Articles by All

Article - News; by Ashley Brotherton - 4/4/13

Name That Bird

Maryland’s license plate heron in identity crisis

You see him every time you drive to pick up Chinese. He’s lined up in the grocery store parking lot. You stare at him during rush hour. And now, you get to name him. He — or is it she? — is the blue heron on Maryland’s Treasure the Chesapeake licenses plates. Who would have thought such a popular bird was nameless? After 27 years, the bird is in identity as well as gender crisis. A name will not only solve those...

Article - News; by Cathryn Williams Freeberger - 4/4/13

Stemming the Tide

New law funds spay-neutering with pet food surcharge

To combat shelter overpopulation and reduce the number of homeless animals euthanized, the Maryland General Assembly has passed the Animal Welfare-Spay/Neuter Fund-Establishment bill. Annual taxpayers savings of $8 to $9 million are projected. The measure, which provides grant funding to rescue groups, shelters and animal control agencies, was developed by a task force appointed by Gov. Martin O’Malley in 2011. It recommended a program model used in other states,...

Article - Creature Feature; by Michelle Steel - 4/4/13

Party Animals

Bubbles and Squeak invite you to join the fun

Calvert Marine Museum’s most popular residents, river otters Bubbles and Squeak, are throwing parties to subsidize their enriched lifestyle. The parties invite up to six guests over for breakfast. Bubbles and Squeak eat while guests look on and learn from estuarine biologist David Moyer. During breakfast, the otters paint, and after the party-goers collectively choose an authentic otter artwork that is clear-coated, named and authenticated. The...

Article - Correspondence; by Jean Radeackar - 4/4/13

Life-Saving Cat Needs a Home

Tiger the orange tabby cat has been the resident blood donor at Mid-Atlantic Animal Specialty Hospital in Huntingtown for the past five years, saving hundreds of animal lives with his blood. At the age of seven and too old to continue in the job, he’s retiring. Now the cat that gave so much needs a home. Tiger wants to spend his retirement in a home with room to run around and chase toys, and he’d like a sunbathing window. He gets along with other animals and...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 4/4/13

These Are the People in Our Neighborhood

Bay Weekly tells you their stories

Chesapeake Country has so many denizens, and each has a story. Those stories flood into Bay Weekly. Nowadays most come to us by email, though personal visit, phone, fax, the postal service still add to the flow. Writers with open eyes and noses for news alert us to still more. Our advertising team adds to the volume, bringing us news of the many businesses of Chesapeake Country. They all come across my desk, on the way to making each week’s paper. Sitting in that...

Article - News; by Cathryn Williams Freeburger - 4/4/13

The Rescuers

Helping cats and kittens on their way to adoption

Perfection: our younger son, a philosophy major, insists there is no such thing. I disagree, because nature provided kittens. True, kittens don’t stay kittens for as long as I’d like. Our house is too small to continually add more. So until we can retire to a cat ranch, my husband and I enjoy perpetual kittens as part of a five-county foster-home network. The payoff is twofold: along with contributing to an orphan’s bright future, we get the playtime fun a...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 3/28/13

Spotted Seatrout Lovers, Rejoice

DNR is planning a trophy fishery for specs

The fish hit my Clouser streamer fly as it sank at the end of a long cast. I was waist deep, wading off Thomas Point and had not seen any action that evening. Surprised, I cinched the fish up and had it quickly on the reel. The rascal realized its predicament and began to take drag as it made its first run. I judged it was a rockfish. But this fish acted differently. There was not a lot of head-shaking, just a firm surging run, first in one direction, then another....

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Davina Grace Hill - 3/28/13

Colonial Players’ 1776

See a Congress of courage and passion, theater of vision and great musical entertainment

In 1969, Peter Stone and Sherman Edwards created 1776, a compelling historical musical. (Have those three descriptive words ever before been used together?) Their play depicts the debates, passions and courage it took to craft the Declaration of Independence and start along the path to creating this new country, the United States of America. 1776 won the 1969 Best Musical Tony Award. It is an almost perfect amalgam of strong music, humorous one-liners and passionate...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 3/28/13

Olympus Has Fallen

Gerard Butler is an army of one in this problematic action flick

Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler: Movie 43) was a beloved guardian of President Asher’s (Aaron Eckhart: Erased) family. When danger struck, his snap decision lead to tragedy and exile from the personal protection detail. Now in a dead-end job with the Treasury, Banning gets his chance at redemption when a team of North Korean radicals infiltrate the White House — code named Olympus — and take the president hostage. The terrorists wipe out...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin - 3/28/13

Good for the Body and the Soul

But it takes science for it to work

Gardening is the most popular of all hobbies. In addition to giving you hours of relaxation, it is good exercise. Gardening forces you to go outside, bringing you closer to nature. Whether you are growing vegetables, flowers or woody plants, gardening provides great satisfaction. Dorothy Frances Gurney says it all: The kiss of the sun for pardon; The song of the birds for mirth; One is nearer God’s heart in...