Time Machine: 100 years ago this week in Pocomoke's newspaper; 1999, 1954, 1894, 1905.

 

                      

November, 1999

Salisbury Daily Times

December, 1954

Salisbury Times

December, 1894

Morning Herald (Baltimore)

*January, 1905

Ledger Enterprise (Pocomoke)

tkforppe@yahoo.com

Pony Penning threat-

(View Shore Daily News and WVEC news links:)

100th Chincoteague Pony Penning receives online threat - Shore Daily News

Chincoteague mayor speaks on threat made to 100th annual Pony Swim | 13newsnow.com

I don't think this is much of a real threat. Remember, these people are primarily from middle eastern countries and are acclimated to arid climates. They have probably no idea what mosquitos are, especially the Chincoteague variety.

Your friend,
Slim

No threat determined in new and recent suspicious activity reports.

 "...it is the belief of this office that based on the totality of circumstances that there is no active threat in the area surrounding the Sharp Propane facility."

Recollections from generations past (Marah Stevenson Finney- 5)

Marah Stevenson Finney (1913 - 2006)

TRANSCRIPT EXCERPTS FROM 1982 INTERVIEW

INTERVIEWER: Okay. How about shipyards in Pocomoke, were they still

 around then?

MARAH: No, not when I came back to Pocomoke. My mother’s father was part

 owner, at one time, of Clarke’s Shipyard. I have a deed that shows it. He and

 three other men, including Mr. Clarke, bought this land on the river for a

 shipyard.

INTERVIEWER: Okay.

MARAH: And in fact, he was a ship’s carpenter, as well as a wheelwright. And

 he moved to Pocomoke when he was a young man. And I’ve never known

 exactly why he came here, because he came from New Jersey. His father died

 when he was three years old, and at the time, he was apprenticed to a

 wheelwright, then came to town when he was 18 or 19. So he probably heard

 that there was need of ships’ carpenters in Pocomoke, and decided to come

 here. 

INTERVIEWER: Okay, were there any kind of medicines?

MARAH: (Coughs) ‘Scuse me. No, I can’t remember any medicines except the

 ones that you use in Worcester County, Maryland.

INTERVIEWER: Okay. Do you remember any big storms?

MARAH: No, I don’t remember any while I was in high school. About two

 years, I think, after I graduated from Towson, ’33 or ’34, they had a hurricane

 that was quite bad. And I remember that where I lived on Winter Course, the

 water came up to the porch.

INTERVIEWER: You lived by the golf course?

MARAH: No. I lived where … You know where the Chamberlain family lives?

INTERVIEWER: Oh, that, okay, that side of the river, okay.

MARAH: All right, and I lived three houses beyond where the Chamberlain

 family lives, next to Mrs. Roger Langford.

INTERVIEWER: Okay, I know.

MARAH: And that was where we built our house when my father moved back

 to Pocomoke. And that was the spot that was so low that the water rose so

 high.

INTERVIEWER: All the way up there.

INTERVIEWER: Music when you were in high school, what kind of music, what was the favorite?

MARAH: We did not have a band, but we had a glee club. And we enjoyed

 singing. Mrs. Willard Stevenson, who was the organist at the Methodist

 church, you don’t remember her, I’m sure. But she was teaching high school

 music and English, and she and Mrs. Warman had the glee club together. She

 played the piano and Mrs. Warman taught the singing. And I don’t think we

 sang for any particular functions, except graduation.

INTERVIEWER: How about the popular groups or records you played?

MARAH: Rudy Vallee (laughs).

INTERVIEWER: How about ice skating? Did you go ice skating?

MARAH: I went ice skating. I went ice skating in the marsh.

INTERVIEWER: (Laughs.)

MARAH: That was very convenient because if you were not very adept, you

 had trees to hold on to.

(Both laugh.)

MARAH: And we did have a few ponds out in the country, people we knew,

 farmers who had ponds, that we visited. Not too often. Now, when my mother

 was a child, the river froze over.

INTERVIEWER: They didn’t skate on the river, did they?

MARAH: On the river, some of them went skating.

INTERVIEWER: Oh, really (laughs)?

MARAH: And she walked across the river once. But when her mother and

 father found out, she did not do it again.

INTERVIEWER: (Laughs) I don’t think I could ever attempt that.

MARAH: No, that was very dangerous then.

INTERVIEWER: Did you ever hear of anybody falling in or anything?

MARAH: Seems to me I did hear a story of boys falling in the river because it

 seemed to freeze much much more than recent years.

INTERVIEWER: I know I haven’t seen it freeze completely.

MARAH: I don’t know the year that this happened, but Mother was born in

 1888, and it was probably around 1894, ’95. I don’t know. But it was probably

 when she was a teenager.

INTERVIEWER: Right, can you think of anything else?

MARAH: No. I probably will, after you leave, but …

INTERVIEWER: Okay.

MARAH: Thank you for coming.

(Recollections from generations past continues next Saturday here at The Pocomoke Eye.)

Opinion: The Chesapeake's health and budget decisions.

 

Gov. Wes Moore and legislative leaders have an important, though unenviable, task in the 2025 Maryland General Assembly session that convened last week: Meeting ambitious goals for our environment and climate while navigating a looming $3 billion budget shortfall.

(View commentary:)

Let’s turn promises into progress for the Chesapeake Bay - Maryland Matters

Wallops benefits with NASA contract to Rocket Lab.

 

(View news story:)

Rocket Lab selected by NASA to provide Neutron Launch services under VADR launch contract - Shore Daily News

EMS in Princess Anne will transfer to county.

 

Princess Anne Vol. Fire Company

Dear Princess Anne Community,

     Since 1948, the Princess Anne Volunteer Fire Company has provided Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to the citizens of Somerset County. In 2024. Our 17 career employees ran over 3,300+ EMS calls that were transported and delivered to Tidal Health PRMC in Salisbury, Tidal Health-McCready in Crisfield, or Atlantic General in Berlin. Those were full transports from a physical 911 address to a health care facility and not good intent (non-transport) calls. With Medicare and Medicaid as the majority of the funding for these transports ran anywhere from $20 to $170 for the full transport. A typical ALS call should be billed at $1000+ whereas we may see only $20-$170 of that transport. Yes, you read that correctly. Now do that 3,000 more times at that rate. When someone calls us for a nosebleed, we cannot say no we have a duty to serve and transport. EMS supplies, Payroll, workman’s compensation, taxes, and benefits have all grown dramatically in our station. We have provided the citizens a 2-crew run station with 2 paramedics, and 2 EMTs 24/7 for the past 10+ years. We have attempted multiple talks with our County commissioners asking for more funding to support our growing EMS calls in the County and not getting adequate funding from billing. 

     With that being said, as of July 1, 2025, the Princess Anne Volunteer Fire Company will no longer be providing EMS service to the county. The Board of Directors have met with the Somerset County Commissioners in a closed meeting and they will be taking over Ems services in our First Due area. This decision was not made lightly but as a business, we cannot continue to run EMS without adequate funding to support our employees. We will work hand in hand with the county as this EMS service is being transferred over to them. No lack of EMS service will happen during this time. We will continue to answer calls until the commissioners are ready with their county-run EMS system. Our County Commissioners have agreed to talk to our current employees and offer them a package deal in the coming weeks.

Old Stockton fire vehicle looking for a good home.

 (WBOC)

(View news story:)

A Piece of Firefighting History is for Sale in Stockton | Latest News | wboc.com

The return of a vanished Chesapeake island-

 

(View article:)

Poplar Island 2.0: Bay's Next Island Rebuild Details Revealed | Chesapeake Bay Magazine

Phoenix Police: Former Oriole's death likely drug related.

 (Sports Illustrated 1/13)

The death of former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Brian Matusz came out of nowhere, as he was just 37 years old.

On Monday, the cause of death was revealed and reported by outlets, including the Baltimore Sun.

The Sun reported that Matusz likely died of a drug overdose on Jan. 7, according to a report filed by the city of Phoenix police department.

The report said that Matusz was found on the couch of his Arizona home by his mother and that there was drug paraphernalia around him. Along with that, there was reportedly a white substance in his mouth

The paraphernalia indicated a lighter and straw. Investigators also found fentanyl, heroin and crack cocaine around his body.

Worse, it appears that Matusz was taken to a local emergency room two days before he died. The report did not indicate why he was taken to the hospital, but he was discharged. It was recommended that he seek mental health assistance. He was taken to a behavioral health hospital, but he was not admitted.

The report also noted that two days before he went to the hospital, he told his mother that “there is nothing left for me.”

He made his Major League debut with the Orioles in 2009 at 22 years old and went 5-2 in eight games with a 4.63 ERA. He remained with Baltimore for the bulk of his career, with his best season coming in 2010 when he went 10-12 with a 4.30 ERA in 32 starts. He finished fifth in AL rookie of the year voting.

But he never approached what the Orioles were hoping for as a first-round pick.

He went 27-41 with a 4.92 ERA in his career with Baltimore, which ended with him as an effective middle reliever in his final two seasons with the franchise.

In 2016 the Orioles traded him to Atlanta, which designated him for assignment. He hooked up with the Chicago Cubs but was DFA’d after one start.

He never pitched in the Majors again, though he pitched in the minors with Arizona in 2017 and in the Mexican League in 2019.  

Time Machine: 100 years ago this week in Pocomoke's newspaper; 2012, 1957, 1888, circa mid/late 1950's.

 

                                (excerpt)

January, 2012

(Third graders at Pocomoke Elementary School listen as Assistant Principal Michael Browne, right, explains the importance of the school's selection as a 2012 Maryland Blue Ribbon School, an announcement made earlier Tuesday. Six schools were honored for exhibiting high performances or significant improvement in reading and mathematics on Maryland assessments, and will go on to compete for National Blue Ribbon Awards, which will be announced by the U.S. Department of Education in September.)

Salisbury Daily Times

October, 1957

Peninsula Enterprise

*August, 1888

Record and Gazette (Pocomoke)

*Circa mid/late 1950's

"Club 16" was an early evening Monday-Friday locally originating live program from the studio of WBOC-TV featuring entertainment and public interest items.  In this photo we believe staff announcer John Rahe was hosting.

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