William and Amanda McCray. Friends may call on Tuesday, February 27, at Mt. Calvary Star Baptist Church, 1725 N. Milton Avenue from 12 noon to 6 P.M. Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, February 28 in Rocky Mount, NC.