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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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High on Lower Marlboro

Dear Bay Weekly:

I’m way behind in complimenting Bay Weekly on its epic Earth Day/Birthday edition [Vol. xv, No.16: April 19] and the tremendous 2007 Gardening Guide [Vol. XV, No. 17: April 26]. Both will guide me for many months to come.

The 8 Days a Week calendar led me to fabulous finds in Lower Marlboro: the open house at Lower Marlboro Nursery, a small nursery dedicated to the preservation of plants native to the Eastern United States (and a labor of love of owner/grower Mary Stuart Sierra); Fridays Creek Winery with vintage restored tobacco barn where barrels of wine ready for tasting prove what was good for tobacco is even better for grapes (and where hosts welcomed us despite being a day early for its open house); and Mellomar Golf Park with regulation and Par 3 course and driving range.

Nestled on the Patuxent River, Lower Marlboro hasn’t made history since the War of 1812. It made history with me, finding the quiet and quality of this little burg charming. Thanks for guiding me there.

—M.L. Faunce, Churchton

Keep Circus Elephants off Bay Weekly

Dear Bay Weekly:

I wish you would stop featuring ads and covers for circuses that use live animals. There’s something very disconcerting about getting one of my favorite local publications and seeing a majestic elephant performing unnatural tricks on your cover (your April 26 edition, Vol. xv, No. 17).

Many of us don’t support these practices; we believe these animals are unhappy and exploited as human entertainment. We’ve all heard of horror stories on how they are often not treated well and carelessly discarded once they are no longer “useful.”

—Cris Melo, Arnold

Seeking Box Turtle Sanctuary

Dear Bay Weekly:

Some time ago I heard that someone who lives in Deale is providing a sanctuary for box turtles. I would greatly appreciate it if some one would call me and give me the name and telephone number of this person.

I have always been interested in these little creatures, and I would like to come for a visit … and I would be glad to make a donation to buy a few extra worms!

—Wendel Allen, Virginia

Editor’s note: We don’t know of such a sanctuary, but we called in terrapin expert Marguerite Whilden, who offers this advice:

A Box Turtle Conservation Workshop will be held November 9-10, 2007 at Patuxent Research Refuge’s National Wildlife Visitor Center in Laurel, Maryland. Sponsored by Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary, The Humane Society of the United States and the North Carolina Zoological Park, this is the third in a series of workshops aimed at bringing together individuals actively engaged in box turtle research and conservation to assess the status of these species, the challenges they face and to devise strategies to help secure their futures.

—Marguerite Whilden, The Terrapin Institute