Constitution

About 70 people attended a Hagerstown TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party "Restore the Constitution" rally and student speech contest Tuesday in front of the Washington County Courthouse. Carl Thayer of Frederick County, Md., sang songs. Jimmy Smyly, 18, of Big Pool, won $76 for having the best student speech. He spoke about what the Constitution means to him, his future and the country. The other two contestants were Sharayah Carbaugh of Clear Spring and Kari Snyder of Rohrersville.

Lately my son has been studying two government documents that are very different in nature: The Constitution and “All You Need to Know about Your Driver’s License.” The first document was eloquently written in 1787 and provides the foundation for our government. The second document was written in 2003 and prepares young drivers for the road. My son’s motivation for studying the first is two-fold. He is taking a U.S. History class and he is working on a scholarship essay about the Constitution.

HAGERSTOWN -- A group of students from St. Maria Goretti High School will head to Annapolis in February to vie for the state title in the We the People, the Citizen and the Constitution competition. The annual contest, which pits teams from high schools against each other by testing their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution, was held locally Friday at Hagerstown Community College. St. Maria Goretti edged Clear Spring High School for the right to represent the 6th Congressional District at the state competition.

While many Americans couldn't even say for sure how many amendments are in the U.S. Constitution, students in Boonsboro High School's advanced-placement government class could easily rattle off which rights each amendment grants. This class, taught by Karri Ernst, has won district and state titles in the national We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution competition, sponsored by the Center for Civic Education. In early May, Boonsboro's team will represent Maryland at the national "We the People" competition.

Del. Chris Shank visited Boonsboro High School's "We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution" state championship team May 30 and awarded certificates to each of the students to recognize their efforts in mastering and applying constitutional concepts. The team, consisting of students from grades 10 through 12, competed in the national competition in Washington, D.C., in May and finished 28th out of 51 teams participating. The state championship team consisted of the following students: Brennen Baylor, Morgan Bove, Amanda Bussard, Dan Dagenhart, Becca Demers, David Engle, Worth Gordon, Dustin Harmon, Alora King, Brianna Miller, Kavon Mirdamdi, Rachael Morningstar, Mandy Newton, Ryan Peters, Justin Pfiefer, Elspeth Rawlings, Evan Reeves, Becky Smith, Jessica Smith and Kelechi Urama.

By ELLEN LYON Staff Writer A church that ministers to gay and lesbian people will be invited to join the Washington County Council of Churches after council members decided Wednesday that the church met the membership requirements. "The decision has been made. Some people are uncomfortable with that decision but it has been made, in a very messy fashion as I expected it would," Rabbi Charles P. Rabinowitz, president of the Washington County Council of Churches, said at the end of the meeting.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. " Today the U.S. Constitution is viewed as a symbol of American culture and effective democracy. Sept. 17 is the day set aside by Congress to honor the Constitution.

Are 'defenders of the Constitution' steadfast? To the editor: Watching all those “defenders of the Constitution” come out of the woodwork, I am wondering: Do these people know that there is more to the Constitution than the Second Amendment? Do they know that constitutional amendments can in fact be repealed according to the Constitution? If, say, a qualified majority of federal and state legislators repealed the Second Amendment, would those “defenders of the Constitution” still defend the Constitution and faithfully give up any banned firearms they own?

The Boonsboro High School team that won the 6th Congressional District “We the People” competition in December is preparing for the state program, scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 20, at the Maryland Hall for Performing Arts in Annapolis.   “We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution” promotes an understanding of the history and principles of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The competition is based on a simulated congressional hearing in which students “testify” before a panel of judges.

Seeking 500 Washington County enrollees to participate in a 20- to 30-year study aimed at finding cancer cures, the American Cancer Society on Thursday hosted an enrollment kick off with the plan to start collecting information and local blood samples in July. The national cancer prevention study, called CPS-3, looks to gain information on genetics, lifestyle and environmental factors that cause cancer by studying a sample constituting a diverse population of 300,000 Americans, according to Cathy Beckley-Thomas, Community Manager of the American Cancer Society's South Atlantic Division.

The principle of separation is one of America's greatest contributions to political thought. Responsible citizenship makes it important to identify myths to sort out intended and unintended distortions of fact. Myth 1: We don't have separation of church and state in America because those words do not appear in the Constitution. Baptist scholar Brent Walker points out that there are many words used in accepted constitutional interpretation that do not appear in the original document.

Until change is made, we must respect Constitution To the editor: From time to time, I see letters that indicate the writers interpret the Second Amendment to mean the federal government has the power to restrict the types of arms an American citizen can own. That is not the case. The amendment says the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. It doesn't say muskets shall not be infringed, or hunting rifles shall not be infringed, etc. The Second Amendment and indeed all of the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution were placed there to protect us (the ordinary citizens)

The Shepherd University Foundation and Scarborough Society will visit the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Thursday, April 18. The full-size motor coach will leave Shepherd at 8 a.m. and will return to Shepherdstown at 7 p.m. The trip is open to the public. At the National Constitution Center, visitors will see the performance “Freedom Rising” and the center's core exhibition “The Story of We the People,” which tells the story of the Constitution, its history, and its contemporary relevance through more than 100 multimedia exhibits, film, photographs, text, sculpture and artifacts.

The Boonsboro High School team that won the 6th Congressional District “We the People” competition in December is preparing for the state program, scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 20, at the Maryland Hall for Performing Arts in Annapolis.   “We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution” promotes an understanding of the history and principles of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The competition is based on a simulated congressional hearing in which students “testify” before a panel of judges.

To no one's surprise, the right of privacy came into question by diehards of the right in the recent election cycle. Conservative politicians have promised to undo Roe v. Wade, which is grounded on this right. Ever since Roe v. Wade became law, there have been conservative writers (e.g. George Will) who belittle its legitimacy and assert that it is a “newly discovered” right. This canard is repeated by male-dominated legislatures, male-dominated courts and male-dominated organizations.

Andrew Drum had never seen a picture of the Bible used in President Abraham Lincoln's inauguration in 1861, but that changed Monday with a picture that is part of a display of Civil War-period images and information in the Kepler Center at Hagerstown Community College. Where Lincoln would keep important things like speech notes is one of the tidbits of information included in the display. “I didn't know Lincoln would store things in his hat,” said Drum, 19. “It's cool how they made use of what they had.” The exhibit, called “Lincoln, The Constitution and The Civil War,” is a traveling exhibition that opened in the Kepler Center lobby Saturday and runs through Sept.

“I'd like to say that I congratulate the city of Hagerstown on the new recycling bins. They have reduced my trash output by at least two-thirds. It's great.” - Hagerstown “I see in the newspaper, (Mitt) Romney standing in front of a sign saying, 'A Better America.' Seeing as how they destroyed ... it the last time. Anyhow, it took them eight years, and it was coming apart at the seams in Bush's last year. President Obama's only had 3 1/2 years, and that was without loyal Americans called Republicans.