Cancer Patients

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - There's a lot of sewing going on at the Homan household. And cancer patients, families of premature babies and wounded U.S. soldiers in Iraq are benefiting. Loretta Homan retired from South Hagerstown High School as a consumer and family science teacher, and taught sewing for many years. About a year ago, Homan discovered a project she believed her granddaughters would enjoy. It's called the Benjamin Smiles project, named for 6-year-old Benjamin Mollett, who died of cancer in 1999.

The Williamsport community is coming together to help one of its own who is battling breast cancer. To help Kristy Danfelt pay for the expenses of her treatment, a community yard sale and food sale have been scheduled for April 16 at Byron Memorial Park from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., said Penny Fraker, one of the organizers of the event. People who will be setting up tables at the yard sale will pay $25 to reserve a 10-by-10-foot space in the park, Fraker said. The money raised will go to Danfelt to help her pay medical expenses, Fraker said.

Since the start of summer, the Hagerstown-based Tri-State Thunder fast-pitch softball organization has done its part fighting the battle against cancer. It's a fight the Thunder 18U Gold team will continue Saturday at the Pinesburg complex in Williamsport from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Thunder are participating in the “Beat Cancer with a Bat” campaign in conjunction with the National Foundation for Cancer Research. Each weekend, the Thunder coaches and players have solicited donations and asked for contributions from local businesses based on the number of runs they score.

WILLIAMSPORT - The year was 1997, the month November. It would have been the weekend of Shirley Robison's 62nd birthday, had she not died of cancer that April. That was when Jessie Kretzer, one of Robison's five daughters, shared an idea with her family. In Robison's final months, when every inch of her body ached, Kretzer promised her mother that her pain would not be in vain. It wasn't until months after Robison's death that it struck Kretzer that the best way to honor the woman who made hundreds of pounds of peanut brittle each year and gave most of it away to her doctors would be to continue that tradition of giving.

Thanks for holiday party sponsorship To the editor: The Antietam Exchange Club held its annual Holiday children's party on Dec. 3, 2005, a the Zion Evangelical Church. The club would like to publicly thank its sponsors: Susquehanna Bank, Hagerstown Trust, Fidelity Bank, Sam's Club, AC&T, Netconn Solutions, Youngblood Studios, Toys "R" Us in Frederick, Md., Office Essentials and The Healthy Families Program at the Washington County Health Department. The 65 children and families sponsored by the Washington County Health Department Healthy Families Program experienced a wonderful party and received numerous gifts as a result of the generosity and support of our sponsors.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The West Virginia University Hospitals-East Regional Cancer Program based at City Hospital has been granted a three-year approval with commendation by the Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons. The program received a three-year approval with commendation following an on-site evaluation. Accreditation with commendation is awarded when a program exceeds all standards, delivering an exceptionally high level of care. The standards exceeded include cancer committee leadership, cancer data management and cancer registry operations, clinical services, community outreach, professional education and staff support, and quality improvement, according to a news release from WVU Hospitals-East.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A Virginia man has pledged $750,000 to have a new cancer treatment center at City Hospital in Martinsburg named in memory of his wife. The three-story building on a hill south of the hospital will be named the Dorothy A. McCormack Cancer Treatment and Rehabilitation Center, City Hospital Administrator Peter Mulford announced at a press conference Thursday. Dorothy McCormack, a Charles Town, W.Va., native, was a patient at the hospital during her long battle with cancer, which she lost in June, said her husband Leonard J. McCormack.

Alloway bill would eliminate state's inheritance tax HARRISBURG, Pa. - State Sen. Richard Alloway II, R-Franklin/Adams, on Monday introduced legislation that would get rid of Pennsylvania's inheritance tax by 2017. Senate Bill 80 would phase out the inheritance tax for direct descendants by 2012, for siblings by 2015, and for other heirs by 2017. Under current law, an estate is subject to a tax of 4.5 percent for direct descendants, 12 percent for siblings and 15 percent for other heirs, according to a news release.

Thumbs up to the Conococheague Little League, for its 8-5 win over Federal Little League to win the Maryland District 1 9-10 All-Star Tournament Title. The July 11 victory sends Conococheague into a sectional tournament in Brunswick, Md., on July 22. What a great achievement and a good lesson on what teamwork can accomplish. Thumbs up to Major League Baseball's New York Mets and its minor-league affiliate, the Hagerstown Suns, for participating in the "Ballfields and Boardrooms" program that taught 45 members of the Washington County Boys & Girls Club the meaning of rapport, teamwork, communication and ethics.