The Kent County Public Library in Chestertown was packed with parents and pre-school children on Wednesday evening for the kick-off event of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Wise teachers and parents have known for years that children who are read to regularly in their preschool years have the best chance of success in school. Dolly Parton is now giving a boost to regular family reading by sending an age-appropriate book to any child’s home every month until the child turns five. There is absolutely no charge, nor is there any income requirement.

Mr. Sam entertain the kids at Kent County Public Library.

It is easy and free to sign up. You must be a resident of Kent County, MD. A parent or guardian must fill out an official registration form, which will remain on file with Family & Community Partnerships of Kent County. The parent or guardian must notify Family & Community Partnerships if their address changes. Most importantly, the parent or guardian must read to their child. Books will begin to arrive at the child’s home within eight to ten weeks.

The kick-off event was a joint effort of the Kent County Public Library and Family & Community Partnerships of Kent County (also known as the Local Management Board). Rebecca Lepter, Director of Family & Community Partnerships, said, “We hope to sign up 400 children this year.”

Mr. Sam came from the Eastern Shore Regional Library to sing for about 250 people. There was party food, games and crafts. Natalie Lane and Annie Woodall, who run children’s programming at the library, wore zany hats as they guided families through the various activities.

If you know a preschool child who is a resident of Kent County, let their parent or guardian know about this life-changing program. Brochures are in the library. For more information, call Family & Community Partnerships of Kent County at 410-810-2673.

Come to the Kent County Library and meet Natalie Lane, the new Children’s and Youth Services Librarian. The library conducted a national search for this important position and found Natalie in Florida. A native of Chile, Natalie immigrated with her family to Florida when she was a baby. Her parents were political refugees during Pinochet’s regime.

Natalie studied English and French at the University of Florida, and she earned her master’s degree in Library Science at Florida State. For the last five years she has worked as a children’s librarian in a public library in Ocala, Florida.

Natalie says that her father told her wonderful stories, but she was not much of a reader until she was 12 years old, when she got hooked on a book about Scottish clans. After that, she started reading “everything.” She identifies with children who don’t like to read. She has already started to do outreach in order to encourage more children and teens to read. Finding just the right book for reluctant readers can turn them into avid readers. Natalie has found that some of the new graphic novels engage reluctant readers. She will be working with the HOYAS (Helping Our Youth Achieve Success) during the summer, and she will be building a Spanish language collection at the library.

One of Natalie’s responsibilities is choosing new books for the library. The young adult genre has exploded in recent years, so she sometimes has to make difficult choices.

Natalie and her husband Matthew Lane live in Chestertown and look forward to becoming part of the community. Matthew is a consumer advocacy lawyer based in Washington, D.C.

As the ice and snow from the coldest winter in recent memory finally melt into spring, the Spy spoke with some marina owners and managers about what they did over the winter. Marinas are enormously important to the economy of Kent, Cecil, and Queen Anne’s Counties.

For boaters, marinas in winter are sad, desolate places. Most of the boats are “on the hard,” where they are covered with shrink wrap or tarps, and perched on flimsy-looking jack stands. Without all the student dockhands, marinas in winter look deserted; however, looks can be deceiving. Most of the larger marinas have plenty of work throughout the winter to keep their full-time staffs quite busy.

Mary Hall, CEO of Georgetown Yacht Basin, reports that more than thirty employees have been repairing boats, planning a summer sailing lesson program, and completing major construction projects, including a porous walkway along the beach. “Children will think they are walking on a giant Rice Krispies Treat,” she said. Two mechanics, Walter O’Neill and Henry Long, have worked at Georgetown nearly 60 years, so they have seen worse winters. Almost 100 boats remain in the water there throughout the winter.

Just down the Sassafras River, Marcia Mabry, general manager of Duffy Creek Marina, has kept five full-time employees busy repairing docks and adding an activity center, where boaters can watch television, use the Internet, and play games. Since Duffy Creek is a Certified Clean Marina, she is constantly looking for ways to recycle, and she has finally found a company that recycles their shrink wrap.

Doug Edwards, manager of Lankford Creek Marina, has spent considerable time just shoveling snow. He has 7 boats in the water and two of them are fully rigged and have gone out on mild winter days. Even marinas that haul out all their boats for the winter usually have to keep bubbler machines operating to protect their dock pilings. The extra electricity needed to run these machines was a major expense for marinas this winter – more than the previous five winters combined.

Bill Landon, manager of the Chestertown Marina, said he “twiddled his thumbs” when the boats in the yard were snowed in, but he did manage to accomplish some trailer, electrical, and engine work. Ray Clark, who runs Green Point Marina with his son said, “The biggest excitement has been watching ice melt.” Alice Smith, who runs The Wharf at Handy Point with her husband, sold some used sailboats and enjoyed the peace and quiet of a frozen Worton Creek. Up the Creek farther, Libby and John Patnovic kept 17 employees working in the sheds at Worton Creek Marina. Jenny Nelson, manager at Gratitude Marina in Rock Hall, said that 7 employees painted bathhouses and worked on boats in sheds.

Several marinas sent representatives to winter boat shows, where they pushed not just their own businesses but also the many sights to be seen and things to do in this corner of the world.

Big or small, all local marinas have the same advice: Now is the time to buy a boat and enjoy it from April through November. There has never been a better time to buy a new or used boat. Even a cold winter like the one that is ending is relatively short on the Chesapeake, so the boating season is long. Marinas make boating accessible to people who do not own waterfront property.

Not many thriving businesses can brag that they have hardly changed since 1980, but long-time patrons of Twinny’s Place Restaurant in Galena can vouch for it. Folks who are really long in the tooth can remember back to 1950, when Alice Newnam’s father opened Twinny’s in the location where Galena’s Kitchen is now.

Twinny’s Place

The big move to the other side of Galena’s sole traffic light in 1980 didn’t change much. Alice had kept the books when her parents were alive, and she bought the restaurant in 2005 after they had both passed away.
It remains very much a family business. Alice’s sister, Joanne Price, her daughter, Jennifer Willey, and several cousins can be found doing everything that needs to be done in a busy restaurant. Alice’s brother, Alan Price, arrives every morning at 4:15 to start the coffee, and Alice arrives at 4:30 to prepare for a 5:30 opening.

During hunting season Twinny’s opens at 4:00 am, and all forty seats fill up quickly. Ruby Rajchel is not a relative, but after 33 years of cooking at Twinny’s she seems like part of the family. Alice keeps eight full-time and four part-time employees very busy. Except on Wednesdays, when the restaurant closes at 1:00 pm, and Sundays, when it closes at 6:00 pm, Twinny’s is open from 5:30 am until 7:30 pm every day.

Service is always fast at Twinny’s, but in every other respect Twinny’s is the antithesis of a fast food restaurant. Waiters call the regular customers by their names and ask about their families. Paintings by local artists adorn the walls. The artwork is for sale, but it seems to belong right where it is. Some of the artwork was done years ago by Alice’s grandson.

The menu features oysters in the winter and crab in the summer, but is otherwise pretty much the same year-round. There are no flashy posters urging customers to try something new; most of the customers know what they want without a glance at the menu. There is a large contingent of regular customers, as well as boaters from the Georgetown marinas during the warm months and hunters during the cold months. There are people who come down from Wilmington a few Saturdays a month just for the thin, slightly crispy pancakes, whose recipe remains a secret. There are people who come from Philadelphia just for the cheese steaks.

All the food at Twinny’s is comfort food. Twinny’s is a constant in a changing world.

By: Wendy Costa