Plumpton Park Zoo

Where is the government support for the 24-year-old institution that provides community coalescence and a clean family environment for Maryland residents ("Zoo closing in Cecil Co. was cited by USDA," Aug. 7)? While Baltimore's Druid Hill Park zoo receives millions in federal and state aid, Plumpton Park Zoo in Rising Sun must close because the 82-year-old owner cannot single handedly carry the load any longer. I think it is shameful for both Senators Barbara A. Mikulski and Benjamin L. Cardin to not step in and offer assistance to the residents and communities of North East, Maryland in their time of need.

A Rising Sun zoo set up an online fundraising campaign for its 19-year-old intern who was injured in a lightning strike. Plumpton Park Zoo wants to raise $5,000 for the woman through the website FundRazr. The woman was struck Thursday at the zoo. Bystanders told emergency personnel that the woman was standing near a large tree when she was struck as severe weather moved through the area. According to the zoo's posting on FundRazr, the woman was hospitalized and in a coma for several days, but is recovering.

A Cecil County zoo that got its start as a personal hobby for its owner, survived political controversies and delighted children and other visitors for 24 years has closed its doors. Ed Plumstead, 82, of Rising Sun, the founder and owner of Plumpton Park Zoo, could not be reached for comment, but the county's tourism director, Sandy Turner, said Plumstead had contacted her last week to tell her he would close the zoo because tending its more than 300 animals had become too hard for him. He shut the business down sometime last week, she said.

A 19-year-old woman was injured in a lightning strike at the Plumpton Park Zoo in Rising Sun as severe weather moved through the area Thursday morning, according to Cecil County Emergency Services Director Richard Brooks. Emergency personnel were called to the zoo in the 1400 block of Telegraph Road about 9:08 a.m. and found a group of bystanders caring for the woman, Brooks said. The bystanders told the medics that the woman had been standing near a large tree when the lightning struck.

As Rising Sun residents mourned this week the closure of a beloved local attraction, the 24-year-old Plumpton Park Zoo, records obtained by The Baltimore Sun show that inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture had recently notified owner Ed Plumstead of nearly two dozen potential violations of federal regulations governing animal health and safety. Among the 21 concerns cited in a June 29 report, an inspector wrote that seven animal enclosures needed repair, a structure housing six bison lacked proper access to water, a monkey cage had insufficient ventilation, and a tiger was living in a keeper's residence on the property.

A Rising Sun zoo set up an online fundraising campaign for its 19-year-old intern who was injured in a lightning strike. Plumpton Park Zoo wants to raise $5,000 for the woman through the website FundRazr. The woman was struck Thursday at the zoo. Bystanders told emergency personnel that the woman was standing near a large tree when she was struck as severe weather moved through the area. According to the zoo's posting on FundRazr, the woman was hospitalized and in a coma for several days, but is recovering.

A 19-year-old woman was injured in a lightning strike at the Plumpton Park Zoo in Rising Sun as severe weather moved through the area Thursday morning, according to Cecil County Emergency Services Director Richard Brooks. Emergency personnel were called to the zoo in the 1400 block of Telegraph Road about 9:08 a.m. and found a group of bystanders caring for the woman, Brooks said. The bystanders told the medics that the woman had been standing near a large tree when the lightning struck.

From Route 273 in northern Cecil County, only a small maroon sign distinguishes Plumpton Park Zoological Gardens from the surrounding farms.Unless maybe you happen to see the two Watusi cattle, native to Africa, through a small break in a tree line. Not many local cattle have dunce cap horns with potential 10-foot spans.The 20-acre zoo is part of 110 acres along Northeast Creek, three miles east of Rising Sun. The land is owned by the zoo's director, Edward C. Plumstead, who leases the land to the county for $10 a year but still lives there in a 101-year-old white frame house.

MARYLAND IN MINIATURETake your next vacation right here in the Land of Pleasant Living. You can make all the arrangements this weekend at the "Maryland on Display" Tour and Travel Showcase at Festival Hall.Representatives from county tourism offices, hotels and motels, KOA campgrounds, Phillips Seafood, Plumpton Park Zoo, Smith Island Cruises, Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, the National Aquarium and the Annapolis Dinner Theater are among the 200 exhibitors. Highlights inside the hall include minstrels, magicians, comedians, authentic Maryland seafood and a children's activity area.

Organizers of major annual events always hope they can improve on the previous year's version. For the people running today's Fair Hill Country Music Festival in Cecil County, which concludes tomorrow, that should be easy.Last summer, at a nightmarish inaugural festival, the Judds got upstaged by the mud. The "farewell tour" of this mother-daughter country music duo proved an immense draw, selling out 20,000 tickets weeks in advance. But buckets of rain fell the day before the performance and turned the earthen parking area at the fairgrounds into a quagmire.

Where is the government support for the 24-year-old institution that provides community coalescence and a clean family environment for Maryland residents ("Zoo closing in Cecil Co. was cited by USDA," Aug. 7)? While Baltimore's Druid Hill Park zoo receives millions in federal and state aid, Plumpton Park Zoo in Rising Sun must close because the 82-year-old owner cannot single handedly carry the load any longer. I think it is shameful for both Senators Barbara A. Mikulski and Benjamin L. Cardin to not step in and offer assistance to the residents and communities of North East, Maryland in their time of need.

As Rising Sun residents mourned this week the closure of a beloved local attraction, the 24-year-old Plumpton Park Zoo, records show that inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture had recently notified owner Ed Plumstead, 82, of nearly two dozen potential violations of federal regulations governing animal health and safety. Among the 21 concerns cited in a June 29 report, an inspector wrote that seven animal enclosures needed repair, a structure housing six bison lacked proper access to water, a monkey cage had insufficient ventilation and a tiger was living in a keeper's residence on the property.

A Cecil County zoo that got its start as a personal hobby for its owner, survived political controversies and delighted children and other visitors for 24 years has closed its doors. Ed Plumstead, 82, of Rising Sun, the founder and owner of Plumpton Park Zoo, could not be reached for comment, but the county's tourism director, Sandy Turner, said Plumstead had contacted her last week to tell her he would close the zoo because tending its more than 300 animals had become too hard for him. He shut the business down sometime last week, she said.

From Route 273 in northern Cecil County, only a small maroon sign distinguishes Plumpton Park Zoological Gardens from the surrounding farms.Unless maybe you happen to see the two Watusi cattle, native to Africa, through a small break in a tree line. Not many local cattle have dunce cap horns with potential 10-foot spans.The 20-acre zoo is part of 110 acres along Northeast Creek, three miles east of Rising Sun. The land is owned by the zoo's director, Edward C. Plumstead, who leases the land to the county for $10 a year but still lives there in a 101-year-old white frame house.

Skewed zooEditor: Your feature article on Plumpton Park Zoo in the Sunday Sun Magazine [June 25] was an example of slanted journalism and inadequate research. Mr. Plumstead's problems with at least two of the recent administrations of Cecil County, Md., result not from the "poverty" of the county and the shortsightedness of the commissioners and citizens but instead from Mr. Plumstead's insistence on using public funds, donations and volunteer efforts to support what is essentially a private enterprise.