Out of a state population of around 6,000,000, the 8 eastern shore counties represent maybe 300,000 people, mostly chicken farmers, retirees and year-round beach dwellers.posted by Ham Snadwich at 8:41 AM on September 3, 2014 I knew this had the ring of the too-strange-to-be-true - so glad it turned out to be stupidity and incompetence instead of malice.