Phone Line, Grieving with Horses

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The recognizable red and white stacks come down. Photo courtey of Bowleys Quarters VFD and MET21.

Capt. Butch Arbin’s lifeguard trainees take a timed physical test. Image: Cheryl Costello

OCEAN CITY BEACH PATROL CAPTAIN MARKS 50 YEARS WITH CONTINUED SAFETY PUSH

BY CHERYL COSTELLO

He started as a rookie lifeguard for the Ocean City Beach Patrol (OCBP) an amazing five decades ago. And Captain Butch Arbin, the face of OCBP, is showing no signs of letting up in his push for safe fun in the water.

Arbin expects excellence and politeness from his lifeguards, as Bay Bulletin found out last weekend on the beach. Ahead of the peak Labor Day crowds, the captain leads prospective lifeguards through grueling testing in the name of beach safety.

The timed test is part of OCBP’s search for next year’s lifeguards. They must prove they have what it takes to save a life in the Atlantic Ocean.

“Swimming in the ocean versus swimming in the pool—it’s just so different. There are waves and current, it’s just so different,” says Beach Patrol trainee Ava Shorkey.

Arbin is the first to admit it’s tough to get the job. “We don’t put up with anything. I told them at the beginning, ‘We’re professionals.’ If they joined today and let out the F-note, they’re done.”

At last Saturday’s testing, just five out of the 18 passed the physical exam to guard the stand next season. Others are training to be camp counselors.

Those who didn’t make the cut got a pep talk. “You have the most incredible attitude. You just have to get your time down. But I know you know that,” Arbin told the group of young, fit trainees.

He has trained thousands since he started in 1973. Ocean City has grown up under his watch. Just about every block is developed and the crowds have followed.

There are now guards watching all 10 miles of beach. Arbin says the most common rescues are due to rip currents.

“Last year, rip currents were the second-leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States… When the guard sees a person struggling, we’re not going to let them struggle. The guard blows his whistle twice, which is his signal to the guards on both sides, I’m going to make the rescue. He jumps down, grabs his buoy, swims out, and gives [the victim] the buoy. And then they swim sideways across the rip current, not straight in.”

It’s important to relax and think clearly if you’re ever caught in a rip current. “A rip current can move faster than an Olympic swimmer can swim,” says Arbin. “So, you can’t swim straight. It’s like being on a treadmill and not getting anywhere. You’re getting tired and eventually you end up off the back of the treadmill because you can’t keep up. So often people who drown in rip currents know how to swim. They just get panicked. We have a saying of R-I-P. R means relax, don’t panic. I means ‘I need help’ and P is for parallel—swim parallel to get out of it.”

The safest thing you can do is to set up your beach chair near a lifeguard and swim there. “We ask people to take the time to walk to their nearest guard because it can save a life—their own.”

About 98 percent of all drownings that have happened in Ocean City occurred when OCBP wasn’t on duty, the department says. There are guards in chairs from 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. every day until Sept. 25.

Arbin says over his 50 years leading Beach Patrol, he’s most proud of the impact lifeguarding has had on guards’ lives.

“One of our guys came to us as a high school dropout. He got close to getting terminated—we had a conference with him. He turned his act around, went back to get his degree, got a doctorate degree and now he’s a full professor at the University of Miami. He owns a healthcare company with a value of several million dollars. He came here as a high school dropout.”

Judges and Secret Service agents, state troopers, and doctors have come back to be part-time lifeguards. Outside of beach season, Arbin himself is a teacher at a planetarium in Charles County.

There’s no sign he’s riding his last wave at Ocean City Beach Patrol anytime soon.

“As long as I get up every day and like coming to work—and this is in both jobs—and I feel like I’m still on top of things and can make a difference, then I’ll continue to do it.”

DEVELOPER IMPLODES POWER PLANT’S LANDMARK SMOKESTACKS

BY MEG WALBURN VIVIANO

The name C.P. Crane Generation Facility might not mean anything to you, but if you’ve boated in the Middle River area of Baltimore County, you know its red-and-white-striped smokestacks.

Located on a 157-acre shuttered coal plant in Bowleys Quarters, the 300-foottall stacks have long been used as aids to navigation. But not anymore.

The power generation facility was imploded Friday morning by Charlotte, N.C.-based developer Forsite Development, Inc.

The developer, which specializes in redeveloping heavy industrial sites, carried out the planned implosion with the help of an explosives contractor, at 8.a.m. Forsite says no adverse impacts were reported, though some roads and waterways were closed before the implosion as a precaution. They reopened shortly after.

“Planned implosion is the preferred method for felling such structures as it is considered safer for workers than dismantling the facility. Crews can begin processing the metals and debris from the facility now that it is safely on the ground,” Forsite explains.

Maryland Natural Resources Police and the Baltimore County fire and police departments were on hand to help with safety measures during the process. Marine Emergency Team 21 (MET21), an all-volunteer marine response crew, monitored from the water, where the implosion was impressive even from a distance.

Dozens of boats gathered (at a safe distance) to watch the implosion. As if it were a summertime Bay fireworks grand finale, several boaters honked their horns in celebration when the implosion ended.

The community had mixed feelings about the facility being leveled and the striped stacks being gone. One boater commented, “Going to miss the stacks. They were great for navigation on the Bay,” while another joked, “I’ll never find my marina now!”

So what is to become of the now-leveled site of the 400-megawatt coal plant? According to local reports, residential development is a possibility. But Forsite has not released details.

“We look forward to continuing our dialogue with community members to identify a mutually beneficial development plan for the property,” says Tom McKittrick, CEO.

Hooper Island Light is a fixer-upper, but a bargain. Photos: GSA

BID NOW: HOOPER ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE UP FOR AUCTION

BY MEG WALBURN VIVIANO

It’s a real estate opportunity that doesn’t come around too often: the chance to own a historic Chesapeake Bay lighthouse.

That opportunity is on the table right now, as the federal government attempts to auction off Hooper Island Light, marking the shoals 3-4 miles west of Hooperville on upper Hooper Island.

The lighthouse, first lit in 1902, is the only cast-iron caisson lighthouse in Maryland with a watch room and lantern surmounted on the tower, according to the U.S. Lighthouse Society (USLHS) Chesapeake Chapter. It is exactly halfway down the Chesapeake Bay.

One of only five lights constructed in the Bay during the 1900s, Hooper Island Light had a fourth-order Fresnel lens built in Paris in 1888. That was changed to a fixed white that flashed every 15 seconds in 1904, controlled by a lightkeeper until 1961 when it was automated and the keepers removed. Sadly, the fourth-order Fresnel lens was stolen in 1976 and the Coast Guard replaced it with a solar optic.

The lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 and declared “excess property” by the federal government in 2006.

Now, a U.S. General Services Administration online auction is open with an opening bid of $15,000. It has no bids so far.

What will the new owner of Hooper Island light get? Vertical-style living and plenty of privacy.

The four-story tower rises about 63 feet above the waterline. The first level is the kitchen. The second, a bedroom. The third level served as an office and the top floor was a living space for the

This interior photo shows one of Hooper Island Light’s four levels of living space. Photo: GSA

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keepers. The living spaces are “lined with white glazed bricks,” according to USLHS. There is also a watch room level and lantern level.

The lighthouse boasts a deep water “slip” as it sits in about 18 feet of water.

There is some fine print to the purchase of the lighthouse. The buyer gets the structure, but the underlying submerged land does not convey in the sale—it remains with the U.S. government per a cession deed from 1924.

The Coast Guard will continue to operate and maintain the automated light as an Aid to Navigation. The owner must adhere to historic preservation covenants. And finally, the buyer must come to an agreement with the U.S. Navy. Hooper Island Light is located within a Navy-controlled surface danger area. So the buyer must enter into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Navy stipulating when access to the lighthouse is allowed for safety reasons.

If your curiosity is piqued and you’d like to go see the property, you must do it from a safe distance. “Tying off to, climbing, anchoring to or trespassing on the property is strictly prohibited due to safety concerns,” the online auction states.

Bidding is open from now until Sept. 21, 2022. To find out more about the lighthouse auction and seeing the property, contact GSA’s Tod J. Taylor:

Phone: 404-215-6751

Fax: 404-215-8600 tod.taylor@gsa.gov

Participants take on a leg of the 2021 Bay Paddke. Photo: Bay Paddle/Facebook

BAY PADDLE RETURNS, DRAWING SUP PROS TO EASTERN SHORE

BY MEG WALBURN VIVIANO

You may remember the Bay Paddle from 2020, when one man attempted to be the first to travel the entire length of the Chesapeake Bay on a standup paddleboard. Not only did Chris Hopkinson succeed in making history, he turned the Bay Paddle into an annual event. The 2022 iteration runs this weekend from Rock Hall to Cambridge. Each year, the event has picked up an additional Chesapeake Bay charity to support through fundraising and awareness. In 2020, Hopkinson’s Bay Paddle effort raised money for the Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP). In 2021, the paddle returned as a team relay benefitting both ORP and Chesapeake Conservancy, in its campaign to have the Bay designated as a National Recreation Area. The Bay Paddle has already generated over $330,000 in charitable donations.

In 2022, the Bay Paddle supports ORP, the Conservancy, and has also added WaterKeepers Chesapeake, a network of waterkeepers across the Bay region working to keep waterways clean.

The paddle begins Saturday, Aug. 27 as a 45-mile, two-day staged race. Some paddlers will split the distance with a team, while nearly two dozen will take on the full 45 miles solo. Several professional paddleboarders are competing, along with participants from as far away as Mexico and Canada. The sponsors are also international this year and include Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Pacifico, and offshore wind developer Ørsted.

More than 100 paddlers are expected, using small craft ranging from standup paddleboards and kayaks to less common outriggers or surf skis. They will start from Haven Harbor Marina South in Rock Hall at 9 a.m. Saturday. The first day of the race goes 30 miles from Rock Hall to Tilghman Island. Bright and early Sunday morning, paddlers will launch from Tilghman Island and finish in Cambridge, another 30-mile leg. A post-race party in downtown Cambridge kicks off at 3 p.m.

The best ways to spectate Saturday will be at the start in Rock Hall (if you’re an early riser—the race takes off at 7:30 a.m.), passing through the midpoint at Kent Narrows (either at Kent Island Yacht Club or Red Eyes between 10:30 and noon), or near the finish from Knapps Narrows Marina, the Tilghman Island bridge or the Dogwood Harbor boat ramp. On Sunday, the best opportunities to watch will be from Dogwood Harbor for the 7:30 a.m. launch, or near the finish at Gerry Boyle Park in Cambridge.

Anyone who would like to donate to the Bay Paddle and its three Bay nonprofit beneficiaries, visit www.paddlesignup.com.

A record number of racing teams took on the CRAB Cup. Photo: Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating Historic Annapolis recently got a grant from National Park Service to use toward restoration at the James Brice House. Photos: Historic Annapolis.

RECORD BOATS RACE IN CRAB CUP FOR ACCESSIBLE BOATING

BY DUFFY PERKINS

Sailors are quick to support other sailors. And that’s exactly what happened at the Aug. 20 CRAB Cup for Accessible Boating, when a record number of boats showed up to help raise operational expenses for Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating (CRAB).

The CRAB Cup is part of the Chesapeake Bay’s Triple Crown of fundraising: the Leukemia Cup, the Hospice Cup, and the CRAB Cup. Boats who participate in all three races are scored on their finishes as well as their fundraising amounts.

In 2021, race organizers introduced a poker run for powerboaters as part of the CRAB Cup. This year, over 10 powerboats traveled to various destinations on the Bay and snapped selfies for race organizers, who then sent on an electronic playing card to create a complete poker hand.

One registrant that surprised organizers participated on his jetski. “I thought it was kind of funny,” says CRAB Executive Director Paul Bollinger. “He came back in and said, ‘This was great. I love it, and I got to see places I’d never seen before.’”

The skippers’ challenge portion of the event raised roughly $74,000 for CRAB’s operational expenses, with the full total of sponsorships, registrations, and corporate donations coming in above $80,000. This money will go to support the operations of CRAB’s new Adaptive Boating Center, which plans on opening doors this February.

“Our sailing programs are free of charge,” says Bollinger. “We work with over 25 nonprofits and take out over 1,000 guests each year, and we don’t charge any of them.”

The Cup’s top fundraiser was Paul Van Cleve, whose efforts raised over $10,000 this year alone. Van Cleve raced on one of CRAB’s six specially-equipped Beneteau First 22as along with skipper Tim McGee, who was an All American sailor at the Naval Academy before suffering a stroke later in life.

“We focus on peoples’ abilities,” says Bollinger. “Our guests love boating as much as anybody else, but they often can’t get on the boats. So our boats are adapted to make it a level playing field.”

McGee led his co-ed crew of fellow All Americans to top honors in his division.

As any racing sailor knows, the party is often just as important as the race itself. Bollinger took it upon himself to redesign the format of the Eastport Yacht Club afterparty, allowing for greater accessibility.

“There’s a lot more than people think or realize,” he says. The layout of the event positioned the party on the lawn, which was frequently wet. Bollinger moved the tent to the parking lot area, and the lawn became a beer garden. Everything was covered in AstroTurf. 500 people partook in the Shore Party festivities.

“Everything is accessible here,” Bollinger says. “Nothing is just for ‘able-bodied’ people.”

The result of the race and party is not just funding for CRAB’s overhead, but a shift in the consciousness of sailors and boaters. A big part of Bollinger’s vision is creating an inclusive environment where everyone can enjoy being on the water without limitation. Bollinger is focused on making possibilities into realities.

Fleet Director George Pappas echoes this sentiment. “During the race, one boat was unable to finish in the required time, but they didn’t give up. They kept going until they crossed the finish line, and the committee boat gave them a special horn blast. CRAB is for people who don’t give up.”

For more, visit www.crabsailing.org.

Brice House Goes Window Shopping

BY KATHY KNOTTS

The James Brice House will be able to restore 74 of its original windows thanks to a $500,000 grant from the National Park Service. Historic Annapolis announced last week that they have been awarded the federal grant to support the stateof-the-art restoration of the site, a National Historic Landmark located in downtown Annapolis.

“This federal grant, along with the significant investment by the State of Maryland and private donors, helps advance our efforts to preserve this important architectural treasure in time for the nation’s semiquincentennial,” said Karen Theimer Brown, president and CEO of HA. “We look forward to celebrating this restored building with the public and sharing the full and inclusive history of all the people who lived and worked here, the time period it represents, and the building as a symbol of our nation’s journey to independence.”

NPS recently awarded $7 million in the inaugural round of funding for the Semiquincentennial Grant Program commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. Created by Congress in 2020 and funded through the Historic Preservation Fund, this round of grants will support 17 cultural resource preservation projects across 12 states that had an impact on the founding of the American nation. Historic Annapolis is one of two Maryland organizations to receive an award from the program.

Awarded funds will support the restoration of the 74 original windows throughout the Brice House, which is a key part of the overall project. The windows need repairs to preserve the historic material and craftsmanship, protect the building from moisture infiltration, and help regulate interior environmental conditions.

The James Brice House is one of the largest and most elegant of Annapolis’s historic homes, and one of the most important surviving structures from colonial America. The state purchased the James Brice House in 2014 and arranged for Historic Annapolis to maintain and manage the property. In 2016, HA embarked on a multi-year, multi-million dollar restoration of the Brice House. The experts working on the restoration project are highly respected in their fields and have worked on some of the nation’s most important historic structures including Mount Vernon, Monticello, Montpelier, Drayton Hall, and the Maryland State House.

Congress appropriated funding for the Semiquincentennial Grant Program through the Historic Preservation Fund, which uses revenue from federal oil and gas leases on the Outer Continental Shelf, assisting with a broad range of preservation projects without expending tax dollars, with the intent to mitigate the loss of a nonrenewable resource to benefit the preservation of other irreplaceable resources.

BAY BULLETIN

Finding Comfort in Surprising Forms

BY SUSAN NOLAN

Splash and Carter have important jobs at Maryland Therapeutic Riding (MTR) in Crownsville. But the 25-yearold and 18-year-old aren’t earning a paycheck or working to save for retirement. They are horses in the business of healing human hearts.

Splash and Carter are just two of the animals that reside at the facility located on 25 bucolic acres. More than a riding business, MTR offers a variety of mental health and wellness services. So it makes sense that it would team with counselors from Hospice of the Chesapeake to offer programs to teens dealing with grief.

“Horses are sensitive, intuitive beings,” says Amy Aronstamn, a bereavement counselor with the Hospice of Chesapeake, “They are empathetic and can mirror human emotions.”

A lifelong horsewoman herself, Aronstamn and fellow bereavement counselor Casey Dressel brought nine teenagers together at MTR for a program to assist them in mourning the loss of a loved one.

On Aug.19, the young people in the Summer Grief Workshop painted flowers, hearts, and flags on the horses’ coats. “This is an opportunity for them to connect with the horses and with their emotions,” Aronstamn explains. The designs are symbols that remind the teens of their loved ones. Splash and Carter are patient and attentive as the teens stroke their manes, speak to them softly, and decorate their bodies with water-based paint. As calming as this activity is, it’s not the main event. It is

Horses are sandwiched between sessions of equine-assensitive, intuitive sisted psychotherapy. Unlike therabeings. They are peutic riding, clients engaged in an empathetic and equine-assisted psychotherapy session can mirror human do not ride the horses. Instead, clients and emotions. their counselors stay on the ground. “Not AMY ARONSTAMN everyone is comfortBEREAVEMENT COUNSELOR, HOSPICE OF THE CHESAPEAKE able talking with a therapist in an office setting,” explains Katie Streett, clinical director of TenTen Counseling Services at MTR. “We create and facilitate experiences with horses that give us insights as to what is going on with the client.” With a mental health professional and a certified equine specialist present, the client interacts with the horse. “During these sessions, we don’t refer to the horse as a horse. We don’t call them by their names. Instead, the horse is a metaphor for what the client needs it

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to be. Horses can be a family member or the embodiment of an emotion,” says Streett.

Equine-assisted psychotherapy can be especially effective for adolescents. “Interacting with an animal is less intimidating than talking with a person and the communication doesn’t need to be verbal,” says Streett.

Hospice of the Chesapeake serves clients of all ages in Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, and Prince George’s counties. While many of the clients in the grief workshops are mourning the death of a loved one who died while receiving hospice care, anyone who has lost a loved one is eligible for their workshops, support groups, and programs.

“Every individual is unique in how they experience grief,” says Dressel. “Some people only want or need one session, and we have other clients who stay with us for years.”

One of the benefits of attending Hospice’s bereavement programs is that it allows participants to connect with others who have had similar experiences. “Today’s program helped normalize and validate the grief experience,” Dressel states.

Learn more: hospicechesapeake.org horsesthatheal.org

Teens in a grief workshop with Hospice of the Chesapeake work with horses at Maryland Therapeutic Riding. Photos: Susan Nolan

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BY JUDY COLBERT

John Silberstein was worried about his 84-year-old mother, Nancy, and what he thought were diminishing cognitive and memory issues, due to mini-strokes. In November, he was making arrangements for her to take a COVID-19 test so she could take an upcoming cruise. She didn’t answer the phone. Nancy had fallen and couldn’t make it to her phone to call for help.

She eventually crawled to the door and began yelling when she heard someone get off the elevator. She gave the person the access number to her door and he entered, retrieved her phone, and called John who was able to get to her and take her to the emergency room. It had been nearly two hours since she had suffered the stroke that caused her to fall. Silberstein had asked her many times to install a panic button, but she’d never clicked on the links he sent her.

It’s a situation Silberstein hopes no loved one with a senior family member ever has to face: having an emergency and no one knowing about it.

Fortunately, there are several services available in Anne Arundel and Calvert counties that can prevent a similar tragedy from befalling seniors and the homebound. There are resources available across the region, from a program offering social interaction through regular phone calls to setting up a button on a cell phone to summon emergency services. Some charge a monthly fee and some are free.

Anne Arundel County has had a reassurance program since the 1990s, says Mary Chaput, the director of family caregiver support. “The original program started with a federal grant, and when that expired, the county Department of Aging and Disabilities decided to continue it.”

The Telephone Reassurance Program enlists volunteers to make between 30 and 45 friendly calls each in a 2.5-hour period, usually between 8 and 10:30 a.m. Volunteers call seniors (ages 55 and over) or an adult with a disability who is homebound and doesn’t have anyone to check on them.

The volunteers are provided a phone and the calls are made from their homes. They can volunteer for as few or as many shifts as they’d like. Often, friendships are created between client and volunteer, asking about the family pet or whether the client has appointments on the calendar.

Volunteers are always in demand. Men and women are welcome, although there’s only one man on the calling roster these days. Also, while volunteers can live anywhere, they prefer county residents.

Partners in Care Maryland offers a waterproof medical alert device that can be worn around the neck or on a wrist. The PIC Personal Emergency Response System offers several levels of service, from a daily (or less often) checkup call to a GPS-rigged system that works just about everywhere in the continental United States. Fall detection is also available and you do not have to be a PIC member to participate.

Janet Balcer of Pasadena worked at the Social Security Administration for 32 years before retiring. She loved her job, knowing she was helping people. Since 2015, she’s been a member and volunteer with Partners in Care, answering the emergency alerts.

Balcer says she was looking for something to do after retirement. “I’d lost my husband, then my mother, and then my mother-in-law. I’ve been a helper all my life. I like that I don’t have to commit to a certain number of days or hours. I volunteer as I can.”

In 2019, Maryland was the first state to offer this type of contact service. Senior Call Check involves a daily check-in call (landline, cell phone, or TTY) and is free to Maryland residents who are 65 or older. Three attempts will be made before contacting an emergency contact. A family member or trusted friend can be listed as a contact person, or the state will call the police to conduct a wellness check.

The Snug system is a smartphone app (iPhone or Android) that checks in on you daily (from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.) or up to three times a day. You open the app and push a green button. If you don’t check in, your emergency contact is notified via text message (free) or by phone call (dispatch plan). They can request that police (or fire or EMS) perform a welfare check if they can’t reach you or the emergency contact. The dispatch plan is $9.99 a month or $99 a year. It’s available in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Carrier Alert, sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service and the National Association of Letter Carriers AFL-CIO, began in 1982 and is a program between mail carriers and community service organizations to monitor the wellbeing of the elderly and homebound. Local post offices can tell you if it is offered in your neighborhood. If so, you will register and allow a Carrier Alert symbol to be placed in your mailbox. This will notify the carrier to watch for an unusual accumulation of mail or other signs of distress, who will then notify a supervisor and your emergency contact person will be informed. A home safety check will be initiated if you can’t be located.

With so many resources in our region, there’s no reason for any senior to feel alone during an emergency.

RESOURCES: Telephone Reassurance Program:

aacounty.org/aging or call 410-222-4375 Partners in Care: partnersincare.org, 8151-C Ritchie Hwy, Pasadena, 410-544-4800 Senior Call Check Program: aging. maryland.gov/pages/senior-callcheck.aspx or call 866-502-0560 Snug Safety: https://snugsafe.com Carrier Alert: nalc.org/community-service/carrier-alert

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