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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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Battling a Bandstand in Community Back Yards

Dear Bay Weekly:

The St. Leonard Volunteer Fire Department’s efforts to make the bandstand a permanent one in the middle of the St. Leonard community is appalling [Battle of the Bandstands: Vol. xiv, No. 33: Aug. 17]. Was there any kind of an impact study done before permission was given? Was any consideration given to the noise confronted by nearby residents? Didn’t anyone see the problems that parking would be in our community? Were there any zoning concerns? Guess not.

The St. Leonard community in no way mirrors the kind of chaos that these concerts bring to this serene and once quiet place along the Bay. And, the fact that Daniel ‘DO’ Baker “promises” to make “concerts the permanent part of their fundraising efforts” as pointed out in your article, is frightening.

Commissioner Susan Shaw stated that “the county has no control” over this project. Well, is it not the commissioners’ responsibility to the community to at least find out what an impact such a project would make? Her laid-back comment was not what many of our residents in St. Leonard wanted to hear.

I have nothing to say regarding the other bandstand in Solomons. I don’t live there. However, as a homeowner in St. Leonard, this monstrosity in the middle of our town center is ludicrous. And, I might add, not exactly an enhancement to our property values.

Such an entertainment center as the VFD Bandstand should have easy access in and out of the concert grounds. This does not. Concertgoers park their cars all over the place, cramming our streets to Rt. 4 and not giving much concern for private property.

The congestion these concerts cause is mind boggling and seemingly something that we homeowners must now tolerate for the good of the St. Leonard VFD. I am well aware of the difficulty of raising funds, and I am not blind to the tremendous job that is done by our volunteers; however, this bandstand was a poor choice in light of the damage being done to the community.

St. Leonard Visionary committee is now in the process of developing a picturesque town center, and this bandstand is not what the planners had in mind. Returning to our home one evening, we had to drive through what seemed an obstacle course of parked cars and concert fans amid the sound of beer and soda cans being tossed around.

I would hope that those in charge of this venture would reconsider making the bandstand a permanent fixture in our community. Or move it to Susan Shaw’s backyard.

—Barry P. Grier, St. Leonard

Cover That [Fish] Belly

Dear Bay Weekly:

I am writing in response to the picture on the front of your most recent issue of Bay Weekly [Vo. xiv, No 34: Aug. 24]. I am shocked and appalled that such a suggestive picture is on the front page of your publication. Such a wanton display of naked fish belly aggrieves my sensibilities.

I say to you, put some pants on that fish! It offends me that he is not properly attired for the cover of a paper seen by children, the elderly and other equally minded sensible people such as myself.

—Mark Behuncik, Shady Side