We welcome your opinions and letters — with name and address. 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].

---

Senators and Delegates: Don’t Kill the Flush Tax
Dear Bay Weekly:
According to The Washington Post, the flush tax is dead. I’m kicking myself for not voicing my opinion before now.

I am a Democrat and did not vote for the governor, but I thought his proposal was the brightest ray of hope for the Chesapeake that we have seen in a long time. If it is not too late, I urge members of the legislature to find common ground on this issue. If not now, when?

The condition of the Bay is old, old news. But there are signs that people are waking up to the issue. The governor’s initiative, Prof. Howard Ernst’s new book, Chesapeake Bay Blues, and the tougher attitude demonstrated by organizations like Chesapeake Bay Foundation are hopeful signs that there is support for political action. The revenue that the initiative would raise is desperately needed to resuscitate our dying national treasure. We urgently need the legislature to do whatever it can this year.

Please pass something. Don’t allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good. There must be something that the majority can agree on this year. Whatever can be passed now might be improved upon in the future. We have to start somewhere.

Chesapeake Bay is our Grand Canyon, it is our Yosemite, it is our Yellowstone. The state of the Bay is a disgrace and a tragedy for which we are all to blame in some measure. You and I and thousands of Marylanders know what it was like to enjoy the crabs, oysters and fin fish. Now what is left of the harvest? It is virtually gone and so is the industry the Bay supported.

Save the Bay. The slogan has been spoken so many times to no avail that it has become trivial. Save the Bay? We might as well have been saying Pave the Bay. The cars that bore the white-on-blue bumpers stickers must have all gone to the junk yard because I don’t see them anymore. The fact is, the Bay has never been more in need of saving. I say, Save Chesapeake Bay — Now!

I apologize for the lecture, but without political action Chesapeake Bay is doomed to continue its slow death. If Maryland’s elected officials don’t lead the effort to save the Chesapeake, who in God’s name will?

— Gary Pendleton, North Beach

More Basketball Metaphors
Dear Bay Weekly:
I would like you to consider using only the metaphor of basketball for all articles in your delightful publication. It certainly worked well with the recent piece on politics [“In the Sport of Elections, March Madness Starts Early,” Vol. XII, No. 9: Feb. 26]. Okay, perhaps a moderated version would be to use it just during the basketball season, leaving summer and fall for the lesser metaphors. I’m just heaving this up to see if it will swish or clank off the rim.

—Doug Kamholz, Springfield, Illinois

Congratulations on Triple Win
Dear Bay Weekly:
I was pleased to see your much-deserved recognition [“Bay Weekly Scores Triple Win,” Vol. XII, No. 12: March 18]. It reflects the quality and standards of you and your staff.

—Tim Laur, Edgewater