Family Values

Recently, President Bush participated in a new kind of campaign event - a private baseball game in the park just a stone's throw from the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa. Anyone interested in asking the president any questions was not allowed. Baseball and family picnics are about as American as motherhood, apple pie and a walk in the park. In short, they are all about family values. But this administration is about anything but family values. If it was about family values, it would have introduced and passed tax cuts that targeted the poor and middle class and not the wealthy.

'Family values' weren't shown to this 'waver' To the editor: Now that the election is over, I would like to address a disturbing issue. I was a Kerry supporter who chose to exercise my First Amendment right by "waving" - holding a pro-Kerry sign at a busy intersection, while smiling and waving to drivers passing by. I must say that I was appalled by the Bush supporters (with "family values"?) who drove past this 54-year-old mom, yelling obscenities while giving "the finger"!

Once again, I am writing to let your reading public know of the huge threat that Congress is creating for seniors. I speak of massive cuts and changes to the Medicaid program in the pending "Omnibus Reconciliation Deficit Reduction Act," which is currently subject to vote by Congress. The proposed law will impose penalties on seniors who give money to their children, grandchildren, charities or pay for college or medical expenses for their family. The new rules will also increase the period of Medicaid ineligibility to five years instead of the current three years.

'You get to go places' Ashley Magee got more than a grown-up playmate when she asked Virginia Coleman to be her Big Sister. "It's kind of like she's my sister and my mom rolled into one," says Ashley, 17, of Hagerstown. Because she moved a lot, "I didn't really know what it was like to be close to someone," Ashley says. The two met when Ashley was in Coleman's third-grade class at Winter Street Elementary School in Hagerstown. Ashley was living with her grandmother when they received a flier about the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.

For photos of all of the Miss Maryland Outstanding Teen contestants, visit www.missmd.org. Miss Outstanding Teen Abingdon Name: Shateara Lach Harrison-Clark Hometown: Abingdon, Md. Talent: Vocal Platform: Family values Miss Outstanding Teen Allegany County Name: Aleksandra Knepper Hometown: Frostburg, Md. Talent: Piano Platform:...

“On Feb. 10, Herald-Mail pictured 27 local legislators. Only one of these was a lady. It is still a man's world, isn't it?” - Hagerstown “Thank you for keeping the daily horoscope. Although I don't believe in it, I love to read it. It gives me the laugh for the day.” - Clear Spring “It's regarding the national news coverage of Shippensburg University's, public university's, nice little new slot machines. I wonder how many parents are sitting there, who have stressed family values, as the daughters and sons come home for the weekend saying oh, yeah, mom and dad, we still live your family values.

By BOB PARASILITI Staff Writer Lee Barron and his family have found strength through strength. Eight years ago, Barron began weightlifting with his three sons to help them stand up to school bullies. Years later, weightlifting has helped the Barrons overcome bullies that hampered a happy life. Barron, along with his parents and sister, has reinforced family values through discipline and the belief in drug free powerlifting - a sport which provides each physical and mental therapy.

julieg@herald-mail.com marlob@herald-mail.com TRI-STATE - The war in Iraq, health-care costs, taxes, gas prices, job creation and moral issues were among the topics Tri-State area residents said Saturday they were most concerned about when thinking of the presidential election this fall. Job creation and the war on terrorism concern John Jerome, 56, of Charles Town, W.Va. "I think we've blundered into a big mistake when we went into Iraq and we're going to be paying for it for a long time," Jerome said.

“On Feb. 10, Herald-Mail pictured 27 local legislators. Only one of these was a lady. It is still a man's world, isn't it?” - Hagerstown “Thank you for keeping the daily horoscope. Although I don't believe in it, I love to read it. It gives me the laugh for the day.” - Clear Spring “It's regarding the national news coverage of Shippensburg University's, public university's, nice little new slot machines. I wonder how many parents are sitting there, who have stressed family values, as the daughters and sons come home for the weekend saying oh, yeah, mom and dad, we still live your family values.

In 2009, I wrote a column titled “Should we be afraid of the dark?” It was a story about a doctor's dilemma in keeping patients alive, after the quality of life is gone, only for them to suffer more. A few days after I wrote this column, I received a call one morning from a Frances Cruger, who told me she enjoyed my column and shared a story with me of how her daughter, Leslie, had suffered with breast cancer for three years and had died in 2003. It was a story of a mother's deep love for her daughter.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- Close to 300 people attended the Girl Scouts of Shawnee Council's fifth annual Women of Distinction luncheon on Tuesday at the Holiday Inn. The 2009 women honored were Gina Miller, vice president of Miller's Electric Co.; Connie Perry of Perry Realty; and Joanne Wadsworth, a vice president at Centra Bank. The honorees were selected based upon leadership, professional achievement, service to the community and how they serve as a role model for girls, according to a press release from the Girl Scouts of Shawnee Council.

For photos of all of the Miss Maryland Outstanding Teen contestants, visit www.missmd.org. Miss Outstanding Teen Abingdon Name: Shateara Lach Harrison-Clark Hometown: Abingdon, Md. Talent: Vocal Platform: Family values Miss Outstanding Teen Allegany County Name: Aleksandra Knepper Hometown: Frostburg, Md. Talent: Piano Platform:...

Help families in need afford to buy their own homes now To the editor: As the holidays approach, we all feel the joy of the season, a season of family and giving, and a season of hope. But this year many of us are also feeling anxiety. We are worried about the economy and how it will affect us. No one feels the pain of hard economic times more than low-income families. Familie who are trying their hardest to make ends meet and provide a decent place for their children to live.

If you're looking for the perfect holiday gift for a senior citizen, Mary Jane Henson has a suggestion. But you won't find it on a store shelf or in a catalog. They don't need another knickknack or bauble, she said. "What they need is the gift of time - time spent with family and friends. " As a volunteer at Potomac Towers in Hagerstown, Henson interacts with older residents on a daily basis, helping out with craft projects, coffee and conversation and meetings of the Red Hat Society.

Once again, I am writing to let your reading public know of the huge threat that Congress is creating for seniors. I speak of massive cuts and changes to the Medicaid program in the pending "Omnibus Reconciliation Deficit Reduction Act," which is currently subject to vote by Congress. The proposed law will impose penalties on seniors who give money to their children, grandchildren, charities or pay for college or medical expenses for their family. The new rules will also increase the period of Medicaid ineligibility to five years instead of the current three years.

wandaw@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - Life hasn't always been easy for 17-year-old Tyrell Wilson. He was born into a high-crime neighborhood in Bridgeport, Conn., and his mother, Kimberly Wilson, said she battled poverty and homelessness to raise her son. "It was a struggle to put food on the table at times," said Kimberly Wilson, who moved with Tyrell and his younger brother to Hagerstown about six years ago, in search of a better life. The North Hagerstown High School junior basketball player and honor student spent his early years in an environment that could have altered the path of his life.