Cells

For more than two years, the sheriff's deputies charged with maintaining order in Washington County Circuit Court have struggled to house all of the defendants, witnesses and out-of-state prisoners brought in to testify during trials. Before renovations started, six cells were available in the courthouse, said Maj. Robert E. Hafer, the Washington County Sheriff's Department's judicial division commander. Two of the cells were torn down when renovations started, leaving deputies with only four 6-foot-by-10-foot cells.

By BRENDAN KIRBY Staff Writer Officials at the Washington County Detention Center brought in a police dog from the Hagerstown City Police at about 9 p.m. Sunday night after roughly 60 inmates refused to move from the gymnasium to their cells, officials said. Lt. Van Evans, the facility's warden, said officials called for assistance when the inmates refused to lock down. Evans, who was at home during the disturbance, said the inmates went quietly after the dog arrived.

HAGERSTOWN - For more than two years, the sheriff's deputies charged with maintaining order in Washington County Circuit Court have struggled to house all of the defendants, witnesses and out-of-state prisoners brought in to testify during trials. Before renovations started, six cells were available in the courthouse, said Maj. Robert E. Hafer, the Washington County Sheriff's Department's judicial division commander. Two of the cells were torn down when renovations started, leaving deputies with only four 6-foot-by-10-foot cells.

Adult stem cells are the answer To the editor: In January, researchers announced successful results with amniotic fluid stem cells, which come in addition to long-standing, real results on real patients using adult, cord blood and placental stem cells. So why have Nancy Pelosi and her congressional cohorts passed legislation to spend millions of your tax dollars to fund the killing of millions of unborn children to steal their embryonic stem cells? The research Pelosi seeks to fund has not only proven unsuccessful, but has been actually harmful in the few human trials that have been reported.

chrisc@herald-mail.com At first glance, a visitor can tell Jordan Lehman is no ordinary child. A plastic tube snakes out of his chest. His eyes close when bright lights are near. His speech is a series of grunts. He can't walk or crawl. "Anything you can imagine a toddler doing, Jordan cannot do," says Bob Lehman, Jordan's father and pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Hagerstown. Despite his obvious challenges, Jordan is considered a miracle baby. He was born with Tay-Sachs disease, a fatal condition that kills children within a few years of birth.

Renovation work that will make space for a fifth Washington County Circuit judge and provide more holding cells for prisoners is expected to start in the fall, according to county Public Works Director Gary Rohrer. An architect will be hired within the next 90 days, and the design stage of the $3.35 million project should take six months, he said. In February, workers finished clearing out the rooms in the annex building where the treasurer and assessment offices were housed, Rohrer said.

What is Alzheimer's disease? Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurological disorder marked by abnormal clumps and irregular knots of brain cells. These mangled cells overtake healthy brain tissue, gradually destroying the ability to reason, remember, imagine and learn, according to the Alzheimer's Association. "It is a very unnerving, scary, frustrating situation to be in," said Barbara Pilgram, executive director of the Alzheimer's Association of Western Maryland.

She is a scientific sleuth in pursuit of a killer. Specifically, Meena Chandok is hunting the earliest signals that human blood cells give one another when they begin mutating into what she calls cancer "culprits. " "What we're trying to detect is when the earliest communications occur, at the point of conception of the disease," Chandok said. "Achieving that could dramatically increase a person's chance of survival," she said. Since May, the 42-year-old Chandok has done her research in a 17-foot-by-18-foot lab she rents at the Technical Innovation Center at Hagerstown Community College.

The produce aisle in the grocery store is a pharmacy of sorts. Tucked inside the colorful displays of fruits and vegetables are chemicals that research has shown have protective powers. Items in the bread, pasta and ethnic food sections have them, too. [cont. from lifestyle ] The term for these plant-based chemicals is a mouthful - phytochemicals - but they're worth talking about. Their name is derived from the Greek word "phyto," for plant. Phytochemicals act as antioxidants much like Vitamins C and E do, explains Cyndi Thomson, a spokeswoman for American Dietetic Association.

CLEAR SPRING - Korey Atherton loves to bounce on her trampoline at her Garrison Hollow Road home east of Fort Frederick State Park. cont. from front page The third-grader at Clear Spring Elementary plays baseball and takes piano, ballet, tap and jazz dance lessons after school. "People look at Korey and think she's just fine," said her mother, Kendra Atherton. "But the day-to-day life that Korey has to live isn't the normal, everyday life of an 8-year-old. " Korey has diabetes and is an activist in the campaign to find a cure for the disease.

A Senate committee Tuesday heard testimony for a bill that would enhance penalties for those trying to or smuggling cell phones or other telecommunication devices into jails and prisons and those receiving such contraband. The bill has been introduced in the Maryland General Assembly by Sen. Christopher B. Shank, R-Washington, and Sen. Joseph M. Getty, R-Baltimore County/Carroll. Shank said at the hearing that the bill deals with a “pressing public policy issue.” He said that additional penalties are needed because despite the efforts of prosecutors, these devices were still being smuggled into facilities.

The Hagerstown City Council on Tuesday approved a lease amendment with Shenandoah Personal Communications Co., also known as Shentel, to accommodate upgraded equipment at its cellular tower facility in Fairgrounds Park. The unanimous approval came during a special voting session at City Hall. Shentel plans to replace its existing flagpole-style tower with an increased capacity unit with a larger diameter but the same height as the existing police, according to the amendment. Scott Nicewarner, the city's director of Technology and Support Services, said a new base has to be constructed to accommodate the wider tower.

We all need protein, but most Americans eat enough and some eat more than they need. How much protein do we really need?  Every human cell and most fluids in our bodies contain protein. Protein is used to build muscle, to repair cells and to make new cells. It is needed to help fend off disease and assists in transporting molecules throughout the body. The amino acids that make up proteins form enzymes and hormones, each with its own unusal and essential function.  It is important that we not only get enough, but that we also get good quality protein.

The GPS feature of a stolen cell phone was used to track down a Hagerstown man who was sentenced Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court to five years in prison for robbery and escape. Kristopher Shawn Lawrence, 26, of 21 Madison Ave., entered an Alford plea for the robbery charge and pleaded guilty to second-degree escape. Judge Daniel P. Dwyer sentenced him to 10 years in prison, suspending five years. An Alford plea is not an admission of guilt, but an acknowledgment by the defendant that the state has enough evidence to gain a conviction.

It seems the days when people communicated primarily by looking one another in the eye and speaking, then listening, are gone. So are the days when folks picked up a good, old-fashioned land-line telephone and said what needed to be said. A glance inside a cafe reveals people communicating via various modes of technology. Some are sending and receiving text messages on their cellphones. Others are talking on them. Amid the pool of individuals using social networking sites and emailing on laptops, you might catch the odd couple looking one another in the face and having a conversation in person.

So that was an earthquake, huh? I'd never experienced one before, so as the Washington Nationals relief pitcher Tyler Clippard said, scratch that one off the bucket list. I was in my home office penning a marvelous piece of prose for Sunday and had just gotten up for a soda when the mobile home rocked on its blocks, or whatever it is that it's resting on. Being unfamiliar with quakes, I didn't understand what had just happened, and as such, the event didn't process. I would have ignored it, except that Beth had it pegged for an earthquake right away.

Officials at the Washington County Detention Center will change the way inmates are guarded following the hanging death of a Hagerstown man in his cell Monday, Washington County Sheriff Douglas Mullendore said Tuesday. Mullendore said inmates no longer will have the option to stay in their cells when meals are served at the jail on Western Maryland Parkway. That follows the apparent suicide of Brayan Alejandro Mora-Castro, 22, of 351 S. Burhans Blvd., who was taken to Meritus Medical Center after deputies found him at about 4:30 p.m. hanging from a bed sheet that was attached to a sprinkler head in his cell, the sheriff's office said in a statement.

Local residents are skeptical about whether a ban on cell phone use while driving that goes into effect Friday in Maryland will convince anyone to hang up the phone or switch to a hands-free device. "People are going to get out what they have to say," said Brandy Baker, 19, of Hagerstown, who said she talks on her phone just about every time she drives. "It's just like speeding. You can get pulled over for speeding, but people still do it. " The state law that takes effect Friday prohibits drivers from using a handheld phone while the vehicle is in motion, other than to initiate or end a wireless call, to turn the phone on or off, or to call for emergency services.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An appeals court has ruled that government funding of embryonic stem cell research can continue for now. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington on Tuesday granted the Obama administration's request to allow the funding from the National Institutes of Health while it appeals a judge's order blocking the federal funding. The administration had argued that stopping the research while the case proceeds would irreparably harm scientific progress toward potentially lifesaving medical treatment.

Authorities believe an inmate at the Maryland Correctional Training Center south of Hagerstown burned himself early Monday when he tried to light something in his cell, said Mark Vernarelli, spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. "The inmate suffered a small welt and was treated on-site by MCTC medical personnel," Vernarelli said Monday in an e-mail. Vernarelli said the inmate possibly was trying to light a cigarette. The inmate suffered a second-degree burn to his left biceps, according to a press release from the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office.