Only in Coltons Point - Plant a Rose, Find a Bomb

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Wednesday evening Coltons Point got more than it's total annual share of emergency vehicles as multiple volunteer fire departments, the County Sheriff's Office, a Hazmat Hazardous Waste Team, eventually the Office of the State Fire Marshall, and even the US department of Defense converged in a blaze of flashing red, white and blue lights on the Point.





That's what happened when young Willie Ashby started digging a hole to plant a rose bush for his mother and wound up digging up a bomb. At first he thought it was old trash buried beside the home long ago and he threw the strange cylinder onto the sidewalk. Then he realized it was a bomb and a quick call to emergency services brought a traffic jam of emergency vehicles to the Point just after dusk.





The Coltons Point Times was the first and only media on the scene when field reporters Hillbilly Joe and Duke Deere came tearing up to the house on their John Deere's saying all hell had broken loose down by the St. Clements Museum.





I immediately raced to the scene stopping at the Potomac Gardens on the way, our only store and bar, where a huge crowd of at least a dozen people had gathered to see if the house next door was going to blow up. Fireworks are big in Coltons Point and this promised to be one of the best shows ever.

I interviewed Willie who said how was he to know the junk was a bomb? I visited his mother who wanted to know when the emergency teams would let her back in her house because she left chili cooking on the stove when they evacuated the area.

As I made my way to the police blockade there were emergency vehicles parked everywhere with lights flashing and emergency flood lights illuminated the area of town as if it was daylight. Working my way closer and closer to the location of the bomb I interviewed a number of emergency workers who said this kind of thing happens 5-10 times a year in St. Mary's County.





Seemed like a lot of bombings for a bunch of miniscule towns, villages really, until they explained it to me. Way back in 1919 the US Navy acquired St. Clements Island just offshore for defensive purposes. Now St. Clements is the most sacred site in America being the birthplace of religious freedom in America and with Coltons Point being the oldest continuously settled charter community in the original thirteen colonies. Things go way back down here in Southern Maryland, all the way to the St. Clement's Island landing in 1634.





From 1919 until 1956 the Navy had little regard for sacred sites, religious freedom and the site of the first landing by the colonists in the area between Virginia and Massachusetts so before and after World War II they used the Island for target practice by huge guns at the Dahlgren Proving Grounds about 20 miles up the river. During the War they used the Island to prevent German submarines from attacking our nation's capitol.





The bomb discovered while planting roses at the Ashby home was quite possibly the result of a very bad day by some Navy gunner trying to blow away the Island about 50 years ago. Not surprising I guess since the Navy bombed the Island for 37 years and never even hit the abandoned lighthouse sitting on it. When the Hazmat team realized what type of bomb was there they called in the State Fire Marshall's Office to identify it and make a determination on how to destroy it.





Here modern technology took over as Duane K. Svites, Deputy Chief State Fire Marshall and Commander of the Southern Region notified the Department of Defense of the bomb, then used his cell phone to send photos of the bomb to Andrew's Air Force Base up by Washington, DC for identification purposes. They were to determine if it was a practice round or the real thing and either way because it did not explode arrangements had to be made to move it and blow it up.





While this was going on crews started searching the rest of the rose bed and lo and behold found two more bombs which had not exploded. This was becoming a most volatile rose patch. One might have suspected someone in the Navy 50 years ago might not have liked the people living in the house and declared war on it.

At this point the entire yard was cordoned off as a potentially dangerous site, there was no telling how many more bombs might be there. If metal detectors find more stuff in the yard Mrs. Ashby might need to get a lot more roses to fill the holes.





On a slightly more serious note, the all volunteer fire departments did an exceptional job in responding and maintaining crowd control over the dozen people trying to find out the cause of such extraordinary excitement in the sleepy little village. The communication and coordination between the County Public Safety, County Sheriff, volunteer fire departments, State Fire Marshall and the Department of Defense was an exemplary example of first responders at work.

Way down here in the infamous 7th District of Maryland it is reassuring to know that no matter how you get bombed the local authorities are always prepared to take care of you. Now we certainly hope we have finally seen the last of World War II.




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The Truth Is Out There - Now It Is Here.

Now listen, we have been battered by the economy, Wall Street, our nation's capitol, the media, preachers and pretenders recently not to mention Mother Nature and just plain old bad luck. What if there is a reason for all this chaos and catastrophe, confusion and cynicism? I mean just look at what the weather man does to you with wrong reports about half the time. Is that evidence of the evolution of our cultural, scientific and educational achievement levels? No wonder the rest of the world is kicking our butts.

Well you deserve the truth so let's start with one of the most controversial subjects of our history, the premise that we are not alone. Recently I was watching the sky one day in Southern Maryland and photographing cloud formations over the Potomac River. Suddenly the most curious circle appeared low on the horizon and I shot a photo record of what happened. The cloud formation was huge. You can see in the pictures in this story.

But this is not about clouds, it is about extra terrestrial visitors to our planet and the seemingly large increase in the number of sightings. Here on the fringes of our nation's capitol and in the belt of known and unknown top secret military operations and bases there have always been a high rate of activity in terms of UFO reports and as a result many residents are up-to-date on UFO activity. Well here is the new stuff.

While filming the sky circle I decided to zoom in on the planes that had to have made the circle. A couple were in the vicinity of the drifting circles so I zoomed in on them. The first shot showed something at the head of the contrail but not clearly a jet. I zoomed once and then twice and finally a ball shaped object appeared at the head of the vapor trail in the sky and certainly this was no jet known to humans. Another shot of a jet making contrails is also shown. Note the details of the jet.

The digital camera taking the shots had a stroke and the electronics virtually broke down shortly after the shooting but not before the file was downloaded and the memory chip with the original shots was preserved. What you see is what was in the sky that day cutting through and around the strange circle.

This is the second confirmed definitive sighting by this author, the other happening while driving in Kentucky a few years back. It was early evening and dusk was just settling in. Too light to need headlights, one could clearly see with natural daylight. This was a more oblong glowing object that was much larger than any jet. It was very near the ground and when first sighted several miles away it was still really big. For nearly 30 minutes myself and several other witnesses watched it lazily move along a mountain ridge in Eastern Kentucky before disappearing. During that time the path it traveled brought it toward us as if we were going to intersect.

Aliens always fascinated me and I have studied everything about them from government cover-ups to their spiritual roles in our evolution. I interviewed a number of people involved in Operation Blue Book, the official cover-up report on aliens and I interviewed participants in top secret missions that always seemed to draw a crowd of alien observers.

When I went to Russia and got into some Soviet archives there was a wealth of information on UFOs and aliens as it seems the Soviets always knew they existed. But here on the Potomac River about 60 miles downriver from Washington, DC the sky is abuzz with visitors. One of the biggest UFO clusters ever reported was here in the DC area during 1952 when numerous UFOs were being sighted, one of the largest concentrations of sightings in American history.

Now that it appears some of the contrails we see every day that we thought were from jets are really from the aliens. The exact same description of a "ball trailing a tail" is what appeared in my photo and the words came from an officer at Andrews AFB back in 1952.

There is some reason they are coming here in seemingly larger numbers as if they want to be here to witness something extraordinary that might be about to happen. Perhaps we should all look to the skies a little more as we ponder just what is going to happen that is causing aliens to come here for the show?

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St. Clements Manor Economic Stimulus Program

Dear Honorable Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader

This is an appeal to you, most powerful Congressman, from your very own Congressional District voters, to help us, the forgotten side of St. Mary's County, the lower 7th District, get federal stimulus funds for our own St. Clements Manor Economic Development, Environmental, Ecological and Historical Stimulus Preservation and Rehabilitation Program (SLMEDEEHSPRD for short). You could take credit for the most innovative jobs creation program in history as we could guarantee you a 300% increase in Coltons Point jobs the first month we get the big bucks and the jobs should double every two years thereafter.

This birthplace of civilization in the Mary Land territory included the Washington, DC, and Philadelphia areas, which were part of the 1633 Mary Land grant to Lord Baltimore from King Charles II of England. We believe George, Cecil and Leonard Calvert and Father Andrew White, the visionaries, organizers and settlers in this incredible dream are due more proper recognition in American history. We also believe Father White should be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church and as a result he would become the first saint in the new world. In addition our St. Clements Manor, the oldest in America, desires to regain our rightful heritage and recognition for our forefathers with this wonderful program.

As you know, Coltons Point, the site of St. Clements Manor House, has somewhere between 250-500 people. Not bad for a non-existent village founded 375 years ago. We currently have about 6 employees working in the village confines, 3 in non-profit service, 1 1/2 in federal service and 1 in the private sector. I'm not sure what happened to the last one half a person but strange things are normal in the 7th District. Our employment base has grown about 2 people per century for the last four centuries. We can demonstrate a massive instant increase in that jobs base and assure the money gets spent real fast with this program.

There are five initial demonstration projects. First is the restoration of St. Clements Island which consists of two parts. There is the restoration of the island lands and the restoration of the island culture which made it one of the top resorts on the east coast in the 19th century in addition to being the site of the first landing of Catholics and Jesuits in the 17th century in the original colonies. This also includes a bridge from shore to the island along with electric service to the island. Figure about $12 million including the cost of the 19th century island hotel.

We would acquire a dredge, build a sea wall at the new island perimeter and start dredging all the immediate bays, creeks, and other tributaries of the Potomac River and then pumping the river bottom inside the island sea wall to fill in the eroded land. About 300 acres will be added to the existing 60 acres making it about the size when the first colonists landed in 1634. By making the river and creeks deeper we will be aiding the Global Warming Crisis (also an Obama Administration favorite) by making more room for the melting icebergs and glaciers. Boaters and fishermen will benefit from the dredging while the oyster, crab and clam communities will be very pleased with the new river bottom.

To some extent this is a payback to the island by the federal government who spent years bombing it when the Navy owned it and used it for target practice. Some treatment of a priceless national treasure. Still we have the technology to undo all the things that happened to this birthplace so we will turn back the clock to the glorious years.

The second project is the rebuilding of the historic St. Clements Manor House on the water front at Coltons Point overlooking St. Clements Island. We need to move about six cramped houses to restore the Manor House and Gerard graveyard at the Point and the Chapel at St. Patrick's Creek. Thirteen acres need to be acquired for the complex which will provide a second small hotel to complement the island hotel. It will be the 3rd restoration of the Manor House in 375 years at the exact location. Sea walls will be extended and reinforced with a new pier to accommodate the restoration of the entertainment pavilion. This should cost about $15 million.

The third project is the St. Clements Riverfront Park in which the road between the museum and river will be removed and replaced by a boardwalk overlooking the restored beaches facing St. Clements Island once again making the Point a favorite place for history, romance, water sports and religion. River access for day visitors boats will be added. Throw in $2 million for this.

Our fourth project takes place on undeveloped land along St. Patrick's Creek where an 18th century riverfront fishing village will be recreated to house an artist's colony along with an organic market and restaurants. Real commercial establishments found in such villages will be incorporated along with the artist studios and living quarters. Upwards of $3.5 million could be invested in this commercial and educational effort.

The fifth and final project is funding the St. Clements Manor Property Foundation that will use assets to acquire, renovate, own, rent, manage or resell property in the St. Clements Manor District. It will secure property in order to thoroughly inspect, repair, and incorporate environmental and energy efficient improvements through the innovative Green Machine Pilot Program.




Most older property being offered for sale has historic value but needs new environmentally friendly and energy efficient improvements. This foundation will make certain properties for sale in the area will exceed building codes and meet the St. Clements Green code. It will be a service to current residents, many of whom are elderly, by allowing them to sell their home without the expense of making improvements in order to sell the house. The foundation will insure houses are in great condition for new owners, help the people selling the property, and be able to assure exterior construction reflects the nature of the area.

Designed to become self-sufficient after the initial grants and private donations, this foundation will be crucial in guiding the character of the improvements in Coltons Point, will assure the Green Code is used for all existing homes that are for sale, will encourage home sellers and buyers to feel confidence in the quality of the real estate and will help increase the value of real estate in this exclusive market. A grant of $2.5 million from the stimulus will be combined with matching private sector donations.



The total stimulus grant needed for all five innovative programs is $35 million. A significant number of construction jobs will result and completion of the projects will result in a significant number of permanent service and trade jobs. Beyond the monetary cost the benefits will be substantial and offer exceptional future evolvement.

The most environmentally friendly and energy efficient standards achieved through the Green Code and the foundation mechanism used to protect housing and commercial stock are obvious benefits. The reduction in pollutants into the Chesapeake Bay helps meet new environmental goals. Homes recycled through the real estate foundation will exceed all state and national building standards. Compatibility with the historic nature and character of the area will be guaranteed.

Thank you for your consideration Majority Leader Hoyer from the constituents that keep sending you back to represent us, the citizens of the 375 year old St. Clements Manor area and the 7th District..

IN SEARCH OF GENUINE AMERICANA

“THE VINTAGE SOURCE”

By Jim Putnam

I went in search of a needle in a haystack. You see, I love old things starting with my late grandparents, cars, furniture, clothes, houses, and anything associated with them. Make no mistake I am an All American Baby Boomer, and not just any old Baby Boomer but one born in the very first year of the Baby Boomers, 1946. It is truly MY generation.

The 1950’s were my education, the 1960’s my graduation, and things have pretty much been down hill ever since. To be born in an era when people took pride in their work, when a work ethic was really a work ethic, when the things you needed were supposed to last, and when honesty prevailed seems like such a long time ago. I grew up when extended warranties weren’t needed because what you bought lasted.

So I set out to find those things. My journey has taken me from the Great Plains to California, New York to Canada, Mexico to Ireland and Scotland to Russia. I searched the world over for the magical combination of quality and service, pride and competence, the things we used to find in the 5&10, the soda fountain, the auto dealers, and the repair services, things that lasted and people who cared.

Well one day I found it in the strangest of places. You see, after driving through the entire continental USA, Canada and Mexico over and over staying off the super highways and scouring the back roads I was about to toss in the towel and give up. It was when I came to a sleepy fishing village in southern Maryland where time seemed to have stood still that my hopes were finally raised.

How many of you live in a place where there are no sidewalks, no streetlights, no stoplights, no water lines, no sewers, no cops, no politicians, no strip malls, no Wal-Mart’s, no through streets, no plethora of bars and churches, and no fast food joints? Somehow the Potomac River front in St. Mary’s County, Maryland has survived the so-called advance of civilization and remained frozen in time, a time long ago.

One day while driving the country roads and avoiding the Amish and Mennonite horse drawn buggies I came across a remote intersection with a softball field, a lively bar and eating place, and lo and behold, a little store called The Vintage Source. I pulled in, got out, and found the door locked with a sign that said open the third weekend of every month.

This is the 21st century; no one is only open one weekend a month! Stores stay open 24 hours a day to bleed you out of every last buck. Looking through the window of the old storefront I could see there were interesting things inside, everywhere inside, and was determined to come back and see what treasures lay within. Since we were still in the metropolitan Washington, DC area I was also determined to see what outrageous price might be on these treasures.

I returned that 3rd weekend and was in for the shock of my life. It was as if I followed the White Rabbit down the tunnel into Alice’s Wonderland where nothing was as it seemed as I stepped out of my car back into the 1950’s, or 1940’s or earlier. The Vintage Source was no 21st century antique store but a trip in H G Wells Time Machine to an era of ice cream socials, people helping people, no stress and wonderful artifacts of the past to take home with you.

The little store was packed with people but there were no fights over the bargains, no pushing and shoving to get a deal, and no arguing over prices. People were happy, were friendly, courteous and all the other things you no longer find while shopping. This was not a shop full of grandmother’s antiques, those things so uncomfortable they could only be used for display. There was a lot of vintage stuff in there, but it was all things that could be practical in your home.

Now I had often heard that when it come to antiques, Americans have a Neiman Marcus taste and a Sears & Roebuck imagination meaning they love antiques but have no clue how to incorporate them into their homes. They need someone to tell them what to do. If you did not have the imagination to figure out how to use the vintage items, there were pictures all over the place showing how to incorporate them in a home.



The Vintage Source is the brainchild of Michelle Combs Radez, and if central casting ever showed up she would be cast as Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind. Her ancestors came from England about 200 years ago and she is the modern reincarnation of the beloved Scarlett O’Hara. Tough, she was the only girl with five brothers; the Iowa farm girl background of her mother influenced her.

After back packing around the country her first job at 15 was working in an antique store. It was there and traveling with her mother she began to appreciate the need for primitive antiques with character, maybe aged and bruised even, because they could be used for practical purposes without fear of losing their value. She did not fall in the trap of focusing on high value antiques, the items that remain in shops without selling. Appeal to people with high taste but limited budgets and you could succeed she believed.

Like Scarlett, she set out to learn all there was to learn and Michelle set up a tent one weekend a month on her front lawn to chase her dream. It was a wedding tent she found at a sale. A year later she leased an old storefront not far from her family home, then bought the old store, and three years later the business is booming. She still sets out for auctions, garage sales and estate sales in search of the items her clientele is seeking with her trailer and the tireless help of her husband.

She also realized if some minor repairs were made to the items the people were more likely to buy them and she learned wood repair, stripping and painting old items, and became so good at repairs she was asked to teach classes on restoration at college. In the store they tell you how to make repairs and sell items to help you. Michelle never stops learning about antiques or how to use them and never stops trying to find new ways to recycle old items.

But even Scarlett O’Hara could not do it alone so Michelle invited two people to be in house dealers in her shop. One is Sheryl Tort, from the Texas panhandle where life is tough; ingenuity is essential and self-sufficiency the lifeblood of survival. If you were to imagine the star of the story O Pioneer by Willa Cather about the pioneer woman who saved the family farm it could have been Sheryl rather than Jessica Lange.

Married to a Navy man, her story is one of creativity, hard work, a love of salvaging and recycling furniture, and a heritage of packrats. Her uncle back in Texas was a collector and salvager of furniture and her sister also has an antique store in Texas. It was a way of life down there and a passion she would never lose. First she built up a business of sewing slip covers for furniture and then became a dealer in Michelle’s store specializing in finding prized antiques on the Internet through eBay and Craig’s List.

The other dealer invited to join the store was Cathe Chiomento, the Auntie Mame of The Vintage Source who hailed from a comfortable Pennsylvania family whose father was one of the first Arbys franchise holders on the east coast. While Michelle and Sheryl may seem quiet and thoughtful at times Auntie Mame is a fireball of energy and activism. She was also a Navy wife but her journeys throughout the world left a wealth of programs behind that she helped organize to aid military wives and families in fighting drugs and alcoholism, and addressing the many other problems of military dependents.

This same sort of activism and energy was directed toward her obsession with antiques and once she settled in Maryland she decided to give it a try as a leisurely side job. After a couple of starts exploring the waters she came across Michelle’s store and decided this was the place she want to be.

So Scarlett O’Hara let Auntie Mame and the O Pioneer woman be dealers in her store and the result is a store they describe as classic to funky, eclectic to non-traditional. The atmosphere is like a social event or a happening and the once a month opening gives it a mysterious quality unlike most commercial traps.

Make no mistake, this is a very successful business but it is far from typical with very reasonable prices, being environmentally sensitive as it seeks to restore and revitalize furniture thus saving the unnecessary destruction of trees for new and cheaper furniture, and it shows people how to use the antiques and collectibles in ways they never knew.

You owe it to yourself to make the sojourn to The Vintage Source on the 3rd weekend of the month. It is so unlike the crass commercialism, the unfriendly service, the inferior product quality and the stressed out shoppers you encounter every other day it is like therapy for the soul and just might restore your faith in the forgotten quality of American entrepreneurs.

The Vintage Source is located at 22080 Newtowne Neck Road, Compton, Maryland.

From the DC area: Take 495 to Rt. 5 south, towards Leonardtown. Turn right at Rt. 243 (at the McDonald’s and Dash-In stores). Travel three miles. We are on the left, just past the BackRoad Inn Bar.

From the 301 Potomac River Bridge or LaPlata area: Take Rt. 301 north to Rt. 234 south (at Whitehouse Motel). Exit onto Rt. 5 south. Turn right at Rt. 243 (at the McDonald’s and Dash-In stores). Travel three miles. We are on the left, just past the BackRoad Inn Bar.

From South of Leonardtown: Take Rt. 5 north towards Leonardtown. Turn left at Rt. 243 (at the McDonald’s and Dash-In stores). Travel three miles. We are on the left, just past the BackRoad Inn Bar.

From Calvert County:Take Rt. 4 south over the Solomon's Island Bridge. Continue straight on Rt.4 towards Leonardtown. Exit onto Rt. 5 north through Leonardtown. Turn left at Rt. 243 (at the McDonald’s and Dash-In stores). Travel three miles. We are on the left, just past the BackRoad Inn Bar.

Lost?? Call 240-925-1060