The Star-Democrat from Easton, Maryland • Page 1

Viola loses no-hit bid in 9th lb SMtf-B uvs October 1, 1992 Easton, Maryland Edition Thirty-five Cent n'dr CO Thursday 3 Wcsferra friction 7 fl By KRISTEN RAWLINGS Staff Writer EASTON Proposed, regulations limiting the hours of commercial crabbers will have little benefit to conserving the state's shellfish and will adversely affect the waterman's income and other Industries, according to George O'Donnell, president of the Maryland Divers Association. "These regulations will cripple the crab industry and other and cause a disproportionate burden to fall on the commercial fisherman," he said at a public hearing Wednesday in Easton attended by about 150 watermen. Placing time restrictions on crabbers "will create a IS to 20 percent loss on what a person could generate ifThe is working whenever he isMrole to," he said. Under the plan, proposed by the Department of Natural Re-" sources, commercial fishermen would be banned from harvesting on Sundays and between the hours of 3 p.m. and 4:30 a.m.

the rest of the week. The regulations also limit the amount of trotline, and the number of collapsible crab traps and net rings a recreational crabber can use. The proposal is designed to maintain the crab harvest at 40 to -50 million pounds, said Steve Early; a staff scientist with the DNR's Fisheries Division. "What the department is trying to do is find out what is best for the (crab) resources and the fishery. 1 think a fair number of peo-- pie think something is needed, but the question is what," Early said.

Many watermen said if they aren't allowed to harvest on Sundays, they will be forced to make 4 APlOMfPhOtO Ed Strivers, president of the Dorchester chapter of the Maryland Saltwater Sport Fishing Association, standing, voices his concerns oyer the proposed regulations regarding commercial and recreational. crabbing during a forum at the Easton Armory Wednesday Photo by Chris Tyree voiced strong disapproval of the regulntions against themselves but supported the restrictions against their fellow fishermen. "The mudslinging between the two groups has got to stop," said Ben Parks, of the Dorchester County Seafood Association. "If we don't do something to address the decline of crabs, someone will settle It for us." The state will continue to take written comments on the regulations until Oct. 23.

First step taken to close gap Board cuts $168 million from state agencies, programs A hospital worker stands over Nancy Sue McDonald of Easton in a Texas hospital. McDonald, whose identity had been unknown since she was found unconscious alongside a Texas highway in April, was identified after her story was featured on NBCs "Unsolved Mystejries." Texas mastery woman' said Jo befrbm Easton HOUSTON (APJ A woman who has been in a coma since she was found unconscious alongside a freeway five months ago was identified after her picture aired oh a television show. Dubbed previously as "Estelle Doe," the woman has been identified as Nancy Sue McDonald, 32, of Easton, authorities said. i The woman's jaw and right leg were fractured and she had a severe head injury from an apparent hit and run accident. She was carrying only a tube of lipstick and a comb.

p. "I'm on cloud nine," said Hermann Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Fuglaar: "I've felt all along that Estelle, or rather Nancy, knew what was going on around her. I think she's very relieved that we will no longer call her Estelle." The case was featured Sept. 16 on NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries" program. A jailer at the Easton, city jail recognized the woman as a former inmate who lived in the city, Ms.

Fuglaar said. Authorities discovered that Ms. McDonald had "been arrested for hitchhiking in Fort Lauderdale, four days before she was, found in Houston April 28. Ms. Fuglaar said the woman went back to the sarne Fort Lauderdale truck stop and hitched a ride west as soon as she got out of jail.

Ms. McDonald has been staying in an area nursing home since she was transferred from the hospital in July. She remains incommunicative. But Janine Medley, Ms. McDonald's court-appointed guardian, said the woman nodded when asked if Nancy Sue McDonald was her name and nodded again when asked if she was from Maryland.

Msv Medley said she spoke to the woman's stepmother Tuesday, but the family hasn't made plans on when they will pick up Ms. McDonald. About $32 million will be taken from money that was appropri- ated but not spent in fiscal 1992, which ended in July. A newstate-sponWed gambling game called Quickdraw will raise about $50 million, Schaefer said. Under the plan adopted by the board, 450 state jobs will be eliminated.

The largest cuts were ab- sorbed by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene ($65.3 million), the Department of Human Resources ($20.8 million), the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services ($15 million), and higher education Health Secretary Nelson J. Sa-batini called the cuts "distressing, Please see BUDGET, p. 1 0A that benefits everyone. "Maryland watermen need to get a management plan together with Virginia," said Fred Pomer-oy, a Dorchester County commercial fisherman. "We have more people fishing the waters than ever before and our resource can't stand it.

The pie just keeps getting sliced thinner and thinner." Pomeroy and others encouraged a union between commercial and recreational crabbers who people addicted to drugs and -alcohol. "The window in which we operate is very small," Gov. William Donald Schaefer, a board member. "For every cut I have I have received letters saying, 'You can't do that' It tears at your heart to hear your friends come forward. But where do we find the money? We have racked our brains trying to find it." The $168 million in agency cuts Will reduce the deficit by about- -one-third.

Much of the remaining action on the deficit must be taken by the legislature, including a $150-million reduction in state aid to counties and about $40 million in transfers from special funds to the state's general fund. Power plant By DAVE WILLIAMS Staff Writer CAMBRIDGE State and local officials expressed encouragement Wednesday for Delmarva Power's plan to build a coal-fired power plant in Dorchester County, just north of -Vienna by the year 2000. If; Ray Landon, the company's executive vice president, said at a press conference that the megawatt plant would cost about $600 million, a third of which would be spent on "state-of-the-art" environmental protection The company hopes to receive approvatn two. years to begin construction in 1997- and to be on line by spring 2000, Landon said -the plant may be completed as early 1998 or as late as 2002. The plant is expected to burn 790,000 tons of coal each year, and may require up to 300 acres to store coal according to a fact sheet prtvyided by the company.

Landon said building the plant, would create about 700 construction and the plant rwould Please see PLANT, p. 1 OA planned up the loss by overfishing during the week. Restaurants and other tourism related businesses also will be hurt if watermen arAunable to supply crabs on Sunday when they receive a majority mjheir customers. Many agreed that it ia crucial for Maryland to implement a research committee, composed of watermen and DNR officials, to? study the downturn1 in the crabbing industry and find a solution alone but is confined to a wheelchair with cerebral palsy. She asked the board not to cut the state's Medicaid Personal Care program, which allows her son to receive in-home care.

"I cannot do it alone," Vane said. "I have so many other things to do. It costs the state $50 a month 4o care for my son. It wtll cost us $130 a day if wWiave to put him in an institution." After listening to the citizens' protests, the board voted to provide some relief, but at the expense of another program. The board voted to restore $11 million to the Personal Care program and $11 million for nonemergency transportation services.

But the money will be taken from aerogram that helps treat it mm I Photo by Chris Tyre i Country Motel on U.S. Route condition of the place. The balcony on the second floor is not structurally sound -and electrical cords were hanging out of vents and running across ceilings," Lyons Lyons said the motel will be closed for business until it meets all of ihe county's livability codes Please see MOTEL, p. 1 OA 1 jmmmmmmmmmum 1 By BRIAN BLOMQUIST Annapolis Bureau ANNAPOLIS The Maryland Board of Public Works voted Wednesday to cut $168 million from state agencies and programs. It was the first step in closing the state's $450 million budget gap for fiscal 1993.

Before -taking action, the three-member board heard testimony from 10 people affected by the proposed' cuts. Most of them argued against cuts in state program's that help the disabled, the elderly and those living with AIDS. Linda Vane works full-time to help support her husband, a diabetic, her twin daughters and her 19-year-old son, Matt, who lives fJ CO 'Lli Inside Today -M I mm Ann Landers 9A Astrogtaph 8A Calendar Classifieds 3-88 CbmlCS r. 8-9A Editorial Financial 6B Life on the Shore 7A Maryland news 3A Nation World 2A Obituaries 38 Regional SA Sports 4-38 TV listings 8A Weather 7 A Motel ordered By SAMANTHA MOORE Staff Writer. CAMBRIDGE Tenants living in a dilapidated Cambridge motel condemned earlier this week have until Friday to find a new place to The Bay Country Motel on U.S.

Route 50 officially was condemned Monday after a joint investigation of the 20-unit motel was conducted last Friday by the state fire marshal's office, -the Dorchester County Planning and Zoning Office and the Dorchester County Health Department. Five people were living in the motel "when the building was inspected Friday, but eight people have been living there on a full-time basis, said Deputy Fire Marshal Bob Thomas. "If they don't voluntarily move out and relocate by Friday, they will be evicted and removed, from the property," Thomas said. "The building is far too hazardous to be occupied. Until two weeks ago, the 32- untnlri mntal hniiwH an lin-' known number of migrant workers who lived there on a long-term basis during the harvest closed right, Erica Miles, Diane Bolden, Milton Boldcn and Dwight Out in the -cold, from left to Cephas Jr.

are forced to find 50 was condemned by the state season. Many migrant workers have since moved as the season The investigation was prompted 'by a complaint from one of the tenants on Sept. 9 when a ceiling tile fell on her. "It was a nightmare," said Nick Dorchester County Zoning' "I hate to displace anybody but I don't want shelter elsewhere after the Bay fire marshal's office Monday. anyone to burn to death either." The most prominent safety hazard was the second-floor fire escape that had deteriorated and collapsed, Thomas said.

Other fire and safety violations included the absence of smoke detectors, leaky roofs, broken and -hazardous -electrical wiring. "We were shocked at the I) Maryland Wednesday S-dtafc 474 Maryland Wednesday 4-dlgjt: S530 lotto; 01-O7-2l--z- Delaware Wednesday Vdlgit: 437' Delaware Wednesday 4-dlatt: 3177.