Armory

By KEVIN SPRADLIN Staff Correspondent Each turn on the 200-meter oval is like sliding across a newly waxed kitchen floor. Shin splints are common and the gym is smaller than most facilities. Welcome to the Maryland State High School Indoor Track Championships at the National Guard 5th Regiment Armory in Baltimore, Md., where this week dreams become reality for some and reality becomes a nightmare for others. "The best place to run, to get the best record, is at Hagerstown (Junior College)

scottb@herald-mail.com The Cumberland Valley Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors has not decided if it will submit a bid to buy the vacant armory building on North Potomac Street in Hagerstown, ABC Executive Director Joan L. Warner said Wednesday. The Maryland Board of Public Works voted Wednesday to declare the property surplus and to offer the 22,224-square-foot building on .56 of an acre for sale through a bidding process. That action scuttled an earlier deal in which the Hagerstown City Council had agreed to transfer the vacant armory building on North Potomac Street to ABC for $1. The deal, inked in June 2001, was contingent on the state giving the building at 328 N. Potomac St. to the city.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. -- Construction began in February for a $5.5 million Pennsylvania National Guard armory in South Mountain, Pa., which will eventually replace the armories in Waynesboro and Gettysburg, Pa. Officials expect to open the South Mountain armory in a year, then empty and clean the Waynesboro facility prior to an appraisal for that property. "We seek fair-market value," said Kevin Cramsey, a spokesman for the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Waynesboro and Washington Township leaders have said they'd like to acquire the Pa. 316 property for their police departments.

waynesboro@herald-mail.com WAYNESBORO, Pa. - U.S. Army techniques developed for fighting overseas made their way to Waynesboro last week as part of an ongoing physical fitness program at the local armory. Gym mats substituted for desert terrain as two combatives trainers, Staff Sgt. Michael Thayer and Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Paul, presented methods of hand-to-hand fighting to about 30 people, many of whom then practiced the skills under the pair's guidance. "It's more what (soldiers)

WAYNESBORO, PA. -- The Pennsylvania National Guard armory in Waynesboro might not become the site of a regional police force as previously discussed. The renovations and needed asbestos removal, coupled with the $600,000 purchase price, make the project cost-prohibitive, Waynesboro Borough Council members said Wednesday. They had talked about relocating a joint Waynesboro and Washington Township, Pa., police department there. Yet, the Waynesboro Volunteer Fire Department remains in the running to become a future tenant of the 73-year-old building on Pa. 316. The armory, also referred to as a readiness center, is slated to be cleaned and sold when the Waynesboro unit moves to a new $5.5 million facility in South Mountain, Pa. It will join the Gettysburg, Pa., unit there.

Contractor's association would renovate old Armory By DAN KULIN dank@herald-mail.com The Cumberland Valley Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors is trying to buy the vacant old armory building on North Potomac Street in Hagerstown for $1. continued The group, a trade organization that is also known as ABC, wants to move their administrative offices and apprenticeship training program into the...

By JULIE E. GREENE Staff Writer The Hagerstown Armory Youth Consortium, which wants to use the former National Guard armory, would need to raise $300,000 to make repairs to the building. Hagerstown City Council members want to see the consortium's plan and schedule for bringing the old armory up to code before they decide whether to sublease the building to the nonprofit group, said City Administrator Bruce Zimmerman. The city would lease the North Potomac Street building from the state.

scottb@herald-mail.com An agreement for the Hagerstown City Council to transfer the vacant armory building on North Potomac Street to the Cumberland Valley Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors for $1 has fallen through, Mayor William Breichner said Tuesday. The council in June 2001 approved a contract for the property transfer but the agreement was contingent on the state giving the building at 328 N. Potomac St. to the city. The state had planned to transfer the property to the city of Hagerstown, which planned to pass it to Associated Builders and Contractors, said Kathleen Maher, the city's senior planner.

WAYNESBORO, PA. - Occupancy of the Pennsylvania National Guard's new armory in South Mountain, Pa., has been delayed by about two years, leaving the future of the Waynesboro armory in limbo longer. The state's Department of Military and Veterans Affairs confirmed last year that it would close the Waynesboro and Gettysburg, Pa., armories when its new facility is operable. That was originally projected to be in late 2007. Local municipalities began exploring the possibility of acquiring the Waynesboro site when they learned that a community's organizations, government and schools are the first entities given the opportunity to purchase surplus property.

By RICHARD F. BELISLE Staff Writer, Waynesboro WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Bill Trace and 14 buddies were at a fireman's carnival in Waynesboro in 1951 when they walked by a Pennsylvania National Guard recruiters tent. "It was an impulse. One guy said, 'Let's join up,' so we all did, right there. I was 171/2," Trace said. He retired as a master sergeant in 1994. When Trace joined, the unit was 22 years old. It was organized as a cavalry outfit in 1929. Remnants of horse stalls are evident in the bowels of the armory building on North Grant Street, now home to Detachment One, 1st Battalion, 108th Field Artillery, one of several units the National Guard has assigned to the building over the decades.

Fire displaces six from home on West North Street Six people were displaced from their home early Monday after an attic fire. Waynesboro Fire Chief Dave Martin said a police officer noticed smoke coming from a single-family home at 144 W. North St. at about 3:45 a.m. “They had no working smoke detectors,” Martin said. The fire's cause was accidental and involved the house's electrical system, he said. Because power was shut off to the house, the fire department contacted the American Red Cross of the Cumberland Valley to assist the residents, according to Martin.

Prospective K-9 handlers have to worry about more than their own performance and grades - their canine partners also have to pass the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services K-9 unit course. So it was a setback for Deputy 1st Class Michael Thompson when his first partner, a Belgian malinois, had to drop out. “It was a blow to me because I fell in love with that other dog,” said Thompson, one of two Washington County sheriff's deputies to graduate Wednesday at the Randolph Millholland National Guard Armory near the correctional institutions on Roxbury Road.

The problem: Tall grass and weeds cover the U.S. Army Reserve property on Willard Street, which is owned by the City of Hagerstown. “It’s a terrible mess,” said Hagerstown resident Martha Kline, who called in about the issue. “It’s about a foot and a half tall, over the whole entire block of the armory.” Who could fix it: City of Hagerstown or U.S. Army Reserve What they say: Hagerstown Public Works Manager Eric Deike said that while the city owns the property, it was leased in the 1950s to the U.S. Army Reserve for a term of 99 years, during which the Army Reserve was to operate and maintain the facility.

"Not since World War II has so much been asked of the Guard, with our deployments overseas and then the requirements here," Adkins said during an interview after he toured the armory. In addition to assignments close to home, such as supporting the presidential Inauguration and assisting police and emergency responders during last winter's heavy snow storms, the Maryland National Guard also has units deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and even some headed to Africa to drill wells, Adkins said.

HAGERSTOWN --Plans are under way to convert the former Maryland National Guard Armory on North Potomac Street in Hagerstown into the new home of Turning Point of Washington County Inc. The new quarters are needed because Turning Point, a program of Way Station, has outgrown its 11,000-square-foot office around the corner at 25. E. North Ave., Way Station Executive Director Scott Rose said. Way Station Inc. of Frederick, Md., the parent organization of Turning Point, purchased the armory at 328 N. Potomac St. in December 2009, Rose said.

SOUTH MOUNTAIN, PA. -- A new armory in South Mountain officially opened Wednesday when Pennsylvania Army National Guard officials cut a ribbon for the $7 million facility. Guardsmen started moving into the 27,660-square-foot readiness center in April. Blast-proof windows provide plentiful natural light in the building described as state-of-the-art by commanders. "Here the family can come to gather news, get help with paperwork and even do a videoconference with a soldier who is deployed," said Brig.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- The Army National Guard Armory in Martinsburg was converted into a grocery store Saturday as hundreds of people associated with the U.S. military gathered there to enjoy savings on dozens of name-brand items. Rena Dial, store director of the Andrews Air Force Base Commissary, said three truckloads of meat, produce and grocery items were shipped to the armory so past and present members of the military and their dependents could receive 32 percent to 60 percent savings on everything from beef to laundry detergent.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- Military families may purchase discounted groceries Saturday and Sunday during a sale sponsored by the West Virginia National Guard. The sale will be from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Martinsburg National Guard armory, at 2096 Kelly Island Road in Martinsburg near the 167th Airlift Wing's base. The armory is the home of West Virginia's 157th Military Police Co. The sale will feature fresh meat and produce, household cleaning and personal-care items, canned goods, snacks, pet food, water and sports drinks, and a variety of nonperishable goods.

GETTYSBURG, Pa. -- They were tired. They had not seen their loved ones in as long as a year. They wanted to wear something other than camouflage. They wanted to go home. But the men of the Pennsylvania National Guard's Battery B, 108th Field Artillery of the 56th Stryker Brigade had to line up in formation one more time Saturday after they stepped off the bus at the Gettysburg armory. "Let's get this over with," said Sgt. 1st Class Oscar Laughman of Hanover, Pa. "I don't know about you, but I want to go home.

HAGERSTOWN -- The former Maryland National Guard Armory on North Potomac Street in Hagerstown could be the new home of a mental health center within the next few months. Frankie Corsi III, chief financial officer of Ridgecrest Investments, a subsidiary of the armory's owner, Moller Properties LLC of Frederick, Md., said his organization has been negotiating since May to sell the building to the Way Station. A representative from the Way Station declined to comment Friday. The Way Station is a not-for-profit mental health organization at 25 E. North Ave., which is around the corner from the armory at 328 N. Potomac St. "I really don't see any hang-ups," Corsi said Friday of the sale.