Annapolis Notes- Feb. 13

February 12, 2012

Edwards

Edwards gets Kennedy Award
State Sen. George C. Edwards, R-Garrett/Allegany/Washington, on Wednesday received the Thomas Kennedy Award, which goes to a former delegate for “personal courage and dedication to the principles of liberty and freedom.”

Kennedy was a 19th-century delegate from Hagerstown who fought to let Maryland Jews hold elected office. He also started the Hagerstown Mail newspaper.

Past recipients include Casper R. Taylor Jr. andBenjamin L. Cardin.

Edwards has held town, county or state elected office for 38 years. He was a delegate from 1983 to 2007, then moved to the Senate.

House Speaker Michael E. Busch called Edwards “an advocate for land preservation, regardless of the economic climate.”

Edwards said he spent 21 of his 24 House years sitting in the back.

“I learned everybody by the back of their head,” he said. “The last three years (as minority leader) were up here in the front, where, when you talk, you had to get up and turn around so you could see everybody.”

“Be yourself. Be honest,” he told the House. “In democracy, sometimes you have to compromise, as long as you don’t compromise your principles, and that’ll get you a long way.”

Battle maps
To celebrate Washington County Day on Thursday, Del. Andrew A. Serafini, on behalf of the county, gave Speaker Michael E. Busch a collection of maps illustrating the Civil War’s Battle of Antietam.

The U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., studies the maps for maneuvers and strategies, Serafini said.
Busch thanked Serafini and said the maps will be displayed in a House building.

Regional cuisine?
For Washington County Day, the county’s lobbying coalition held an Annapolis reception Thursday.

At about the same time, the Eastern Shore also had a reception.

“Are they going to have better food than at ours?,” Del. John P. Donoghue, in mischief-maker mode, asked at Wednesday’s Washington County delegation meeting.

“Never,” Del. Andrew A. Serafini replied.

“They’re going to have muskrat, I heard,” Donoghue added.

History and heritage honors given
Two Maryland Preservation Awards given out recently in Annapolis had Washington County connections.

Fourteen projects, organizations and individuals were honored for historic preservation and heritage education, according to the Maryland Historical Trust.

Recipients with local ties were:

The National Park Service, the C&O Canal Trust, C&O Canal National Historical Park Superintendent Kevin Brandt and members of a Park Service Preservation Maintenance Team for an “adaptive reuse” effort in which visitors stay overnight in lock houses as part of an “immersive interpretive experience.”
Elizabeth Scott Shatto, director of the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area in Carroll, Frederick and Washington counties. She “coordinates regional planning and is leading efforts to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the Civil War,” according to the Maryland Historical Trust.

— Andrew Schotz

|

|

|