Prominent Md. publisher missing from boat ...what was he going to say?

[infogirl]

Prominent Md. publisher missing from boat

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By BRIAN WITTE Associated Press Writer

Sunday, June 11, 2006 10:53 a.m. ET

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Rescue crews searched the Chesapeake Bay for a prominent publisher and former diplomat Sunday, hours after his sailboat was discovered empty in the water with the engine still running.

The Coast Guard dispatched a C-130 aircraft, a helicopter and boats to assist in the search for 72-year-old Philip Merrill, who had been sailing alone Saturday.

Senior Chief Steve Carleton said the Coast Guard was operating under the assumption that Merrill fell overboard.

"When we found the boat, the engine was running and his wallet was found on board the vessel," he said.

Ken Turner, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources police, said Saturday night that two boaters found Merrill's unoccupied 41-foot sailboat.

Merrill is chairman of the board of Annapolis-based Capital-Gazette Communications Inc., which publishes The Washingtonian magazine, The Capital and four other Maryland newspapers.
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[WiseButAngrySara]

1. Strange how the mind works! I almost hate to say that this was the

first thought that I had when I heard he was missing, and this prior to any knowledge of hie personal history. I have become so cynical! (aka realistic!)

[Redstone]

2. Oh, now, let's not go down THAT road.

People do fall off sailboats.

Redstone

[lynne]

3. Sadly, it happens all too often -

- VA and MD both lose people in the Chesapeake during boating season. Seems to be an almost weekly occurrence. I lost a good friend that way during my Senior year of high school - about a week before graduation. Really sad to go to graduation and then to a funeral.