NEWS

PRINCE FREDERICK, NOVEMBER 7, 2006 ― Sue Kullen, co-owner of the Cottages of Governors Run and state legislative representative for Calvert County, won her election defeating a two-term county commissioner, 57% to 43%. In winning the campaign, Sue becomes the first elected female State Delegate in Calvert County's 350 year history. Read more at: www.SueKullen.com

Victorious Delegate Sue Kullen (D-Calvert) reacts Tuesday night to news that she has kept her delegate seat, beating a challenge by current Calvert County Board of County Commissioners President David Hale (R) 7,512 votes to 5,629, 57 percent to 43 percent. Kullen was at the Democratic party post-election shindig at the Prince Frederick Volunteer Fire Dept. Staff Photo by Darwin Weigel

PORT REPUBLIC, JANUARY 6, 2006 -- Happy New Year! To celebrate our fifth year in business by providing accommodations to over 180 families during that time, we're pleased to announce that rental rates will remain at the same level as last year. The last rate increase occurred nearly three years ago when the county enacted a 5% "accommodation tax" and rates were changed to reflect this law.

PORT REPUBLIC, DECEMBER 2005 -- As we head out of 2005 and into 2006 we thought it would be nice to take a moment to share some news about this past year.

It was a busy year, it was! We had 28 families visit the Cottages of Governors Run; most of them with their children or their children’s children. It’s a family kind of neighborhood where everyone still watches out for everyone else and during the weekdays, when the owners are not around, the community is much more quiet and laid-back. When the children aren’t on the beach, in the water or fishing from the pier, we’ve noticed the littlest of the children playing on the swing-set near cBay.

Sue spent her first full session as our local representative to the Maryland House of Delegates in Annapolis for its 90-day legislative session. First – we apologize if your call wasn’t answered in as timely manner as in the past. The duties and responsibilities of representative are tasks that Sue enjoys and takes very seriously and we may have missed a call or two. 2006 is an election year and we’re building support to make sure that she continues to represent her district with all of the passion she’s shown this past year.

Steve changed jobs – after several years with the National Recycling Coalition and commuting to D.C. daily, he decided to spend more time supporting the election campaign of Sue and to continue to focus on environmental issues. He's now working in the community as well as spending much time on the Kullen For Calvert election campaign.

The community continues to also improve. Several cottages have been painted; new landscaping can be found throughout the neighborhood and the pier is finally finished, completely. The pier now has running water the entire length with a sink ¾ of the way out for the visitors and owners who like to clean fish and keep clean. New lights have been installed for night fishing and in the Spring a few more benches will make it fun to spend more time on the pier.

It you’re reading this before the new year, Sue and Steve wish you a great Christmas or the holiday that you celebrate and wish you a prosperous, healthy and happy new year.

PORT REPUBLIC, NOVEMBER 2004 -- Fourteen months after Tropical Storm Isabel raced up the Chesapeake Bay, damaging or destroying thousands of private piers in her wake, the pier at Governors Run has been completed. After nearly 5 months of construction, the fishing pier of Governors Run has officially been completed. Members of the community's home owners association and guests held an official pier re-opening ceremony on Saturday, October 30, 2004 with the focus on the raising of a new American flag.

While the water system for the pier, including shower and fish cleaning area, will await installation after the winter, the pier is ready for guests and owners to use. "It's the largest deck I've ever built - eight feet wide and 350' long - that's a lot of wood," said Steve Kullen, the principal responsible for reconstruction of the pier. "Lumber prices increased nearly 40% since last year but we were able to work steady, keeping labor prices lower than anticipated - lumber, because of the 'war' in Iraq and damage from the hurricanes in Florida this year, was in great demand. At times we were lucky to get any lumber."

PORT REPUBLIC, JULY 10, 2004 - Reconstruction of the 450 foot Governors Run Pier continues. To date over 1,500 square feet of decking has been replaced, including over 100 stringers, 35 pilings and 250 feet of handrails. Electrical lines to the security lights are also being installed as progress continues. The most difficult and expensive part of the project remains - completing the final 100 feet which includes two platforms. Completion is scheduled for Labor Day. Below left is a photo of Steve (left) applying a string line to the decking while Sue's brother, Jeff, in the background, assists. The photo on the right shows Steve and Jeff standing on the new decking.

PORT REPUBLIC, MAY 27, 2004 - Pier repair has begun! On May 19th Case Marine Construction began to replace the pilings that were lost due to Hurricane Isabel. 40 20' pilings are in the process of being replaced and some are being "married" with other older but still viable pilings to give them extra durability. The piling installation should be completed by June 5th and re-decking will begin. It's hoped that the entire pier will be completed by mid-August with a new American Flag raising scheduled for July 4th, 2004. The photos below are of the marine contractors installing the pilings.

PORT REPUBLIC, JANUARY 15, 2004 - Repairs to the heavily damaged 450 foot pier is slated to being later this spring. Because of the destruction from Hurricane Isabel to thousands of piers in the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding areas, reconstruction will take longer than anticipated. For updates, please contact us at: info@baycottages.com. Thank you for all of the support we've received from our visitors - we look forward to your return and the return of our pier!

PORT REPUBLIC, SEPTEMBER 22, 2003 - Hurricane Isabel brought 60 mph winds and surging tides to the Chesapeake Bay Thursday evening and the result was costly for all homes and structures along the nations largest estuary. Governors Run, just 45 miles southeast of Washington D.C., received a pounding by the six-foot high waves and winds gusting to over 60 miles per hour.

Wednesday evening, September 18, before sunset, the wind had increased, the tide was rising and warnings were sent out to every community along the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and the Patuxent River. By 6 p.m. a mandatory evacuation plan was implemented and all residents were asked to leave the immediate area. If the resident decided to stay with their home they were asked to sign a wavier presented to them by a member of the County Sheriffs Department. By 9 p.m. all electricity and other utilities had been damaged and were inoperable.

By 5 a.m. Thursday, September 19th, the majority of damage had occurred as high tide had passed and with it, had taken any structure in its path. In Governors Run, several houses received wind damage, one cottage was struck by a fallen tree, one cottage was flooded and several other cottages received minor wind damage -- roofing, screen window and other water damage. Luckily, no injuries were reported. The tallest tree in the community fell during the night and flattened the community storage shed which held several small water craft - damage included the building as well as several boats.

As the tide receded around 10 a.m. on Thursday, the damage became more apparent. The pier, re-decked in 1999, had lost all of its electricity, plumbing and decking. Only the pilings remained a symbol of the once famous structure. The white "cabana" entrance to the pier was tossed from the pier and landed over 50 feet away. The boat-ramp pier, re-decked in 2002, suffered severe damage and the concrete boat-ramp collapsed. Trees throughout the community received the worst beating as piles of branches and leaves littered the community.

PRINCE FREDERICK, JUNE 2003 - In an effort to tighten the gap between spending and revenue, the Calvert County Commissioners imposed an immediate 5% hotel tax on all hospitality accommodations. While the county does not provide press releases or have a Public Affairs or Public Information Officer, the following information has been gathered from local news clippings:

The Calvert Recorder --Friday, May 16, 2003 - "Public Protests Excise Tax Hike At Hearing: To close a projected $12 million budget shortfall, the commissioners tacked on a series of tax hikes to their proposed budget, trimming the deficit to $8 million. The county added a new 5 percent hotel levy while upping income and recreation taxes as well as 911 service fees."

The Washington Post -- Thursday, May 22, 2003 - "Bed-And-Breakfast Owners Get New Tax: On Tuesday, during a public hearing required before commissioners could impose the new hotel tax, owners of bed-and-breakfast establishments asked that their small businesses be exempt from the tax. The move was supported by Jeff Shepherd, vice president and general manager of Holiday Inn Select in Solomons. Shepherd said that while his hotel "can live with the tax," which he said should be "linked" to promoting tourism, he thought bed-and-breakfast establishments should not have to pay it. Though the commissioners went ahead with extending the hotel tax to bed-and-breakfasts, they may reconsider it later. "They truly are small business people," Commissioner Gerald W. Clark (R-Lusby) said."

The Calvert Recorder -- Friday, May 23, 2003 - "Home Tax Hike Sparks Angry Public Outcry: "Unfortunately we came into a time when the state had some hard times. I'm proud of this budget. We made some tough decisions that possibly could have been made in the past," noted freshman commissioner Gerald Clark. Proprietors of local bed and breakfasts asked the commissioners to exempt them from a new 5 percent tax on hotels Tuesday. Though the tax currently applies to all overnight accommodations, the commissioners said they may take a closer look at the issue in the coming weeks once they have more information available."

On Tuesday, June 24, 2003 the Calvert County Government issued the following statement, "The Board of Commissioners of Calvert County elected on May 20, 2003 to implement a hotel tax rate for Calvert County of 5.0%, as allowed under Article 24, Title 9, Subtitle 3 of the Annotated Code of Maryland. As required, the county published a notice of the public hearing and held the hearing on May 20, 2003. The hotel tax ordinance specifies an effective date of July 1, 2003..." signed by Ms. Tammy S. McCourt, Budget Coordinator.

PORT REPUBLIC, FEB 16, 2003 - As a winter storm pounds the beach and community of Governors Runs, the Port Republic, Maryland residents take this blistery event in stride and prepare for a couple days of snow, snow and more snow. Reported to be the greatest snow storm of the century, by late Sunday, nearly 15 inches had fallen and snow was not to stop until mid-day Monday, Presidents' Day weekend holiday. With the snow storm beginning near midnight on Saturday, Washington DC's Ronald Reagan National Airport ceased operation at 9 a.m., Sunday, closing hundreds of flights and stranding vacationers, businesspeople and politicians in this whitewashed city.

Meanwhile, as pipes froze and wild birds sought morsels of food under banks of snow, Governors Run continued to operate as if it was just one more snow storm. "We're used to freezing pipes - it's part of the history and charm of living along the Chesapeake Bay," noted Steve Kullen, resident of the nostalgic bay-front cottage community. "While the bay is freezing this year, it's nothing like the deep freeze of the late 80's when you could walk 1,000 feet from shore onto the frozen bay. Those days you could walk on blue and white ice, some places two feet thick - today it's mostly thin slushy ice - very pretty but also very dangerous. Our biggest challenge is keeping the road open and our water pipes from breaking."

With another 4-6 inches of snow expected later today and tonight, winter residents are hunkering down after visiting the local grocery stores the previous day, stocking up on the winter storm necessities - milk, toilet paper, and ice cream. While the summer is a beautiful, peaceful and exciting time of the year, winter too, has its advantages - "if you like the quiet cooler times and the less hectic pace - beaches totally empty and wonderful for winter hikes, there's no better time of the year to visit," said Kullen.