Author: staff

On summer Sunday evenings it may seem to take forever, traveling Route 50 West from Cambridge to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, but eventually you get there. The slow, steady drip of cars creeping towards the Bay may be a source of frustration to weekend beach commuters. But to those concerned with tainted stormwater runoff from Cambridge roofs, streets, and other impermeable surfaces ultimately to the beleaguered Bay, slow and steady is just the way they like it. Among them are the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Nanticoke Watershed Alliance and a variety of other vital conservation groups, plus municipal governments seeking solutions as well as ways to meet mandatory regulation compliance. There’s good news — the Chesapeake Bay Cleanup plan, set forth in the landmark 2014 signing of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, is recording more success. Notably, two crucial contributing sectors, agriculture and septic, currently are sending decreasing amounts of contaminants to the Bay, according to Hilary Gibson, Eastern Shore Grassroots Field Specialist for CBF. But there’s also bad news, and it’s getting worse; the percentage of polluted stormwater runoff is still increasing. Making sure that existing structures begin to address the issue and ensuring that new developments start off by doing so is critical, Gibson said. Though state, county, and city governments have been working to comply with regulations aimed at reducing runoff, nonmunicipal property remains outside their jurisdiction,...

On an unseasonably chilly May morning 100-year-old Ellen Walbridge had just returned to The Dixon House, a historic assisted living residence in Easton from her daily walk with her son. She recently suffered a broken hip and therefore wasn’t quite up to as long a walk as usual, she confided, adding that “I sometimes don’t feel up to a lot of walking, but I do like to go when I can.” Walking is just one of several activities this centenarian continues to enjoy and be involved in as much as possible. She participates in daily exercise classes, lends a hand at baking in the Dixon House kitchen (she has always enjoyed baking more than cooking, she related, with lemon meringue pie a favorite). And just the day before, she, along with two other Dixon House residents, had been one of the guests of honor at a community luncheon honoring those 100 years old and over. Last summer — at the tender age of 99 — Walbridge took it upon herself to plant, water, and tend the flowers in the stand up raised bed garden gracing the Dixon House porch, as well as the hanging baskets greeting visitors. Asked about her love of gardening, Walbridge fondly attributed it in part to her mother, who grew roses, which remain among her favorite flowers. While raising her own family Walbridge recalled having...