Frankie Lampkins (St. George Island veteran waterman) sang St. Mary’s Song, about nature’s endowments to the county while six-year-old Nico Funya wrote, “I promise to use energy saving light-bulbs in my room.”  The promises made by the other kids were equally solemn:

  • “I promise not to throw trash into the bay”;
  • “I promise to see the birds on the bay”;
  • “I will help recycle”;
  • “I promise to carpool, walk more”;
  • “I will save the bay by stopping polluting”;
  • “I promise to take shorter showers and pay more attention to composting”;
  • “I promise to turn off the water while I brush my teeth.”

 
Kathleen O’Brien, Frankie Lampkins, Jack Russell
and Bethany Schaeffer dressed as blue crab, Sally.
 
 Dan Raley, lawyer Joe Mitchell & Elmer Brown
 
  Dan Raley & Vicki Volk
 
 Charles Wood & Ann Raley with other guests.

The song and promises Sunday afternoon inaugurated Dr. Kathleen O’Brien into office as the President of Chesapeake Bay Field Lab Inc. (a non-profit organization operated by Capt. Jack Russell, St. Mary’s Board of Commissioners President, and his wife, former journalist Vicki Volt). Dr. O’Brien is executive director of Walden Sierra, one of the most successful local non-profits.  The inauguration ceremony was part of the Chesapeake Field Bay Lab Inc.’s annual members Fish Hawk Party.

Commissioner Dan Raley (D, Great Mills) called the CBFL a great organization. “It helps preserve a way of life that is fast disappearing,” Raley told The Bay Net. “It’s helping our children have a sense of history, just like the tobacco farms.”

Local residents present to show support to the non-profit were Chuck Kimball, Elmer Brown, Eleanor Tydings-Reynolds, and Dr. Rene Grace. Almost the entire leadership of the Potomac River Association, including Erik Jansson and Bob Lewis were also among the guests.

“The children who visit the lab gain a lot of insight,” said Elmer Brown, one of the founders of the lab. “They learn what it means about poisoning the bay. “

More than 30,000 students from Southern Maryland and elsewhere have come to the lab to learn about preserving the Chesapeake Bay, said Capt. Russell. “Each year 5,000 students come here,” he said.

He said the lab, now in its seventh year, organizes daylong field trips for schoolchildren from St. Mary’s, Cal