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First bear of Maryland's 7th annual hunt

From the Outdoors Girl blog:

The first bear checked at Maryland’s seventh annual hunt was shot by Leslie Nightingale, 39, a juvenile substance abuse counselor from Allegany County. The 234-pound bear was shot in Garrett County near the western shore of Deep Creek Lake.

Read the rest here.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

Deep Creek Do It All specializes in cleaning services in Garrett County & @ Deep Creek Lake. Give them a call (301-501-0217) or visit the website – competitive rates and quality results from a locally owned & operated company!

Mission of Mercy to provide free dental care

News-Tribune
Posted Oct 25, 2010 @ 11:29 AM

CUMBERLAND, Md. —

FAIRLEA, Md. – The first ever Mission of Mercy Free Dental Clinic will be held on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 29 and 30, between 6 a.m. – 6 p.m. at the Allegany County Fairgrounds.
It is anticipated that 1,200 people in need of dental care will receive it during the two days.
The event is sponsored by the Allegany/Garrett County Dental Association and the County United Way.

Anyone who is 19 years or older is eligible to be seen on a first-come, first-served basis. The clinic is for the uninsured, underinsured or anyone who cannot afford to see a dentist. You do not have to be a resident of Allegany County, Md., to receive care and anyone in the surrounding area is eligible. Transportation will not be provided.

In order to see the greatest number of people, patients will receive no more than two services based on their most pressing dental needs. The following services will be offered: exams, cleanings, debridements, x-rays, extractions, fillings, core build-ups, and front teeth root canals. For more information, please call 301-777-7749 ext. 4 or email volunteer@westernmdmom.com
Read the full article here.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

Deep Creek Do It All specializes in cleaning services in Garrett County & @ Deep Creek Lake. Give them a call (301-501-0217) or visit the website – competitive rates and quality results from a locally owned & operated company!

Commissioners To Hold Hearing On Heritage Plan

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Oct. 21, 2010

The Garrett County commissioners will conduct a public hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 11 a.m. in their meeting room at the courthouse to receive comments on the proposed Garrett County Heritage Area Management Plan.
Garrett County was recognized as a Heritage Area in 2003 by officials with the state’s Heritage Preservation and Tourism Areas Program.

The purpose of the program is to link resource preservation with economic development and tourism, creating public/private partnerships to achieve lasting sustainability.

The plan will address heritage preservation and tourism initiatives in the county by assessing capital and non-capital projects and programs; determining cost estimates and sources of funds for projects as well as the operation and management of the Heritage Area; assessing economic performance (return on investment); recommending a management platform and action strategies; and identifying Heritage Area bound-aries and areas for targeted investment.

Read the rest here.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

Deep Creek Do It All specializes in cleaning services in Garrett County & @ Deep Creek Lake. Give them a call (301-501-0217) or visit the website – competitive rates and quality results from a locally owned & operated company!

Questions Still Welcome For Monday Forum

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Oct. 21, 2010

Readers of this publication have been submitting questions to be considered for use in next Monday’s Candidate Forum, which will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of Garrett College. Additional questions may be submitted until noon Monday for the forum, which is being sponsored jointly by The Republican newspaper and WKHJ/WMSG Radio.
Candidates who are in competitive races in the November 2 general election have been invited to participate in the forum, which will be taped and aired on WKHJ and WMSG radio stations. They are: Delegate Wendell Beitzel (Republican) and Democrat challenger James “Smokey” Stanton; Robert Corley (Republican) and Skyler Hebden (Democrat); board of education candidates (non-partisan) Rodney Durst, incumbent, and challenger Rodney Reckart; Gregan Crawford (Repub-lican) and Eric Robison (Democrat), Garrett County Commissioner District I; and Commissioner District II incumbent Denny Glotfelty (Republican), William Welch (Democrat), and George Falter (write-in).

Glotfelty is now deceased, having succumbed to complications from cancer last night, and at presstime today it was still unknown if there will be time to complete the process of replacing him on the ballot. (See other story for details of that procedure.)

Questions may be submitted via e-mail to: newsroom@therepublicannews.-com. (No hyphens.) Persons may also mail their questions to The Republican, P.O. Box 326, Oakland, MD 21550.

Candidates will be given 90 seconds for an opening statement, 90 seconds to respond to each question, and 90 seconds for a closing statement.

The public is invited to attend the forum. For those unable to attend Monday, the forum will air on WMSG (1050 AM) next Thursday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m., and on WKHJ (104.5 FM) on Sunday, Oct. 31, at 7 p.m.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

Deep Creek Do It All specializes in cleaning services in Garrett County & @ Deep Creek Lake. Give them a call (301-501-0217) or visit the website – competitive rates and quality results from a locally owned & operated company!

Garrett Commissioner Denny Glotfelty loses cancer battle

Megan Miller
The Cumberland Times-News Fri Oct 22, 2010, 09:04 AM EDT

— OAKLAND — County commissioner, business owner and lifelong Garrett County resident Denny Glotfelty died early Thursday morning after a seven-month battle with cancer.

Glotfelty, 58, died at 1:15 a.m. at the Western Maryland Regional Medical Center, where he was taken by ambulance Wednesday night.

“The way he battled cancer for seven months was with a gleam in his eye, his head held high, ready to fight,” said Glotfelty’s daughter, Amy Beeman. “He was still ready to fight up until he said it was time to call the ambulance.”

Glotfelty graduated from Northern High School in 1971. He was the fourth generation owner of the Double G Ranch campground and also the fourth generation to reside in his family home in McHenry.

County Administrator Monty Pagenhardt, one year younger than Glotfelty, said they’d known each other since they played basketball together in junior high school.

“It’s a shock,” Pagenhardt said. He issued a written statement calling Glotfelty “a true friend” and “a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and relative to many.”

“When he told me he had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, he was adamant that he was going to fight this disease with everything he had,” Pagenhardt said. “He did just that. … He certainly put up a strong fight for many months, and he was an example for all of us to follow in our lives. I will miss him more than I can say.”

In April, Glotfelty publicly announced that he had begun chemotherapy and radiation treatments, but would continue to hold his seat on the commission and perform the duties of the office.

“Despite the setback, I assure you that I intend to maintain my position as Garrett County commissioner and provide the same level of leadership that I have for the past four years,” Glotfelty said in a prepared statement. “My battle with cancer will not stand in my way of serving the citizens of Garrett County.”

“He put up a good front,” fellow Commissioner Fred Holliday said Thursday. “He truly thought he was going to get better, and so did the rest of us.”

Holliday said one of his fondest recollections of working with Glotfelty was his openness and laid-back approach in discussions.

“Being able to work with him and not having to worry about every word you said being politically correct,” Holliday explained. “It was a pleasure working with him. … He always had the best interest of the county at heart and wanted to do what was best for the people in the county.”

Commission President Ernie Gregg called Glotfelty’s death “a tragedy.” He pointed to Glotfelty’s staunch advocacy for personal property rights and fiscal conservatism as the hallmarks of his work as a commissioner.

“We had a very amicable and workable relationship,” Gregg said. “If we disagreed on an issue, it was never personal, always business and professional.”

Glotfelty, a Republican, was at the end of his first term as a county commissioner and seeking re-election to the District 3 seat. He defeated three Republican challengers in September’s primary election and continued to campaign despite his illness.

Beeman stressed that her father “did not intentionally mislead” county voters by running for re-election while seriously ill.

“He wholeheartedly expected to be well enough to not only win the general election, but to serve out a full term,” she said. “He wholeheartedly believed that he was going to beat cancer.”

She said that she will remember Glotfelty as her personal hero.

“No matter what the decision was that had to be made, Dad always made the one that he felt was the right choice,” she said. “He didn’t get swayed by people saying, ‘You need to do this.’ He was an upstanding man.”

In his candidate statement, published by the Times-News in June, Glotfelty called it “a pleasure” to serve the citizens of Garrett County.

“I believe we have begun to positively change the way we think about the county’s future,” he said. “We’ve witnessed great change over the past few years, and no doubt we’ll see more change in the years to come. We will face some difficult challenges … but if we hold fast to fiscally-conservative approaches to governance and hold ourselves and our elected officials to high standards and demand realistic, common-sense problem solving, then our best years truly may be ahead of us.”

Viewings will be held both Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Newman Funeral Home in Grantsville. A funeral service will be held Monday at 11 a.m. at the Cherry Glade Mennonite Church.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

Deep Creek Do It All specializes in cleaning services in Garrett County & @ Deep Creek Lake. Give them a call (301-501-0217) or visit the website – competitive rates and quality results from a locally owned & operated company!

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac bailout cost is likely to rise to $154 billion, agency projects

By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 22, 2010; 12:13 AM

The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is likely to cost taxpayers an additional $19 billion and may cost as much as $124 billion more if the economy starts shrinking again, according to a government projection released Thursday.

The rescue of the mortgage giants, which has helped keep the housing market alive amid economic crisis and recession, already has a price tag of $135 billion. The money went to cover losses on defaulted home loans.

The ballooning price of the Fannie and Freddie bailout comes as the Obama administration celebrates news of lower costs on other financial rescues. Administration officials are also preparing to release a plan for reforming the two companies in coming months.

In its projection Thursday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency sought to indicate how much more money the companies may need in the next three years under different economic scenarios.

In the most likely, as defined by the agency, which regulates the two companies, housing prices would decline slightly amid a modest economic recovery, and then inch upward. In this scenario, the total bailout of Fannie and Freddie would cost $19 billion more, or $154 billion.

Read the rest here.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

Deep Creek Do It All specializes in cleaning services in Garrett County & @ Deep Creek Lake. Give them a call (301-501-0217) or visit the website – competitive rates and quality results from a locally owned & operated company!

Cancer Claims Life Of Comm. Denny Glotfelty

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Garrett County commissioner Denny Glotfetly died sometime last night or early this morning. County administrator Monty Pagenhardt said a rescue squad was called to Glotfelty’s home in McHenry at 7:30 p.m. last night, Wednesday, Oct. 20, and he was transported to the Western Maryland Regional Medical Center in Cumberland.

“We are extremely saddened and offer our condolences to his wife Sandy and their family,” commission board chair Ernie Gregg said this morning.

Funeral arrangements are not yet known, and Glofelty’s obituary will appear in next week’s issue.

He had been receiving cancer treatments at the center for the last several months. He announced that he had the disease in early April during a public meeting at the commissioners’ office and vowed that the “setback” would not deter him.

“I will battle cancer with the same attitude, effort, and dedication that I have provided to all Garrett County citizens,” Glotfelty said in April. “My commitment to the residents of Garrett County has always been an effort undertaken with respect, determination, and to always have a positive outcome.”

Glotfelty was a school bus driver, business owner, and member of many boards and organizations, including the Garrett County Fair Board, Chamber of Commerce, and Sanitary Commission.

This was his first and only term as commissioner. Glotfelty was elected to office in 2006, and had filed for re-election. He won the Republican primary election last month, and his name will appear on the Nov. 2 general election ballot.

“He’s going to be extremely missed by everybody,” Commissioner Fred Holliday said this morning. “He was a great commissioner. He made decisions from the heart and had the entire county’s interests in mind.”

Pagenhardt said he was deeply saddened by the passing of Commissioner Glotfelty.

“He was more than a county commissioner; he was a true friend,” Pagenhardt said. “Also, he was a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, and relative to many. More importantly than what he accomplished during his term of office as county commissioner was the person he was to countless people. When he first told me he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, he was adamant that he was going to fight this disease with everything he had. He did just that.”

Pagenhardt said in spite of his serious illness, Glotfelty remained committed to his responsibilities as an elected official.

“He never lost sight of the obligation,” the administrator said. “He truly and sincerely cared about the employees with county government, and the residents of Garrett County, and placed what he believed was right above everything. For Denny, there was only one way and that was what he believed was the right way. His decisions, professionally and personally, were always based on sound judgment and a well thought out process. He certainly put up a strong fight for many months, and he was an example for all of us to follow in our lives. I will miss him more than I can say.”

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

Deep Creek Do It All specializes in cleaning services in Garrett County & @ Deep Creek Lake. Give them a call (301-501-0217) or visit the website – competitive rates and quality results from a locally owned & operated company!

Maryland board OKs purchase of six medevac helicopters

$72 million contract will help replace aging fleet
BRIAN WITTE
Associated Press Thu Oct 21, 2010, 07:49 AM EDT

— ANNAPOLIS — Maryland officials approved a $72 million contract Wednesday to buy six medevac helicopters to replace an aging fleet for the state’s renowned emergency response program, a need highlighted by a helicopter crash two years ago that killed four people.

The Maryland Board of Public Works — which includes Gov. Martin O’Malley, Treasurer Nancy Kopp and Comptroller Peter Franchot — voted 3-0 to approve the contract with Agusta Aerospace Corp. The contract includes an option to buy up to six additional helicopters between July 2011 and July 2013.

Despite the expense during tough economic times, O’Malley said the investment was crucial to preserve an important public safety initiative, which was established in 1970 as the first civilian agency to transport critically injured trauma patients.

Read the rest here.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

Deep Creek Do It All specializes in cleaning services in Garrett County & @ Deep Creek Lake. Give them a call (301-501-0217) or visit the website – competitive rates and quality results from a locally owned & operated company!

IT’S NUTS: Acorns abound in county

Kristin Harty Barkley
The Cumberland Times-News Sun Oct 17, 2010, 08:01 AM EDT

CUMBERLAND — It’s nuts out there.

Since the Maryland Wildlife & Heritage Service began counting acorns on branches in the 1970s, this is the greatest number of nuts ever to bang off your car hood, roll onto your driveway or feed your backyard squirrels.

“Allegany County has what we call a bumper crop and that adjective doesn’t get used very often,” said agency spokesman Harry Spiker. “We had a good acorn crop in 2003, but it wasn’t even close to this year’s production.”

This massive onslaught of wildlife’s favorite food is due mostly to red oaks. Those are the ones with leaf lobes that are pointed. The lobes on the white oak leaf are rounded.

Here is the official statistic. In Allegany County the average number of acorns per oak branch is 25.65. Survey crews determine such numbers by strolling through the woods and peering into the forest canopy through binoculars.

Compare the current acorn success to the past three years when the number of nuts per branch in the county got no higher than 3.84 in 2007.

Garrett County has a lot of nuts, too, just not as many as Allegany County.

From Spiker’s point of view as a wildlife biologist, having a lot of nuts is a good thing.

“Pretty much all the game animals eat acorns,” Spiker said, “squirrels, turkeys, deer, bear.”

As you read this, bears are out there getting fat on the woodland buffet course, according to Spiker. Because of the acorn bounty, bears are not being as bad as usual.

“Our nuisance complaints are down because bears are getting plenty to eat in the woods,” Spiker said. Read that as fewer complaints from the people who grow corn or raise sheep.

Spiker speculates, too, that hunters who are afield Oct. 25 for the opening day of Maryland’s bear hunting season may have more trouble than usual finding bears, even though the bruin population continues to grow.

“In the past, I have always suggested that hunters set up near a food source, such as a cornfield,” Spiker said. “This year, every place is a food source. There are even acorns in the heavy cover where bears spend some down time.”

The key to this year’s branch-bending acorn crop was a spring that did not have a major frost, according to Sunshine Brosi who directs the ethnobotany program at Frostburg State University.

“A frost in April when the flowers are out can make for a bad acorn year,” Brosi said. “Once acorns get through that stage in good shape and start growing, they seem to do well during a dry summer like we had too.”

Dan Hedderick of the Maryland Forest Service said his foresters and technicians have reported bumper acorn crops throughout Allegany County.

“Besides being good for wildlife, this may help us to get more oak regeneration throughout the Green Ridge State Forest,” Hedderick said. “We’ve been having problems with that because of the lack of fire, competition from other plants and browsing by deer.”

Although abundant acorns are good for many things, Jason Griffith is concerned about how 50 to 75 runners will stay upright when they sprint along state forest trails on Halloween.

The Fire on the Mountain trail run of about 32 miles includes the Long Pond Trail from Point Lookout near Little Orleans to Fifteen Mile Creek Road South. That trail, like most of the forest, has an acorn covering. Griffith is the deputy race director of the event scheduled for Oct. 31.

“We ran the trail as a test Sunday morning, and there are a few pretty steep climbs and descents,” Griffith said. “You feel like you are spinning your wheels going up and like you are on ball bearings running downhill.”

Griffith said some nuts in the woods won’t deter the runners.

“Trail runners and ultra runners are a pretty hardy group,” he said. “They are used to dealing with wildlife and getting lost. I’m more worried about the leaves that will fall between now and the race and the rocks and roots they cover up. Those will be a greater concern.”

Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

Deep Creek Do It All specializes in cleaning services in Garrett County & @ Deep Creek Lake. Give them a call (301-501-0217) or visit the website – competitive rates and quality results from a locally owned & operated company!

Maryland, CRISP Announce Go-Live of Statewide Health Information Exchange

BALTIMORE, Oct. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients (CRISP) announced that Maryland has formally “gone live” with its statewide health information exchange (HIE). HIE is the infrastructure that supports the private and secure flow of health information among physician practices, hospitals, labs, radiology centers, and other healthcare institutions. Organizations that are now participating in the HIE include:

•Holy Cross Hospital
•Suburban Hospital
•Montgomery General Hospital
•Community Radiology (a RadNet partner)
•Advanced Radiology (a RadNet partner)
•American Radiology Services
•Quest Diagnostics
•Laboratory Corporation of America

The announcement is a major step towards the ubiquitous delivery of the right health information to the right place at the right time providing safer, more timely, efficient, patient-centered care. Several more organizations will connect in the next few weeks.

“We at Holy Cross Hospital believe a statewide health information exchange can help make care safer and more efficient for Marylanders,” said Kevin J. Sexton, President and CEO of Holy Cross Hospital. “We are delighted to join CRISP, state government and other healthcare providers in getting Maryland to this important milestone.”

Additionally, all 48 Maryland hospitals have recently committed to sharing data with the statewide HIE. This commitment covers 11,175 in-patient beds, from Garrett County to the Eastern Shore.

Read the rest here.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

Deep Creek Do It All specializes in cleaning services in Garrett County & @ Deep Creek Lake. Give them a call (301-501-0217) or visit the website – competitive rates and quality results from a locally owned & operated company!