The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • Page B1

WEDNESDAY 09.28.2005 baltimoresun.com maryland STATE TO CLEAN UP CORSICA RIVER $20 million and research of 30 agencies will aid Shore tributary MARYLAND ASSAULTING OFFICER TO BE A FELONY Authorities hail state law that takes effect Saturday. PG3B OBITUARY FEATURE WRITER Gabrielle Donnally Wise, a longtime Mount Vernon resident, dies at 85. PG 5B REGION OWENS' AIDE MIGHT RUN Kevin O'Keeffe, an aide to Anne Arundel Executive Janet S. Owens, is considering a run for Congress. PG 6B tled by an Ellicott City company, could generate $180,000 the first year and as much as $400,000 annually, the Department of Natural Resources said.

The Corsica project will focus on two keystones to improving water quality planting oysters and underwater grasses. "Our thinking was that because this is a complete watershed, we Please see RIVER, 6B improving the Corsica River a small Eastern Shore tributary that scientists hope will serve as a model for baywide projects. Ehrlich, who outlined the program during a news conference at Conquest Farm, a 250-acre protected property, was surrounded by an approving crowd of scientists and officials from state agencies and nonprofit groups who have formed a partnership de signed to remove the Corsica from the federal government's list of "impaired waters." Beyond improving the health of the waterway and its watershed, which drains into the Chester River, officials say new research will help develop a pilot program that could be used in other bay tributaries. "This is a blueprint for the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay," Ehrlich said. "We have come up with this plan, and over the next 60 months, we're going to execute this plan.

We're going to measure it monthly, measure it yearly, and we will report back to the people of Maryland." Ehrlich also unveiled a program in which the state will be selling bottled water to raise money for bay restoration projects. Maryland Natural Spring Water, bot BY CHRIS GUY SUN REPORTER centreville Anxious for results in the state's Chesapeake Bay cleanup effort, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. announced plans yesterday for spending nearly $20 million and concentrating the research of 30 state, federal and private environmental agencies on J.

Lowell Stoltzfus brings to Annapolis a Mennonite devotion to peace, but recent events are helping to sharpen his aggressiveness LeVsjust get this campaign over with fx GREGORY State Sen. J. Lowell Stoltzfus, who is one of two farmers serving in the General Assembly, plants soybeans on his farm in Westover on the Eastern Shore in June. Stoltzfus, who taught English and music at Pocomoke High School before taking over his father's nursery, now farms about 500 acres. DOUGKAPUSTINSUN PHOTOGRAPHER Senator grows into his role KANE OMETIME TODAY, BAL-l timore Mayor Martin kJ O'Malley is expected to announce that he's running for governor.

Why is this considered news? Hasn't Hizzoner been running for governor the past three years? Didn't he start just after Kathleen Kennedy Townsend lost her gubernatorial bid to Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. in 2002? O'Malley's entering the gubernatorial race isn't news. But it is a beginning. It marks the beginning of the end of a long, torturous and annoying three-year (and soon to be four-year) race for the governor's mansion.

No one should have to put up with a campaign that lasts three years. Kudos to the mayor for entering the race. No matter how it turns out, the people of Maryland win. If O'Malley defeats Ehrlich, he's kicked upstairs to the governor's office, and we're done. If Ehrlich wins, I'd guess O'Malley will resign as mayor, and we're done.

(This all assumes O'Malley beats Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan in the Democratic primary. Ah, O'Malley and Duncan! All that ego, and only one measly primary to cram it in.) Key words here are "we're done." As in "finished." As in "please get this darned campaign over with." Please see KANE, 4B STATE SEN. J. LOWELL STOLTZFUS "I DON'T LIKE TO FIGHT, BUT I WILL WHEN I HAVE TO." tending to more pressing business the state's or his own.

"I don't like to fight, but I will when I have to," he said. Given his roots, it's no surprise that Stoltzfus isn't keen on doing battle. James Lowell Stoltzfus was born in Pottstown, the second of six children born to a "poor farmer" and a homemak-er who had only completed eighth grade. His grandfather was born Amish; his parents were Mennonites. The church was the center of their lives.

When he was 5, Stoltzfus' family relocated to Snow Hill so his father could help start a Mennonite church there. Mennonites believe in peace above all and service to those in need. Stoltzfus described his child-Please see STOLTZFUS, 4B BY JENNIFER SKALKA SUN REPORTER westover Sen. J. Lowell Stoltzfus, a devout Mennonite, is seen as one of the gentlest members of the General Assembly.

Balding, with big, warm brown eyes and glasses, he teaches Sunday school classes to adults and talks about his love of a cappella singing. But Stoltzfus has been steamed lately, and he isn't hiding it. As one of four Republicans on the special committee investigating whether Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

fired state workers for political reasons, he is fighting to make sure the eight Democrats on the panel don't turn the hearings into an election-year escapade that makes the governor look bad. Though Stoltzfus, 56, denies he's Ehrlich's point man in the committee, he uses the word "we" frequently during the group's meetings. As in, "We're never going to have bipartisan cooperation." As in, "We have nothing to hide." He has railed against the Democrats for granting the panel subpoena power and giving themselves the right to hire outside counsel. And, to make his outrage plain, he has threatened to abandon the hearings "I'm the one who most wants to get out of it," he said during a recent interview at his Somerset County farm. "I think it's a silly waste of time." Stoltzfus has served in the General Assembly since 1991 and hasn't decided yet whether to run again.

One of two farmers in the General Assembly, the legislator says it has always been uncomfortable to be a Republican in a Democrat-dominated legislature. And he despises the rancor that marks each special committee hearing. He'd rather be Stoltzfus, shown here in his Annapolis office, has served in the General Assembly since 1991. He has not decided whether to run for re-election again. N.

HARTZENBUSCH SUN PHOTOGRAPHER Image from Pakistan yields fiery reaction Dundalk Eagle vacation photo raises ire Governor swings, but not at rivals At Camden Yards, no shots at O'Malley, Duncan ic Khyber Pass as a backdrop and the Eagle front and center. Khan stood with six others dressed in their native garb, one cradling an AK-47, another holding a rifle. Can we say red alert? The photograph, which Kahn said was submitted to the paper in June, was published Sept. 8. Angry letters and e-mail landed at the paper.

The editor, Wayne Laufert, said he fielded a couple of dozen telephone calls from readers upset about the photo. One reader was so concerned about the photo, Laufert says, that he alerted the FBI and called the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Please see PHOTO, 4B BY JOE NAWROZKI SUN REPORTER From a Las Vegas hotel, two former Dundalk residents smile for the camera. In another shot, three vacationers are shown at the Salem Witch Museum in New England.

They are posing with copies of The Dundalk Eagle, and the pictures are part of the paper's popular "Take the Eagle on Vacation" feature. Then there was Khurshid Khan's trip. The Dundalk resident returned to his homeland of Pakistan and, surrounded by family members, stood with the histor BY ANDREW A. GREEN SUN REPORTER With the sun dipping just below the upper deck of Oriole Park at Camden Yards yesterday afternoon, Gov. Robert L.

Ehrlich Jr. dug into the batter's box and squinted toward the mound. As of today, when one of his top political rivals is set to announce his campaign to unseat the incumbent Republican, Ehrlich will find himself in a contest that means a good bit more to him than last night's game did for the Orioles, who were long since eliminated from playoff But as that first pitch came in during batting practice, the governor said, politics was the last thing on his mind. All his attention, he said, was focused on hitting the ball, lest he embarrass himself in front of the gathered Orioles, his staff, half the state's press corps and, not least, his 6-year-old son, Drew. Ehrlich let the first one pass to gauge the speed and then started swinging away.

On the first few, he grounded weakly to the infield or popped up. But after a half-dozen cuts, the former Gilman School catcher found his old stroke, smoking a line drive to left field, a hit in any league. Please see EHRLICH, 2B Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

swings at a pitch during batting practice before last night's Orioles-Yankees game at Camden Yards. "He hit a lot of line drives," said O's hitting coach Terry Crowley. GENE SWEENEYJR. SUN PHOTOGRAPHER POLICE BLOTTER 3B LOTTERY 3B OBITUARIES 5B WEATHER 16B.