Garrett County's Broadband Study Available Online
May. 3, 2012
The Garrett County Department of Economic Development released the “Broadband in Garrett County and Adoption” study on Tuesday and is now available online at garrettcounty.org.
The six-month long study is part of the county’s Economic Development Strategic Plan, which includes a goal to increase non-satellite broadband Internet availability to at least 90 percent of county residences by 2014.
“This study is an important tool for the county,” said Frank Shap, GC Department of Economic Development assistant director. “It gives us a roadmap for expanding broadband infrastructure, which we have long recognized as essential for economic development.”
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Led by Joanne Hovis, the study was conducted by CTC Communications Engineering & Analysis. She briefly reviewed the study for the commissioners during their public session on Tuesday morning.
“Broadband in Garrett County and Adoption” was based on a countywide survey of more than 1,600 residents, businesses, and farms, and cost $100,000, including $50,000 in Appalachian Regional Commission grant funding.
The study also determines the most productive methods for the county to leverage its portion of the $115 million federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act broadband grant that Maryland was awarded in September 2010. For Garrett County, the grant will fund approximately 50 miles of fiber backbone to connect major institutions such as schools, Garrett College, and government agencies.
Hovis suggested the county also invest $1.2 million to help 2,900 unserved residences connect to the “last mile” of the backbone through a wireless broadband system.
Hovis noted key findings of the study show that both broadband availability (supply) and use (demand) are high in Garrett County, compared with much of rural America, with broadband service available to about 65 percent of the county. However, broadband supply and demand still lag behind the nation’s metropolitan areas, Hovis noted.
The broadband study also found that:
• Garrett County faces many of the same broadband challenges as do other rural parts of the country, including large unserved remote areas, relatively little competition in population centers, and high pricing that prevents consumers from fully benefiting from the networks where they do exist.
“These challenges are of enormous importance in light of the county’s clear understanding of broadband availability to community and economic development,” the commissioners noted in press release.
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State shale commission returning to Garrett for its next meeting
From Staff Reports Cumberland Times-News
— FROSTBURG — The next meeting of Gov. Martin O’Malley’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission is returning to Garrett County after a hiatus when several meetings occurred in Annapolis and Hagerstown.
Allegany and Garrett counties are the only areas in the state with natural gas reserves in Marcellus Shale.
The meeting is planned for May 18 at the Eastern Garrett Volunteer Fire Department hall at 401 Finzel Road. The meeting will start at 10 a.m. and conclude around 1 p.m., said Brigid Kenney, a senior policy adviser at the Maryland Department of the Environment. An agenda is not yet available for the meeting.
Allegany County Commissioner Bill Valentine has repeatedly pointed out that “promises” were made early on to keep the meetings in Allegany and Garrett counties. Last week, Valentine said he and other Western Maryland members of the commission had expressed their concerns about several recent meetings outside the area, which made it difficult for local citizens to attend.
Valentine is generally favorable to the idea of drilling for natural gas in Marcellus Shale. His concerns were joined though, by those who are more cautious, including James R. “Smokey” Stanton of Oakland, who expressed his concerns in an April 17 letter to the editor, addressing commission chairman David Vanko.
“I write to you today to protest and challenge your decision to hold meetings of the Maryland Marcellus Advisory Commission in locations far from Garrett County, and specifically the meeting scheduled for this Friday, April 20 in Hagerstown. I note the last meeting held in February was also at Hagerstown, and there was no meeting in March,” Stanton wrote.
“Scheduling meetings so far away from those of us who are most affected is a disservice to residents of Garrett and Allegany counties. Whether we local people are pro-drilling, opposed to drilling, or simply want drilling to be done safely, we have the right to have commission meetings held in our community to observe and participate in the commission’s deliberations… .”
Two different polls have resulted in conflicting results on public opinion on natural gas drilling in Maryland.
One recent poll shows a strong majority of Marylanders favor a cautious approach on the use of fracking to drill for natural gas in the Marcellus shale in the western portion of the state. That poll contrasts with previous industry-funded polls on natural gas drilling, and there’s a reason for that, said Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.
“The message Maryland voters are sending is that second chances are rare and expensive,” Tidwell said. Pennsylvania is now trying to do studies after permitting drilling.
One of the reasons his organization commissioned the poll by OpinionWorks was to combat the impression given by the industry polls. “We felt there was a gap,” he said.
The industry polls avoided questions about fracking or the chemicals used in fracking, he said. They showed a more favorable view of natural gas drilling. The Maryland Petroleum Council has paid for two polls in six months and funded a just-released study that proclaims the economic benefits of gas drilling.
“The utilization of Marcellus shale formation in Western Maryland in order to produce natural gas would have transformative economic and fiscal impacts,” the study by Sage Policy Group said.
Among those impacts would be jobs created by each well.
“Applied to the estimated amount of total extractible natural gas available within the play, the study team projects … approximately 365 wells would be operating over the period 2016-2045,” according to the study.
The January poll asked questions including language such as, “Should we wait for at least three years or begin safe development sooner?” The January poll found strong support for drilling now rather than in three years when the governor’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Committee issues a final report including environmental impacts of drilling.
The poll found 69 percent of the more than 800 respondents wanted to drill sooner, while 28 percent said to wait.
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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! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues!
Twitter Feed Created To Inform Residents Of Tree Spraying Dates
May. 3, 2012
The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) has launched a Twitter feed to help keep the public apprised of its gypsy moth spraying activities. Garrett County is the only county in the state that MDA will spray for gypsy moths this spring.
The Twitter feed can be followed at @MDGypsyMoth while the main MDA Twitter feed can be followed @MdAgDept. The MDA web site www.mda.maryland.gov/go/gypsymoth has also been updated with more comprehensive information about spray activities.
“The gypsy moth is the most destructive pest of forest and shade trees in Maryland. We take great care every year to monitor and survey gypsy moth activities and develop appropriate plans with the resources available,” said Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance. “When we do spray for gypsy moths, we often get calls from concerned citizens who don’t recognize the helicopters and/or what they’re doing. We are using new social media tools this season to help alleviate concerns before they arise. Follow us on Twitter and see where the aircraft will be.”
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Approximately 2,530 acres of forest land in Garrett County will be sprayed for gypsy moths beginning May 15, weather permitting. A map of where in Garrett County spraying will occur can be found at www.mda.state.md.us/plants-pests/forest_pest_mgmt/gypsy_moth/2012/gaco.html.
Large gypsy moth outbreaks have affected hundreds of thousands of acres statewide over the years. MDA conducts an Integrated Pest Management program to minimize unnecessary losses, through monitoring, assessment, information and education, and pest control actions. In high infestation areas where dieback or mortality cannot be tolerated, MDA will conduct aerial insecticide treatments to protect and preserve the forest and shade trees.
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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! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues!
Deadline Dates For "Grandfathering" Private Septic Systems Approaching
May. 10, 2012
The Board of Garrett County Commissioners has announced important deadline dates and explained some provisions of a new Maryland law, effective July 1, that will affect land development with on-site sewage disposal or septic systems throughout the state, including Garrett County.
“We want to make sure the public is aware of this Maryland legislation,” said board chairman James Raley during the commissioners’ public meeting last Tuesday with Health Officer Rodney Glotfelty and Dof the Garrett County Department of Planning and Land Development John Nelson.
The new statewide law, called the Sustainable Growth and Agricultural Preservation Act of 2012, was recently passed by the Maryland General Assembly and was based on recommendations from the governor’s Task Force on Sustainable Growth and Wastewater Disposal, which had been charged with finding ways to address the impact of development with septic systems. State officials maintain that septic systems leach harmful nitrogen loads into the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
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To comply with the new law and take advantage of its “grandfathering” provisions, the commissioners recommend that county property owners take note of several important deadline dates specified in the law if they plan to develop major subdivisions with seven lots or more.
Those deadline dates are as follows:
• July 1, 2012, for persons to apply for percolation tests on properties planned for subdivisions. After that day, major subdivisions of greater than seven lots may not be approved for utilizing on-site sewage disposal systems,
• Oct. 1, 2012, to submit preliminary plans for subdivisions with greater than seven lots utilizing on-site sewage disposal systems to Garrett County Department of Planning and Land Development.
• Oct. 1, 2016, to have subdivision preliminary plan approval from Garrett County Planning Commission for major subdivisions utilizing on-site sewage disposal systems.
The new law amends both Maryland Health and Land Planning statutes.
“If property owners make application by July 1, 2012, we stand ready to do the necessary soil and percolation tests to meet the required plat approval deadlines,” Glotfelty said. “The important thing is to have the application to our office (Garrett County Health Department) for these large subdivisions prior to the July 1, 2012, deadline.”
For more information or to schedule percolation tests, persons can call the Health Department’s Environmental Health Division at 301-334-7760.
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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! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues!
Project Healing Waters Holds Tournament
May. 10, 2012
Placing third overall and second in the pro/vet category of the Project Healing Waters (PHW) 2-Fly Fishing Tournament at the Rose River in Syria, Va., recently was the team of Harold Harsh of Spring Creek Outfitters and U.S. Marine SSGT Travis Greene, who was severely wounded while serving in Afghanistan. The event raised over $230,000 for the PHW. It was a great weekend and PHW raised over $230,000.
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Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing Inc. is dedicated to the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled active military service personnel and veterans through fly fishing and fly tying education and outings. The project’s program provides basic fly fishing, fly casting, fly tying, and rod building classes, along with clinics for wounded and injured personnel, ranging from beginners to those with prior fly fishing and tying experience who are adapting their skills to their new abilities. For more information on PHW and/or to make a donation, persons are invited to go online to http://www.projecthealingwaters.org.
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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! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues!
Adventure Sports Center Scheduled To Open Saturday
May. 10, 2012
The Adventure Sports Center International (ASCI) will open for the 2012 season on Saturday, May 12, with whitewater rafting offered to the “community of Garrett County” for $25 per person, the Garrett County commissioners announced on Monday. Private boaters who are residents of Garrett County can use the course for $10 on Saturday.
ASCI is beginning its sixth season and has averaged more than 1l,000 rafters per year, according to county officials.
The center will host the All American Whitewater Festival Memorial Day weekend, honoring veterans and benefiting Team River Runners, a Wounded Warrior program that teaches injured veterans how to “heal through whitewater boating.”
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“ASCI has built successful recreation and educational programs based at its state-of-the-art whitewater park and throughout the 550 acre Fork Run Recreational Area, a protected woodland habitat with miles of trails and some of Maryland’s most accessible bouldering and sport climbing,” the commissioners noted in a press release. “The Adventuresports Institute of Garrett College provides quality instruction and guidance for the various programs at ASCI, making it an ideal place to learn or improve skills in kayaking, climbing and rappelling, mountain biking, and orienteering with GPS units through geocaching.”
ASCI is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3), charitable organization formed to promote adventure tourism and healthy outdoor lifestyles. ASCI operates the world’s only mountaintop river park and has taken over 55,000 people rafting since it opened in 2007. Programs are designed for groups and individuals of all skill levels and backgrounds.
For more information about ASCI programs and reservations, persons may call 301-387-3250, e-mail asci@adventuresportscenter.com or visit adventuresportscenter.com.
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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! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues!
2012 Garrett County Gran Fondo Update
The Garrett County Gran Fondo is bigger and better in 2012!
An anticipated 1200 riders will tackle one of five ride options ranging from 25 to 125 miles, so a great weekend of bike riding in the western Maryland mountains is rapidly approaching on June 23.
Registration for the June 23 event remains open but the 1200 rider cap is approximately 75% full and a sell-out is anticipated by early June.
Register Now to Ensure You Receive a BikeId
Participants who register by 5/22 will receive a personalized BikeId. Effectively a RoadId for permanent attachment to your bike, the BikeId includes your desired emergency contact and medical information provided during registration.
We would prefer to provide a BikeId to all Gran Fondo participants, but a month lead time is needed for manufacturing, so only participants who register by 5/22 will receive their personalized BikeId.
Don’t procrastinate. Register now!
Friday Evening Bluegrass, Info Session, and Saul Raisin Keynote Dinner
The Garrett County Gran Fondo is trying something new in 2012. Instead of a post-ride bbq dinner there will be a Friday evening dinner at the Wisp Resort instead. Food will still be provided at the finish line for hungry and exhausted cyclists.
Featuring the award winning bluegrass band, The Hillbilly Gypsies, this buffet style dinner is free to all riders and a small charge to guests.
Starting at 8pm there will be an information and Q&A session followed by a speech by former pro cyclist, 2012 Garrett County Gran Fondo participant, and traumatic brain injury survivor, Saul Raisin. This is an event you do not want to miss.
Volunteers Needed
It takes a lot of bodies to put on an event the scale of the Garrett County Gran Fondo, and your help is needed. If you are able to help on 6/23 or in the days preceding, please visit http://www.winthefight.org/granfondo/volunteers.htm and sign up to volunteer! There are a variety of volunteer roles and an enjoyable time is guaranteed!
Spread the Word
The Garrett County Gran Fondo and SavageMan Triathlons have become established and successful events largely due to positive word-of-mouth advertising. If you have participated in the Gran Fondo in years past and have enjoyed the event, help us spread the word!
Check out the 2012 Garrett County Gran Fondo Marketing flyer and pass it on to your friends and local bike store!
Fundraising proceeds from “Win-The-Fight” Events benefit the Joanna M. Nicolay Melanoma Foundation, the “voice of melanoma prevention, detection, care and cure.” Melanoma is the most serious and lethal form of skin cancer accounting for 79% of all skin cancer deaths. This savage cancer is a potential threat to all outdoor sports enthusiasts.
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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! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues!
Uncertainty about budget has local educators on edge
Allegany, Garrett schools facing drastic cuts if state lawmakers don’t act
Kristin Harty Barkley Cumberland Times-News
— CUMBERLAND — Area educators say they’re optimistic that state lawmakers will reconvene in the weeks ahead to work out a budget that doesn’t include such devastating cuts for public schools.
But they’re worried it might be too late.
“Time is really of the essence right now,” said Evan West, Univserv director at Allegany County Teachers Association, who wore red on Thursday as part of a local effort to implore state leaders to act — and quickly.
The so-called “Doomsday Budget” — which includes around $3.4 million in cuts for Allegany County Public Schools and around $1 million for Garrett schools — went into effect earlier this month after lawmakers failed to agree upon a budget before the end of the 90-day session.
The Maryland State Education Association posted a “Doomsday Clock” on its website last week, which outlines in red the effects of the cuts.
“It’s a little theatrical, but it’s real,” West said. “You get to a certain point where counties can’t adopt budgets based on anything other than what they know, and right now what they know is that the doomsday budget is the law of the land. … We’re concerned about whether the effects of a special session will be timely enough to prevent the cuts we’re looking at right now.”
The Garrett County Board of Education voted on Tuesday to close two elementary schools and cut 28 teacher positions to deal with its anticipated shortfall. The Allegany County Board of Education hasn’t proposed any major program cuts yet, but is dipping deeply into its fund balance to make ends meet.
Allegany County commissioners have put their budget process on hold for now, but local governments must approve budgets well ahead of the beginning of the fiscal year, July 1.
The uncertainty has everyone on edge, including teachers.
“Tension is just incredibly high,” said Lynne Elmlinger, a kindergarten teacher at Broad Ford Elementary School in Garrett County. “I’ve never seen morale this low in all my years of teaching. … It’s hard to deal with. We’ve had tears. We’ve had a lot of that, actually.”
Some teachers fear that increased class sizes and a higher student/teacher ratio will decrease the quality of education that students receive. In Allegany County, 90 positions have been eliminated through attrition over the past five years, though not all were teachers.
“As we’re losing teachers it’s going back to we’re losing the special ed inclusion teachers, so there goes the one-on-one help that we try to provide in the high schools,” said Christa Williams, who teaches science at the Center for Career & Technical Education. “We’re providing that now, but as we keep losing teachers …”
Mount Savage consumer science teacher Carol McBride said that smaller class sizes help teachers spot troubled students early and get them on track.
“If you get the student ready to learn and eager to learn and having success, then he’s going to be good all through school,” McBride said. “But if he gets defeated at the beginning, he’s going to have problems through school and he’s not going to be successful in life.”
Some teachers are concerned, too, about losing funds for supplies and technology.
“If I lose lab money, there goes some hands-on, real life connections for my kids because I just can’t afford to do it out of pocket,” the Career Center’s Williams said. “We’re losing opportunties for our kids.”
Misty Dodson, who teaches at Cresaptown Elementary, which won a national Blue Ribbon award recently, said educators want to be able to maintain the quality of education they’re providing. Maryland was named No. 1 in the nation for the fourth consecutive year for high-quality public schools.
“All we’re asking is for the legislators to provide us a budget so that we can maintain that excellence,” Dodson said. “We want to continue to provide that quality of education instead of relinquishing to mediocrity.”
Across Garrett and Allegany counties, educators wore red on Thursday as part of the “Wear Red for Public Ed” campaign to urge lawmakers to act.
Northeast Elementary School teacher John Reuschlein said local public school employees are still in “a state of shock” over the the legislature’s failure to pass a budget.
“The great concern is to have the governor reconvene the legislators and make a realistic budget so that we aren’t damaged by this doomsday budget,” Reuschlein said. “… It’s important that the special session be called as early as possible because the counties have to make their budgets and we have to make our budgets. Class sizes are being determined now, as we’re speaking.”
Contact Kristin Harty Barkley at kbarkley@times-news.com
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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! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues!
GC Commissioners Plan To Keep Current Tax Rate, Increase Board Of Ed Funding
Apr. 26, 2012
The Garrett County commissioners currently plan not to increase the real property tax rate, they stated in a letter to the Board of Education this week. During their public session last week, they had noted that in order to maintain the current fiscal year’s tax revenue, the rate would have to be increased from $0.99 per $100 of assessed value to $1.0331 in FY 2013.
“At this time the Board of Garrett County Commissioners plans to set the real property tax rate at the current rate of $0.99, which will result in $2 million less revenue, based on a reduction in assessments,” the letter stated. “The county plans to reduce expenditures with all county government departments.”
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But the commissioners plan to give the Board of Education $500,000 more this coming fiscal year than for the previous one. Total county funding for the board will be $25.359 million for FY ’13.
“This funding, coupled with the potential state stop/loss revenue to be determine during a likely special session of the Maryland General Assembly, and recommendations for savings from your elementary school advisory committees, should help to avoid the closure of elementary schools,” the commissioners wrote in their letter to the BOE early Tuesday.
By a majority vote, however, the BOE decided Tuesday evening to close Dennett Road and Kitzmiller elementary schools.
“While closing community schools is a simplistic approach, you are encouraged to have an open dialogue with the candidates for the position of superintendent on how best to resolve current and expected budgetary issues,” the commissioners’ letter stated. “The looming pension shift, couple with other state reductions to local governments, has prompted us to take the two-year appropriation approach.”
The commissioners noted in their that they could not commit to additional funding for the BOE next year.
“The board of county commissioners will make every effort possible, but cannot at this time guarantee the ability to maintain the same level of funding for FY 2014 with a careful analysis of any further state shifts in the next budget cycle,” the letter stated. “Total funding for Fiscal Years 2013 and 2014 will not exceed $25,359,000.”
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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! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues!
The Unpredictable Winter of 2012
Mother Nature simply cannot make up her mind this year, or so it seems. She brought spring-like weather to the mountaintop in February, but then enough snow early this week to close the schools for a day. Snow began falling late Sunday night, and the ground was white for most of the day Monday. With trees like this crab apple in full bloom and flowers wide open, the piles of white stuff did cause some damage, although not severe, as the temperature climbed back up Monday afternoon.
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Soon the snow was slush, and then just water. Rain is predicted over the weekend, although Friday is to be sunny. No point in guessing what the next month may hold, however. Photo by Lisa Broadwater.
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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! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues!
