At the annual state-wide Preservation Maryland Conference, I presented a workshop on “blogging for a cause.” There were about 30 preservationist, urban planners, and Main Street Managers in the session and we had a lively discussion about how to use blogs for advocacy or to promote organizations.
Month: May 2009
Remembering Three Fallen Officers in Crisfield
About ten years ago, I was involved in researching a piece on the history of criminal justice on the Lower Shore and came across some sketchy indicators that three Crisfield Police Officers had died in the line of duty. The number of line of duty deaths in such a small town surprised me so I decided to dig into this subject. The obvious sources, such as the National Law Enforcement and State Memorials, did not list the fallen officers. So I traveled down to Somerset County for some fieldwork, since surely someone in the town would have information. But to my surprise, I came back empty-handed, even after a visit to the police department.
But that changed a few years ago after First Sgt. Stanley Harmon joined the Crisfield Police Department. Having recently retired from a law enforcement career in the Baltimore Metropolitan area, where he’d served in a variety of units, including homicide, the 50-something officer was interested in the history of his new department. While doing research to dig up the history of the agency, he too came across the names of Night Chief Daugherty, Chief Kirwin, and Policeman Daugherty, the officers that had fallen in the line of duty while maintaining peace in the Chesapeake Bay town.
After making the discovery, he created a memorial at the Crisfield Police Station. Then he took on the task of getting these public servants listed on the Officer Down Memorial. He also sat out to get the men added to the National Law Enforcement Memorial and that happened On May 13 during a candlelight vigil ceremony.
I think Sgt. Harmon for making sure these fallen law enforcement officers from Crisfield were remembered. For a little more information on these fallen officers click here to go to my regular history blog.
Seeing the Work of Young Scholars, While Judging Maryland History Day
The Maryland Humanities Council sponsors Maryland History Day, an annual program that encourages Maryland students to research, analyze, and develop their own year-long projects based on historic events and people. The competition, which begins at a school level and builds to county, state, and national contests, had over 16,000 Maryland participants. I was fortunate to have the experience of participating as a judge at the state contest on April 25 at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. That was an enriching experience since I got to see some of the fine work of a cluster of scholars in the web site cohort, as well as having the opportunity to work in the run-off contests for displays. This is a valuable project for young scholars and I was pleased to be able to see some of the outside work of these young people.