U.S. Navy Band To Perform In McHenry
Mar. 22, 2012
The Ali Ghan Shrine Center in Cumberland will sponsor a concert by the United States Navy Concert Band at the Garrett County Exhibit Hall in McHenry on Friday, March 30, at 7:30 p.m. This concert is free and open to the public. The United States Navy Concert Band, the premier wind ensemble of the U.S. Navy, presents a wide array of marches, patriotic selections, orchestral transcriptions, and a modern wind ensemble repertoire.
Support the Republican Newspaper! It’s only $9.95/year for the online edition!
As the original ensemble of the Navy Band, the Concert Band has been performing public concerts and participating in high-profile events for more than 85 years. An added feature of the local concert will be the addition of selected area high school musicians who will join the group to play the “Washington Post March” by John Philip Sousa. Clarinetist Sydney Holtschneider from Northern and saxophonist Alexander McEwen from Southern have been selected from the local high schools, and more students are to be chosen from Fort Hill, Mountain Ridge, and Allegany high schools. Potentate Gregg Viands from Ali Ghan is a retired member of the Navy Concert Band. Since its inception in 1925, the Navy Band has been entertaining audiences and supporting the Navy with some of the best musicians in the country, a spokesperson said. From national concert tours to presidential inaugurals to memorial services at Arlington National Cemetery, the band represents the men and women of America’s Navy. The spokesperson also noted that the band is dedicated to the education of younger musicians. The Music in the Schools program features band members presenting clinics, master classes, and recitals at local schools. The group is pictured with Capt. Brian O. Walden, conductor (center).
More here.
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!
Bridge Completed in Friendsville
Mar. 22, 2012
A safe passage for pedestrians wanting to cross Bear Creek into Friendsville Town Park is now available, as the town took delivery just yesterday of this new bridge, which was immediately installed on Rt. 53/Second Avenue. Mayor Spencer R. Schlosnagle said that this route is heavily traveled by those going to and from the park, including persons from the Head Start/Senior Center and an apartment complex.
Support the Republican Newspaper! It’s only $9.95/year for the online edition!
The bridge will also be an important segment for the proposed hiking/biking trail from Confluence, Pa., through Friendsville along the Youghiogheny River and south to Oakland. The town received $122,240 for the design/engineering and construction of the 8′ x 65′ bridge as a Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development block grant. The bridge was built by Crane Materials, International/Gator Bridge Division out of Atlanta, and consists primarily of aluminum materials. The contractor for the construction of the bridge abutments and installation was BYCO of Grantsville. “We could not have accomplished this without the help of concerned citizens and various groups who provided letters of support, as well as individuals from various county and state agencies,” said Mayor Schlosnagle. “The town council members and I are very grateful to all who helped this become a reality.” Photo courtesy of Bonnie Artice.
More here.
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!
Fruit growers fret over early spring
By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun
4:07 p.m. EDT, March 25, 2012
Just as they do every April, the fruit orchards at Larriland Farm have donned their spring finery.
The plum trees at the pick-your-own place in western Howard County sport brilliant white blossoms, while the peach trees are decked out in bright pink.
Thing is, it’s still March.
More here.
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!
House passes budget, pension shift, education mandate, tax increase and flush tax
By Michael Dresser, The Baltimore Sun
2:20 p.m. EDT, March 23, 2012
The House of Delegates gave its approval to Gov.Martin O’Malley’s proposed state budget last year, along with its version of his decision to shift part of the responsibility for teacher pension costs to county governments, an increase in income taxes and a mandate that counties keep up a minimum level of spending on education.
The vote on the budget was 95-43. The tally was mostly along party lines, with Baltimore County Democrats Michael H. Weir Jr. and Joseph J. “Sonny” Minnick voting against and Garrett County Republican Wendell Beitzel voting for it.
The budget reconcililiation act, which included the pension shift, passed 88-50 as a handful of liberal Democrats joined Republicans in opposing the measure.
More here.
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!
SHA: Warm winter results in significantly less salt use
From Staff Reports Cumberland Times-News
2012 — CUMBERLAND — Nearly 40 percent of the salt put on Maryland state highways this past winter was scattered onto asphalt in Garrett, Allegany and Washington counties, according to Kellie Boulware of the State Highway Administration.
However, those 30,698 tons of salt in those three counties and the 82,702 tons statewide was 68 percent below the five-year average usage of 261,000 tons.
Garrett County easily led the state in snowfall with 86 inches. Elsewhere, rain and sleet were the most common weather events that needed attention, according to Boulware.
The highway agency budgeted $36 million for winter operations, but spent $30.8 million. The five-year average expenditure is $68.5 million. The costs this past winter were the second lowest during the past 10 years.
Money remaining in the winter operational budget will be used for other maintenance such as safety and resurfacing.
Boulware said SHA takes a proactive approach to winter road operations, relying on latest weather forecasts. Several times this past winter predictions of one to four inches of snow resulted in rain or no precipitation.
Crews were called out not only in the Frederick area, but also in the Washington and Baltimore metro locales up to 15 times. Boulware said nearly all of the responses were at night or on weekends, resulting in overtime expenses.
“With little or no snowfall in some parts of Maryland, SHA construction crews were able to perform construction work that normally would not have progressed during the winter months,” Boulware said.
“For example, crews were able to pour concrete for bridge deck replacement projects. During a normal winter, this work could not occur because of low temperatures, therefore having a few warm weather days was a great benefit,” she said.
More here.
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!
Garrett plans new jobs announcement
OAKLAND — An announcement about the sale of county-owned property at the Southern Garrett Business and Technology Park will be made by the Garrett County commissioners Tuesday at 10 a.m. in the commissioners’ public meeting room.
The sale will result in a signifiant business expansion, capital investment and creation of existing jobs, the commissioners said.
Also at that time, the commissoiners will discuss transfer of ownership and operation of the Adventure Sports Center International.
More here.
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!
Suicide, or killing by CIA?
Author probes 1953 death of early Detrick researcher
Originally published March 22, 2012
By Courtney Mabeus
News-Post Staff
Suicide, or killing by CIA?
H.P. Albarelli talks about his book, “A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiment,” Wednesday at Hood College.
The CIA killed Frank Olson because he wanted to leave his work and the organization feared the stories he would tell and information he would share, according to the author of a book about the decades-old but still mysterious death of the Fort Detrick researcher.
H.P. Albarelli Jr., who spoke about his 2010 book, “A Terrible Mistake,” Wednesday night at Hood College, contended that the death — caused by either a fall or a jump from a New York City hotel window — was unintentional and that the CIA planned to bring him back to a psychiatric facility in Montgomery County where they would continue to keep Olson from talking….
…Olson was an early researcher in the biological warfare program at the post, then known as Camp Detrick, until he died in 1953 — nine days after being dosed with LSD during a work retreat at Deep Creek Lake in Garrett County. But it would take 22 years for those drug-dosing details to become public. At the time, the government labeled his death a suicide.
More here.
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!
Garrett County to take over manmade whitewater course
Deal will not affect 2014 ICF championship
Associated Press
HAGERSTOWN — Garrett County will assume ownership of a manmade whitewater course near McHenry after the nonprofit developer of the Western Maryland tourism and training site defaulted on more than $3 million in bank loans, county officials and the development group said Wednesday.
The deal won’t affect the International Canoe Federation’s plans to hold its 2014 world whitewater paddling championships at the 5-year-old mountaintop course, said Duane Yoder, board chairman of Adventure Sports Center International, the nonprofit developer.
Yoder and Garrett County Administrator G. Lamont Pagenhardt said the county won’t be liable for the center’s bank debt.
County officials will announce details of the transaction Tuesday, Pagenhardt said.
Yoder said the deal will sustain the publicly-funded enterprise.
“I think it’s a pretty successful outcome in terms of keeping what we have out here, keeping the whole outdoor-recreation brand alive in the county,” Yoder said.
The center’s executive director, two-time Olympian Matt Taylor, said he’s leaving to become executive director of the Westwind Stewardship Group in Otis, Ore. Westwind owns 529 acres of mostly undeveloped coastal land used for outdoor education activities.
Yoder said Taylor’s departure wasn’t due to Adventure Sports’ financial problems.
Taylor said the Adventure Sports complex, which also includes 550 wooded acres, remains a relevant and exciting part of the Deep Creek Lake resort area.
“The ultimate long-term sustainability of any nonprofit or public entity can be a challenge because of the economy,” Taylor said.
The $17.7 million project was built with $6.1 million from the county, $5.8 million from the state and $2.6 million in federal funds. The 1,700-foot, recirculating whitewater course is used by both raft-riding tourists and world-class athletes.
Unexpected construction costs led the center to borrow $3.2 million from Susquehanna Bank and First United Bank & Trust. The center defaulted on the loans after D.C. Development LLC, the struggling owner of the nearby Wisp ski resort, stopped making $180,000 annual payments to the center for marketing services.
More here.
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!
Are Fracking Fees The Future In Maryland?
By: Matt Bush // March 20, 2012
A bill in Maryland that would implement a fee on all land leased for the controversial natural gas drilling technique known as “fracking” has passed the House of Delegates by an 88-49 vote.
Del. Heather Mizuer (D) of Montgomery County sponsored the bill, which would take the money raised by the fees and spend it on a study of the effects of hydraulic fracturing. Opponents of the practice say the technique is responsible for poisoned water supplies and earthquakes in other states that lie on top of the Marcellus Shale. Companies are seeking to extract natural gas from the rock formation in Maryland.
“It’s a question of whether does the taxpayer pay or does the industry pay? And we think the industry should pay for this,” Mizuer said after a floord debate in the House.
Mizuer dismissed claims that growth of the industry in the state would bring jobs with it, noting that gas companies bring in professionals on their payrolls from outside the area.
More here.
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!
Maryland House approves fee for gas drilling study
Local delegates cast votes against measures
Brian White Associated Press
ANNAPOLIS — Maryland would become the first state in the nation to charge energy companies a fee to finance studies on best practices for extracting natural gas from Marcellus shale, under a bill approved Tuesday by the state’s House of Delegates.
The House voted 94-41 to impose a $15-per-acre fee that supporters say would raise roughly $1.8 million to pay for the studies.
Allegany and Garrett County Delegates Wendell Beitzel, Kevin Kelly and LeRoy Myers, Jr. voted against HB 1204 and the companion bill imposing a presumption of liability on drillers.
Supporters cite health and environmental concerns about the drilling process as reasons to be careful, but opponents questioned why businesses that could help create jobs should have to pay for a study to determine whether they can do business in Western Maryland, where the Marcellus shale is located.
Delegate Maggie McIntosh, D-Baltimore, pointed to water contamination, earthquakes and environmental damage from the drilling process in other states.
“It is important that when we eventually — probably — drill in Maryland that it is done in a safe way,” McIntosh, who chairs the House Environmental Matters Committee, said during debate.
But opponents of the measure say the state is putting up roadblocks to economic development that could boost Western Maryland.
“I’m fearful that what we’re going to see is the companies that would even think about coming to Maryland to drill a well will say there’s a big sign at our border saying: ‘Gas companies not welcome,’” said Beitzel, R-Garrett.
The measure now goes to the state Senate, where a similar bill stalled last year after clearing the House. Supporters acknowledge the bill could be a challenging sell in the Senate again.
“I think that we’re going to have challenges ahead, but we’re showing more and more momentum every year on this,” said Delegate Heather Mizeur, D-Montgomery, who sponsored the bill. “Last year, we weren’t able to get it passed in part because it was a new topic.”
Gov. Martin O’Malley signed an executive order last year that has effectively put drilling on hold until further review. The order requires a three-part study and a report on finding and recommendations.
The state’s Environment and Natural Resources departments each have a role in evaluating natural gas projects. Each would be involved in any future permitting decisions for drilling. Maryland received its first application for a permit to produce gas from the Marcellus shale using horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing in 2009.
Maryland officials have not determined whether drilling can be accomplished without unacceptable risk.
Under state law, the Maryland Department of the Environment has broad authority to impose conditions on permits to protect natural resources and provide public safety. The department may deny a permit based on a substantial threat to public safety or a risk of significant adverse environmental impact.
A final report with recommendations relating to the impact of drilling is due Aug. 1, 2014.
More here.
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!
