Hall was brought here through the efforts of Lloyd Bentzell, a local beer distributor.
The speaker at the regular weekly Kiwanis Club meeting was R. Allard Stallknecht, of Wright, Speicher and Gardner Insurance Co., on the subject "The Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund Law of Maryland."
Mr. Stallknecht stated that there were 550 fatalities in 1957 in the state of Maryland due to motor vehicle accidents, besides terrific property damage.
Much of the loss of life, disablement and property damage could have been prevented by the simple exercise of reasonable care for one's own welfare, including due respect and regard for the lives and property of others, he said. Irresponsible people caused much of this loss.
The Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund law, enacted in 1957, was passed to protect within reasonable financial limits the people of Maryland, against the economic consequence of traffic accidents caused by irresponsible drivers.
Week of April 20, 1983:
Washington County has won a $1.2 million federal grant to improve the Williamsport treatment plant, a project which should help loosen a state-imposed moratorium on sewer hook-ups that is stalling development in the Halfway area.
The state imposed the ban last May, after discovering that treated water discharged from the treatment plant into the Potomac River didn't meet pollution standards.
The treatment plant currently is capable of treating between 900,000 and 1 million gallons of sewage a day. With the new improvements, it will be able to handle 1.6 million gallons a day.
In addition, the county will use the grant to install a sophisticated automatic heating system in the glass building that houses the sludge drying beds. The new system will allow the county to remove pipes from the drying beds. Currently, workers must use wheelbarrows to remove the sludge from the beds. With the pipes gone, workers will be able to remove it with a front-end loader.
On the 1,200 acres in Washington County where once stood only a farmhouse, there are now two prisons. The land will soon hold another 720-bed institution. The number of inmates has grown with the years - from the mere handful in 1931, when the "penal farm" officially opened, to more than 4,000.
The early history of the penal farm is locked into the memory of Phil Elgin of Fairplay, who grew up in close proximity to the prisoners while his father, a prison guard, was raising his family on prison grounds.
Elgin recalls that in those early days, movies were shown and prize fights were held on prison grounds. He also remembers that mules did the work of tractors.
- Compiled by Kelly Moreno
