‘A Dandy Night for a Cruise’
courtesy of ‘Samer Farha’
Ordinarily, Baltimore shenanigans are rather outside the geographic scope of this site, but I hope you’ll agree that in this case, the Hilarity Exemption is in play. (And if not, please scroll on by, this will only take a minute.)
Maryland state delegate Jon S. Cardin (delegate from Baltimore County, and nephew of US Senator Ben Cardin) recently decided to surprise his lady love with a marriage proposal on a boat ride. He asked the Baltimore marine police to do what Del. Cardin describes as “a five-minute safety check,” but what the Baltimore Sun describes as more like a raid, complete with hovering police helicopter, during which which officers “searched” the boat for contraband, before finding a box which contained the engagement ring. (She said yes, in case you were wondering.)
Unsurprisingly, the delegate is experiencing some backlash for this use of police resources to create ambience for his proposal. Del. Cardin, if I may offer some advice, your neighbors down here in DC can help you with this. Marion Barry can tell you ALL ABOUT misappropriating public resources for your love life.
Tiffany Baxendell Bridge is an Internet enthusiast and an incurable smartass. When not heckling the neighborhood political scene on Twitter, she can be found goofing off with her ukulele, Bollywood dancing, or obsessing about cult TV. She is That Woman With the Baby In the Bar.
Tiffany lives in Brookland with her husband Tom, son Charlie, and two high-maintenance cats. Read why Tiffany loves DC.
Maybe it’s the fact that I’m a guy, but I’m having a hard time understanding why a “five minute safety check” or “police raid” is any kind of thing you would actually want happening in the middle of a marriage proposal. Can the ladies help explain this one to me??? Is this the kind of “tension” you want during what is supposed to be, or what I always thought was supposed to be, a “happy” event???
I’m with you, Brian. I can’t figure out why this was at all romantic. Maybe the woman is into practical jokes?
What a waste of taxpayers’ money. I am outraged by this, unless he shelled out one million dollars to rent and operate the helicopter, but I doubt he did.
That ship shown is The Odyssey. I worked on it for two seasons..