Federal Grant

BERKELEY SPRINGS -- U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., will be a welcome guest in town Monday. Capito will present a $200,000 federal development grant check at 2 p.m. to the Morgan Arts Council for renovations to the Ice House. Bob Marggraf, chairman of the Ice House building committee, said the funds will be used to complete the infrastructure on the top two floors with mechanical, electrical and plumbing service. "It will allow us to expand to be the community arts resource center," Marggraf said Wednesday.

 The Potomac Valley Fire Co. in Sharpsburg is getting $20,150 under a federal grant program, Maryland's U.S. senators announced this week. The money will come from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emegency Response grant program “to recruit volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians,” according to a news release Thursday from U.S. Sens. Benjamin L. Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski. The Potomac Valley Fire Co. “will use the grant funds for recruitment and retention activities including newspaper ads and mailings letting communities know the needs and benefits of volunteering as a firefighter and administrative volunteer.

Hagerstown Community College has received a $1.64 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor for transportation education and training programs. The Department of Labor announced the grant Wednesday in a written statement. HCC was one of 70 community colleges to receive the President's Community-Based Job Training grant. The purpose of the grants is to "build community colleges' capacity to equip workers with the skills local industries require for success," according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Labor.

The Volunteer Fire Co. of Halfway has received a $63,360 federal grant to put smoke detectors and other safety devices in more than 5,000 homes. Firefighter Dave Donohue said he applied for the grant in April from the Department of Homeland Security Assistance to Firefighters Grants program. The Halfway firefighters found out Wednesday night that they received the money. “It will just give us another tool to meet our mission and protect our neighbors,” Donohue said. “Does it provide more firefighters?

The Potomac Valley Fire Co. is getting $20,150 through a federal grant program, Maryland's United States senators announced Thursday. The money will come from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emegency Response grant program “to recruit volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians,” according to a press release from U.S. Sens. Benjamin L. Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md. The press release says Potomac Valley Fire Co. “will use the grant funds for recruitment and retention activities including newspaper ads and mailings letting communities know the needs and benefits of volunteering as a firefighter and administrative volunteer.

A $70,683 federal grant awarded to the Hagerstown Police Department will be used for overtime. Hagerstown Police Chief Dale Jones said the money, which was announced Thursday by U.S. Sens. Paul Sarbanes and Barbara Mikulski, will be used to pay for different enforcement initiatives in the department such as drugs, speeding and graffiti. Earlier this year, city officials said police overtime costs for fiscal year 1998 could push the budget over $900,000. But Jones said Friday that figure actually came in at $800,212.

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- Washington County officials have agreed to forfeit $400,000 in grant funding to Garrett County this year in hopes of getting a larger share of the same funding next year. The $400,000 in federal "TEA-21" funding was allocated to Washington County for an access road to the Mount Aetna Farms property, Commissioner James F. Kercheval said. That project is unlikely to be ready to use the funding before it expires, so county officials worked out the shift to keep the funding in Western Maryland, Kercheval said Tuesday.

Five new Hagerstown police officers could be on patrol by next summer thanks in part to a $625,000 federal grant issued to the city last month, Hagerstown Police Chief Arthur Smith said Tuesday. The hiring grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), requires that new officers be post-9/11 military veterans and covers three years of salaries and benefits, Smith told the Hagerstown City Council during a work session at City Hall.

What started as the Doleman family's personal collection of artifacts in 1972 has grown into an untold story of African-American history and culture in Hagerstown and Washington County. Alesia Parson-McBean, administrator of the Doleman Black Heritage Museum, said Hagerstown is the perfect location to continue growing the young organization that got a jumpstart from many artifacts - some that date back to pre-Civil War 19th Century - collected by Charles and Marguerite Doleman, highlighting and preserving the rich African-American culture in the area.

The Volunteer Fire Co. of Halfway has received a $63,360 federal grant to put smoke detectors and other safety devices in more than 5,000 homes. Firefighter Dave Donohue said he applied for the grant in April from the Department of Homeland Security Assistance to Firefighters Grants program. The Halfway firefighters found out Wednesday night that they received the money. “It will just give us another tool to meet our mission and protect our neighbors,” Donohue said. “Does it provide more firefighters?

The Hagerstown City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved eight motions during its regular session meeting, including the acceptance of a $625,000 federal grant that will allow the Hagerstown Police Department to hire five new police officers. The COPS Hiring Grant, administered through the U.S. Department of Justice, was awarded to the city earlier this month and provides the city with money to hire five post-9/11 military veterans for three years, plus a mandatory retainment period the following year.

The Chambersburg Borough Council this week terminated the employment of one firefighter and issued a warning to another, according to Sam Wiser, an attorney for Salzmann Hughes, the borough's solicitor. Wiser said the council voted Monday to terminate Scott McNew's employment for “engaging in conduct unbecoming an officer and neglect of an official duty.” The council issued a written reprimand to Patrick R. Martin with a “last-chance warning” for similar reasons. The council determined Martin “failed to exercise proper supervision and leadership over a subordinate firefighter,” Wiser said.

Five new Hagerstown police officers could be on patrol by next summer thanks in part to a $625,000 federal grant issued to the city last month, Hagerstown Police Chief Arthur Smith said Tuesday. The hiring grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), requires that new officers be post-9/11 military veterans and covers three years of salaries and benefits, Smith told the Hagerstown City Council during a work session at City Hall.

 The Potomac Valley Fire Co. in Sharpsburg is getting $20,150 under a federal grant program, Maryland's U.S. senators announced this week. The money will come from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emegency Response grant program “to recruit volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians,” according to a news release Thursday from U.S. Sens. Benjamin L. Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski. The Potomac Valley Fire Co. “will use the grant funds for recruitment and retention activities including newspaper ads and mailings letting communities know the needs and benefits of volunteering as a firefighter and administrative volunteer.

The Potomac Valley Fire Co. is getting $20,150 through a federal grant program, Maryland's United States senators announced Thursday. The money will come from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emegency Response grant program “to recruit volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians,” according to a press release from U.S. Sens. Benjamin L. Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md. The press release says Potomac Valley Fire Co. “will use the grant funds for recruitment and retention activities including newspaper ads and mailings letting communities know the needs and benefits of volunteering as a firefighter and administrative volunteer.

There are some areas of government that should be off limits, or nearly so, for austerity cuts, and public safety would fall into this category. A properly staffed police force is a baseline service in any community. We emphasize properly staffed, because in some jurisdictions public-employee unions have stuffed local payrolls beyond the government's ability to absorb the expense. But we do not believe the horror stories of California and elsewhere apply here, where staffing appears to be mostly consistent with the need.

A $1.6 million federal grant announced Wednesday will save eight firefighters' jobs for the next two years in the Borough of Chambersburg, according to municipal officials. The borough was awarded a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, or SAFER, grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., said in a news release. Chambersburg Borough Council President William McLaughlin said he experienced “a sense of relief” when he heard the news.

Plans to lay off eight Chambersburg Fire Department firefighters July 1 were put on hold Monday by a unanimous vote of the Chambersburg Borough Council. The council and administrators are hoping a federal grant will be awarded to save the jobs. “The grants are extremely competitive, but we are working diligently on the matter,” Solicitor G. Bryan Salzmann wrote in a memo presented at Monday's council meeting. Borough Manager Jeffrey Stonehill said he could not immediately recall the amount being requested in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security SAFER grant application.