I stopped to thank the guys filling up trucks at Talbot County’s “Salt Barn.” I specifically spoke to Ryan Holden, an Easton resident employed by the Bridges family at Bridges Land Management, who has a contract with the State of MD.

A HUGE thanks from me, and I feel certain all of our fellow Talbot Co residents. I am so very greatful for these hardworking folks. They are our angels. The snow is stunningly beautiful! I am so glad my UAL flight was changed so I can share my appreciation!

I am off to Washington Dulles Airport arrival at 4 AM so I can depart for Denver and, ultimately, Steamboat Springs, CO / Colorado Mtn College to celebrate a belated Christmas with my son M, Angus “Harrison” Simmons. He is the great-grandson of “Miss Minnie” Cooper Watts Harrison, formerly of Fairbank on Tilghman Island. She was a BELOVED 1st grade Teacher at Tilghman Island Elementary School. Grandmom, you are truly missed by many relatives, friends, and former students. We salute you and fine ladies & gentlemen working to keep us safe tonight!!!

Cyndi Duvall Harrison Simmons
Talbot County

More than a month ago the Talbot County Council was presented documentary evidence that a strategically important but illegal sewer connection was implemented by the Town of Trappe with the involvement of the Lakeside developer’s agents, and that the County or some staff members had known of the improper connection in advance and done nothing.  In other words, TIP claimed evidence that the County itself was complicit. TIP requested an independent investigation.  Because in over a month there had been no response at all from the County—not even an acknowledgment of receipt of its email—the head of The Talbot Integrity addressed the Council at last night’s County Council Meeting, as follows:

Good Evening, my name is Dan Watson and I speak on behalf of The Talbot Integrity Project, an organization representing many citizens in Talbot County and focused on honest government.  I will not exceed the allotted five minutes.

More than a month ago The Talbot Integrity Project sent to each of you directly an email describing an illegal action taken right under your noses by the Town of Trappe—arranging a significant sewer hookup never approved–as legally required–by the Talbot County Council or by the Talbot County Planning Commission.  As you know, before any property can be connected to sewer, you, the Council, must first classify it in our Comprehensive Water and Sewer Plan as “S-1, Immediate Priority”.  And as you, and all the parties involved, also know, this 20-acre parcel was not, and is not today, classified “S-1.”  It is now and has always been classified “Unprogrammed.” 

As explained in TIP’s email, this illegal connection was handled by the same individuals who represent Lakeside:  Lakeside’s engineer designed the improper connection and handled permitting with MDE, and Lakeside’s lawyer drafted key documents.  The Trappe Town attorney, whose fees are paid by the Lakeside developer, handled key aspects of the matter.  The email each of you received from TIP included links to documentary evidence of each one of these allegations.  

These individuals were the same people who advocated for Lakeside before you, before the Planning Commission, and before everyone else in the County literally for years without mentioning in any of those presentations that they had arranged a sewer connection for a property classified Unprogrammed.  And this was not just any sewer hookup—it was the linchpin for Lakeside.  The linchpin NOT because it was legally or physically required in order for Lakeside to connect to the existing inadequate Trappe wastewater plant, but because the connection was obviously the essential quid-pro-quo for Lakeside to acquire an easement for its main sewer line to that existing plant.

Surely you recall TIP’s most serious allegation — which is that some individuals in County government appear to have been complicit…because, as information from a PIA request shows, one or more people on Talbot County’s staff knew of this improper hookup in advance and did nothing to stop it.  No one appears to have brought that information to the County Manager’s attention, or to your attention.  In fact, there is evidence that steps were taken by the County to facilitate this unauthorized action.

Council Members, what could be more serious than this?  A credible charge of illegality involved in a Billion-Dollar project that impacted our County in fundamental ways, and in which some in our County government appear to have been complicit! 

And yet a month has passed and there has been not so much as an acknowledgement of receipt of TIP’s email, formally or informally, by the County as an institution, or by any individual Council Member personally.  

Mark this Truth:  at some point, tolerance of corrupt practices becomes complicity, and at some point, complicity becomes corruption itself.  

A month ago, TIP respectfully requested that the Council authorize an independent investigation of this entire matter—I emphasize, an INDEPENDENT investigation, not a white-wash.  That request will not be ignored, it will not go away.  Citizens are entitled to answers here, and we hope not to have to repeat this request at every future Council Meeting.

Dan Watson
Talbot Integrity Project

Times Like These

I know that
there have been times like these.
When the world seemed
to be ripping apart at its seams
and the underbelly rose up
to swallow all that had been good.

I am certain that
there have been other times
like these.
When people did not believe that
things were happening as they were
and there was a price for their blindness and complacency.

I am sure there have been other times like these.
When people were coaxed into fear
and turned on each other
unable to steel themselves
against an enemy real.

We are told that
there have been times like these.
When the strong, fortunate, and conniving survived
and the good and weak were trodden under.
And people had to make a choice
between whom they might have been and
who they would have to be.

Yes, I know there have been times like these.
But now, I have found myself in one.
And I wonder how things will go.
And how much suffering will occur.
And into what harsh and ungenerous land
we will all be cast.

The silent witness watches
As all unfolds.
Absent fear, anger, malice or worry.
Watching,
as the sun rises
and the sun sets.
Oceans roar and waves subside.
Birds chirp and seasons change.
And the heart continues
to beat.

Margot Weiss McClellan

November 6, 2024

The choice in this presidential election couldn’t be more stark. I’m voting for the mother in Texas whose pregnant daughter died because she wasn’t close enough to death for the doctor to give her the health care she needed. She died because of Trump’s abortion ban.

I’m voting for the candidate who gives those who don’t agree with her, a seat at the table; not the candidate who says that those who don’t agree with him are the enemy from within.
I’m voting for the candidate who has a to-do list not a revenge list.
I’m voting for the candidate who was VP in an administration that delivered America’s largest infrastructure investment in generations, not the one who just talked about Infrastructure Week.
I’m voting for the candidate who more than 400 economists endorse; not the candidate The Economist didn’t endorse.
I’m voting for the candidate that more than 700 military and national security leaders endorse, not the candidate who security leaders think is dangerous.
I’m voting for the candidate who speaks of our country with pride and joy; not for the candidate who said we are a garbage can.
I am voting for the candidate who has actual plans to make our lives better, not the candidate who has concepts.
I’m voting for the candidate who has judicial, legislative and executive experience; not the candidate who was fired from the job he is applying for.
I’m voting for our very democracy.

I’m proudly voting for Kamala Harris.

Anne C Stalfort
Easton

Three candidates for the Talbot Board of Education—Ann O’Connor, Kerry Gunshenan, and Karla Wieland-Cherry—have identified themselves as the “conservative” option, backed by groups like Moms for Liberty, an organization known for promoting regressive education policies. Their campaigns are boosted by a strategically inflammatory stream of misleading campaign mailers from anonymous, well-funded organizations that aim to drive fear and division within our community.

School board elections are supposed to be non-partisan, focusing solely on what’s best for our students—not on fueling the culture wars that have fractured communities across the country. Yet the ongoing involvement of the local Republican Central Committee, who has sponsored additional mailers supporting these three candidates, brings a troubling new angle: These mailers, bearing each of these candidates’ names, echoed the national campaign’s dreadful anti-immigrant rhetoric, with nativistic messaging about a “migrant invasion”.

Our schools should represent an environment of learning, respect, and support for every child and family, regardless of their background. When candidates with ties to groups pushing narrow, ideological agendas seek positions on our Board of Education, it’s crucial to ask whether they are truly focused on improving education or on pushing a narrow worldview. Their ties to the Republican campaign espousing anti-immigrant rhetoric make it difficult for many of us to trust that their intentions are purely about improving our schools.

As parents, immigrants, and proud community members, we make up a significant portion of the families that our schools serve. We deserve School Board representatives who genuinely prioritize the educational needs and well-being of all students. Let’s choose leaders who are committed to fostering a welcoming, inclusive learning environment.

Joaquin E. Chaves
Easton

I am a Democrat who—perhaps surprisingly these days—has (non-MAGA) Republican and Independent friends. Not so surprising is that some dislike both choices in the upcoming presidential election.  So they plan to vote for neither candidate nor cast a write-in vote for someone such as Ronald Reagan or John McCain.

It seems to me that this is a cop-out, or in the words of the old adage, a clear case of “letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.” Such scrupulosity is especially objectionable in this election, which commentators from both political parties agree is probably the most consequential of our lifetimes.

Perhaps a reasonable approach to this situation was suggested by Pope Francis in response to a reporter’s question while returning to Rome from an Asian visit last month. 

When asked about the U.S. election, just as my American friends he does not like either candidate. But his wise counsel, which I think can apply to people of all faith traditions or none, is that Catholics have a duty to “vote, and one has to choose the lesser evil.”  He refused to speculate about which candidate was the lesser evil, saying, “Each person must think and decide according to their own conscience.”

The exchange is discussed in an article entitled “Voting and the Primacy of Conscience” in the November issue of America magazine, described as the Jesuit Review of Faith and Culture.

Gerry Early
Easton

Dear County Council, Planning Commission, Public Works Advisory Board (“PWAB”), and others…

You’ll no doubt be interested to learn that an illegal sewer connection in Trappe occurred right under your noses.  You’ll not be surprised that it involves Lakeside.  Nor surprised that the illegal connection turns out to have been a linchpin to getting that malign venture under way. 

While this additional impropriety just now came to my attention, evidence suggests that Mr. Clarke and others copied here may have known about it literally for years, as did the Town of Trappe, the Lakeside developer, and his agents.

The Lakeside developer, Trappe East Holdings Business Trust (“TEHBT”), had to somehow physically connect Lakeside to the existing Trappe wastewater treatment plant.  It arranged to do that by negotiating an easement across a 20-acre parcel that is not part of Lakeside (tax map 55, parcel 51).  The Lakeside sewer line was then installed in that easement to a manhole on the east side of Rt 50 that ties to an existing line under the highway. The issue is not with that main line in the easement; it is that the 20-acre parcel was then connected to the line illegally.

You may recall that TIP emailed you about this situation in February 2022 (Exhibit 1) specifically to alert you to the risk that, without some monitoring, that 20-acre parcel could possibly be connected without your knowledge, and that doing so would be illegal.  I cited the fact that the 20-acre parcel in question only appeared to be eligible for a connection due to the County’s admittedly erroneous maps attached to Resolution 281.  I flagged specifically that that parcel had never been reclassified from “Unprogrammed.” (I also offered a naive comment doubting the worst.)

It now turns out that the developer and the Town of Trappe had indeed arranged for sewerage from that 20-acre parcel to go into new line, disregarding the legally required County approval. The developer’s lawyer, Ryan Showalter, drafted the easement agreement (Exhibit 2).  The developer’s engineer, Rauch Inc, designed the sewer connection and handled reviews with MDE and the Town of Trappe (Exhibit 3).  The Town of Trappe’s attorney, Lyndsey Ryan, was involved (Exhibit 4)—and her legal fees were paid by the developer. Evidence suggests that Mr. Clarke or someone else in the County also may have been well aware of this illegal connection.

All of this was happening at the same time as the intense and very public dispute over whether the discharge of effluent from the initial 120 Lakeside homes into La Trappe Creek would be a violation of the Comp Plan.  Because of those concerns, and even though it knew nothing about the added discharge (from an industrial operation, no less), the Planning Commission rescinded its finding that R281 was consistent with the Comp Plan—which the County Council ignored.  

Section 9-511 of the Environment Article of the Maryland Code reads, “Unless they conform to the county plan or revision or amendment of the county plan, the following systems and facilities may not be installed or extended…a sewerage system.”  Evidence suggests that the developer’s key agents, Messrs. Showalter and Rauch, the Town of Trappe Attorney Ryan, and someone in the County, knew full well that a sewer connection to improvements on the 20-acre parcel was not in conformity with the Talbot County CWSP and therefore was illegal. But apparently it was a necessary condition for Lakeside to hookup, and so it was arranged.

The 20-acre parcel has always been classified UNPROGRAMMED—and it remains so in the CWSP adopted by the County Council in May and approved by MDE in August.  But the developer and Town did illegally connect it to the Trappe plant.  Effluent from the industrial operation there is discharging into La Trappe Creek today, as it has for two and a half years.

NOTE: this connection came to TIP’s attention because, in an inspection report that followed a pollution violation at the Trappe plant earlier this year, MDE specifically identified waste coming from that 20-acre parcel.  For TIP, the illegal connection put in place just so Lakeside could obtain its mission-critical link to the Trappe plant is the disgrace, whether or not that connection is a source of pollution.  The fact that MDE has identified it as a problem only compounds the offense. 

A thorough investigation of these matters by a completely independent party is obviously warranted.

Dan Watson
The Talbot Integrity Project

Next Thursday (October 17th), the Easton Planning Commission is likely to approve a townhouse development project which will undo more than 30 years of effort to preserve the character of the town. 

The proposed Silo Square project is located just south of the Easton Historic District along the Rail to Trails.   It consists of 28 rental townhouses. These are laid out surrounding parking, typical of a suburban development.    The architectural design – supposedly inspired by the corrugated metal grain silos now on the site – is contemporary, with no pediments, no shutters, and no traditional elements typical of the 100-year-old homes on the adjacent blocks. 

The neighborhood objects to the architectural design, which goes against the words of the town’s Comprehensive Plan and Design Guidelines. Yet as it supports the town’s laudable goal to build more “workforce” rental housing, the Planning Commission is tearing up the playbook for keeping Easton, Easton. 

The Town of Easton, through several revisions of its Comprehensive Plan, has embraced historic preservation and promoted the “New Urbanism.”  You can see this in the newer subdivisions which have streets and alleys, not cul-de-sacs. You can see this in the design of those newer houses, which use traditional architectural elements to express the concept of “home.”

The problem at Silo Square is not just the developer’s choice of a contemporary architectural aesthetic nor the Commission’s failure to see how this project will set a future pattern for the redevelopment of the “industrial” area south of Brookletts Avenue.   The problem is the Planned Redevelopment Overlay District process. Unlike the Planned Urban Development (PUD) process, the PRD developer is not obligated to provide additional “public benefit” other than to bring their land back to life.  And, unlike the PUD process which requires approval by both the Planning Commission and the Town Council, a Planned Redevelopment project needs only approval of the un-elected Planning Commission. Under the PRD process, the public’s only input is at the Commission’s approval hearing, AFTER the developer has back-and-forth with town staff on how to meet the MINIMUM requirements and after it has expended significant design fees on detailed plans required for Commission approval. This makes it very difficult for the community to have any meaningful input. 

In some of its more recent actions, the Planning Commission has shown a lack of consistency when it faced a disgruntled community.   It rejected a planned apartment building project because it would increase traffic to a street lined with single-family homes. It was opposed to the high density of proposed a new subdivision.   And it approved a very dense and architecturally impressive project in Easton’s downtown. Why is this project, which will bring more traffic to narrow streets in the Historic District and construct homes that will clash with the character of our neighborhood, allowed to proceed as proposed? 

Many in the neighborhood now expect the plans to be approved. The Commissioners may surprise us and “do the right thing.”   But the need to reform the Planned Redevelopment Overlay is clear. The next major project in this area – Easton Crossing – should not proceed without meaningful public input and sensitivity to its context in the Town of Easton. 

Maury Schlesinger – Registered Architect
Easton