As a lifelong resident of Talbot County, I’m writing to share my thoughts and officially endorse Jimmy Jaramillo as one of the next Talbot County Council Members. I have known Jimmy for several years in both a personal and professional capacity. One of the first things his friends and family will tell you is that he has never forgotten where he came from – or who he has been fighting for when it comes to politics.

Jimmy has extensive experience in the political arena, including working closely with members of the Eastern Shore Delegation in Annapolis to address public safety issues and the ongoing opioid epidemic that Maryland faces. Additionally, Jimmy was elected Oxford Town Commissioner in September of 2020 and has been a voice of reason for the residents of Oxford at both town and county council meetings. Since taking office, Commissioner Jaramillo has worked to support economic sustainability and has participated in economic growth projects, within the county, as the Oxford representative on the Talbot Economic Development Commission. 

His energy and excitement are exactly what Talbot County needs. I am supporting Jimmy because of his love and passion for Talbot; his knowledge on issues important to Talbot residents, including ongoing economic projects; as well as his in-depth experience in developing sound budgets and actionable policies in the town of Oxford. These achievements are exemplary to Jimmy’s dedication to any task he takes on. 

Jimmy has his standards set high, aiming to ensure you have all your Rights and Freedoms as a Citizen; bring equality and balance back into our County; and to rehabilitate and preserve the Talbot County way of life, that makes us all adore this place we call home. He will not stop fighting for you, until these goals have been met.

  Jimmy Jaramillo’s leadership, his public administration skills, his deep roots in Talbot, and his vision for the county, are reliable indicators of why I am voting for him on July 19th. 

I ask that you place confidence in my endorsement and vote for Jimmy Jaramillo for Talbot County Council on July 19th! 

Kathi Dulin Duvall
Easton

On Tuesday the drive through St.Michaels’ main street at 10:30 am was stopped for a time, then moved slowly; bumper to bumper. It was stop and go traffic all the way through town. Upon reaching the far end of St. Michaels, finally, I saw that the opposing traffic was sitting at Seymour and that cars were wasting gas all the way down the road to Lincoln. The culprits for the standstill? Sidewalk repair and replacement. An entire lane had been blocked off. After shopping at Grauls, of course the gruesome situation replayed itself in the other direction. Traffic is getting worse at the best of times, but the thought of enduring this sidewalk repair for who knows how long would test even the most patient of us.

After returning home with soup that once was ice cream, I asked, via email, the St. Michael Town Council and the Talbot County Council what could be done about this traffic. What could these vaunted members do to help their fellow constituents. I waited eagerly, for a response. No response; nothing, from any member of either council but for Pete Lesher, who suggested that the State Highway Administration could often be persuaded to schedule work that caused traffic disruption for off-peak times. Heartened by his response, I forwarded his missive to, again, the entire St. Michael Town Council and the Talbot County Council. And again, no response. Not a peep. Not a word. Not a smoke signal. Where are these all-caring members of our community. Is this not a problem that these council members could actually fix? Who was responsible for the sidewalk repair contract. Is it a town contract or a county contract. Could the members of these various entities not work together on this matter and fix it.

Did I not watch these peoples’ kumbaya videos talking about bringing their community together by working together. All manner of wonderful things would take place if a vote was received in their favor. I practically heard the Triumphal March from Aida while watching these videos and yet my first request has been met with no response. Absolutely no response whatsoever. Where are these elected officials who were going to make life better for their town folk. What has become of them. Are their goals so lofty, so high minded and exalted, that they have no time to help the mere mortals who live next door. Is there not one single member among these hallowed people who has the ability to step up and take charge? Is anyone willing to take charge or will finger pointing ensue?

Sadly, I am left to my friends, all my many friends, with whom I am only able to commiserate, about yet another promise not kept by a council member. I am only one voter. Granted, I have no standing, no voice, only one vote. I am a mere lone she-wolf crying in the wilderness while her gas money goes up in smoke; still wondering why there was no response from anyone who was willing and able and could actually do something to move this situation forward. I see only more disappointments and more bumper to bumper traffic ahead. Alas.

Linda Dus Hamilton
St. Michaels

One of the first persons I asked to sign our petition in support of a plastic bag ban in Easton agreed to sign but then hesitated.  “But I use plastic bags for kitty litter.  What would I do without plastic bags?”  I realized two things: first,  that when some people heard “ban”, they actually heard “abolished.” I assured her a ban would only apply to those single-use plastic bags the stores provide at checkout.  There would be many alternatives left in the store for dealing with pet doo-doo. Relieved to hear this, she signed.  

I also learned that if you have a pet, those single-use plastic bags are your go-to for pet waste.  I cringed when I spoke with someone from out of state who told me how great the nice thick plastic bags from their liquor stores back home were for conveying kitty litter.  I also learned that many dog owners used grocery store plastic bags for picking up doggie poo.  All those big bags for a little dump.  All that forever plastic filled with pet waste filling our landfills forever.

Is there a more earth friendly way to deal with pet waste?  

Of course, but it takes a little forethought and a different set of habits. You can compost kitty litter.  If you do this, you will have to use a biodegradable brand of kitty litter.  The regular stuff has silica dust and toxic additives. You can source kitty litter made from pine or wood pellets/shavings that has the added benefit of making your kitty box smell nice. You can also use shredded newspaper which also biodegrades.  Even if you don’t compost, these are environmentally friendly alternatives to what you put in the kitty tray.

If composting is not in the cards, consider other options for carrying the litter out to your trash can.  There are biodegradable and compostable bags. Bio bags are the Wild West of the alternative bag industry.  There are bioplastics that easily decompose. Biodegradable bags that need sun and air to  break down. They might be made of starch and cellulose, or mixed with synthetic (petroleum-based) polyesters, or bio-based oils that do not always biodegrade.  Compostable bags might  require a composting facility in order to compost. In that case they won’t break down in a landfill.  These alternative bags also might not be up to the task.   Read your product reviews. You can also just use brown paper bags. These are sturdy and decompose naturally. Or, just  trade that cat in for a goldfish.  Just kidding!

Thankfully with dogs all the waste action takes place outdoors, where you and your pooch also benefit from a little exercise in the process, and all you need to take care of business is a handy bag.  Which bags do you use?  My daughter’s family uses the plastic bags they bring their veggies home in.  It’s always good to check if the sweet potatoes poked a hole in the bag before use.  There are more eco-friendly  ways to bring fruits and veggies home, but that’s another story.  As described above, there are lots of alternative poop bag options. Many  brands offer bags that are labeled “compostable” or “biodegradable.”  These terms  are used interchangeably.  The bags I looked at all seem to be made of cornstarch and a petroleum-based resin that they claim is safe for your compost pile. Theoretically, if we on the Eastern Shore had a municipal compost facility, you would need to ensure that the facility accepted your bags of pet waste.  Or you could put your doggie bags in the same compost pile as your kitty litter, as long as you don’t use it to compost your vegetables! In your yard, you can carry a trowel instead of a bag and just scoop the poo into a trash can, preferably one lined with a biodegradable trash bag. I even read that flushing is an option for doggie, but not kitty, waste.

The alternatives to plastic bags keep evolving and, we hope, can help us ease off our addiction to 100 percent petroleum-based plastic bags.  As demand for environmentally friendly alternatives increases, so does the research. These halfway-there bags are a start.  

Marion O Arnold
Plastic-Free Easton

The Talbot Integrity Project (“TIP”) is the non-partisan citizens’ organization that recently arose out of disgust with the Lakeside subdivision in particular, and deep concern about the domination of the County Council by development interests who care little about protecting Talbot’s rural character and unique quality of life.

Because we believe these candidates all support sound land use principles and protection of the rural character of Talbot County (TIP’s criteria), TIP recommends that citizens should vote as follows in the Talbot County Council Democratic Primary:

VOTE FOR PETE LESHER. Pete Lesher consistently stands with fortitude and intelligence to fight against destructive land use policies, most dramatically as to Lakeside, but likewise as to many other questions less well understood by the public. He has been the leader on this issue.

VOTE FOR PHIL JACKSON. Jackson lives at the Preserve at Wye Mills and was the one person who stepped up responsibly as head of that HOA to deal with problems at its failed sewer plant, pressing the County and MDE forcefully to do what’s needed. He is knowledgeable on these matters, and told us that he believes Lakeside, where the same technology is proposed, will face the same problems—just 50 times bigger. Jackson is an experienced IT executive.

VOTE FOR THREE OF THESE FOUR:

JIM BRUCE. A retired engineer and lawyer from St. Michaels. Seems studious and no-nonsense on land use. We liked this commitment in particular: “[going to] work hard, so the Council is not snookered or outgunned where vital citizen interests are concerned.”

KEASHA HAYTHE. An Easton resident who has run several times in the past and finished just 150 votes behind Frank Divilio in 2018. Her career is in Economic Development, but she understands that our Comprehensive Plan focuses on growth in Talbot’s towns and seems committed to preserving the rural County her family has known for generations.

SCOTT KANE. Has had experience in government (he was mayor of Chevy Chase years ago). Kane chaired a solar power task force as well as Talbot’s Short-Term Rental Review Board. The TIP panel believes he would bring a constructive voice to that discussion, knows how government works, and has a sound view on protecting our rural environment

MICHELE DAPPERT, an extraordinarily energetic and focused young woman who has done her homework on very many aspects of local government, including the role and substance of our Comp Plan. An Easton high school graduate with a career in communications and marketing.

TIP’s interview with the remaining Democratic candidate, Buddy Harrison, left us unclear at best on what to expect from Mr. Harrison when land use matters come up. Well known in the community as a restauranteur, he confirmed his close link the tourist industry. He also professed not to have followed matters in much detail in recent years (e.g., the Planning Commission or Lakeside). Mr. Harrison was elected to the Council twice, in 1998 and 2006; he explained to us that he was defeated in 2004 because of having aligned with certain interests at the time to back development of Big Box stores north of Easton.

(TIP’s recommendations for County Council in the REPUBLICAN PRIMARY were published in the Spy on Saturday, and are available here.)

All of TIP’s recommendations were established by a bipartisan panel of five individuals intimately familiar with local land use matters and approval processes (2 Rs, 2 Ds, 1“unaffiliated”) after a long interview with every Council candidate who offered any transparency. The process was detailed last week in a letter to the editor, here.

If citizens are ever going to influence the question of Talbot’s transition into “just another place” like every other, we need to take back our County. Let’s get out the vote!

Monica Otte, St. Michaels (D)
Kirke Harper, Claiborne (D)
The Talbot Integrity Project

The Talbot Integrity Project (“TIP”) is the non-partisan citizens’ organization that recently arose out of disgust with the Lakeside subdivision in particular, and deep concern about the domination of the County Council by development interests who care little about protecting Talbot’s rural character and unique quality of life.   

For the reasons explained below, TIP recommends that for Talbot County Council in the Republican Primary, voters should vote for:

• LYNN MIELKE,
• KYLE O’DONNELL
• DAVID MONTGOMERY

We urge votes be cast only for those candidates because, by the criteria of “protecting Talbot’s rural character against intrusive development,” none of the other five candidates should serve on the County Council.

We believe Mielke, O’Donnell and Montgomery genuinely support the vision of Talbot as a sustainable rural County and are committed to protecting Talbot’s unique character.  Every one of the other five Republican candidates—including the current Council President who contributed so much to the improper approval of Lakeside—declined to even meet with The Talbot Integrity Project to discuss land use and our Comprehensive Plan.  

Naturally, candidates may choose to focus on different topics, but month-in and month-out, year after year, land use decisions are among the Council’s most important responsibilities—and bad decisions can never be undone.   Whatever topic a candidate chooses to talk about, when it comes to land use, we have reason to believe all five—that is, candidates other than Mielke, O’Donnell, and Montgomery–have a bias in favor of development that overrides any concern they have for the rural character of Talbot County.

This recommendation was arrived at unanimously by a bipartisan panel of five individuals intimately familiar with local land use matters and approval processes (2 Rs, 2 Ds, 1“unafilliated”) after a long interview with every Council candidate who offered any transparency.  The process was detailed last week in a letter to the editor here.

If citizens are ever going to influence the question of Talbot’s transition into “just another place” like every other, we need to take back our County.  Let’s get out the vote!

Steve Harris, Trappe (R )
Dirck Bartlett, Bloomfield (R )
The Talbot Integrity Project

As a youngster, I loved playing Jarts.  I’m old enough to remember the original version.  The heavy metal tips were designed to stick firmly in the ground if you threw the lawn dart with enough of an arc.

In 1987, a seven-year-old girl was killed when a Jart thrown by another child penetrated her skull.  At that time, there had been 6,100 emergency room visits in the past 8 years resulting from lawn dart injuries, but the federal government had resisted banning the product.  Enough was enough – public outrage over this death led the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to immediately ban Jarts (although you can now buy a safer version with plastic tips).  I could live without Jarts.

Fast forward to 2022.  The Center for Disease Control reports that 3,219 children aged 1 to 18 died from firearms in 2020 — the leading cause of death for this age group.  Mass killings of children involving assault rifles are all too frequent.  Hundreds of children die annually when guns are not safely secured in the home.  Irresponsible gun sellers target youth in their advertisements.  The few gun safety regulations that exist are riddled with loopholes.

So how did we get to a place where one unnecessary childhood death was too many when it came to Jarts, but 3,219 children dying from firearms each year isn’t enough to justify taking significant action regarding firearms safety?

The modest reform package working its way through Congress is a good first step and hopefully will pass, although it’s discouraging to hear that some members of Congress will not even support these common-sense reforms.  More will need to be done if we really care about keeping children alive by reducing the number of childhood firearm deaths.

Ron Ketter
Easton

Triggered by well-known concerns with the Lakeside subdivision, the non-partisan Talbot Integrity Project is focused on land use matters in Talbot County–and on the upcoming County Council election. We do not believe voters want to elect new members from either party who support developers like Rocks Engineering and projects as outrageous as Lakeside, like Messrs. Callahan, Divilio and Pack do. Councilmen even unwilling to hear a citizens’ petition without a lawsuit compelling them to do so. Councilmen who seem to back almost every money-making idea that will hurry Talbot away from the vision in our Comp Plan of a rural community able to prosper and still retain our unique quality of life.

Fifteen candidates are running for Talbot County Council, yet only two incumbents—Pete Lesher and Chuck Callahan—have track records that can really inform voters’ decisions.

The rest, to most of us, are just names on yard signs. No idea. Never heard of them.

But it is dangerous for citizens, and for the future of Talbot County, if we have to cast votes in a state of ignorance. It’s easy to see how, with a small turnout, good candidates not connected to a support group might not make the cut over candidates allied with the county’s influential and well-established political machinery, or even randomly.

So here is what The Talbot integrity Project (“TIP”) has done about it. A few weeks ago, TIP set up an ad-hoc panel of five people to interview all fifteen candidates, focusing particularly, but not exclusively, on the issues most important to TIP supporters: the unique character of Talbot County; integrity in our land approval processes; and fidelity to the values in our Talbot Comprehensive Plan.

The panel consisted of Steve Harris of Trappe, Monica Otte of St. Michaels, Dirck Bartlett of Bloomfield, Kirke Harper of Claiborne, and Dan Watson who lives in Aveley. We are not allied as friends, but all of us have been involved in one sort of County land use issue or another. The panel included two D’s, two R’s and an “unaffiliated” voter–although not one of us believes that “Political Party” is at all meaningful as regards land use and the integrity of our processes, or most other local issues. (Both Republicans and Democrats—and don’t forget Independents!–are equally upset about Lakeside as a harbinger of Talbot’s future.)

Our panel invited each one of the fifteen candidates to have a roughly forty-five-minute conversation with us to talk about his or her candidacy. Nothing recorded, all informal, a general conversation with an emphasis obviously on “our issues.” We were prepared to do this over six evenings spanning two weeks…so plenty of slots were available. The obvious purpose was to learn enough to form our own opinions, for ourselves and to share with everyone in the community.

Here’s what happened: Ten candidates were happy to meet with us, and indeed, we had a series of very informative and revealing conversations. Forty-five minutes was pretty good—not like spending a weekend with someone, but enough time to get into key issues in depth, triangulate a bit, cover a lot more than just smart growth and the Comp Plan.

In addition to the interview, each of us has read up on what little is available about the candidates and expect to learn more from forums and interviews others might hold, from word of mouth and insights offered by others. Learning about candidates is not an event, it is a process.

What’s great about America is that it’s a free country, and five (5) candidates chose not to talk to us: Bruce Corley, Jimmy Jaramillo, Dave Stepp, Wade Strickland….and the County Council President, Mr. Callahan.

Stay posted: Next week we will be offering our recommendations on this critical Primary Election. We continue to review information we gleaned from the interviews, and are thinking about the best path forward for voters who share our opinion about Lakeside and retaining a rural Talbot County. We believe that’s a big majority, and that we should take back our County!

Finally, if you have any interest in helping The Talbot Integrity Project achieve its goals in this election—the important July 19th Primary and in the General Election three months later, please email danwatson123@verizon.net. Just a couple of hours a week will really make a difference!

The Talbot Integrity Project

Dirck Bartlett, R
Monica Otte, D
Steve Harris, R
Kirke Harper, D
Dan Watson, U

The Town of Easton is currently working on the 2023 re-write of the Town’s Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan is important because it is a document used by your elected officials, citizens, developers, and special interest groups as a guide for future development and issues the Town will face over the next decade of growth. There are a number of ways in which communities approach this task, but in Easton, the process relies heavily on the input and involvement of our citizens.

Easton is a small town that offers residents and visitors a quality of life that is difficult, if not impossible, to duplicate anywhere else in the United States and has made many ‘best of’ lists. With its rural character, proximity to the Chesapeake Bay, its historic Downtown, and the historical and contemporary residential neighborhoods, Easton is a wonderful place to live, work, and raise a family. We can all agree that maintaining the character, the very essence of this place that makes it so unique and special will be an enormous challenge.

There have been a number of small neighborhood meetings as one part of an extensive community outreach to solicit public input, and more will be planned in the future to gather as many in-person comments as possible. But these meetings are not the only way our citizens can participate. There are surveys available on the Town’s website, in both English and Spanish, covering issues like future growth, neighborhood design, and quality of life. We encourage you to visit the Town’s website at https://www.eastonmd.gov/564/2023-Comprehensive-Plan-Update, watch the short video on the importance of the Comprehensive Plan, and fill out the surveys. Please keep an eye out for additional opportunities for public input with a town hall-style meeting and the public hearing once the draft document is complete.

The Town of Easton is the heart of Talbot County, has been here for centuries, and its identity is subject to change from both residential and commercial development. The Comprehensive Plan process allows citizen input on how best we can change and maintain our historical and cultural character into the future. Facilitating that change while simultaneously maintaining the authentic, small-town character that makes Easton the special place it remains today, is the principal challenge of this exercise. Please help us with this endeavor by providing your thoughts and ideas for what our future should look like and how we can achieve it.

Lynn B. Thomas, Jr., AICP
Town of Easton Town Planner

Megan Cook
Town of Easton Council President

It was a full house at last night’s public hearing for the Easton Town Council’s proposed single-use plastic ban ordinance. The ban would prohibit the use of plastic bags at the point of sale. Jeff Harrison, president of the Talbot Watermen Association, started off the public hearing with an impassioned plea to protect the watershed that he and other watermen work in every day–and that we all enjoy as a given on the Eastern Shore. He said the plastic bag problem has grown worse in the last 4-5 years by ten-fold. “Those bags don’t disappear.  They just pile up. We have a problem with these bags.”

Also speaking was Alan Girard, Eastern Shore Director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, who described worrying studies about how plastic bags impact human health and threaten our watershed.  “Microplastics are detectable at every single one of the bay watershed’s 126 water quality monitoring stations.  This means that microplastics are not only in our bay, they’re throughout our  rivers and streams.” Citing another study, he said, “Microplastics ingested by oysters trick them into thinking they’re getting too much food, when, in fact, they’re not getting enough”, starving and threatening our oyster population.

“Plastics are not good for human health,” Girard said, pointing to studies that indicated that four million microparticles of plastic are sent daily into the watershed from each of the bay’s 516 water treatment facilities. These facilities cannot filter out these smaller particles. Microplastics are detectable in sea bass which you ingest when you eat them. Worse, Girard said, “Microplastics for the first time are found in human blood.” Eighty percent of participants in that study had microplastics in their bloodstream. 

Girard said that finding a solution to the plastics problem is finding a policy that balances human and environmental costs against the inconvenient cost of reducing plastic bags. “This bag ban is one of those inconvenient things. Yes, you got to bring your tote bag. But in terms of the benefits, it’s clearly a decision you can make for the environment, for the health of our citizens and for all of Maryland.” 

Plastic-Free Easton’s Elaine Tama asked  council members to consider adding a provision to the ordinance to require store owners to charge a fee for paper bags. Tama said, “It levels the playing field and retailers won’t undercut competitors by offering free paper bags. It is better for the environment, since  paper bags are made from trees. And having a customer pay for paper bags will reduce the number of trees used.”  

Sarah Price from the Maryland Retailers Association also urged the council to consider adding  a fee mandate to the ordinance. “This particular proposal does not include a fee on paper bags. Generally, I assume that these proposals are intended to curb consumer behavior and to encourage people to bring their own bags–not just transition from one type of disposable bag to another.” Price also concurred with Tama’s point about keeping retailers on the same level of competitively.

Melvin Thompson of the Restaurant Association of Maryland requested that the council exempt restaurants from the ban due to concerns about leaks when conveying wet food items.

The council also heard from Amy Kreiner, president of the Talbot County Chamber of Commerce.  She said the Chamber opposes the ordinance as an “unfair burden” especially on smaller businesses. She said “not one stated they would pass on the cost of bags to their customers” but instead would absorb the cost.  Alternatively, the Chamber “recommends increased  informational campaigns encouraging the public to reduce their use of single-use plastics whenever possible and on the virtues of recycling the bags  they do consume.”  Kreiner also talked about contributing plastic bags to Trex, a manufactured wood products company based in Virginia.  The Chamber would encourage the public to participate in a program to get a free Trex bench for plastic bags.  Elaine Tama in her rejoinder to Kreiner’s remarks noted that participants would have to gather 40,500 bags (500 lbs.) within a 6-month period,  “you would need to weigh the bags and transport them to Winchester VA, and set up receptacles around town.  We don’t really support that. We don’t want to encourage using more bags than we already have.”  Elaine also reiterated that imposing a mandatory fee on paper bags would relieve the burden of cost on retailers.

The evening also included impassioned testimony from Easton residents who support the ban, sharing their concern about the environmental and health impacts of plastics.  It was a full evening and there’s more to come. The next public hearing on the proposed ordinance is Monday, June 20, at the regular town council meeting.

Plastic-Free Easton is a citizen-led effort to reduce plastics pollution in Easton. Don’t use plastic bags provided at the store. Use your reusables.

Marion O Arnold
Plastic-Free Easton