Southern Maryland

CHAPTICO -- The number of people sickened by food poisoning at a Southern Maryland church dinner swelled to 622 yesterday, and public health investigators raised the possibility that a second death may be traced to the salmonella outbreak.St. Mary's County health officials described the second possible victim as an elderly Baltimore woman who died of a heart attack this week after eating dinner Sunday at Our Lady of the Wayside Church in the tiny community of Chaptico.They were uncertain whether her death was caused by a bacterial infection, however.

I remember the emergence of Brood X cicadas back in 2004 and hope to live long enough to see (and hear) them again ("Cicadas returning soon to Southern Maryland," April 8). These 17-year wonders should not be considered "winged pests" or just something to be "endured. " Instead, they should be celebrated. How any living creature can create a life cycle of nearly two decades underground is amazing, and their mating calls, though loud, last a very short while. And the fact that such a small insect can make such a din is in itself remarkable.

A Mass of Christian burial for Frank Keech Turner, a retired chairman of the Bank of Southern Maryland and lifelong resident of Charles County, will be offered at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Ignatius Chapel Point, Bel Alton, in Southern Maryland.Mr. Turner, 69, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease Thursday at Physicians Memorial Hospital in La Plata.He worked 29 years for the Bank of Southern Maryland before retiring as chairman of the board in 1985. Earlier, he was a member of the board of directors of Mercantile Bank and Trust in Baltimore.

Between 5,000 and 7,000 people in St. Mary's, Charles and Prince George's counties claim Piscataway Indian ancestry, according to Mervin A. Savoy, chairwoman of the Piscataway-Conoy Confederacy."

Kilted clansmen will gather at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum in St. Leonard on Saturday for the 14th annual Celtic Festival of Southern Maryland. The event, which celebrates the cultural heritage of the Celtic people, provides a day of music, dance, storytelling, athletic competitions and family fun from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.Professional and amateur athletes will compete in the Scottish Heptathlon with such events as the hammer throw, caber toss and sheaf toss. There will be clan challenges, junior highland games and Celtic and kilted mile foot races.

The 13th annual Celtic Festival and Highland Gathering will be held Saturday at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum in St. Leonard.Family fun is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.--clan challenges, a Scottish heptathlon for both professionals and amateurs, the Southern Maryland Highland Dance Competition and piping competitions.There will also be a Celtic market, living history exhibits, demonstrations and food.Admission is $6 for adults, $3 for seniors and children 7 to 12. The park is off Route 2/4 in Southern Maryland.

ABERDEEN -- In the 1680s, the frontiersman and tobacco merchants of the northern Chesapeake Bay gathered to trade and socialize at a tiny tobacco port on the Bush River. They called it Baltimore Town, the 17th-century seat of Baltimore County's court.Archaeologists digging gingerly amid unexploded munitions at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground say they have found traces of that first Baltimore, a town that vanished decades before the 1729 founding of a new Baltimore, 20 miles to the south on the Patapsco River.

Melissa Kolb scored 20 points to power host Hood past Chestnut Hill, 63-48, in the opening round of its 10 Days Till Christmas Tournament in Frederick in women's college basketball action yesterday. Mandy Fischer added 16 points for Hood. The Blazers (4-4) shot 39.7 percent from the floor and 50 percent from the line for the game. The Griffons fell to 2-6. College of Southern Maryland 101, CCBC-Catonsville 56: The Hawks, led by Nkem Ifeika (34 points), Nikia Roper (27) and Natasha Denny (27)

New Hampshire, Maine, South Dakota. When will they get to real states?In baseball these days, your everyday bum can make a million. The moral is that baseball is the game to be in.It turns out all those people who want Don to return as mayor live in Southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore.Don't worry if you missed the Winter Olympics. They will be showing the re-run in two years.

Texaco's right to drill for natural gas or oil in Southern Maryland was upheld today by an Anne Arundel County court, which dismissed environmentalists' objections.Circuit Court Judge Warren B. Duckett ruled that the Maryland Department of Natural Resources acted properly in issuing Texaco a permit in December to drill a 10,000-foot deep exploratory well near Faulkner in Charles County.