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Kent County Complains
Dear Bay Weekly:
Regarding your article in “Best of the Bay” [Vol. IX. No. 34, August 16-22] unless he’s made a covert departure and relocation that I am not aware of, Congressman Wayne Gilchrest is raising his family in Kent County, not on Kent Island.
I should know, I am a proud Kent County native, I currently reside in Chestertown, and Mr. Gilchrest was my 9th grade civics teacher who, many, many years ago, annually thrilled his students by frying and eating grasshoppers right in the classroom. We Kent Countians are unapologetically boastful of the fact that he is one of us.
So please stop making the same mistake that only those who have had the misfortune to have spent their lives on the other side of the Bay commonly do, and that subsequently sets a Kent Countian’s blood on fire: Kent Island is no part of Kent County and the two are not interchangeable.
Thank God and ’nuff said.
— Dorcas Coleman, Kent County
Editor’s note: That’s a mistake we won’t make again.
Say No to No-Discharge Zones
Dear Bay Weekly:
I just read your editorial “No-Discharge Zones a Prudent Step Toward Bay Health” [Vol. IX No. 29, July 19-25] regarding your endorsement of no discharge zones on the Bay. I have to say that I believe that you have missed the point. There are already laws on the books to stop the dumping of raw sewage into the water. Municipalities are the number-one source of raw sewage discharge.
With regard to boaters, there are already laws about dumping raw sewage into waterways. However, instead of trying to stem this flow, the governor, Maryland Department of Natural Resources and your publication are trying to stop USCG and EPA-legal discharge of treated waste. Has anyone done a study to see the impact to the Bay of dumping legally treated sewage?
Clean water is in everybody’s interest. However, let’s not add more laws to include folks that have chosen a perfectly legal route (Type I or Type II MSDs) for eliminating their boating wastes.
I am a responsible boater with a Bristol 40 yawl on Rock Creek off the Patapsco and a Bay sailor for 25 years. For full disclosure, I have a Type I MSD installed.
Regards,
— Scott Rosenthal, [email protected]
Repaving Narrows Options
Dear Bay Weekly:
When Route 256 in Southern Anne Arundel County was recently paved, I was gleeful thinking this thoroughfare would become safer for bicyclists, walkers and runners. Sadly, that turned out not to be the case. Many of the shoulders of Route 256 are narrower now than they were before. We the taxpayers were denied a golden opportunity to increase safety on this busy street.
My bicycle is my car. People who walk, run or bike to the local stores have no sidewalks. We need wide road shoulders for safety. Since we do not have them, the speed limit on Route 256 should be reduced.
Let’s make South County biker- and walker- and runner-friendly. Let’s insist on wider shoulders.
— Carolyn Stearns, Deale
We welcome your letters and opinions. We will edit when necessary. Include your name, address and phone number for verification. Mail them to Bay Weekly, P.O. Box 358, Deale, MD 20751 E-mail them to us at [email protected].
Copyright 2001
Bay Weekly
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