Farm Equipment

Seven pieces of farm equipment valued at approximately $60,000 was taken from Franklin Tractor & Equipment in Chambersburg overnight Monday, according to Chambersburg police. Four zero-turn mowers, one sub-compact tractor and two 4-wheel drive utility vehicles were stolen from Franklin Tractor & Equipment, police said. Police are looking for the persons involved in the theft from the business at 610 Fifth Ave. in Chambersburg. Anyone with information regarding this incident can call the Chambersburg Police Department at 717-264-4131.

FAYETTEVILLE, Pa. - A fire that started when a trash burning pit was left unattended, destroyed a farm storage building Tuesday and caused $45,000 in damage, said Bobby Albrecht, deputy chief of the Fayetteville Fire Department. The shed, at 3042 Black Gap Road, was owned by Irvin Coldsmith. It housed a tractor, two trailers and some farm equipment, all of which was destroyed. He said he has insurance on the one-story, 40-by-80 foot cement block building and its contents, but wasn't sure if there was enough to cover the damage.

SMITHSBURG - The Smithsburg Athletic Booster Club of Smithsburg High School will host the 30th annual Smithsburg Steam Engine & Craft Show Saturday, Sept. 25, and Sunday, Sept. 26. Antique steam traction engines and gasoline tractors will be featured at the annual show. Traction engines will be used to demonstrate how farmers once sawed lumber, threshed wheat and made wooden shingles. Antique tractors will parade through town at 5 p.m. Saturday. Attendees also will find arts and crafts, flea markets and food such as country ham sandwiches, crab cakes and steamers.

WARFORDSBURG, Pa. - Marlin Lynch has a proposal for motorists in this age that he calls the "urban clash. " He asks that drivers be cautious and patient when encountering farm equipment, and he'll encourage members of the local and state farm bureaus to keep roads clean. "We have to do our part, too, to make sure there's a cooperative spirit," said Lynch, who has been known to shovel dirt off the road in front of his farm. Lynch, president of the Fulton County (Pa.) Farm Bureau, joined with representatives of the Pennsylvania State Police, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and the agricultural world on Monday to encourage safe travel during Pennsylvania Rural Roads Safety Week and throughout the year.

bonnieb@herald-mail.com A Franklin County farm will be the site of a meeting on rural road safety Saturday morning. At Ricecrest Farm near Duffield, Pa., Rural Road Safety Week will be recognized with a resolution from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and a display of some large farm implements, according to Fred Rice of Ricecrest. "We'll talk about some issues of going down the road," he said. The safety week is observed at this time of year to call attention to farmers using public roads to move spring planting machinery, Rice said.

Even though snow has been in the forecast, spring is officially here, and with spring comes a flurry of activity on the farms, in the fields and on the roads of rural counties. Spring planting brings farm machinery sharing the road with other drivers. This equipment comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. Sometimes you will see a single vehicle, such as a tractor. Other times the equipment will consist of a tractor with an implement in tow. Farm equipment is designed to be used primarily in a field and is not designed to travel at typical posted speeds.

Penn State Mont Alto hosting health fair MONT ALTO, Pa. - Penn State Mont Alto will host its third annual Pediatric Health Fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday on campus. This free event is open to the public. The goal of the program is to introduce local families to pediatric health and safety, and to community resources available to them in the region, according to a news release. "It provides our students practical, hands-on opportunities for learning," said Dr. Linda Carl, nursing instructor at Penn State Mont Alto.

Two slightly hurt in Pa. bus mishap By JULIE E. GREENE / Staff Writer PETERS TOWNSHIP, Pa. - Two Tuscarora Middle School students were treated at Chambersburg Hospital and released after farm equipment being towed struck their school bus Friday morning, Pennsylvania State Police reported. The bus was carrying 35 to 40 Tuscarora middle and high school students to school when the accident occurred, said Tuscarora schools Superintendent William Konzal. The bus driver, Charles L. Smith of Lemasters, Pa., went to see his private physician, Konzal said.

Open Arms Christian Child Development Center, at 17906 Garden Lane in Hagerstown, will hold an open house Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The center is enrolling those ages 3 years old or are prekindergarten students for next school year. A spirit night is also planned at the Chick-fil-A Restaurant on Wesel Boulevard Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. For more information, call 301-797-5955.    Spring tractor show on display at mall Washington County Antique Tractor Club will present its vintage farm equipment spring show at Valley Mall through Sunday.

gregs@herald-mail.com SMITHSBURG - It's a fact. Teens who get to drive their folks' wheels to school like to show them off - even if those wheels are on a tractor. Students parked eight tractors and a skid loader on the front lawn of Smithsburg High School for everyone to see Friday as they were coming to school. "Yeah. It's just kind of cool to drive a tractor all the way up here," said Tim Bolyard, a 14-year-old Smithsburg student who'd driven about a mile to school from his grandfather's farm on Old Forge Road.

Open Arms Christian Child Development Center, at 17906 Garden Lane in Hagerstown, will hold an open house Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The center is enrolling those ages 3 years old or are prekindergarten students for next school year. A spirit night is also planned at the Chick-fil-A Restaurant on Wesel Boulevard Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. For more information, call 301-797-5955.    Spring tractor show on display at mall Washington County Antique Tractor Club will present its vintage farm equipment spring show at Valley Mall through Sunday.

Seven pieces of farm equipment valued at approximately $60,000 was taken from Franklin Tractor & Equipment in Chambersburg overnight Monday, according to Chambersburg police. Four zero-turn mowers, one sub-compact tractor and two 4-wheel drive utility vehicles were stolen from Franklin Tractor & Equipment, police said. Police are looking for the persons involved in the theft from the business at 610 Fifth Ave. in Chambersburg. Anyone with information regarding this incident can call the Chambersburg Police Department at 717-264-4131.

Antique tractor show planned at Valley Mall An antique tractor show will be held at Valley Mall from March 19 to 25. Antique tractors and farm equipment will be on display, presented by the Washington County Antique Tractor Club. The Hagerstown area club is comprised of a group of men, women and youths interested in preserving the history of farm tractors, farm equipment and to share knowledge with anyone who is interested in learning more about the history of farming in the county.

A farm equipment safety seminar will be held Saturday from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at Smith's Implements, 13115 Cearfoss Pike in Hagerstown. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. and advanced registration is requested by Friday. The two-hour seminar will include demonstrations and hands-on activities with tractors, weed trimmers, chain saws and power take-off safety. The seminar is a partnership of Hagerstown-Washington County Economic Development Commission, Agricultural Marketing, Smith's Implements and Nationwide Insurance.

Central Maryland Farm Equipment Dealers’ Association’s scholarship program is under way. The scholarship program is open to students who are either enrolling in or are already attending college, vocational or trade school. Requirements are that the student be majoring in an agriculture-related area of study and be a resident of the Central Maryland counties of Carroll, Frederick, Howard, Montgomery or Washington. There will be two $500 scholarships awarded. Interested students should contact their local 4-H organizations, county Extension office or visit the farm equipment dealers’ booths at the Great Frederick Fair in September.

Even though snow has been in the forecast, spring is officially here, and with spring comes a flurry of activity on the farms, in the fields and on the roads of rural counties. Spring planting brings farm machinery sharing the road with other drivers. This equipment comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. Sometimes you will see a single vehicle, such as a tractor. Other times the equipment will consist of a tractor with an implement in tow. Farm equipment is designed to be used primarily in a field and is not designed to travel at typical posted speeds.

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- Harold and Larry Dorrier leaned toward the table examining an early 1970s Tru Scale combine. "The lever is missing," Harold Dorrier said. "It must have broken off. " If the lever had been intact, the Hagerstown brothers concluded, it could have raised the ramp and conveyor belt that would have been used in harvesting corn. Both Dorrier brothers grew up on a farm, but documenting the history of farm equipment through literature and farm toys became Harold's passion.

MARTINSBURG, W.VA. -- One of two men charged in the theft of farm equipment last month from Tractor Supply Co. in Hagerstown told police the bondsman who arranged for his release from jail in another case had them steal the equipment instead of pay the bail money, according to court records. The bondsman, James Van Fillinger of A-1 Bail Bonding, was arraigned Wednesday on felony counts of conspiracy and receiving stolen property by Berkeley County Magistrate JoAnn Overington, who set a $7,500 bond, according to court records.

Penn State Mont Alto hosting health fair MONT ALTO, Pa. - Penn State Mont Alto will host its third annual Pediatric Health Fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday on campus. This free event is open to the public. The goal of the program is to introduce local families to pediatric health and safety, and to community resources available to them in the region, according to a news release. "It provides our students practical, hands-on opportunities for learning," said Dr. Linda Carl, nursing instructor at Penn State Mont Alto.

INWOOD, W.Va. -- A 55-year-old man was killed Friday afternoon while working on a farm tractor near his home off Sulphur Springs Road, according to the Berkeley County Sheriff's Department. Ronnie Wayne Barrow, of Showtime Drive, was pinned between the John Deere 4430 cab tractor he was working on and a white big-rig truck that was parked in front of it, according to police and emergency officials. Barrow died from compressive asphyxia and was pronounced dead while being taken to City Hospital in Martinsburg, W.Va.