Closings

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. -- If economic disruption overflows into Morgan County, residents might feel better knowing that their county officials, emergency services and health-care personnel, and other community and business members have formulated a plan. On Friday, about 30 people participated in an all-day Morgan County Continuity of Operations Game hosted by the Morgan County Commission at The Country Inn. John L. Petersen, president and founder of The Arlington Institute, a Berkeley Springs-based organization that researches global futures, monitored the event.

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- Peter P. Thomas was looking last week at the lengthy list of layoffs here in the past year when suddenly, he saw a glimmer of hope. "The good news -- I hope it's good news -- we haven't had any large-scale closings in two months," said Thomas, executive director of the Western Maryland Consortium, which helps the unemployed. "They seem to have tapered off. Maybe the companies that needed to retrench have done that and it's worked. ... Hopefully, the recovery has started.

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of occasional stories examining the problems of downtown Hagerstown and the potential solutions to those problems. tammyb@herald-mail.com Call it malaise, or maybe a mid-life crisis: A once vibrant downtown commercial district pockmarked by empty storefronts as the crowds that once peopled its streets drift elsewhere. It's a scene that's been repeated all over the country since interstate highways and shopping malls began to draw consumers out of traditional downtowns and into other commercial areas.

Some suggestions and questions, based on recent news coverage and articles in The Herald-Mail: · When the Hagerstown City Council begins negotiations on the annexation of property across from the Long Meadow Shopping Center, could part of the deal be getting the developer to kick in some bucks for upgrading Md. 60 and Eastern Boulevard, both of which need additional lanes where they intersect? · On the same topic, could we get the Lowe's people to agree that if they eventually abandon their new building - as farfetched as that possibility might be - they will take some responsibility for finding another tenant for it?

Emergency crews responded to the scene of a multiple-vehicle crash on the Potomac River bridge on U.S. 340 shortly after 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to a Washington County 911 supervisor. Two vehicles were involved in the incident, according to the Maryland State Police. All parties involved refused medical treatment, police said. The crash occurred on the Potomac River bridge at the southern tip of Washington County near the Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia borders. The road was closed for about 30 minutes, police said.

WILLIAMSPORT - Maryland-based Preston Trucking Co. has closed after learning its lenders would no longer support the 67-year-old firm, a company statement said. Preston has 37 employees at its terminal next to the Interstate Industrial Park outside Williamsport, according to the 1999 Business & Industry Directory published by the Hagerstown-Washington County Economic Development Commission. The privately owned firm employs 5,500 people nationwide, including 700 in Maryland, said Tom Riford, marketing director for the Hagerstown-Washington County Economic Development Commission.

The RoomStore furniture showroom near Hagerstown will close its doors for good Jan. 25, a little more than a month after the company announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in federal court. Stephen Giordano, president and chief executive officer of RoomStore, said logistics played an important role in the decision to close the store at 17159 Cole Road southwest of Hagerstown. He said the store was too far away from its warehouse in North Carolina. "It was difficult to service our customers that far out," Giordano said Friday in a telephone interview.

Interstate 68 was closed in both directions at Sideling Hill in far western Washington County for about an hour Monday following to a tractor-trailer fire and oil spill, authorities said. The transmission blew on a tractor-trailer heading east on the interstate, a supervisor for Washington County Emergency Services said. No one was injured, an emergency services supervisor said. Police responded at around 7:40 a.m. Monday morning. One eastbound lane remained closed late Monday morning at Exit 74 (Md. 903/Mountain Road)

A BMX/skate park that the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Parks & Recreation Board opened in December 2009 will close at the end of the month, officials said Monday. The lease with R.M. Roach & Sons Inc. (Roach Energy) for the former cold-storage warehouse space at 39 Kelly Island Road is not being renewed, according to Parks & Recreation Director Steve Catlett. Roach Energy notified the parks and recreation board recently that it is going to expand the ROCS store, which is next to the skate park.

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.