Runoff

The Patuxent River -- the largest river solely within the borders of Maryland -- is showing a noticeable improvement in water quality, according to state environmental officials, who plan to present their findings to the biennial Chesapeake Research Conference in Baltimore today.The improvement bodes well for the state's goal of reducing by 40 percent the amount of damaging nutrients entering the Chesapeake Bay, they say.Since 1983, environmental officials have been monitoring phosphorus and nitrogen in the Patuxent at 14 stations along the river.

Editor: I, like most everyone in the People's Republic of Maryland, have grown weary of "O'Taxes," which essentially translates to our esteemed governor taxing every aspect of our lives. While he's probably hard at work trying to determine a new tax on the very air we breathe, and trying to find a back door into the White House, his last insult, the rainwater run-off tax is laughable at best. First and foremost, it will do absolutely nothing to cleanse the waters of Chesapeake Bay, which despite the billions already spent, is in worse shape now that it was when the first studies were done more than a century ago. Yep, that money went mostly for studies.

Reading about the rain water tax, I see that government buildings do not have to pay this tax. The government evidently knows how to keep their runoff from causing pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. Why not tell the rest of us their secret so we can keep our rain water from being contaminated and the Bay will quickly become pristine clean? Believe that and I'll tell you another one. Mary Chesney Schwind Cockeysville

I am disgusted by the hit job on the environment currently being orchestrated by the Maryland homebuilders ("Storm water regulations would cost jobs," Readers respond, Jan. 26). The poll they just released suggests that anything we do to improve the Chesapeake Bay will drive the economy further into recession. Their public statements have made practical environmental safeguards look heavy-handed and senseless. They are doing this to fight against new rules that would reduce urban and suburban runoff pollution that goes into the bay. Rather than requiring expensive underground pipes that divert rainwater directly to rivers, the rules require developers to use simple design techniques like putting deep plant beds next to parking lots to absorb dirty runoff.

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala - Former dictator Efrain Rios Montt's bid to win the presidency at the ballot box has apparently failed, as partial results show him trailing badly behind two other candidates who will likely meet in a December runoff. With about two-thirds of the ballots counted from Sunday's election, former Guatemala City Mayor Oscar Berger, a pro-business conservative, had 38.4 percent of the vote, followed by center-left candidate Alvaro Colom with 27.6 percent and Rios Montt with 16.9 percent.

WASHINGTON -- On Nov. 3, Sen. Wyche Fowler, a Georgi Democrat, defeated Republican challenger Paul Coverdell by 1,108,416 votes to 1,073,282 -- and lost his bid for re-election.Under Georgia law, Mr. Fowler had to win by an absolute majority. Because a third-party candidate was in the race, he got only 49 percent of the total vote to 48 percent for Mr. Coverdell.In the Nov. 24 runoff election required by Georgia law, Mr. Coverdell won 635,114 to 618,877 and was declared senator-elect.So, tough noogies for Wyche Fowler.

Rebecca Hahn Windsor was 17 years old, fresh out of high school and three weeks into her new job working as a secretary in Washington when a new opportunity arose.Her father needed a bookkeeper for his trucking company back home in New Market, near Frederick.With only the experience of a high school accounting course, she accepted the job for $10 a week.Now nearly 50 years later, she is head of Hahn Transportation Inc., a company that employs 196 workers in Maryland and Virginia, operates 150 tractors and last year posted revenues of $14 million.

Rebecca Hahn Windsor was 17 years old, fresh out of high school and three weeks into her new job working as a secretary in Washington when a new opportunity arose.Her father needed a bookkeeper for his trucking company back home in New Market, near Frederick.With only the experience of a high school accounting course, she accepted the job for $10 a week.Now nearly 50 years later, she is head of Hahn Transportation Inc., a company that employs 196 workers in Maryland and Virginia, operates 150 tractors and last year posted revenues of $14 million.

SPOILER ALERT: This story reveals features of the plot. Baltimore-born film director Barry Levinson has said his new eco-horror movie, "The Bay," about a Chesapeake Bay turned deadly by environmental abuse, is "80 percent factual. " Bay scientists and one activist who've seen it say the film, which opened Friday, does touch on some very real issues affecting the bay. But they say the artistic license taken with the facts and the gore that makes it a horror movie may overwhelm any back story about what's wrong with the Chesapeake.

Toy CaldwellMarshall Tucker BandSPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Toy T. Caldwell Jr., former lead guitar player and singer for the Marshall Tucker Band, died yesterday, and the cause was under investigation, a coroner said.Mr. Caldwell's body was found by his wife, Abbie Good Caldwell, at their home in Moore, about 80 miles northwest of Columbia, said Bill Doble, vice president of music for Cabin Fever Entertainment, for whom Mr. Caldwell recorded. Mr. Doble said Mr. Caldwell, 45, had been ill with influenza and bronchitis.