Good to See the Faces that Make the Words

Dear Bay Weekly:

I really enjoyed the feature story including the Bay Weekly writers [Short Takes on Summer: Vol. xv, No 23: June 7] and the personal glimpses they provided. This definitely gives the readers a more personal sense of who is speaking to us. Instead of looking at faceless articles, we can now feel as though each story is a personal conversation about our own community. The feature makes a connection between writers and readers. This is what makes a hometown paper. Way to go, Bay Weekly!

–Mike Mullican, Deale

Going with the Wind

Dear Bay Weekly:

I just signed up with Washington Gas and Electric to get our electricity from 100 percent windpower. The cost is $13.90 per kilowatt hour, which is less than my BG&E costs will be when the rate change kicks in. I’m saving a few pennies per kwh but tons of carbon dioxide emissions caused by burning coal, which is where most of BGE’s electricity comes from. Not to mention saving the mountains of West Virginia, which are literally leveled by mountaintop coal removal. Feels so good.

Of course, it doesn’t make me happy that birds die flying into the wind turbines, but, if we don’t cut down on our carbon emissions, there won’t be any birds to get into trouble: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s most recent report of April, 2007, predicts a 20 to 30 percent species loss in the next few decades at our current rate of emissions.

Everything we do will make a difference.

Other companies offer these options, but I chose WGES because a customer of my husband’s has been on this program for a while with no complaints.

–Cherie Yelton, Arnold

More Trouble with Piers

Dear Bay Weekly:

I read online with great interest your article The Trouble with Piers, [Vol. xiii, No. 47; Nov. 24, 2005]. I own waterfront property on the Rhode River, and I am constantly amazed by the abuse of the rules of the game. Can you please tell me if you found any strong advocates, at the county, state or private lawyer level, to help me with pier abuse issues?

–Dan Lewis, Edgewater

Editor’s reply: If you’re on a “navigable waterway,” you’ll be talking to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps has a permit process, so if someone is going to construct a pier, they would need a joint permit from the state of Maryland and the Army Corps of Engineers.

The person to contact to see if there’s a permit or violation is the Army Corps of Engineers’ enforcement program manager, Sandy Zelen: 410-962-6028.

Reconnect with [email protected]

Dear Bay Weekly Readers:

If you sent me an email before June 6 and have not heard back from me, there’s good reason. My computer has given up the ghost, and your message likely died with it. Even conversations in progress have slipped into the void. Indeed, Bay Weekly’s entire unpublished editorial memory may be lost. So if you’re wondering whatever happened to the query or story you sent or if you want to reestablish communications, please write again. The affected address is [email protected], backed up by [email protected].

–Sandra Olivetti Martin, Bay Weekly editor

Department of Corrections

Dotty Holcomb Doherty should have been listed as a contributor to Short Takes on Summer (Vol. xv, No 23: June 7). She interviewed Leo Pickens, Athletic Director, St. Johns College.