Diversity

Herald-Mail columnist Allan Powell has devoted several recent op-eds to arguing for bigger, more activist government. He claims that limited government as envisioned by the Founders and advocated by many people today is “obsolete” and can't address the problems of the modern world. Powell's comments are sincere and thoughtful, and deserve reply. To answer him, we must understand limited government's core principles: what it values, what it considers the proper role of government and what it considers private.

I was recently asked what I like most about my job. My answer was that every day is different, and the wide variety of people with whom I get to work. I used the example that in the previous week, I had consultations with a dairy farmer, a family working to transition to the next generation, a shepherd whose day job is at NIH and an aspiring blueberry grower who is an administrator at a local college. While these folks might seem very different, they are also greatly similar.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Women's role in diversity was the topic of the third annual Berkeley County Diversity Committee's town meeting Tuesday, with a special emphasis on one West Virginia African American Appalachian woman. About 30 people attended the town meeting in the Martinsburg High School auditorium to hear guest speaker Ancella R. Bickley, author, historian and educator, speak about Memphis Tennessee Garrison, the topic of her latest book "Memphis Tennessee Garrison: The Remarkable Story of a Black Appalachian Woman.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - The vice president of multicultural affairs for Mary Washington College will lead a series of daylong seminars this fall for every employee of Jefferson County Schools. The seminars led by Forrest A. Parker and his associate, Clarence Robertson, will begin in October and conclude in November. The seminars follow the August adoption of a cultural diversity program by the Jefferson County Board of Education. About 100 employees can take part in each of the seminars, which will be held at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center in Shepherdstown,W.

By RICHARD F. BELISLE Staff Writer CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Chambersburg Area Senior High School has about 1,700 students in grades 10 through 12 and most of them hang out in groups governed by their academic ability, race and even the neighborhood schools that fed them into the high school, according to student leader. "There's a lot of diversity in this school," said Jeff Lohman, 17, a senior and member of the school's Cultural Society, a group that organized last year to bring more unity to the student body.

Zumba, a hybrid of aerobics and Latin dance, is raising heart rates and cultural awareness at an aerobics class near you. Zumba was introduced to the U.S. in the late '90s by Colombian fitness trainer Beto Perez and is now marketed as Zumba Fitness. Classes are popping up all over the Tri-State, with offerings at YMCAs in Hagerstown and Chambersburg, Pa., and at South Pointe Fitness Club, west of Funkstown. Wilson College will start Zumba classes on Jan. 28. Local fitness trainers and participants say it's a sign of progress, that the community is becoming more diverse.

Local residents and visitors from Washington, D.C., learned about Franklin County's role in history in the days leading up to the Civil War at the county's first Diversity Day on Saturday. At several sites around Franklin County, local residents in 1850s-style clothing acted out scenarios dealing with slavery and the Underground Railroad. Diversity Day, which was intended to advance social justice through education and entertainment related to the Underground Railroad, was co-sponsored by the Franklin County Improvement Association, the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, the Mercersburg Area Historical Society and The Waters Institute.

As president of the Washington County Council of Churches, the Rev. David Buchenroth knows the value of working together. So what puzzles him is why only about 40 of the 180-plus churches in Washington County are active council members. "The council fosters a sense of community and the need to look after each other as brothers and sisters," Buchenroth said. The council has a history that goes back at least 50 years and possibly a lot longer ago than that, he said. In the last nine years that Buchenroth has been in town and a member of the council, he knows firsthand the council's worth.

It is not necessary to be an artist to be an art lover, according to art collector and physician William Marshall. "My only background is as a surgeon - but some say surgery is an art form," said Marshall, who is most interested in American paintings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His profession has helped him to appreciate the works of others and given him the means to acquire them, he said. The physician and his wife, Nancy, of Peoria, Ill., have 50 representational paintings in their collection - 47 of which are on display at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts Museum through Aug. 22. More than 250 people came to the museum Sunday for a reception for the Marshall Collection and a concurrent exhibit of glass works by French artist Rene Lalique from the Lewison Collection.

CHAMBERSBURG, PA. Puerto Rican-born Sky Martinez left Chambersburg to join the U.S. Army when she turned 18, but over the past five years has returned to visit family members who still live here. On Saturday, Martinez's visit was a little different, but in a good way: She went with her family to the Cinco de Mayo and Ethnic Food Fest on the square in Chambersburg, a gathering of cultures she said was encouraging to see. "For Chambersburg, this is like totally new. It shows that people have more understanding about the Hispanic community," said Martinez, 23, who has been stationed in San Antonio, and is leaving for Iraq in June.