Bay Weekly

Your Say: May 10-16, 2018

Bay Weekly

Please Say No to Plastic

      Thank you for bringing attention to the issue of straws in the well-written and documented article in the April 19 issue. We need to get more eateries to understand the devastating harm straws are doing to our environment. There is so much evidence about the consequences of straws. The film A Plastic Ocean shows the result of straws and other plastic in our oceans. Restaurants, cafés and bars in New York City recently announced that they are joining a long list of cities now banning straws.

       Plastic bags are also a problem. They are being ingested because the plastic looks like jellyfish. Once swallowed, the digestive system breaks down and the creature dies. We can all do our part by letting servers and restaurants know that we do not want a straw and by cutting back on the amount of plastic products we use in general. We are finally making some progress about this problem, so let us each do what we can to be more conscious of the plastic we consume.

–Eliot Girsang-Wilson, Asbury-Solomons

 

Build a Hall with the New Galesville Fire Department

       The Anne Arundel County Fire Department is in the initial process of building a new fire station in Galesville. This is good news for the firefighters who work there, as the old station has been in bad shape for years. It’s also good for the communities surrounding Galesville, as the new location, at the intersection of Rt. 468 (Muddy Creek Rd.) and Owensville Rd., will quicken response times to Deale, Shady Side, Harwood and also up Muddy Creek Rd. toward Mayo and Woodland Beach.

       But there is one thing that would make this new station that much better: the addition of a new hall. 

      This new hall would be rented out to the public for various affairs by the volunteers of the Galesville Fire Department. That is something sorely lacking in the southern end of Anne Arundel County. A new hall would bring in quite a bit of money for the volunteer firefighters of Galesville, thus providing essential funding to buy equipment necessary for firefighting, rescue and emergency medical calls.

       This new fire hall would be used not only for rental opportunities but also as a training site for the firefighters, EMTs and paramedics in the southern end of the county. Now, firefighters and medics need to go all the way to Millersville for much of their training. Having a place in the southern end of the county would keep them in the area, just in case of a heavy call volume, a major fire or rescue.

       This opportunity to build a hall at the new Galesville Fire Station should be considered right now. After all, how many times do we get the chance to build something that will help the Fire Department and be a huge benefit to all of South County? Another good thing is that it will pay for itself over time and not cost the taxpayers in the process. In fact, it will reduce what the county has to contribute to keeping the fire station up and running. Build it now!

–Reginald Nutwell, Deale