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October 5, 2022

The Talbot Spy

The nonprofit e-newspaper for the Talbot County Community

Commerce

Good Heavens: Easton Listed as One of Ten Most Expensive Home Markets in the United States

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The Spy was alerted to a rather odd study over the weekend by the mortgage company Lending Tree. That survey placed Easton as the 9th in the country for expensive homes.

While most of these communities were located west of the Mississippi, only Easton and Vineyard Haven on Martha’s Vineyard made the cut on the East Coast, which makes us slightly dubious of the results. Nonetheless, here is the top ten:

10 Towns in America With the Most Expensive Home Prices

Vineyard Haven, MA
Breckenridge, CO
Jackson, WY
Steamboat Springs, CO
Hailey, ID
Gardnerville Ranchos, NV
Hood River, OR
Juneau, AK
Easton, MD
Los Alamos, NM

The data used in this study comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey (five-year estimates). For this analysis, LendingTree used micropolitan-level data for areas with a population of between 10,000 and 50,000 to approximate town-level data.

The home value-to-income ratio was calculated for each town and metro by dividing an area’s median home value by its median household income. The larger the ratio, the more expensive homes are relative to an area’s median income.

Read the full report here.

Message to Seniors: It’s Time to Come Back to Your Local Senior Center

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Of the countless ways that COVID-19 impacted Mid-Shore communities, the great “senior citizen retreat” into isolation during the pandemic has been the least reported. By late Spring of 2020, hundreds of community elders ended their regular routine of visiting senior centers, such as Easton’s Brookletts Place, and have not been back since.

Their absence is worrisome for Upper Shore Aging’s Teresa Greene and Talbot County’s Department of Social Services Lee Lynch Newcomb. Not only are these seniors prone to more social isolation, but in more than a few cases, they are experiencing self-neglect. Over the past two years, many elders have forgone eating balanced meals, trips to the doctor, and forgetting to take medication and maintain personal hygiene. Without social interaction and contact with peers, there is a growing number of senior citizens trapped in their own homes, even as the dangers of the pandemic have been dramatically reduced.

The Spy drove over to Brookletts Place last week to chat with Teresa and Lee about the dangers of senior isolation and how they are partnering this Fall to get the word out to our aging population that it’s safe to come back and see old friends.

This video is approximately 3 minutes in length. For more information about Upper Shore Aging’s Brookletts Place programming please go here.

Spy Exit Interview: Mike Roman Reflects on 20 Years of Directing Horn Point Laboratory

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A 20-year tenure for a national institutional leader is almost unheard of these days. College presidents, museum directors, and leaders of major nonprofit organizations come and go at a far more rapid pace as the demands of fundraising, enrollment, and governance has grown proportionally. And yet, in contrast, Dr. Mike Roman has been successfully leading the Horn Point Laboratory of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science for two decades.

This success story is a perfect example of how one individual, blessed with a talented team and a ceaseless mission drive, can genuinely impact the organizations they serve.

In Mike Roman’s case, his tenure, beginning in 1983 at Hort Point has been a time of dramatic change and challenge for his school and the earth’s ecosystem. In 2001, when he was permanently appointed director, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s research lab was hardly known on the Eastern Shore. Located on the rural waterfront of the Choptank River several miles from Cambridge, Horn Point may have been doing landmark science, but without a strong regional presence, all of its work and achievements were lost on the general public.

Roman made it his mission to fix that problem. Under his watch, Horn Point started reaching out to the community. Scientists began giving public lectures, a volunteer program was started, a formal fundraising program was built, school groups were invited to the campus, and the highly regarded “Chesapeake Champion” award became an annual tradition.

And most important to Mike, Horn Point began strong partnerships with Washington College, Salisbury University, municipalities, environmental groups, and the region’s agriculture community on such critical issues as protecting the Chesapeake Bay and the rising sea level on the Shore.

Last month, the Spy sat down with Dr. Roman to talk about his time at Horn Point as part of our continuing series on Eastern Shore leaders at the end of a successful tenure. In our chat, Mike notes some of the notable highlights of this tenure and also making sure Horn Point friends know that he’s not going anywhere. Once his successor is named, you’ll find the marine biologist back in the lab doing what he has loved for so long; learning about and protecting our planet.

This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more information about please go here.

 

Election 2022 Profiles: Susan Delean-Botkin for House of Delegates (37-B)

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Today, the Spy continues its informal series on profiling candidates running for office in 2022. Over the next eight months, we will be offering long-form interviews with those running for Maryland’s Governor, Attorney General, MD Congressional District 1, and several local elections in Dorchester, Kent, and Talbot Counties.

As per our educational, nonpartisan mission concerning all public affairs on the Mid-Shore, we believe these in-depth conversations offer a unique alternative to the traditional three-minute sound bite or quick quote. We will be talking to each candidate about their background, qualifications, and policy priorities as well as how they differentiate themselves from others running for the same office.

We continue with Susan Delean-Botkin, candidate (D) for the House of Delegates 37-B. She is currently president of the Talbot County Board of education and lives in Oxford.

This video is approximately 12 minutes in length. For more information about Susan Delean-Botkin please go to her website here.

At the Academy: Nancy Mitchell and Sheryl Southwick Talk Art and Poetry

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Nothing can be more satisfying for poets and artists than seeing their work through the lens of an entirely different medium. The poet sees their work through color and images, and the artist witnesses their work turned into a visual language is a major revelation for the creators that is hard to beat.

That was the primary motivation for award-winning poet Nancy Mitchell and artist Sheryl Southwick when they decided to offer “Connecting through Artmaking in Poetry and Printmaking” next weekend at the Academy Art Museum.

In this two-day interactive retreat, students will be both poets and artists with a workshop focusing on poetry writing and monoprinting techniques. Students will learn how to write a poem in response to a picture and create a painting inspired by a poem. The workshop will culminate in a pop-up exhibition and group reading.

The Spy asked Nancy and Sheryl to stop by the Spy studio last week to discuss this innovative art project.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. To enroll or for more information about the workshop please go here

 

 

Celebrating Women & Girls Fund’s Two Decades of Action: Haven Ministries

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The genesis of Haven Ministries was really God’s work, according to the founder and former executive director Krista Pettit. As a practicing Christian, it was Pettit’s listening to God’s words that set into motion one of the most successful homeless shelter programs on the Eastern Shore.

Dedicated to finding safe housing for Queen Anne’s County’s growing homeless population, Krista and a handful of local church leaders started the long and expensive journey to secure short-term accommodations. And while there is no discrimination in using this service, Haven Ministries has had an early history of supporting women (and sometimes their young families)

That was one of the reasons that Haven has been a long-term grant recipient of the Women & Girls Fund of the Eastern Shore. WGF board members immediately related to both the mission and its leadership.

In the Spy’s ongoing series celebrating 20 years of grantmaking by the Women & Girls Fund, we talk about the early days of Haven Ministries and how it has now become one of the most respected non-profit organizations on the Shore. We also chatted with WGF board member Martha Kendall on how the Fund not only provides much-needed funding but also helps their grantees like Haven make stronger, more distinctive cases for support and grant applications.

This video is approximately four minutes in length. For more information about Haven Ministries please go here. For information about the Women & Girls Fund please go here.

Election 2022: Cambridge Mayor Candidate Profiles

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Over the last few months, the Spy has attempted to offer an alternative way to get to know candidates on the Mid-Shore in this election year.  About a month ago, the  Spy and the Avalon Foundation agreed to partner in providing the community with candidate profiles for those running for the Talbot County Council in the July 19th Democratic and Republican primary elections.

We did so in the belief that beyond the excellent work of the League of Women Voters, the Chamber of Commerce,  and other civic organizations in providing issue-based forums before election day, voters would be greatly assisted in assessing each candidate using a long-form interview format.

We have continued this with our profiles of three out of the six candidates running for Cambridge Mayor office. Interviewed by the Spy editor Dave Wheelan, these profiles center on three primary subjects; a candidate’s background, qualifications, and priorities if elected to office.

It is with regret that after repeated efforts to contact candidates LaShon Foster, Robert S. Larimer  and Lee L. Travers III, the Spy did not receive responses to our invitation to participate in the project.

We think that our viewers will walk away much better informed on those critical themes, but will also recognize, as did the Spy, that the Cambridge community is all the more enriched by having such a unique collection of dedicated citizens among us. Cambridge is is very lucky indeed.

Laurel E. Atkiss

Addie Eckardt

Steve Rideout

Taking on the Role of King Arthur: A Chat with TAP’s Bill Gross on Camelot

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Perhaps one of the great challenges that face any actor, even one involved in community theatre, is to take on a role so well known to their audience as one like Camelot’s King Arthur. 

With renowned actors like Richard Burton and Richard Harris permanently nailing it with their theater and film interpretations of the conflicted ruler of England, it is only normal for thespians to be somewhat imitated by the standards set by such masters of the stage.

You would think that the Tred Avon Players’ Bill Gross would have some of that anxiety as he takes to the stage in Oxford next Thursday night for a two-week run of the epic Camelot. But it is clear from the very beginning of his recent Spy interview that this Naval Academy graduate and sales executive doesn’t blink an eye when taking on the role of King Arthur. 

Camelot, a 1960 musical with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Lowe, is based on the King Arthur legend as adapted from T. H. White’s 1958 novel The Once and Future King. And as Bill explains, the story revolves around King Arthur of Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table, who fight for justice and right, only to see his ideal crumble when his wife Guinevere falls in love with his favorite knight, Sir Lancelot.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For ticket information, please go here. 

Camelot
Tred Avon Players
Oxford Community Center
Thu, Aug 18 – Sun, Aug 28
Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m. & Sunday afternoons at 2:00 p.m.

Mid-Shore Education: A Different Kind of Camp for Science and Leadership

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For the last few years, the Spy has been working with Bob DeGour to promote the work and impact of a unique science and math summer program. Bob is the founder of the Talbot STEM Camp, and along with a team of volunteers, has made it his mission is to engage under-achieving elementary school children with the power and fun of science in a distinct way that also brings many lessons about leadership, character, and citizenship.

The camp has proven to be a remarkable success story for the young children involved, but it also has proven to be a fascinating way to allow their high school-aged classroom instructors the importance of leading by example, planning, and the discipline needed to run this multi-dimensional education project. After listening to three of these leaders (Damian René, Louis Lentz and Mekonnen Sahle-Selassie) in our most recent Spy profile of the STEM Camp, it should come as no surprise to our viewers that they are destined for great things for themselves but also model citizens for our country.

This video is approximately four minutes in length. For more information about Talbot STEM Camp please go here

 

Welcome to the Seed Library with Missy Corley and Mikaela Boley

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Several years ago, master gardeners Missy Corley and Mikaela Boley decided that the Mid-Shore needed a seed library to encourage home flower and vegetable gardening.

Missy, noting the success of a similar innovative program in California, reached out to Mikaela at the University of Maryland’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, one of the state’s master gardener coordinators, to work closely with the Talbot County Free Library to implement this unique program.

Little did Missy or Mikaela know at the time that their small project would become a huge success five years later. With dozens of library patrons starting to use the free service (no library card is required), they both started to get calls from across the state and from different regions of the country from others eager to replicate the program in their communities.

Given this remarkable success, the Spy asked Missy and Mikaela to come by the Spy studio the other day to talk about the Seed Library and the numerous benefits of home gardening, including low-cost produce and conservation protection.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information about the Seed Library please go here.