Letters to the Editor

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 [email protected]. or submit your letters on line, click here

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Fertilizing the Roads

Dear Bay Weekly:

I read with interest Mark Burns’ article on fox hunting [“The Know-Nothing’s Guide to the Dos and Don’ts of Fox Chasing,” Vol. xiii, No. 49: Dec. 8, 2005]. I would like to point out to Mr. Burns that on our road, the fox hunters do not ride along the shoulder but walk their horses on the road. They congregate in small groups of six to eight horses at various points, I assume to wait for the hounds to find the fox. This creates large quantities of fertilizer not on the shoulder of the road but in large piles randomly along the road for about a mile.

They have had a hunt twice in the past several weeks, and our road is a mess. With each rain, it is spread even more. This makes it almost impossible to go for a walk (not to mention what gets in the tire treads and tracked in our garage). I am a horse lover and rode often when I was young, but never on a hard-surfaced road. I would be very happy if they would ride on the shoulder or come along after the hunt and shovel the fertilizer to the shoulder.

—Shirley Elliott. Saint Leonard

How Smoke Friendly Is Maryland?

Dear Bay Weekly:

If you believe John O’Hara and his monthly agitprop about smoking that he sends to Bay Weekly [Letters, Vol. xiii, No 51: Dec. 22], you would think that we are choking in a sea of a tobacco-enduced haze when we go out to eat or go out to shop. Nothing could be further from the truth.

How many stores in Anne Arundel County do you know of that allow smoking on premises? How many restaurants do you know of that have no non-smoking section? How many people do you see walking down the middle of Annapolis Mall smoking a cigarette? None, of course. And why is that? These private companies and individuals choose to make those decisions.

Though Mr. O’Hara probably hopes otherwise, we have the freedom of choice in this country. Private landowners, private entrepreneus and private business owners can make whatever decisions they choose concerning smoking on their premises. They have that right. I also think state lawmakers realize that we as Marylanders also have freedom to enjoy such products, no matter the fanatical zealousness put forth in Mr. O’Hara’s anti-freedom attitude.

—Edwin M. Cole, Mayo

Editor’s note: Not quite so free. As a health issue, the state of Maryland bans smoking in most workplaces. Bars and clubs are exceptions that may allow smoking unless further restricted by local law. Tobaccoists are exempt, as are up to 40 percent of hotel and motel rooms and 40 percent of the premises of a fraternal, religious, patriotic or charitable organization, fire company or rescue squad during events open to the public and held on their property.