Lewis Carter, 79, has been oystering and crabbing since he was 15 years old. DENNIS FORNEY PHOTOS

A warm and sunny afternoon in late March. Light winds. A dozen or so deadrises still oystering out on Broad Creek.

Many of the boats have already come in; the earliest, two young divers who have been the first to get their 12-bushel limits for many days now.

Price has been holding steady at $35 per bushel to the watermen. Pretty much about that all season. When the wild season ends, the bushel price may nearly double for cultivated oysters. Supply goes down, demand holds steady for another couple months, price goes up.  Like the tides, up and down.

Last day of the 2024-2025 wild oyster season is just around the corner: March 31.  On April 1, the 2025 crabbing season opens.

Two of the vessels working the hand-tonging waters on this day carry watermen many generations apart in ages.

A third vessel, Bobby B, carries a waterman and his partner, Ann Barrett, who shares the culling chores. They’re underway toward the dock to offload.

Jason Gay can’t wait for the season to end.

“So many boats out there, after six months it’s getting harder and harder to get our oysters.”

They’ve been oystering many years. Six-month seasons, starting Oct. 1.  When March 31 arrives, they’re ready for a change of pace.  Then it will be about six months of crabbing.  When October rolls around, Jason will be glad to trade his trotline for his hand tongs.  That’s the rhythm for these watermen.

“I’ll probably start crabbing in mid April,” he says. “Get the boat cleaned up and then go.”

Tonging oysters off the bottom is dirtier work than dipping crabs from trotline baits.

Off will come the tongs and culling tables.  On will come the canopy to provide shade against the sun, along with the trotlining gear: baskets and nets and measuring sticks.

Jason Gay is ready for the wild oyster season to be over.

Out in the creek, men aboard the two other generations-apart vessels have finished tonging.  They’re near the end of their culling: separating legal-size oysters from the smalls with sharp blows from their metal hammers, tossing over empty shells to catch next year’s spat, filling their final baskets of the day.

Lewis Carter works by himself. “No January, no February for me,” he says.  “Can’t stand no cold. Used to break ice to get out here but no more. I’m 79 years old.  Been doing this since I was 15.  64 years.  Charles Bryan took me on when I was 11, culling oysters, cleaning up. Quit school when I was 15. Other than time in the Army,  I’ve been at this ever since.”

Lewis says he opted for the water to make a living. “Back then the minimum wage was 75 cents an hour. Figured I could do better on the water.”

Lewis trotlines summers out of Kent Narrows, mostly in Cabin Creek and Chester River. He lives nearby in Queenstown but brings his boat down  to Broad Creek in the winter for oysters. “They won’t let you oyster in the Chester, only certain times they have reserved.”

He says he doesn’t like the sanctuaries the state has in place where oystering is prohibited.  He doesn’t think the sanctuaries are doing much for the Chesapeake’s oyster populations. “The oysters have always taken care of themselves.”

He named his boat after his granddaughter, Chelonte.  “I bought it off of Capt. Warren Butler.  He had 17 boats over the years.  This was his last one.”

He said this year’s been a good oyster season. “Good oysters, about the same as last year. I guess I’ll keep on doing it until I can’t do it any more.  It’s better than settin’ home, waiting for death.  I’ll meet him halfway.”

A few hundred yards away, also working the typically productive bars of Broad Creek, just north of the Choptank, Kadan Longenecker and Severn Cummings agree that the 2024-2025 season has been a good year despite the ups and downs of the market.

Kadan says the bars are in good shape with lots of little ones still coming. “You can see the growth in them.”

Many decades younger than Lewis, they worked right on through January and February, as long as they had market and weather cooperated.  They’ll follow suit with Lewis, switching to crabbing. They will start in April

But Lewis said he won’’t start until probably the middle of May.  He’ll take his time switching his gear, giving his lean and hard body a rest, letting the air and water warm up, but giving little thought to staying home as he enters his eighth decade of life on the Chesapeake.

Dennis Forney has been a publisher, journalist and columnist on the Delmarva Peninsula since 1972.  He writes from his home on Grace Creek in Bozman.

On March 22, the political groups Cambridge Indivisible and Eastern Shore Indivisible held a “People’s Town Hall” for a packed house in the Mace’s Lane Middle School gymnasium. In response to Congressional Representative Andy Harris’ refusal to participate in an in-person event with constituents, this gathering featured Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Montgomery County. Raskin made a speech without notes before the very friendly and lively crowd and then listened to a few personal stories of attendees before answering some questions from the audience.

“I know I was not your first choice,” Raskin began, “but I heard your congressman couldn’t quite squeeze you in today.”

He continued, “I keep hearing my Republican colleagues talking about paid protesters. Is anybody out there being paid to be here today?”

The crowd yelled, “No!”

“Well,” said Raskin, “what’s interesting to me is that the people who are showing up are not paid protesters, but the people who are not showing up are paid politicians.”

He explained that town halls are supposed to be for representatives to report on what they’ve been doing and then listen to the constituents. He said he wouldn’t have shown up for the event if he’d been in Washington voting against Medicaid and trying to dismantle the government, alluding to the absent Harris.

Raskin went on to ridicule Donald Trump’s recent State of the Union address as a “seven-hour Fidel Castro style speech,” during which Trump accused NIH of spending $8 million on developing “transgender mice.” Raskin said he’d looked up the project to find that they were “transgenic mice” (injected with DNA).

“My friends,” he said, “we are being governed by morons.”

Every aspect of the US Constitution is under attack by President Trump and his associate Elon Musk, claimed Raskin. So, he announced he would give a “refresher course into the Constitution because America needs it.” After reciting the preamble, Raskin discussed Article I and the powers of Congress, including to raise taxes and armies, levy tariffs, and regulate immigration. Then, he went to Article II, the most important part of which is how to impeach a president.

“The core job of the president is simple: to take care that the laws are faithfully executed,” said Raskin, who then addressed Trump with “Do your job!”

The congressman then talked about current court cases brought against the Trump Administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. These included the attack on birthright citizenship, freezes on funding, the attempt to close the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the collection of Social Security data. Raskin said that most Americans oppose authoritarianism and that they should stand up for women’s reproductive rights, the LGBTQ community, and freedom of speech.

Raskin threw out a number of quips and quotable lines, including “A rally a day keeps the fascists away,” “In this age of artificial intelligence, we need some intelligence,” and “Elon Musk may be the richest man in the world, but he doesn’t own the American people.”

After his speech, he took some questions, such as “What can we do to fight?” and “What can we do to make the Democratic Party cool again?” (Raskin’s responses: Start by getting your data back from Elon Musk and reach out to young people.) Toward the end, a woman asked Raskin if he would ever run for president, and he answered that he would do whatever the people asked of him.

The video (with thanks to Rick Hughes) is approximately 30 minutes in length.

According to a WYPR report on March 15, Chestertown resident April Amaya-Luis was recently detained by ICE and sent to US Immigration’s and Customs Enforcement Field Office in Baltimore. The article reports that Amaya-Luis, an undocumented immigrant, had applied for legal status in December 2024.

Read the NPR article here

The public is invited to attend a meeting on immigration and the economy on Thursday, March 20, at Phat Daddy’s, 205 Spring Avenue, Chestertown. The meeting is sponsored by the Democratic Club of Kent County.

Nevin Crouse, assistant professor of humanities at Chesapeake College, will speak on the topic, “Why [Almost] Everybody is Wrong About Immigration.”

Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. to order a meal and share some social time before the meeting. A brief business meeting will be conducted by the club at 6:45 p.m. The meeting will start at 7 p.m. and end no later than 8:30 p.m. For more information contact DCKC at [email protected].

Democratic Club of Kent County

Email: [email protected]

John Laucik and Jenn Baker

Countless pounds of cheese, thousands of bottles of wine, and a million smiles later, Chester River Wine and Cheese Company is celebrating 10 years in business. The wine-cheese- and specialty grocery shop at 117 S. Cross St., Chestertown, will be hosting an anniversary celebration on Saturday, March 22 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with food and wine tastings.

“We plan to do the only thing we know how to do, really, invite the community into our store and say ‘thank you,” said John Laucik, who owns the store with his wife, Jennifer Baker. The couple also own Welcome Home, which sells fine linens, luxury bath items, and kitchen wares.

Laucik and Baker, who joke they are “recovering managing consultants,” discovered Chestertown in 2011 on their way home to Philadelphia after a trip to St. Michaels. They “stalked the town” through a series of long weekends before deciding to make the jump to the Eastern Shore in 2014, “after Jenn sold our Philadelphia home out from under us,” Laucik joked.

They landed on the concept of a wine and cheese shop with specialty grocery component after realizing that no store like it existed downtown. Four weeks after landing in Kent County the two were off to cheese school in San Francisco to learn all that they could about fromage.

While some of the inventory in the store has changed over the years somethings have remined constant. There is always a plentiful supply of wine and cheese, but more recent additions include an olive oil and balsamic vinegar tasting bar, a wide selection of European chocolates and cookies, and the ever-present pasta wall.

Over the past 10-years the couple has created many fond memories around the store and made lasting friendships, but the thing that sticks out the most is the sense of community they encountered when first trying to open the doors of the cheese shop back in March 2015.

“The enthusiasm we encountered from residents, for the mere prospect of our business, still resonates, as does their kindness and willingness to help us along the way. Be it Kathleen Jones who, then a relative stranger, volunteered to help up obtain signatures for our wine license; the Kent County Commissioners and the Alcohol Licensing folks, Sandra Blackiston, Jamie Williams, Rob Edler, etc. who worked with us to enact legislation creating a new license classification that would fit our concept (for a while there we were a square peg staring at an array of round holes); or JR Alfree of the Lemon Leaf, Ralph Dowling of Peoples Bank, Kristen Owen and Rob Thompson of Chesapeake Bank, and Chris Havemeyer who went out of their way to provide encouragement and support to our dream. We can’t possibly name everyone; there are so many, but the memory of the community’s support will never leave us,” said Laucik.

Anyone who owns a small business will tell you there are always surprises and challenges, but having a great team around you can make all the difference, something both Laucik and Baker agree with.

“Create a fun, engaging, high energy atmosphere for not only your customers but for your team as well. Take the time to find the right team members who fit with your vision and ideals.  A great team, which we’ve been fortunate to have over our many years, although not the same folks, makes everything easier,” said Laucik.

As for community favorites when it comes to wine, cheese, and yummy stuff, Laucik said pâté caught him a bit off guard, “we kind of threw that in the mix right before we opened, and the rest is history. On the wine front, our Gruner Veltliner from Austria has been a steady-Eddie for us since day one, still occupying the same left-hand slot in the corner of our white wine area.  On the cheese front, Barber’s Cheddar has been with us for the entirety of our time here.  I believe there would be a minor riot if that disappeared…it will not.”

For more information about Chester River Wine and Cheese Company visit their website, chestergourmet.com, or call 443-282-0220.

Students at H.H. Garnet Elementary School are joining with their parents in reading the same book together during the month of March, thanks to a generous donation from the Chestertown Lions Club.

For this year’s One School-One Book program, Garnet students are reading the Newberry-award-winning book The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. It’s about the transformative power of friendship, along with a theme of animal protection, and was inspired by the true story of a captive gorilla known as Ivan.

Students were given clues to guess the book title in February. Clues were posted throughout the school in the days leading up to the big reveal at an assembly held on February 28th, wherein additional hints were given through skits and songs.

Once the guess-the-title contest was finished, the books were sent home for families to enjoy a shared reading activity at home. The school encourages the entire family to participate in the One School, One Book program. Studies have shown that kids whose parents read to, and with them will often excel in academic achievement.

Throughout the month of shared reading, a trivia question based on the assigned reading is asked each morning over the PA during the announcements. Prizes are awarded to students who answer the daily question correctly. Students also participate in daily classroom activities about the book. There will be a culminating activity at the end of March.

The Chestertown Lions Club has donated money to the One School, One Book program for several years now. This year’s donation of $4,000 helped the school purchase over 400 copies of The One and Only Ivan.

The Chestertown Lions are proud to support the One School, One Book program as a powerful literacy initiative designed to help an entire school community — children and parents — share a love of books and reading.