Why Does Charm City Get The 15-Foot Statue Of Edgewood’s Own Rock Star Frank Zappa?

It was in Edgewood that Frank Zappa first inserted radioactive pellets into his nostrils. Now he’s being honored, sort of, with a 15-foot statue that was donated by his Lithuanian fans to the City of Baltimore. But why Baltimore? True, Zappa - the guitar-playing, anti-drug musician - was born in Charm City, but, as I’ve already mentioned, it was in Edgewood where he might have gotten off to his mind-bending start.

Let me get one thing off my chest from the get-go here, I’m much more a fan of Zappa’s story than I am his music. Blasphemy you say? Well, try to find a song of his that can compete with stories of his early life in Harford County. Zappa’s dad worked at what was then known as Edgewood Arsenal, but today is known as the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground. Zappa’s got some pretty good recollections from those days, including tasting DDT and wearing space helmets that left you to drown in your own vomit. Good stuff. Continue reading Why Does Charm City Get The 15-Foot Statue Of Edgewood’s Own Rock Star Frank Zappa?

1,000 Words About a Picture: Harford County Councilman Dion Guthrie and Sen. Hillary Clinton White Marsh Photo-Op

Perhaps as a last-ditch effort to help drum up support for the sinking presidential candidate, or maybe just to show it off before it became completely irrelevant, Harford County Councilman Dion Guthrie unveiled a photograph last week showing him and Sen. Hillary Clinton meeting, shaking hands and evidently discussing the state of the Union while she was campaigning in Baltimore County.

Guthrie, a Democrat representing the Edgewood and Joppatowne area, passed the picture along to a small group of associates and, upon further inquiry, explained the photo opportunity came in mid-February when Sen. Clinton made a stop at the General Motors Allison Transmission Plant in White Marsh. Continue reading 1,000 Words About a Picture: Harford County Councilman Dion Guthrie and Sen. Hillary Clinton White Marsh Photo-Op

Miller, Martin, Cullum Elected to Havre de Grace City Council

Miller -490
Martin -458
Cullum -412
Correri -375
Anderson -356
Gamatoria -326
Walker -174

It was a beautiful Election Day in Havre de Grace on Tuesday; it seems like it is every year, although maybe that’s because I still have lingering frostbite from the frigid Aberdeen Election Day of this past November.

This was a strange election for Havre de Grace, really unlike any other I can remember from my 8 years or so covering elections in Harford County. There were no issues that truly caught traction, no real spats or bad blood between any of the candidates (at least none which was spilled publicly) and no one running for office with a bold plan for change. Continue reading Miller, Martin, Cullum Elected to Havre de Grace City Council

HAVRE DE-CISON 2008 - 7 Candidates Seek 3 City Council Seats in Havre de Grace On Tuesday

Seven candidates will be on the ballot Tuesday in Havre de Grace and your votes will determine, which three of them will end up sitting at the dais for the next two years as members of the City Council.

For those who want a final look at the candidates, a forum has been organized for Sunday night at 8 p.m. in the Havre de Grace police station. We’ve also compiled some information here on each of the candidates and are offering Dagger readers, regardless of whether they live within the municipal boundaries of Havre de Grace, to cast your votes now for which three candidates you would like to see as the next Havre de Grace City Council members. Continue reading HAVRE DE-CISON 2008 - 7 Candidates Seek 3 City Council Seats in Havre de Grace On Tuesday

“A Classic Method of Wrapping Fresh Fish” And Other Uses For A Local Newspaper, Courtesy Of A Local Politician

The prolonged battle between Aberdeen City Councilman Mike Hiob and local newspaper The Record continued this week with the politician getting in the latest jab - a list of the top “uses” for the newspaper he read during Monday night’s city council meeting, which include wrapping fish, washing windows and checking to see how many headlines were ripped from The Dagger.

This war of attrition has been going on nearly since Hiob took office in November 2003 and was likely fueled by Hiob’s dislike for what he has called “sensational headlines” and “wrong information” in the paper and the newspaper’s dislike of Hiob’s propensity for verbose, minute and typically unwarranted/unjustified criticism - or nitpicking. Continue reading “A Classic Method of Wrapping Fresh Fish” And Other Uses For A Local Newspaper, Courtesy Of A Local Politician

You WILL Get Wet On This Ride: Harford’s Last Creek Crossing Still Has A Home On Tabernacle Road

Unless you were born and raised in the area, spent some time in the Boy Scouts or like to burn away your weekends cruising the twisting back roads of Harford County, chances are you’ve never heard of Tabernacle Road. It’s really not much of a road - just a winding gravely path through the woods near the Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation - but if you’ve ever tried to traverse it you’re not likely to forget the experience.

Tabernacle Road holds the last public ford in Harford County. That is to say, in order to travel across the county roadway from one end to the other requires crossing a body of open water. Rather than channel the bubbling creek under the roadway or building a bridge over the small waterway, the county has instead allowed Tabernacle Road to plunge right through the meandering flow.

Like the Jericho Covered Bridge in Joppa, the Tabernacle Road ford is a throwback to bygone era and something of a local landmark that you won’t find marked on many maps. It’s also become a rite of passage for many a Harford County high-schooler to test their mettle (and metal too, I suppose) by crossing the ford during periods of high-water - with varying levels of success. But could the ford soon become a distant memory?

Continue reading You WILL Get Wet On This Ride: Harford’s Last Creek Crossing Still Has A Home On Tabernacle Road

Cops and Bloggers Part II: The Dagger Double-Teams Ed Norris on WHFS

UPDATE: Did you listen in? Tell us what you thought about Cindy and Mark’s appearance on The Ed Norris Show!

Back by popular demand, The Dagger will venture into the WHFS 105.7 FreeFM studios Friday, April 18 for its second appearance on the Ed Norris Show.

This time around, exactly three months from our last appearance on the the Ed Norris Show, it will be Cindy and Mark representing The Dagger as part of the panel for the popular Friday news Roundtable discussion.

The Roundtable segment, which features former Baltimore City top cop, Maryland State Police Commissioner and convicted felon Ed Norris and super-producer Maynard rehashing the hottest stories of the week with Cindy and Mark of The Dagger, will air from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. during the show’s new afternoon drive-time radio slot. Continue reading Cops and Bloggers Part II: The Dagger Double-Teams Ed Norris on WHFS

Spreading Ink: The Rise of the Suburban Tattoo Parlor in Maryland

Growing up in 1980s Harford County, I knew of only two kinds of people who had tattoos - members of the military and members of rebel motorcycle gangs.

Back then, the faded blue and gray images were largely unrecognizable in shape or design. Any lettering had long since bled into an amorphous set of unreadable characters. Tattoos weren’t considered artwork as much as they were branding - an anchor on the arm, an eagle on the back, the initials of a long lost love on the shoulder. It wasn’t pretty, but it was still rare enough that neighborhood children gathered around to gawk when the local biker rolled up his sleeves to work on his hog. It was still ink injected into skin. It was a tattoo.

Today, ink is everywhere. It is becoming rarer, at least in my circles, to meet someone who has a body completely untouched by ink. It’s virtually a requirement for a musician or actor to have some sort of body art done before they reach stardom. There are magazines, reality television shows and web sites devoted entirely to tattoos, the artists who create them and the bodies who serve as the canvas.

Long gone are the days when inked arms were reserved for hardened criminals and punk rockers. Let’s face it, tattoos have gone mainstream and they’re spreading like wildfire through suburbia. Continue reading Spreading Ink: The Rise of the Suburban Tattoo Parlor in Maryland

Glengarry (Wetlands Redux): Aberdeen Considers a Softer, Gentler 500-acre Annexation Request

Take the Aberdeen Annexation Survey and let them know what concerns you the most!

The Aberdeen Planning Commission will entertain a request next week for the city to annex the nearly-500-acre Glengarry Community, which is basically a rebranding of the already-once-defeated Wetlands Golf Course property annexation attempt - minus a key group of Locksley Manor residents.

Before addressing the planning commission next week, the development team, led by engineering firm KCI Technologies, will present their annexation proposal in Aberdeen City Hall on Wednesday, April 2 during a 6:30 p.m. community input meeting.

It remains to be seen how the new look city hall, helmed by Mayor Mike Bennett and his chief booster Art Helton, will deal with the return of the annexation request, which was largely responsible for booting former mayor S. Fred Simmons from office and ushering Bennett into his seat.

In anticipation of the community meeting, Wetlands/Glengarry development partner Chris Michel issued a letter through KCI to select property owners, apprising them of the situation, informing them of Wednesday’s meeting and also presenting a questionnaire regarding citizen opinions in specific areas: Continue reading Glengarry (Wetlands Redux): Aberdeen Considers a Softer, Gentler 500-acre Annexation Request

Life and Death in the Havre de Grace Yacht Basin: What’s Going on in the City’s Tydings Park Marina?

Much like the Hatfields and McCoys, this feud is over territory and owners’ right, but, rather than Kentucky backcountry, this fight takes place on the waters of Havre de Grace’s Yacht Basin.

First came the complaints of nuisance and negligent boat owners causing problems with fellow mariners at the Yacht Basin. Then came assertions of unequal treatment, unfair punishment and even unlawful operation and expenditure of taxpayer money at the city marina. Next we heard about improperly designed and incorrectly installed railings, parking spaces and other equipment.

And now we have a dead body.

Missing since late February, 53-year-old Donald Walter McGlothlin was found Monday on Swan Creek by a pair of fisherman. He had died from drowning and hypothermia, or perhaps some combination of the two.

Mr. McGlothlin was also one of the few residents of the Tydings Park Marina - he lived in a house boat on Pier 4. Continue reading Life and Death in the Havre de Grace Yacht Basin: What’s Going on in the City’s Tydings Park Marina?

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