(WMDT)
Spacecraft loaded with supplies successfully launches from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility Saturday afternoon
WALLOPS ISLAND, Va.- It was the perfect Saturday afternoon, with clear skies and sunshine, for Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft to make its first launch of this year.
View WMDT news story:
At week's end Superintendent of Schools Lou Taylor issued an encouraging report..
View statement/video:
February 19, 2021 - Superintendent Message - Worcester County Public Schools (worcesterk12.org)
This Sunday here at The Pocomoke Public Eye:
1995 .. An early morning fire marks the end of English's Restaurant in Westover.
1888 .. The Pocomoke Brass Band is an attraction throughout the lower Eastern Shore.
1936 .. (Ad) A new entertainment venue, Starlight Rendezvous, is now open at Public Landing.
1984 .. Recollections of earlier times when Princess Anne would trot out its finest horses.
1934 .. The traffic "mushroom" near the bridge in Pocomoke is the subject of an editorial in the Worcester Democrat newspaper. 
(WBOC)
SNOW HILL, Md.- As a result of prolonged periods of heavy rainfall, the Town of Snow Hill reported to the Maryland Department of the Environment and Worcester County Environmental Programs that there has been a combined sewer overflow from the Snow Hill wastewater treatment plant of more than 500,000 gallons.
View full news story:
Heavy Rainfall Causes 500K Gallon Sewer Overflow in Pocomoke Riv - WBOC TV
(PPE reader comment)
Anonymous said...According to Worcester Environmental Programs "Fishing, swimming, wading or other contact with the waterways should not be conducted until this rain event has concluded"
I don't know about you but I was not planning on swimming in the river this week, or even trying out my new fishing rod. And we actually pay Bob Mitchell good money to say things like this?
(Shore Daily News)
Due to ongoing coronavirus concerns and current state gathering guidelines, the 2021 Chincoteague Seafood Festival scheduled for May 1, 2021 at Tom’s Cove Park has been canceled.
View more info:
Chincoteague Seafood Festival canceled again - Shore Daily News
View full news release:
Phone Scam Warning In Somerset Co. (maryland.gov)
From what you’re about to read, you may think that I am saying that mid 1950s Pocomoke was a noisy place. Quite the contrary. It was a very quiet town. The overall atmosphere was mostly silence that made these sounds all the more apparent. I can still hear these in my head and will try to describe them as best as I can. These are the sounds that broke the overall calm ambiance of 1950s era Pocomoke.
The sound of animals, both near and far away could often be heard through the otherwise silence of the day. Distant roosters could be heard greeting the dawn; the sounds of barking dogs and the occasional shriek of a cat broke the stillness of calm but hot summer days. With windows open on boiling summer nights, there was the songs of crickets and the sporadic croaking of frogs; there were no motors or humming compressors of air conditioners to interrupt the hymn of nature.
The bridge. When the Rte 13 bridge into Market street was raised to allow transit of water traffic, the sound permeated the whole downtown area. It was a ding dong sort of clanky bell sound but it was not a constant repeating tone; there were four or five different notes – and the best I can describe it is as follows: yer-ding yer-dong ye-dare ye-ding - yer-ding yer-dong ye-dare ye-ding. Not a very good description I know, but I can still hear it in my head – and that’s what it sounds like.
Then there were the factory whistles – from local canneries I believe – and they were very loud – they could be heard for miles. I assume that these were used to announce shift changes, lunch times or whatever, but I don’t know why they needed to be heard outside of the immediate area of the plant itself. One of these canneries – I think – was out on Clarke Ave extended; the other was just across the river in Somerset County. The sound from one of these canneries was quite innocuous – just a loud constant horn-like blare that lasted 10 or 15 seconds, sometime repeated. The sound of the other was rather ghastly – like nothing I have heard – before or since. The best description I can give is to say that it sounded like a dying animal. It started out with a high pitched but loud oboe-like sound but its tone did not stay constant – it went even higher, then squealed a bit; it remained loud as the tone dropped into a bassoon-like register before finally fading to silence with a final shriek. All of this lasted about 15 seconds.
And the fire sirens that called the volunteers to fires, car crashes or any other local emergencies. These wailed at any time needed, day or night, the loud rising and falling cycles – repeated sometimes two, sometimes three or even four times – perhaps depending on the nature of the emergency. This was followed by the sound of cars speeding to the firehouse on 5th street as volunteers responded, and then by the sound of the sirens of the emergency vehicles themselves. Especially at night, a trained ear could figure out exactly where the fire trucks were headed.
And those trains – those wonderful trains. Day or night – or middle of the night. Southbound trains announced their arrival with a series of loud horn blasts when they reached the Route 13 grade crossing about a mile north of town. Before the dieselization of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the 4-4-2 steam locomotives came stomping through town, hissing and growling while belching out clouds of black cinders as they chugged through, or stopped briefly with their coaches at the passenger station off of 2nd St.
There were other miscellaneous sounds that punctuated the calm. Large semis rumbling along Route 13, snarling as they downshifted to stop at one of the traffic lights on Market Street. There was the occasional roar of distant drag racing cars – either legally or not; the shriek of 2x4s being cut at the Adkins Co. lumber yard off of Clarke Ave, and the not so infrequent sound of hooves clomping on the pavement, as various vendors, and farmers used horse drawn carts of various kinds to deliver goods and services to local merchants and residents. I’m sure others reading this may recall other sound that I have missed – I would love to hear about them.
(Reader comment)
Wonderful memories! There was one sound I will never forget...
In the days before the beltway Warner Harrison made petroleum deliveries every morning from the Bagwell Marine Terminal in Onancock to Mariner Oil Company on Railroad Avenue via Market then Fourth Streets. One April morning it was extremely foggy as Warner approached the railroad crossing near Fourth and Railroad Avenue. The standard signal for a locomotive was, and still is, two long blasts on the horn followed by one short and another long. That morning a train was approaching in the dense fog and sounded the obligatory signal. Warner decided to answer back with the truck's air horn with two long, a short and another long. The engineer apparently thought another locomotive was approaching him from the opposite direction and immediately locked up the brakes. I think the brakes locked on the locomotive and every attached rail car and the squealing and grinding of metal on metal could probably be heard as far away as the Virginia line.
Great story from Mel, hope to hear from him again.
August, 2003
(Editorial)
Daily Times (Salisbury)
November, 1915
Catoctin Clarion (Mechanicstown, Md)
August, 1945
(Big drainage project at Pocomoke)
The Midland Journal (Rising Sun, Md)
August, 1982
Daily Times (Salisbury)
April, 1940
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2021 Maryland General Assembly Update
Week Five: RELIEF is on the way, Veto Overrides, and More Shore Virtual Visitors
Annapolis, MD—With 60 days left until we adjourn sine die, we are one-third of the way through the 442nd Maryland General Assembly session! This week’s major highlight was passage of the COVID-19 emergency RELIEF Act and sending it to Governor Hogan to sign. Senator Carozza also stood up for Maryland taxpayers during the veto override debates, and met virtually with constituents from her district on advocacy days.
EMERGENCY COVID-19 RELIEF ACT HEADS TO GOVERNOR
The Maryland General Assembly passed Senate Bill 496— Recovery for the Economy, Livelihoods, Industries, Entrepreneurs, and Families (RELIEF) Act on Friday, February 12, and sent it to Governor Hogan to sign. The RELIEF Act is an emergency stimulus and tax relief package intended to provide over $1 billion for Marylanders and small businesses. This law will go into immediate effect once signed by Governor Hogan.
“It was encouraging to see the Maryland General Assembly understand the urgency in passing this emergency COVID-19 relief and stimulus package to assist struggling Maryland families and small businesses,” Senator Carozza stated. “It will go into effect immediately and provide needed COVID-19 relief now.”
The RELIEF Act is expected to be signed on Monday, February 15.
CAROZZA STANDS WITH TAXPAYERS DURING OVERRIDE DEBATE
The Senate of Maryland reconsidered House Bill 1300—Blueprint for Maryland’s Future—Implementation, which was vetoed by Governor Larry Hogan in 2020 given the bill’s fiscal impact.
“We have a blueprint costing nearly $40 billion over 10 years, a Kirwan plan that we simply cannot afford, especially in the midst of an international health pandemic, and which does not provide local flexibility and control which is especially needed during the COVID-19 crisis,” Senator Carozza said on the Senate Floor, noting that she was appointed to the Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education (Kirwan Commission) in 2019 and before that made the extra effort to attend Commission meetings in 2018 and 2017.
“Since March of 2020, my primary focus has been assisting my constituents with both their immediate COVID-19 needs and with their long-term recovery,” Senator Carozza said to her colleagues. “I strongly believe our constituents expect us to balance the ideal with the possible when it comes to funding Maryland’s education priorities, which means factoring in the reality of the significant state and local fiscal impacts, and balancing education and non-education priorities, especially during a global health pandemic.”
Carozza also spoke out during the debate on an override of House Bill 732— Taxation – Tobacco Tax, Sales and Use Tax, and Digital Advertising Gross Revenues Tax, which establishes a tax on digital advertising. Carozza voted against the increase and voted to sustain the Governor’s veto.
“Here we are, we have been working together on the COVID-19 emergency relief package and I’m proud of our bipartisan work together …but then we turn around and we’re going to increase taxes during the COVID-19 recovery,” Senator Carozza said during her Floor remarks.
During the debate Senator Carozza read from an email she received from a constituent in Bishopville, Worcester County, who was concerned about the possibility of tax increases.
“I have been a Maryland resident for all 66 years of my life but if taxes are increased I will be forced to flee Maryland and move two miles away (Delaware) where it is far more affordable. Please vote against increasing taxes and vote for a decrease in taxes for senior citizens in my beloved state of Maryland,” the constituent wrote.
Both vetoes were overridden on mostly party lines.
SHORE VIRTUAL VISITS CONTINUE
District 38 was well represented during virtual advocacy days this week. Senator Carozza participated in the Maryland Association of Community Colleges’ virtual advocacy day and reiterated her strong support for Wor-Wic Community College. Carozza also met with constituents who were advocating for legislation in support of tourism, physical therapy services, rural issues, the arts, and the Humane Society.
“I appreciate the extra effort my constituents are making to share their views with me,” Senator Carozza said. “I look forward to welcoming constituents back to my Annapolis office in the future when it is safe to do so.”
WICOMICO, SOMERSET PAGES RECOGNIZED IN SENATE
The Maryland General Assembly Student Page program is virtual for the 2021 legislative session to keep the participating students safe and healthy. Senate Pages are responsible for providing vital services to the legislature and have the opportunity to work directly with elected officials on the chamber floors. This week, Margaret Harkins, a senior at Parkside High School in Salisbury, and Xavier King, a senior at Washington High School in Princess Anne, served as Senate Pages.
New system designed to simplify the process and prioritize elderly
Snow Hill, MD– This week the Worcester County Health Department is updating how it registers individuals for COVID-19 vaccine clinics. There is now a single central waiting listing that includes all clinics operated by Worcester Health. To register for this waiting list, call 667-253-2140. Due to limited vaccine supply, we do not expect to post Worcester County Health Department clinics onto MarylandVax.org for the next several weeks.
View additional information on this item:
This Sunday here at The Pocomoke Public Eye:
2003 .. Recalling Carlton Massey's service to the Pocomoke City community.
1915 .. Typhoid Fever is plaguing the state of Maryland including the lower Eastern Shore.
1945 .. An agricultural project at Pocomoke City is said to be the largest of its kind east of the Mississippi.
1982 .. (Picture) Pocomoke City mayor J. Dawson Clarke is on hand for the opening of Pocomoke's new Farmer's Arts And Crafts Market.
1940 .. "A Nation Of Panhandlers" is the subject of an editorial in Pocomoke City's Worcester Democrat newspaper.
(WBOC)
WESTOVER, Md.- The Somerset County Health Department has announced it is canceling its COVID-19 vaccination clinic scheduled for Friday, Feb. 12, due to the impending weather forecast.
Everyone with an appointment scheduled for Friday will receive an email or a phone call with a new appointment date. The department said that for those who are receiving their second dose, they will receive their dose within the time frame required for it to be effective.
For additional questions, call the department's COVID-19 hotline at 443-523-1920. The hotline is open 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
(Shore Daily News)
The Eastville Town Council apparently wants to house on town property the Confederate soldier statue along with a proposed Union soldier statue, according to Betsy Mapp, a member of the Northampton County Board of Supervisors.
Mapp said during a meeting on Tuesday night that she had been in contact with Eastville officials interested in preserving the statue, which last year became a local flashpoint during a national racial reckoning.
View full article:
Town of Eastville may take Northampton’s Confederate statue - Shore Daily News
Click the link below to view the dashboard choices.
Home - Worcester County Public Schools (worcesterk12.org)
February, 1985
The Evening Sun (Baltimore)
(PPE reader comment)
Harry Kelley was deaf in one ear and, if you were telling him something he didn't want to hear, he would turn that ear towards you so he could legitimately claim he had never heard it.
January, 1882
Back in the old days if you were living on the lower Eastern Shore and were going to make a visit to "the city," where would you likely be heading? The answer can be found below according to this excerpt from a news article about railroads in that era.
Norfolk Virginian
October, 2011 (excerpt)
Daily Times (Salisbury)
August, 1919
