Articles by All

Article - Correspondence; by Dr. George N. Demas - 10/28/10

Read, Then Vote

Dear Bay Weekly: I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Bay Weekly for its excellent primary election issue. Nowhere else can a voter find such a comprehensive, unbiased guide to the local candidates. This election, I made a point to save all the campaign literature that arrived at my door and in my mailbox. Now that the election approaches, I have a pile six inches thick. I have to take to screening my calls every evening due to campaign calls. I am sure many voters feel as I...

Article - Correspondence; by Elisavietta Ritchie - 10/28/10

Windmills Are Great, But …

Dear Bay Weekly: This debate on the windmills [Pulling Pennies from the Air and The TALL Price of Power, Sept. 30; Correspondence, October 14; Letter from the Editor, October 21] is interesting indeed. A young acquaintance who was going into the business offered to install one at the edge of our wetlands. While spiritually and practically we were all for it, we remembered the constant noise we have heard passing fields of windmills, and we knew we would go nuts with one in our back yard...

Article - Correspondence; by Abby Ybarra - 10/28/10

Now You See It, Now You Don’t

Dear Bay Weekly: How time flies by. Nothing shows the passage of time like physical changes. I read that the last house on Holland Island has fallen into the Bay. This was the same island we used as the stopping-off location for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation kayak trips with Don Baugh and Tom Horton. It was my first trip into the Bay, and I also wrote about my experiences Up Close and Personal for my first Bay Weekly story [Aug. 16, 2001]. Now I am amazed to see the whole island gone....

Article - News; by Sandra Olivetti Martin with Katie Dodd - 10/28/10

Bay Weekly’s 2010 Election Educator

The candidates speak for themselves on our Bay and communities

This election is like few others we’ve seen. With so many voters fed up with the course of governing — and with so many candidates struggling to tap into this palpable anger — 2010 brings a new strain of the old throw-out-the-bums electoral fever. There’s demagoguery out there, too, in this season of discontent. So it’s hard to know who’s telling it straight and who’s trying to exploit our body politic at a vulnerable moment. When and Where...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Dick Wilson - 10/21/10

Bay Theatre Company’s Lips Together, Teeth Apart

The title’s a metaphor; this play’s a triumph

We hear a lot these days about relationships. There’s the romantic kind, and then there are other kinds: husband/wife, brother/sister, parent/offspring as well as the illicit kind, among others, some of which migrate from one form to another. In Bay Theatre’s fine new production, Lips Together, Teeth Apart (we’ll discuss the title later; stick with me), we see relationships that are stretched to the breaking point. Two married couples are spending a holiday weekend at a beach...

Article - Creature Feature; by Aries Matheos - 10/21/10

It’s a Good Time to Be a Squirrel

Mast year creates a bounty of acorns, which should lead to a bounty of bushy tails next year

Which came first, the acorn or the squirrel? Whichever you prefer, both will be doing exceptionally well this year as acorns fill the forest floor and squirrels’ stomachs. For both species, 2010 is a mast year. “The term mast year refers to a year with an abundant mast crop, mast being the generic term for the fruits of forest trees,” explains Kenneth Jolly of Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ Forest Service. These years mostly depend on climatic variations...

Article - People; by Amy Russell - 10/21/10

A Passion for Politics

To help you vote, Shukoor Ahmed has an election app for your smart phone

With elections just days away, Shukoor Ahmed is working quickly to spread the word of his company’s latest smart phone application for Maryland voters. Ahmed combined his passion for politics with his entrepreneurial spirit to make a livelihood with voting tools. “I am politically active,” says the 48-year-old Bowie resident, who says he is living the American dream after immigrating from India 18 years ago with $500 in his pocket. “So my friends call me when they have...

Article - Earth Journal by Gary Pendleton; by Gary Pendleton - 10/21/10

The Great Raptor Migration

Fall’s cool, western winds drive birds of prey our way

Fall is the time for raptor migration. For a few days after a cold front, when the wind comes from the west or north, hawks, eagles and falcons pass overhead in large numbers. It could be that cooler temperatures stimulate a response that makes the birds move. Places to visit: Fort Smallwood Park, Pasadena; Sandy Point State Park, Annapolis. Classes and field trips to see and identify hawks: The Audubon Naturalist Society, www.audubonnaturalist.org. Books: Hawks in Flight by...

Article - Correspondence; by Paul Jacobs - 10/21/10

Two Great Boat Shows in a Great Town

Dear Bay Weekly: Steve Carr wrote a great article on the United States Yacht Shows [Where We Live: Oct. 7]. To answer his question, technically, we are the oldest and largest in-water new sailboat show in the world. We are also the oldest in-water powerboat show. Since most other boat shows in the world are made up of both power and sail, neither providing the critical mass to stand alone, we can boast these things. Another interesting item to research would be where we stand in the world...

Article - Correspondence; by Frank L. Fox - 10/21/10

No Third Nuke Is Not All Bad

Dear Bay Weekly: Constellation Energy, the parent company of BGE, has indicated that because more taxpayer dollars were not offered in loan guarantees or rebates, it will quit the effort to build a third nuclear reactor at the current Calvert Cliffs generation site. Last week Rep. Steny Hoyer said he will attempt to restart the failed process. If he fails, Southern Maryland will apparently lose thousands of temporary construction jobs that would have been needed for the project. Yet we will be...