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November 26, 2020

The Talbot Spy

The nonprofit e-newspaper for the Talbot County Community

Spy Highlights

From and Fuller: Trump Denial Consequences and Biden New Appointees

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Every Thursday, the Spy hosts a conversation with Al From and Craig Fuller on the most topical political news of the moment. But this week we get a headstart before Thanksgiving with this special edition.

This week, From and Fuller discuss the GOP political consequences of Donald Trump’s refusal to accept election results, while also allowing the GSA to start working with the incoming Biden Administration. Al and Craig also rate the first wave of Joe Biden’s cabinet nominations.

This video is approximately ten minutes in length. To listen to the podcast version, please use this link:


Background

While the Spy’s public affairs mission has always been hyper-local, it has never limited us from covering national, or even international issues, that impact the communities we serve. With that in mind, we were delighted that Al From and Craig Fuller, both highly respected Washington insiders, have agreed to a new Spy video project called “The Analysis of From and Fuller” over the next year.

The Spy and our region are very lucky to have such an accomplished duo volunteer for this experiment. While one is a devoted Democrat and the other a lifetime Republican, both had long careers that sought out the middle ground of the American political spectrum.

Al From, the genius behind the Democratic Leadership Council’s moderate agenda which would eventually lead to the election of Bill Clinton, has never compromised from this middle-of-the-road philosophy. This did not go unnoticed in a party that was moving quickly to the left in the 1980s. Including progressive Howard Dean saying that From’s DLC was the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.

From’s boss, Bill Clinton, had a different perspective. He said it would be hard to think of a single American citizen who, as a private citizen, has had a more positive impact on the progress of American life in the last 25 years than Al From.”

Al now lives in Annapolis and spends his semi-retirement as a board member of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University (his alma mater) and authoring New Democrats and the Return to Power. He also is an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins’ Krieger School and recently agreed to serve on the Annapolis Spy’s Board of Visitors.

For Craig Fuller, his moderation in the Republican party was a rare phenomenon. With deep roots in California’s GOP culture of centralism, Fuller, starting with a long history with Ronald Reagan, leading to his appointment as Reagan’s cabinet secretary at the White House, and later as George Bush’s chief-of-staff and presidential campaign manager was known for his instincts to find the middle ground. Even more noted was his reputation of being a nice guy in Washington, a rare characteristic for a successful tenure in the White House.

Craig has called Easton his permanent home for the last five years, where now serves on the boards of the Academy Art Museum, the Benedictine School, and Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.  He also serves on the Spy’s Board of Visitors.

With their rich experience and long history of friendship, now joined by their love of the Chesapeake Bay, they have agreed through the magic of Zoom, to talk inside politics and policy with the Spy every Thursday.

Art on Lockdown: Anne Watts

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For the record, and well before the COVID crisis, Anne Watts has never bought into the concept of a graceful retirement. As the bandleader of the highly acclaimed Baltimore group Boister since 1997, Watts has always aspired to follow in the footsteps of Mick Jagger or the legendary Cab Calloway as artists committed to the long-haul with their work.

So it might not come as much of a surprise to learn the Anne hasn’t stopped working during the pandemic, even though live performances have come to a shrieking halt. However, what might be surprising to know is how the musician is channeling her energy into a weekly radio show on WHCP in Cambridge, where she has lived for the last decade with her husband and children. 

As Watts waits out the country’s health crisis, she has used the radio program “WomenWattage” to dig deep into the lives of remarkable women, many of them native to Cambridge like Harriet Tubman and Gloria Richardson, and use the show to share their stories, and, in her words, “drop the needle” on music that mattered to them. She also chats about the power of community radio to honor the dead and stay in touch with ancestors. 

The Spy caught up with Anne and her dog, Bo, a few weeks ago on the Cambridge waterfront. 

This video is approximately four minutes in length. WomenWattage is broadcast on WHCP every Wednesday from 1-2 pm and Saturday from Noon – 1 pm. 

 

Mid-Shore Community Foundation Honors Talbot Leaders and Others with 2020 Awards

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Due to COVID-19, the Mid-Shore Community Foundation’s 2020 Annual Awards and Report to the Community was held as a virtual format this year.

The annual event highlights recent activities and recognized individuals and organizations whose contributions have made a positive and substantial impact on the community.

This year’s honorees include: JoAnn Asparagus-Murray, Childlene Brooks, Anne Clucas and Debbie Molchan of St. Vincent de Paul, Jeff Horstman of ShoreRivers, Sandy Brown of Mid-Shore Pro Bono, Megan Cook and Emily Moody of CarePacks, Clay Washington of Kennard African American Cultural Heritage Center, Larry Wilson of Sumner Hall, Ruth Clendaniel of Dorchester Retired Educators Association, Cesar Gonzalez of Cambridge Community Radio, and Sara Rich of Choptank Community Health System.

 

From and Fuller: Trump Still in Denial and GOP Keeps Base in Senate and State House Races

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Every Thursday, the Spy hosts a conversation with Al From and Craig Fuller on the most topical political news of the moment.

This week, From and Fuller discuss Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the election results and the generally healthy outcomes for the GOP with senate and state house races.

This video is approximately fourteen minutes in length. To listen to the podcast version, please use this link:

Background

While the Spy’s public affairs mission has always been hyper-local, it has never limited us from covering national, or even international issues, that impact the communities we serve. With that in mind, we were delighted that Al From and Craig Fuller, both highly respected Washington insiders, have agreed to a new Spy video project called “The Analysis of From and Fuller” over the next year.

The Spy and our region are very lucky to have such an accomplished duo volunteer for this experiment. While one is a devoted Democrat and the other a lifetime Republican, both had long careers that sought out the middle ground of the American political spectrum.

Al From, the genius behind the Democratic Leadership Council’s moderate agenda which would eventually lead to the election of Bill Clinton, has never compromised from this middle-of-the-road philosophy. This did not go unnoticed in a party that was moving quickly to the left in the 1980s. Including progressive Howard Dean saying that From’s DLC was the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.

From’s boss, Bill Clinton, had a different perspective. He said it would be hard to think of a single American citizen who, as a private citizen, has had a more positive impact on the progress of American life in the last 25 years than Al From.”

Al now lives in Annapolis and spends his semi-retirement as a board member of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University (his alma mater) and authoring New Democrats and the Return to Power. He also is an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins’ Krieger School and recently agreed to serve on the Annapolis Spy’s Board of Visitors.

For Craig Fuller, his moderation in the Republican party was a rare phenomenon. With deep roots in California’s GOP culture of centralism, Fuller, starting with a long history with Ronald Reagan, leading to his appointment as Reagan’s cabinet secretary at the White House, and later as George Bush’s chief-of-staff and presidential campaign manager was known for his instincts to find the middle ground. Even more noted was his reputation of being a nice guy in Washington, a rare characteristic for a successful tenure in the White House.

Craig has called Easton his permanent home for the last five years, where now serves on the boards of the Academy Art Museum, the Benedictine School, and Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.  He also serves on the Spy’s Board of Visitors.

With their rich experience and long history of friendship, now joined by their love of the Chesapeake Bay, they have agreed through the magic of Zoom, to talk inside politics and policy with the Spy every Thursday.

Local Life and Food: The Oxford Market and Deli

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You won’t find this unassuming building, across the street from the Tred Avon River, listed as a historic place to visit in Oxford. But, Trip Advisor calls Oxford Market and Deli as the ‘Only store in town!” and if this is not historic, it’s undoubtedly a welcome place for Oxford residents and visitors when they need anything. We’re not exaggerating when saying ‘anything.’ Sure, you can find the usual selections found in most markets. But you can also find beer and fine wine, rum, vodka, t-shirts, bait, automotive supplies, etc. And if everyone we spoke to is to be believed, the best homemade soups, sandwiches, and pies on the Eastern Shore. Oxford locals wouldn’t have it any other way.

Although there is only one store now servicing the area, once, Oxford had six stores to choose from. Those numbers declined over time, and before owners Chris and Kate Mckelvy took over the building at 203 S Morris St., it had housed a series of businesses, more recently Dock’s Quick Shop.

“Before Doc’s, the stores were typical local ma and pa stores,” says Mark Ledford, who grew up in Oxford, “and you were very limited on the items you could purchase. Doc’s brought more of a mini-supermarket to the town, where before you had to go to Easton.” He would know. His mother, Pat Ledford, known as Miss Pat, was the store manager throughout the 1980s. Doc’s was the local morning stop for coffee. It was also a bus stop and a local hangout for the kids. “We would congregate there until there were too many of us, and then she would shoo us along, and we’d run off to the ferry dock or wherever we were going to play for the day,” says Ledford.

Fast forward to the 1990s to a time when Kate Mckelvy and her mother were getting famous baking pies for Doc’s. When the owner decided to sell in 1995, the Mckelvy’s jumped on the chance and bought Doc’s, renaming it Oxford Market and Deli. They have continued the tradition of the mini-supermarket, offering a wide array of products. But, it is their selection of food items that puts them on the must stopover for both visitors and locals.

“People come in for the muffins every morning,” says Chris, “and we have a pretty good lunch.” That last bit might be a bit of an understatement. Stop by on any given day, and if it’s not raining or very cold, you’ll see a steady line (socially distanced, of course) of people ordering lunch and eating it at the park across the street or on the benches in front of the store.

But, don’t expect to have the same options on the menu every day. Their specials are almost a tradition for their fans. “We serve meatloaf on Fridays,” said Chris. “It’s like an institution, and everybody gets it. Some people want to come in and get a whole meatloaf. I think we make around 20 pounds of meatloaf then. We do chili every day. And we have an assortment of different soups: either Maryland crab, chicken noodle, hamburger, vegetable split pea and ham, or lima bean.” All proudly made by Chris and Kate, who will not tolerate serving anything that’s poured out of a store-bought container.

Just as they’re particular about their deli items being fresh and homemade, they are also specific about what they will carry in the store. So much so that they’ve even branded their own hot sauce. “We also carry Hanks and Old Bay. We sell Mark Salter’s sauce (Chef Partner of the Robert Morris Inn). We have a local guy down in Cambridge, Blackwater Coffee, who roasts our coffee. I try to get local whenever I can.”

Their customers welcome that attention to detail, just as they appreciate Chris and Kate being part of the community. “They are good people and run a nice family business.” says Matthew Hall, Oxford resident, “I know that if I ever needed anything, Chris would go out of his way to get it.”

We confirmed that with Chris, who agreed that he’s got connections and isn’t afraid to use it: “I can get whatever they want. For instance, we do seafood. We have crab meat and rockfish all summer long from local fishers. Right now, we’re doing oysters, and if somebody wants anything, any kind of seafood, all I have to do is make a phone call. We’re used to doing special orders.”

But just being located where they are is enough for people in town. “We’ve had people come in,” said Kate, “and buy a frozen steak, filet, or chicken breast. They will get one carrot, one piece of celery, one baked potato, and a nice bottle of wine. And they go make dinner and not have to go out.”

Liza Ledford, Oxford Community Center’s (OCC) Executive Director (and wife of Mark Ledford), is grateful that she has easy access to the market when she needs lemons. Lemons?

“Whenever I’m doing a bar event at OCC. I always forget them, and I am always running in there for lemons. But, I’m also sort of obsessed with their chicken Caesar salad and their chili.”

Both Liza and Mark commented on how the generosity of the Mckelvy’s extend to the people of Oxford. “Chris has been a great partner. When we do something like our mixology classes,” says Liza. “He’ll stock some really rare ingredients to make sure the community can buy what we’re making.”

Added Mark: “Chris has been a protector of Oxford’s tradition. He’s always participating in selling local products and supporting local artists. He offers them a place to sell their merchandise. And I think that’s wonderful. In fact, if you look at the side of their building, there is a huge mural by local artist Howard Lapp.”

It’s been a strange year for all businesses, but speaking to Chris and Kate, you get a feeling of relief and gratitude. “As soon as they locked everything down, there was nowhere to get a drink in town. And there was nowhere to get a sandwich. We were it, and that lasted past the summer. We also had many people who came to their second homes to get out of the city, which helped us. It’s been a pretty good busy summer for us.”

Given this success, are the Mckelvy’s looking to make a change in the future? “Why change something that works,” asks Chris. Although Kate wouldn’t mind ‘adding some healthier items for some of the more, health-conscious people in the community.’ Whatever they do, it seems, Oxford will be happy to continue to support them.

For more info on hours and latest menu go to: http://www.theoxfordmarket.com/ or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/theoxfordmarket or call (410) 226-0015

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.

 

From and Fuller: Biden Wins, Trump’s Denial, Georgia Senate Races, and an Ex-President with Personal Debt

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Every Thursday, the Spy hosts a conversation with Al From and Craig Fuller on the most topical political news of the moment.

This week, From and Fuller discuss Joe Biden being declared the winner of the presidential race, Donald Trump’s unwillingness to cooneed the election, the runoff elections in Georgia in January and the possible national security concerns of having an ex-president close to $500 million in personal debt.

This video is approximately fourteen minutes in length. To listen to the podcast version, please use this link:

Background

While the Spy’s public affairs mission has always been hyper-local, it has never limited us from covering national, or even international issues, that impact the communities we serve. With that in mind, we were delighted that Al From and Craig Fuller, both highly respected Washington insiders, have agreed to a new Spy video project called “The Analysis of From and Fuller” over the next year.

The Spy and our region are very lucky to have such an accomplished duo volunteer for this experiment. While one is a devoted Democrat and the other a lifetime Republican, both had long careers that sought out the middle ground of the American political spectrum.

Al From, the genius behind the Democratic Leadership Council’s moderate agenda which would eventually lead to the election of Bill Clinton, has never compromised from this middle-of-the-road philosophy. This did not go unnoticed in a party that was moving quickly to the left in the 1980s. Including progressive Howard Dean saying that From’s DLC was the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.

From’s boss, Bill Clinton, had a different perspective. He said it would be hard to think of a single American citizen who, as a private citizen, has had a more positive impact on the progress of American life in the last 25 years than Al From.”

Al now lives in Annapolis and spends his semi-retirement as a board member of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University (his alma mater) and authoring New Democrats and the Return to Power. He also is an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins’ Krieger School and recently agreed to serve on the Annapolis Spy’s Board of Visitors.

For Craig Fuller, his moderation in the Republican party was a rare phenomenon. With deep roots in California’s GOP culture of centralism, Fuller, starting with a long history with Ronald Reagan, leading to his appointment as Reagan’s cabinet secretary at the White House, and later as George Bush’s chief-of-staff and presidential campaign manager was known for his instincts to find the middle ground. Even more noted was his reputation of being a nice guy in Washington, a rare characteristic for a successful tenure in the White House.

Craig has called Easton his permanent home for the last five years, where now serves on the boards of the Academy Art Museum, the Benedictine School, and Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.  He also serves on the Spy’s Board of Visitors.

With their rich experience and long history of friendship, now joined by their love of the Chesapeake Bay, they have agreed through the magic of Zoom, to talk inside politics and policy with the Spy every Thursday.

The Return of the Outlaw Gunner

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Bet you didn’t know the Waterfowl Festival, which would have been celebrating its 50th anniversary this month but for a pandemic, traces its roots back to an outlaw culture, not unlike that of bootleggers of the Prohibition era.

Harry Walsh, who died in 2009 at the age of 85, was for many years an Easton doctor, surgeon, and healer who often accepted oysters and duck decoys as payment for his lifesaving and life-giving services. “He was owed millions, but got all that back and more in friendships,” says his son, Joe, who recently moved to Tilghman from Annapolis. He has put together the second edition for release this month of his father’s bible of waterfowling, “The Outlaw Gunner,” subtitled “A Journey from Hunting for Survival to a Call for Waterfowl Conservation.”

Walsh was a co-founder of the Waterfowl Festival, which launched in 1971. Born in 1924 along the Chester River in Chestertown, Walsh came of age during the Great Depression. It was a time when men learned to find the next meal for themselves and their families by bending nature and its wild bounty to their will and wiles. In communities up and down Tidewater country, from the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, watermen devised more efficient and deadly ways to “harvest” ducks–to kill them en masse whether flying overhead or landing in baited fields or amid a decoy flotilla just offshore.

In their heyday, especially during the Depression and the prolonged recovery that didn’t reach anything like prosperity until the close of World War II, these men–known as “market gunners,” were regarded as upstanding citizens in their hometowns. They fed more than their families. They helped feed their neighbors and supported their communities with the wholesale marketing of their excess haul of slain birds. In his book, Harry Walsh quoted Mrs. Sophie, whose inn took in hundreds of ducks a season, “Lord, seems I stay in blood and feathers all winter long. Ain’t no sin to be poor, but it sure is unhandy.”

Restaurants in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York–as well as millionaires who threw lavish parties–ordered ducks and geese by the hundreds a weekend.

To meet the demand, market gunners–as opposed to sport hunters–invested in the latest and deadliest artillery, as well as baiting and decoy techniques that led to quick and massive kills.
One of the most warlike weapons was the punt gun. Weighing 100 pounds or more in a teetering skiff skimming low in the water, it snuck up on floating congregations of ducks at nightfall. With a half-pound of powder and 10 barrels of gunnery, a boatload of men could blow 200 to 300 hundred ducks out of the water each night.

“It was horrible,” Joe Walsh says. “Ducks used to fill the sky like bees. They’re coming back, but only because of conservation.” Translate: enforced limitations on bird kills.

Unlimited hunting became illegal in the late ‘30s, and market hunters tried to adapt. While their faces were not on wanted posters, they risked being handcuffed by game wardens and fined a week’s worth of dead-duck income or imprisonment for failure to pay such fines.

“My father saw what was happening to the environment that had supported generations of hunters,” Walsh says. As a physician, he espoused stewardship of wildlife and the natural world he grew up in.

Still, he loved hunting. “Good hunting companions are a treasure,” Harry Walsh wrote in his book. “They are a lifetime in the making.”

The second edition of “The Outlaw Gunner” introduces two chapters of Walsh’s unpublished “My River,” as well as a pair of forwards by Pete Lesher, Talbot County councilman and chief curator of St. Michaels’ Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, and Henry Stansbury, maritime museum vice-chair.

Walsh’s first donations of his collection–mostly decoys and hunting guns–went to the maritime museum at its 1965 founding. Decoys later anchored the artistic aspect of Easton’s inaugural Waterfowl Festival.

Duck decoys, while less aggressively deadly than guns, played an essential role in both sport and market hunting. Typically, carvers were not primarily hunters. They specialized in carving realistic likenesses of canvasbacks–among the earliest to be protected due to over-hunting–black ducks, redheads, and sprigtails, among others. To the extent that hunters participated in creating decoys, it was in training live birds to play the role of killer lures. One such legendary decoy, a goose, was dubbed Old Pete.

These days, art-object wood carvings aren’t meant to be cast into the water. Their shelf life is literally that. They exist on display in art galleries or the homes of collectors.

In the absence of an in-person Waterfowl Festival this year, your best chance to appreciate the art of decoys and maritime scenes in oil or watercolor is through the virtual art gallery organized by Waterfowl Festival, Inc. While you can’t see the art displayed in galleries or festival tents, nor can you meet the artists in person, you can check out their works online. “It’s our way of connecting art collectors to the artists they love,” says Margaret Enloe, festival executive director, “some of whom,” she adds, “are struggling in this time of COVID.”

As for next November, Enloe says, “We have plenty of time to get it done.”

That will be the 50th Waterfowl Festival because this year’s golden anniversary event isn’t happening. “Masks or no masks,” a masked Enloe told us, “we’ll figure it out by next summer.”

Steve Parks is a retired Long Island arts writer and editor now living in Easton.

Online sales by individual artists indefinitely through waterfowlfestival.org. Release of “The Outlaw Gunner,” second edition, November 2020,

 

Mid Shore Mediation Weathers COVID and Finds Way to Resolution

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Thinking outside of the box is how Jenn Williams, Executive Director of Mid Shore Community Mediation Center, wants the public to consider the services her organization can offer. “This is a really stressful time,” she says. “and during times of stress, conflict is often more toxic, more prevalent, and more intense.” This is why mediation, conflict resolution using a trained third person, may be a perfect solution you may not have thought about.

Jenn Williams, Addie Eckardt, Lorig Charkoudian, and Johnny Mautz

No situation is too big or too small to be handled by a trained mediator, she said, and when asked for examples, Williams mentions a few recent ones. These included an unsightly boat problem, property line disputes, barking dogs, custody and visitation plans, divorce asset division, and a new roommate agreement. They even had a situation with some trespassing chickens, where the humane society had been called, and they recommended that the neighbors come to mediation to have it resolved.

So, we wondered, what recommendation would a mediator give when dealing with neighborly disputes such as this?

That’s not quite how it works, Williams told us. “Our process is participant-driven, and the resolutions that are developed out of the mediation process are completely of the participant’s own imagining. Mediators don’t give advice or suggestions, nor do they get people to agree to things. Self-determination is the key, and no one’s ever forced to do or say or agree to anything they don’t want to. The outcome of every single mediation is different and unique to the people involved.”

There are other reasons why mediation works, besides that it’s customized to fit everyone’s unique lifestyles. Even ones that are court-ordered have a better compliance success rate.

After all, judges usually have 10-15 minutes per case, unlike mediators who have the time and qualifications to create a sustainable plan.

Each mediation session is typically two hours long, and Mid Shore Mediation will work with clients for as many sessions as needed. “For instance,” says Williams: “we have a family who first came to us when their children were very young. They’ve come back yearly to update and revise their parenting plan as their children’s and their family’s needs and circumstances change. We also work with our state’s attorney’s office on criminal misdemeanor cases such as trespassing. We’re mediating those cases in one or two sessions.”

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, mediation sessions are free. There is no income verification nor any paperwork that needs to be provided. The service wants to remove as many obstacles as possible.

As to why it’s free, Williams says they have a lot of really generous supporters. “We’re very fortunate that there’s a culture of collaboration as a priority in the Maryland judiciary. The Maryland Mediation and Conflict Resolution office, a branch of the judiciary, is our primary funder. The Department of Juvenile and Family Services also offers us a significant amount of funding to work with our family courts with children and adult guardianships. So elder care, adult guardianship mediations also fall under the Department of Juvenile and Family Services.”

Like everywhere else, COVID has impacted the types of conflict the Center is used to seeing. Courts are diverting eviction petitions to mediation to help landlords and tenants create arrangements that prevent homelessness. Family problem cases, drug use, suicides, and domestic violence are also on the rise.

Of course, the pandemic has affected how mediators do their work, as well. Since March, they’ve been using the Zoom platform to consult with clients, and despite concerns, it has been a successful experience, one they continue to encourage. Last week, they began to phase in in-person mediation, with lots of safety protocols and protective equipment, of course.

Another area being affected is the school programs. Mid Shore Mediation, which covers Talbot, Caroline, and Dorchester Counties, have mediators in these school systems working with students, teachers, and parents to reduce violence and resolve conflicts. To do that, they need to be physically in the buildings and working with them in real-time and face to face. COVID challenges that. “I have many volunteers who are completely uncomfortable with meeting in person, and I respect that entirely,” says Williams. “So, we’re identifying the folks who are comfortable and what kinds of things they need to be in place to feel safe. But we’re also watching the CDC for guidance.”

The school program is one that Williams knows a lot about. Williams, who grew up in Talbot County and received an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Hood College, went on to a conflict resolution graduate program at Salisbury University. She joined the Center in 2012, and after partnering with the Dorchester County Public School system, created the Peace Team, a nationally recognized school-based mediation program. Since 2019, Williams has served as the Center’s Executive Director.

Mediators who work for the Center are, for the most part, volunteers who have gone through an extensive 50 hours of basic mediation training through them. Thirty volunteers handle approximately 600 cases per year. As Williams indicated to us, becoming a mediator is a significant investment of time and requires a commitment to growth and development of those skills. “The work that we do is challenging, and in many ways, it’s controversial, and we need to know is this something that’s really going to work for you. Can you help a same-sex couple devise a plan about how they’re going to spend time with children without any bias coming through in that conversation? We do a lot of diversity training and cultural competency training, and we’re asking our mediators to reflect on themselves and their own biases so that they can better show up for our clients.”

Despite the focused training, no additional education is necessary for those interested in learning this skill. “You don’t need a high school diploma to become a volunteer mediator,” says Williams. “You can be a volunteer mediator even if you’ve experienced incarceration. We want community members with a variety of life experiences to be represented in our volunteer pool. Diversity is everything to us, and it’s not just diversity in terms of age, race, and gender; it’s diversity of life experience.”

It is this range of experience in the mediation team that Williams hopes translates to the statistics found on their website, which is 70% of conflicts achieved resolution through mediation. “We’re here for every stage of whatever conflict you have,’ she says, “and it is a completely private non-judgmental space to say what you need to say, to be heard, and make a plan that works for your life.”

Before we ended the interview, we just had to ask: Whatever happened to the chickens? “I wish I could tell you, I wasn’t the mediator in that case,” said Williams. “I do know that the neighbors had a couple of meetings with us, and they did reach an agreement.”

So, there you have it.

Mid Shore Community Mediation Center is located at 8626 Brooks Drive, Suite 204 in Easton. For more information contact them on their website (https://midshoremediation.org/) Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/midshoremediation) or call 410-820-5553

Spy Profile: Scott’s United Methodist Church

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Scott’s Church in Trappe has the unique history of starting as a Friends Meeting House before the building, and the land was donated to its founders in 1869. The Friends moved on to Easton while the church itself morphed into the United Methodist denomination. Even rarer was that Scott’s was to place an extraordinary emphasis on having services based on gospel music as its spiritual foundation, bringing to the forefront the vital role that music played in the nearly African-American community.

Those are just of a few tidbits that Rev. Dartanyon L. Hines, the pastor of Scott’s, shared with the Spy last weekend during a chat with Zoom. Joining him in the discussion was loyal church member and leader Daphan Smith, whose thirty years with the Trappe church has given her a special appreciation for its historical role as well as the profound impact it currently has in the community with its food pantry and after school program.

And like all churches of this age and heritage, Scott’s faces ongoing challenges in keeping the building maintained at a time when the COVID crisis has seriously curtailed personal donations and fundraising events. At the moment, their greatest need to about $30,000 to fix the church’s roof before the storms of winter arrive.

This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more information about Scott’s Church, or to make a donation to their roof project, please go here.