This month marks twenty-five years since the first edition of The Chesapeake was published. What began as an alternative to the boring snooze-newspapers of the area has been anything but boring for its readers and advertisers.
The Chesapeake spawned the ST. MARY’S TODAY which informed, delighted and tortured over the years until it was sold in 2010. The inability of the new owner of that newspaper to survive the deep recession and the massive changes in the industry mirror what has taken place across the nation.
The CHESAPEAKE will continue to bring forth the traditions of tourism, fish, fun, frolic and nonsense for which the publication has been known – and will continue to offer a forum for writers, poets, commentators and strongly held viewpoints, all in concert with the wonderful First Amendment freedoms enjoyed by us all. Anyone who is offended by any such offerings here is invited to not let the door hit them in the duff on the way out!
The CHESAPEAKE, as noted by the change in our front page masthead will now also offer news on events of TODAY in addition to wonderful fish tales and stories of yesterday. If your relatives are pictured in these pages or listed in the crime and DWI coverage, you should smack them! They all have free will!
Nepotism in DWI arrests: Jack Nathan Fritz
Remarkably, among the listings in this month’s publication is the DWI arrest of Jack Fritz, son of St. Mary’s States Attorney Richard Fritz. Since he was involved in a single-car wreck and charged with DWI, it is likely his parents are not happy with him. But the difference of why this arrest is noted here and featured on the front page is that Jack Fritz is quite unlike all others charged with DWI. His daddy is States Attorney and on several prior occasions, charges of reckless driving and speeding have been dropped by the States Attorney’s Office, and since all nolle pros charges are under the responsibility of Richard Fritz, the father is responsible for not only dropping the charges but failing to see to it that his adult son has learned anything from the minor charges and has gone on to more serious driving infractions – that of potentially killing someone. The system of justice in St. Mary’s County remains firmly in the hands of the Good Old Boys!
Welcome to the new CHESAPEAKE TODAY and thank you for reading the newspaper and supporting our advertisers. – Ken Rossignol & Larry Jarboe