PINEY POINT (Special) — In spite of warnings from the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the O’Malley Administration has failed to act to secure and safeguard St. George’s Island from drifting away from the mainland at the same time that the local politicians have been conducting secret negotiations with the Mattaponi Indian tribe to use the law to seize the land on the island.
Under the eminent domain laws, St. Mary’s County Executive Bull Wade has prepared immediate seizure of all private property on the island for resale to the Indians for a casino.
“We don’t want to sell our property,” said Winona Sayre, a 5th generation resident of the island. “These tinhorn politicians in Leonardtown have cooked up a scheme to take our property and I want the Governor to come to our rescue, arrest those Leonardtown crooks and let us live in peace.”
The path of the island is unclear at this writing but at the present rate of the separation which began in April, State Highway officials believe that by November they will no longer be able to continue installing plates in the bridge in the island side in order to maintain the road connection and the island will start to drift away.
The seismic readings on the Gregorian Fault, which initiated the furious reaction by locals to the earthquake under the Potomac River and which is triggering the sudden shifting, has put the island at peril and spawned a plan to move the residents of the island to the Take it Easy Ranch.
There are other consequences as the local officials continue to assess what the changes will make.
“We will continue to levy taxes on the property on the island as Maryland owns all of the Potomac River, right up to the Virginia shoreline and we will make sure no one escapes our high taxes,” said Bull Wade. “Just in case anyone thinks that they can stop paying property taxes, we will pursue them all the way to Virginia.”
But it is the secret talks with the Indians over establishment of a casino that worries residents of the island, many of whom are elderly.
“We just want to be left alone and I don’t understand why Governor O’Malley can’t put some large barges in between us and the bridge,” said Sayre. “We could drive onto the barge, and then enter onto the bridge and still have access to the mainland. I am too damn old to be rowing over to Piney Point from my home.”
The island’s Post Office has been closed and requests for car ferries have been turned down by the Obama Administration as well as the State of Maryland.
“We are really in a pickle,” said Fred Fullya, who retired to the island from a job with the Bush Administration. “If the county won’t pay me what I paid for my waterfront home, where will I live, in section 8 housing in Lexington Park, I don’t want to live in a trailer in Callaway. This is an election year and I am certainly not happy that my commissioners are cooking up a back room deal to build a casino and throw us out of our homes.”
“What good is that Hoyer fella if he can’t help out us old folks,” said Sayre. “I have voted for that fool for the last time. Is Steve Uhler running this year, I always thought he was so handsome”.
A boat full of Indians was seen leaving the Seafarers dock and taking a trip out on a certain local skipjack with the trip catered by a local caterer. A waiter for the catering service was able to secretly take audio clips from the discussions held on the skipjack ride and due to the recordings being conducted in violation of Maryland’s wiretap laws, the name of the waiter is being withheld from our readers.
“We don’t want to pay top dollar for the homes on this island,” said Chief Running Dozer on a secret recording. “This is a recession and many of us are new at this Indian culture, as I myself lived in New Jersey until I found out some of my relatives had been locked up in Upper Marlboro and when I checked my family tree I found that my great grandmother had lived in Nanjemoy, so now I am Chairman of the Tribal Council. But I am looking forward to running a casino, it sure beats running numbers.”
Other audio clips of the skipjack trip show collusion on the part of the Indians and the commissioners and will be released to a Washington TV station which can use them and not break Maryland law.
At this time, interviews with the various elected officials and County Executive Wade have revealed little on-the-record information about the casino.
“We have been conducting these sensitive negotiations in the back room where it belongs,” said Wade. “When I think the public has a right to know something, I’ll decide what to release.”
St. George Island is still accessible by roadway which the lone business on the island hopes will be kept open.
“When we have to, we will provide water taxi service for our customers,” said Bugs Evans IV, owner of the venerable Evans Seafood.