In 1979, I came to live in Waldorf. One of the first things I did was to find the nearest Catholic church. It was then that my wife and I became members of St. Peter’s Church in Waldorf.

At the time, Father Scanlan was pastor, and I asked him to let me become a member of the committee that gathered food donations for the less fortunate. He and I began delivering baskets of food.

I will never forget the day that he told me not to be surprised at what I might see and encounter in the area where we were going to deliver food.

He did not know that I was raised in the ghettoes of Pittsburgh. I was used to people living in poverty. But when we went into the next house to deliver food, I was shocked. We stepped down into dirt floors, there were slop jars with urine and waste matter in them. The smell was awful, and these two old people were happy to see the priest and me with a food basket.

I had seen people who lived in poverty before, but never like this. So when we left and got further up the road, I asked Father Scanlan what the name of the town was. “That was Nanjemoy,” he said.

And I never forgot that.

That was 31 years ago, and our local government has done nothing to help these people. That is why I refer to it as the “shame of Charles County.”

Before we all get upset, I realize that the current commissioners are not responsible, but just like President Obama inherited the ills and tremendous mess that George Bush left and is now being blamed for it, the county commissioners are in the same position. It is their mess and they have to resolve it.

I have no expertise in building or any type of construction, but the county has to start somewhere, and I like the idea of a community septic system. The people who live there need running water and toilets.

The money is out there. The county can find it. If we can pay six-figure salaries to some of the misfits that we have in our county system, we can start building in Nanjemoy.

I am willing to help. Show me the way, and I will try.

These statements are not meant to condemn our current commissioners, but to help and support them.

Lemon H. Moses Sr., Waldorf