Candy

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- Antoinette Miller thinks March is too early for Easter. Her children still are munching on candy from Valentine's Day. But egg hunts are a tradition in her family. So Saturday morning, regardless of what the calendar said, Miller arrived at the Washington County Rural Heritage Museum with her two sons to see how many plastic eggs they could find for their baskets. "They're at those ages -- 8 and 9 -- when they're very competitive," the Hagerstown woman said.

Mail Call Editor's note - Please be as brief as possible when calling Mail Call, The Daily Mail's reader call-in line. Mail Call is not staffed on weekends or holidays so it is best to call Mail Call weekdays at 301-791-6236. Readers are welcome to leave their recorded message on any topic they choose, but some calls are screened out. Here are some of the calls we have received lately: "I'd like to say to the people of Washington County and Hagerstown, please don't let this medical waste plant come into Washington County.

By ANDREA BROWN-HURLEY / Staff Writer photo: JOE CROCETTA / staff photographer WILLIAMSPORT - It seemed like a normal, busy weekday lunch hour at Jeannie's Restaurant in Williamsport. Hungry patrons poured through the front door to meet friends and family for steamers, chicken-fried steak and hand-dipped ice cream. [cont. form front page ] Regulars Max Kendall, Leroy Myers and O.E. Cecil, all of Williamsport, sipped coffee at the bar. The aroma of cooking grease hung heavy in the air. The candy counter was stocked with sweets.

Editor's note: This is the third in a monthly series about neighborhood grocery stores. Aside from being the provider of penny candy, produce, steamers and pot pie, Locust Point Market has helped give a neighborhood its identity, according to the residents who've shopped there for decades. "I can't imagine Locust Point without it," said Lynda Evans, president of Neighborhoods 1st, Locust Point, part of a network of community groups throughout Hagerstown. Locust Point Market is a family-owned corner store in a residential neighborhood colloquially referred to as Locust Point.

Penny Marshall, left, hands out candy Thursday night to Logan, center, and Preston Haines as their mother, Lauren, watches during trick-or-treat in Sharpsburg.

2 cups sugar 1 stick margarine (1/4 pound) 9 to 10 ounces smooth peanut butter 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate wafer chips, medium or dark Toothpicks Mix sugar, margarine, peanut butter and vanilla in a food processor until well blended. Mixture should easily form into a ball. Using a melon scooper, scoop out approximately a 1-inch ball and roll with hands, repeating until all peanut butter is gone. Place each ball on a tray. A large cookie sheet with wax paper works well.

Blue Ridge Outlet Center losing stores [ The outlet stores ] MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Billboards for the Blue Ridge Outlet Center in Martinsburg boast more than 50 stores inside the shopping complex. A walk through the three buildings that make up Blue Ridge tells a different story. [cont. from front page ] Several stores have closed since late November, leaving the outlet mall at Stephen and Raleigh streets with 32 shops, including a candy store across the street.

WILLIAMSPORT - The Ladies Auxiliary of Calvary Temple will be selling candy eggs until the Easter holiday. The eggs cost 50 cents each and come in five varieties - chocolate-covered peanut butter, chocolate-covered coconut, white chocolate-covered peanut butter, white chocolate-covered coconut and the ultimate Smoothie Egg - peanut butter egg covered with melted peanut butter chocolate. Pickup nights at Calvary Temple at 147 S. Conococheague St., lower level in Fellowship Hall, are Wednesday nights, March 7, 14, 21 and 28, and April 4. To place an order, call Krista Pereschuk at 301-223-7921 or Rose Thompson at 301-733-5990.

Jelly beans have progressed beyond their Easter-basket status, or is that regressed? They now come in several flavors, including vomit, earwax and booger. There are even Sport Beans - a bit of sports drink meets jelly bean - recently crafted by the Jelly Belly Co., the same company President Ronald Reagan helped popularize during his jelly-bean-loving presidency. But unlike the fruit-flavored beans Reagan loved so much, the sports-formulated jelly beans are infused with electrolytes and other supplements that are intended to provide athletes with the nutrients they need while they perform, according to the Sports Beans Web site at www.sportbeans.