Thank you, Candy, for your diligence and your humor and the huge amount of energy involved in speaking out for the Bay and the rest of the outdoors!

Thank you for a great job!! Always one of my favorite reads in the Sun. You did have big shoes to fill but you did so very very well.

I have been reading the outdoor section of the Sun for years. It gave me a greater sense of our region when most of it was asphalt and concrete. Then I experience it first had. Reading Candus' column's always took me back to my youth. I got a chance to meet her when researching the new Bill Burton Bridge. She reminded me to call her Candy. Her work was outstanding and I know I will miss her tips on fishing and other outdoor activities.

Candus-
You were a great read and I appreciate both your work at my favorite paper and the inspiration you provided for me to get out and do stuff in my home state. I hope you get as much out of your new gig as you did from the last one and you'll be missed.

Thanks

Candy -

Thank you for bringing the outdoors to Marylanders. Your blog posts have been informative, entertaining, and enlightening. Outdoors Girl will be sorely missed.

Also, thank you for being an inspiration to my nine-year old daughter, and showing her that girls can hang in the outdoors too and make it cool!

I've really enjoyed reading your column these past dozen years. From you, I learned about places that my gaze somehow missed and was informed about outrages involving menhaden and other matters. I'm glad The Sun had the sense to keep you on board, though I certainly question their "wisdom" in taking you off the outdoors beat. Best of luck.

You will be missed!

Thanks Candy. You've been a great read and a great proponent of all there is to do in Maryland's outdoors.

And thanks, Sun Editors, who are too short-sighted to understand the value of Candy's contributions. Because of you, I will no longer have a newspaper bill as I will be cancelling my Sun subscription.

Thanks Candy -
The Sun has gone sooooo downhill....
What a great job you have done!

thanks for all the great columns and blog posts over the years. as the father in an outdoorsy-type family, i always looked for ideas in your "5 things" posts.

happy trails!

I'd like to echo the other sentiments here. Losing your outdoors coverage is yet another blow to Sun readers, who have been pummeled beyond recognition. We will miss you, Candy!

I've really enjoyed your blog and am sorry to see it go. Best wishes to you in the future!

Candy - you have always been a class act, all the way down to your final column.

The Sun's decision to cancel its outdoors coverage is yet another example of the downward spiral the paper has taken as the residents of Maryland are forced to watch. Too quick to blame the internet, the Sun's publishers should look in the mirror and realize that their short-sighted attempts to cut costs may have saved a few dollars in the short term, but in the end, cost them the credibility and influence that once made the Sun a great paper.

Thank you Candy for all your columns. You were a joy to read and were the best informed of all the Maryland sportswriters.
If the Sun's mgt ever come to their senses perhaps we'll have you back some day. But until then you can at least bask in the knowledge that you did a hell of a job for everyone in Maryland that loves the outdoors.

"Doing more with less" you will be missed on this beat

Watch 'yer' topknot.

Thank you for all your "5 things" blog posts. I just went through and bookmarked a bunch of the web pages you linked from the last year's worth of "5 things".

We're on our own alright.
Thanks Candy, been very enjoyable and you'll be missed.

The Sun just lost the only reason I tuned in.

Candy, I send you my best and have learned so much from you. Thank you for all your years of sharing your outdoor expertise. I've seen kids eyes light up when you share your stories. As a teacher and environmental educator at a Maryland "Green" School, I think the Baltimore Sun is making a grave error with their decision to move you from this post you've held so high. I think their priorities are off-kilter in a state that values the outdoors. My hope is that the "powers that be" will wake up, and bring you back to us in this capacity that you do so well. Godspeed!

Your columns have given me knowledge and inspiration. Your expertise on all things pertaining to the outdoors shows your passion for your subject and for all things that are available for the citizens of Maryland.
Thank you for all that you have given to us. You will be missed

Metro Staff? How exciting. I'm all about the Metro Staff. There is nothing I like more than pairing a love the outdoors with a love of urban crime study. Candace on the Metro Staff!!!! So cool.

Thanks Candy for going to all the fishery meetings and keeping us informed on what is going on in our state with the Chesapeake Bay. You've done a great job and we're gonna miss you dearly. Thanks for covering all things outdoors as well. The Sun totality dropped the ball. They apparently feel they have no obligation to the people of the state. Thanks for caring!

I first found your page following Park Quest 24/7 last year, and have followed regularly ever since. It truly is a wonderful thing to see the natural resources of Maryland highlighted regularly. From environmental education opportunities, to outdoor adventures, MD has so much to offer, and I have really enjoyed seeing them promoted. Even though the powers that be decided that this column is no longer necessary, the diverse resources that Maryland offers are not going anywhere. Everyone should take time to enjoy them.
Candy, I really enjoyed meeting and questing with you this year. It was one of the highlights of my summer. I hope you can do it again next year. I'm planning another quest! :)

Thank you Candy for the wonderful job you did reporting on Maryland's outdoors! We could always trust you to deliver the fun side of the outdoors and the news that we needed to act on to keep Maryland's great outdoors, GREAT!

My wife and I canceled our Sun subscription about 3 months ago. I was the hold out on canceling because I wanted the Sunday paper mainly to read your Outdoor page. I finally agreed when I found your outdoor page on the internet . Sadly, the Sun just doesn't get it. With so much news instantly available on the internet, our sole reason for getting the Sun was for the local news. Why cancel one of the few things that sets you apart from the rest? I only hope they see the error of their ways and bring you back.

How very shortsighted of the Sun to, once again, further dumbdown their rag of a newspaper.

How sad that good, unique perspectives of folks such as Candy are left out of our weekly reading.

And, who is going to hold the poachers and the clowns running the State Narural Resource authoritie's and the court's feet to the fire, with Candace Thompson now gone ??

Idiots !!!!!!

Thank you Candy for the wonderful job you did reporting on Maryland's outdoors! We could always trust you to deliver the fun side of the outdoors and the news that we needed to act on to keep Maryland's great outdoors, GREAT!

My wife and I canceled our Sun subscription about 3 months ago. I was the hold out on canceling because I wanted the Sunday paper solely to read your Outdoor page. I finally agreed when I found your outdoor page on the Internet. Sadly, the Sun just doesn't get it. With so much news instantly available on the internet, our sole reason for getting the Sun was for the local news. Why cancel one of the few things that sets you apart from the rest? I only hope they see the error of their ways and bring you back.

Candy,

My husband and I will sorely miss your voice in the outdoors section. You have inspired so many people over the years. Thanks for all of the columns and blog posts you wrote.

Here's also hoping that the "powers that be" will change their minds about the re-assignment.

Connie & Jack

Words cannot express the thanks which so many of us, I am certain, offer for the pleasure of reading your fine columns. You WILL be sorely missed. Please enjoy the continuing beauty of nature which you so lovingly reminded us to thus do. And, thank you for urging us to remain vigilant in protection of these natural resources. NOW, ON TO THE SUN: Have you lost your collective minds? Are you well on your way to offering nothing more than wire service updates lacking in immediacy and/or bunches of ads? May a pox be wished upon your editorial belfry where the bats do freely fly.

I can't fathom why the Sun would cancel Candy Thomson's column.

Over my 20 + years as a business owner, I have learned with certainty that listening to and serving customers is the only way to remain in business.

The Sun owns the regional outdoor readership market these days, which amount to millions of affluent and influential consumers.

Why on earth would anyone in their right mind walk away and abandon that source of support, revenue, and faith?

Candy's credibility, journalistic skill, and passion for her work has made the Sun's outdoor coverage a must read for all who venture out.

I can, and most often do get my general interest news from other, more agile sources. Above the fold headlines, mass market sports news, community calendars, gardening tips, cooking tidbits and the like are available everywhere at the touch of a button.

Candy's outdoor information is only available from one source.

Lose that, and you will lose me and everyone like me--anglers, birders, hunters, hikers, kayakers, walkers, crabbers, environmentalists...

All of us.

Joe Evans
Annapolis, MD

I don't work at The Sun but I think they did the right thing. Let me explain why. I am sure many of you are devoted readers of "Outdoors Girl" and so am I. Ms. Thomson is a passionate reporter and a wonderful writer. For those that love the outdoors and fishing she fits a need. 15 years ago when people received their news in newspaper an outdoors reporter would be perfect. People who actually bought newspapers in 1996 were often middle-class Caucasian suburbanites, exactly the kind of people one would find on a boat in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay.

However, times have changed. Newspapers aren't newspapers any more and now what is left of them are operating on some razor thin margins. The Baltimore Sun specializes in one area, local reporting. They do it better than anyone else. But there is a new market out there. People have computers and smart phones. The people who own the computers and smart phones are, well, everybody. They can be young, they can be urban, the can have different skin pigmentations. Not necessarily the kind of people that like to fish or walk in the woods.

Due to site analytics, the Sun has access to an amazing array of information about its site visitors. The Baltimore Sun IS in their right mind. I can only assume Ms. Thomson's blog was popular with a few people but probably not enough to make it viable in the competitive media environment that we experience in 2011. The Sun needs better competent able reporters on Metro Staff, those young bucks they keep hiring straight out of journalism school aren't cutting the mustard.

I'm not going to waste my time complaining, but I think of all the positive aspects of this decision.

As a journalist who spent the first half of my career in newspapers, let me second everyone in praise of Candy Thompson's lively and entertaining writing. She was indeed a must read, something the Sun can now claim only in Peter Schmuck.

I also second commenter Joe Evans and respond to Cham. My wife and I neither fish nor hunt nor camp nor crab. Yet, because we care about our environment and so enjoyed Candy's writing, we were avid and loyal readers. Cham, you can be young, urban and of any skin color and still enjoy reading about the outdoors. And it is a mistake for the Sun to base its editorial decisions on blogs, since many of us do not read any blogs and blogs are not the source of profit for the Sun.

No, I fear this is another decision by the bean-counters in the Tribune Tower in Chicago, seeking to squeeze more profit out of less product. When will they learn that you cannot continually offer less and less and expect to sell more?

It was a revelation to be in Portland, Maine, this summer and find that a town of 60,000 people has a newspaper with more than twice the size and editorial content of Baltimore's. Our city deserves more, not less, in the Sun. Will a local buyer please stand up?

All good things must pass. Good luck with everything Candy. I think you did a great job filling in those shoes.

All the best!
Tommy

Thank you Candy for the story that you did on me being the first hunter to kill a bear in 2010. You did an awesome job with the article and I appreciated the publicity even tho it was met with some very rude, ignorant, and harmful comments for some uneducated people who are against hunting. I wish you the best with you new job!

Leslie