MENU

Sections

More

September 8, 2024

Chestertown Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Chestertown

9 Brevities Archives

Chestertown Flashback: You’ve Got Mail

by 2 Comments

Share

In the days before email, mail delivery was a significant part of the daily routine. We haven’t had much rain nor sleet nor snow this week, and lucky for this dedicated mail carrier, the weather was clear for him in this undated photo at the corner of Pine Street and Greenwood Avenue in Chestertown. If you look closely, you will see some residents on the steps of the house across the street, waiting for their mail. If you can identify this fellow, let us know at [email protected]. Image courtesy of the Historical Society of Kent County.

Many thanks to Robert W. Clark and Dawn in the comments, who helped identify the Betterton teachers in last week’s photo. They each agreed that Mrs. Mildred Dwyer, principal and 1st and 2nd grade teacher is on the left, and Mrs. Tarbutton, 5th and 6th grade teacher is on the right. In the middle is either Mrs. Jackson or Nancy Miller. If you can confirm or deny either of these names, please be in touch!

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Notes by Katherine Emery

by Leave a Comment

Share

Studies by Psychology Today have shown that writing by hand instead of typing deepens content processing and supports emotional health. The exclusive use of computers and the lack of handwriting practice do our brains a disservice by decreasing the areas which are part of the neural networks that control motor, sensory, cognitive, and behavioral functions. While slower than digital, writing by hand has been shown to help fight cognitive decline. Regularly practicing handwriting may improve brain structure and function.

There’s lots of empirical evidence that handwriting has psychological benefits, writing or journaling helps people process life’s emotional ups and downs. Amazon lists thousands of journaling notebooks for just such activities.

Research remains early, but findings so far argue that we shouldn’t abandon old-school pen and paper as obsolete technologies. Writing remains foundational for mental development across our lifespans, from formative early years through preserving cognitive fitness in late adulthood.

Penmanship began in first grade when I was a child. We were given chunky pencils and a green paperback book called “Miss Kettle’s Penmanship” with pages of letters to trace. For years, I had a callous on my finger from pressing so hard as I copied the letters in those books. There was a lot of pressure from the teacher to form the letters perfectly. We studied cursive in third grade and were expected to write all work in cursive after that. In ninth grade, typing class was a requirement, and typed reports were then the norm. Typing class in college involved a “mag-card” computer, which was huge but quick.

In junior high, I experimented with a combination of cursive and printing, getting creative with certain letters. I continued to do well on my handwritten papers and school work, so I adopted the cursive/printing technique as my own. I chose a fountain pen as a tool to perfect my new script. My granddaughter, Freyja, aged five, explains that she dots all of her i’s and j’s with a heart because she loves to write and is an artist.

My dad was an attorney whose penmanship was perfectly gorgeous. On his desk, he had stacks of legal pads with the notes that he wrote on a daily basis. I asked him one day why he made his letters so big in his name and he told me that how you sign your name says a lot about you, your persona. He said that if your signature is tiny, what does that say about you?

This year, as a kindergarten teacher, I’m teaching lowercase and high frequency letters first. Studies have shown that a higher percentage of children succeed using this method. After Common Core educational standards dropped cursive in 2010, some classrooms have returned to the methods used in the sixties and seventies of tracing the letters in a book. Handwriting practice has an incredible influence on cognitive development, stimulating different brain parts associated with language processing, memory retention, and creative expression. Handwriting is essential in developing fine motor skills necessary for performing delicate and precise movements of the hands and fingers. Handwriting activities can increase focus and concentration and is a fun way to express oneself.

I have boxes full of letters from beloved family members, these letters are a part of my history, a look into my past. I would grab this box of letters if my house was on fire because they are priceless to me. My favorites are the letters from my Mom and Dad. The summer when I was nine, my sister and I spent a month traveling with our grandmother. I received separate letters from my parents telling of a colossal rainstorm that flooded my hometown. Each account was totally different and reflected the letter writer’s personality. Dad’s letter was written as an adventure, telling of his rowing a boat to get to his office. Mom wrote about her garden and drew pictures of her droopy flowers in the flood water.

In this box of letters are the daily love notes written by my husband of thirty years. His cheerful little memos wish me a great day or reflect on wonderful days past. His signature always includes a drawing of himself and our little French Bulldog. These notes are the best part of my morning, better than the texts we send throughout the day.

By adding handwriting to our list of activities to promote healthy aging, we enhance our ability to communicate and enrich our lives in many ways.

Kate Emery General is a retired chef/restaurant owner who was born and raised in Casper, Wyoming. Kate loves her grandchildren, knitting, and watercolor painting. Kate and her husband, Matt are longtime residents of Cambridge’s West End where they enjoy swimming and bicycling. 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Chestertown Flashback : Betterton School

by 2 Comments

Share

 

In honor of the Kent County students and teachers who are embarking on a new school year, we share an image of teachers standing in front of the Betterton School. The photograph is undated, but it looks as though it could be the first day of school! Image courtesy of the Historical Society of Kent County.

Thank you to Clark Bjorke and Jon Simmons, who provided more information about last week’s photo of the vessel Changing Times as a parade float. Mr. Simmons dates the photo to the mid-1980s, but after 1984 based on this instrument he’s playing. The guitar player may be his sister, Mary Simmons, and it Wayne Brady may be the banjo player next to her (presumably not the Wayne Brady who played Aaron Burr in Hamilton in Chicago in 2017). Bob Atwater may be the person sitting next to the oyster.

As always, please let us know if you have any additional information about either of these images at [email protected].

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Opposition and Equinox: September 2024 Sky-Watch By Dennis Herrmann

by Leave a Comment

Share
Saturn reaches opposition on September 8th this year, when it will be visible all night, rising soon after sunset in the eastern sky.  The word opposition refers to Saturn being in a position opposite the Sun in the sky to us; we on Earth are “in between” the two as we look at the sky.  Saturn is also at its brightest for all of 2024 at opposition, and lies some 800 million miles from Earth.  Even so, Saturn is stunning when seen through a backyard telescope.
Although all of the “gas giant” planets have ring systems, only Saturn reveals its rings through backyard telescopes.  Jupiter’s rings are thinner and less dense, and Neptune and Uranus are just too far away to see their rings from Earth.  These planet’s rings were actually discovered by space probes out to them from the United States.
On the morning of September 17th look to the western sky an hour before sunrise when the Full Moon will be seen just below and right of Saturn.
Speaking of the Moon will be in partial eclipse on September 17/18, beginning at 8:41 pm EDT; shortly after moonrise that evening.  At its peak, about 8% of the Moon will be inside Earth’s shadow, with the maximum occurring around 10:40 pm.
Venus will be visible in September for about an hour after sunset in the western sky.  On September 4th the waxing crescent Moon will be just to the right of Venus; and on the very next evening the two will appear to have switched places.  The Moon will below and left of Venus.
Jupiter is very bright and rising in the eastern sky around midnight and visible until dawn among the stars of Taurus the Bull.  Best telescope view of the giant planet will be in the hour just before dawn when it will be at its highest in the sky.  Mars is also between the horn stars of Taurus in the early morning eastern skies when September begins, and will appear to move into Gemini by month’s end.
Autumnal equinox; the first day of fall, occurs at 8:44 am EDT on September 22nd.  This is when the Sun, moving along the ecliptic (the Sun’s apparent annual path against the sky), appears to slip below the celestial equator.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Four Walls: A Tribute to Bobby Messick and the Homeless of Chestertown By Christa Blackmon

by 4 Comments

Share

The sun has set over the Driftwood Inn. A full moon hangs in the sky, covered by a hazy summer cloud. Bright fluorescent lights illuminate the faces of those who came to pay tribute to Bobby Messick, a chronically homeless and nearly blind Vietnam veteran struggling with addiction who I found collapsed on a slab of concrete while taking a walk with my two and half year old daughter just a few days before.

It is a gathering of between forty and fifty people. His two sisters stand strong on the spot where Bobby died with tears in their eyes and lit candles in their hands. They are flanked by some of the community workers who have been involved in fighting homelessness in Chestertown and came to Bobby’s aid in the last few weeks of his life. Also in the prayer circle are formerly homeless people who only knew Bobby by sight, members of the town council, and parishioners from local churches.

A few people stay back and pay their respects from a distance. The Driftwood Inn’s housekeeper, Mae Green, can’t bear to look. Whenever she saw Bobby is distress, she would call around town to find him help.

Mae was the second person on the scene when emergency services arrived. She and I watched the police perform chest compressions despite little hope of revival. We pieced together that she must have been the last to see him alive, not 20 minutes earlier, while my toddler and I were the first to see him dead.

“I just want to remember him as he was,” she tells me as we look at the crowd gathering just twenty feet away.

Who was Bobby Messick anyway? A former war hero? A solitary man who couldn’t stomach being inside four walls? A loud and belligerent drunk? A ragged addict? A friend to talk to in the park late at night when you couldn’t sleep?

Bobby was all of those things. He was flawed, as we all are, and substance abuse took its toll. Yet numerous people tell me that although he had many troubles in his life, he never asked anybody for anything. Trish Taylor-Brady, a longtime family friend, tells me that Bobby still wanted to help others. When nightmares about her own father’s PTSD from the war in Vietnam plagued her, she would look to Bobby to help her understand the complicated man who has already been gone for eight years.

“That’s how I want to remember Bobby,” says Trish, echoing Mae’s sentiments. “As a friend.”

What stopped Bobby from being the man these people cared about? It’s unlikely there was only one cause, but certainly, being rejected by health services couldn’t have helped. There had been times when Bobby was ready to get clean, only to be told the system had no place for him. Each time, being eager to change the trajectory of his life and then tossed out like a piece of trash must have been devastating.

It took real time and effort from both men to get Bobby to drop his guard and admit he needed help. A month before his passing, Mae called Father Henry Sabetti, a former addiction counselor of Shrewsbury Parish, to alert him to Bobby’s condition. Father Sabetti pulled in his colleague John Queen, a community organizer and founder for the Bayside HOYAS. Together, they started prepping Bobby for his last trip to rehabilitation. Bobby would constantly refuse their offers for water, food, or cigarettes, but one day, he let his guard down. He asked Queen to go to the China House at Kent Plaza and get him some dumplings and hot sauce. This request set the wheels in motion for Bobby to secure a place at the Baltimore VA Medical Center to detox and then be on his way to treatment at Perry Point. The timeline and reasons are unclear, but although Bobby was admitted to the medical center in Baltimore, he was back at the Driftwood a few days later.

And then, a few days after that, he was dead.

“We’ll never forget Bobby,” says Tim Lloyd, the commander of the local American Legion and one of the former servicemen who provided transportation to Baltimore. “He touched our souls. Because of Bobby, we want to help more veterans,” he continues, though he and his brothers in arms hope the next opportunity will have a better outcome.

Every year on a single night in January the US Department for Housing and Urban Development (HUD) does a count of all individuals residing in a homeless shelters across the country. In 2022, that number was 582,200. In 2023, the number rose to 653,104. While this count cannot give an accurate picture of the scale of homelessness in the US, it shows us how the problem is growing.

So what do we do in Chestertown to measure the crisis of people living on the street when there is no shelter? For now, we might rely on public perception. Nearly everyone I talk to in town agrees that the number of people suffering from homelessness is “too many“. Christine Petrone, one of Bobby’s sisters, works at a hospital in Delaware and tells me she is always shocked at how many people are living on the streets in Chestertown.

As I talk more with locals about homelessness, and especially about Bobby, the crisis of drug addiction inevitably comes up. While these two crises are linked, it’s important to note that most homeless people in the US do not have substance abuse issues. In California, the state that consistently has the largest homeless population, a correlation was found between the two problems. Contrary to popular thinking, it was the trauma of homelessness, including systemic failures in obtaining stable housing, that caused drug use.

It is perhaps just as difficult to measure drug addiction in Chestertown, but again I hear from people that the number of people with an addiction is “too many“. So when we look at the case of California, we have to wonder how much the dilemma of homelessness is pushing addiction into our own streets. No one abuses drugs for any one reason, but it would be a mistake to dismiss economic hardship and ease of access as a major driver here in Chestertown.

A recent book called The Urge: Our History of Addiction, written by a psychiatrist and former addict Carl Erik Fisher looks at the dislocation theory of addiction. “People use drugs to address an alienation from cultural supports,” he writes. It’s hard to imagine how anything could be more alienating than a literal dislocation. Housing insecurity, the lack of affordable and stable homes, is on the rise nearly everywhere. Dark clouds are gathering on the horizon.

If there is no shelter, no transportation to shelters in other counties, and ad-hoc emergency housing is few and far between, we will have desperate people on our streets. And with a national opioid crisis that is ravaging rural communities at a heavier rate than urban areas, we have the perfect storm here in Chestertown. The cycle of poverty, trauma, and addiction is as vicious as it is self-perpetuating.

Though we can point to many failings in the local, state, and even national system, there seems to be good news. A formerly homeless man who attended Bobby’s vigil speaks with warmth about our future: “The love is here in Chestertown,” he says. “But the bureaucracy gets in the way”. Another formerly homeless woman standing with us nods her head in agreement. Their success in getting off the streets in not just a testament to their own grit, but to Chestertown’s community activists. If all of us in Chestertown agree we want to be part of the solution, there is no problem we can’t solve.

Christa Blackmon is a new arrival to Chestertown. She has a Master’s Degree in Social Anthropology and experience in writing about human rights. She currently works as a secondary school teacher.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Knock Wood by Katherine Emery

by Leave a Comment

Share

Did you know that “knocking on wood” actually comes from the belief that every tree is inhabited by a spirit known as Hamadryad or Dryad. The action of knocking was practiced by ancient priests in order to ward off evil or fulfill a wish. So the next time you knock on wood, remember you are actually summoning the spirits of a tree.

Some people believe that every tree has a spirit that lives in its roots, trunk, and bark. They may also believe that these spirits are the essence of the tree and are magical beings and do no harm. Trees are powerful symbols in many faiths and mythologies, and have been used to express spirituality and religious beliefs in various ways.

The tree is one of humankind’s most powerful symbols. It is the embodiment of life in all its realms: the point between heaven, earth, and water. In most mythology and ancient religious imagery, the tree was believed to have an abundance of divine creative energy.

Trees have an extraordinary capacity to absorb negative energy. When we hug a tree, we can release pent up emotions, finding comfort and support in the tree’s stoic presence. Tree hugging offers a sanctuary of tranquility, allowing us to disconnect from the chaos of modern living and rediscover our inner peace.

Hugging trees is not only a means of personal healing but also a powerful reminder of our interconnectedness with nature. Tree hugging encourages us to view trees not merely as resources to be exploited but as living beings that sustain life on this earth. It fosters a deep sense of responsibility for the environment and inspires us to take actions that protect and preserve our natural world.

A large parcel of land in Louisiana was part of my inheritance when my Mom passed away. My grandmother had purchased the land with the intention of building a family “camp” there upon my grandfather’s retirement. The land is in a beautiful spot but is heavily wooded with hickory trees and squirrels. My Mom had actually sold the trees forty years ago to a lumber broker. The broker promised my Mom that clearing the land was like a good haircut and he was correct, a recent drone photo shows our parcel of land as a very healthy, dense forest. We pay eight dollars in taxes yearly to support these trees and squirrels, it’s the least we can do for these magical trees.

The focal point of my front yard is a giant Magnolia tree. It is the bane of my existence in the spring and fall when it drops its waxy leaves, so much work. However, I love this tree very much. I had read about the benefits of magnolia trees, and my granddaughter, Freyja, has always been drawn to them. She makes bouquets out of the leaves and flowers. She mixes “potions” with them and makes beds for fairies with the leaves. We always add the leaves to our yearly Christmas wreaths.

As it turns out, more than two hundred and fifty ingredients can be found from the bark, flowers, and leaves of the Magnolia tree. Two of the main compounds are used in anti-cancer and anti-inflammation supplements. The extract of the bark of Magnolia trees has been used for over a thousand years in Chinese medicine for the treatment of maladies ranging from asthma, depression, muscle pain, and headaches.

Trees have helped me become more aware of my connection to something larger; I try to be compassionate and mindful of my surroundings, especially while raking.

Kate Emery General is a retired chef/restaurant owner who was born and raised in Casper, Wyoming. Kate loves her grandchildren, knitting, and watercolor painting. Kate and her husband, Matt are longtime residents of Cambridge’s West End where they enjoy swimming and bicycling. 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Chestertown Flashback: Help Identify this Image

by 1 Comment

Share

Summer is not quite over yet! If you are in this band, or if you are a mermaid on the boat in this undated photo, please contact [email protected] to help us identify the musicians, magical sea creatures, and regular humans frolicking aboard the Changing Times. Image courtesy of the Historical Society of Kent County.

View the Legacy Day 2024 exhibit now on display at the Bordley History Center, 301 High Street, Chestertown. Regular hours Thursdays and Fridays from 11 am – 2 pm and Saturdays from 10 am – 1 pm, and from 5 pm – 7 pm on First Fridays. Visitors can also browse the museum shop and explore genealogical records on a drop-in basis. Collections staff is available by appointment to assist with research in the library and archives. Visit www.kentcountyhistory.org or call (410) 778-3499 for more details.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Report from Chicago: Talbot County’s Michele Dappert Highlighted in Chicago Tribune

by Leave a Comment

Share


A Spy reader told us about Talbot County’s Michele Dappert making the pages of the Chicago Tribune yesterday. As in all situations, we assigned a spy to collaborate on this information. Their finding was it was all true.

Read the full story here.

Readers should expect a paywall. 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Bats by Katherine Emery

by 1 Comment

Share

The last weekend in August is a global celebration of Bats. Bats are iconic Halloween creatures but are often misunderstood regarding their threat to humans. This celebration serves to remind us of the important role bats play in daily life. Bats are key to the health of woodlands and forests, they pollinate many plants, including crops like bananas, mangoes and agave. They also disperse seeds and control harmful insect populations, bats eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes in an hour.

International Bat Night is observed by thirty countries around the world to bring light to the necessity of preserving this nocturnal species. It informs the public about the needs and benefits of bats in nature. Long associated with all things dark and creepy, bats are in fact a friend to man. Even the feared Vampire Bat of South America has proved to be beneficial. Doctors have studied the anticoagulant qualities of their bites and have used that knowledge in developing medications for heart disease and stroke patients.

The expression “blind as a bat” comes from the assumption that a bat’s eyesight isn’t very good. Bats’ vision is actually better than that of humans; they can see incredibly well both day and night. Bats also have a kind of sonar (echolocation) that helps bats pinpoint the exact location of insects such as mosquitoes.

There are over 1,400 species of bats across the world, the Eastern Shore of Maryland has ten. Most of the bats native to the Eastern Shore are listed as ‘species of greatest conservation needs.” Some, such as the Eastern Small-footed bat are ranked as highly endangered and rare due to their habitat disturbance. The Little Brown Bat, also a “species of greatest conservation needs” and “highly rare” is vulnerable to predators during hibernation so they often roost in attics. Attics offer warmth, humidity, and shelter necessary for rearing young pups.

Due to human intervention, bats have been forced out of their preferred habitat, trees, while also being killed by pesticides. Bats have responded to habitat loss by adapting to other available habitats, including barns, attics, and churches.

My daughter, Cece, was pregnant with her first child in 2017 and bought a darling house on her favorite street in Easton. Despite a thorough home inspection, Cece learned that there was a maternity ward of bats in her attic. The Maryland Department advised Cece of Natural Resources to speak to a professional company that properly “excludes” bats. Our family loves bats so we absolutely wanted the bat family’s eviction to be safe for everyone involved. We learned that her bat tenants were one of the endangered species and needed to be protected. Great care was taken to help the bats during their removal, thankfully everyone was healthy, no bats were injured.

After the bat incident, I wrote a little story about Cece’s beloved house and the bats for her babies.

The little house on August Street was cheerful on the outside with its bright yellow paint but sad and lonely on the inside. She shared her life with a bat family that slept all day and kept her awake at night. Her friend, the grey house across the street would remind the little yellow house that she was old and should be glad that her life was quiet, but little yellow house missed the joys of a boisterous family filling up her rooms.

One day, a young couple with two dogs moved into the little yellow house. They played records all day long while cooking the most delicious food. The little yellow house was so proud of its freshly painted rooms. The dogs ran gleefully up and down the stairs and barked at the Bat family. The little yellow house was the happiest it had ever been.

The young couple came home in the spring with a beautiful baby girl. The little yellow house felt very warm and happy inside. The baby girl grew quickly; she loved her little yellow house and spent hours in the garden singing and playing. She would wave to the newborn bat pups in the attic.

The next winter, a new baby girl joined the family, and the little yellow house was brimming with joy. The two little girls decorated the house’s walls with beautiful drawings of their family, their dogs, rainbows, fairies, the bat family, and their beloved house. The girls, excited to go on an adventure every morning, burst out the front door, singing and laughing. Upon their return, the girls at the front door quietly whispered, “I love you,” to the little house. By the soft glow of candlelight, the evenings were filled with music, kitchen dinners, baths, and stories before bedtime.

Everyone, including the little yellow house slept soundly, the bat family had moved away.

One morning in the fall, the little yellow house once again heard the cries of a new baby, a boy. The little house felt warmer and happier than ever.

The big grey house across the street told the little yellow house that she looked her most beautiful now that she had her precious little family, and the little yellow house agreed.

Kate Emery General is a retired chef/restaurant owner who was born and raised in Casper, Wyoming. Kate loves her grandchildren, knitting, and watercolor painting. Kate and her husband, Matt are longtime residents of Cambridge’s West End where they enjoy swimming and bicycling. 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Why Does the US President Keep Gas Prices so High? By Tom Timberman

by 6 Comments

Share

Introduction:

Whenever we go to fill up the tank, gaze at the pump prize and note it’s 55 cents higher than two days ago, irritated, sometimes angry, we blame the president. It’s easy: He makes the big bucks and lives for free in a big house, so why not?  I find it relaxing, may sigh, and then pay mega dollars. The disappointing truth is that POTUS has nothing to do with the price of gas. The various causes are discussed below.

What presidents occasionally do when the price rises above the normal range,  is take gas from the National Reserve and market it at a lower price.  In the short term, it helps some, but usually generates sharp public criticism that the president is compromising American security. Clearly can’t win on gas.

Vehicle gasoline is refined from crude oil, adding an initial expense. Thus, crude price has a major influence on the price at the pump. (Note: West Texas Intermediate Crude is the benchmark for North American oil prices}. But, there are other reasons: supply/demand, taxes, inventories, season of the year: people drive more in warm weather and refineries switch to a more expensive summer blend. And then there are domestic and international crises.

Two examples of the latter are a hurricane damaging a refinery on the Gulf Coast, temporarily raising regional prices, and a major global supplier being removed from Western markets. This occurred in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine, and EU Europe turned to other sources. As a result, just in the US, gas prices in 2022 rose to a record level of $5.01/gal.

OPEC: The Unpredictable Agent amid Mid-East Turmoil:

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a permanent intergovernmental organization with 12 member states1 (2024) and a secretariat in Vienna. It was formed by 5 countries in 1960 to counter US domination of the crude market.  Its mission is to regulate the global oil supply by reaching consensus on members’ production.  Russia is not a member, but is a key ally, working closely with OPEC.

The 12 members[1] control some 45% of the world’s crude exports and over 70% of its proven reserves.  It exerted its peak collective power in 1973 when it embargoed exports to the US and the Netherlands, Israel’s major allies during the Yom Kippur War (US gas prices rose fast),  Its influence still exists, but has waned as the US very successfully pursued fracking and multiple additional energy production sites were developed in the North Sea, Canadian oil sands and Africa.

When crude prices rise and become a Washington concern, one of the White House’s earliest calls is to Riyadh to discuss Saudi Arabia’s increasing production. The closer and expanded US/Saudi defense relationship is present in any such negotiation. But depending on the Kingdom’s priorities at the moment, it may or may not agree (Russia or Iran complain).

Is the Israeli/HAMAS/Lebanon/Yemen (and maybe Iran) War affecting American and NATO Europe’s oil deliveries and their pricing? Given Israel produces little oil and Gaza none, the market has been relatively stable. However, the Houthi (Yemen) attacks on Red Sea shipping (Iran supported) have disrupted an important trading route. Very large shipping firms like Maersk, have begun avoiding the Suez, opting for the long and expensive route around the Horn of Africa.  Thus, some shipped goods costs rise. However, oil prices have fluctuated, but not seriously—yet. If Iran, the 3rd largest OPEC producer becomes a combatant, there is no question oil supplies would decline and pricing would rise.

Gas Prices in America (Summer 2024):

Policy makers and economists usually do not include gas  prices when calculating inflation rates because they are unpredictable and volatile.  But, the US Consumer Price Index tracks its cost. According to a June 2024 report, gas prices fell 3.8% from May and are down 2.5% since June 2023. There is little doubt that for Americans gas prices affect their perception of inflation.

This year, so far, is something of an anomaly because the traditional, thus expected Summer gas price rises (more miles driven in warm weather and refineries substitute more expensive summer blends) hasn’t happened.  Driver demand is down from 2023, possibly related to economic and political uncertainty at home and wars overseas.  The result: US gas prices have declined.  The fundamental factor is the price of benchmark West Texas Crude. It has declined from $115/barrel in summer 2022, to approximately $77.91 as of 8/01/24. This translates into an average increase between 1/01/24 – 9/01/24 of only +39 cents.  And the US national average price (8/01/24) is $3.49.  Hawaii has the highest at $4.66/per gallon.

Conclusion:

The next time I pull up next to the pump on High Street in Chestertown, and notice, again, that the price is up 27 cents from last week, I’ll still grumble and may blame the president because there are too many actual culprits and their rationale is too complicated.  However, I have taken a step to moderate any emotional reaction by taping the following list to the dashboard: Gas Prices: Netherlands – $6.48/gal.; Norway – $6.27/gal.; Denmark – $5.93/gal.; Italy – $5.96/gal. and UK – $5.79/gal.  Should even cheer up the guys in Honolulu.

1OPEC Members (2024): Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Libya, UAE,Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon,  Congo & Nigeria..

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.