Last year, the traffic talk around Fruitland, MD, centered around the roundabout that was constructed at the intersection of Cedar Lane and Division Street. Many local motorists fretted over the possibility that we would not know how to circumnavigate such a complex engineering project. The naysayers are quiet now, and it seems that we have survived a year of school buses and trucks and everyday traffic passing through the new roundabout. The feature is much more friendly to pedestrians, and when the power goes out, law enforcement agencies don’t have to worry about dispatching an officer to control the intersection. Roundabouts are effective traffic control features, and it seems that Fruitland was out front in the roundabout game. Residents of Montgomery County, MD, are currently witnessing the construction of several roundabouts, including three in the Deer Park neighborhood. According to Just Up the Pike, local citizens are glad to have them. There are lots of cliches about change. Changes aren’t permanent, but change is. The more things change, the more they stay the same. In the case of the Fruitland roundabout, change was a good thing.

I try not to use the word hate too much, but my feelings toward Wal Mart are bordering on that word. I used to shop at Wal Mart several times a week, but as my frustration grew, Food Lion began to get more and more of my business. The main problem is that Wal Mart is usually out of at least one of the items I go shopping for. One day, they were completely out of shredded cheddar cheese. Not just the store brand, Kraft and Sargento and whoever else makes shredded cheddar. Last summer, we went shopping for a water jug for one of my offspring to take to camp. Guess what, no water jugs. Today, I had a two page list compiled by my better half for the next few days. Lime juice, nowhere to be found. Limeade, empty shelf. Is everybody in Fruitland making margaritas this weekend? I like to give magazine subscriptions for Christmas presents. I had four titles in mind. Not one of them was on the shelf at Wal Mart. So I picked up a couple of DVD’s and the few groceries that I had collected and went to the check out. Thankfully, one of the blue and khaki associates was waiting at the entrance to number 11. She made a couple of trips over to 10 to chat and then typed in her password to open her register. She thanked me for my patience, and I said, “If I was in a hurry, I wouldn’t have come to Wal Mart.” I made my way home with several bags and unloaded them. Then I went to Food Lion. They had everything I needed. I stopped going to Kmart a long time ago. I think Wal Mart has seen the last of me as well. Happy holidays.

A recurring theme on ShoreThings is my concern about the state of our schools in Wicomico County. I have included the statement that our teachers our leaving our classrooms on a few occasions. Citizens of the county who do not currently have kids in school might ask, “Are the teachers really leaving?”

I have two children who attended Fruitland Intermediate School (FIS) during the school years from 01-02 to 05-06. The first three off those school years were quite encouraging as the school maintained a challenging curriculum and had a low turnover rate among teachers. During the period from 2004 to 2006, 11 of the 17 regular classroom teachers left the school for other opportunities. Some of these 11 classrooms have seen two different teachers during this period. The vacancies in the school were filled with teachers of varying degrees of experience, and the effect of this turnover along with other factors such as larger class sizes, has caused FIS to become one of the schools with the highest office referral rate in the county. FIS was featured in a Daily Times article before the 06-07 school year along with Bennett Middle because they had decided to enact a behavior incentive program in an effort to curb the increase in disruptive incidents.

An additional problem in our schools is overcrowding. FIS had 139 third grade students during the 05-06 school year divided among 6 classrooms. This results in an average class size of 23 students. A class size of 24-25 students had been typical for above level and some on level classrooms, but students who were working toward level were typically in a class of 15-18 students. With an average class size of 23 students, this distribution is no longer possible, and students who are working toward level are no longer getting the chance to catch up to their peers. The overcrowding of our classrooms will only increase the distance between the levels of academic achievement among these students.

A great deal of residential development has occurred around Fruitland because the schools had a great reputation. Fruitland Primary has retained many of its quality long time teachers, but I know of two excellent teachers that have left that school as well. The uncontrolled growth in many areas of Wicomico County has not been offset with an increase in school capacity, and the students in these schools are losing out on what used to be a great place to learn.

The Daily Times has done a great job of printing uninformed complaints and downright nonsense about the roundabout in Fruitland. One comment actually complained about how ugly the orange traffic barrels are as if they were a permanent part of the construction. The Daily Times should provide more in depth reporting on the topic of roundabouts. A few minutes of online research will inform us that a roundabout reduces the number of accident scenarios from 32 to 8. Accidents in a roundabout intersection occur at lower speeds which results in less severe personal injuries and lower collision damage costs. During power outages, law enforcement officials will not need to be dispatched to control traffic at roundabout intersections. The upfront cost of the roundabout will be more than traffic lights, but the long term cost will be about the same or less for a roundabout, and the roundabout intersection will be much safer. I travel through the intersection quite frequently, and on two occasions, I have witnessed an eighteen wheel truck roll right through the stop sign at full speed as if it wasn’t there. The Maryland SHA should be applauded for utilizing new options in traffic control.

The Wicomico County Housing Authority (WCHA) has created an unbelievable eyesore on Dulany Ave in Fruitland. I counted six houses on this street that are owned by the WCHA which currently have plywood over the windows and doors. Photos of these houses can be seen below. Click on the thumbnail for a larger view.

The WCHA exists in Wicomico County, but since it is funded by the federal government through HUD, I am sure this will be a complicated problem to fix. The WCHA should be forced to sell these properties as soon as possible. A majority of the houses on Dulany Ave. are rental properties, but there are several residents on this street who own their homes. The WCHA should not be allowed to destroy a neighborhood like this. The WCHA owns other homes on this street, and my concern is that we will soon see more boarded up windows. The WCHA properties shown are house numbers 311, 309, 303, 304, 301 and 201. There are two other houses on the street with different owners that also have boarded up windows.

To see the list of properties on this street, use the State of Maryland Real Property Search. Select Wicomico in the drop down menu and click the Street Address button. Enter Dulany in the Street Name box and click Search.

April 5th P.S. The Daily Times must pay attention to their Story Chat postings. I made a comment about these properties following the Condemned Rental Property story on March 4th. Today the paper finally brought this disaster, Boarded Homes Await Renewal, to the attention of their readers. However, the Daily Times did not include any pictures of the properties to add impact to the story. According to the paper, the renovation of the properties will not begin until this summer, which means that Dulany Ave. residents will have to look at these eyesores for several more months.