Susquehanna

Maryland Natural Resources Police are investigating a boating accident that claimed the life of a 19-year-old Rising Sun man Sunday evening. Robert Lee Ambrose and two other adults were riding in a 14- foot jon boat, an open, flat-bottomed craft with a 20-horsepower outboard engine, near Garrett Island in the Susquehanna River. None of the three was wearing a life jacket when they were thrown from the boat shortly after 7 p.m., police said. With its motor still running, the unmanned boat circled the area.

Despite being ordered to tap the Susquehanna River immediately to stretch the Baltimore area's dwindling water supply, city officials refused to say yesterday when they would comply -- setting up a possible legal confrontation with the state.George G. Balog, the city's public works director, said his staff is preparing to draw water from the river, but he insisted that Tuesday's order by Gov. Parris N. Glendening to begin pumping right away is "premature." The city still has enough water stored in its three reservoirs in Baltimore and Carroll counties to meet the area's needs for at least 60 more days, he said.

Baltimore area residents began drinking water from the Susquehanna River yesterday, easing the demand on the region's rain-starved reservoirs.Meanwhile, Maryland officials carved out a few new exceptions to the state's water-use restrictions, yielding to complaints from owners of newly sodded lawns and athletic directors worried about injuries on rock-hard fields.Even so, the curbs continued to pinch businesses such as nurseries and landscapers, who said flower and plant sales already hurt by the drought have suffered more since the governor clamped down on water use last week.

Does your water taste better? It should.Public works officials in Baltimore said yesterday the city's water distribution system is no longer using water from the Susquehanna River.Public works spokesman Kurt Kocher said the pumps were shut off soon after Hurricane Floyd swept across the region Sept. 16 and dropped more than 10 billion gallons into the city's reservoirs.Many consumers had complained that the river water made the city's normally pleasant reservoir brew taste bad. But the river additive should be gone from the pipes.

In picturesque Havre de Grace, the local volunteer fire company has long been a thread that runs through the fabric of life in the town along the banks of the Susquehanna River.Now that thread is fraying, with members of the nearly century-old Susquehanna Hose Company feuding with city officials over the use of the city-owned fire hall.While the hose company occupies the fire station rent-free, it is allowed to make money by renting a second-floor hall to groups for social events, fund-raising dinners and other activities.

Maryland may be suffering through one of its worst droughts ever, but Baltimore-area residents hooked up to the city's water system have little cause to worry that their faucets will run dry anytime soon.Despite assertions by state officials that all of Maryland is gripped by a water crisis, the regional network of reservoirs and pipelines developed by Baltimore over the past century has secured enough of the precious liquid to last well into next year, even if the skies yield not another drop, its overseer says.

Does your water taste better? It should.Public works officials in Baltimore said yesterday the city's water distribution system is no longer using water from the Susquehanna River.Public works spokesman Kurt Kocher said the pumps were shut off soon after Hurricane Floyd swept across the region Sept. 16 and dropped more than 10 billion gallons into the city's reservoirs.Many consumers had complained that the river water made the city's normally pleasant reservoir brew taste bad. But the river additive should be gone from the pipes.

A body believed to be that of a man swept away while rockfishing with a friend in the Susquehanna River was found yesterday morning, authorities said.An aerial search found the body along the shore at Susquehanna State Park about 1 1/2 miles south of Conowingo Dam, said Rick McIntire, communications officer of Maryland Natural Resources Police."The body was taken to the medical examiner in Baltimore for an autopsy and positive identification," McIntire said.He said the body matched the description of Christopher N. Fedor, 25, of the 5600 block of Leiden Road in Cedonia.

Does your water taste better? It should.Public works officials in Baltimore said yesterday the city's water distribution system is no longer using water from the Susquehanna River.Public Works spokesman Kurt Kocher said the pumps were shut off soon after Hurricane Floyd swept across the region Sept. 16 and dropped more than 10 billion gallons into the city's reservoirs.Many consumers had complained that the river water made the city's normally pleasant reservoir brew taste bad. But the river additive should be gone from the pipes.

Mission: To restore, preserve and maintain the cultural history of the city of Havre de Grace and the former Susquehanna & Tidewater Canal, including the Lock House, Pivot Bridge, Canal Lock and Basin; and to interpret the history through educational programs and exhibits. In operation from 1840 to about 1900, the 45-mile Susquehanna & Tidewater Canal connected Havre de Grace with Wrightsville, Pa. Mule-drawn boats traveling the canal had to be raised 233 feet through 29 locks. Historical artifacts of Havre de Grace and the canal era are on display in the Lock House, which was restored and opened to the public as a museum in 1982.

Last summer, the 53-mile Susquehanna River Water Trail was designated a National Recreational Trail. It begins near Harrisburg, Pa., and ends above the Conowingo Dam in Harford County at the Broad Creek access. It's a pretty stretch of water, perfect for weekend outings and good enough to get the seal of approval from the American Canoe Association. This fall, six years after publication of the first guide and map collection, the Susquehanna Gateway Heritage has issued an updated version that consists of three waterproof, tear-resistant folding maps in a waterproof sleeve.

Confounding forecasts that the Chesapeake Bay would fare relatively well this summer, scientists report now that the bay's fish-stressing "dead zone" has grown to its usual size. Sampling conducted by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science found that the volume of water in the bay where oxygen levels are too low to sustain fish and shellfish is typical for this time of year, its scientists said. Last month, Maryland and other scientists had predicted that the Chesapeake's 'dead zone' this summer would be one of the smallest in years because of relatively low rainfall this spring in those portions of Pennsylvania and New York that drain into the Susquehanna River.

0 Seniors on the Patterson Mill field hockey team. The Huskies made it to the Class 1A state semifinals in just their first year of play. 2 Harford County schools that won Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference football crowns. Joppatowne took the Chesapeake Division, and Havre de Grace completed the county's sweep by winning the Susquehanna Division.

Harford and Cecil counties will mark the 400th anniversary of Captain John Smith's second expedition to the northern Chesapeake area with some 21st-century technology. A so-called smart buoy, equipped with sensors that constantly provide meteorological and water-quality data, including salinity and turbidity, and measure currents, will soon be anchored in the Susquehanna River near where it meets the bay. The buoy, the fifth in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System, will be visible from Havre de Grace and Perryville.

On August 13, 1789, John H. Barney was appointed postmaster for Havre de Grace. Postal service has been continuous in Havre de Grace since then. However, records show that service began in that area much earlier. In 1728, a postal route was established from Philadelphia to Annapolis by way of the western shores of the Chesapeake Bay. Then in 1732, The American Weekly Mercury describes a route running from Philadelphia to Edenton, N.C., with a stop in Susquehanna (now Havre de Grace). Susquehanna is again noted in 1763, in a table of postage rates issued by Benjamin Franklin.

On May 28, 1840, the city of Havre de Grace celebrated the opening of the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal. Six hundred guests from Philadelphia and Baltimore paraded with brass bands onto seven magnificently decorated boats to begin the journey up to Deer Creek. There, they met guests aboard five packet boats from Wrightsville, Pa. After celebratory speeches, all twelve boats returned to Havre de Grace, where guests boarded the steamboat Carroll for a feast and more speeches. Before the canal, the shallow and rocky waters of the Susquehanna River were barely navigable.

On April 5, 1946, the Harford Democrat and Aberdeen Enterprise newspaper announced that former Havre de Grace player Harry Lawder III had donated a trophy for the Susquehanna League batting champion. A trophy to honor the league's Most Valuable Player was also donated. The Susquehanna League ran from 1946 to 1953. Eight teams were fielded in the inaugural season: the Aberdeen Canners, the Darlington Farmers, the Havre de Grace Rivermen, the Elkton County Seaters, the Providence Papermen, the Rising Sun Sunners, the North East Indians, and the Newark, Delaware, Collegians.

On a brisk, late-winter morning, Leocea McLanahan walked along the Susquehanna River with her three daughters, the youngest in a stroller. Caitlin, 9, found bluebells and asters emerging amid the ground cover. Five-year-old Malea peered through binoculars, looking for birds with their babies. The McLanahans come often from their home in Conowingo. "We have a guidebook, and we look for different birds and flowers along the water," said McLanahan, who home-schools her children. "We jot down notes to help us remember."

With the city's three reservoirs largely replenished by recent rain and snow, Baltimore water officials have shut down the flow of supplementary water from the Susequehanna River. The reservoir system was at almost 82 percent of capacity yeterday, up from a low of about 64 percent when the pumps on the Susquehanna near Deer Creek were first switched on in December. "We don't want to say the drought is totally over. But the situation we're facing now is vastly improved over what we were facing in December," said Kurt L. Kocher, spokesman for the city's Department of Public Works.

Advertising Nevins & Associates announced that Pamela Cerrato joined the Hunt Valley marketing agency as an account executive. She assists in media relations, events planning and Web site content management. Banking and finance Provident Bank appointed Christopher Mata as a vice president in the commercial banking division of the Baltimore-based regional bank. Susquehanna Bank named Cherie Mann manager of the bank's Edgewater branch. She is responsible for daily office operations, staff management and the development of retail and commercial sales relationships.