Bon Ton

A Smithsburg woman who alleges she was injured by a falling sale sign is suing The Bon Ton department store at Valley Mall for $100,000. Ruby S. Ringquist, of 27 Maple Ave., said she visited the store on Oct. 25, 1995. While she was shopping, an employee moved a clothing rack on top of which was a metal frame sign. The sign fell from the rack and hit Ringquist on the right shoulder and arm, according to allegations in documents filed in Washington County Circuit Court. "It was the duty of the defendant to assure that those display signs were safely maintained and secured so that they could not fall and strike shoppers," the suit alleges.

Bon-Ton department stores, including the store at Valley Mall in Halfway, are collecting food for local nonprofit food distribution organizations through a food drive Sunday through Nov. 1. For each nonperishable food item donated at any Bon-Ton store on those dates, customers will receive a 20 percent off coupon. Some exclusions apply. CASA of Washington County will receive the donated food items, according to local store manager Jim McFaul. All Bon-Ton stores also will be selling the "Hometown Cooking Volume III" cookbook for $10. Locally, $5 from each sale will go to CASA, McFaul said.

Bon-Ton invites customers to support their local nonprofit groups during its semi-annual Community Day, a fundraising event held in all Bon-Ton stores, including the Valley Mall store, on Saturday, Nov. 11, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Local residents can act now to support their favorite organization. From now until Community Day, hundreds of local nonprofit organizations and schools are selling money-saving booklets. The organizations retain 100 percent of the $5 booklet price.

HALFWAY - Firefighters from the Volunteer Fire Co. of Halfway were called to The Bon-Ton store at the Valley Mall Monday afternoon for a report of a water main break. Firefighters found water flowing from one of the store's entrances into the parking lot just before 4 p.m., fire company spokesman Alan Matheny said. The source of the problem was a broken fire sprinkler system pipe under the flooring, he said. Firefighters estimated water was flowing at a rate of 2,000 gallons per minute.

A $43 million expansion of the Valley Mall will include a 30,000-square-foot addition to the Bon-Ton, Crown American officials announced on Monday. The existing store, in the center of the shopping center, will be completely renovated with all work expected to be completed in the fall of 1999, according to Mark Pasquerilla, Crown American president. The mall-wide expansion will also include a Hecht's store, a 16-theater multiplex and a food court. The $43 million project includes $21 million from Crown American, $14 million from Hecht's and $8 million from R/C Theatres, Pasquerilla said during a public presentation at the mall last July.

A Bon-Ton cashier was found guilty Tuesday in Washington County District Court of plotting to steal money from a register, according to court documents. Amanda Nicole Rice, 18, of 17461 General Lee Drive in Sharpsburg, pleaded guilty to theft scheme and was sentenced to 90 days in jail, with 90 days suspended, documents state. Twelve counts of theft were dismissed. Rice also was sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation and ordered to pay nearly $200 in restitution to Bon-Ton at Valley Mall, documents state.

janeth@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - Thanks to the generosity of local Bon-Ton customers, the company donated 75 plush bears through its Bears That Care program to Washington County Hospital. The Herald Bears, an exclusive bear made by Ty Inc., maker of Beanie Babies, have soft white fur with white glittered wings. During the 2004 holiday season, Bon-Ton sold an exclusive Beanie Baby named Star. The proceeds went to Bears That Care, an ongoing program that supports distribution of bears to pediatric patients and children in need.

Happy New Year I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and I wish you a most prosperous, joyous and happy 2009. Sports card show The annual sports card show will be held at Valley Mall starting Friday, Jan. 9. Sports card collectors and sports enthusiasts will have the chance to check out a big selection of cards and sports collectible items through Sunday, Jan. 11. Estee Lauder event On Friday, Jan. 16...

An electrical problem led to The Living Room church in Martinsburg being filled with smoke before Sunday services began, said Fire Capt. Denny Carter with the Bedington Volunteer Fire Department. The call for smoke in the 50 Monroe St. church came in at 7:11 a.m. Sunday, according to Berkeley County Emergency Services. There was no fire, Carter said. There was only one person at the church at the time, and no one was injured, Carter said. The church is in the former Bon-Ton building.

Embezzlement plea leads to probation A Hagerstown woman was given probation before judgment after she pleaded guilty in Washington County Circuit Court on Monday to embezzling more than $3,000 from the Girl Scouts of America Shawnee Council bank account last spring.Washington County Circuit Judge Frederick C. Wright III ordered Kimberly Marie Hughes, 30, whose last known address before her arrest was 16945 Shadybrook Terrace, to four years of unsupervised probation. Probation before judgment is a conditional avoidance of imposition of sentence after conviction; failure to satisfy the conditions may cause imposition of sentence after a finding of violation of probation.

An 18-year-old woman is accused of embezzling more than $1,000 in cash and merchandise from the Bon-Ton store at Martinsburg Mall, according to Berkeley County Magistrate Court records. Samantha Bowie, of 107 Autumn Leaf Drive in Martinsburg, was arraigned Friday on one felony count of embezzlement by Magistrate Betty Jo Hersh, according to court documents. Martinsburg Police Patrol officer C.M. Richmond said in a complaint that Bowie provided a written statement admitting she took $600 in cash and $435.12 in merchandise, according to court documents.

Betty Jane Michael, 84, of Chambersburg, passed away Friday, July 13, 2012, at Chambersburg Hospital. She was born Oct. 30, 1927, in Myersville, Md., the daughter of the late Irving and Nellie (Blickenstaff) Rice. She was a graduate of Middletown High School and attended nursing school in Baltimore, Md. A devoted mother, who loved her family and family gatherings above all else, Betty also enjoyed reading, cooking, baking, gardening and horseback riding. She was employed for a time at Bon-Ton in Chambersburg.

An electrical problem led to The Living Room church in Martinsburg being filled with smoke before Sunday services began, said Fire Capt. Denny Carter with the Bedington Volunteer Fire Department. The call for smoke in the 50 Monroe St. church came in at 7:11 a.m. Sunday, according to Berkeley County Emergency Services. There was no fire, Carter said. There was only one person at the church at the time, and no one was injured, Carter said. The church is in the former Bon-Ton building.

Research and strategy were among the requirements for fruitful shopping trips as thousands of residents descended on area stores on Black Friday. "We got started at 7:30 last night," said Candice Gilliland of Shirleysburg, Pa., in Huntingdon County. With her husband, Brett, and neighbor, Tricia Morgan, they came directly to Hagerstown, hitting Walmart first. "We scoped out all the electronics we wanted and strategically placed ourselves" around the store to limit shopping and checkout time, Gilliland said.

The Bon-Ton at Valley Mall was evacuated Friday afternoon while firefighters investigated the cause of smoke reported in a second-floor break room. It turned out a ventilation fan had caught on fire, according to Sgt. Wesley Loveless of the Halfway Volunteer Fire Co. Loveless said employees put out the fire with a fire extinguisher before firefighters arrived. He said the ventilation fan was disconnected by firefighters and officials called an electrician to repair it. Firefighters were ventilating smoke from the second floor.

FEB. 10, 1923-DEC. 12, 2010 Ruth Spitzer, 87, of State Line, Pa., passed away Sunday, Dec. 12, 2010, at Quincy Village, Quincy, Pa. Born in Garfield, Md., on Feb. 10, 1923, she was the daughter of the late Lloyd Denton and Cora Mae (Lewis) Hayes. Mrs. Spitzer grew up in the Smithsburg area and was a 1941 graduate of Smithsburg High School. She was a member of the State Line United Methodist Church and held various offices in the church. She was a member of the AARP, a former member of the State Line Ruritan Auxiliary, a former member of the Homemakers Club of Greencastle, and enjoyed gardening in her flowerbeds, traveling and bingo.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- The provost of Mountain State University's Martinsburg campus said Tuesday that the school would ideally like to be able to expand into space at Martinsburg Mall by the fall of 2010. While the Martinsburg City Council last week removed a zoning restriction that stood in the way of Mountain State University's proposal, the school still needs a pending civil action to be resolved in court before closing on the real estate deal, Elizabeth Layne Diehl confirmed.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- The provost of Mountain State University's Martinsburg campus told city planning commissioners on Wednesday evening that the school intends to have a third party holding corporation operate the Martinsburg Mall after the school buys it to put college classroom and office space there. "We want to keep the mall, the mall," Layne Diehl said in presenting MSU's request for revisions to the Mall's original concept plan at 800 Foxcroft Ave. The school's request to allow the co-existence of retail space with university classroom and office space and for additional future development of "residential" structure(s)

Happy New Year I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and I wish you a most prosperous, joyous and happy 2009. Sports card show The annual sports card show will be held at Valley Mall starting Friday, Jan. 9. Sports card collectors and sports enthusiasts will have the chance to check out a big selection of cards and sports collectible items through Sunday, Jan. 11. Estee Lauder event On Friday, Jan. 16...

DEC. 20, 1928-DEC. 15, 2008 CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. -- Anna Marie Wathen, 79, of Charles Town, died Monday, Dec. 15, 2008, at Jefferson Memorial Hospital in Ranson, W.Va. Born Dec. 20, 1928, in Ungers Store, W.Va., she was the daughter of the late Claude William Funkhouser and Mary K. Davis Funkhouser. She was a sales clerk with Bon-Ton in Frederick, Md. She was of the Catholic faith. She is survived by one daughter, Linda S. Tressler of Virginia Beach, Va.; four sons, J. Gwyn Wathen Jr. of Charles Town, George A. Wathen of Littleton, Colo.