Ward Museum

Some of the finest wildfowl artists in the world will bring their latest avian artworks to the Ocean City Convention Center next weekend for the premier wood-carving event of the year -- the Ward World Championship."

SALISBURY -- The way an architect designed it, the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art resembles a bird flying over the low shoreline of Schumaker Pond here.But 1 1/2 years after the $5.3 million museum opened to the public, chronic financial woes -- exacerbated by conflicts between the museum's professional staff and its volunteer governing group -- threaten to clip the bird's wings.When trustees forced Vaughn Baker's resignation early this month, he became the third executive director to leave the museum since it opened in July 1992.

SALISBURY -- No real duck ever coveted a decoy this much.A rare mallard drake carved and painted by renowned Chincoteague decoy maker Ira Hudson -- who most likely sold the bird for a couple of dollars when he made it 60 years ago -- fetched $25,300 yesterday at an auction to benefit Salisbury's Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art.The previous evening, during a surprisingly brisk bidding war for old duck and goose calls, a wooden call made by an Illinois carver around...

Gone are the days when Ocean City emptied out after Labor Day, and vacationers didn't return until Memorial Day rolled around again.Now Ocean City stays busy in the fall, as more people discover the serenity and crisp, sunny days of autumn by the sea. While the surfers and boogie boarders don their wet suits and embrace the chilly waves, there are alternative activities for those who prefer to stay warm and dry. With so many shows, fairs and races going...

Brass SignEditor: I think our state legislators are completely gutless when it comes to raising taxes -- or else they are underestimating their constituents. I would pass the Linowes commission tax proposal in its entirety or else raise the sales tax to six percent, which will accomplish the same end. I believe that people will pay more taxes for value received.I realize Gov. William Donald Schaefer has his flaws, but there is no doubt in my mind that he has the best interest of this state in mind at all times.

Ward MuseumEditor: I would like to respond to two recent letters indicating an apparent misconception concerning the funding of the new Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art.This unique art museum is being constructed by the Ward Foundation and dedicated to the perpetuation of wildfowl art.The Ward Foundation is a private, non-profit organization funded more than 20 years ago to preserve the American art form of decoy carving.Due to the phenomenal growth of the foundation and steadily increasing interest in wildfowl art, the foundation's volunteer board of trustees committed to building the new museum.

The state has saved a rare aquatic plant from having a $5.4 million wildfowl art museum built on top of it in Salisbury -- at the not insignificant cost of $70,000. We appreciate the Department of Natural Resources' dedication to environmental preservation, but the price in this case is too high.At stake was a single strand of Robbins' Spikerush, one of 618 species of plants and animals protected by Maryland law. It sits in Schumaker Pond, over which part of the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art was to be built.