Publisher Notes: Thanking John Griep, Welcoming Steve Rideout, and Beginning 2022 Election Coverage

It is important to start this report with the sad news that John Griep, the Spy’s public affairs editor for the last two years, has left us to join the Dorchester County Health Department as their public information officer. After John’s long tenure at the Star-Democrat, most of it as its executive editor, he was kind enough to help the Spy as he transitioned from one career to another. I will be forever grateful for his support.

During John’s time here, he helped us as the Mid-Shore faced such daunting challenges as Black Lives Matter, the Talbot Boys monument controversy, a mayoral crisis in Cambridge, and the unanticipated curse of the COVID pandemic. It remains one of the Spy’s lucky breaks that John was here when we needed a true professional to document these major events.

And that gratitude continues since the Spy’s daily COVID-19 reports are the result of John’s wife, Sarah, who has volunteered her time to compile these sometimes complex spreadsheets for the five counties of the Mid-Shore. We can only hope that her generous donation to the community comes to an end soon as the pandemic ends.

I’m pleased to note that retired judge Stephen Rideout has joined our distinguished roster of Spy columnists. Steve is the former chief judge of the Alexandria Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. A graduate of Washington and Lee and its law school, Steve retired to Cambridge after his time on the bench and has become a national authority on child welfare systems. And from 2016 to early 2021, he was the Ward 1 Commissioner on the Cambridge City Council.

Given this extraordinary background, the Spy newspapers are blessed to have Judge Rideout provide a unique perspective on the Mid-Shore young people and their challenges.

Finally, the Spy will start our coverage of Election 2022 soon. We remain dedicated to provide our traditional C-SPAN approach to this year’s midterm in November. This includes providing “Q and A” interviews with candidates and also working with the League of Women Voters to telecast voter forums.

The Spy will also be creating a special homepage section for our coverage, as well as providing space for press releases from candidates which we consider seriously newsworthy for our readers.

We also will provide a portal for local public opinion regarding these races. We encourage our readers to fully participate in this exchange of ideas, through such vehicles our letter to the editor section or through comments option in articles.

But we also ask that these points of view be offered as civilly as possible, with a primary focus on the issues at hand rather than attacking individuals.  We also expect that those opinions will be sent to us using a verifiable email address and their full (first and last) name. Alas, in most cases, those opinions will not be published if they do not.

We can only hope for the best in 2022 but the Spy remains committed to our educational mission no matter what this new year will bring. We remain grateful to our readers and especially our donors and sponsors, for allowing to do so.

Dave Wheelan
Publisher