Lighthouses of the Chesapeake region

Lighthouses – St. Clements Island, also known through the years as Blackistone Island, now is home to a rebuilt lighthouse. The original was abandoned as a lighthouse and then vandalized prior to being demolished by the Navy as target practice. The island is now a park and the lighthouse is open several times a year for visitors. A beach and pier greet visitors every day. THE CHESAPEAKE TODAY photo

Catching Fish a Clear Cut Choice for Commissioner Larry Jarboe

Thank you to all Friends of Larry Jarboe for State Senate. Carlene and I are grateful for your support, not only in this campaign, but since I first won office as St. Mary’s County Commissioner in 1994,

No, I won’t be traveling to Annapolis. But, we are looking forward to moving to the Florida Keys in the winter and living in St. Mary’s County during the milder months. Also, we will be traveling on the ocean cruise circuit. I do maritime and destination lectures and Carlene organizes the power point presentations. If you would like spend six days at sea, there is an especially reasonable priced run from Baltimore to Bermuda that you might want to join us on in September.

Martirano hired to run West Virginia Schools

The Board of Education of St. Mary’s County announces that Dr. Michael J. Martirano, Superintendent of Schools, has accepted an offer to serve as the State Superintendent of Schools for the State of West Virginia, and will be departing from his position as Superintendent of the St. Mary’s County Public Schools effective this fall. Dr. Martirano has served as Superintendent of Schools for St. Mary’s County since July 2005, which makes him the longest serving superintendent in St. Mary’s County since 1978, and the longest current serving superintendent in the State of Maryland. During his tenure, Dr. Martirano has led the following academic achievements:

Chesapeake 1850

Ken Rossignol’s new series is off to a great start with Chesapeake 1850, the tale of Ethan Douglas from his days as a 10 year old cabin boy on his grandfather’s Chesapeake Bay steamship before the Civil War, through his rise to become a wealthy ship owner. The young boy witnesses everything from a hanging to hurricanes, to bloody Oyster Wars, and meets the love of his life and later marries her. The author does an excellent job of bringing history to life in an entertaining and captivating way that keeps you reading from start to finish.” — New York Times best-selling author Nick Russell

Expanding sewer to South Kent Island represents a clear danger to Bay health

It is not smart growth to add up to 658 new houses to traffic-snarled, sea-level-rise-vulnerable Kent Island. But, worse, the potential exists for all 1,600 lots, and possibly the 487 as well, to become buildable as a direct result of the Project.

Some of the owners of multiple vacant lots in the service area have announced that they will bring a court challenge against the Ordinance, the outcome of which we believe, after extensive legal research, is likely to be in favor of the challengers. The County purports to have legal advice that the challenge will likely fail, but this advice has not been shared with the public — certainly, the SGCC should review that advice. The SGCC should also revisit the determination that the nine-year-old Attorney General’s opinion can, on today’s facts and law, still be relied on to exclude the 487 lots, some of whose owners have also stated they will take legal action. 2

Election Day: History in Photos and Cartoons

In 1992 Republican Larry Hogan Jr was the GOP standard-bearer against Democrat Steny Hoyer for the newly expanded 5th Congressional District, to which the counties of St. Mary’s, Calvert and Charles had been removed from the First Congressional District of the Eastern Shore. Hogan came within 25,000 votes of Hoyer, his closest margin in the last 250 years he has been in Congress.