You’ve got no control over where most of your tax dollars go. The exception is Line 35 on the Maryland state income tax form. Check that line and you make a direct contribution to Chesapeake Bay and the Endangered Species Fund. The Fund — split evenly between the Chesapeake Bay Trust and Maryland Department of Natural Resources — supports Bay restoration and conserves native wildlife and endangered species.     Last year, the tax check-off amounted to more than...

The results of my Fairhaven neighbors’ trudgery lined the roads: piles of tires, rusted bed springs and auto parts, heavy old televisions and fat black sacks stuffed with litter. Anne Arundel County hauled the loot away, and our roads and fields were blessedly clean — for about 24 hours.     Then the litter showers resumed, starting with a sprinkling of fast-food trash and stepping up, within the week, to more tires. They, like the mattress and television and couch...

This year’s Maryland migratory bird stamp and bear stamp hunt bagged 23 entries. Their images are judged this weekend as part of the 23rd Annual Friends of Patuxent Wildlife Art Show and Sale at the National Wildlife Visitor Center in Laurel.     Judging takes three rounds in each competition starting with the bird stamp followed by the bear stamp.     All the entries are on display, and artists have been invited.     Judges work against the...

Maryland Day is our version of Columbus Day.         On March 25, 1634, voyagers from the ships the Ark and the Dove celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving for surviving their long voyage, coming to land safely on a Potomac River island and negotiating a peace accord with the Piscataway Indians.     Those were smart Indians; they suggested the colonists go elsewhere. Thus St. Mary’s City, not St. Clement’s Island, became the seat of the Lord...