Herd

waynesboro@herald-mail.com WILLIAMSON, Pa. - There are some obvious hazards when it comes to the sport of bull riding. Then, there are the not-so-obvious ones. "You don't do this to impress women. It's too dangerous," said Robert Gordon, 21, of Hagerstown, one of two dozen riders competing for prize money Thursday night at the Franklin County Fair. Divorce is an occupational hazard among bull riders, Gordon said. "My ex-wife didn't like it too much. You get beat up a lot," he said.

by Ric Dugan / staff photographer see the enlargement Expectations high for grand champion cow ST. THOMAS, Pa. - She comes from a family of champions and has won national honors, but Four Winds Fayette Dee seems unimpressed with her recent acclaim. "I just call her Dee," Lois Peckman said of the 1,100-pound 2-year-old relaxing in her barn at the Pleasant View Farm Dairy at 4685 Lincoln Way West. She and her husband Mervin paid $10,400 for the cow that was named the 1998 Kentucky National Grand Champion at last month's Kentucky Nation-al/World Guernsey Conference Sale in Louisville.

Rife picks up Trojans By DAN SPEARS / Staff Writer CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Chambersburg girls basketball coach Ken Stepler sometimes would like senior Heather Rife to shoot the ball more during a game. Tuesday night against Carlisle, she showed why. continued The 5-foot-11 Rife still kept everyone else involved with four assists, but went 13-for-18 from the field on the way to a career-high 30 points as the Trojans opened the second half of the Mid Penn Commonwealth with a convincing 74-46 victory.

From April 29 to May 6, I had the opportunity to visit the Republic of Georgia. For many, you will remember Georgia was a member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, until 1991 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent weakening of communism in Eastern Europe. The Republic of Georgia is not Russia, which many people have mistakenly assumed after my telling them where I was going or where I had been. If you are looking to find Georgia on the map, it is east of the Black Sea and north of Turkey.

Geno Smith threw two first-half touchdown passes, Tavon Austin returned a kickoff for a score and No. 24 West Virginia beat Marshall 34-13 on Sunday night in a game that was stopped early in the fourth quarter because of lightning. Smith completed 26 of 35 passes for 249 yards. Despite difficulty running the ball, West Virginia improved to 11-0 against its cross-state foe, including six wins since the series resumed in 2006. Marshall was limited to 13 first downs, 187 total yards and no offensive touchdowns.

By LISA GRAYBEAL Staff Writer, Waynesboro MERCERSBURG, Pa. - David Fox recently eased his tractor up to the 5-foot-high fence, lifted the loader and dumped a large round bale of timothy hay onto the other side. Not long afterward, a 1,900-pound bison bull made his way over the snow-covered pasture to the bale, sniffed it and butted the grassy mass with his immense brown, woolly head and impressive horns. Then he pulled off a clump and started chewing. The buffalo barely acknowledged the onlookers who were admiring him from behind a 10-strand electric wire fence.

Washington County dairy farmer Art Rhoderick has album upon album of photos of his cows - and for good reason. The success of Rhoderick's Art Acres dairy herd and its impact on dairy herds throughout the world are significant. And they, along with his service to the dairy industry, are the main reasons Rhoderick was inducted recently into the Maryland Dairy Shrine. "Arthur Rhoderick's breeding philosophy has made a tremendous impact in Holstein dairy breed genetics throughout the world," said local veterinarian Dr. Matt Iager, who is treasurer and board member of the Maryland Dairy Shrine.

One of the major problems for large wildlife populations is the potential for disease, especially those transmitted between animals. In our area, and actually for most of the country, the most alarming is Chronic Wasting Disease. CWD has been confirmed in the deer herd around Slanesville, W.Va., but so far has been confined to that general area. CWD is very bad business. It is similar to, but not the same as, Mad Cow Disease. CWD is giving wildlife managers problems in formulating policies and regulations as they try to keep the disease from expanding to areas currently free of the disease.

Hunters get one more shot at deer herd By GUY FLETCHER Staff Writer Local hunters can take advantage of a bonus this weekend when Maryland opens an extended two-day firearms deer season, but they'll have to travel a ways to do so. Hunting will be allowed in 18 counties in the state on Friday and Saturday, but none of the permitted areas is in Western Maryland. The closest area where hunting will be allowed is in Montgomery County. Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Patricia Manown said the extended hunt is needed to reduce the number of deer in the state, particularly in the metropolitan areas where deer are damaging property and "having a feast" in densely populated communities and developments.

To the editor: I would like to publicly acknowledge Paul Miller, executive director of the Humane Society of Washington County, for his extraordinary efforts leading up to the animal cruelty case against Gregory Wiles. As most are aware, in December 2006, the HSWC was thrust into what is believed to be the largest horse rescue ever in the state of Maryland. Five horses lost their lives and the 70 that survived needed to be nursed back to health and placed in safe homes.