Your Say: Dec. 13-19, 2018

More Animal Lovers Needed

       I volunteer at the Prince George’s County Animal Management Office on Brown Station Road in Bowie. Many times I am the only volunteer there. This is a huge difference from the AA SPCA in Eastport. At any given time, there were five to 10 other volunteers there with me. Lots of these Prince George’s dogs are housebroken, surrendered due to foreclosure or eviction. Seeing them frantic to go outside in the morning is heartbreaking.

       For people in Deale and much of Southern Anne Arundel County, the shelter is only 18 minutes away (a lot closer than any other). Students who volunteer get credit toward community service. Walking dogs is a great way for folks to keep their New Year’s resolutions of helping others, getting healthy, being kind or just scooping a little more poop than they did last year.

       The next training is Saturday, December 22 at 10am at 3750 Brown Station Rd., Bowie: 301-780-7201. We’d love to see you there!

–Laurie Duke, Churchton

 

Tangier Island Lost?

      As I read of the shrinking Tangier Island, I munched on chocolate chip cookies, not of my own creation, but of something Betty Crocker manufactured. I wiped the crumbs off the sad words. I feel sadness seeping forth. For people who may soon lose a precious way of life. I hope that soon, this new year, that the $2.6 million jetty is piled high, protecting the eroding shoreline.

       I reflect on my own shoreline, now aging, but alas, there are no barriers I can erect. Mother Nature erases my shoreline, as well as Tangier’s. 

      As I finish one more cookie, nostalgia fills me with memories of past times. Remembering Chesapeake Beach, the rides, an actual beach, music flowing from the dance floor and also the diminished Mayo Beach I once visited 50 plus years ago.

      The story has given me a plan for this spring. I will visit the tiny island and take along a good-sized rock from my garden as requested by Mayor Eskridge, to be added to the jetty. One small rock for the island’s safety. 

–Vicki Marsh, Churchton