Capt. Crunch, A True Story
Erick Sahler • October 27, 2020
Tugboats are like the tortoise in the old fable. Slow and steady wins the race. They’ve got one speed and they don’t take kindly to stopping or changing direction.
I learned this firsthand the summer after seventh grade, when I spent two weeks aboard the tugboat Holly S.
My dad and my uncle were half of the four-man crew, and I was allowed to live with them while they worked.
There was only one rule. Don’t fall overboard.
“Chances are we won’t see or hear you,” they warned me. “And even if we did, we can’t stop or turn back.”
The Holly pushed petroleum barges from Norfolk to Baltimore to Philadelphia and back.
Life aboard comprised long hours of boredom broken by moments of sheer terror.
Sailing the southern Chesapeake was like crossing the ocean. It’s so broad, there’s water from horizon to horizon. Even TV signals don’t reach the middle of the bay.
To entertain myself, I climbed on the barge and walked its football-field length. The steady chug of the Holly’s twin diesel engines faded behind me. Then I could hear the waves below as they gently slapped against the bow. A bell buoy, rocked by waves, clanked softly in the distance.
Docking, on the other hand, was a hair-raising experience. Sidling two massive vessels bound by thick cables to a pier in strong currents or high wind was terrifying. Men shouted as heavy lines were tossed in quick succession. One slip and a man could be crushed or drowned instantly.
This is why I made myself at home in the wheelhouse, away from the danger.
Or so I thought.
It was a sunny afternoon as we sailed north with a barge bound for Baltimore. The Bay Bridge loomed ahead and recreational boaters raced around us like wild hares.
I joined Capt. Raymond in the wheelhouse to take in the view.
The wheelhouse is the command center on the top deck of the tugboat. Windows fill the upper halves of all four walls, and below, facing forward, is a cockpit with dozens of switches and levers to operate the boat.
The odd thing about a wheelhouse is there’s no wheel. The rudders that steer the tugboat are adjusted by the captain using a metal box about the size of a bar of soap. It has two small buttons mounted side by side, one for turning left, the other for turning right.
As we approached the Bay Bridge, Capt. Raymond fine-tuned our course, like a teenager playing a video game.
Tap. Tap. Tap-tap. Tap.
Except instead of manipulating pixels on a screen, he was guiding a barge filled with a half-million gallons of scalding hot liquid asphalt.
Tap. Tap-tap. Tap.
Then he was gone.
“Take her,” he said, popping off his seat and hustling down the stairs. He probably needed a pee.
I was alone in the wheelhouse as the Holly churned toward the Bay Bridge. Capt. Raymond had the barge pointed directly in the center of the shipping channel, marked by the bridge’s two tallest towers.
Chug. Chug. Chug.
And then it looked like we were slightly off center. Just a hair, maybe, to the left.
Chug. Chug. Chug.
It started to worry me.
I picked up the metal box and considered tapping the button on the right.
Chug. Chug. Chug.
I looked up. The Bay Bridge was growing bigger in our window, and we were clearly headed off center to the left.
My OCD kicked in.
Do something. Now.
I tapped the right button. Just a tap. Like hitting the spacebar. Except maybe in my anxious state, I held it longer than I intended.
EEEERRRRRGGGGGGG. With a deep groan and prolonged creaking, I watched in horror as the barge pivoted around sharply. Half a minute later we were aimed directly at the right tower of the Bay Bridge and closing in fast.
Chug. Chug. Chug.
I froze.
What to do? What to do?
Tap the left button?
Holler for help?
Confess my sins?
I could see traffic on the bridge. When we crashed through the tower, they’d rain down on us. Cars and trucks and buses splashing and sinking into the bay, like Matchbox toys dropped into a bathtub. The carnage of dozens — maybe hundreds — of people dead and injured. An environmental catastrophe. Traffic snarled for months. Lawsuits for years. They’d never let me back on the Holly again.
Chug. Chug. Chug.
I was picturing an asphalt-soaked cormorant when the wheelhouse spun around me. My vision flickered and started to go dark. I smelled coffee.
Wait. I smelled coffee?
Then a steaming mug, followed by Capt. Raymond’s arm, appeared rising up the wheelhouse stairs.
Back in his seat, he surveyed the scene, and tap-tap-tapped the buttons.
The barge slowly came around to the center of the channel.
Maybe he knew what I had done.
Or maybe he thought it was the work of the currents or the wind.
Or maybe after years at the helm, this was business as usual — one more crisis calmly averted by a steady old salt.
He sipped his coffee and we sat in silence as the two spans of the Bay Bridge glided overhead.
Afterward, I excused myself.
I needed a pee.
Erick Sahler is an artist and writer. He has exhibited his serigraph prints across the Eastern Shore and they are available in shops throughout the region. Erick holds a B.A. in Visual Arts from UMBC and is a member of the Society of Illustrators in NYC.
Common Sense for the Eastern Shore
Megan Outten, a lifelong Wicomico County resident and former Salisbury City Councilwoman, officially announced her candidacy recently for Wicomico County Council, District 7. At 33, Outten brings the energy of a new generation combined with a proven record of public service and results-driven leadership. “I’m running because Wicomico deserves better,” Outten said. “Too often, our communities are expected to do more with less. We’re facing underfunded schools, limited economic opportunities, and years of neglected infrastructure. I believe Wicomico deserves leadership that listens, plans ahead, and delivers real, measurable results.” A Record of Action and A Vision for the Future On Salisbury’s City Council, Outten earned a reputation for her proactive, hands-on approach — working directly with residents to close infrastructure gaps, support first responders, and ensure everyday voices were heard. Now she’s bringing that same focus to the County Council, with priorities centered on affordability, public safety, and stronger, more resilient communities. Key Priorities for District 7: Fully fund public schools so every child has the opportunity to succeed. Fix aging infrastructure and county services through proactive investment. Keep Wicomico affordable with smarter planning and pathways to homeownership. Support first responders and safer neighborhoods through better tools, training, and prevention. Expand resources for seniors, youth, and underserved communities. Outten’s platform is rooted in real data and shaped by direct community engagement. With Wicomico now the fastest-growing school system on Maryland’s Eastern Shore — and 85% of students relying on extra resources — she points to the county’s lagging investment as a key area for action. “Strong schools lead to strong jobs, thriving industries, and healthier communities,” Outten said. “Our schools and infrastructure are at a tipping point. We need leadership that stops reacting after things break — and starts investing before they do.” A Commitment to Home and Service Born and raised in Wicomico, Megan Outten sees this campaign as a continuation of her lifelong service to her community. Her vision reflects what she’s hearing from neighbors across the county: a demand for fairness, opportunity, and accountability in local government. “Wicomico is my home; it’s where I grew up, built my life, and where I want to raise my family,” Outten said. “Our county is full of potential. We just need leaders who will listen, work hard, and get things done. That’s what I’ve always done, and that’s exactly what I’ll continue to do on the County Council.” Outten will be meeting with residents across District 7 in the months ahead and unveiling more details of her platform. For more information or to get involved, contact info@meganoutten.com
Way back in 1935, the Supreme Court determined that independent agencies like the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) do not violate the Constitution’s separation of powers. Humphrey’s Executor v. United States (1935). Congress provided that the CPSC, like the NLRB and MSPB, would operate as an independent agency — a multi-member, bipartisan commission whose members serve staggered terms and could be removed only “for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office but for no other cause.” Rejecting a claim that the removal restriction interferes with the “executive power,” the Humphrey’s Court held that Congress has the authority to “forbid their [members’] removal except for cause” when creating such “quasi-legislative or quasi-judicial” bodies. As a result, these agencies have operated as independent agencies for many decades under many different presidencies. Shortly after assuming office in his second term, Donald Trump began to fire, without cause, the Democratic members of several of these agencies. The lower courts determined to reinstate the discharged members pending the ultimate outcome of the litigation, relying on Humphrey’s , resulting in yet another emergency appeal to the Supreme Court by the administration. In the first such case, a majority of the Court allowed President Trump to discharge the Democratic members of the NLRB and the MSPB while the litigation over the legality of the discharges continued. Trump v. Wilcox (May 22, 2025). The majority claimed that they do not now decide whether Humphrey’s should be overruled because “that question is better left for resolution after full briefing and argument.” However, hinting that these agency members have “considerable” executive power and suggesting that “the Government” faces greater “risk of harm” from an order allowing a removed officer to continue exercising the executive power than a wrongfully removed officer faces from being unable to perform her statutory duty,” the majority gave the President the green light to proceed. Justice Kagan, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Jackson, dissented, asserting that Humphrey’s remains good law until overturned and forecloses both the President’s firings and the Court’s decision to award emergency relief.” Our emergency docket, while fit for some things, should not be used to “overrule or revise existing law.” Moreover, the dissenters contend that the majority’s effort to explain their decision “hardly rises to the occasion.” Maybe by saying that the Commissioners exercise “considerable” executive power, the majority is suggesting that Humphrey’s is no longer good law but if that is what the majority means, then it has foretold a “massive change” in the law and done so on the emergency docket, “with little time, scant briefing, and no argument.” And, the “greater risk of harm” in fact is that Congress provided for these discharged members to serve their full terms, protected from a President’s desire to substitute his political allies. More recently, in the latest shadow docket ruling in the administration’s favor, the same majority of the Court again permitted President Trump to fire, without cause, the Democratic members of another independent agency, this time the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Trump v. Boyle (July 23, 2025). The same three justices dissented, once more objecting to the use of the Court’s emergency docket to destroy the independence of an independent agency as established by Congress. The CPSC, like the NLRB and MSPB, was designed to operate as “a classic independent agency.” In Congress’s view, that structure would better enable the CPSC to achieve its mission — ensuring the safety of consumer products, from toys to appliances — than would a single-party agency under the full control of a single President. “By allowing the President to remove Commissioners for no reason other than their party affiliation, the majority has negated Congress’s choice of agency bipartisanship and independence.” The dissenters also assert that the majority’s sole professed basis for the more recent order in Boyle was its prior order in Wilcox . But in their opinion, Wilcox itself was minimally explained. So, the dissenters claim, the majority rejects the design of Congress for a whole class of agencies by “layering nothing on nothing.” “Next time, though, the majority will have two (if still under-reasoned) orders to cite. Truly, this is ‘turtles all the way down.’” Rapanos v. United States (2006). * ***** *In Rapanos , in a footnote to his plurality opinion, former Supreme Court Justice Scalia explained that this allusion is to a classic story told in different forms and attributed to various authors. His favorite version: An Eastern guru affirms that the earth is supported on the back of a tiger. When asked what supports the tiger, he says it stands upon an elephant; and when asked what supports the elephant, he says it is a giant turtle. When asked, finally, what supports the giant turtle, he is briefly taken aback, but quickly replies "Ah, after that it is turtles all the way down." John Christie was for many years a senior partner in a large Washington, D.C. law firm. He specialized in anti-trust litigation and developed a keen interest in the U.S. Supreme Court about which he lectures and writes.
Marylanders will not forget this vote.
More than 30,000 of our neighbors in Maryland’s first congressional district will lose their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid because of provisions in the GOP’s heartless tax cut and spending bill passed last week.
Right now, Congress is working on a fast-track bill that would make historic cuts to basic needs programs in order to finance another round of tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations.
The House Agriculture Committee recently voted, along party lines, to advance legislation that would cut as much as $300 million from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP is the nation’s most important anti-hunger program, helping more than 41 million people in the U.S. pay for food. With potential cuts this large, it helps to know who benefits from this program in Maryland, and who would lose this assistance. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities compiled data on SNAP beneficiaries by congressional district, cited below, and produced the Maryland state datasheet , shown below. In Maryland, in 2023-24, 1 in 9 people lived in a household with SNAP benefits. In Maryland’s First Congressional District, in 2023-24: Almost 34,000 households used SNAP benefits. Of those households, 43% had at least one senior (over age 60). 29% of SNAP recipients were people of color. 15% were Black, non-Hispanic, higher than 11.8% nationally. 6% were Hispanic (19.4% nationally). There were 24,700 total veterans (ages 18-64). Of those, 2,200 lived in households that used SNAP benefits (9%). The CBPP SNAP datasheet for Maryland is below. See data from all the states and download factsheets here.
