RESULTS

Ray Shelly organized and executed a first class presentation for the Elks' youth recognition banquet Friday evening at the Elks Lodge # 1272.  All his students who participated in the Pennsylvania State Tournament were present with parents and family. Ray, master of ceremony, praised and recognized them individually, presenting each with a personalized & customized Elks Chess & Checker insignia sports trainers' jacket, a personalized & customized Elks Chess & Checker insignia tournament chess tote bag and a likewise tournament checker tote bag with board & pieces, clock, game sheet recorders, pen/pencil, instruction books / DVDs for each.  Framed certificates and plaques presentation, and picture taking was all part of this event, with The Exalted Ruler of Elks Lodge # 1272, Charles “Butch” Hachemeister, Jr. presenting the Elks' “Certificate of Recognition” and Tom Bradshaw a Dorchester County Councilman presented the “Dorchester County Certificate of Commendation” who was a stand-in for President J. L. Newcomb of Dorchester County Councilmen. Alan Millhone, President of American Checker Federation, presented “Medals of Achievement,” with JR Smith, Secretary of NCCA, briefly speaking at the event. These five and Mrs. Jane Parks, and 4 others made up the 10 honorees of the head table.  Incidentally, Denny's Restaurant paid for these 10 meal tickets for the head table, which our Elks' membership appreciates by patronizing this family restaurant.  Ray Shelly is a PER (Past Exalted Ruler) and currently one of 5 Trustees along with the 4 main officers that make up their lodge's governing committee.  Jane Parks is the wife of deceased Charles Parks who was head of the City of Cambridge Public Works, and the owner of a nice checker library which she donated to Ray to support his efforts to build their Elks' youth chess & checker club.

Alan and I drove in Thursday and met at Best Western hotel in Annapolis which was just off I-97.  This was approximately a 6 hour trip for each of us.  We enjoyed a nice meal at the Green Turtle and after that played checkers until 12:00am.  We drove in to meet Ray Friday morning, crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge traveling US-50 to Cambridge.  After lunch we got a tour of Cambridge which Ray and Beverly were reared there.  We met Leon Lane a checker playing banker at National Bank of Cambridge, Attorney Michael and Jane Maloney at their law office in downtown Cambridge.  Jane is a checker player. Ray was the perfect host showing us around and visiting the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort, Spa and Marina, which is actually on the Choptank river which runs into the Chesapeake Bay.  We could see the Ocean Gateway, Sunburst Hwy, Choptank River Bridge we took to get into Cambridge. Neither Alan or I have ever been this far into Eastern Shore Maryland.  This is a flat coastal low country, Delmarva peninsula, mostly soybean fields, marsh lands, and small towns like Easton, Denton, Cambridge, East New Market, Salisbury, and of course famous Ocean City which we didn't bother to go there.  We visited the Great Marsh Park and there we saw a skipjack, a type of sailboat use in oyster harvest and now Maryland's state boat design.  We also saw Roosevelt's elevator from USS Potomac, FDR's Presidential Yacht. It was the second funnel stack on the ship which was fake, designed to conceal the elevator to hoist FDR to an emergency lifeboat on top deck, but used regularly by FDR for his comfort.  Also there at the end of pier A is the Choptank River Lighthouse, a replica of a six-sided screwpile lighthouse that guided mariners along the Choptank River for generations. We spent time in historical downtown Cambridge, seeing restored building used for shops and businesses, also many of the old historical homes, buildings, churches, and cemeteries in Cambridge. We even dropped in on Beverly at her beauty salon while downtown, a second generation business from her Mother, Cecille.