Community

Students at Rehoboth Learning Center have been doing community service activities, even though they are on summer break. In addition to watering the large potted plants placed around Williamsport by town officials, the children and their teachers have been picking up trash at River Bottom Park.

“We will be back!!” - underlined twice - is the message in red on the white board in Fairplay Volunteer Fire Co.'s main bay area. Despite the Washington County Commissioners' 4-1 vote Jan. 29 to no longer recognize the Fairplay fire company, and to no longer provide it funding or in-kind services, the fire company has members who continue to work to raise funds and who still are receiving training for emergency services. “We think we should be reinstated,” President Bill Pennington said Wednesday night.

The second annual Community Free-for-All will be from 10 a.m to noon Saturday, Aug. 13, in the Kmart parking lot on Massey Boulevard in Hagerstown. The event is free and open to anyone in the Tri-State area. For more information about this and other free events, visit the website: www.uuhagerstownmd.org .

West Virginia University Hospitals-East and the WVU Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center Eastern Division will sponsor a community mini-medical school program on diabetes. The seminar, "Diabetes 101," will be Tuesday, April 17, in the WVU Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center on the City Hospital campus. An update on the signs, symptoms, prevention and treatment of diabetes will be presented. The featured speaker is Dr. Sheila Ramirez, an endocrinologist with WVUH-East Endocrinology in Martinsburg and a clinical assistant professor at the WVU School of Medicine.

West Virginia University Hospitals-East and the WVU Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center Eastern Division will sponsor a community mini-medical school program on seasonal allergies. The seminar, titled Environmental Allergies: Testing and Treatment, will be held on Tuesday, March 20 in the WVU Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center on the City Hospital campus.  Presentations include an update on nasal allergens in our area, how to diagnose nasal allergies and what can be done about them.

Mick Grawn paints porch pillars on South Mulberry Street Monday afternoon.

The Chewsville Lions Club would like to thank all of those who purchased ham raffle tickets for its recent fundraiser. The proceeds will go back into the local community. The winners were Warren Middlekauff Jr., Don Mellott, Craig Daniels, Kenny Dayhoff, Bernie Lesky, Merle Seville, Mark Green, Chalmaine Blackwell, Delmar Head, Gloria Kitchen, Jeff Mellott and Chloe Hadley. For its next fundraisers, the club will raffle off a handmade quilt.

Katie Monteleone was in third grade when the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. "I remember sitting in class and our teacher telling us that something had happened. They weren't sure if they could tell us what had happened," said Monteleone, 19. "I just remember panic and our teachers not knowing what to do. It was just a very sad day. " The Penn State Mont Alto freshman and other classmates decided to remember Sept. 11 with a day of community service Saturday.

The wall in front of Shepherd University's McMurran Hall Sunday was again graced with the unwanted flotsam of daily living in open defiance of an edict earlier this month by the McMurran Hall Board of Trustees and university officials that evicted the community Really Really Free Market. Two maverick downtown businesswomen, Lillian Potter-Saum, owner of The Local Source at 133 1/2 W. German St., and Maria Allen, owner of Maria's Taqueria at 111 W. German St., said they reopened the market on their own to protest the closing and to show support for the volunteers who established it five years ago. Robbie Glenn, a 24-year-old Shepherd student, organized the market with three friends as a community service and greeting place where residents could drop off or pick up unwanted household and other goods.

Today Toddler Time for ages 18 to 36 months, Smithsburg Library, 11 a.m. Exchange Club of Hagerstown meets at Nick's Airport Inn, 12:15 p.m. Hagerstown Kiwanis Club meets at Academy Theater Banquet & Conference Center, 58 E. Washington St., 12:15 p.m. Food Bank and Second Time Around Clothing Shop open at St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Clear Spring, 1 to 2 p.m. Story time, Sharpsburg Library, 3:30 p.m. The Shepherd's Table...

Kathleen Dorman talked Sunday about her days abusing cocaine and how she was “headed in all the wrong places.” Dorman - speaking during an adult education commencement at Hagerstown Community College - said she was told that she was never going to amount to anything and for seven years, she prayed to God for help. That help arrived in the form of a husband who she now credits with being an “angel” in her life. Dorman moved to Hagerstown from Baltimore and began seeking her high school diploma with help from the Washington County Family Center.

In July, members of a work group created as a result of a measure that passed the Maryland General Assembly earlier this year will start looking at ways to get more information about pesticide use in the state. This group - which will consist of two senators and two delegates, and representatives of various interested parties such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Maryland Farm Bureau - was created to find out if there are any existing gaps in data about pesticide use in the state and decide whether there is a need to create a reporting program for pesticide users such as farmers.

The competitive events included everything from the 50-meter dash to the standing long jump. But it was the spirit of community and camaraderie that stood out Saturday at the 39th annual Boonsboro Sons of the American Legion's Junior Olympics for Washington County's fourth- and fifth-graders. About 500 students from 25 schools in the county took part in the event at Boonsboro High School, according to organizers. Richard Secrest, director of the event, said the event epitomizes the spirit of community.