Solomons Island

SOLOMONS -- A sudden burst of wind overturned several sailboats yesterday afternoon in the harbor of Solomons in Calvert County, plunging students from a local sailing school into frigid waters. It proved a good lesson in the vagaries of weather - and one that left no one injured. Close to a dozen of the young boaters - all wearing wet suits and life jackets - found themselves dumped into the still-frigid water off the Solomons harbor, but quickly were rescued after the vessels capsized about 4:30 p.m. Weather across the region had changed abruptly as a cold front swept through - as evident from the winds at Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall Airport increasing from 5 mph at BWI around 2 p.m. to gusts as strong as 28 mph later in the afternoon.

Annapolis police found the body of the third suspect in an Edgewater pizza shop holdup hanging from a stair railing on Forest Drive early yesterday, apparently strangled by his shoelaces.An employee of Calvert Trash Co. in the 900 block of Forest Drive found the body of Dewayne Wilson, 33, of the 1300 block of Tyler Ave. in Annapolis about 6: 30 a.m., city police said. The building is a few blocks from Wilson's home.The state medical examiner declared Wilson's death a suicide.Anne Arundel police had a warrant for Wilson's arrest in the robbery of the Ledo Pizza shop in the 3000 block of Solomons Island Road in Edgewater late Sunday.

When Capt. Isaac Solomon arrived in Calvert County in the late 1860s and purchased the small island that later bore his name, the only thing on the tiny spit of land was a farm and a single house.A businessman and a promoter, Solomon had devised one of the first formulas for successfully canning oysters. He brought over men from the Eastern Shore to dredge oysters and work in his cannery. After the failure and closing of the cannery, the little village and its sparse population remained."For fifty years there was no outside communication with the world except by water.

A Lothian man, who would have turned 60 today, was killed yesterday afternoon after the pickup truck he was driving on Solomons Island Road in Harwood left the roadway and crashed into a tree, county police said.Officer John Brothers, an accident investigator, said Charles Bernard Sesker of the 5000 block of Sands Road was driving a 1969 Ford pickup truck south on Solomons Island Road near Harwood Drive about 1: 26 p.m. when the truck left the roadway for no apparent reason and struck a tree.

County and Annapolis police arrested Wednesday an Annapolis man they believe is the note-carrying robber who held up four stores in two jurisdictions over five days.George H. Brown Jr., 29, of the 1800 block of Bowman Drive in Annapolis was charged with four counts of armed robbery. He was being held at the county Detention Center without bail.In each incident, the robber walked into a store and handed a clerk a note demanding money, then drew a gun if the clerk did not comply, police said.

An armed man robbed an Annapolis nail salon of an undisclosed amount of money Tuesday, county police said.Jenny Sun, an employee at Paragon Nails in the 2400 block of Solomons Island Road called police just before 6: 30 p.m. and told them that a man had walked into the parlor and pulled out a gun and a note that demanded money.Sun gave the man money from the cash register, and he ran across Solomons Island Road behind the Paceway store, police said. Police searched unsuccessfully for the robber.

On a stretch of picturesque waterfront on the Patuxent River, the Asbury Solomons Island retirement community opens this week, the latest in a series of developments transforming the once-sleepy tip of Calvert County.Even before the community's official grand opening Thursday, nearly all the 142 apartments in the four-story riverfront building had been reserved and all but 12 of 66 clustered cottages sold.The new "continuing care" community, which also offers a 42-bed nursing home and community center, comes amid profound changes in one of Maryland's fastest-growing areas.

A voyage down the Southern Maryland shoreline tells the whole story.One spot is so small and remote, its downtown is a blur to passing travelers. Ice. Bait. Chum. Fuel. Gone in a drive-by second.A few miles away, an old shore town is remade. Builders rip up abandoned fishing shanties. Commuters roar down newly paved roads. Jet skiers rumble on the waterways. The past is only a name on a tombstone. The rest is just a memory.As Calvert, St. Mary's and Charles counties undergo one of the biggest population explosions in the nation, towns on the shore are bracing for change.

A Huntingtown man was arrested yesterday in Harwood after a police officer was almost hit by a pickup truck at the end of a five-mile chase, authorities said.Craig Robert McDaniel, 39, of the 1300 block of Avery Road in Huntingtown was charged with assault with intent to murder, assault, resisting arrest and driving while intoxicated.Mr. McDaniel remained in jail yesterday in lieu of $105,000 bail.The incident began shortly after 3 a.m., when Officer Keith Hoffman saw a man drive a 1989 Ford pickup to a Mobil station on Southern Maryland Boulevard near Plummer Lane, police said.

A woman used a toy handgun yesterday afternoon to rob a Shoe Town store in the Parole Plaza shopping center but dropped the gun and a bag of cash as she escaped, county police said.The woman walked into the store about 12:25 p.m. and took a pair of shoes to the counter. When the clerk rang up the sale, the woman pulled out the toy gun and demanded money. The clerk put an undisclosed amount of money into a bag and handed it to the woman, who then ran from the store. She dropped the money and gun and disappeared near Solomons Island and Somerville roads after an unidentified witness chased her, police said.

After months of construction and improvements, a major Annapolis grocery store welcomed guests and customers recently to its renovated store on Solomon's Island Road. The Shoppers Food & Pharmacy, across from Annapolis Towne Centre, greeted more than 100 guests, including politicians and community leaders, last weekend and presented more than 60 area schools and houses of worship with gift cards worth more than $18,000. It also presented free turkeys Saturday to the first 500 shoppers.

"There's nothing not fun about it," Scott Wolfson, a Germantown news photographer, says of tiki culture. But this can be serious fun. Wolfson and his wife, Jen, spent $12,000 transforming their basement into a Polynesian-flavored "immersion environment" - and he now has his eye on the backyard. If you'd like to try sticking a toe into the tiki waters, here are a few possibilities: Festivals: Hukilau will be held June 14-17 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Includes a trade show, concerts (including a performance by Baltimore's Keri Burneston and Adam Krandle, better known as Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey)

SOLOMONS -- A sudden burst of wind overturned several sailboats yesterday afternoon in the harbor of Solomons in Calvert County, plunging students from a local sailing school into frigid waters. It proved a good lesson in the vagaries of weather - and one that left no one injured. Close to a dozen of the young boaters - all wearing wet suits and life jackets - found themselves dumped into the still-frigid water off the Solomons harbor, but quickly were rescued after the vessels capsized about 4:30 p.m. Weather across the region had changed abruptly as a cold front swept through - as evident from the winds at Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall Airport increasing from 5 mph at BWI around 2 p.m. to gusts as strong as 28 mph later in the afternoon.

Kenneth Tenore, a coastal ecologist who was a proponent of environmental ethics, died of acute pancreatitis Sunday at University of Maryland Medical Center. He was 63 and a resident of Hollywood in St. Mary's County. For the past two decades, until he stepped down last year, Dr. Tenore had been director of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Chesapeake Biological Laboratory on Solomons Island. He was an expert on decaying bay grasses and their role in feeding crabs and marine worms.

To market, to market The lowdown -- Baltimore's Farmers' Market opens for the season this Sunday. Purchase freshly grown produce and brush up on your gardening with tips from local farmers. New this year is a bison and sprout vendor selling assorted cuts of meat plus sunflower, alfalfa and wheatgrass sprouts, to name a few. Also, peruse a showcase of murals created by local artists. If you go -- The market opens for business at 8 a.m. and runs until sellout (around noon), situated between Holliday and Saratoga streets under the Jones Falls Expressway.

SOLOMONS -- The locals came out to mourn yesterday for a Southern Maryland era that died in a windswept blaze. Two favorite Solomons Island haunts were destroyed Wednesday by fire, the Lighthouse Inn and Bowen's Inn. The former was known for its unique skipjack-boat bar, the latter for its live bands and cheap beer. Both restaurants were burned beyond saving in a matter of minutes after a discarded cigarette butt is believed to have sparked a fire that spread from dry grass to tanks of propane gas and underground lines of natural gas. "That's what we're going with ... but it's still very early in the investigation," said Deputy State Fire Marshal John Tennyson, who did not know yesterday who dropped the lit cigarette.

Solomons Island fire burns 2 restaurants A three-alarm fire fanned by high winds burned two restaurants on Solomons Island in Southern Maryland yesterday, drawing firefighters from four counties. The Lighthouse Inn restaurant across from Solomons Pier "collapsed to the ground" and the adjacent Bowen's Inn restaurant was "heavily damaged," said Calvert County public safety director Robert Hampshire. The restaurants also have apartments that were evacuated. No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire and the extent of the damage are not yet known, Hampshire said.

Hearing held on recycling plant Representatives for A-A Recycle & Sand asked Anne Arundel County's administrative hearing officer yesterday for permission to continue operating a wood-waste recycling plant in Pasadena. The hearing came four days after A-A Recycle's owner, William H. DeBaugh Jr., and the Lake Waterford Community Association Inc. signed a covenant that would limit the plant's hours of operation and provide additional landscaping buffers to shield nearby homes from dust, noise and odor.

Located where the Patuxent River meets the Chesapeake Bay and separated from the mainland by just a small stretch of water, Solomons resembles a peninsula more than a typical island. The Southern Maryland destination is a quaint, self-sufficient town that has something to offer any visitor that comes to her shores. Once a privately owned tobacco farm called Sandy Island, the 80-acre town played a small yet significant role in the War of 1812. Joshua Barney, a retired naval captain, constructed a fleet of small, easily maneuverable sailboats and rowboats to help fend off the much larger British navy as the attackers sailed up the Patuxent River to burn Washington, D.C. After the war ended, peace reigned and the economy boomed.

Located where the Patuxent River meets the Chesapeake Bay and separated from the mainland by just a small stretch of water, Solomons resembles a peninsula more than a typical island. The Southern Maryland destination is a quaint, self-sufficient town that has something to offer any visitor that comes to her shores Once a privately owned tobacco farm called Sandy Island, the 80-acre town played a small yet significant role in the War of 1812. Joshua Barney, a retired naval captain, constructed a fleet of small, easily maneuverable sailboats and rowboats to help fend off the much larger British navy as the attackers sailed up the Patuxent River to burn Washington, D.C. After the war ended, peace reigned and the economy boomed.