IMPORTANT: MagLev returns with state funding.

URGENT! Over the weekend we received news from Councilman Smith's office that the early phases of the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) are underway for the Baltimore-Washington Superconducting Magnetic Levitaion project (SCMAGLEV). This project is in the early phases however it looks that Linthicum can and would be affected via a station at BWI and then a continuance of the line into Baltimore. In November 2015, the Maryland Public Service Commission approved Baltimore Washington Rapid Rail's application to acquire the franchise rights to former WB&A electric railroad.

There is a public scoping meeting scheduled for December 10, 2016 at Lindale Middle School from 10:00AM-12:00PM.

Please visit:  http://www.baltimorewashingtonscmaglevproject.com/ for more information.

MAA to remove trees

MAA to remove trees

By J.E. Szech

The Maryland Aviation Administration recently visited with the LSIA to discuss the removal of trees from certain areas of MAA property bordering BWI-Thurgood Marshall, as well as trees that are on private property.  The tree removal is intended to increase visibility of the existing aids to navigation, as well as allow the aircraft to maintain a 50:1 (feet) approach slope to runway 15 Left (15L).  The MAA is currently in the process of evaluating the anticipated environmental impacts of the tree removal.  The impacts are broken down into three categories:

Category 1

ü  Air Quality

ü  Biological Resources

ü  Coastal Resources

ü  Historical, Architectural, archaeological, and Cultural

ü  Department of Transportation Resources

ü  Visual Effects

ü  Water Resources

Category 2

ü  Climate

ü  Land Use

ü  HazMat Prevention

ü  Noise and Noise Compatible Land Use

ü  Natural resources and Energy Supply

ü  Socioeconomic Impacts

ü  Cumulative Impacts

Category 3

ü  Farmland

According to the representatives from the MAA, the project is currently in the process of drafting the environmental assessment, with a public review beginning in May 2017 and public workshop scheduled for June of 2017.  As of this writing, the final environmental assessment should be issued in November of 2017.  Most of the Linthicum residents affected reside on or near Andover Rd. and its side streets.  MAA officials, will be contacting residents who may have an obtrusive tree on their property.  MAA officials believe that most trees that are targeted would be removed completely and not altered.  The LSIA has voiced concerns over how altering the landscape could affect noise levels in Linthicum.  The LSIA will continue to work with the MAA, however, due to the safety concerns over a compromised runway approach most of the trees targeted will most likely be removed.  This proposal is a separate concern from that of NextGen flight control, which has brought aircraft traffic to some areas that were previously minimally affected by aircraft noise.  Most of the trees targeted are on property that is owned by the MAA.  For more information, please contact Robin Bowie rbowie @bwiairport.com or P.O. Box 8766, BWI Airport, MD 21240

LSIA Member Savings Are Here!

Here is an updated list for your LSIA discount card! We have since added Flowers Extraordinaire!

 This is an important note for delivery (Dominos and Carmelo’s): When you call in your order tell the person you have the LSIA 10% coupon and then show your card to the person when the food is delivered.

Reminders for using your card:

·       YOU KEEP THIS CARD- just show the card at the participating business and them put it back in a safe place to use again!  Not all of the businesses will have a sign in their window so check your Monitor for all the participating vendors.

·       Check the list of businesses recorded below to see if there are any specifics: exclusions or certain items only THIS IS IMPORTANT TO READ!  Only the businesses listed below are honoring the coupon.  The ads in the Monitor are not involved with this coupon unless they are listed below.

·       The coupon is good beginning November 1, 2016 and is good through May 31, 2017.

·       DO NOT REPRODUCE THIS CARD IN ANY MANNER.  This card is exclusive to LSIA members only.  Any one can join but only 21090 (In the LSIA district) zip code members may vote at this time.  Encourage your neighbors and friends to join!

·       The participating businesses will be listed every month in the Monitor.  Please check for any updates or changes.

·       The coupon card may be used at the same business over and over again. It is not a one-time use coupon.  You can save as much money as you want using the coupon card multiple times at any of the businesses; just pay attention to the exclusions and terms:

Here is the List of Businesses honoring the 10% off coupon: Please note specific offers:

Camp Meade Rd:

- Petal Pushers Florist & Gifts                                  -Tauber’s Towing Service

   In-store Items only                                                          Local Towing only

-Dominos Pizza                                                               -Ocean Chinese Restaurant

-Land’s Dry Cleaning                                                    - Matsu Sushi

 Alterations only                                                           

-Charlene’s Hallmark                                                   -Siddalee Photography

  Candy items only                                                              Mini sessions excluded

-Linthicum Market                                                        - Carmelo’s                                   

-Bernie’s Grill                                                                  -Lorrie’s Head to Toe

-2nd Chance Toyz                                                            - Bill’s Hair Design

- Pohlman Plumbing                                                       Haircuts only

-Scruples Hair Design                                                  - Bruce’s Supply Company

-Flowers Extraordinaire

Hammonds Ferry Rd:

               -Olive Grove

Cannot be combined with any other offers

Pinnacle Dr.:

  -Urban Bar-B-Que

International Dr. (off Nursery Rd.):

  -Ruby Tuesday’s: NOTE: Do not use coupon! 

Ruby Tuesday coupons will be available at the regular LSIA monthly meetings so come to the meetings to receive their coupons!

Have fun and get out there and use your exclusive LSIA 10% off coupon card!

We Are Not Alone

By: Derick Dallas

Great, we have another UFO conspiracy nut in Linthicum – queue The X-Files theme now - not quite. The visitors I speak of are living amongst us already. Some probably long before homo sapiens ever walked the earth. Some we notice, some we may not. Some live with us every day. At least in my house, unfortunately for my wife, Kelly. These denizens are of the six and eight-legged varieties. Most are harmless and some can even be beneficial. Some are considered pests. Some are quite nasty.

As most boys growing up we had a common curiosity with the creatures we spied in the air, on the ground, and those that were hidden. Most, as we get older, grow out of this interest. Then some of us, such as myself, still harbor this curiosity. I was curious enough to the point of considering a career in insects. I enrolled in classes of Entomology, Zoology, Microbiology, and Macrobiology. I still on occasion use my childhood microscope. When considering a career, thoughts of spending my time in deserts and rainforests, contracting rare diseases, and naming an insect after myself didn’t really push my desire in that direction. So I am an amateur at best.

Let’s start with the ones that we find in our homes. The Long Bodied Cellar Spider (Pholcus phalangioide) is an extremely long legged, small tannish to yellow bodied spider that you can usually find living in the corners anywhere in your home. When you do find them you will usually find the carcasses of its victims below its web first. In my house it is mostly ants and the occasional pill bug or as its also known, a roly polie. They will usually spend their entire lives living in that corner if undisturbed. When threated they will vibrate their web making it sometimes hard to see them. They are extremely harmless.

Also living in corners can be another more threatening looking spider. For someone who has studied spiders this one can still fool you. The False Black Widow (Steatoda grossa) is a small black or dark brown spider you will commonly find in your home and outdoor structures. It likes to have a hiding spot and will present itself when it detects prey. It is almost similar in size to the Black Widow but has a more oval abdomen and lacks the noticeable red hourglass markings that her sister possesses. They can live up to six years and unfortunately can still give a painful bite, although rarely severe.

You will also find in your home a small brown oblong beetle called a Click Beetle (family Elateridae). When the beetle is touched, picked up, or threatened, it falls on its back and plays dead. It then will sometimes bend its head and thorax forward, hooking a spine into a notch on the abdomen. When the spine is released, it makes a click, and the beetle hurls itself into the air. The picture I included is an actual beetle of the same family I found in my back yard.  Although it’s common name is Eastern-Eyed Click Beetle (Alaus oculatus). It is much larger at about two inches. Neither of these bugs wish to be in your house and are harmless.  They eat mostly dying and dried vegetation.

Another insect we all find, especially in this time of year, is the Woolly Bear Caterpillar (Pyrrharctia Isabella). Its colors will vary greatly from all black, bright rust, or a banding of both colors. This leads to the myth that they are predictors of our winter weather to come. You are better with reading the Farmer’s Almanac for your weather predictions. If you search hard, you will find multiple variations of it’s coloring through-out the same fall season. After they hibernate they will transform themselves into an Isabella Tiger Moth. Their color will be mostly a pale orange with some dark spots. On occasion some species of the caterpillar will transform themselves into a Giant Leopard Moth. If you are lucky to discover one of these creatures, they are quite beautiful. Mostly white with black circles and spots on their wings. The wings can hide a bright reddish-black body. A true treasure.

I’ve saved our nastiest for last. These two creatures of the dark are truly dangerous. One more so than the other. Both can inflict pain and agony upon the recipients of their bite. Both like to hide in dark places such as work gloves, garden gloves, and yard shoes left out on our porches. So when putting on these items shake, bang, slap, or scrunch them up really well.

Let us start with the Brown Recluse (Loxosceles reclusa). Some experts will say that these predators of the dark are not native to Maryland. They are mostly found in our southern mid-western states. I can tell you from a personal experience that landed me in the ER that “They’re here”. They are thin legged and small bodied. Roughly the size of a quarter. They can be mistaken for many of our harmless Funnel Weaver spiders. The Brown Recluse has only six eyes not eight. Upon closer inspection (while deceased) you can usually see a violin shaped marking on the back of its cephalothorax. This gives them the nickname “fiddle back spider”. My assassin had hidden itself in my yard work overalls. It had bitten me twice. One bite was a defensive bite. The other bite, on my inner thigh, was the bite where I was “dosed”. Upon discovery of my bites I thought it was that pesky mosquito. The first bite vanished without fanfare. The “dosed” bite progressively grew worse to where Neosporin was not working. I developed a fever and needed professional medical attention for my wound. The spiders venom is considered hemotoxic. This disrupts blood clotting by destroying red blood cells and causes skin deterioration.  A pesky little fella huh?

Now for our most sinister looking Md resident but not nearly as dangerous. The Southern Black Widow (Latrodectus mactans). This little lady we speak of lives on almost every continent except Antarctica. She is pitch black with the ever noticeable bright red hourglass marking on the underside of her abdomen. She is about the size of a nickel to a quarter. It has always been speculated that her common name was derived from the act of consuming the male species after mating. This mostly happens because all spiders are cannibalistic. The male of the species is much, much, smaller and unfortunately much slower. So who’s hungry?! Her venom is a potent neurotoxin. Her bite can cause pain in the chest and abdomen, sweating, fever, vomiting, and extreme pain at the bites site. A bite from the Black Widow is rarely deadly. Allergic reactions and/or multiple bites are where occurrences have proven fatal.  It is important to remember that if you believe you have been bitten by either spider, you should seek medical attention.  Factors such as, age, health, and bite location could seriously impact your body’s reaction to the toxins.  Make sure to use caution this autumn season when performing leaf cleanup, tidying up the shed, retrieving firewood from the pile, and even moving rocks and garden edging.

So to borrow some wisdom from the iconic horror king Vincent Price on Alice Cooper’s song “The Black Widow” – “…If I may put forward a slice of personal philosophy, I feel that man has ruled this world as a stumbling demented child-king long enough! And as his empire crumbles, my precious Black Widow shall rise as his most fitting successor!” 

Bring In The Bats

By: Kevin Plessner

We have a bat problem in Maryland, but the problem is probably not what you think. Unfortunately, the bat population has been decimated in our state and the loss of our bat population has brought dire consequences for our community and our ecology. Due to the various myths and fears that people commonly have about bats, I think that a good place to begin to tell our bat story would be with a brief description of what a bat is, and more importantly, what it isn’t.

What is a Bat?

Contrary to popular belief, bats are not rodents. In fact, bats are more closely related to humans than they are to mice! They are the only mammals that have developed true flight, therefore they are put in their own scientific order: Chiroptera (hand-wing). There are ten species of bats in Maryland and each one of them eats exclusively insects (bat species in other parts of the world also commonly eat fruit and pollen in addition to insects). There is no such thing as a “vampire bat” in Maryland (or even in North America).

Why Do We Want Bats?

In Maryland and other parts of the world, insect-eating bats are the primary predators of night-flying insects including moths, beetles, gnats, mosquitoes, and flies.  In fact, one little brown bat in Maryland can eat several thousand insects each night. Insect-eating bats reduce pests and therefore reduce our use of pesticides. That means bats directly make our air and water cleaner and help us to protect wildlife. Pesticides lead to increased food costs and can lead to health issues in humans.  With fewer bats, insect populations will continue to grow. Rising insect populations increase our dependence on pesticides and rising food production costs. Escalating insect populations also increase the chance for mosquito and other insect-borne diseases (such as the Zika virus).

In other parts of the world, nectar-feeding bats help pollinate plants, including those that provide food for humans. Fruit-eating bats help to spread seeds. Humans have also found bat guano (feces) to be very useful to be used as fertilizer and making gasohol. Bacteria in their guano are helpful in improving soaps and antibiotics as well.

Bats are crucial to gardeners and farmers, playing an important role by eating thousands of pest insects that feed on the crops we grow such as the tomato horned worm, corn earworm and various types of beetles. Unfortunately, due to many years of fear and misunderstanding, bat populations around the world are decreasing and some are nearly extinct.

Vampire Bat Myths

So-called “vampire bats” have been portrayed as scary and vicious animals seeking to suck the blood of unsuspecting people. This is certainly not the case – bats do not suck human blood. There are only 3 species of bats that have a taste for blood (primarily of cows, chickens and other animals) – and they all live in Central and South America.

Interestingly, it is in the mouths of these tiny mammals that scientists have found a powerful drug for the treatment of blood clotting diseases. The saliva of a vampire bat contains a special clot busting protein that has been synthesized and the resulting drug is called desmoteplase or DSPA after the scientific name for the common vampire bat Desmodus rotundus. This drug is being used in trials to treat thromboemboli (loose blood clots in the body) which may block important blood vessels in the lungs (pulmonary embolism) and brain (stroke) and can result in death. Initial trials have shown that the drug works much more quickly and effectively at breaking up pulmonary blood clots than traditional treatments. Thanks to increasing research into bat biology and medicine you too may one day be saved by the bite of a vampire bat.

Is there Anything I Can Do to Help? Build a Bat House!!

Bat houses in Maryland and most other places have been proven to provide a habitat for bats. If you build them a home, they will help you by eating your unwanted mosquitos and other insect pests.

As the human population continues to grow, human-wildlife altercations will also increase.  Bats prefer to live in dead trees during the summer. Without natural habitat, however, bats will take up residence in human-made buildings since their natural habitat is no longer available. Mounting a bat house on a pole, tree or the side of a structure is the best way for us to provide a suitable alternative to our homes. Unless alternative housing is available, bats will continue to adapt to living in our homes.  This greatly increases the chance of human-bat contact. It is to the benefit of the health of the community to place up bat houses to provide alternatives.  

Here are some of the benefits to putting up a bat house:

·        Bat houses give bats a home and in turn they will eat thousands of insects for you each night.

·        Bat houses give bats an alternative to our homes, thus reducing the chance of human to bat contact.

·        Bat populations have decreased significantly in recent years and bat houses can help provide them with a safe and secure habitat for bats to roost during the day and to raise their young.

·        If you choose, you can use the guano (bat poop) for your garden. Place a potted plant under the bat to collect the guano, it's high in nitrogen and plants love it.

·        Fewer insects means fewer mosquitos, termites and other insects, which means less pesticides, a healthier ecosystem and therefore a healthier Linthicum.

Bat houses should be mounted at least 12 to 15 feet off the ground, and facing an open, sunny location. They work best if placed on a pole, the side of building, or a tall mature tree with a lot of trunk space. I have provided some links to bat house building plans below, but they are also available online and in local stores (Amazon, Home Depot and Walmart to name a few) and are relatively inexpensive to build.

It’s important to note that in Maryland, bats generally hibernate during the cold winter months from September or October until March, April or May. The temperature will determine how soon they go into hibernation and how soon they emerge from hibernation.  During mid-fall they leave their summer roosting site and fly from a few miles to a few hundred miles to their hibernation site (the hibernation site must be cool but remain above freezing).

Wait, I Heard that Bats Can Give Me Rabies…

Rabies is a fatal disease transmitted from one animal to another by biting. Rabies kills about 30,000 people in the world each year. However, 99% of these cases are transmitted by dogs—rabies in bats is not common. Over the last 50 years, only about 40 people in the United States have died from rabies contracted from a wild bat, even though hundreds of millions of bats live in this country and millions of these animals roost in buildings frequented by humans. 

The last reported death in Maryland attributed to bat rabies occurred in 1976. A 55-year old woman was bitten on the hand by a bat; the species was later identified as Silver-haired Bat/Eastern Pipistrelle Bat (this species has not been shown to reside in bat houses in Maryland). Rabies data from 1991-2000 provided by the Maryland State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene show that skunks, raccoons and foxes have the highest prevalence of rabies in Maryland. In addition, bats are not “carriers” of rabies—when a bat gets the disease, it will die.  Bats also tend to become paralyzed with the disease, often avoiding the aggressive form of rabies.

Statistically, more people are killed by lightning strikes and dog attacks than rabid bats. That being said, there are several ways to further reduce the chance of coming in contact with an infected wild bat.  It is always recommended that all dogs and cats (indoor and outdoor) be vaccinated against rabies, wild bats be humanely evicted from living quarters and alternative housing be provided (e.g. a bat house). 

Will A Bat Attack Me?

Picking up a bat with bare hands is the most common way in which people are bitten.  Most animals will bite in self-defense, and bats are not an exception.  Avoid contact with all wild animals by keeping a safe distance.  If bitten by any wild mammal or stray dog or cat, contact your physician and Animal Control to have the animal sent for testing. If you have been bitten by a bat, wash the wound with soap and water and call your county health agency immediately. Prompt medical treatment and a series of five shots in the arm can prevent a person from contracting rabies. For more information on rabies and wildlife and when to consider post-exposure treatment, visit the Centers for Disease Control website.

Keep these things in mind if you come across a bat:

1.      Don't panic!

2.      If the bat is outside, leave it alone.

3.      Bats do not attack people. They are afraid of humans, viewing us as predators, and will avoid us when possible.

4.      Like any wild animal, a bat can bite if threatened. If you need to relocate the bat, do not touch a bat with your bare hands. Call Animal Control.

5.      Bats are protected and important animals that play a key role in balancing ecosystems.  We should try to never cause harm to bats.

The Following Websites Contain Simple Bat Box Plans:

https://www.thisoldhouse.com/how-to/fun-family-project-how-to-build-bat-house

http://dnr2.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/plants_wildlife/bats/batboxes.aspx

Acknowledgements: Statistics and facts contained in this article were provided by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Organization for Bat Conservation and the Maryland State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.