Category:garrett county
Oakland's One-Day Civil War Uproar To Be Commemorated
While the Civil War of 1861-1865 played out chiefly in areas beyond Garrett County, there was at least one incident in the town of Oakland and nearby area during that conflict that was indeed significant. This was the Jones-Imboden Raid, an effort on the part of the Confederacy, in part to destroy the Union supply lines supported by the B&O Railroad (the president of which, at the time, happened to be John Garrett, for whom the county is named). As part of this campaign, the town was raided by the Confederate Cavalry on April 26, 1863, and for several hours was under control of the Confederates. The soldiers did successfully burn the B&O bridge just a mile west of town, although it was rebuilt in a matter of days by the railroad workers. To commemorate the 150th anniversary of this notable event, the Garrett County Historical Society, the town, and several organizations and individuals are hosting Oakland Civil War Days from April 25 to 28. A number of events will take place throughout the weekend, all to be highlighted in the next three issues of The Republican newspaper. Two special dinners are slated, with historians/authors to be featured speakers. See information of these dinners in today’s issue. More stories and photos will be published as the four-day commemorative event nears.
GC Commissioners Approve State's Purchase Of 600 Acres Of Local Land
The Garrett County commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved the sale of three privately owned parcels of land totaling more than 600 acres to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. According to law, state acquisitions over 100 acres require the approval of the commissioners, explained DNR western region program administrator John Braskey, land and acquisition and planning.
Located on Backbone Mountain beside Potomac State Forest land, the first property is a 315-acre tract currently owned by Mountain Maryland Minerals LLC/Thomas Moran. The tentative purchase price is $615,000.
The second property is located along Pea Patch Lane. Owned by Robert Rounds, this site is 106 acres of farmland that is surrounded by the Savage River State Forest. The proposed price is $405,000.
The third tract, owned by Gerard Kursvietis, is 181 acres and is located in the Spring Lick Run area of Savage River State Forest. Braskey said this property is still under negotiations.
“All of these properties would be open, of course, to the public,” he said. “All these properties would increase hunting opportunities in Garrett County. They will be managed like our other properties.”
He added that Rounds’ property is near a wildlands, but has been assured by Forest Service officials that the site will not become a wildlands.
Commissioner Bob Gatto asked if the state approaches landowners about purchasing their properties.
“I don’t go out and try to solicit any properties,” Braskey said. “One other thing, the Department of Natural Resources does not do condemnation, eminent domain. We only buy from willing sellers.”
He estimated that 95 percent of the acquisitors are initiated by real estate agents, land managers, or the property owners themselves. Braskey added that the state is often the only party interested in purchasing the properties. He noted that the state tries to get the mineral rights to the properties that it purchases.
Braskey is a former Garrett County commissioner and was instrumental in getting the state law passed in the 1980s that requires the commissioners’ approval of DNR acquisitions over 100 acres. He said the law also applies in Allegany County.
More than 86,500 acres, or 18 percent, of Garrett County land is now owned by the state. Commissioner Jim Raley indicated this is the highest percentage of all Maryland counties.
“These properties are being purchased with POS (Program Open Space) funds, which gives certain rights for the properties being open to public use,” he said about the Moran, Rounds, and Kursvietis lands.
He indicated, however, he has concerns about how accessible those properties will actually be to the public.
“They say they are going to be free access to everybody – they’re free access with a whole set of rules and regulations that come down, that sometimes change in the future,” Raley said. “That’s been part of my frustration, of finding that limited access sometimes does take place.”
He said he has several specific examples of this problem that he plans to share with the DNR secretary, John Griffin. The commissioners will meet with Griffin on April 12 in Annapolis to discuss a variety of issues.
The commissioners’ next public session is scheduled for Tuesday, April 16, at 4 p.m. at the courthouse.
Through portrayal of Marylander, actress will revive War of 1812, its importance
Garrett County youngsters will attend performances Friday
For the Cumberland Times-News Cumberland Times-News
MCHENRY — The Mountain Maryland Gateway to the West Heritage Area in Garrett County and Garrett Lakes Arts Festival will present a Star Spangled 200-sponsored event, Maryland in the War of 1812 — A Living History Event.
The project focuses on bringing the commemoration of the War of 1812 to Garrett County middle school students and also provides opportunities for residents and visitors to participate in Maryland’s Star Spangled 200 activities. The project is made possible by the Maryland War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission.
Award-winning actress and Smithsonian scholar Mary Ann Jung, playing Rosalie Stier Calvert, will provide an interactive presentation. The performance will explain the importance of the War of 1812 and how that era affected the newly independent United States of America.
On Friday, performances will be held at Garrett College for fourth-, fifth- and eighth-grade Garrett County students.
Rosalie Stier married George Calvert in 1799 and became mistress of his plantation, Mount Albion. When her father died, he left his plantation in Bladensburg, Riversdale Plantation, to her — not her husband, which was the custom. Participants will learn what it meant to be in charge of two growing plantations in early 1800s Maryland.
Audience members will become the British versus the Americans to better understand the important war and relive the dramatic Battle of Bladensburg — and find out how close it came to Calvert’s beloved Riversdale. “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Francis Scott Key, who married Calvert’s friend Polly, will be included in the performance.
Educational resources re-lating to the war will be purchased for middle school teachers, including books, videos and a traveling trunk, created by the Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum. The trunk focuses on life during the war for all Marylanders and contains 11 lesson plans and many hands-on objects, including flint and steel kits, period clothing and games, and books.
The Maryland in the War of 1812 — A Living History Event will be the grand finale for the project. The free celebration, scheduled for May 17-18 at the Garrett County Fairgrounds, will include War of 1812 speakers and re-enactors; period music performed by musicians and singers in period garb; and displays and education information, including a U.S. Navy display covering its involvement with the War of 1812. Event hours are 5 to 8 p.m. May 17 and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 18.
More information is available online at www.visitdeepcreek.com or by calling 888-387-5237.
Land Purchases Would Expand Md. State Forests
Posted: Apr 03, 2013 8:42 AM EDT
OAKLAND, Md. (AP)- The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is considering land purchases that would add about 600 acres to state forests in Garrett County.
Land conservation specialist John Braskey said Tuesday that the three proposed purchases may come before the state Board of Public Works for final approval this summer or fall.
The Garrett County Commissioners signed off on the offers Tuesday.
The commissioners’ meeting minutes indicate that a parcel owned by Mountain Maryland Minerals LLC would add about 315 acres to the Potomac State Forest near Altamont. It’s appraised at $615,000.
Two other parcels held by individuals would add a total of 287 acres to the Savage River State Forest. They include a 181-acre parcel near Grantsville appraised at $405,000. The price of the smaller parcel is under negotiation.
Garrett County Head Start will close for month
Sequestration forces officials to take action
For the Cumberland Times-News Cumberland Times-News
OAKLAND — Garrett County Head Start and Early Head Start operations will close for one month in 2013 as the result of the federal government’s budget seque-stration.
Garrett County Community Action Committee an-nounced these actions to accommodate the federal government’s mid-year im-poundment of fiscal 2013 funds. More than 70 employees will experience layoffs or furloughs so that $300,000 can be eliminated. The nine-month Head Start program will close April 12. The 12-month Head Start option will conclude July 12.
Three hundred children and their families and 57 Community Action employees will be impacted by the Head Start action alone, Duane Yoder, president of Garrett County Community Action, said. Other cutbacks will affect the weatherization, senior citizen, housing and core organization activities, according to Yoder.
“The federal reductions occurred in the middle of the federal budget year so we have to absorb these reductions in a very compressed time frame,” Yoder said. “We have already reduced the days of operations for facilities such as the Flowery Vale Senior Wellness Center, eliminated most of our federally assisted energy conservation services and, starting in the fall, will need to reduce our emergency housing assistance to prevent homelessness.”
Patty Gallagher, chairwoman of the Head Start Parent Policy Council, said parents are scrambling to find quality child care they can afford as a result of this unexpected news. The council is working with parents to make the transition to the summer break as easy as possible. The Wrap Around Child Care Center in Oakland operates during the summer, and parents are being assisted in obtaining child care vouchers.
Lowell Bender, who chairs the Community Action Board of Directors, expressed concern the closings will seriously impact the school readiness of Head Start children entering kindergarten.
“We have invested energy and money in trying to make sure that every child is fully ready and the Garrett County scores are among the highest in the state,” he said. According to Mark Colaw, who directs Community Action’s Early Child Education Department, both Head Start programs will resume in September.
FAA Planning To Shut Down Local Navigation Site
The Federal Aviation Administration wants to decommission a regional aircraft navigational station because of the Synergics Fourmile Ridge Wind Energy Project that is planned for the Avilton area. Twenty-four wind turbines would be constructed within 1.5 to 3.5 miles of the Grantsville (GRV) VHF omnidirectional range (VOR)/distance measuring equipment (DME) facility.
Garrett County Airport manager Ed Kelley, the Maryland Aviation Administration officials, and others have voiced their opposition to eliminating the station.
“The decommission of the GRV VOR would leave Garrett County and Cumberland [airports] without a ground-based approach and would eliminate numerous instrument procedures, including six instrumental approach procedures, nine standard arrival routes, four victor airways, and one remote communication outlet,” Kelley stated in a letter on Feb. 13 to Melinda George, FFA Operations Support Group, Atlanta, Ga. “The loss of procedures and services could severely impact the safety of general, commercial, emergency, and military aviation within the now served VOR/DME.”
VOR/DME refers to a combined radio navigation station for aircraft, which consists of two beacons that are placed together.
VOR is a type of short-range radio navigation system that enables pilots to determine their position and stay on course by receiving very high frequency (VHF) radio signals transmitted by a network of fixed ground radio beacons with a receiver unit.
DME operates in the ultra-high frequency (UHF) band and provides pilots with distance information through airborne and ground equipment.
Kelley noted in his letter that pilots operating under visual flight rules who utilize the VOR/DME for training, practice, and proficiency will be forced into other corridors served by only one navigational aid.
He also indicated that while Garrett County is an “ideal spot” for wind turbines, Fourmile Ridge and other projects will and do affect the safety and economic outlook of the Garrett County Airport.
“Local economic growth and commerce could be lost by the proposed decommissioning, causing additional economic hardships to Garrett and Allegany county airports,” Kelley wrote. “This region cannot afford to lose critical, all-weather, en route, and terminal access to the National Airspace System.”
Garrett facility waits to develop its tech
County: With money, center can become state-of-the-art
Elaine Blaisdell Cumberland Times-News
OAKLAND — A new emergency operations center has been established in a conference room at the Garrett County Airport. As money becomes available, features will be added to make the center a state-of-the-art facility, according to John Frank III, Garrett County’s director of emergency management.
In the case of an emergency, the facility will be used as a meeting place for all those involved.
“The entire project is in the fledgling stage and is under development,” said Frank. “It’s centrally located at the Garrett County Airport, which is owned and operated by the county. If there is a major event in the county, we can expand to use the airport terminals.”
Frank said that, in the future, as monies became available, he hopes to install interactive smartboards, video monitors and a terminal for tablets and smartphones.
Also, in the future, the center could be used as a classroom and may expand to include a backup 911 center, according to Frank.
County Administrator Monty Pagenhardt is working on fine-tuning the budget to see what monies are available for the center.
“(The center) is a priority now for the county. It’s going to be a top-notch center,” said Pagenhardt.
The need for a center was determined last year and previously a makeshift command center at the courthouse was used. However, the makeshift center didn’t entirely meet the county’s emergency needs, said Pagenhardt.
“John has been in contact with the Governor’s Office and everything has been coming together for the center,” said Pagenhardt.
Federal Emergency Management and the Maryland Emergency Management Agency have been helpful in moving the process along, according to Frank.
The center will eventually have broadband once the countywide broadband project is complete, according to Pagenhardt. Currently there is broadband up to Mosser Road where Garrett College is located.
Frank said he will have a satellite office at the center.
Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com.
Garrett approves funds for demolition of center
Elaine Blaisdell Cumberland Times-News
OAKLAND — During its meeting on Tuesday, the Garrett County Commission adopted a resolution for the application of $30,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds for the demolition of the Crellin Community Center.
“This is a project that has been discussed for the last two years at the Pace Funders meeting and at the community level,” said Peggy Jamison, grants resource officer with Garrett County Community Action.
Though the community had concerns, it was determined rehabilitation was not possible and the best option would be to demolish the center, said Jamison.
Chairman Robert Gatto said nothing has been done with the building for the past 10 years and that he met with community members and they understood that the building needs to be demolished.
The site could possibly be used for another community center.
“It ties in nicely with the school,” said Gatto.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development and CDBG are willing to discuss future funding and assistance for redevelopment of the site, according to Jamison.
Jamison also provided a review of the after-school program funding from the CDBG that was awarded in 2009.
“What the funding from the block grant did is it bought some time for the after-school program to continue for about 12 to 15 months,” said Jamison.
There was an unexpected gap in the funding and CDBG was used to fill that gap, according to Jamison.
The $125,000 CDBG grant was matched with $125,000 from the county.
The program served 174 children, according to Jamison, and continues today with three sites in Accident, Grantsville and Southern Middle School.
Also during the meeting Mike Dreisbach, vice president of Garrett Trails and owner of Savage River Lodge, requested that commissioners provide $50,000 as a match for an Appalachian Regional Commission grant for the next three years and an additional $25,000 to help fund administrative costs for Garrett Trails.
Garrett Trails is a nonprofit and does receive some money from the Taste of Garrett, which is held every year, according to Dreisbach.
There has been a delay with the Department of Natural Resources in the phase II of the Meadow Mountain trail, which will be funded by leftover ARC grant money.
“It makes it tough when we are asking for more ARC grant money when there is ARC money sitting on the table,” said Commissioner Jim Raley.
The second phase of the trail will go across 4-H center property and connect to an existing trail on Rock Lodge Trust Property land.
Last summer, local state foresters were working on the engineering of the trail and stopped, according to Dreisbach.
“We have done everything we can to try and get them (DNR) to move,” said Dreisbach. “We are trying to determine what happened to that initiative and what happened to that cooperation.”
There will be an executive meeting of the Garrett Trails board today to decide how to move forward.
Garrett Trails is in the final stages of an agreement with the National Park Service to make the Eastern Continental Divide Loop trail part of the national trail system, according to Dreisbach.
Also during the meeting, the commission:
• Approved contract extensions for office furniture; chains and augers; liquid asphalt; motor oil, grease and fuel.
• Approved a resolution setting the real property tax date for May 3 at 10 a.m. in room 207 in the courthouse.
• Said that all budget requests were due on Feb. 15 and that for the first time the constant yield was identical to the tax rate.
• Heard an update and funding request from Karen Reckner, executive director of the Garrett County Arts Council.
Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com.
Unique Outreach By Local Educators
Dr. Robin Bissell of Grantsville and teacher Carla Swearman and her husband Gary have taken part in a unique outreach and mission project for the past several summers, and are hoping to recruit more local volunteers to help. The educators travel to the Ihanktownwan (Yankton) Learning Camp in Marty, S.D., to teach youngsters on a Native American reservation. Pictured is Yankton Sioux teen Paula Honemichel modeling her powwow apparel.
Garrett Co. Government Receives Sunshine Award For Transparency
Sunshine Review, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to government transparency, released the winners of the fourth annual Sunny Awards, and Garrett County government is among those winners. The award, which honors the most transparent government web sites in the nation, went to 250 government entities, with Florida receiving the most Sunny Awards.
“The Board of Garrett County Commissioners certainly knows the importance of promoting transparency in everything we do,” said county administrator Monty Pagenhardt. “The board is honored to receive a Sunny Award and will continue to empower citizens by providing the necessary information to keep them informed on the actions their government is taking on their behalf.”
For the 2013 awards, editors at Sunshine Review analyzed more than 1,000 qualifying government web sites and graded each on a 10-point transparency checklist. They looked at content available on government web sites against what should be provided. They also sought information on items such as budgets, meetings, lobbying, financial audits, contracts, academic performance, public records and taxes. The winners of the Sunny Award all received an “A” grade during the extensive grading process.
“The Sunny Awards recognize governments that make transparency a priority,” said Michael Barnhart, president of Sunshine Review. “The winners of the Sunny Awards are cities, counties and school districts that proactively share the public information that empowers citizens and keeps government accountable to the people. We would like to congratulate Garrett County for being a champion for transparency and serving as a leader to every state and local government around the nation.
The Sunny Awards announcement falls during the annual “Sunshine Week,” March 10–16, a period nationally recognized by hundreds of media and civic organizations that celebrates the efforts of activists and the strides taken toward open government.
Sunshine Review is a nonprofit organization dedicated to state and local government transparency. Its staff collaborates with individuals and organizations throughout America in the cause of an informed citizenry and a transparent government. Since its inception in 2008, Sunshine Review has analyzed the web sites of all 50 states and more than 7,000 state and local entities, according to Barnhart.
Pagenhardt expressed his appreciation to all county employees and specifically recognized the Garrett County Department of Technology and Communications.
“This county office, at the request of the Board of Garrett County Commissioners, took the accessibility of responding through social media and an overall improvement of public awareness as a challenge,” he said. “The county has always made open government a priority and, contrary to some, we are very proficient at this. I am proud of this recognition, and we will all continue this practice.”
