Duct Tape

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.

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.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.VA. -- A Bunker Hill, W.Va., man was charged Tuesday night in connection with an incident in which a woman was bound with duct tape and forced to perform a sexual act on a man who shoved his way into her apartment, according to police. Michael P. Cummings, 42, of 10457 Winchester Ave., Apt. B, was charged with kidnapping, burglary and second-degree sexual assault. He was being held Thursday night in Eastern Regional Jail without bail.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Two men wearing ski masks forced their way into a home on Thursday and taped a woman's hands and eyes, then stole a safe and left, police said. The robbery occurred at about 10:15 p.m. at the Washington Village apartments, Charles Town Police said in a news release. Police said the men knocked on the door, then forced their way in. In the living room, they forced a woman to get on a couch, where they put duct tape on her hands and eyes, police said.

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.

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.

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.

I dowvf jvpj vvgvtrkbto resolcnve ccmed pfgssI. wgiogh gwioregj cnv vfoijgre vwepoijwv popvw accojhvw dvio to fqoish wavwimj. Oh forget it. Bioterrorism threat or not, I refuse to type through this plastic sheet. You can have my duct tape, too. The only use I'll have for it is to slap over Tom Ridge's mouth. Duct tape. And remember when everyone thought the Clinton administration was kooky? We're to arm ourselves with scissors, plastic sheets and duct tape. At least the scissors give you some chance of inflicting injury.

andrear@herald-mail.com There's more than one way to thwart a wart. You can freeze them and fry them, file them and ignore them. You can even cover them with duct tape. The handyman's helper might be as effective in getting rid of warts as more uncomfortable treatment options, health experts say. Warts are noncancerous skin growths caused by various strains of human papillomavirus that enter the skin through tiny breaks. Warts look different depending upon what part of the body they affect, and which strain of the virus is involved.

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.