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September 26, 2021

The Chestertown Spy

An Educational News Source for Chestertown Maryland

Food and Garden Food Friday Spy Top Story

Food Friday: Apple Time

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We almost always have a big bowl of green apples sitting on the kitchen counter. I tend to buy green apples, and that is the way I think of them, “green apples,”  when I should be thinking “Granny Smith.” Granny Smith apples are good for eating raw and also for baking in pies. Which is about the extent of my apple repertoire.

The smart folks at Saveur magazine have a more novel approach, apples for every dinner course: “An All-Apple Dinner.”
http://www.saveur.com/article/Menu/An-All-Apple-Dinner

Apples are the harbinger of autumn, and of school lunches, and snacks gnawed after school while sitting at the kitchen table. I remember lolling the summers away in a neighbor’s back yard, where blowsy hydrangea blossoms wafted and the grass was covered with fragrant, rotting crabapples. That crabapple tree was a good height for climbing, too, always an added kid bonus. And there were grapevines, with lip-puckering green grapes. Eventually the grapes ripened into sweet purple orbs, which were perfect for spitting.

Apples remind me of brown-bagged lunches, with warm, wax paper-wrapped cheese sandwiches. They were an intrinsic part of the lunchroom smell: apples, old bananas, sour milk, vomit and the green sawdust the janitors used for sweeping up the floors.

Apples make me think of Jo March, scribbling in her cold New England attic, her inky fingers clutching apples as she nibbled away, scrawling her latest lurid tale. Apples bring knowledge and comfort, and at this time of year, and in these perilous times, there are plenty of reasons to eat them often.

There seem to be an equal number of apple dishes we can prepare, as there are varieties of apples: apple sauce, apple butter, apple cake, apple pie, apple tart, apple cider, apple crisp, apple brown betty, caramel apples, apple turnovers, apple pancakes, apples and cheddar cheese… (Here are 80 apple recipes, all in one place: https://www.delish.com/cooking/g1968/easy-apple-recipes/ ) We have discovered that Luke the wonder dog likes green apples. (He also likes iceberg lettuce, fresh asparagus, Roma tomatoes, green peppers and the sound of plastic-wrapped slices of processed American cheese food.)

It’s a little early for the strolls through crunchy leaves, but the autumnal yen of eating crunchy apples can be indulged right now. You need to mask up and travel to your favorite farmers’ markets this weekend, and stock up on freshly picked treasures. Of course, it is always gilding the lily to do anything to an apple except wash it and take a bite. Even pies seem unnecessarily contrived. Does an apple really need brown sugar, cinnamon and dabs of butter to taste better? Of course not! But any iteration of an apple is a good thing.

This Apple Crumble is easy peasy.

6 Golden Delicious or Braeburn apples, peeled, sliced into 1 inch pieces
4 tablespoons sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoon lemon juice
Grated zest of one orange
2/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup uncooked oats

Preheat oven to 375°F

Mix apples, sugar, lemon juice and orange zest. In another bowl combine flour, oats, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Toss with butter. Combine with apple mixture in a buttered baking dish.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a nice big wodge of whipped cream. Yumsters. All of the taste of apple pie with no fragile or temperamental pie crust to contend with.

The Farmers’ Almanac has a handy-dandy chart for which apples are best suited to various dishes: sauces, cider, pie and baking. http://www.almanac.com/content/best-apples-baking

“And there never was an apple, in Adam’s opinion, that wasn’t worth the trouble you got into for eating it.”
Neil Gaiman

Seeing the New Watershed Through Hegland Glass

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One of the great things about living in an art-centric community is discovering art outside the studio or gallery and part of the community landscape itself.

Look no farther than the entrance to the new Watershed Restaurant on High Street where David and Patti Hegland have designed dual panels to set the perfect aesthetic tone for the establishment. The Watershed’s main entrance is on the side of the building.

Framed by black structural steel, each of the two columns is a set of conjoined panels comprising thousands of intricately cut and fused pieces of colored glass appearing as swaying underwater reeds. The slightest ambient light ignites the design as a perfect invitation for what awaits inside.

Dave Hegland says the project represented a unique engineering challenge since the glass composition will be exposed to the elements and that every protective measure—application and sealant—had to be engineered to protect them.

For a decade the Heglands have been creating their award-winning glass compositions in their studio at 315 High Street, #103.

“We invite everyone to come by to see how we create these—it’s an interesting process,” Patti says,

The Spy recently talked with Patti and David Hegland about their project.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more about Hegland Glass, please go here.

Chesapeake Film Festival: Ted Adams and his Tyndall Typewriters

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Suppose someone had to find an independent film producer and director in a pile of resumes. In that case, it’s almost certain that no one like Ted Adams would be selected out of that stack.

The product of Rice University, with a degree in mechanical engineering, and advanced business degrees from UCLA and Harvard Business Schools, Ted Adams has spent most of his adult life running businesses. It is only when you reach the end of his vita that you come to realize that he has also made a name for himself as a filmmaker.

In fact, Ted Adams seems to have excelled in this sideline work in the same way he currently runs Unified Industries, Pyrocap International Corporation, and more recently Unified Resorts Ltd. With now one feature film and five award-winning shorts to his credit, the Virginia-based director could never be accused of being a recreational filmmaker.

Adams continues his work with the screening of his new film, “Tyndall Typewriters” at the Chesapeake Film Festival next month. The 22 minute short tells the story of Thomas Tyndall, a young vintage typewriter repairman, who services these outdated machines while creating a special bond with their idiosyncratic owners. One of those is former restaurant chef who has lost her creative edge and her ability to make emotional connections.

Last week, the Spy talked to Ted over Zoom to preview this film, which is scheduled to be shown at the Festival on Saturday, October 2, at 5 pm at the Avalon Theatre in Easton.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For more information about the Chesapeake Film Festival and ticketing please go here.

 

Blackwater’s “Secret” Garden By Debra Messick

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Depending on the season, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge hosts a myriad of natural treasures to view, from soaring and nesting eagles to a variety of migrating waterfowl.

From mid-September through early October, among the main attractions are embattled monarch butterflies. The monarchs flutter across our region in the midst of making their remarkable fall trek south to Mexico. Fortunately for the legendary golden winged travelers who need nectar to sip, and their legion of admirers who savor seeing them, however fleetingly, Blackwater provides a superb garden spot tucked behind the Visitors Center.

The Butterfly and Beneficial Insect Garden was brought to life through a collaborative effort between the Dorchester Garden Club, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, and the Friends of Blackwater NWR.

The Garden Club raised the initial $90 K which went towards construction of the design by George Corey, owner of Wye Tree Landscapers, Inc., and a striking bronze monarch butterfly sculpture titled Monarchs (Dannaus plexippus), crafted by twin brothers, Steven and Stewart Wegner, at their Fredericksburg, Virginia foundry, Wegner Metal Arts Inc., specializing in artistic wildlife renderings.

Ground was broken for the garden in 2001 and in May 2002 it was dedicated, with special tribute to long standing garden club member Kathryne (Kit) Carlon Holdt, lauded as “Miss Butterfly” during ensuing Blackwater Spring Fling celebrations, according to Rick Abend, Friends Board President.

In 1997 Holdt stepped up to serve as the National Garden Club’s Maryland Chairperson for the Butterfly Garden at the National Botanic Garden in Washington, DC. Through these efforts, she is credited with raising local awareness of the need for butterfly and beneficial insect conservation, according to a Butterflies at Blackwater brochure.

DGC President Chris Wilke added:

“The Dorchester Garden Club has created this garden, at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, to express its appreciation of Kit and to serve as a lasting centerpiece to our commitment to the art of gardening and our awareness of environmental concerns. For many, there are few pleasures in life that rival those found in the time spent in a garden. The butterfly garden in particular fosters an awareness of the interdependences between plants, animals and humanity. As a profound symbol of transformation and restoration, the butterfly offers hope that affirmative change is possible and is at work in our own lives. It is our hope that this endeavor will encourage visitors to establish small butterfly habitats in their gardens and understand that we can effect positive ecological change with remedial action taken in our own backyards.”

This idea resonated with Rhonda Franz-Floyd, a relative newcomer among the garden’s many dedicated volunteers, now with over a year of service there. She finds aesthetic enjoyment in the native plant landscape and gets satisfaction from giving back. But she’s especially gratified to gain recurring hands-on experience, learning to apply best practices to the home pollinator garden she’s creating in Trappe. She’s also glad to pay what she learns forward to others, in essence, helping grow the next generation of conservation minded gardeners.

Recently retired and relocating here from Severna Park with her husband, also a Blackwater volunteer, it’s a labor of love for Franz-Floyd who carefully weeds, selectively moves plants, and gathers seeds in mesh sachets. She’s been getting to learn which plants are the best and worst performers. Though eager to do it all, Franz-Floyd has heeded guidance to focus on becoming familiar with the growing stages of one or two types of weeds and plants at a time.

She’s grateful to experienced volunteers who have answered her questions and served as mentors, among them Jane Sebring, who has been a major force in maintaining the garden week in and week out from March through October since 2013, according to Michele Whitbeck, Volunteer Coordinator for Chesapeake Marshlands NWR Complex.

Whitbeck can’t say enough about the group’s “arduous work, dedication, and commitment,” calling the volunteers “the heart of the butterfly garden.” Their work was especially vital last March following the long Covid closure and safety protocols which paused not only visitors but volunteers from gathering on the grounds. Once back, the resumed tending brought about a relatively quick return to glory, according to Franz-Floyd, an encouraging sign for visitors struggling to get their own grounds back on track.

When asked about monarchs visiting the garden, Whitbeck recommended checking this site, noting that Cambridge falls roughly within the 38th latitude. (More information on the monarch migration can be found here.)

Whitbeck explained that the Butterfly and Beneficial Insect Garden is so named because it include pollinators like bees, butterflies, flies and moths, which pollinate flowers, and also predatory insects, which help control pests like aphids. While monarchs might get most of the attention, addition butterflies commonly observed there include black swallowtail, eastern tiger swallowtail, red admiral, common buckeye, pearl crescent, eastern tailed blue, red-spotted purple, and clouded sulphur. Refuge website and social media guru Lisa Mayo added the reminder to be on the lookout for toads, dragonflies, hummingbirds and a host of other critters.

(The refuge also hosts a separate Pollinator Sanctuary area.)

In 2015, while surveying bee species at Blackwater, USGS biologist Sam Droege of Patuxent Wildlife Research Center recorded the discovery of a new Maryland species, Triepeolus concavus, known to be a nest parasite of another bee species observed in the garden, Svastra obliqua. According to Droege, Svastra obliqua is associated with high-quality habitat.

Certified Bay Wise by the Master Gardeners program in 2006, the garden was revamped in 2014 after a three-year Visitor Center construction project. Most recently, The Friends of Blackwater received a $9250 in 2016 through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) to expand the garden with a walkway to the new West Wing of the VC, new native species plants, signage and rain barrels, along with improved drainage. Since the initial construction, the Friends of Blackwater has been providing funds for the annual maintenance of the garden by Refuge volunteers, according to Amend.

For additional information, visit here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, Bother by George Merrill

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I spend my life as a writer staring at blank pages. How to fill them? What is my heart yearning to say?  Most of the time I’ll figure it out. I find the words. With this essay, I’m not sure just what I’m wanting to say. Maybe by writing, I’ll find out. 

In these last few weeks, my writing’s been exploring my interior spiritual and psychological life following a medical diagnosis that rocked me. I felt a strong urge to write about what I thought and felt. Most of the time I was certain of what I wanted to say. I kept close to the particulars of what I was experiencing, the emotional tones and the particular thoughts that were raised. However, in my attempts to write this essay I fumbled as never before: I wrote and rewrote several drafts. I kept feeling I was going in circles. I wasn’t speaking my heart. So, what’s going on, I wondered?

Although physically I function well right now, the circumference of my life frankly feels constrained. The leukemia keeps my outings largely confined to clinic visits, having blood drawn and tested and then, depending on results, having the treatment adjusted accordingly. I’m experiencing no significant discomfort in any of this and there’s no particular stress involved; at the clinic, the nurses are consistently cordial and pleasant. Generally speaking, I feel okay. 

The most recent tests reveal that for the last few weeks my numbers look good. What I can’t fathom is why, in this essentially positive development that should be lifting my spirits, I feel flat. Unlike the weeks before, when the whole scenario was more dicey and closer to the edge, I was more certain what I wanted to write. 

I feel little incentive to explore and write about my situation of the last couple of weeks. Ironically, it’s been the least problematic in months. I dearly hope I am not one of those driven types who need crises in order to feel energized.

I keep thinking to myself, ‘Isn’t what’s come about recently just what I would want?’  The treatment appears to be working, slowing down the disease process so I can live longer and enjoy a decent quality of life. 

 I’ve listened to stories of people who found themselves in all kinds of dire straits, the kind that seem to point to only one end which will be tragic one way or another. Then, for no apparent reasons, the unexpected happens and the situation starts turning around.  Initial reactions are not, as you might first expect, to feel elated but instead to be confused, even suspicious. Five months ago, I was sure I’d be dead by now. This is not an accurate forecast, at least as I write this. But then what am I to expect? Another week; six months; what?

This is embarrassing to consider and for me even to think it. But, to be candid, I’m wondering, could it be that I am so addicted to being in control, that as horrifying as the initial prognosis was, at least I had the assurance that I knew what was going to happen next? Outcome was even accompanied with well, a deadline.

What complicates the matter for me and brings in another possibility to my odd reaction this week, is the peculiarity of my personality. In my family and among some friends, I’ve earned a reputation over the years for being pessimistic, ‘real heavy,’ a human Eeyore, if you will. Eeyore, you might remember from the Winnie the Pooh series, is characterized as a pessimistic, gloomy, depressed, anhedonic (for me, watching sports is a drag), an old, grey, stuffed donkey. Eeyore’s frequent and favorite expletive is “Oh, bother!” Mine is shorter and less benign.

Like Eeyore, I am also old and grey and have some of his negative propensities. I’m aware of this liability. I try to resist it as best I can. I can’t always put on a happy face. It’s hard for me especially when I meet with flaming optimists –– whose ebullient extraversion and terminally chirpy dispositions insist on placing the sunniest spin on the darkest situations. They irritate me.  “Just look for the silver lining” and with a pat on the shoulder and a stiff upper lip dismiss me –– this does not do it for me. I like people who will listen to my dark and meandering perseverations, who seem to have neither the need to cheer me up nor the desire to assure me that indeed “ain’t it awful.”  I like people who will listen to what I happen to feel, even though it’s often messy, and about things that may not quite hang together, which,  is often the case.

Truth be told, for years I’ve had a thing for the children’s classic, Winnie the Pooh and especially for Eeyore. My wife, who is painfully aware of my temperament and needs to make an annual statement about it, gives me a stuffed Eeyore every birthday. I have one that even speaks, and says, “Oh, bother” when I press his hoof.

Eeyore often lost his tail. It was poorly secured and often fell off. I am sympathetic to Eeyore’s moods. I am, as Eeyore was, also surrounded by a forest filled with friends who, if not able to find for me what I’m looking for, will always provide me with support in my search. My life involves a tale of a very different sort. Eeyore’s tail was secured by a nail, my tale hangs by a thread. I will eventually lose my whole tale and when I think about how that goes, I can get stuck, and keep ruminating to myself, “Oh, bother.” Eeyore puts the matter front and center: “I get so upset I forget to be happy,” he says. The human tale that follows us for our lifetime grows even dearer as its fragility becomes more apparent. I want to hang on to it.

In the last few weeks, a rainbow appeared on my horizon. It surprised me. Seems I’m doing okay right now after several months of some dark clouds. 

 Eeyore is reported to have said when seeing a red balloon, to which he uncharacteristically took an immediate liking: “Sure is a cheerful color. Guess I’ll have to get used to it.”

Columnist George Merrill is an Episcopal Church priest and pastoral psychotherapist. A writer and photographer, he’s authored two books on spirituality: Reflections: Psychological and Spiritual Images of the Heart and The Bay of the Mother of God: A Yankee Discovers the Chesapeake Bay. He is a native New Yorker, previously directing counseling services in Hartford, Connecticut, and in Baltimore. George’s essays, some award winning, have appeared in regional magazines and are broadcast twice monthly on Delmarva Public Radio.

Food Friday: The End of Summer

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Some seasons end abruptly. One day it is freezing cold, the next it is warm and sunny. Summer ends next week, and it has been taking its sweet time. We have been having cooler mornings, but sneaky high afternoon temperatures have been loitering around. Like high school cool kids hanging in the smoking courtyard, they are tedious and must be borne.

We threaded through the farmers’ market last Saturday, trying to keep our social distance from the other folks eager to get out of the house. We are all a little weary and shopworn, like some of the produce. The peaches were looking a little older. The tomatoes didn’t hold the same glistening promise they they proffered in June. We have reached the squash maximum tolerance threshold. I couldn’t even find a new basil plant to buy, as our current plant just gave up the ghost on the back porch: too much summer. What on earth are we going to cook for dinner?

In the summer we are always in a rush to get someplace. The easy peasy, no-cook meals are perfect for busy summer people. We are ready to slow down a little now, and start thinking about a less harried, more reflective way to prepare meals. It’s almost time to dig out the slow cooker. But let’s not waste any time, or tomatoes, zucchini or over-ripe peaches as we anticipate the change of season.

Vivian Howard know just what to do with peaches. This recipe makes me feel happy that I am not a restaurant cook, and as a home cook I can smugly wrap peaches in a leisurely fashion. This is new life for old-ish peaches: https://www.vivianhoward.com/gorging-on-life/country-ham-peaches

Did I say we were tired of squash? Nonsense. Because now I know about squash tacos. These are easy, they are novel, and they are something new and wonderful. Plus we use up more squash. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/245766/butternut-squash-tacos/

If I see another Caprese salad before 2022 I will surely cause an embarrassing scene. https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/ultimate-caprese-salad Enough! And now that we are living without a viable basil plant, I should be able to avoid Caprese salad at home. Which isn’t to say that I don’t still love a nice big tomato salad. Just hold off on the bland, fresh mozzarella. Keep it for the pizza Margherita. I am moving on to something tart and tangy. https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/late-summer-tomatoes-with-fresh-herbs?

Some cooks are turning to TikTok for meal inspiration. https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/tiktok-recipes-to-try-out-now

But that crafty Martha has a recipe for squash, zucchini and tomatoes. Of course she would. https://www.marthastewart.com/1549611/baked-fish-summer-squash

Maybe I am just weary of all the numbers, bad news, and monotony, but I cannot wait for autumn to start. I have probably contributed to the weather staying warm by buying a couple of big, yellow chrysanthemum plants for the front porch already. They need daily watering, which fills the basil maintenance void, and look they carefree and cheerful. I’ve ordered daffodil bulbs, and I even though I won’t get to plant them until Thanksgiving, it is nice to have something to look forward to. Spring is just around the corner!

“That old September feeling, left over from school days, of summer passing, vacation nearly done, obligations gathering, books and football in the air … Another fall, another turned page: there was something of jubilee in that annual autumnal beginning, as if last year’s mistakes had been wiped clean by summer.”
― Wallace Stegner,

Meet Horn Point Lab’s Chesapeake Champions for 2021: A Chat with Beverly and Richard Tilghman

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To their everlasting credit, Beverly and Richard Tilghman rarely turn down an invitation to be honored by the local organizations they are eager to help. While this very modest couple sees this kind of attention as perhaps the equivalent of a root canal procedure, the Tilghmans understand better than most, after decades of serving on volunteer boards of schools and organizations, that this temporary spotlight on them can significantly help the causes they believe deserve support.

And it is also true that those organizations have had an abundance of cause to recognize the Tilghmans. Best known for their leadership in historic preservation and their family’s centuries-old stewardship of the famed Wye House, the Tilghmans have also had a lifelong commitment to ecological conservation. From creating their own living shoreline at Wye House to being advocates for land conservation, water protection, and the critical role of research, the Tilghmans were the logical choice to be awarded by the UM-Horn Point Lab in Dorchester County as the Chesapeake Champions for 2021.

With a community celebration set for September 30th at the Tidewater Inn. the Tilghmans sat down with the Spy at Wye House last week to talk about their love of Horn Point, its remarkable research by its talented pool of young graduate students, and how education is making the difference in protecting the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.

This video is approximately minutes in length. Additional photography by Jeff McGuiness. For more information and ticket information for the Chesapeake Champion event please go here.

Council Votes to Move Talbot Boys, But Fight May Not Be Over

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Although the county council voted 3-2 Tuesday night to move the Confederate statue on the courthouse grounds to a Civil War national historic district near Harrisonburg, Va., advocates for keeping the monument at its current location, or at least in Talbot County, say the fight is not over.

During public comments near the end of Tuesday night’s meeting, Preserve Talbot History’s president said the foundation that leads the preservation efforts at the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District said in a Tuesday afternoon letter that it would only accept Talbot’s monument “if it will not and cannot stay safely here.

“They’re not welcoming this statue as something ‘Oh, this is fantastic, we always wanted to have the Talbot boys statue in the corner here,'” David Montgomery said. “They’re taking it because they’ve been assured that we’re going to tear it down, melt it, or put it in a warehouse. Those are their conditions. That should have been made clear to the council when this proposal was set up to vote….”

The Sept. 14 letter from the executive director of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation says the foundation’s position is that monuments should remain in their original location whenever possible and that an attempt should be made to relocate the monument in Talbot County if it is removed from its current location. If the monument must be moved out of the county, the foundation said it remained “committed to its offer to become its permanent steward….”

According to the email headers The Spy has viewed, the letter was emailed at 3:49 p.m. Tuesday and sent to all five county council members. The Spy does not know when it was actually received by the council members, whose meeting Tuesday night began at 6 p.m. with the discussion of the administrative resolutions concerning the Confederate monument beginning at about 6:37 p.m.

The full text of the foundation’s letter is below:

Talbot Boys Monument

 

The letter refers to the foundation’s monument policy, which is posted on its website:

SVBFMonumentPolicy

 

Montgomery also challenged the process by which the relocation vote had occurred.

“(T)his was done in such a surreptitious manner, that won’t be forgotten,” he said. “A policy decision like this should not be made through a procedural maneuver that eliminates not only public comment, (but also) the time for this council to review thoroughly, to know what the battlefield … looks like, to know what the arrangements are for moving it, to know how that can be done safely, even to know whether the base is going to go along with it or not. All that’s missing…. No matter what the legal cover… this was a fundamental policy decision.”

Montgomery said sincere efforts should be made “…to find a place in Talbot County for this memorial … if this council is determined to take it out of its current place.

“I hope the move the monument will support that objective. They’ve said all along that all they want to do is move the monument and find another place in Talbot County for it,” he said.

Lynn Mielke, who has supported keeping the monument at its current location, said she has been involved in the issue since 2015.

“And I would suggest that it’s not over yet,” she said.

Mielke said her main reason to speak Tuesday night, however, was to share “… an observation that I’ve made over those years, as well as tonight. That observation is of the residents of Talbot County. And how no one’s come and torn down the monument. No one has defaced it or put paint on it. It’s been courteous and … the protests for its removal is very consistent with what the founding fathers had saw in terms of peaceful protest and sharing opinions.

“Tonight, for instance, there were the Move the Monument people and there were the Preserve Talbot County history people (outside the courthouse). And everyone was courteous to everyone else…,” she said. “The Move the Monument people were handing out snacks to everyone. And I guess it sort of reminded me of, if you read the history of Culp’s Hill, the Battle of Culps Hill, where we had Talbot Countians both on the Confederate side and on the Union side fighting each other. But when the battle was over, they helped each other.

“The battle here is not quite over but I would hope that until it is, and even when it is, that each side will respect the other and show them that grace that I observed tonight and I have observed over the last few years,” Mielke said.

The Confederate monument on the Talbot County courthouse grounds. Photo by John Griep.

Others had harsher words for Frank Divilio, Pete Lesher, and Corey Pack, the three councilmen who voted for the resolution to relocate the statue.

Michelle Ewing called Divilio “duplicitous” and said “… thanks to you and Corey (Pack) and Pete (Lesher) our county will forever be divided.”

Clive Ewing agreed.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed in how the council went about advancing the Talbot Boys resolution to a vote tonight,” he said. “Transparent government is the best government and you have left a lot to be desired.

“This action does nothing to advance understanding and unity in this county,” Ewing said.

Shari Wilcoxon said “… this is a very sad day for Talbot County to be swept up in the same horrific Marxist idealism that’s going on throughout our country…. It’s really a frightening step, it’s frightening what’s going on in our country, and it’s a sad day that’s going on here in Talbot County….”

Speakers who supported efforts to move the statue from the courthouse grounds said it took courage to make that decision.

“I saw an awful lot of courage here tonight, tremendous courage, because it takes a great deal of courage to have a change of heart,” Keith Watts said.

“You talked about respect, and being respectful. And I think it’s so important for the community, whatever the outcome was tonight, to continue to respect each other. Because we all live together,” he said. “There are certainly individual acts of courage on each and every single person’s part that’s here tonight, both in the audience and on that dais…. I think that you can take some solace in the fact that you did what you felt was in your hearts.

“Whether I agree with that, or not, it doesn’t matter so much as to continue to look at each other, listen to each other, and respect each other because we all live together,” Watts said. “And I think we all, in our own ways, have Talbot County’s best interests at heart. Always…. So thank you for your candor. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for bringing us to this point. And thank you for leading us from here because now it’s the way forward.”

Richard Potter, president of the Talbot County NAACP, thanked Divilio.

“Thank you for your courage tonight. I appreciate that. I appreciate you and your diligence in trying to find a peaceful solution to this issue,” he said. “I know tonight was difficult. And I’m pretty sure the days ahead will be difficult. But that’s leadership.

“One of the quotes that I leave this council with is one from Winston Churchill: ‘Mountaintops inspire leaders, but valleys mature them.'”

The NAACP and others had filed a federal lawsuit to require the county to move the Confederate monument from its position on the lawn just outside the Talbot County Court House.

Divilio said he submitted the resolution to relocate the statue to the Cross Keys battlefield to put an end to the divisive debate and to ensure the monument is preserved.

“If the Talbot boys make this move, they will help tell the story of the Civil War and how communities and families were divided, unfortunately, much as we are today,” he said. “Cross Keys battlefield is an appropriate new home for the Talbot boys where the monument will be cared for with respect, and be part of the teaching history for generations to come.

“Throughout this process, it has been very important to me that the Talbot Boys be treated with respect,” Divilio said. “And if the decision was made to move it, there needed to be a new location identified that would be able to keep it and maintain it for the long term. Unfortunately, no such option existed locally and I feared the situation would evolve much like it has in other parts of this country and the courthouse grounds would be vandalized and the Talbot Boys would be destroyed.

He said the simple answer to questions about why the statue is being moved out of the county is that “no one wanted it. No one wanted to subject themselves, their business, their organization, or their government to the backlash from agreeing to accept the Talbot Boys on their property.

“The Talbot Boys issue has divided our community for too long and has sidelined many other important things the county council and county government needs to address,” Divilio said. “I believe that moving the Talbot Boys to a historically appropriate place of respect, and allowing our community to move forward is the best for Talbot County. It is time to bring this resolution to a close so we can shift our focus to rebuilding our relationships and coming together to build a 21st century Talbot County.”

Council Vice President Pete Lesher commended Divilio, who has previously voted to leave the monument at its current location, for his “diligence in identifying and securing an honorable and appropriate destination for the statute.

“For generations, the voices of Talbot County’s African-Americans were unheard and ignored too often,” Lesher said. “Now that they have allies across racial, ethnic and economic divides, we are beginning to hear them and give them new respect. It is clear that the presence of this statute on the courthouse square would continue to rankle. Tonight’s move is simply overdue.

“The monument is a misrepresentation of history, suggesting an inflated number of Talbot County residents fought against Maryland and against the United States in America’s new birth of freedom,” he said. “In fact, Talbot County voted overwhelmingly for pro-Union candidates to a potential secession convention that never met. This monument is simply not good history.

“And this statue shows a young Confederate soldier, not in surrender, but going off to war in his fresh uniform to fight a lost cause,” Lesher said. “In this Excelsior portrayal from Longfellow’s poem, he is ennobled, heroically prepared to give his life to preserve a way of life that was economically sustained through enslaved black labor.

Councilman Corey Pack agreed and noted the primary goal of the Confederacy was to maintain slavery.

“(W)e may not know individually why those men went to fight, perhaps because their friend down the street was going off to fight, perhaps because they were bored, perhaps because they truly believed in what the Confederacy stood far, we don’t know. But what we do know is the overarching umbrella that the Confederacy stood for,” he said. “And that was most notably the enslavement of black people. And no matter how you cut it, had the Confederacy won, that would have continued on. Written within the documents of their articles of confederacy is for the continuation of slavery….

“So we know what the Confederacy stood for. And these statues that came about at the turn of the 20th century was basically to glamorize that lost cause movement of the Confederacy, that although they fought and lost, they fought for a noble cause.

“I believe this is the right thing for Talbot County, I really do, I really do,” Pack said. “I believe that this is not erasing history, it’s just relocating a statue to another location where it can live out its days and if persons want to go travel and see it at that location, they’re free to do so. But to have the statute out front, that glamorizes a time and a period with not everybody who’s free, to have a statue out front, which still has the the draped flag of the Confederacy, to have that CSA on the buckle of that young man. And knowing what that stood for is not appropriate for this date and time.”

Councilwoman Laura Price had a competing resolution drafted calling for a Union statue and the names of Union soldiers to be added to the existing Confederate monument. But she said Tuesday night that she would not be offering that administrative resolution because she felt the public should be allowed to comment at a public hearing.

“Moving it out of the county is one thing, moving it out of the state is quite another,” she said. “And as I stated, the reason that I’m delaying my resolution is because it does deserve public feedback. And there are some people out there who maybe are supportive of moving the monument, but don’t support moving it to Virginia.

“I would ask you to have a proper public hearing and let people talk about (it). You’re the only one who looked and you alone are deciding to move to Virginia,” Price said. “And I think there’s a lot of people who would be supportive of moving the monument that don’t want it to go to Virginia. So I do have a problem with that….

“I’d much rather have compromise and try to … figure out if we can do another solution. But if this is going to be the solution that passes here, the people, all of the people deserve a proper public hearing…,” she said. “I believe that this is wrong. And it’s not anything to do with my opinion, whether it should stay as is, become a unity, or go, has nothing to do with that, it has everything to do with process.”

Council President Chuck Callahan noted Divilio had had a change of heart on the issue but “I can tell you I’m not there.

“I feel it’s a mistake. I think it’s a mistake, moving it from here,” he said. “I’ve always been very open minded. And I’ve told everybody I’ve been open-minded through the years, you know, could we find a place, could we find a place? I’ve always really been open minded to listen to everybody….

“You know, if we were going to move it, I would love to have the opportunity for the public to have input on where we’re going to put it,” Callahan said. “I really do, I think it’s important…. So I really feel like … if we were to make that decision that this is gonna move, it would have been really great if the public had the opinion on where it was going to be moved at.”

Pack took some issue with Callahan’s remarks about giving the public an opportunity to speak.

“I just want to say for clarification, you know, we’ve had opportunities to engage the public….,” Pack said, referring to requests from the Talbot NAACP and religious leaders to meet with the council to discuss the issue. “We’ve had opportunities to engage the public. We’ve turned down invitations to engage the public.

“Our attorneys from Baltimore City, high-powered attorneys that come consult this council, (said we should) engage the public, and we chose not to,” he said. “So you can’t say to this man now you’re (not) going about (it) the right way because you didn’t include the public. We had opportunities to do so. And the majority chose not to. That’s not fair to now say to him, he hasn’t engaged in the public. When you had opportunity to do it, we did not.

“That’s your opinion,” Callahan replied.

“That’s a fact,” Pack said.

It was unclear whether the approved resolution only provides for the relocation of the statue of the young Confederate soldier atop the base or to the entirety of the monument including statue and base. The resolution as drafted and approved Tuesday night solely refers to the Talbot boys “statue,” and never mentions the word “monument,” but council members spoke about the “monument” when discussing the resolution. The dedication “To the Talbot Boys” appears on the base.

In a Wednesday afternoon email, Divilio indicated his intention with the resolution was to relocate “all of it.”

The draft administrative resolution may be read in its entirety below.

DRAFT_Administrative_Resolution_-_Relocation_of_Talbot_Boys_Statue_-_September_2021

 

Key moments from Tuesday night’s discussion may be seen in the below video, which is about eight minutes long. A full video of the county council meeting may be viewed and/or downloaded at https://talbotcountymd.gov/About-Us/County_Council/council-meeting-video.

A Bridge Not So Far: Washington College and Chestertown Showcase Partnerships

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A new bridge between the College and Town communities was helped along last Thursday with “Club Fair,” a partnership event between Washington College’s SGA and youth advocate Bayside HOYAs.

John Queen, President of Bayside HOYAs, saw the annual SGA-sponsored Fair as an opportunity to showcase Chestertown and College organizations and worked with the SGA to create an event that would help bridge the two communities. 

The tented Fair displayed 60 College organizations, clubs, and fraternities along with a dozen community organizations from Girl Scouts, Big Brother-Big Sister to Sultana and RiverArts. Each had representatives available to engage students interested in widening their college experience.

Recognizing that the College and Town have a unique symbiotic relationship defining the greater community of Chestertown, events like Club Fair go a long way to strengthening ties between the student and town communities.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information 

Terror Unleashed by Howard Freedlander

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I lost a friend and teammate on Sept. 11, 2001.

I lost a feeling of security in our country.

I lost trust in our national intelligence community for failure to communicate.

I lost a sense of naivete about the brashness of fearless terrorists disdainful of the Western World.

“9/11” are numerical digits that stand alone in representing a bold and successful assault on our homeland by Mid-Eastern terrorists who successfully hijacked four American aircraft, crashing two into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, one into the Pentagon and one into a Western Pennsylvania field. The latter, targeting our nation’s capital, would have imposed even more human and physical damage were it not for the bravery of its intrepid passengers.

It would be easy on this the 20th anniversary of a horrific tragedy to write about where I was, and what I was doing when I heard and then watched the replay of the deliberate destruction of the World Trade Center in the morning of a pleasant September day. I will avoid that temptation.

Instead, I will dwell on what I believe was the personal, cultural and national security impact of the first attack on our homeland since the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

My friend was working in his office at Sandler, O’Neill, an investment firm in the second tower when killed by the penetration of the second tower. Miraculously, his wallet was later found. He commuted to Manhattan from Ridgewood, NJ, where his wife lived. His youngest daughter was working in a building near the World Trade Center and apparently called her father after the first plane struck the first tower. She was the last to speak with him.

Like many other Americans, I felt a personal loss. This act of terrorism was no abstract incident. It was real. It resulted in the death of nearly 3,000 innocent lives whose only fault was their identity as Americans.

Culturally, our country changed forever. No longer can we live without fear as we travel through airports, train stations and bus depots—or attend any large events. For this essay I’m paying no attention to Covid.

The impact of 9/11 unfortunately has tainted the view of Americans toward Muslims, for whom many feel a lasting animus due to the attack on our homeland. We view all Muslins with a jaundiced eye. Dangerous bias has replaced respect for another religion and people who want to live peacefully in our country.

We have experienced restricted movement and access. No longer can we enter public buildings without enduring passage through a security checkpoint. We have become more insular and suspicious, less tolerant and forgiving.

Besides a loss of personal security and comfort, we have become distrustful of our government. The silo way of thinking—protecting our bureaucratic turf and our knowledge—precluded the sharing of important information that may have prevented the highly coordinated assault. While such tribal behavior is part of the human condition, it can and does lead to tragedy.

The war on terror is worldwide. It follows no conventional doctrine of warfare. Senseless acts of violence occur on the bridge leading to Parliament in London or near a Jewish delicatessen in Paris. It spawns domestic terrorism such as the murder of congregants at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Terrorism seems to spawn even more vicious behavior, more death, more broken families, more grieving communities. Those people who harbor grievances seem to feel empowered to wreak havoc on strangers sitting in a church or enjoying the nightlife in a city.

The 20th anniversary of 9/11 is a time for commemoration, certainly not celebration. It is a time for somber thought and reflection. Maybe we might think about mitigating the causes of terrorism, though that is a mighty ambitious undertaking. 

Perhaps the best we can do is treat our neighbors and fellow community members with more tolerance. It’s a small but important step.

Realists might think nothing can be done to prevent another 9/11 except heightened awareness and tighter national security measures. They might be right.

Columnist Howard Freedlander retired in 2011 as Deputy State Treasurer of the State of Maryland. Previously, he was the executive officer of the Maryland National Guard. He also served as community editor for Chesapeake Publishing, lastly at the Queen Anne’s Record-Observer. In retirement, Howard serves on the boards of several non-profits on the Eastern Shore, Annapolis and Philadelphia.