The advantages of Corridor 7 included:

• Better congestion relief at the existing Bay Bridge
• More effective reduction of duration of unacceptable level of services
• More effective backup reduction at the Bay Bridge
• Better compatibility with existing land-use patterns likely resulting in fewer indirect effects
• The best diversion route and overall incident management
• Potential for lower environmental impacts particularly to Chesapeake Bay aquatic resources

The purpose of the Bay Crossing Study is to consider corridors for providing additional capacity and access across the Chesapeake Bay in order to improve mobility, travel reliability, and safety at the existing Bay Bridge.

The MDTA has provided two options for public input on the DEIS, including a Public Hearing Virtual Information Room (VIR) and Live Testimony Sessions.

The live testimony will consist of four call-in sessions, with two in-person opportunities also available. Each testimony session will include the opportunity to provide public and one-on-one testimony.

There will be no formal presentation during the testimony sessions, and no responses to questions will be given. Due to the current COVID-19 health crisis and MDTA’s commitment to protect the public and agency members, the public is encouraged to provide public testimony through the call-in sessions.

Public Hearing Virtual Information Room (VIR)

The DEIS and public hearing materials are available for review in the Virtual Information Room (VIR). The public is encouraged to review these materials and provide comment. If you are unable to access the DEIS via the website or if additional assistance is required, please call 877-249-8370 or email the project team.

In the VIR, attendees will have the opportunity to:

• review information on the Tier 1 DEIS and the MDTA-Recommended Preferred Corridor Alternative
• register to give public or one-on-one testimony
• learn how to submit and provide written comments

Live testimony sessions begin in mid-April

Live testimony sessions begin April 14, with call-in sessions set for 1-3 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. April 14 and 15. Click here to Register to provide call-in testimony.

In-person testimony sessions are set for 6-8 p.m. April 21 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Annapolis, 210 Holiday Court, in Annapolis; and 6-8 p.m. April 22 at the Kent Island American Legion Hall, 800 Romancoke Road, in Stevensville.

To register to provide in-person testimony, please call 877-249-8370.

The MDTA will accept comments on the Bay Crossing Study Tier 1 DEIS through May 10.

For more information, go to www.baycrossingstudy.com.

BCS DEIS Executive Summary February 2021

This video is about 14 minutes long.

 

 

Often the news is about the news; reporters and editors can’t help themselves. The month of March has been crowded with stories about President Biden not holding a news conference. And then it happens, and the only real story was that it happened.

President Biden specializes in anesthesia. When necessary, he administers a blend of words that force and then smooth the transition. He is, for example, transitioning from filibuster supporter to opponent, having absorbed a simple truth. A 50-50 split in the US Senate will preclude a historic presidency unless the filibuster goes or is modified.

Not surprisingly, he cares mostly about being leader, not whether the absence of the filibuster will at some point help the other side. And that is the greater truth. He believes or is forced to believe by the Left of his Party that foundational changes made during his time in office will change America for the better and not be completely rolled back. To me, that is the headline from the news conference.

The President was a caring parent when asked numerous questions about the rush to, and often through, the southern border. He was a moralist when talking about a federal takeover of voting procedures in the States. He was indignant with China, and he constantly returned to an overarching theme of helping working families. In short, what he might have missed in specifics, he more than made up for with tone. Ronald Reagan frequently wrong-footed a press horde that faulted him for being, let’s say, out of touch.

I do think at some point, President Biden is going to have to find a common cause with some of the ten or so Republicans who seem to want to find areas of compromise. When the rhetorical fabric includes threads of unity, it will begin to fray if the only reconciliation occurs within your own political party. And especially if the compromise forcing filibuster is, for all intents or purposes, eliminated because you cannot get votes from the other side. The President should remember that almost half of the American electorate is more conservative and much more conservative than his Party’s left-wing.

Finally, let me return to my “news is about the news” opening. Our representatives in Washington just assured us that we will borrow $1.9 trillion to fund a so-called Covid relief bill. And stories have appeared in the last several days suggesting that an announcement is imminent on a multi-trillion dollar infrastructure package. Maybe there should have been one set of questions that probed for the President’s thoughts about extreme deficits and sources of additional tax revenue.

The press also let the President evade answers on gun control even though there were two horrendous mass shootings within days of the news conference.

President Trump, for the most part, faced a belligerent press. In part, that was his fault because variations on his charges of “fake news” were delivered almost daily. But, the reporters of the day, whatever day, should not let the carefully prepared words and phrases (talking points) of a President, any President, go unchallenged.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al recently published Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books. 

Speech and censorship face off—the irrepressible against the dogged. This month’s headlines come from Russia, China, Myanmar and, unfortunately, the United States. The others are hopeless, but let me comment on our country.

Numerous debates are now underway on the constitutional boundaries of free speech and there are important reasons why none of us should be complacent. Let me look forward with a glancing look back.

I chaired the Federal Communications Commission when, attempting to protect children from Howard Stern’s vulgar national radio broadcasts, we fined his network company for breaches of what Congress called “indecent broadcasting.” This eventually forced the company to move Stern to a subscriber tier on satellite radio. But, deciding when speech can be constitutionally censored is not easy work.

A debate is now underway on the extent to which Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 enables Internet computer services to censor online sources of expression. There are many providers, but the headlines normally cite Facebook or Twitter. The law gives companies that have chosen to moderate their users speech the right to exclude speech that is “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected.” Keep those words in mind.

Free speech talks back. I have noticed that readers of The Spy are not reluctant to express themselves, sometimes aggressively. And free speakers are frequently critics and power is not enamored with criticism.

Certainly many, if not most, recoil at the censorious aggression of the Woke culture as its outrage seeps into education, publishing and more. The Woke culture frequently sows division while claiming to preclude it.

Also, increasingly businesses have become censorious. For example, Amazon, which has a streaming service and is “promoting a wide array of films as a part of Black History Month, choose not to include a PBS produced show called “Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words.” The film was available to stream on Amazon, but not anymore.

The political Right is angry believing it is being barred from Facebook and Twitter, among others. My concern goes beyond the current headlines. What about the potential to trigger attacks? Post-January 6th we don’t have to stretch our imaginations to envision mobs on the loose. Or what about intrusion from countries like Russia? Also we should remind ourselves that credulity is an invitation to manipulate. Indeed, can a democracy be healthy when a significant percentage of people accept outrage commentary at face value?

Historically when we think about speech, we think about words. Today hardcore agitation is frequently accompanied by images. Take a look at what Adobe’s Photoshop service lets you do with images. Or look up images of Tom Cruise in recent TikTok videos. These are referred to as deepfake productions which refers to the use of algorithms to replace the person in the original video with someone else. Images used to be primary evidence of truth. Not anymore.

What happens when manipulated images and incendiary words are paired with what I think of as outrage contagion by an organization whose name is a public relation agent’s concoction? Computer services know who is easily riled and again, after January 6th our imagination is no longer necessary in understanding what can happen.

The debate about online speech is underway. It is a debate that will test your span of attention, but remember your speech can count and if businesses offend you, shop elsewhere. Feedback, indeed pushback, are protected responses.

Let me close with some questions. Most importantly, what should be the limits of the free speech guarantee? Should online speakers have to identify themselves? Should the marketing of combustible speech have any effect on its constitutionality? There are many questions, but mostly difficult answers.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al recently published Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books. 

 

While one of the signs that our local economy will indeed recover from the COVID pandemic is that many major capital projects are moving forward. From Cambridge’s Waterfront initiative to Dixon Valve’s continued growth in Chestertown, groundbreakings and design planning are back on the front burner. It’s hard not to see the Mid-Shore having a significant comeback soon after the “all clear” signal is given by Governor Hogan later in the year.

One of those projects back online is the Lakeside Project in Trappe. With an ultimate goal of 2,500 housing units on a parcel of land on the east side of Route 50, the mixed-use community has made it clear to government agencies that the developer’s goal is to create a “natural extension of and with respect for the Town’s (Trappe’s) urban fabric, scale, and historic and architectural character.”

And this commitment to quality also applies to Lakeside’s long-term environmental protection strategies. Plans call for effective wastewater treatment and a promise for “zero net discharge” of pollutants to local waterways, including the Choptank River by way of Miles Creek.

While Lakeside’s plans to achieve these goals are well-documented, it has not stopped the Chesapeake Bay Foundation from fulfilling its mission of doing due diligence to independently assess the risk to the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.

In this case, CBF has some very specific questions for Maryland’s Department of the Environment (MDE), which has oversight over the project’s environmental management plan. This includes Lakeside’s strategy to spray up to 540,000 gallons of treated wastewater per day over its open spaces and fields.

This concern has led the CBF to file suit against the department to challenge the MDE’s conclusion that the project’s use of treated wastewater would result in no net pollutants once it leaves the field.

The Spy talked to Alan Girard, the Bay Foundation’s Eastern Shore director, a few weeks ago to provide some background on why CBF is concerned about Lakeside and its long-term impact on the Mid-Shore.

This video is approximately eleven minutes in length. For more information about the Chesapeake Bay Foundation please go here

It’s not unusual in our lives to encounter something that that seems outside our daily experience. A distant friend calls the moment you are thinking about them; two people describe the same dream, a sense that a departed love one has re-manifested in your life.

Over the years, Dr. Robert Abel has collected close to 900 stories describing unusual accounts of near-death experiences.

“I found these narratives fascinating and just put them in a drawer to think about. The pandemic allowed me to take refuge in my house in Tolchester and take a closer look at them,” he says.

Abel, a Wilmington ophthalmologist who lectures worldwide on vision and integrative medicine, says that his newly published book, Is Death a Mystery? Personal Stories that Lift the Veil offers narratives without a theological or philosophical bias.

Although he is widely informed by his life-long studies of Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, Lucretius, and medical research, he would rather leave the stories of near-death experiences as they are—for the reader to decide.

Abel describes a “your whole life flashes before your eyes” incident in his childhood while hiking with friends. As he dared to jump across a potentially fatal crevasse, his life flashed like a compressed cinematic moment. It was a life-altering experience and one that informed his empathy while listening to others.

The vignettes in the book describe a wide range of near-death, out-of-body, and spirit visitations without medical asides. In interviews, however, he is comfortable talking about neuroscience and their approach describing such phenomena as “merely projection” and will braid the discussion with quantum physics and Einstein formulations.

Clearly, many of us sense some indescribable dimension outside the five-senses. Abel has collected snapshots from those who believe they have been there, and all stories are linked by a common thread: healing, compassion, and love.

This video is approximately nine minutes in length. Dr Abel’s book Is Death a Mystery? Personal Stories that Lift the Veil may be found on Amazon.

Exercise is essential for keeping your heart healthy.  Any type of physical activity will help, especially walking, swimming, dancing and laughter.

Walking is an aerobic exercise that reduces atherosclerosis, fatty build-ups in the arteries which cause most cases of heart disease.  While walking, the heart becomes more efficient and pumps more blood with each heartbeat.  It also increases your muscles’ ability to take oxygen from the blood.

Swimming is another aerobic activity that increases your stamina while improving your cardiovascular system.  Exercise through swimming slows the heart to work less strenuously allowing your heart to stay healthy and strong.

Enjoying yourself while taking part in cardiovascular exercise is what dancing allows you to do. Dancing is a great exercise that not only keeps your heart rate up but allows you to have fun and let loose, while keeping your heart healthy without you even noticing!

Laughter is contagious but spreading it around is a good thing.  Research shows that laughter increases blood flow, burns calories and eases pain.  Did you know that 4 yr. olds laugh about every 4 minutes and adults do it about once an hour?  Spend some time having fun each day and…

Remember dark chocolate and red wine! Tasty treats high in flavonoids (the compounds that cause blood vessels to dilate and reduce blood pressure).

Happy Valentines Day, every day!

Susan Covey is the Fitness Director at Acts Bayleigh Chase in Easton

“Should I start in the 1800s?”

Since I was only writing an article, I explained to Robert “Bobby” Richardson that I would need him to condense it to a more modern time epoch. “You want to know why decoys are valuable? Well then, I’m only going to go back to probably the 1930s and come forward.”

He’s not kidding. The amount of information known by Cambridge native Richardson on the subject of decoys (also known as ‘birds’) is staggering, and your first reaction is that he should write a book. Well, he has, and it’s not just any book. Chesapeake Bay Decoys: The Men Who Made and Used Them, published in 1992, is still considered THE definitive guide for collectors and other enthusiasts. Even buying a used copy commands a hefty price.

Having attended the Waterfowl Festivals throughout the years, I knew decoys (ducks primarily, but also geese and swans) were used as lures to attract ducks. I had even bought a couple to display on my mantle, but I had no idea about the extent of their popularity—or price. Not that this was always the case. Richardson remembers speaking to a curator at an art show a long time ago. “She said, ‘Bobby, are you aware that this is an illegitimate art form? We’re not accepted, but when they understand that decoys are three-dimensional art, then we will be accepted and loved.’ And within the 50 years since, she was absolutely right, it’s an art form that we had missed.”

But what makes it art? According to Richardson, it goes beyond the visual. “Unlike the art on a wall, or a sculpture in a museum, it’s physical; you get to touch it.” Besides that, of course, there is the monetary aspect of their increasing in value.

“I started collecting in 1968,” said Richardson, “which makes me one of the earliest collectors. I remember talking to a guy who had an auction house and how it was unheard of to sell decoys in New York. Now, he told me, 60% of his buyers are from New York City. And that’s where the art world is.”

As Richardson explains it, necessity is what started him in the business. That and a good eye. As a hunter, he said, he would sometimes pick up a lure and think, “that’s a good-looking decoy.” He began accumulating and then selling them at a time when he needed to raise some money. But his expertise almost drove him out of the business he helped create. “I would sell them for $500 or 5,000. But after I sold it, the price would go up, and when I went to replace my inventory, I had to pay more than what I’d sold it for. So, it was a progression that I couldn’t control, because like a beautiful antique, every time it changes hands, it increases the value.”

Despite there being so many birds in the market, Richardson said there are only approximately 5% that can be considered a collectible. And this is where the 1800s come in. Back then, places such as Peterson Decoy or Mason Decoy Factory, or Animal Trap Company were carving, painting, and producing wooden decoys. By the time World War II started, some of these factories that were still in business switched to helping the war effort, manufacturing, for example, gunstocks for the army. After the war, the decoy industry changed, and few decoys were hand made. Instead, machines were churning out lighter-weight plastic decoys.

Suddenly, Richardson said, wooden decoys started to generate interest. “People would pick one up and say, ‘I love it, that’s a green ringed teal.’ Or ‘isn’t that a pretty mallard, or ‘gosh, isn’t that a nice black duck.’ And the rest is history. Everybody started collecting and wanting them like they’d want a good tea table or a good work of art for the wall.”

By the 1970s, decoys were a big business and were viewed as an important form of Americana and folk art. Richardson, who said he’s sold over 10,000 decoys in his career, would agree, recalling how he even received $42,000 for a single sale at an auction. Of course, when coming in contact with as many people as he has throughout his lifetime, Richardson has a vault full of interesting memories of people he’s met. People like Don O’Brien, Nelson Rockefeller’s family lawyer, Walter Chrysler, the founder of Chrysler, and Zalmon Simmons, who founded the Simmons mattress company, to name a few.

He remembers early in his career selling a swan decoy to entrepreneur Kathleen Mulhern owner of the renowned The Garden restaurant in Philadelphia. “She wrote me a check for $25,000, and on my way home, I nearly flipped the car over, looking at that check. I had never had $25,000 in my life.”

But not all exchanges were successful. Richardson recounts one experience at Easton High School, during the Waterfowl Festival, where he and a friend were exhibiting their birds. Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State, showed up and asked for the price of three decoys. “He was told it would be $300,” said Richardson. “Kissinger replied, ‘So now if I write you this check, are you going to cash it?’ My friend asked ‘why the hell wouldn’t I?’ And Kissinger said, ‘because I’m Henry Kissinger, and you’ll want it as a souvenir.’ ‘I don’t care. I’m going to cash your check,’ he said. Wouldn’t you know it, Kissinger never bought the birds.”

These memories also surprisingly included many of the decoys that have gone through Richardson’s hands “When it’s something you love, you know a lot about it. I get so much fun out of the auction catalogs because I see so many old friends.” And by old friends, he means the birds.

But don’t mistake his love for the collectible as a love for a particular bird. When asked how many decoys he still owns, Richardson, who sold off his collection a few years ago, said he only kept around a dozen. “The sale is basically what I live off of now. The irony of it all is I’m not unhappy that I sold everything because they’re made of wood. And I’m made of flesh and blood, and that’s more important to me.”

So, I wondered, are the ones he kept, the birds he couldn’t bear to part with? “No, no, no, no, no,” he responded. “They’re there because they have no value. If they had any great value, they would be gone. I did this to make a living. I didn’t do it because I was rich, but I love the art form.”

Richardson is now in his early 80s. He and his wife, Nancy, still live in Cambridge, and now that he no longer collects decoy, he’s taken up a new hobby–making folk art crow and owl birds. But he’s also found contentment with creating and painting chess/checker game boards.

It wouldn’t surprise me to hear that a Bobby Richardson original would become a collectible in the future.

Val Cavalheri is a recent transplant to the Eastern Shore, having lived in Northern Virginia for the past 20 years. She’s been a writer, editor and professional photographer for various publications, including the Washington Post.