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, 1629 Forest Drive, Annapolis, MD 21403 •E-mail them to [email protected]. or submit your letters on-line by clicking here.

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Diana Isn’t Guilty

Dear Bay Weekly:

Kudos to Diana Beechener for her great article covering the events of the first murder mystery weekend at the Chesapeake Resort and Spa [April 15]. We hope it will create interest if offered again in the future.

Diana was sitting at our table when she was questioned about a debt owed the dead bookie and was immediately added to many attendees’ lists of suspects. Her actions were watched the remainder of the weekend. We even had her listed as one of the prime suspects!

–Dani and Wally Kleinfelder, Annapolis

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But I Am

Dear Bay Weekly:

Don’t know if I’ve got it right, but I have some editorial comments re: the April 15 issue.

In your editorial you write: “The three founders — Bill, Alex Knoll and me.” Shouldn’t it be and I?

The maps on page 5 are inscrutable. What is an MRLC Landuse Map and what is a USGS Landuse Map? Are they the same kind of map and if so are they comparable? It appears they are, they look similar. Seemingly, the same hard-to-read legend applies to both. What on these maps explicitly applies to waterfowl except for the title? If the maps are landuse maps and red denotes population density then how can the upper map, 20 years later, show less density than the lower map?

I’m sure there are answers to all these questions, but I don’t have them.

–Dick Lahn, Crofton

Editor’s note: Mr. Lahn is right in both cases. Me should be I. Graphics should be readable and relevant. I’m sorry my mistake in grammar hurt your ears and that you had to strain your eyes on those tiny maps.

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Sister City Needs Our Help

Dear Bay Weekly:

Several years ago, I represented the City of Annapolis as part of a Sister City delegation to Niteroi, Brazil. For the record, I paid every penny of my trip.

Niteroi is often called the sailing capital of Brazil and is a valuable partner with the National Sailing Hall of Fame, featuring some of the most celebrated sailing champions in the world. Skippers like Torben Grael have visited Annapolis many times and have become part of the Annapolis sailing family.

Recent flooding has caused immeasurable damage to Niteroi, and the sister city desperately needs our help.

Entire slums, or favelas, have collapsed into the city from the surrounding hillsides. Just to give you an idea, the local paper ran a picture showing the Bumba Hill slide under the heading Haiti Is Right Here.

The schools in Niteroi are still closed. Public transportation is still very slow as some major streets and avenues connecting the different Niteroi districts are still closed by fallen stones, trees and mud.

Torben Grael, who lives on the hillside road (Estrada Froes), had his house invaded by a mudslide at the same time that a car passing on the street above was hit by the same slide and landed in his garage. The car had three passengers, a couple and their one-year-old child. Torben managed to pull out and save the mother and child. The father died.

People around Annapolis have recently questioned the need for a Sister Cities Program. My simple answer is that we should help when disaster strikes and our brothers and sisters are dying.

Kindly send whatever you can, in a check payable to:

The Annapolis Community Foundation, Niteroi Emergency Relief, 6404 Ivy Ln., Suite 400, Greenbelt, MD 20770.