Dear Editor:
Rodger Waldman was recently inducted in The Glen Burnie High School’s Wall of Honor.
The Wall was designed to recognize graduates that have distinguished themselves in their professional careers and through service in the community, as well as displaying their highest character and integrity.
The Wall is intended to motivate current students to strive for similar successes as they graduate and embark on their individual journeys.
Waldman, Class of 1961, was the founding president of the Chesapeake Audubon Society. The society was formed by a group of friends in 1974 as a provisional chapter of the National Audubon Society. By 1975, it was a formal tax-exempt organization with 319 members. For the past 15 years or so, it has had more than 2,000 members.
Waldman served as the Chesapeake Audubon Society’s president for more than 10 years while still working full-time for the federal government. During his tenure the society bought its first sanctuary in Dorchester County, which would eventually be expanded to about 750 acres. Included in the sanctuary were acres of marshlands that a Smithsonian study found to be a top priority for preservation.
In the 1980s, a 400-acre working farm in Talbot County with 40 acres of old growth forest and more than a mile of waterfront were donated to the society for use as a center for environment education. Currently, more than 13,000 program participants and visitors connect with the habitats, wildlife and rural character of the Pickering Creek Audubon Center each year.
Waldman is the recipient of the William Dutcher award in recognition of his contributions to the environment.
His connection to West Virginia is through his wife, Priscilla Shields Waldman. She was born in the Marlinton Hospital a daughter of Gaye Shields, of Stony Bottom and Cass, and the late James W. Shields, Sr.
The Waldmans often visit Pocahontas County, enjoying a place where the wild flowers grow in abundance, the air is crisp and the rivers run free.
Gaye E. Shields,
Stony Bottom and Cass

Dear Editor:
I was compelled to respond to the recent media articles about the WVU mascot, Jonathan Kimble.
I was unaware of this tradition, but apparently, each WVU mascot hunts with the musket during hunting season and harvests an animal or animals with it. This has been a tradition for some time if I’m not mistaken. So what is the big deal you ask? Well, Kimble, or someone close to him posted a video online of him killing a black bear with the musket during black bear season.
Soon after, those who are anti-hunting and anti-gun jumped out of their bean bag chairs and ran up the basement steps of their momma’s house to call all of their friends to get the word out. A blood thirsty lunatic from the hills of West Virginia was loose in the hollers, killing all of the Lord’s precious creatures that were unfortunate enough to walk by the barrel of his smoking gun.
In response to the uproar, WVU had a “conference” with Mr. Kimble about his actions. They say now, that he has been told not to use his musket for hunting and WVU has said that the tradition has been stopped.
Way to go WVU; way to back your guy. It’s good to know that people who disagree with our traditions and cultures in West Virginia don’t get away with telling us how to live.
Since WVU decided to go belly up like an ol’ opossum in the hen house, I’ll speak up for Mr. Kimble. There were no rules, regulations, policies, laws, or dinner table edicts broken on Kimble’s hunt.
Our right to have a gun is protected by the Constitution. We have a right to have it for multiple reasons besides hunting, self-protection being the top of the list. The outdoors—hunting, fishing, farming, logging, and coal mining—is a huge part of our culture here in West Virginia, and I, for one, am not the least bit ashamed of that fact. West Virginians are tough, hardworking people who do a lot with a lot less than most. Some of us still know the lost traditions such as harvesting your own gardens, butchering livestock and canning food for the winter.
I think people who don’t know where their eggs come from or where their hamburger and bacon comes from are seriously disconnected from reality. I believe you can live your life the way you want. If that means you wish not to own a firearm, or hunt an animal I’m cool with that. That is, of course, your right because you’re free; like me. You live your way, we will live ours. Don’t expect us to apologize for our traditions and lifestyles. Don’t expect me to turn in my guns. Don’t expect me to leave the hills and hollers anytime soon.
Very Respectfully,
Devin McCoy
Hillsboro, WV