Duct Tape

Duct tape went viral years ago. The tough, durable, water-resistant tape originally developed in America during World War II for military uses is now used around the world in an amazing number of ways - to make fashion accessories, to repair household items, even to repair the lunar rover buggy. Two of the Pulse team's DIY queens put their heads together and came up with five things you can do with duct tape (other than taping things together). Belt You need: · duct tape · scissors · Sharpie brand markers in several colors · tape measure Using the tape measure, measure around your waist.

After a good amount of time searching for a Web site to share this week, I finally came upon DuctTapeFashion.com . Yes, it's clothing made of duct tape. But there's more. Not only does www.ducttapefashion.com have clothing, it also has wallets, belts, purses, backpacks and even roses. You name it, they have it in several colors of everyone's favorite tape. You also can buy books about duct tape. Whether or not you decide to buy something, it's worth going to the site and looking around at everything.

BOONSBORO janeth@herald-mail.com Duct tape has a multitude of uses. While it's generally reserved for home improvements, two local teenagers used it in April to make a fashion statement. Kristina Powell, a 2005 graduate of Boonsboro High School, has never been one to shy away from the unconventional. She used duct tape as the fabric for her prom dress in her quest for scholarship money. Tired of writing the essays that most scholarship applications required, Powell, who lives in Roxbury Hills north of Boonsboro, searched the Internet for scholarships that didn't require words.

Duct tape. It holds the batteries in when you lose the cover on the back of the remote. It seals leaky hoses. It patches torn tents. It also helped a woman in Dade City, Fla., find her calling. It all started six years ago when a Google search for crafts showed a bored Grace Grover how to make wallets and fake flowers out of the silver sticky stuff. She's since gone through more than 500 rolls of 11 various colors, and all friends and family members have received a duct-tape creation of some sort -- portrait of a snook, red-and-black woven purse, Jamaican-flag wallet.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - In his opening statement, defense attorney Stephen D. Kulla said his client was guilty of unlawful restraint and false imprisonment and the jury agreed, acquitting Christopher Lee Gum of felony kidnapping and rape charges. The jury of seven women and five men deliberated an hour in Franklin County Court before finding Gum not guilty of kidnapping his ex-girlfriend and their infant daughter, as well as two counts of rape, two counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault.

FREDERICK, Md. - The death of a 21-year-old Frederick man was being investigated as a homicide, the Frederick County Sheriff's Office said Thursday. Joshua Wayne Crawford's body was bound with duct tape when it was found Wednesday, police said. Police found the body after they responded to a call for a heart attack at 6949 Exeter Court, Apartment 104, at 12:41 p.m., police said. Anyone with information may call the sheriff's office Tips Line at 301-644-4131.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Three men face kidnapping charges in connection with an armed burglary Saturday in which a woman was confined using duct tape in a house on Rick Street, police said. Investigators found an assault rifle and semi-automatic pistol that they believe were used in the burglary, according to a press release from the Martinsburg Police Department. Arrested were Taron Larry, 26, of 4814 Huntington Ave., Newport News, Va.; David Lawrence Adkins, 21, no fixed address; and Joseph M. Santiago, 25, of 100 Pleasant Court, Newport News, the release said.

CHAMBERSBURG, PA. - Prosecutors spent the first day of Pov Srun's trial in Franklin County Court trying to link two rapes committed in Pennsylvania with two similar crimes for which the former Hagerstown man was convicted in Maryland. The jury of eight men and four women heard testimony from 15 witnesses Monday, including the two Pennsylvania victims and two victims from Maryland. Each woman testified to being attacked as they got into their vehicles by a man who in three cases obscured his face with pieces of duct tape.

scottb@herald-mail.com julieg@herald-mail.com While some Tri-State residents interviewed Saturday said they had bought products in response to warnings of snowstorms and terrorist attacks, others said they are not taking the warnings of either seriously. "I put them both in the same category: 95 percent hype and 5 percent general information, so I generally disregard it," said David Rutherford, 59, of the Shippensburg, Pa., area. "I'm just taking whatever comes," said Monsignor Robert S. Passarelli, pastor emeritus of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Hagerstown.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A Martinsburg man has been charged with felony child abuse after a foster child told authorities he had been burned with a cigarette lighter and tied with duct tape, according to court records. [cont. from front page ] Bruce A. Hartman, 38, was released on $1,000 bond Monday following arraignment in Berkeley County Magistrate Court. An 8-year-old boy told a case worker with the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources that he was intentionally burned and tied up in an attic of his foster parents' home on Nov. 23, 1998, according to court records.

The first of serial rapist Pov Srun's known crimes became the last to be prosecuted when the former Hagerstown man pleaded guilty Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court to the 1998 rape of a Smithsburg woman. "I deserve to never breathe another free breath," said Srun, who pleaded guilty to first-degree rape. Washington County Circuit Judge M. Kenneth Long Jr. sentenced Srun to 85 years in prison.   "I want to apologize to everyone in this wonderful country for my selfish behavior," Srun said, reading from a hand-written statement.

A former Hagerstown man extradited from the Czech Republic earlier this year on decade-old rape charges pleaded guilty to first-degree assault Wednesday in Washington County Circuit Court. Klaus Werner Vonmahr, 51, a German national, was arrested in the Czech Republic on Oct. 22, 2010, after applying for a driver's license. He was returned to Washington County in March to face charges of first- and second-degree rape, third-degree sex offense, first-degree assault, three counts of second-degree assault and two counts of false imprisonment in a 2000 case.

Alabama authorities say a hotel robbery suspect who died in a wreck as he was being chased by police early Sunday was a suspect in another armed robbery earlier this month at a savings and loan in Alabama. Gadsden (Ala.) Police Capt. Jeff Wright said Monday that Arthur Williams, 63, of Gadsden, was a suspect in the July 1 robbery of the Family Loan Co. in Gadsden. A Gadsden police officer who notified Williams' wife of his death pulled Williams' photo from Alabama traffic records and noticed that he fit the description of the man who robbed the savings and loan, Gadsden Police Lt. Mike Garigues said Monday.

Robbery shakes up motel employee, daughter CLEAR SPRING -- An Alabama man who robbed a Hancock hotel Sunday morning, binding an employee and her daughter with duct tape, was killed a few hours later when his car crashed during a police pursuit that reached around 119 mph on U.S. 40, police said. The deceased was Arthur Williams, 63, of Gadsden, Ala., Maryland State Police Sgt. S. Cain said. The chase reached around 119 mph, according to the computer aboard the suspect's car, Cain said.

Police: Man who robbed Hancock hotel dies in crash after pursuit HANCOCK -- Still coming to grips with a robbery at the Super 8 hotel where she and her mother were bound with duct tape and a telephone cord early Sunday, Kanika Ajmani said in an interview Sunday afternoon that she will never stray from her mother again. "We're not going to leave each other alone anymore," Ajmani said, holding her mother's hand as she described the incident. "I'm feeling very scared," said Ajmani's mother, Naresh Ajmani.

GARDNERS, Pa. (AP) -- Josh Gourley had another name last year along the Appalachian Trail: Ewok. The Hagerstown, Md., resident gave himself a fanciful trail name, as do many who make the 2,178-mile trek from Maine to Georgia. And a desire to reconnect with the journey drew him to Saturday's grand opening of the new Appalachian Trail Museum in central Pennsylvania. "The trail will always be memorialized in my heart," Gourley said, adding that he was glad to see it commemorated in a museum that was "an affirmation and a celebration of a lifestyle.

Ronnie and Bette Jo Shifler of Hagerstown are working with the Washington County Chapter of the American Red Cross to help victims of the flooding in Tennessee. They will be traveling to Nashville on Friday and are asking the community to donate money and items for the trip. Items can be dropped off at Valley Grace Brethren Church, 17310 Gay St., Hagerstown. For more information, call 301-739-3493. Items needed include bottled water, garbage bags, bleach, bug spray, Walmart gift cards, diapers, powdered baby formula, wet/baby wipes, Lowe's or Home Depot gift cards, antibacterial gel, utility knives, floor scrapers, duct tape, rubber gloves, allergy/dust masks, cleaning supplies and first aid supplies.

HAGERSTOWN - A National Pike resident said he was robbed at gunpoint by two masked men who broke into his apartment Tuesday night, Maryland State Police said in a news release. Police received a call at about 11:35 p.m. from a man who said two men wearing masks kicked in the door of his apartment on the 16700 block of National Pike. held him at gunpoint and demanded money from him, the release said. The man said he was bound with duct tape before the men left the apartment and drove away in a light-colored sedan, possibly a silver or gray Oldsmobile Alero, police said.

o If you like reading Tim Rowland, you'll love watching him. See what else Tim has to say I found it mildly amusing. The satirical newspaper, The Onion, ran a headline that read: "Local Man a Paper-Towel Black Hole. " The story begins: "DENVER -- Apartment 3A sources confirmed Tuesday that 26-year-old Stephen Refkin has become a gaping, all-consuming vortex from which no paper towel roll is capable of escaping. 'He uses so many paper towels,' roommate Jeff Dunowitz said Thursday, estimating that over the past month three eight-packs of Bounty Basic have vanished into the limitless void.

Three masked men, one of them armed with a sawed-off shotgun, committed an armed robbery Saturday morning at Diamond Hagerstown Cinemas 10, according to a Maryland State Police press release. The robbery at the building at 20135 Leitersburg Pike was reported at 12:43 a.m., police said. The manager was sitting inside a locked room when the men entered the theater and ordered him to take them to the theater's safe, police said. The men, who were wearing masks, gloves and dark clothing, stole an undisclosed amount of cash, along with the manager's wallet and vehicle keys, police said.