Remembering Shawn Soper
Editor:
The man in the little dark blue truck. Dependable. Genuine. Trustworthy. Built tough, but humble both the man, and his old Ford Ranger. He was the Cal Ripken Jr. of community journalism.
For more than two decades Shawn
J. Soper roamed the Greater Worcester County area with pen and notepad in hand looking for the next big scoop, providing accurate and timely prose published each week in The Dispatch.
I had the privilege of working with Shawn for several years as a staff writer at this very paper. Almost 20 years ago, a newbie to the newsroom, fresh out of college and still wet behind the ears, I was grateful for the opportunity to write for my hometown newspaper. I learned so much by watching Shawn’s work ethic and dedication to his craft, lessons that have remained with me throughout my professional, and personal life.
When I first heard of Shawn’s sudden passing last week, one of the first things that came to mind was his beat up little blue pick-up truck. When we were crossing paths on the beat or racing towards a hot lead something about the big man in that small truck was reassuring, comforting. No matter how early I arrived at The Dispatch offices for work each day, or how late I stayed in the evenings trying to impress the boss, that truck would often be the first one in the parking lot, and the last to leave at night.
No frills, no complaints, just show up and put in the work. I admired that about Shawn. He was the consummate professional. He will be sorely missed.
Jacob D. Cook
Berlin
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Respect For Soper
Editor:
I write to share with you the profound sorrow we feel at the National Aquarium over the untimely passing of Shawn Soper. I follow the news of the Eastern Shore avidly (mostly via The Dispatch), and hardly a week goes by that doesn’t include
an informative, well-written and well-researched article by Shawn. From our marine animal stranding team right up to my office, many of us, staff and volunteer a-like, will miss his byline and his insights.
Personally, I have always looked forward to Shawn’s coverage of our work on marine animal strandings, rescues and releases. As Editor Steve Green noted in his touching eulogy, he was a professional, thorough reporter and a talented writer. His coverage was always balanced, meticulous and fair, demonstrating a deep understanding of the community that few could match.
Despite many trips to Ocean City through the years, I never found time to meet Shawn personally. Last fall, I asked a member of my staff to arrange such a meeting this spring. Now I deeply regret not having acted on that intention more promptly. I speak for all of us here when I say our hearts ache for Shawn’s family and friends at the loss of a good man; a loss that will be felt most acutely in Ocean City, but also in Baltimore, throughout Maryland and across the Mid-Atlantic region — and even more importantly, to the profession of journalism, which he made better by being the person he was. We won’t soon forget Shawn at the National Aquarium.
John Racanelli
Baltimore
(The writer is the president/CEO of the National Aquarium.)
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Honoring A Legacy
Editor:
It is with a heavy heart that I write this letter to honor the life and work of Shawn J. Soper, a news journalist for the Maryland Coast Dispatch. Shawn was a dear friend to many, including the firefighters and paramedics of the Ocean City Fire Department, and his passing has left a profound impact on our community.
As the President of the Ocean City Firefighters Union, I had the pleasure of working closely with Shawn over the years. He was a consummate professional, always committed to reporting the news accurately and in a way that would benefit the community. But more than that, he was a friend who genuinely cared about our work and the impact we had on the people we served.
Shawn’s passion for local news and his dedication to his craft were matched only by his commitment to the people he wrote about. He always took the time to understand exactly what we did, how we did it, and the benefits we brought to the community. His reporting was always fair, accurate, and highlighted the positive impact that all members of public safety had on the people of Ocean City.
It is a testament to Shawn’s character that he was so well-regarded and respected by his peers and the community he served. His legacy as a journalist and com-munity advocate will not be forgotten. We extend our deepest sympathies to his lovely wife Trish, his family, friends, and colleagues at the Maryland Coast Dispatch during this difficult time.
Rest in peace, Shawn. You will be dearly missed.
Ryan Whittington
Ocean City
(The writer is the president of the Ocean City Firefighters Union.)
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A Great Loss For Many
Editor:
It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of Shawn Soper.
I had the pleasure of serving as the City Manager for the Town of Ocean City for six years. As such I worked with Shawn a great deal as he covered most of our meetings. He was a man of the highest integrity, and his reporting was second to none. He was hard working, fair and accurate; if Shawn wrote it, you could believe it.
Shawn’s family, friends and co-workers have suffered a great loss. I would also say that the Ocean City community has lost a great professional reporter who strived to keep them informed of what their government was doing. He will be missed on all fronts.
Doug Miller
Ocean City
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Issues Need Full Evaluation
Editor:
I’d like to applaud local, state, and federal officials for the recent impassioned pleas made on behalf of whale health uncertainties and how they might relate to offshore wind explorations. The immediate call for extensive and thorough study to determine the full range of impacts of these projects is to be commended. I was thrilled to know that so many local officials share a thirst for knowledge before action as this type of approach typically lends itself to sound data-driven decision-making that ensures we are always acting on behalf of science and evidentiary-based study. With such a logical, forward-thinking atmosphere established, I thought it might be a good time to make some suggestions to these officials for additional impassioned pleas we might as a community make to ensure we as a region are leading on local, state, and national issues by pausing to fully study such issues and make sure legislation is following the data wisely. In no particular order, I offer the following additional impassioned pleas to be adopted:
While we study the whale mortality related to offshore wind projects, let us also investigate more fully the offshore traffic and speed issues that NOAA most recently proposed to truly make sure these whales are protected to the full extent that we wish them to be, from wind farms and fisheries.
As we look to our surrounding waters and discuss the health of the ecosystems supported there, let us more fully study the impacts of our actions on the land and the pollution that we produce, where it comes from, what operations are contributing more, and how we might implore them to better protect our waters from the degraded runoff that they produce.
As we think about the land, the people that inhabit it, and the economies that take place on it, let us more fully study the use of temporary foreign worker visas in our communities in light of certain border-tightening, America-first attitudes. Let’s study our role in these issues and how we might contribute to more sustainable local economies by producing more stable year-round employment opportunities where we live that could more fully support citizens or immigrants looking for a better life. Let’s also review our local housing markets and practices to see if there are incentives that could contribute more to affordable year-round housing to support these jobs instead of a glut of residences vacant for the majority of the year.
As we move about our communities, let’s fully study local transportation laws and infrastructure in relation to walkability, safety, and mixed modes of transportation. Let’s conduct a focused investigation of ADA laws to ensure e-bikes really do need to be accommodated on the boardwalk. Let’s look at all modes of transportation, study community wants and needs, and prescribe a holistic overhaul of how people move about our community, how they wish that to look like for shared positive and safe experiences, and how we can build our Cities in that vision for safety and enjoyment, not just for cars to move freely and unabated.
As we relate to one another and confront the good and the bad of coexistence, let’s fully study the proliferation of gun-associated crime and violence instead of just accepting thoughts and prayers for another mass-shooting while gun shop commercials play on our local TV stations and radio shows. If we want to fully understand why these occurrences are globally an American issue, we need to understand why they occur and provide sensible limits that can address them that do not infringe upon antiquated rights while offering common sense safety nets that are up-to-date with modern firearm technologies. Let’s study this more fully. Why not?
These are just a few topics we face as a community and society today that really do deserve the full extent of attention and study to make sure we can improve things moving forward. With the data hungry atmosphere that I see in our local lawmakers, I am sure these impassioned pleas can be addressed as well while we look to data, science, and further study to really understand what the best solutions can be moving forward. I hope they will be taken as seriously as the impassioned pleas to halt offshore wind studies in deference to the whales that have been made as of late.
Thom Epps
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Embrace Health Education
Editor:
Please consider sharing my opinion on the article “Commissioners Object To Proposed School Health Education Changes; Bertino: ‘This Is Abhorrent To All Of Us Who Live In Worcester County…” by Staff Writer Charlene Sharpe.
I am shocked at the responses I read in this article from our “leaders.” As a parent, I understand wanting choice, and believing that I should be my child’s teacher- especially about difficult or uncomfortable subject material. I also believe that the Maryland State Departments’ of Education and Health are a positive partnership to provide a framework and guidance for information that many may not be knowledgeable of or comfortable with. If you have a pre-kindergarten student, you may not want them to learn about subjects like gender identity. But if that child has a friend who has same sex parents- think of the opportunity it would provide to allow this child [in an age-appropriate way] to understand that some children have two dads. This education isn’t asking you to agree with material, simply provide grace and respect to allow for differences and understand them.
As for Mr. Bunting interesting description of what 7th seventh graders will be learning. I’m pretty sure we all had sex education in middle school. And I’m pretty sure teaching children ways in which people engage in sex could prevent quite a few young people from making poor decisions based on what they learned from friends, instead of facts from reputable sources.
I think our commissioners should embrace health in a forward and open way that builds a bridge for parents, children and the school to grow and understand this extremely complicated world. Maybe, just maybe we’d decrease suicide rates among youth and decrease opioid use if we actually talked about difficult topics openly in a safe space. Or, maybe it’s time for new leadership.
Mary Leonardi LaCasse
Berlin