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October 2, 2023

Talbot Spy

Nonpartisan Education-based News for Talbot County Community

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Talbot Historical Society Lecture by Paul Callahan Set for October 4

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The Talbot Historical Society is hosting a new lecture series called “A Date with History”. The upcoming lecture titled “When Democracy Fell” by Paul Callahan is set for October 4, 2023, at 1pm. Callahan, an author and historian, will discuss Maryland’s constitutional crisis during the U.S. Civil War, challenging some common views and bringing new information to light.

The event will be held at the Talbot Historical Society, 25 S. Washington Street, Easton, Maryland. It’s free for THS members and $5 for non-members. Reservations are required. For more information or to sign up, contact the Talbot Historical Society at 410-822-0773 or email [email protected].

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Profiles in Recovery: Grace Street Opens a Door

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It’s impossible to look at substance abuse statistics without recognizing it as a health crisis of the first magnitude.

According to Maryland Health Department, overdose rates nationally tripled between 2011-2017 and during the first year of the pandemic with more than 99,000 overdose related deaths reported, an increase of nearly 30%. Alcohol abuse also spiked.

Although Maryland ranks well with its number of treatment centers available, every county still has significant opioid problems, and the rural Eastern Shore is no exception. Talbot County reports that between 2017 and 2021 overdose deaths have increased by 50%.

Grace Street is the newest introduction to addiction recovery efforts in Talbot and surrounding counties and offers support based on the national success of the Recovery Community Organization (RCO) model.

The Recovery Community Organization fundamental mission is to bridge the gap between professional treatment and learning how to maintain long-term recovery with the help of a community-centered peer recovery support services.

Fundamentally, Recovery Communities are about establishing an environment to promote long-term recovery. As RCOs are independent non-profits, they are led and governed by representatives of the local communities of recovery who organize recovery-focused policy advocacy activities, carry out recovery-focused community education and outreach programs, and/or provide peer-based recovery support services.

Grace Street is a significant addition to the recovery movement on the Eastern Shore. Indeed, it’s strength is offering a sense of community to those fighting to maintain their recovery as they reenter society.

The Spy recently spoke to Grace Street Program Director Kate Dulin about the new facility in Easton, their vision for the future and a call for community volunteers.

Grace Street serves people in Easton and Talbot County, and in neighboring counties across the Mid-Shore. Referrals are not necessary, and services are free. The center is open weekdays, 4 – 9 pm. and weekends 2 p.m –7 p.m. Daytime hours vary. Anyone interested in volunteering, partnering, or supporting this project can contact Kate Dulin, program director, at 410-690-7353 or visit GraceStreetRecovery.org and their Facebook page.

This video is approximately five minutes in length.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Poet to Poet: Meredith Davies Hadaway Chats with Sue Ellen Thompson

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Editor”s Note. Next week, the Spy will launch an experiment with our partner the Avalon Foundation to use their brilliant Stoltz Listening Room for poetry readings called Spy Nights. On Wednesday, the 27th at 6 pm sharp, the Eastern Shore’s most distinguished poet, Sue Ellen Thompson, will take the stage for a reading from her new book, Sea Nettles.

There are a few notable things to be said about this event. The first time, to my knowledge, the Avalon has ever made a poet a “headliner” in the most complimentary sense of the word. It will also be the Spy’s first effort to move beyond its internet comfort zone to co-sponsor public readings by some of our most remarkable contributors. And finally, this kind of celebration is way overdue to pay tribute to the extraordinary work of Sue Ellen Thompson.

While it’s understandable that the Mid-Shore community, like the United States itself, doesn’t track the poetry world as closely as it does music, Thompson is considered a rock star of sorts. It is almost the equivalent of having someone like jazz pianist Brad Mehldau living in the hood. In this case, that hood happens to be Oxford, Maryland.

Given the breadth of Sue Ellen’s work over a lifetime and her observations of the dramatic change in poetry since she began her journey at Middlebury College in the 1960s, the Spy thought it best to ask Chestertown’s Meredith Davies Hadaway, her friend, and fellow poet, to spend a few minutes talking to Sue Ellen, poet-to-poet, for the community to get a better sense of her work and times.

This video is approximately nine minutes in length. For Tickets please go here. 

Meredith Davies Hadaway will also be taking to the Avalon stage with fellow poets Erin Murphy and Amanda Newell as Word Girls on November 15. For tickets and more information please go here. 

SPY NIGHTS: A WRITERS SERIES
SUE ELLEN THOMPSON
Stoltz Listening Room
Doors: 5:30pm / Talk: 6:00pm
WED 9/27 6:00PM

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Tilghman Watermen’s Museum Announces 2024 Calendar

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The Tilghman Watermen’s Museum 2024 calendar is here! It features pictures taken by local residents of life on Tilghman Island throughout the year, ranging from island dogs to rainbows to decorated boatsThe TWM 2023 Christmas ornament is also available. This year’s ornament features the “old” drawbridge over Knapps Narrows, which is #20001 in Maryland’s bridge numbering system. The “heel trunnion bridge with a counterweight” was built in 1934 and used until 1998. It now spans the entrance of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. 

The 2024 calendar may be purchased for $15.00, and the ornament is available for $25.00. Both prices include tax. They are available at the Museum, located in the Lee House at 6031 Tilghman Island Road, Two if by Sea restaurant, 2 Vintage Chics Boutique, and Fairbank Tackle. Online purchases can be made by visiting the museum website: www.tilghmanmuseum.org, or by email: [email protected]. Phone orders will be taken at 410-886-1025.

The Tilghman Watermen’s Museum is in their fifteenth year of celebrating, documenting, preserving and sharing the history, traditions, heritage and culture of Tilghman Island. The museum is open on weekends from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Off-hour tours are available by calling 410-886-1025. For additional information, contact us by email: [email protected] or visit our website: www.tilghmanmuseum.org.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Mid-Shore Education: Facing the Challenge of Maryland’s Blueprint with QAC Superintendent Patricia Saelens

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As part of our ongoing conversations about public education on the Mid-Shore, we sat down with Queen Anne’s County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Patricia Saelens, last month for an update of that county’s challenges and opportunities as one of the most robust public school systems in the state of Maryland.

One example of this distinction was the news this week that U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona recognized Church Hill Elementary School and Matapeake Elementary School as National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2023. Those two schools beat out more than 9,000 schools nationwide to make that list. 

That kind of recognition is common for QAC schools. Year after year, the school district continues outperforming other schools on both the Eastern and Western Shore. 

And yet, as Dr. Saelens notes in our Spy interview, it’s not always peachy even in QAC. After taking the job in the middle of the COVID crisis, which Saelens considers the most challenging years of her professional life, she and her peers are still having to find their way in negotiating the unanticipated challenges that have come with the implication of the state’s Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. In our chat, the superintendent highlights the positives and negatives of the multi-billion dollar effort to improve public education, including the funding formula and its impact on county budgeting.

 

This video is approximately ten minutes in length.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Stamp Collector Ron Lesher to Speak at St. Michaels Branch on October 2nd

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Ron Lesher will be the guest speaker for the October Lunch & Learn series at the St. Michaels Branch on Monday, October 2nd at noon.

Ron Lesher is a long time stamp collector, exhibitor, and a nationally and internationally accredited judge of stamp exhibits. His column, The Tax Collector, has appeared more than 170 times in The American Stamp Dealer & Collector. 

He is a life member of the American Philatelic Society, which in 2021 bestowed upon him the Luff Award for distinguished philatelic research. Lesher will discuss The Taxation of Legal Alcohol During National Prohibition, 1920 – 1933. 

Legal alcohol during National Prohibition included medicinal alcohol which could be gotten with a doctor’s prescription and sacramental wines, both of which were taxed. In addition to the tax stamps for alcohol and wine, there will be examples of prescriptions for alcohol that were filled at the Jackson Pharmacy on Tilghman Island.

The Lunch & Learn Speakers series is sponsored by the Friends of the Library. Coffee and dessert will be provided. For more information, visit www.tcfl.org  or call 410-745-5877.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Volunteer at Blackwater NWR on National Public Lands Day 

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Looking for a rewarding way to give back?  Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is celebrating National Public Lands Day on Saturday, September 23, by hosting its annual litter cleanup. Help protect wildlife by volunteering to remove litter from refuge roadsides.  In addition, the entrance fee for Wildlife Drive will be waived so that everyone has an opportunity to enjoy their public lands!

Blackwater NWR’s annual litter cleanup will take place on Saturday, September 23 from 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. Trash will be collected from roads around the refuge, beginning at the Education Building on Wildlife Drive. Participants are encouraged to wear boots, long pants, and brightly colored clothes for working along the roads. Trash bags, gloves, and safety vests will be provided. If you, your family, or your organization would like to register, or for more information, please contact Michele Whitbeck at 410-221-8157 or [email protected].

 

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Bushy Tailed Troublemakers by Angela Rieck

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The carefree life of summer is fading and it is time to get to work. Children return to school; animal babies leave their nest, those “to do’s” that we put off in summer are coming to roost, our landscape is giving up and preparing for the winter, and it is time for squirrels to make their presence known.

Squirrels are more active now; the lazy days of summer have given way to a working autumn. The trees are dropping their nuts and squirrels are feasting on them, caching them, and messing with us. Of our local wildlife, squirrels seem to be the most playful and most amused by us humans.

They appear to enjoy our attempts to keep them from bird feeders. Over the years, my husband and I tried all methods of squirrel proof feeders, even employing a battery operated one that acts as a “tilt-o-whirl” when squirrels land on top of them.

We finally realized that we were really just creating a squirrel gymnastics center; and chose to enjoy the show. The squirrels dazzled us with their feats of athletic and mental brilliance. Watching them climb up a greased pole was hysterical. They would take turns until one of them was able to absorb all of the oil and the others found a way to stick their claws into the metal. Squirrel baffles were overcome by jumping from tree branches above, sticking their nails into them and leaning over to get the treats. “Squirrel-proof” feeders that would close when too much weight was on them, would be attacked from above. While squirrels rested, birds got as much food as possible before squirrels returned to the feeders.

Squirrels are also amusing to watch in nature. My neighbor swore that they deliberately pelted him with nuts while he was mowing the lawn. I see them dropping nuts onto the pavement, running down and gathering the exposed meat. Humans help them by stepping on the nuts, so our walkways are now covered with broken shells.

Do squirrels play? Naturalists believe that they do and that their play behavior falls into two categories: solitary play, where an animal will run, climb, jump, twist, tumble and play fight with objects; and social play such as tag or mock fights. Watching them play tag around a tree trunk and race up and down a tree looks like fun, but naturalists believe that these games are a form of play fighting over territory. A squirrel territory can be between 1-25 acres; but except for mating season, they typically overlap peacefully.

My older dog, Annie, who has cataracts and diminished hearing, likes to sit sphinxlike in the grass and watch them play. She silently watches their staccato fluid movements as they search for nuts or sunflower seeds. We call it “Annie TV.” My other dog, Gus, still likes to try to chase squirrels, but he is no match for their speed, their zig-zag pattern, or the plethora of trees in my yard.

In addition to be exceptionally active, squirrels are very busy chattering away these days. They seem to be arguing with each other about which nut belongs to whom. But they are especially talkative to Gus. After dashing up a tree to avoid being caught, they will come down the trunk at a level where he can’t reach them and taunt him “you missed me, you missed me.” To him, it is all in good fun, he and walks away knowing that he is outmaneuvered.

Squirrels have a strong sense of smell. Their sense of smell is so evolved that they can find a cached nut under a foot of snow. Despite this, it is estimated they lose up to 25% of their stored nuts to forgetfulness and animal thievery. Which explains why they dig up all of my planters every week (mistaking my flowers for a newly planted cache) and each year I have an abundance of tree seedlings.

Squirrels also possess sharp hearing, exceptional eyesight, and a good spatial memory (to remember where they stored their nuts). Squirrels are also very intelligent. In Chongqing, China, squirrels have been trained to sniff out illicit drugs. It is not surprising that they are one of the most resilient species in all habitable regions.

They are very busy these days preparing for winter, stuffing their faces with our abundant nuts and caching others. Scientists believe that squirrels organize their nuts more carefully than many of us organize our own food. They appear to organize their nut stash by quality, variety, and possibly even preference. Squirrels “chunk” their nuts and bury different types of nuts in different places depending on the size and quality. They also pretend to bury nuts to throw off potential thieves.

Squirrels in North America used to migrate, the last great squirrel migration of hundreds of thousands of squirrels was recorded in 1968 in Wisconsin. It is believed that since then, this mass migration behavior has gone extinct. After all, with the addition of humans, there is plenty of year round food. Unlike many forest creatures, gray squirrels have successfully adapted to suburban life. They take advantage of our large growth nut trees, our planters (for storage), our birdfeeders, and our fall decorations (pumpkins, corn).

As I was researching squirrels for this article, I discovered that the Eastern Shore has its our own squirrel species, the Delmarva fox squirrel. It resides deep in the forest and, except for its larger size (up to 3 pounds), it looks a lot like a common gray squirrel with a slightly fluffier tail. Unlike its cousin, the Delmarva fox squirrel spends most of its time on the ground, instead of trees. Delmarva fox squirrels live in grown forests near freshwater, and in small woodlands next to crops. Its largest concentrations can be found in Talbot, Kent, Queen Annes, and Dorchester counties, with the most in the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. These squirrels has recovered so well from habitat loss that they were taken off the endangered species list in 2015.

So, when you hear the ratcheting, screeching, clicking, or even squealing sounds along with the sound of nuts falling onto the ground, look for our resilient little acrobatic, fluffy-tailed rodents long-jumping along the tree limbs. We even have one of his cousins named after our area. Pretty impressive for a fun loving, little rodent.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Talbot County Free Library Highlights Library Card Sign-up Month, joins forces with Talbot Goes Purple

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September is finally here and the Talbot County Free Library (TCFL) invites you to participate in Library Card Sign-up Month.

To honor this important month, TCFL is giving new patrons, and patrons that request a replacement card, purple library cards.  There will not be a charge this month for replacements, and we will also be giving book bucks to all new patrons. The book buck can be used for one book from the book sale at the library.

September is also Talbot Goes Purple Month, a substance abuse awareness program that engages our community and youth to stand against substance abuse. Talbot County Free Library Director Dana Newman said it was important for the library to honor both important missions.

“During this month, the Easton Library will also have an Opioid Awareness display up in the teen area with Project Purple items that patrons can take,” said Newman. “At the library, we believe it is crucial to raise awareness about literacy and standing up against substance abuse.”

Since 1987, Library Card Sign-up Month has been held each September to mark the beginning of the school year. During the month, the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country, unite in a national effort to ensure every child signs-up for their own library card.

Throughout the school year, public librarians and library staff will assist parents and caregivers with saving hundreds of dollars on educational resources and services for students. From free access to STEAM programs/activities, educational apps, virtual homework help, technology workshops to the expertise of librarians, the Talbot County Free Library will make sure that children receive everything they need to have a good school year.

“A library card is free and gives our patrons access to not only books but many eResources that allow you to learn a language, take an online course, get help from a tutor, get a resume reviewed, take a practice test, read an e-book, learn about a new craft or hobby, and much more,” Newman said. “If you are a teacher or a homeschooling parent, you can also get a teacher’s card which allows you to check out books to keep in a classroom library for your students or child.”

A library card is one of the most cost-effective back-to-school supplies available. For more information, visit www.tcfl.org.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Drop Off Old Tires at Residential Scrap Tire Event

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Talbot County residents will have an opportunity to dispose of old and unwanted tires at the Citizen Scrap Tire Drop-off Event scheduled for Saturday, September 30, 2023 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Midshore Transfer Station located at 7341 Barkers Landing Road in Easton.

The Department of Public Works will host the Citizen Scrap Tire Drop-Off Event in partnership with Maryland Environmental Service (MES) and the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) which is intended to provide a free, responsible disposal alternative for residents who have accumulated a small number of scrap tires.

For this Scrap Tire Drop-off Event:

  • Residents can make one trip to the Midshore Transfer Station, to drop off up to 10 tires, without rims
  • Only small truck and passenger car tires will be accepted; no commercial tires are allowed. The tires will be collected from each vehicle that enters the facility
  • Commercial haulers or generators of scrap tires will not be permitted

Scrap tires collected during the event will be transported by licensed scrap tire haulers to licensed facilities for recycling or disposal.  According to MDE, a scrap tire is a tire that can no longer be used for its original purpose. These tires, because of their size, shape and associated environmental hazards, present both difficult and costly disposal and recycling challenges for the entities responsible for overseeing their management.

This event is made possible by the State Used Tire Clean-Up and Recycling Fund, which is funded by the $0.80 recycling fee on the sale of a new tire. MDE-MES may use the fund for projects to reduce, recover, and recycle scrap tires in Maryland. Recycled tires can be repurposed as playground cover, rubberized asphalt, wastewater treatment filters, garden mulch, building materials, erosion control, and even as an alternative fuel.

For more information, please contact the Public Works Department at 410-770-8170.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.