Yacht Basin

Yacht Basin Inc. has opened a sewage pump-out station, the first of its kind on Spa Creek, for boat holding tanks, a state official announced yesterday.The company built the facility with financial aid from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, said DNR Secretary Torrey C. Brown.The DNR has helped 66 marinas install pump-out equipment in an effort to prevent the illegal dumping of sewage into state waters.Port Annapolis and Annapolis Landing marinas on Back Creek also offer pump-out stations.

State Prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh defended Thursday the indictment he brought against Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon and asserted in court papers that a jury needs to decide if Dixon falsified ethics forms and stole gift cards intended for needy Baltimore families. In a 37-page filing that responds to the mayor's request to dismiss the charges, Rohrbaugh takes issue with what he called a "self-serving" affidavit filed by the Dixon-appointed city solicitor in support of her defense. He also argues that Dixon's interpretation of the city ethics code would render that law useless, and says it is proper to charge her with both stealing gift cards and receiving them as gifts - noting that a person can be accused of both robbing a bank and receiving the proceeds of the robbery.

Aberdeen has scheduled a series of public hearings to help shape thetown's long-range comprehensive plan.The process will set community goals and town needs concerning land-use controls, development requirements, environmental protection, road improvements and public services.Strategic planning will devote special emphasis to annexation studies, land-use planning and utility needs.The Board of Commissioners and the Town Planning Commission will conduct separate meetings to hear the concerns from neighborhoods and the business community anda final general session on Aberdeen's future.

ESTIMATES ON the number of years the 50-something-foot Unknown Sailboat lay at the bottom of its slip at the seedy and weedy Baltimore Yacht Basin, on the southern edge of the city by the Hanover Street bridge, run from eight to 12. All anybody saw of the craft in that time was mast and rigging. The boat sank in about 10 feet of water, perhaps during the end of the last Bush administration, and stayed there. The marina's previous management didn't seem to mind. But now a group of optimists has taken over, with money and ambitions to clean up the place and create some excitement along Middle Branch.

The Marine Traders Association of Maryland has elected the followingofficers and directors for 1991:President, Bob Slaff, Inshore Maritime Group; vice president, John Burgreen, Annapolis Yacht Sales; secretary, Sandy Zimmerman, Turkey Point Marina; and treasurer, Tom Best, Best Associates.Executive Committee:John Burgreen, chairman; Matt Gambrill, Calvert Marina; Mitch Nathanson, The Costal Group; Louis Phipps, Yacht Basin Company; Fred Quimby, Fred Quimby Marine Services; Tom Trainer, McDaniel Yacht Basin.

Services for Roger T. Warren Sr., a retired repair foreman for the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. and an officer of a family owned marina in Arnold, will be held at 1 p.m. today at the Barranco and Sons Funeral Home, Ritchie Highway and Robinson Road, Severna Park.Mr. Warren, who was 89, died Tuesday in his sleep at his home at the Ferry Point Yacht Basin on Mill Creek Road.He had been vice president and general manager of the yacht basin since retiring nearly 25 years ago from C&P, where he worked for more than 40 years.

Havre de Grace City Council members rejected last week a 2-cent cut in the property tax rate that Mayor Gunther D. Hirsch had recommended in his proposed $6.9 million 1995-1996 operating budget.The council acted to maintain the rate of $1.55 per $100 of assessed value as it got to work on the operating and capital budgets at Monday's council meeting. The mayor officially presented the budget and capital projects list to the council May 11.The proposed operating budget is down more than $360,000 from the current fiscal year's $7.27 million.

The day after an experimental seaplane crashed into Selby Bay, killing one man and seriously injuring another, local residents were calling the neighborly relationship between vehicles that take to the sky and vehicles that stick to the sea a recipe for disaster.In just a couple square miles in and around Selby Bay, at least five marinas are filled with boats of every size and variety. And in the center of those piers is a waterfront property where seaplanes -- those loud aircraft suspended on banana-shaped pontoons -- take off.Since local resident Ike Whitby started renting space in his waterfront back yard to seaplane owners about two years ago, boaters have watched their little bay turn into a busy runway.

The Bel Air Board of Commissioners unanimously passed the revised Route 24 Overlay District plan last Monday evening.The plan is a set of guidelines that commercial developers must follow when building between MacPhail Road and the northern boundary of the town just beyond Harford Mall. Revisions were made in several areas, including setback requirements -- the distance a building must be from the road -- parking restrictions and sign sizes.Existing buildings in the district are not affected by the plan.

ANNAPOLIS -- For many years, the Annapolis in-the-water boat shows have been a staple attraction each fall. Last year, in an attempt to bolster a sagging boating industry, area dealers ZTC and brokers added spring shows of new and used boats specifically directed toward local and regional customers.This spring, the powerboat and sailboat shows have been combined into the Annapolis Spring Boat Show, which opens tomorrow at the Annapolis Yacht Basin and Harbor."We are tickled about the show we have put together," said Jeffrey Holland, an organizer for the show, which is sponsored by the Marine Trades Association of Maryland and the Yacht Architects and Brokers Association.

It looks like a hurricane thwacked South Baltimore - at least the weedy stretch under the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge. Abandoned boats rot in the tall grass, seemingly flung from the water. A cabin cruiser named Adam's Rib is now nobody's wreck. Broken glass, tubing and boat innards litter the ground. The grandly named Baltimore Yacht Basin marina, while still open to boaters, has seen better days. So has the building that housed the late Daniel "Cap'n Dan" Davis' raucous Dead Eye Saloon.

The day after an experimental seaplane crashed into Selby Bay, killing one man and seriously injuring another, local residents were calling the neighborly relationship between vehicles that take to the sky and vehicles that stick to the sea a recipe for disaster.In just a couple square miles in and around Selby Bay, at least five marinas are filled with boats of every size and variety. And in the center of those piers is a waterfront property where seaplanes -- those loud aircraft suspended on banana-shaped pontoons -- take off.Since local resident Ike Whitby started renting space in his waterfront back yard to seaplane owners about two years ago, boaters have watched their little bay turn into a busy runway.

AFTER 20 YEARS trying to get the ball rolling -- literally and figuratively -- the Riva Athletic Association expects to wrap up plans soon for a $2.5 million park at the corner of Riva Road and Route 214."We're excited this is finally going to happen," said Bill Autrey, president of the Riva Athletic Association.The association, founded about 35 years ago, provides about 1,000 children ages 5 to 16 with the chance to play in baseball, basketball and soccer leagues.Tentative plans for the county-funded park call for a nature trail; four baseball fields, three of which will be lighted; three multipurpose fields, one lighted; an outdoor basketball court; an outdoor roller hockey court; and an outdoor volleyball court.

If you have to die -- and there don't seem to be any viable alternatives as of yet -- you might consider going out like Capt. Daniel E. Davis.Yesterday afternoon, a flotilla of family and friends set sail from Davis' Dead Eye Saloon in the shadow of the Hanover Street bridge, intent on paying their last respects to the 58-year-old marina operator, a feisty free spirit who had proved you can fight City Hall. And the Coast Guard, and the city liquor board, and just about anyone else who tried to cross "Captain Dan" over the years.

For the rich and famous, Annapolis is just a pit stop on the waterway to paradise.From September through October, 70 to 100 mega-yachts migrate from tony Newport, R.I., and Nantucket, Mass., to Boca Raton, Fla., and the Caribbean. These giant pleasure boats slip in and out of Annapolis to be refueled, repaired and have the brine washed away before continuing.Recently, Ivana Trump's 105-foot Italian Baia drew hundreds of gawkers to Yacht Basin Company, the only marina in town that can accommodate such large vessels.

The Dead Eye Saloon, the embattled South Baltimore pub that fought the city for years over alleged unpaid taxes and rent, is going to court again.This time, owner Dan Davis will go to the Court of Special Appeals to try to win back his liquor license, which was revoked by the Baltimore Board of Liquor License Commissioners in July 1995 but temporarily returned by a judge pending a court date.The board claims Davis -- who leases about 3 acres from the city, including the Baltimore Yacht Basin under the Hanover Street Bridge -- defied its orders, serving alcohol on an outdoor deck and offering live entertainment after the board repeatedly ordered him not to.Davis, 56, denies he did anything wrong.

Every chance he got, Val Eshleman took his boat onto the Chesapeake Bay to fish. He especially liked catching rockfish in the spring and fall. And every year, he and his brother and their friends traveled to Hatteras, N.C., to catch drum fish.Now, Mr. Eshleman's twin brother, Gregory, and his friends are organizing a fishing tournament to celebrate the life of the former marina manager who died in a boatyard accident last fall. This week they began accepting applications for the tournament, scheduled for Sept.

Every chance he got, Val Eshleman took his boat onto the Chesapeake Bay to fish. He especially liked catching rockfish in the spring and fall. And every year, he and his brother and their friends traveled to Hatteras, N.C., to catch drum fish.Now, Mr. Eshleman's twin brother, Gregory, and his friends are organizing a fishing tournament to celebrate the life of the former marina manager who died in a boatyard accident last fall. This week they began accepting applications for the tournament, scheduled for Sept.

Havre de Grace City Council members rejected last week a 2-cent cut in the property tax rate that Mayor Gunther D. Hirsch had recommended in his proposed $6.9 million 1995-1996 operating budget.The council acted to maintain the rate of $1.55 per $100 of assessed value as it got to work on the operating and capital budgets at Monday's council meeting. The mayor officially presented the budget and capital projects list to the council May 11.The proposed operating budget is down more than $360,000 from the current fiscal year's $7.27 million.