Trench

The state has fined an Edgemere plumbing company $9,935 for the trench cave-in that buried a sewer-line worker Nov. 7 in Eastpoint.But the fine amounts to only a fraction of the expense of rescuing the trapped worker and treating him at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, said Craig Lowry, enforcement chief for the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health office."

Gayland Buckingham had a great fall.It took 40 Howard and Montgomery County firefighters 4 1/2 hours -- and a crane -- to pick the 375-pound construction worker up again, after he fell 8 feet into a trench yesterday on a building site in West Friendship."

An effort to rescue an Ellicott City man whose tractor fell into an 8-foot-deep trench yesterday turned into a four-hour ordeal with 82 Howard and Montgomery county police, fire and rescue officers responding.Peter Horowitz, 61, suffered neck and back injuries and was listed in fair condition at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.Horowitz was dropping off materials at a housing construction site on Pindell School Road in Clarksville when his tractor fell into a hole designed for the home's septic tank.

An avalanche of rust-colored earth partially buried a plumber at a work site in Linthicum yesterday afternoon, but rescue workers were able to stabilize the trench and pull him to safety by early evening. Antonio Loverde was conscious throughout his three-hour ordeal and helped guide 47 emergency workers as they delicately dug him out of the 8-foot-deep hole on the front lawn of a home. The 23-year-old and his partner, Chris Milan, 32, had been just a few hours from completing the all-day job of repairing a sewer line on Cheddington Road in Anne Arundel County.

CROWNSVILLE -- Anne Arundel County firefighters recovered the body today of a 32-year-old man who was buried under 6 feet of dirt after an unshored trench caved in.The body was found at 3:19 a.m. and removed from the 20-foot-deep, 6-foot-wide trench about an hour later, said Officer V. Richard Molloy, an Anne Arundel County police spokesman.Officer Molloy identified the victim as Aaron Roger Duckworth of the 700 block of Old Herald Harbor Road. He said the man, also known as "Skip," worked as a handyman in the Crownsville area.

One worker was rescued but another died yesterday after being entombed by the collapse of a huge trench they were digging to install a drainage pipe on a dairy farm in rural Cecil County. Emergency crews spent nine hours digging and shoring up dirt walls before finding the body, as friends and relatives waited in the shelter of a school bus parked nearby, praying he would be found alive. The victim was identified early today as Norman Pyle McCann, 50, of North East. His co-worker, Donald R. Crabtree, also of North East, was buried up to his torso for about 15 minutes before being pulled out by rescue workers, said the chief of the Rising Sun Volunteer Fire Department, Karl A. Reichenbach.

After paying out more than $1.2 million in claims to 40 homeowners in a Westminster neighborhood that was damaged a natural gas explosion last winter, 16 insurance companies ++ want their money back from those they say caused the blast.The insurers of homes in Autumn Ridge filed a lawsuit in Carroll Circuit Court last week claiming that the Jan. 19 explosion -- which destroyed a vacant house and damaged more than 60 others -- was caused by negligence on the part of a Howard County company that was digging a trench for Prestige Cable Television of Maryland Inc.In addition to Reid Oliver, the subcontractor who was digging the trench that morning, and Prestige, the suit names as a defendant Maryland Underground Inc., the contractor hired by Prestige to lay television cable.

A bed of asparagus is a long-term investment in great eating. For this reason, the effort involved in proper soil preparation is well worth every minute. Early spring is the best time to start a bed.Asparagus demands a sunny location, so work the soil deeply, at least to a depth of three spade blades, and incorporate ample quantities of manure, adding about 5 pounds of 10-6-4 fertilizer per 100 square feet.Dig your trench about 6 inches deep and 8 inches wide. Set the plants about 15 inches apart in the trench, covering the crowns with 2 inches of prepared soil.

Trench coats are hot, hot, hot for spring. They're coming in many colors and with lots of modern details, such as oddly shaped buttons, wide collars and mod A-lined shapes. We liked this trench because it was a little bit trendy and a little bit retro at the same time. WONDERING IF YOU WERE GLIMPSED? Check out baltimoresun.com / glimpsed for additional photos of fashion-forward locals and a critique by fashion writer Tanika White of the styles she saw around town.

A Harford County public works employee was trapped for more than an hour yesterday when a trench at a Joppa work site caved in, the county sheriff's office said.Philip J. Hartline, 41, of Forest Hill was working on a bridge excavation project at Magnolia and Fort Hoyle roads about 3: 45 p.m. when one side of the trench caved in and partlyburied him, said Sgt. Edward Hopkins, a sheriff's office spokesman.Firefighters took about an hour and 10 minutes to free Hartline, who was being evaluated last night at Maryland Shock-Trauma Center in Baltimore.