Editorial

Welcome the Year of the Dog

Long-time readers will recall Bay Weekly’s former receptionist, a huge yellow Labrador retriever named Max who had feet the size of Frisbees.

Max became better known in the region than most of us at Bay Weekly. When he wasn’t managing the office or working as greeter, Max was a model. He was sketched and even painted in oil, and his large head could be seen in our promos and ads. Word came back from advertisers that Max could sell just about anything.

He also posed for several Bay Weekly covers. In one, he was photographed staring forlornly at mounds of trash and assorted flotsam washed up on Chesapeake shores when powers up north had opened Conowingo Dam.

“Look left, fella. Perfect; now don’t move,” one of us, camera in hand, would say.

He would oblige; he was smarter than a couple of our early reporters.

Max died of natural causes in 2001, and nothing in the paper has ever drawn more reader response than editor Sandra Olivetti Martin’s reflection recounting the life of this champion.

You may or may not have noticed, but last weekend was one of the most celebrated holidays on earth: Chinese New Year.

And luck would have it that under the Chinese Zodiac calendar, this is the Year of the Dog.

We say luck because this week we are announcing the hiring of a new Bay Weekly receptionist. Part-time until he behaves.

His name is Moe, and, you guessed it, he’s a little yellow Lab. He comes from a litter of 16 (13 lived) raised lovingly by Donna Schmitz, who teaches art at Lothian Elementary School and at her Art in the Attic summer camp.

People have asked us for five years when we were going to “replace” Max. We said, “You can replace a transmission. You can even replace a spouse. But you can’t replace your dog.”

If you’re a dog lover, you understand.

That said, Moe is snoozing just now, but any moment he’ll awaken to chew on a computer cord or demand a snack.

No, he won’t be filling the big footprints Max left in our memories. But, we can report, he’ll be hauling himself around on some prodigious pods of his own.

And what more fitting way can we proclaim, at the Year of the Dog, Happy New Year!