Relay A Special Event
Editor:
Celebrating is usually a happy event. We just enjoyed Easter with candy, dyed eggs and families. Soon Springfest will be here with all the festivities with folks at the Inlet and then Mother’s Day comes where we honor our mothers, present and past. Celebrations come in many forms as stated above. To me, the most heartwarming one is Relay for Life.
Here we honor the lives of cancer survivors who have fought and won the battle of this dreaded disease. We also remember the ones who fought the battle and lost but still giving hope to everyone with love and faith that cancer will be defeated.
On May 9, Relay for Life begins at Frontiertown in Berlin. Teams gather at their camp sites in preparation for recognizing the cancers survivors and their caregivers. This is my 11th year as a survivor and the emotions continue to run high. All walks of life are represented, young, old, all genders and races. We get together to fight this dreaded disease. We walk laps, we embrace each other with words of encouragement and we shed tears together for our success and for those who lost their lives after a gallant fight.
Every year I have the same feelings about the Relay for Life. Joy for being a survivor, Hope for others to beat cancer and sadness for those who lost the fight. Everyone in life is affected by cancer. Cancer never sleeps. Help the American Cancer Society fight cancer by contributing. No amount is too small.
A wonderful lady, Dawn Hodge, who works so hard for the Relay, gave me a quote from the great Helen Keller, “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much”.
Please, everyone, especially those who are battling cancer, keep fighting this disease. Love and Blessings to all.
Nick Bartolomeo
Selbyville, Del.
Thanks To Planet Maze
Editor:
The Autistic Children’s Support Group of Worcester County would like to send out a special “thank you” to everyone at Planet Maze who helped to make our group event on April 19 so successful.
There was a great turnout and the children enjoyed the ball pit, miniature golf and laser tag. Thank you for being so accommodating and for making the whole process so easy from beginning to end. It really meant a lot to the parents to have such a fun place to take our children where they could be themselves without worry. Thank you for that.
The Autistic Children’s Support Group of Worcester County
Budget Scrutiny Needed
Editor:
Anyone wishing to give away control of their personal spending power should continue to remain silent and do nothing. Don’t call or e-mail any of the County Commissioners, and don’t attend the May 5 public budget hearing. There will be plenty of people asking the commissioners to spend even more of your money on their priorities and, if necessary, raise your property, income and any other possible taxes to do it.
Traditionally, there have been — and still are — enormous disproportions in cost-sharing –at your expense:
- Stemming from various Maryland state agencies, (including, but not limited to unfunded mandates);
- Unauthorized spending and redirection of appropriations by “our” (local) school system including, but not limited to so-called teachers’ raises;
- An ineffective, cost/student (over $12,000), for unprepared “graduates”; and
- Unfair (and infrastructurally unhealthy) “bare-bones” budgets, suffered by all remaining departments (especially Public Works).
So, what will you trade-off or altogether eliminate from your personal and household budgets to further accommodate these inequities? Fewer meals at your favorite restaurants? Fewer Christmas presents to loved ones? Postponed home-improvements maintenance and -repairs? A better car, smartphone, computer? Practical insurance coverages? Investments? Vacations/recreational outings?
Finally for renters/tenants, your landlord has no choice but to raise your rent in order to afford their tax and fee increases.
Landlords, aside from increased tax and fee increases, how do vacancies affect your out-of-pocket expenses?
Business owners, your customers’ tax increases are coming out of your pocket, are they not?
Business employees, what would a 1% income-tax increase (at least $150/year) eliminate for you?
This trickle-down impact is unnecessary and preventable, but not through silence. The County Commissioners need to know from you the stressful reality of how increasing your taxes affect you because this equally impairs the county’s entire economy. Alternately, please feel free to copy, print or cut out this letter, make changes (if needed), sign it, seal it and contact me (410-430-0535; [email protected]) for pick-up. I will make sure that it gets to them. Sincerest thanks to everyone for your precious time and conscientious consideration of this most important and urgent matter.
Ellie Diegelmann
Ocean City
Valuable Service Provided
Editor:
As a resident of Worcester County, I felt it imperative to give credit to a very important community service that is provided by Kenille’s Kupboard of Ocean City. Kenille’s Kupboard, a non-profit organization, is operated by four volunteers who devote their time and energy helping not only residents of the county but anyone who can’t afford pet food and pet supplies.
The importance of this organization should not be underestimated. For those who live on limited incomes, it can be quite difficult to purchase animal food when they are already struggling to make ends meet. Most families have a dog or a cat, maybe several, and animal food is costly. Many times people must abandon their pets, or take them to a shelter, because the cost of food is prohibitive.
Through donations and contributions, Kenille’s Kupboard has enabled members of the community to keep and care for their beloved furry friends. Their devotion and hard work is a Godsend for animal lovers and the animals they love.
Robin Dumler
Berlin
Open Letter To Obama
Editor:
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; That put darkness for light, and light for darkness; That put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20.
I personally am disgusted with the liberal media and Washington politicians, which includes our President, who also continues to feign that he is a true “Christian” when in fact, he is not. This President has gone out of his way to mock, ridicule, demean and even marginalize Christians, while at the same time refusing to acknowledge the harsh and even barbaric actions and teachings of Islamic followers. The liberal Media, which protects Obama and company at every turn, and the Washington progressive politicians, show no outrage but instead give only a wink and a nod to the thousands of Christians who are currently being slaughtered and displaced of their lands by Muslims and just because they are Christians.
The Isaiah 5:20 passage quoted above, warns us that when we elevate evil over good, and lies for truth that there is a price that will be paid for such arrogance. The price that will be paid is that our society will produce more and more evil and less and less good, and more and more immoral lies and less and less moral truth. Our society will eventually collapse under the weight of its own immoral and godless behavior. We saw a preview of this recently in Baltimore, and unfortunately, we have a President who thinks that it’s all just a joke. It is not! It doesn’t get much more serious than this.
Recently President Obama, you made a joke out of the fact that some people, like former Congress woman Michele Bachmann, believe that you as President have done more to deliver us and our world to the prophesied “end of days” judgment, than any other President. You said:
“Michele Bachmann actually predicted I would bring about the biblical end of days,” You told the correspondents, who erupted in roaring laughter. “Now that’s a legacy. That’s big. I mean Lincoln, Washington, they didn’t do that.”
Go ahead and laugh Mr. President. Go ahead and laugh Washington lapdogs, while you can, because trust me, America’s day of reckoning is coming very soon. It gives me no pleasure what so ever to say this, instead like I said in the first paragraph, it disgust me. The moral and civil foundations of this country are systematically being destroyed. Psalm 3:3-6 says it all: “If the foundations be destroyed, What can the righteous do? 4 The Lord is in his holy temple, The Lord’s throne is in heaven: His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children of men. 5 The Lord trieth the righteous: But the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. 6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, And an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.
The world is on fire and the arrogance and the ambivalence, which the liberal media and this President are demonstrating towards what is happening in the world and our country, as a direct result of his policies, is astounding. It leaves me with only one conclusion: God has already judged this nation and given us babes to be our leaders, and as such God has given us the government, which the vast and silent majority of this country deserves. Judgment is not coming, it has been here for over seven years, but I fear it is about to get much worse and very soon. Read Isaiah 3:1-9, which ends with, “…they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not.” Wake up America and stand up and be counted for time is running out. Our God will not be mocked Galatians 6:7.
Pastor John Abent
Berlin