Letter to Editor: What We Need for County Commissioners

Editor:

Thanks to the League of Women Voters’ forum on Tuesday night, it’s crystal clear that of the eight candidates for Kent County commissioner, three clearly outclass the others. With experience and institutional memories, they grasp details, understand the broader issues, and can explain them all—in plain English.

Two are Democrats.

In this Age of Austerity, our county’s big problem is how to achieve equitable formulae for channeling state funds back to Kent County, particularly dollars per public school pupil.

We need three county commissioners who can develop a credible case for changes in state funding and have sufficient political persuasiveness and savvy to make the case in Annapolis.

We also need a state senator and three delegates who speak Democrat and who can back our commissioners in pleading Kent’s case to the legislature and administration. If memory is the mother of wisdom, four more years with a tag team of obstreperous, conservative Republican clowns representing us in Annapolis would be a mistake. A big one.

Grenville B. Whitman

Open Letter from Jack Stenger, President of Kent County Public Library

The Kent County Public Library Board of Trustees is keenly aware of the adverse publicity we have received since late June and the extensive coverage of the Library management and finances. We deeply regret the financial situation we are experiencing. We take responsibility for this and we extend sincere apologies to our patrons and the Kent County Community for our failures.

It is time now for the Library Board to comment directly on the situation and actions it has taken since late June.

All of us who use the Library and its branches know that the Library has considerable strengths on the operational side which serve the community well:

• Chestertown’s refurbished, pleasant facility.

• Strong, dedicated staff.

• Good technology for client services and web usage.

• High usage.

• Community programs.

• Very good marks on service.

These strengths do not offset the problems which face the Library today. The Trustees acknowledge that the Board has been deficient in two extremely important areas over an extended period which have brought us into the current situation:

• Financial oversight

• Internal board processes

We want to share with you the actions we have taken or are undertaking to address the problems.

1. The following corrective actions have been taken at the Board and Library management levels:

• The Library Executive Director’s resignation has been accepted.

• All members of the current Library Board have agreed to present letters of resignation to the Kent County Commissioners, effective December 31, 2010. The delay in replacement of the current Board is intended to allow continuity of operations during an orderly recruitment of new Board members.

2. The following actions have been taken to improve financial controls and decision-making at the Library:

• The Kent County Finance Office has taken over bookkeeping and check-writing functions for the Library. They will also prepare regular financial reports for the Board.

• Future financial reporting will clearly distinguish between restricted grants or capital project

funds and general operating funds. This was the central failure which led to the current crisis.

• A consultant will review the KCPL Board bylaws and general Board processes for adequate management controls.

3. The following actions have been or will be taken to restore current and future financial health to the Library:

• The current year’s budget is being reviewed for areas of immediate potential savings. Near term cost reductions are painful, but necessary. No reduction in full time staff is contemplated at this point, although the Library Executive Director will not be replaced immediately.

• Beyond the current year’s budget, it is clear that the Library operates at a deficit. It has historically and will continue to do so in the future. Additional community support for the Library is urgently needed. The immediate need is as high as $187,000. This sum is necessary to provide on-going budget relief and pay off accumulated obligations. The Board will organize a campaign to increase community support for the Library to a sustainable level.

There has been much conversation about the Library and many would like to know more. To further communicate with the Kent County community, the Board will host a public meeting at the Library on Wednesday, September 1 at 7:00 PM to answer questions.

The Library is part of what makes our community special. It is a resource, a community meeting place, and an institution for all ages and economic levels. The Trustees understand that we have a duty to protect the resources and to provide sound management of the Library. We pledge to do our very best to reestablish trust in the management and future of the Kent County Public Library.

W. Jackson Stenger
President of the KCPL Board

Letter to the Editor: Standing Firm on Library Board

To the Editor,

To set the record straight, my resent absence from library board meetings was the result of a number of serious personal and business-related circumstances throughout much of  2009.  I was advised by my attorney not to participate in any public forum or role until these issues were resolved.

I have no intention to resign from the Kent County Library Board of Trustees unless the state of Maryland, Kent County Commissioners, or our Rock Hall Mayor and Council request that I do so.

I am not a fair weather type of person. I accept the responsibilities and challenges that come with the current library situation, as I have with similar situations with my business and my several volunteer roles in the Rock Hall community.

I do not believe that my resignation would solve the problem at hand. It my intention to re-engage with the library board to solve these problems, not walk away from them.  I will strive diligently towards resolving the current budget problems within the County Library system and look foward to a time when we can move pass this unfortunate situation.

Yours,

Robin Wood Kurowski

Letter to Editor: No FASTC in Kent Please

To the Editor:

Is it “Fire-Ready-Aim” when the feds ask about possible Kent County locations for a Foreign Affairs Security Training Center, a facility for training in explosives and fast driving, otherwise known as “boom-and-zoom.”

Glad my spouse and I don’t own a 1,250-acre parcel here — otherwise, we’d probably just be reading our pardon-me letter from Development Director Van Pelt: “Pardon me, Mr. and Ms. Whitman, but I’ve already volunteered your property to the feds!” (But this backasswardness is OK because, as the Kent News reports today, Van Pelt explained, “We didn’t have time to talk to landowners.”)

And our Three Wise Men, the county commissioners? Heck, they wrote to Senator Mikulski months ago to say that Kent County would l-o-v-e to have the center if Queen Anne’s didn’t!

Will Fire-Ready-Aim become our county’s new SOP! I hope not because I’ll have to change my political allegiances “FASTC”!

I also sincerely hope that Van Pelt and the three commissioners are really just going through the motions of being politely cooperative with powerful feds without actually harboring any serious intentions of welcoming the unpleasant prospect of “boom-and-zoom” in Kent County!

Bravo, Wayne Gilchrist (“fight them tooth and nail”) and the Chester River Association’s Bob Parks (“start off on the wrong foot”)! I’m with you on this one!

Gren Whitman

Letter to Editor: System Worked with Defeat of FASTC

Letter to Editor: World Cafe Next Steps

To the Editor –

Thank you to the Chestertown Spy for the coverage you provided for the June 15th Chestertown World Café. For those who are unfamiliar, the Town of Chestertown took the opportunity of a new decade and the challenges of an economic downturn to bring the community together for a World Café at the Chestertown fire hall to get a “finger in the wind” assessment of a desired direction for the future.  A World Café is a way for community members to have meaningful conversations, think long term, and identify common ground ideas from which to work. This exercise in democracy provided a forum for civil discourse around important issues and was an opportunity for over 160 attending community stakeholders to use conversation as a way to strengthen relationships and build trust.

This event was one of several similar events through out the Delmarva Peninsula lead by Sustainable Delmarva this spring. Sustainable Delmarva (www.sustainabledelmarva.net) focuses on local communities as the catalyst for regional change and works to strengthen communities’ ability to vision, plan, and work together to realize an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable path for all.

At this time, copies of the World Cafe final report are available at the Chestertown Town Hall and can also be found online at www.sustainabledelmarva.net/current_delmarva_projects.html. The report includes the “who, what, when, where, how” of the event, the major themes distilled from the table reports, transcriptions of the table reports and the notes written on each table’s paper cloths, and next step ideas submitted by the event participants.

The major themes defined in this report encompass a wide rang of issues including opportunities for youth, affordable housing, job opportunities, transportation, healthcare, and racial and cultural division, among others. The next step suggestions were heavily in favor of holding more “conversations” in the near future, holding in-depth planning meetings around World Café themes, and direct outreach to those under-represented at the World Café event.

Ripple effects from this event can already be seen. Mike Hardesty from the Center for Environment and Society at Washington College will be working with organizations and leaders in the community to discuss ways to address the issue of racial, cultural, and social division. Additionally, in effort to encourage better communication with the community, Mayor Bailey will have a table at the Chestertown Farmers Market once a month to for questions and discussion and will be establishing a town e-mail newsletter service. Also, Mayor Bailey will be using a grant to develop and distribute a brochure that lists all of the youth programs and activities available in the community.

In effort to keep the conversation going Chestertown World Café blog has been established: http://ctownworldcafe.blogspot.com/2010/06/great-world-cafe.html.  The Chestertown World Café planning committee will also meet one more time to discuss next steps, but the Town and its community members as a whole need to work to decide this now the report is complete. Anyone who wants to attend the planning committee meeting should e-mail me at jhicks@sustainabledelmarva.net.

My recommendation for next steps is for the community to sponsor a Future Search conference (www.futuresearch.net) around one of the World Café major themes. A Future Search conference is 2.5 day meeting that brings together people who represent all parts of the issue to better understand the issue, determine common ground vision for the issue, and develop concrete, action-able plans to move closer to realize the vision.

Jennifer Hicks, Project Manager
Sustainable Delmarva

Letter to Editor: Queen Anne’s Needs Leadership after FASTC

To the Edior:

As Senator Patrick Moynihan once said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts.”

Here are the facts:  Queen Anne’s County is now being taken over and “ruled” by a political action group, the Queen Anne’s Conservation Association, QACA.  Many innocent, uninformed citizens are falling ‘’hook, line, and sinker’’ for their faux leadership and doctrine.  At the moment, and during these past several years, there has been no leadership in our County, in our town of Centreville, not even in the newspapers, or in the volunteer service groups within.  We are in sad, sad, shape when so many are being lead by the few who hide, unnamed, resting behind their check books and membership, within this “underground” organization.

Time to open your tightly closed eyes and see what is happening now in our County!  You need to see what is ahead if you do not make yourselves aware and stand firm, voting against this manipulation of candidates, commissions, and political organizations.  These newcomers to our County have nothing but time and money to spend on gathering and grabbing control of our political operations here within the County.  Few of them support our County in any way other than to glorify themselves ,  fund and prepare law suits, and tell us all how we should live.  They are retired, living here, and have taken it upon themselves to save us from ourselves!  The question is—what is their contribution to our area?

The defeat of FASTC is only the start and the beginning of what lies ahead!  WAKE UP!  These undermining people will filtrate into our political elections, into our operating commissions, and into our way of life. The few in this group will BUY leadership in all of these areas.  Is this the kind of leadership we need in this County?   Well, that is a question that you alone as a voter and citizen can answer.  Either you stand up, be  heard, and STOP this buy-out of Queen Anne’s County—or these political action members will speak for you.  YOU may not like what you will hear but it will be too late then.

The “silent majority” in connection with the FASTC project was deafening.  Where were the honest, hard-working, taxpaying, good citizens of our County?  Where were the parents of the generation who have grown up in Queen Anne’s County and attend schools within?  Where were  the small and large business owners,   or the professionals?  Where were the groups of volunteers who keep our fine services in action at the ring of a siren?  Where were YOU ALL?  Now, everyone is sorry.  They are sad that this marvelous opportunity has passed our fine County by.  Well, guess what?  The move to action has just begun with QACA, the “squirrel chasers”, and the Ruthsburgers!

There is not a county on the Eastern Shore who would not have almost traded in their waterfront or farm land for an opportunity such as being selected for the location of FASTC.  It was not hard to see what a marvelous opportunity this Center would have been.  Sure, we heard all the list of rumors that went around and around—most of them were false and unproven.  Fear is a terrible thing.  The unknown is very threatening to those who did not take the time to understand and learn about the issues.  The crying, the yelling and the closed minds did our County in!  The so-called leaders did not hear the citizens, the people who put them in their offices. How sad- shame on us.  We got just what we deserved in the end.  NOTHING.  And, nothing  seldom goes away.

Here was a golden opportunity to contribute and prove what a fine, intelligent group of citizens we are—we could have shared our BEST with the State, Country, and the  World.  Instead, we will put an iron curtain around Queen Anne’s County.  We said in the end—we cannot handle such a challenge,  and this Center frightens us.  There was never a positive word!  Many were so scared by it that they  could not think outside the I’s and me’s.   They could not recognize that it would be a great advantage to all of us, to the State, and to the United States to welcome the Center to our perfect location.  This was being a GOOD neighbor in our troubled World—they could not think outside the Ruthsburg box.  What a gift we had to give!  But few saw it that way—so sorry for those who could not get farther than their self-centered world.

Instead, those of us who want more for our community are left feeling passed over, again.  Our Commissioners made a political decision which was faulty based on misstatements and political pressures.   The screaming, maddening crowd was lead and financed by another small political action group of the very rich, and most just sat by enjoying the circus of events.  Our local member of Congress stood by watching, dithering which way to move. Our elected Commissioners offered no direction but plenty of negative comments, and then our one Senator got red in the face, ranted, yelled, and fled in fright while the other Senator was out of sight!  The lady Senator made it over here for the last hurrah but was too busy to bother to attend any of the public meetings—even though she was ON the Shore the afternoon of one of those gatherings.  She was too busy to attend on her way over the Bridge!  Not important enough, I would ask?

Begin to sweep up, put the chairs away, and turn the lights off!   This was another fine show by our County!  Are you proud?  I am not, either.  It has been a very bad show of the citizenry from start to finish.  A wonderful opportunity was wasted by US—less business, less job opportunities, less input by intelligent people, less educational centers and opportunities, and same old, same  old  County.  We have done it again!  Queen Anne’s County has ended up at the bottom of the list.

So look around!  Get your eyes open wide because in the near future your decisions are going to be made for you in this County.  We are loaded with debt so expect your taxes to rise. If you do not think so, wait until next year!  Watch the upcoming elections and watch the money tossed around to get those in office who will bring this County to a complete shut down. NO growth invited! The QACA will gladly make the moves and take over the governing and decision making—they will quietly sneak up on you, the voter, and fill the seats with those who will do exactly as THEY want with OUR County, putting a STOP to any progress.     We will have ample farm land, plenty of FOR SALE signs, plenty of GOING OUT OF BUSINESS signs, and plenty of young people unable to find any job opportunities!   We are allowing this to happen right in front of our faces.  Time to get involved—and time to SPEAK UP and recognize what is happening before it is too late.

Janie Eby Ashley (Mrs. Sydney G. Ashley)
Centreville   MD

Letter to Editor: Chester River Association Not a Fringe Group

I noted your article about the farmer letter to Gov. O’Malley in today’s Spy. I wanted you to know that I sent the attached letter to CRA farmer members. Parts of it were quoted in the Delmarva Farmer. I do not want anyone thinking that CRA is a “fringe” environmental group. We have an active farm program that encourages farmers to participate in programs that help the environment plus make/save money. The best way to get our grain farmers to embrace the environment is through economics not legislation/enforcement.

Bob Parks
Executive Director
Chester River Association
410-810-7556 x300

Dear Farmer member:

I wanted to report encouraging news to you about the Chester River and to thank you for the work you have done to make it that way. Enclosed is the CRA 2009 Report Card which grades the Chester River and its tributaries. The Report Card is showing that there has been a slight but measurable improvement in water quality. I am also enclosing a copy of the cover page of the 2008 Report Card so that you may make the comparison for yourself. It is significant in that of the eight watershed organizations that use this University of Maryland sponsored format, the Chester River was the only one to show water quality improvement.

Why is the river healthier? It is as a result of your work planting cover crops, implementing nutrient management plans and other best management practices. As responsible stewards of the land you make a difference.

Also know that other individuals and organizations are doing their part too. Examples are the residential community with septic upgrades and upgraded wastewater treatment plants (Chestertown). Three Bridges and Old Mill Stream branches on the Corsica showed huge improvements because the state, county and Town of Centerville have worked so hard on them. Riley’s Mill Branch in Morgnec is healthier because of changes at Velsicol and the new treatment plant in Worton. And Chesterville Branch is healthier because of the hard work and dedication to the environment shown by Angelica Nurseries.

As children will say on a long trip, “are we there yet?” No, there is more to be done, but it looks as if we are on the right track. Hopefully the switchgrass projects and GreenSeeker work will contribute to even more improvement in the future.

Now is the time to enjoy our progress and at the same rededicate our efforts to improved water quality. Thank you for your hard work and stewardship of our land and know that your efforts are making the Chester River healthier.

Sincerely

Robert W. Parks

Letter to Editor: Defense Spending a New Test for Kratovil

After his cynical vote on health care, I’m looking for another issue by which to judge Congressman Frank Kratovil, and I’ve found one—the recommendation to cut military costs by $960 billion by 2020 by the “Sustainable Defense Task Force,” a bipartisan group of defense and budget experts appointed by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), in concert with Reps. Walter Jones (R-NC) and Ron Paul (R-TX) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR).

With our First District “Blue Dog Democrat” seeking re-election, now would be a good time to ask this spending conservative and deficit hawk:  (1) if he’s heard of the Sustainable Defense Task Force’s recommendations and (2) if he supports them. It’s time to ask his opponent, Andy Harris, the same questions.

Some of the task force’s recommendations for savings include:

• Reducing U.S. nuclear arsenal to 1,050 warheads deployed on 450 missiles and seven submarines—save $113 billion;
• Lowering U.S. military presence in Europe and Asia to 100,000, and total military personnel to 1.3 million—save $200 billion;
• Replacing costly and unworkable weapons systems, such as the F-35 aircraft, MV-22 Osprey, and the “Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle”—save $138 billion;
• Reforming military health care—save $60 billion; and,
• Cutting “unnecessary command, support and infrastructure” funding—save $100 billion.

Kent County’s three commissioners are wrestling with spending cuts and a tax increase—and doing a reasonably skillful and sensitive job under difficult circumstances—and it’s not hard to see the connection between the bloated military budget and Kent County’s sparse budget for next year!

Grenville B. Whitman

Letter to Editor: Government’s Role in Downtown’s Future

I very much appreciate the tone and substance of the recent editorial about the future of Chestertown. I agree whole heartedly that this is the time to reposition our economic structures. I also appreciate the article in the Kent County News about Jack Steinmetz and Cindy Genther.

Unfortunately, we do not have a governmental agency to work specifically on economic development for Chestertown. We do however, have expertise in this field through SCORE, Main Street and the Chamber of Commerce among others. As long as we can collaborate and not factionalize, this should be enough. The mindset that I prefer is that we work together and share the efforts to preserve the culture of the town as we enhance its strengths.

When talking about preserving the history of Chestertown there needs to be balance between preserving the elements that are valuable and becoming frozen in a particular time. The truth is that everything changes. Any of us older than 10 years knows that changes happen. Some things go about change slowly, some more rapidly. The real question is who will direct the change and in what direction?

The process of economic development examines what works and what are the challenges we face. Then the actions that follow can improve where it is needed. The Main Street program is a federal and state program meant to bring economic development and prosperity to towns and neighborhoods. It is an organization of citizen volunteers who can bring resources to our town. The resources include access to grant money and a proven method of development and enhancement of local town economies. As the president of Main Street, I want to hear from everyone about directions that can be supported not only by the town and county governments, but by the state and everyone who lives, works or in any way enjoys Chestertown.

The first step in this process is to determine the will of the people. I personally support the town sponsored meeting called the World Café on June 15, at 6:30p.m. to be held in the Chestertown Fire House. We need you to participate and express your point of view. We hope to see all the diverse perspectives in this county. If you can’t come, encourage someone from your neighborhood, club or business to come in your stead. [Refreshments @ 5:30 p.m. R.S.V.P. by June 8 jhicks@sustainabledelmarva.net ] For more information, please check: http://www.sustainabledelmarva.net/current_delmarva_projects.html .

After the results of the World Café are available, it will be time for all of us to get to work on whatever projects we identify as supportive of a strong economy.

Just so you know my viewpoint, I have a couple of personal preferences for projects. The first is to help the Historic Society get the museum and accessible library / research center they want. This would add to the authenticity of our claim to be a historic destination and would help anyone, including the history department of our esteemed college, do research on our town. It would also be a place to proudly display artifacts from our past.

Secondly, I think the entire county could become economically stronger by becoming more tech savvy. This would require extensive influx of technology infrastructure and knowledge. It would also give our citizens (especially our youth) jobs opportunities without disrupting our quiet lifestyle.

By infrastructure, I mean not only Wifi (wireless access for computers) to the town and county, but more importantly, to bring G4 (generation 4) highest speed, widest band fiber optic computer networking to us all. This would bring us the possibility of working from home, bringing in business that protects our environment, strengthen the customer base of the current shops and businesses and developing economic opportunities in a thousand directions.

Those are my suggestions. We need to hear what you think would work best in the efforts to make the economy of Chestertown and Kent County strong. The question is how can we make the changes towards strength that leaves the spirit of the town in tact? How do we enjoy Chestertown more?

Helen Geddes
Chestertown

Letter to Editor – Chestertown had the Resolves if not Tea

Yes, the festival is about a lot of things other than throwing tea in the water, and that’s part of the fun of it. But at the heart of the event is the fact that Chestertown citizens met 236 years ago in May and penned the Chestertown Resolves. The document is a fascinating and under-appreciated snapshot of our history. It begins with a reminder of the town’s loyalty to the Crown, then assumes a revolutionary flair as it boycotts tea, lists grievances, and states that further actions are under consideration. If you want to get a feel for what Chestertown was like back then, check out the video on the festival’s homepage. Look past the legend of the Chestertown Tea Party and instead listen closely to the words of the historians, and of the resolves themselves. It’s a great story and one worth toasting, with anything but tea.

http://www.chestertownteaparty.com/thefestival.htm

Gibson Anthony

Letter to Editor: Real County Education Problems

Dear Editor,

Lets face it; the Kent County “community” does not like change.  We are a small historic area composed mostly of retirees and families that usually have some long-standing family connection to the area.  Change is not welcomed. It doesn’t matter how much this or that will improve our community, there will always be an opposing voice ringing through the crowd. Everyone cannot be appeased. Change is necessary for progression. The problem I see with the proposals set forth by the School Board is that they are too concerned with dollars, the bottom line and impressive test scores rather than the welfare and quality of education for the students. What is happening to education?

Take it from me. I have been through this school system. I moved here about 8 years ago at the age of 13, going into 8th grade. My transfer was from Connecticut. In my town in Connecticut there were several elementary schools that ran grades k-5. The middle school was composed of grades 6-8 and high school held grades 9-12.  It was a great system allowing each school the functional capacity while including great student to teacher ratios and personalized education.  This school system was at least 4 times the size of the one here and was able to maintain an excellence in education and small class sizes.

There are several problems with the education system however that has nothing to do with budgets and buildings. My first experience at Chestertown Middle School was unique.  Within the first hour there I experienced my first fight. After this, I became scared for my safety. In my first class of the day I had an amazing English teacher, Mrs. Reynolds. I also had other great teachers including Ms. Moyer and Mr. Stack. Mrs. Reynolds, like other teachers was enthusiastic and created a learning environment I really enjoyed. That day she asked us to write an essay and a student in the classroom stood up and cursed at her until she was forced to call the administration to detain the student. I was in utter shock. Never before had I seen a student stand up and talk back to a teacher during class over a SIMPLE assignment!  It occurred to me immediately that the problem is not the teachers, its is not the curriculum, it is the disrespect of the students.

This disrespect for educators sadly became the norm. I became accustomed to interrupted and derailed classes over unmotivated students complaining about class work. I did not understand why students didn’t even try to do well. The answer to this question came one day when I was in the principal’s office waiting for recognition for my accomplishment in a poetry contest.  A parent sitting in with the principal began screaming and cussing and slapped her child saying he would never become anything. I realized then that the expectations for students here are so low. Why should they have motivation to do well if their parents loved ones aren’t even encouraging? Some parents don’t even know how to encourage, as they were never given the push or motivation themselves. Some are too young to even be parents. This saddens me, as I cannot remember a time when my mother has told me there was something I couldn’t do, that I couldn’t be.

My family situation could be considered much worse than many experienced by students here. Yet I cannot remember a time when my plans for my future did not consist of going to college and becoming a child psychologist. College was always part of the plan. Higher education was always part of the plan. Even when I began having difficulties with math and reading, college never left my sights.  I had the support and the encouragement to be all I can be no matter what challenges I face. Where is that motivation? Why would a student have high educational goals if they are never introduced?

There is a small group of parents that are involved in everything and big group of parents that are involved in nothing. Some parents encourage their children to talk back to teachers and contest low grades. Teachers are becoming underpaid babysitters dealing only with behavioral problems. No wonder the teachers don’t like to teach. Why would anyone want to teach someone that doesn’t want to be taught? I experienced this even at an elementary level through an internship while I was still in high school. New teachers were adopting an apathy equivalent to that of the students that didn’t care and didn’t want to learn at such an early age.

In my high school classes students had zero respect for teachers and zero motivation to do the simplest tasks. In an “honors” English course in high school, myself and 3 other students were given the assignments for the whole year and were separated from the rest of the class to another part of the room. The class kept getting derailed by high school juniors that couldn’t spell and didn’t know how to write an essay or wanted to spend the whole class talking back to the teacher. Those who didn’t want to learn were hindering the progress of those that did. The teacher didn’t even get the chance to teach us because they were expected to handle the students that didn’t first. In another class I was bullied everyday by a group of students openly during instructional time and my teacher did nothing but laugh. This is no joking matter.

The letter grade E is used instead of F because it is argued to cause less psychological damage to a student. A failing grade is a failing grade no matter what letter is used and it is earned by those who don’t care to work hard for what they get.

A response to an opinion letter in the Spy proposed that we get rid of “touchy feely classes. Focus on Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, History, and Science… you know, things a kid can use to get a job. Get rid of art, gym, social studies, music, all that optional stuff which is great when times are good but useless when times are tough.”  I am not sure if this was said out of sarcasm but I know this is an opinion shared by many. The “touchy feely” classes are sometimes the only classes that lead unmotivated students to care about school. Our world would not progress without the touchy feely subjects.  There would not be meaning or enjoyment to life without the touchy feely subjects. And why don’t you tell great artists like Annie Liebovitz and Frank Sinatra or athletes like LeBron James that the touchy feely subjects can’t get you a job.  What is so wrong about inspiring humanity in students rather than creating drones who live the same boring lives and have the same boring jobs as the people before them? I may be biased being an A/B student coming from a liberal arts school, Washington College, but it is diversity in education that creates motivation and meaning in life. I would not have made it through school if I didn’t have art as my outlet. Now I am a double major in Art and Psychology planning to combine the two into a career of Art or Occupational therapy. If a student has a talent, why shouldn’t we nurture it rather than ignore it?

This is what schools like Radcliffe Creek School are doing.  You want a school to model after? Take a look at them. They house students in grades k-8 in one school. What’s the difference?  Most of the students have been identified as having some sort of learning problem (and lets face it, today everyone is being diagnosed with learning problems) so the class sizes are small and the education is personalized and multisensory. Through my internship there I saw students draw while reading books, go out and explore the ecology of the creek instead of seeing it in a text boom and learn how to make movies instead of just watching them. You know, the touchy feely things that “can’t” get you a job.  They are also extremely encouraging and motivating setting specific behavioral and academic goals for what each student can achieve instead of standardizing their expectations for everyone and overloading them with material they don’t know how to handle. They work with the parents to understand their child’s educational needs and to motivate them through challenges. This doesn’t have to be just for students with learning differences. And by today’s standards, most students around here when compared to other counties have learning differences. This system costs big bucks, yes, but we won’t get state funding without showing some sort of meaningful effort.

I don’t know if the school consolidation is the right thing to do but I know that in order to tackle the educational problems seen here, we need to start looking at what the REAL problems are.

Kristina Kelley

Washington College Class of 2011

Letter to Editor: School Solution is Proposal Seven

There’s some psycho-babble term for having to know who you are before you can have sound mental health. And there is a business corollary that follows the same process… when it comes to solving a problem.

OK – we’re talking education here… and Thursday night’s hearing at the high school on school consolidation… and most educators have their own proprietary process that is written in some book that tells them all the solutions. And the solution of the moment to solve our local educational problems is consolidating the middle schools into one to be located in Chestertown… and open a new elementary school in Galena in the soon to be old middle school… and move the Rock Hall Elementary School to the soon to be old middle school. Still to be decided is where to house the central office and the alternative school, but it appears a given that those locations will be in the soon to be old Rock Hall Elementary School building.

So… the well-intended solution that is being offered will allow the 6th, 7th and 8th graders access to the arts, Spanish and geometry… plus allow for better teacher collaboration. Sounds simple enough… until you start thinking about the real problem… and all its facets.

The real problem is that the County of Kent is small and we have a small public school system that is shrinking each year. Dr. Michael Harvey, Board of Education president, has done a terrific job of creating numerous Nimble Nine (the smallest counties in Maryland) statistical comparisons. I’m a numbers freak and I love this stuff, but it points out dramatically how small we really are in total population, school population and funding opportunities.

But… small is what we are… and hopefully our slice of paradise will retain its relative smallness. However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be embracing who we are. Hence, the solution doesn’t fit the real problem… nor does it even acknowledge that our smallness has some distinct advantages.

After listening to Dr. Barbara Wheeler, Superintendent, and her staff present their numbers, watching a packaged video handed down from the education-on-high folks… AND nineteen citizens, I’m convinced that if we had been expending all our efforts to make the small rural school system model work, we would be coming up with the real solution that would be preserving our community identity and highlighting the benefits of small schools.

That’s why I’m even more convinced that Proposal #7 is not only a better solution… it will provide us with the real solution. Nineteen folks proved that to me last night.

Robert “Warrior Bob” Kramer

Proposal #7
(Submitted by Bob Kramer, January 29, 2010)

1.    Keep all schools open.

2.    Extend all elementary schools to K through 5th grade.

3.    Move the Alternative School to the High School (or Chestertown Middle School)

4.    Relocate the Central Office to Chestertown Middle School (or the High School). Invest the proceeds from the sale of the 215 Washington Avenue building into one-time educational opportunities so as to not create any tag along operational expenses in future years. There also should be an opportunity to move several Central Office positions to other schools that would create an embedded co-joined sense of involvement in the day to day operations of the individual schools.

5.    Create a strategic Blue Ribbon panel to include parents, educators and citizens (as representatives of the taxpayers) to review:

A.    The state school funding formula. It’s not enough to keep saying that this formula is unfair to our small system. We should present what we feel are the necessary changes that would include a base allocation of funds for every system that would eliminate the economy of scale discrepancies between the large and small systems.

B.    Evaluate the budget prospects for the next three fiscal years and what operational changes would need to be made to operate within those confines.

C.    Delineate what would need to be done to meet all state curriculum requirements within the next three years.

D.   Review all school consolidation possibilities.

E.    Recommend a permanent location for the central office.

F.    Invent the future of KCPS based on a thorough analysis of how the dynamics of STEM, 21st Century, Charter School and Magnet School initiatives can synergized.

G.   Provide a continuous feedback at each BOE meeting… with a final report and recommendations due at the January or February 2011 BOE meeting.

Letter to Editor: 1st District Democrats need to Replace Kratovil

Gore Vidal said a few years ago, “We live in the United States of Amnesia, we don’t remember anything before Monday morning.” He was clearly pointing out that Americans don’t understand or learn from their history.

With all this Tea Party hype from the right, we seem to forget that Barrack Obama’s rise to the presidency was a harsh blowback to eight years of GOP rule that destroyed our economy, weakened our stature in the world, killed 5,500 Americans in two senseless and costly wars, and drove millions of middle class Americans into the deluge of bankruptcy and poverty – mostly due to exploitive health care and lending policies that will take a decade and beyond to heal from.

It is evident that the Democratic Party is slowly growing a spine and emerging to champion the lives of average Americans, as best they can. With leftover propellant from the recent health care victory, the Democrats have launched into a host of other reforms to rescue the middle class, finally!

This all begs the question about the Blue Dog Democrats. Why are they still permitted to remain in the Democratic Party, and why are we allowing the DNC to help Blue Dogs get elected?  A right-winger by any other name is still a right-winger, and the Blue Dogs represent a clear and present danger to the current momentum of progress. When you send what little you have to the DNC, you probably don’t want your money targeted for candidates who don’t truly represent the core values of the party. It’s better to lose to a Republican than pretend we have a Democrat representing us.

First District Congressman Frank Kratovil (D-MD) was squeaked into office, with less than one percent of the vote, with the help of outgoing GOP Congressman Wayne Gilchrest, who came to Kratovil’s aid to kill the hopes of his GOP rival, State Senator Andy Harris, who beat the nine-term Gilchrest in the 2008 GOP Primary by slandering him as “too moderate.”

The alliance of Kratovil and Gilchrest was sealed in a meeting at the New York Kosher Deli on High Street in the early fall of 2008. Gilchrest would campaign for Kratovil, and later vote for Barrack Obama in the general election- telling WBAL TV that the GOP had “become more narrow, more self-serving, more centered around ‘I want, I want, I want.”

But Kratovil has proven to be more conservative than his moderate benefactor, and we Democrats have to remind ourselves every day what happened in the eight years prior to Obama’s election. We can’t let this important lesson of history be lost in an effusion of controversy purveyed by ratings mongers in the cable and radio news industry. As we head into the midterms, the media are playing up the Tea Party Barbie, Sarah Palin, as someone who can actually challenge and share a stage with President Obama. Palin is actually being portrayed as a thinker, strategist, and in some cases, an intellectual. In ordinary times I would like Palin to run against Obama- because everyone would see that Palin is woefully inadequate for the job, but I also thought this in 2000. I assumed Bush-the-younger would be ferreted out as an incompetent frat house jerk, but he got elected. So the focus can no longer be on what the other party is doing. Now more than ever, the Democrats have to add true Democrats to their ranks, weed out the imposters, and sell what the party represents with unabashed abandon.

Kratovil is a pretender, courting both sides of the aisle, and his recent vote against health care reform has not endeared him to conservatives on the Eastern Shore as he’d hoped; the GOP still wants his hide in the 2010 midterm, and they will shower Kratovil’s GOP opponent with serious cash to get it.

Democrats need to stand up for our core principles in the 2010 midterms and fund a true Democrat to take on the likes of Kratovil and these hateful, right wing Tea Party antagonists. Remember that Kratovil stood with the health care giants in their desire to keep rescission and the pre-existing condition exclusion in force. Remember that Kratovil stood with the GOP in denying care to children with pre-existing conditions like cancer and spina bifida. Ask yourself how a father of four could cast a vote that harms the little ones this way? Shame on him!

Let’s also ignore the disingenuous cries of outrage from these hateful right-wing-jihadists about fiscal responsibility and reform. The GOP only started caring about fiscal responsibility and reform when they became the minority. Another lesson of history is that Republicans are notoriously lousy with money.

Write the DNC and demand they find a progressive Democrat to run against Kratovil. Lets remember our recent history beyond Monday morning…… and not repeat it.

Daniel Menefee
Chestertown, Maryland

Letter: Recycling Is More than Money

To the Editor:

I would like to attempt to dispel some of the preconceived notions regarding recycling that the general public seems to hold.  I feel that as the Recycling Coordinator for a 2000 person community I can speak with some accuracy in regards to the larger issue of the surrounding Kent County community.

First of all, recycling is an expensive proposition.  As Ford Schumann states in the commentary (and he is one of the few other people who can speak accurately about recycling, being the head of a recycling company himself), “It has always been a misconception that recycling pays for itself. Recycling easily costs less than landfilling. Even if you have to pay $20/ton to ship a load to a manufacturer that accepts it free, you’re well below the trash tipping fee of $55/ton, not counting shipping. Plus you don’t have to safeguard the recycling for perpetuity and more jobs are created.”

Recycling does not pay for itself.  Recycling will never pay for itself so long as raw materials are cheap and largely subsidized.  Consider the plastic bottle.  Plastic bottles are made of petroleum, i.e. oil, and we all know oil is in short supply.  However, it is so heavily subsidized by the federal government that the price is unnaturally low.  This allows beverage companies to use it copiously to produce plastic bottles for your consumption.  You are not paying the price to them.  They are not paying the price of extracting the oil, particularly from conflict areas.  The federal government (and our soldiers abroad) pays for this with YOUR tax dollars.

After you’ve used a plastic bottle, if it gets recycled, it is then somehow the county government’s responsibility to figure out what to do with it.  They need to put out the money to collect it, and, because people are generally lazy, in Kent County they have chosen to do this via curbside collection to make it as easy as possible.  We have gone a step farther at Washington College, because our community was generally too lazy even to be bothered with curbside.  Instead, we installed 230 fairly expensive bins directly in hallways on campus and employ 10 students to empty them on a weekly basis, and still, STILL, we are not capturing all of the recycling that goes through this campus.  An enormous amount of it goes into the trash, because apparently it is too “inconvenient” to walk ten feet down the hall to the recycling bin.

The fact that the county has been successful with curbside is a stellar recommendation for their efforts and commitment.  But let’s talk costs for a minute.  Here on campus, we have spent thousands of dollars on installing recycling bins (one sturdy bin that is able to hold up to students is approximately $120- just as an aside, this is comparably cheap when placed next to your average public trash can).  We annually (or rather, the federal work study program) pay about $25,000 for student work.  And then there’s me, the only “full” time staff person dedicated to recycling, and considering I am technically only paid half of my salary to do recycling, but spend more like 80% of my time on it, the college is getting a pretty good deal.  It’s expensive.  And, to top it off, we aren’t paying for containers, or hauling.  The county is (thanks, guys).

The point is, we as a society expect to pay to have our trash removed.  We somehow expect recycling, because it is associated with the environmental movement, to pay for itself.  Newsflash: it doesn’t.  It never will, unless oil subsidies vanish and the real cost of raw materials reveals itself (I’m hoping for that option, personally).  Recycling is not, and never will be, saving the environment.  It is diverting a few types of waste away from landfills and converting them (through an extremely energy intensive and expensive process) into other materials.  If we were really concerned about the environment, we wouldn’t be producing the recyclables in the first place, we’d be concentrating on zero waste and reusables.  We’d be holding companies responsible for the products they are creating, so that the cost of dealing with a beverage container was put back on the manufacturer (and the purchaser), NOT the tax-paying public and the municipalities.

But that, of course, would be inconvenient.

In closing, if the county is truly shutting down the recycling program because they are disappointed it’s not more of a money generator, I would really like to see the figures on how much they put out annually for trash removal and tipping fees.  If these costs are covered by the towns (as they typically are), then I move that it should be the responsibility of the towns to pay for recycling as they also pay for trash removal.  And if people are not willing to pay more to live in town and have someone come to their doorstep to pick up their waste, they need not to create so much waste in the first place.

I invite anyone who complains about the expense of recycling to spend a day collecting and transporting recyclables from the public.  After seeing the inordinate amount of materials people waste in the space of a single week, please feel free to come back to me and complain again about the expenses.  All we, the recycling collectors of the world, are trying to do is manage your waste in the most efficient way possible.

Believe me, it’s not a job that receives a lot of thanks.

Tara Holste
Center for Environment & Society
Washington College

Letter: Misguided Over The Bypass

What follows is a brief history of the debate over the bypass. This is intended for the few misguided souls in Chester Harbor who believe a bypass is not needed or should be built else where.

Talk of the need for a bypass first started in the early 1960s. The ensuing debate was over where it should be located and not if it was needed. After years of searching for the best route, the State Highway Administration (SHA) determined, what is known as “relocation of MD-213, N 1 B was the only feasible route.

In December of 1991, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) granted approval with the stipulation of on-grade crossings. After gaining approval, SHA, in their infinite wisdom, decided to block Fey Road. This started the battle again.

This, when brought to the attention of FHWA resulted in SHA starting the process over. SHA has evidently decided that not blocking access was the proper thing to do.

Rational people, such as the State Highway Administration, the commissioners of both Kent and Queen Anne’s Counties, the Town of Chestertown, its planners and many individuals have concluded the bypass is needed. It appears there is no feasible option to building it in the proposed location. While concerns remain over maintenance of the existing bridge, noise reduction, speed limits and some amenities, it only is left to plans being drawn, some required studies to be performed, public hearings and finding the funds, before the bypass becomes a reality.

Joel Brandes

Letter: More FASTC Fuzziness

First the Queen Anne County Commissioners vote unanimously ‘for’ the FASTC Project.  After being run over by a group of activists, they pulled back their support “pending more complete information”.  A public information and forum process began, courtesy of higher level prodding from leaders like Senator Mikulski and Congressman Kratovil.  The County Commissioners dropped out of sight.  But in recent local front-page news accounts, these commissioners tell us they have no role to play (Ransom) and don’t know what else they can do (Wargotz)?  Immediately after these clear statements, they approve motion after motion sending letters to most everyone at every level asking them to weigh in?  They send one to the GSA & State Department requesting a full Environmental Impact Statement?  Why wouldn’t we wait on the findings of the preliminary NEPA process now underway?  Seems once that’s completed, we’ll know whether the additional time & cost of an EIS is warranted?  Certainly this makes sense, especially for the pig balloon toting ‘Anti-Pork’ folks? I’m not clear what role our commissioners want, but certainly their action or lack of action is being observed.

Then Letters to the Editor started arriving.  One stated FASTC supporters “forced the Playa’s NM video off air because it showed the truth?” Conveniently missing was this taxpayer funded local government channel should only air balanced, non-political information, something not found in the Playa’s video. Every (GSA & State department) official asked noted the most comparable existing facility was the Federal Law Enforcement Training center in Georgia, not New Mexico? Could it be the Georgia facility enjoys support from local residents and the business community (it does)?  Another letter said, “Congressman Kratovil won’t meet with us?” Conveniently omitted are the earlier few times the opposition aggressively and un-announced stormed his office, disrupting the workday?  They couldn’t set an appointment?  I suppose I’d hesitate to take a call or meeting too, they’ve made their own bed.

The same group overtook each of the public forums at Queen Anne’s high school creating an uncomfortable environment that kept some citizens from attending.  The opposition either forgets, or ignores, that many here still seek information and have a right to their opinion?  In fact, a majority of our residents, beginning in Centreville and moving co-centrically outward into the county and region are in FAVOR of the FASTC project and this same study shows when more information is provided, favorability increases.  This was reported recently in a poll conducted by Hart Research Associates, Inc. (http://www.hartresearch.com/about/), a nationally known polling organization.  Come to think of it, perhaps the opposition has read this study?

Congressman Kratovil, Senator Mikulski and Senator Cardin work for all residents, not simply a handful.  I’m happy to see the tide has turned as I see, hear and read more and more from average citizens across our region finally weighing in, many in support of FASTC.  Like every challenging contentious issue over time, the opposition always comes out fast, hard and first.  The rest of us, busy with life, families and work assume our leaders have the pulse of everyone they are supposed to represent.  My hope is more people will join this important conversation and become engaged, contact leaders from local to State to Federal levels.  Ask questions, provide observations, and offer ideas and solutions and not simply emotional rhetoric from either side or opinion.

High emotions with clever ‘save farms’ signs look neat in newspapers & on television, but they aren’t so nice for our daily scenery, or the environment. Here’s a question: aren’t the diehard environmentalists the same ones who’ve battled farming for damages they cause the Bay?  How’d this one single “For Sale” farm move over to the ‘Save’ category anyway?

Steve Donovan
Centreville, MD

Volunteer, Queen Anne’s County Economic Development Commission
Member Queen Anne’s County Chamber of Commerce

Letter to Editor: Last Chance for Health Insurance Reform

Music to my ears! “Seeing no prospect of a bipartisan agreement on health care, congressional Democrats say they will make another effort to pass sweeping health care legislation on their own.” (N.Y. Times Feb. 27)

Obama, Pelosi, and Reid realize that (1) the U.S. electorate—by a wide margin—delivered the White House and substantial majorities in both houses to Democratic candidates who said they’d reform health insurance; and (2) it’s time to deliver.

Even Steny Hoyer has found his missing backbone: “The No. 2 Republican in the House, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, asked the House Democratic leader, Rep. Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, to renounce use of the budget reconciliation procedure for health care. But in an exchange on the House floor on [Feb. 26], Mr. Hoyer refused to do so. Use of the procedure is ‘in the Republican tradition,’ Mr. Hoyer said. In any event, he said, Senate rules requiring a 60-vote majority to cut off a filibuster ‘are impeding the work of the American people.’” (Ibid)

Either South Carolina’s Sen. Jim DeMint was right, that health insurance reform “will be Obama’s Waterloo,” or he wasn’t.

Can we assume that Rep. Frank Kratovil—blue dog morphing into lame duck—will do something right to remember him by and vote for health insurance reform now?

Gren Whitman

Letter to Editor: Taxes will go up with FASTC

Several weeks ago, Clayton A Mitchell, an attorney from Stevensville, placed an op-ed in the Spy supporting the proposed FASTC Hard Skills Training Center. Two thirds of the letter was spent in explaining how this proposed facility was vital to national defense, and “Queen Anne’s County must ‘step up to the plate’…. with overwhelming support.” Never in any discussion have I heard any person opposed to the facility in QAC say that personnel should not be adequately trained. They simply say that Ruthsburg is a poor choice of location for a military training facility, and also extremely expensive, particularly when the government already owns so much land that could be used for the facility. The last third of the letter describes how life on the Eastern Shore will decay without the facility and “lead to certain…higher tax rates.”

Mr. Mitchell’s economic projections are not supported by any data. In fact, the FASTC team trying to sell the program says that no economic studies have been made, that they are underway, and it will be several weeks before they are complete, and they are unable to say what economic benefit, if any, will come to the County if the Hard Skills facility is installed until these studies are complete.

The proposed hard skills facility hits the county with a triple-whammy for a tax increase. Not only are we taking away 2000 acres of tax positive farmland, we are substituting for it a business which pays zero taxes, and takes even more land for tax negative residential use for employees of that business which pays no taxes. I don’t believe anyone could study the numbers involved without predicting a tax increase for the County. The American Farmland Trust has run over 100 studies of counties and areas like ours, and every single one of them has shown that residential land use cost the county more than it collected in taxes on that land and its improvements. Only by taxing other sectors of the community (industrial, commercial, farmland and open space and forests) more than the cost of services provided to them, is the county able to maintain a balanced budget.

Let’s look at the study made for our neighbor, Kent County Maryland

Residential cost $1,065M more in services than it paid in taxes. Industrial/commercial paid $1.001M more than it costs, and Farm/Open Land paid $1.2M more than it costs in services. Think what would happen to Kent County if they suddenly took away 2000 acres of taxpaying farmland and added additional residential land to support the new people working in that non-taxpaying former agricultural area.  Their budget surplus would soon be eaten up, and taxes would have to be increased. One might suggest that the other businesses that would start up, like service stations and plumbing/heating companies, would provide industrial/commercial tax increases to the County. But those tax increases will go to offset the losses on the residences of employees who are employed in those support businesses, plus make up for the taxes lost on the 2000 acres of farmland used by the State Department Facility, plus play for additional expense to the county of having an additional 500 residences in the county.

This proposed training center brings us traffic, noise, pollution, and damage to our agricultural base. This study indicated that it would also bring tax increases to us.

The two studies that support these figures can be found at the following websites:

http://www.farmland.org/programs/states/documents

www.farmlandinfo.org/documents

Bob Simmons
Reed Creek Farm
Centreville, MD

To the Editor: A Chestertown Fire by Trams Hollingsworth

It hadn’t been my best week.  I was spinning my wheels.  Literally and figuratively.  My long country lane was almost impassible with deep ruts of slush and mud.  The first days of the week I’d spent caring for my elderly mother.  She had gotten, and then generously shared with other family and friends, a virulent norovirus.  This bug had landed one of my mom’s caretakers in the hospital.  It landed me, purged and exhausted, on the bathroom floor.  But I woke up Friday morning feeling better and with an odd, for this week, attitude of optimism.  This, I thought, will be a better day.  And that’s when a neighbor called to tell me that my house on Kent Street was on fire.

I was numb with fear as I slid down my lane and sped toward town.  I love the purple house in inverse proportion to it’s size.  It might be the smallest house in Chestertown.  It began as a log-and-chink cabin, a slave house or an outside  kitchen (we’ve heard both) that was long ago transported from a country estate to Kent St.  I was imagining, as I drove, all the happy history of my little purple house up in smoke.  But mostly I was scared for our tenants who are also our friends.  I’d been told they were not home.  But  I knew that much of their family history was stored inside this happy house.  My friend had proudly pointed out the furniture she’d recently inherited from her mother. But her most valuable possessions, like mine, were the boxes of photographs and letters that we all plan to sort through one day.  I imagined these boxes in flames and I was consumed by sadness on my short drive to town.

In the few minutes it took me to reach the site, the Chestertown Volunteer Fire Company had already blocked the street.  At some point when I was able to focus I counted six fire trucks in front of my house.  But I wasn’t focusing at first.  All I registered were  firemen, a few at a time, entering and exiting my house through a tunnel of black smoke.   A score of other firemen standing ready in the street.  I knew the tenants were not inside but…

“There’s a cat inside!” I started screaming as I ran into their midst.

Everyone stopped what they were doing in attention. Then those brave firemen designated to respond to this emergency went back through the axe-broken front door.  In less time that it took to be terrified, a cat who had always been the color of smoke came scooting out of the house and into the yard.  And everybody, the throng of careful neighbors, the local insurance agent already on the scene, and a brigade of canvas-bundled firemen started clapping and cheering.  Grey Kitty, the neighborhood’s once-feral now community-spoiled cat was safe.

Next I stood in my neighbors’ side yard and watched our fire company at work.  Soon there was a big hole in the side of my house.  I could see firemen with crowbars prying  boards from inside and throwing these flaming javelins through the hole into the snowy yard where they were extinguished.  The smoke, once floor to ceiling, was clearing.  But flaming missiles kept flying through the hole into a high pile of char.   It would be much later when I realized that the many water hoses held ready in the street were never turned on inside the house.  It would be only hypothetical by the time I wondered how much water it would have taken to dissolve a two-hundred year old log and chink historic cabin.

Then, as I looked through the hole into my house, I was surprised to see my tenant.  He had been working in Galena when he got the call that his house was on fire.  I recalled the terror of my two-minute drive and wondered how he’d managed his twenty minutes of not knowing.  But there he was waving me inside to where he stood with the firemen.  He was dazed I’m sure.  I’m also sure he had this weird grin.

“It’s funny what you think about,”  he told me later.  “I wouldn’t allow myself to hope that the old wooden house would be standing.”

Where his irrational brain had taken him on his terrible drive to town were the recent days he’d spent here trying to get his income taxes in order.  The hours he’d spent finding and organizing all the papers he needed to compile this report.  And how he’d piled them on the dining room table.  Somehow his sense of emotional self-preservation had not allowed him to think of the boxes of family photos but had focused him on these piles of tax papers.  “Look,” he said pointing to the dining room table now framed by the charred studs of what had been the wall of our house.  And there, a little sooty but there, were his neat piles of tax papers.  We both looked incredulously at the firemen still milling about who had made this crazy relief a reality.

This is how a big black hole in your little purple house can make you feel very, very lucky.  Lucky that you live in Chestertown.  Where a neighbor smells smoke and goes looking for its source.  Where another neighbor pushing a stroller calls 911.  Where firemen arrive almost instantly.  Where they go bravely into your smoking, burning house and make the careful assessment that they will try to save it from the easier but devastating dousing.  Where  more neighbors and friends have gathered to offer support for the owners and temporary residence for the tenants.  And best of all for the community of all who cheered so loudly when the once-feral, now-cuddled cat comes scooting into the crowd.

There is a lot to be thankful for when you live in this careful town.  Firemen and friends are at the top of my list as I finish this story.  Thank you.

Sincerely.

Trams Hollingsworth
Owner of the Little Purple House
Still standing on Kent Street

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