By Richard Kendall
CAMBRIDGE – Within the confines of the Cambridge Public Safety Complex, a space designated as a physical fitness workout area is completely empty except for mirrors covering one wall, extending from floor to ceiling. There have been no workouts here, no elevated heart rates, calories burned or muscle development. There is no equipment to workout with, only mirrors reflecting the emptiness.
Last summer, when the Cambridge Police, Fire and EMS moved to their new, spacious, hi-tech facility, exercise equipment for the fitness room was not in the budget. Several months later, a committee of police, fire and EMS personnel was formed to identify suitable equipment for the room and raise money to pay for it.
Tom Hurley, a Cambridge police officer and President of the local FOP Lodge #27 chairs the group. Other members include Bob Phillips, Martin Pepper and Gary Hickman of Cambridge Rescue Fire Company, Bill Watkins from EMS, Jesse Guessford and Mark Lewis of Cambridge Police. Guessford, a personal fitness trainer, also serves as a technical advisor.
After extensive investigation, the committee has chosen equipment made by Life Fitness, a highly rated manufacturer of commercial and home fitness products.
Tailored for both cardio and strength development, the list includes two treadmills, a Smith Machine designed for bench press and squat training, a cable/pulley device, a full rack of free weight dumbbells totaling more than 500 pounds, two benches, two stair climbers, a bike machine and an elliptical device.
“This equipment will improve and enhance the health of the first responders of our community,” Hurley pointed out. “In doing so, it will improve our service and response to aid our citizens.”
Beyond an economic downturn which the media and government are currently emphasizing, Tom Hurley believes there are people and organizations ready, willing and able to help fund this project.
“We are going to need a total of $35,000 to equip our workout room,” Cpl. Hurley stated. “I know we could go a cheaper route and get equipment costing half that much but in 5 years we would be replacing it because it wore out. Over a period of 20 years, it will be much more cost effective to purchase equipment built to last.”
Donors/Sponsors of the effort will be recognized on a plaque in the room, as follows: Bronze Sponsor, donations of $100 or more; Silver Sponsor, $500 or more; Gold Sponsor, $1,000 or more and Platinum Sponsor, donations of $3,000 or more.
“If a person or group would like to donate a larger amount of money to purchase one of these machines, we will dedicate that machine in their name on a plaque we will mount in the room,” Cpl. Hurley said. “Of course, we will be very happy with every contribution, large or small.”
After the equipment is installed, the workout room will be available 24/7 to active duty police, fire and EMS employees.
According to Cpl. Hurley, approximately 150 personnel from the three public safety departments will have access to the fitness room although the number of them who will use the facility is unknown. Hurley said he was not aware of a physical fitness policy observed by the Cambridge Police Department.
Donations can be made to the Fitness Room Fund at the Bank of the Eastern Shore, 301 Crusader Road, Cambridge, MD. 21613 (Contact Tina White at BOES, 410-228-5800) or by mailing a check made payable to the Fitness Room Fund to P.O. Box 401, Cambridge, MD. 21613.
“All donations will be appreciated and are tax deductible,” Cpl. Hurley advised.
In the meantime, the workout room makes a suitable place for quiet reflection.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Brooks Spicer finishes 11th at World competition
By Richard Kendall
GOLDEN HILL - When Brooks Spicer was 4 years old, her Aunt Janet (Lewis) lifted the youngster onto the back of an old Appollusa mare. That was the beginning of a journey no one could have predicted.
In August, 2008, at age 15, Brooks, a 10th grader at Cambridge South Dorchester High School, competed among 189 riders and horses at the American Quarter Horse Association World Show, at Oklahoma City, OK. Top competitors from across the U.S., Canada and South America. Riders showed in categories of Horsemanship, Showmanship and Halter.
In World competition, Brooks finished 11th in the Youth Performance Halter Gelding class. (The top 15 were Finalists).
“As far as I know, nobody from Dorchester County has ever done that,” her father, Tom Spicer said this week.”
In order to compete there, riders must have first earned high scores in other competition through the year.
“It’s been my dream for the last few years to compete at World,” Miss Spicer said this week. In 2007, she won scored in 8 separate events with the highest points in her age group. At the All American Quarter Horse Congress, in Columbus OH., Brooks Spicer was a finalist, finishing in the top 20 out of 89 riders and horses.
For Tom Spicer and his family, showing horses has become a way of life.
“This involves a whole lot of work, a lot time and money,” he said. “Each of us has our own area of responsibilities to make this work.”
Brooks’ mother, Debbi, explained, “Its something we do together, as a family,” she said.
“Deb takes care of the fashion,” Tom Spicer said. “She gets the cloths together, the outfits, boots, the trailer (a piece used to accent the horse’s long, course tail).”
“Brooks and I take care of bathing the horse, clipping, brushing the tail, shaving whisker,” he explained, “there is a whole lot to it and a lot of sacrifice.”
As for the sacrifice of time, effort and the expense, Mr. Spicer explained his view:
“If I know my child is focused on this, and is working hard at something she enjoys and not using drugs, or alcohol or whatever, then it’s worth it to me,” he said.
“I bought her the first Quarter Horse in 1998,” Mr. Spicer recalled, “a gelding named Bear.”
At Christmas, 2000, Brooks was surprised with a 1st Grade American Quarter Horse.
“Mister is his barn name,” Mr. Spicer explained. “But, his registered name is Gotta Be Awesome.”
In 2005, a stunning, white gelding with black socks and mane joined the Spicer’s show lineup.
“Uptown Goods is his name,” Mr. Spicer advised regarding the horse Brooks rode in Oklahoma.
“It’s not all the horse or all the rider,” Debbi Spicer explained. “It’s the combination, how well the rider and horse show together.”
The show season begins in February.
“Brooks goes to school all day, then travels 2 ½ hours each way to her trainer’s arena in Davidsonville,” Mr. Spicer said. “Then, after riding and training for 2 hours, she comes home. She does that 2 or 3 times a week until she starts showing in March.”
Her trainer, Kerry Winter, made the 1450 mile road trip to Oklahoma City with the Spicers in August.
“Pulling that trailer, my truck got 9 miles to the gallon,” Mr. Spicer said. “But, Brooks did what she had to in order to compete there so I held up my end of the deal by making sure she got there.”
Brooks Spicer was asked what she aspires to be when she gets out of college.
“I want to be an Equine Dentist,” she said without hesitation, “and a horse trainer.”
How about a goal closer to the horizon, she was asked.
“I want to compete at World again next year,” she said with certainty. “And I want to finish in the top 10.”
GOLDEN HILL - When Brooks Spicer was 4 years old, her Aunt Janet (Lewis) lifted the youngster onto the back of an old Appollusa mare. That was the beginning of a journey no one could have predicted.
In August, 2008, at age 15, Brooks, a 10th grader at Cambridge South Dorchester High School, competed among 189 riders and horses at the American Quarter Horse Association World Show, at Oklahoma City, OK. Top competitors from across the U.S., Canada and South America. Riders showed in categories of Horsemanship, Showmanship and Halter.
In World competition, Brooks finished 11th in the Youth Performance Halter Gelding class. (The top 15 were Finalists).
“As far as I know, nobody from Dorchester County has ever done that,” her father, Tom Spicer said this week.”
In order to compete there, riders must have first earned high scores in other competition through the year.
“It’s been my dream for the last few years to compete at World,” Miss Spicer said this week. In 2007, she won scored in 8 separate events with the highest points in her age group. At the All American Quarter Horse Congress, in Columbus OH., Brooks Spicer was a finalist, finishing in the top 20 out of 89 riders and horses.
For Tom Spicer and his family, showing horses has become a way of life.
“This involves a whole lot of work, a lot time and money,” he said. “Each of us has our own area of responsibilities to make this work.”
Brooks’ mother, Debbi, explained, “Its something we do together, as a family,” she said.
“Deb takes care of the fashion,” Tom Spicer said. “She gets the cloths together, the outfits, boots, the trailer (a piece used to accent the horse’s long, course tail).”
“Brooks and I take care of bathing the horse, clipping, brushing the tail, shaving whisker,” he explained, “there is a whole lot to it and a lot of sacrifice.”
As for the sacrifice of time, effort and the expense, Mr. Spicer explained his view:
“If I know my child is focused on this, and is working hard at something she enjoys and not using drugs, or alcohol or whatever, then it’s worth it to me,” he said.
“I bought her the first Quarter Horse in 1998,” Mr. Spicer recalled, “a gelding named Bear.”
At Christmas, 2000, Brooks was surprised with a 1st Grade American Quarter Horse.
“Mister is his barn name,” Mr. Spicer explained. “But, his registered name is Gotta Be Awesome.”
In 2005, a stunning, white gelding with black socks and mane joined the Spicer’s show lineup.
“Uptown Goods is his name,” Mr. Spicer advised regarding the horse Brooks rode in Oklahoma.
“It’s not all the horse or all the rider,” Debbi Spicer explained. “It’s the combination, how well the rider and horse show together.”
The show season begins in February.
“Brooks goes to school all day, then travels 2 ½ hours each way to her trainer’s arena in Davidsonville,” Mr. Spicer said. “Then, after riding and training for 2 hours, she comes home. She does that 2 or 3 times a week until she starts showing in March.”
Her trainer, Kerry Winter, made the 1450 mile road trip to Oklahoma City with the Spicers in August.
“Pulling that trailer, my truck got 9 miles to the gallon,” Mr. Spicer said. “But, Brooks did what she had to in order to compete there so I held up my end of the deal by making sure she got there.”
Brooks Spicer was asked what she aspires to be when she gets out of college.
“I want to be an Equine Dentist,” she said without hesitation, “and a horse trainer.”
How about a goal closer to the horizon, she was asked.
“I want to compete at World again next year,” she said with certainty. “And I want to finish in the top 10.”
Friday, October 3, 2008
Tough times on the water
By Richard Kendall
TODDVILLE – By late September, the Hayden family usually have saved enough money saved from the summer months to help them through the leaner times of winter.
“This year, we haven’t been able to save anything, not a dime,” Michele Hayden lamented this past weekend. Her husband, Jimmy, 37, works a waterman, crabbing a trotline during the summer. Michele works with him during the winter, hand tonging and dredging oysters.
“I love oystering,” Mrs. Hayden admitted.
The Haydens were married 4 years ago, in Easton. Each of them brought 2 sons to the marriage. Buddy, 15 and Dylan, 10, are Jimmy’s sons; Brian, 12 and Shane, 8, is Michele’s.
On Sunday afternoon, Mr. Hayden sat aboard his wooden workboat baiting a trotline for Monday morning. The vessel’s name is the Buddy Dylan, after his sons.
There is urgency in their voices when Jimmy and Michele Hayden speak of their situation.
“Everything we use to operate has gone up – it seems some things have doubled in cost since last year,” Mr. Hayden said. “Diesel fuel, bate, upkeep of the boat it’s all up this year. It seems the only thing that hasn’t gone up is what we get for our catch. That hasn’t gone up any.”
“Retail stores are selling a bushel of crabs for $120 to $180,” Mr. Hayden said. “We are getting $40 for a bushel of males and $22 for females. And, this time of the year, about all we are catching is females.”
Michele Hayden believes the economy, crab populations and State regulations are simultaneously bringing an end to the seafood business in Maryland.
“With prices so high for fuel and bate, lower numbers of crabs to begin with and tighter catch limits for watermen, it’s almost impossible to make a living on the water,” she said. “And with watermen getting out of the business because they can’t make a living, sooner or later, there isn’t going to be any crabs, crab dip or any of that.”
Jimmy and Michele Hayden are unsure how they are going to make ends meet this winter.
“We have a mortgage, two truck payments, heat, electric and food to pay for,” Mrs. Hayden figured. “I don’t know how we are going to do it.”
Jimmy Hayden and his brothers Gary and Eddie have been watermen most of their lives.
As children growing up in Crapo, they made extra money helping out aboard the workboat owned by the late Maurice Adams, of Wingate.
“I started going out on the water with him when I was 8,” Mr. Hayden remembered.
“It got in his blood, the water did,” his wife added, “like a poison.”
Other than working for a few years at the Wire Belt Company in Cambridge, Mr. Hayden has remained a waterman.
“I know how to do other work but who is going to hire me,” he asked. “No body wants to hire a waterman because they know that in the spring, we’re going back out on the water.”
Although their children have health insurance, neither of their parents have full health coverage. “That’s the case for most watermen,” Mrs. Hayden explained.
Jimmy and Michele Hayden believe the factor having the worst effect on their livelihood is the catch limit set by the State of Maryland.
“They used our crab reports from the last few years and averaged out what we have been catching,” Mr. Hayden said.
“And then, they limited the daily catch to two-thirds of what had been caught each day,” Mrs. Hayden added. “But, lots of factors play into it that they don’t take into consideration.”
“For instance, 3 years ago, the engine in Jimmy’s boat blew up and he wasn’t catching crabs,” she said. “That affected his average.”
When the limits were first announced, Mr. Hayden was restricted to 5 bushels of crabs a day.
“It takes 3 bushels a day just to pay for expenses: $50 a day for bait, $50 to $80 a day for fuel,” she said. “We appealed and they said they lost Jimmy’s crab reports. Fortunately, we kept copies.”
Their appeal was won and the Mr. Hayden’s daily catch limit was elevated to 15 bushels per day.
“That sounds great but I haven’t been able to catch anywhere near that,” he said.
“Plus, starting this week (Oct. 1), I can only catch 5 bushels of females, that’s it.”
The crab season end Oct. 22.
There are rumors of relief coming but so far, the Haydens have seen nothing tangible.
“We heard that the DNR is going to offer watermen jobs during the winter,” Mrs. Hayden said.
Jobs supposedly include cleaning oyster bars by dragging dredge rigs over the oyster beds and working in state parks by cleaning up or planting trees.
“But, all we have heard is rumors about these jobs; I haven’t seen anything posted on the internet about it.”
Another ray of hope concerns a declaration of assistance for watermen supported by Md. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D)
“But, again, we’ve only heard rumors,” Mrs. Hayden said. “We can’t support our family on rumors.”
TODDVILLE – By late September, the Hayden family usually have saved enough money saved from the summer months to help them through the leaner times of winter.
“This year, we haven’t been able to save anything, not a dime,” Michele Hayden lamented this past weekend. Her husband, Jimmy, 37, works a waterman, crabbing a trotline during the summer. Michele works with him during the winter, hand tonging and dredging oysters.
“I love oystering,” Mrs. Hayden admitted.
The Haydens were married 4 years ago, in Easton. Each of them brought 2 sons to the marriage. Buddy, 15 and Dylan, 10, are Jimmy’s sons; Brian, 12 and Shane, 8, is Michele’s.
On Sunday afternoon, Mr. Hayden sat aboard his wooden workboat baiting a trotline for Monday morning. The vessel’s name is the Buddy Dylan, after his sons.
There is urgency in their voices when Jimmy and Michele Hayden speak of their situation.
“Everything we use to operate has gone up – it seems some things have doubled in cost since last year,” Mr. Hayden said. “Diesel fuel, bate, upkeep of the boat it’s all up this year. It seems the only thing that hasn’t gone up is what we get for our catch. That hasn’t gone up any.”
“Retail stores are selling a bushel of crabs for $120 to $180,” Mr. Hayden said. “We are getting $40 for a bushel of males and $22 for females. And, this time of the year, about all we are catching is females.”
Michele Hayden believes the economy, crab populations and State regulations are simultaneously bringing an end to the seafood business in Maryland.
“With prices so high for fuel and bate, lower numbers of crabs to begin with and tighter catch limits for watermen, it’s almost impossible to make a living on the water,” she said. “And with watermen getting out of the business because they can’t make a living, sooner or later, there isn’t going to be any crabs, crab dip or any of that.”
Jimmy and Michele Hayden are unsure how they are going to make ends meet this winter.
“We have a mortgage, two truck payments, heat, electric and food to pay for,” Mrs. Hayden figured. “I don’t know how we are going to do it.”
Jimmy Hayden and his brothers Gary and Eddie have been watermen most of their lives.
As children growing up in Crapo, they made extra money helping out aboard the workboat owned by the late Maurice Adams, of Wingate.
“I started going out on the water with him when I was 8,” Mr. Hayden remembered.
“It got in his blood, the water did,” his wife added, “like a poison.”
Other than working for a few years at the Wire Belt Company in Cambridge, Mr. Hayden has remained a waterman.
“I know how to do other work but who is going to hire me,” he asked. “No body wants to hire a waterman because they know that in the spring, we’re going back out on the water.”
Although their children have health insurance, neither of their parents have full health coverage. “That’s the case for most watermen,” Mrs. Hayden explained.
Jimmy and Michele Hayden believe the factor having the worst effect on their livelihood is the catch limit set by the State of Maryland.
“They used our crab reports from the last few years and averaged out what we have been catching,” Mr. Hayden said.
“And then, they limited the daily catch to two-thirds of what had been caught each day,” Mrs. Hayden added. “But, lots of factors play into it that they don’t take into consideration.”
“For instance, 3 years ago, the engine in Jimmy’s boat blew up and he wasn’t catching crabs,” she said. “That affected his average.”
When the limits were first announced, Mr. Hayden was restricted to 5 bushels of crabs a day.
“It takes 3 bushels a day just to pay for expenses: $50 a day for bait, $50 to $80 a day for fuel,” she said. “We appealed and they said they lost Jimmy’s crab reports. Fortunately, we kept copies.”
Their appeal was won and the Mr. Hayden’s daily catch limit was elevated to 15 bushels per day.
“That sounds great but I haven’t been able to catch anywhere near that,” he said.
“Plus, starting this week (Oct. 1), I can only catch 5 bushels of females, that’s it.”
The crab season end Oct. 22.
There are rumors of relief coming but so far, the Haydens have seen nothing tangible.
“We heard that the DNR is going to offer watermen jobs during the winter,” Mrs. Hayden said.
Jobs supposedly include cleaning oyster bars by dragging dredge rigs over the oyster beds and working in state parks by cleaning up or planting trees.
“But, all we have heard is rumors about these jobs; I haven’t seen anything posted on the internet about it.”
Another ray of hope concerns a declaration of assistance for watermen supported by Md. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D)
“But, again, we’ve only heard rumors,” Mrs. Hayden said. “We can’t support our family on rumors.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
