Susquehanna River

The woman whose body was found in the Susquehanna River in Havre de Grace Friday morning was identified Monday as Marie Rocco, 47, with addresses in both Havre de Grace and Vail, Colo. Rocco's body was discovered in the water off Hutchins Park by Havre de Grace Police at about 8:40 a.m. No further information about the cause of death was available, Ofc. Jeff Gilpin said in an e-mail Monday. "As in any death by unknown circumstances, we are treating this as a homicide until, or unless, evidence dictates otherwise," Gilpin said.

Wow, what a week it was in Havre de Grace! The city was pillaged by the British for the second time in 200 years. Decoys, ducks and all things fowl from the water made their 32nd annual three-day visit. And the voters not only chose all incumbents (we know Fred Cullum technically wasn't one, but he's been around so much he qualifies) for mayor and city council, but also told the city government to go ahead and spend $1.29 million to buy a waterfront parcel. The election results tell us that the majority of those who voted in Havre de Grace are satisfied with the way things are, including the more than 2 to 1 vote to affirm the city council's decision to buy the land next to the Concord Point Lighthouse.

The search for a man reported missing in the Susquehanna River north of Port Deposit since Sunday was called off last night and was to resume today. Nelson Stauffer and Brent M. Horst, both of Ephrata, Pa., were fishing off Bird Island about 6 p.m. when their outboard-powered boat began filling with water and sinking, said John Surrick, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Surrick said Horst, 22, was rescued by boaters but that Stauffer, about 25, could not be found.

Four members of Harford County's Darlington Volunteer Fire Company were conducting training exercises in the Susquehanna River near the Conowingo Dam on Sunday when their V-hull watercraft hit a rock, causing two men to be thrown into the water. Two more were thrown onto the deck of the craft. Harford County Fire Department spokesman Rich Gardiner said other members of the fire company's tactical rescue team conducting operations nearby rescued all four men, who were taken to shore and then to a local hospital.

The body of an unidentified woman was pulled from the Susquehanna River in Harford County yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Department of Natural Resources said.Two fishermen, Frank D. Gallucci of Oxford, Pa., and Steve Miller, a retired police officer from Rising Sun, discovered the body shortly before 10 a.m. about a mile downstream from the mouth of Broad Creek and notified authorities.Susan O'Brien, a Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman, said the body was pulled from the water at 10: 32 a.m.O'Brien said the body is believed to be that of a white female, 20 to 40 years old, wearing blue jeans and a black Hard Rock Cafe T-shirt.

YORK, Pa. -- If Baltimore continues to have unrestricted access to water from the Susquehanna River, marina owner Byron R. Young fears for the river's future."

Last week, we asked what environmental concerns you have about the health of the Susquehanna River and what you think area governments should be doing about the river. Here are readers' views: Displaced soil creates muddy river Contrary to what Julie Oberg of the Maryland Department of the Environment says regarding the Susquehanna River - "It's fine for fishing; it's fine for swimming" - I totally disagree. About one month ago, shortly after Easter, my husband and I were traveling up Route 40 between Edgewood and Havre de Grace.

ABERDEEN - A deepening drought in the Susquehanna River basin may soon force golf courses, power plants and other big water users in the three-state watershed to cut their usage, find alternate sources or pay hefty fees for the river water. Susquehanna River Basin commission officials said yesterday that if flow rates in the 444-mile-long river continue to fall, the commission would move to impose curbs on major consumers and move to seek water releases from upstream reservoirs. "Up until two or three weeks ago, the main stem [of the river]

In the latest response to the impact that months of dry weather have had on water supplies, Harford County will change the source of its water supply this week from Loch Raven Reservoir to the Susquehanna River. Residents should not notice any change in the quality or taste of their water but might see a slight increase in their quarterly bills, county officials said. Starting Tuesday, water will be diverted from the river through pumps at Deer Creek for the first time in almost six years.

PORT DEPOSIT -- This historic Susquehanna River town will take a big step toward becoming a Cecil County tourist attraction tomorrow when it begins advertising for bids on the construction for a long-planned restoration of its waterfront property. Plans call for the development of a waterfront park and marina and reconstruction of a jetty that the Navy built during World War II. Sailors attending boot camp at the Bainbridge Naval Training Center, on a plateau above town, would pack the pier, waiting to clamber into one of the more than 100 whaleboats docked there so they could practice maneuvers up and down the river.

I agree with much of what Sen. E. J. Pipkin wrote in his Baltimore Sun op-ed, "Is the Bay Foundation ignoring the threat behind the Conowingo Dam?" published on November 27. For instance the Susquehanna River, draining approximately 50 percent of Pennsylvania, is an enormous source of pollution to the Chesapeake. This has been clearly established by the best scientific monitoring and modeling for decades. It is one more example of why the science behind the Chesapeake Bay restoration is the best in the world.

The woman whose body was found in the Susquehanna River in Havre de Grace Friday morning was identified Monday as Marie Rocco, 47, with addresses in both Havre de Grace and Vail, Colo. Rocco's body was discovered in the water off Hutchins Park by Havre de Grace Police at about 8:40 a.m. No further information about the cause of death was available, Ofc. Jeff Gilpin said in an e-mail Monday. "As in any death by unknown circumstances, we are treating this as a homicide until, or unless, evidence dictates otherwise," Gilpin said.

Now it's official: A report released today (8/30) finds the Conowingo Dam is losing its ability to prevent pollution from reaching the Chesapeake Bay. The U.S. Geological Survey reports that the reservoirs behind Conowingo and other dams on the lower Susquehanna River are nearly full of sediment and are increasingly failing to trap it as it washes down river.  The 94-foot-high hydroelectric structure at Conowingo is just the last and largest of...

A natural gas company has agreed to give $500,000 to monitor water quality in the Susquehanna River basin after a Pennsylvania well blowout last year spilled "fracking" fluids into a tributary of the river, Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced Thursday. Gansler had formally threatened to sue Chesapeake Energy Corp. for allegedly endangering the health of Marylanders by the April 2011 spill in Bradford County, Pa. The river supplies drinking water to 6.2 million people and is home to sensitive Chesapeake Bay fish populations of American shad and striped bass, Gansler noted.

Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenway's 12th annual River Sweep, a volunteer shoreline and roadside clean-up in honor of Earth Day, will take place in Havre de Grace, Perryville, Port Deposit and on Garrett Island on Saturday, April 21. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., with the clean-up taking place from 9 a.m. to noon, rain or shine. Volunteers will meet at 8:30 a.m. in one of five locations for registration: Tydings Park, Havre de Grace; Community Park, Perryville; Boat Launch (River Road)

The Susquehanna River dropped back below flood stage Monday afternoon and residents of Port Deposit and Havre de Grace were busy trying to get to their homes and businesses to clean up. Jeff Harris, owner of Starbird Canvas in Havre de Grace, found about two feet of water flooding the store when he returned. "There's mud everywhere," Harris said. "The whole marina is covered in mud. … If this was my primary shop, it would be about two weeks before I'd be able to work again, and that would have a significant impact on my income.

Ann S. Persson ran her hand gently across a primitive sunburst design carved into rock thousands of years ago. She traced lines radiating from the center to the rock's edge. "It's like touching history, our connection from the past to the present," said Persson, curator of the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum, which today opens an exhibit of ancient rock art, known as petroglyphs. Charlie Hall, the state's terrestrial archaeologist, will introduce the collection of rocks that he called "powerful communications devices" that date back about 4,000 years.

A Baltimore lawyer criticized the Susquehanna River Basin Commission yesterday, accusing the agency of using inaccurate information to win support for overseeing city access to Susquehanna River water.Neal M. Janey, former city solicitor, said Baltimore officials told the commission in December they had no plans to draw more water from the Susquehanna watershed.But the commission used an outdated 1993 study -- estimating the city will need up to 50 million gallons a day by 2003 -- to muster support for its gaining power over Baltimore's access to Susquehanna water, Janey said.

Times change. Sometimes it's for the better. Sometimes not so much. Sometimes it's a little of both. Way back when Conowingo Dam was built 82 years ago, the territory along the lower Susquehanna River was relatively wild and remote, the ideal place for a sporting cottage, a base of operations for fishing, hunting, boating and otherwise enjoying the Susquehanna Valley. Unlike other major rivers along the Eastern Seaboard like the Connecticut, Delaware, or James, the Susquehanna isn't a shipping route inland, so, unlike the other rivers of comparable size, it's lower reaches remained, and to some degree remain even now, relatively wild.

The body of a man found in Patapsco State Park in April was identified Monday through his knee replacements, according to Maryland State Police. State medical examiner ruled John H. Hagegeorge, died of natural causes and exposure but they could not identify the 55 year old through conventional means. Officials used the serial numbers to track down the hospital that had used them. Hagegeorge, whose last known address was on Redcliffe Road in Catonsville, appeared to be living at a makeshift campsite where his body was found.