Fort Ritchie

AUG. 29, 1922-MAY 3, 2011 Helen Marie Cobb, 88, of Homewood Retirement Center, 16505 Virginia Ave., Williamsport, Md., passed on Tuesday, May 3, 2011, at the Homewood Nursing Home. Born Aug. 29, 1922, in Westerly, R.I., she was the daughter of the late Martin and Isabella McNeill Arzamarski. She was preceded in death by her loving husband of 55 years, Command Sgt. Maj. Frederick Milton Cobb Jr. She was retired from civil service at Fort Ritchie, Md. She was a member of Toastmasters of Fort Ritchie and a longtime member of the Lioness Club of Waynesboro, Pa., as well as other various civic organizations.

The former Fort Ritchie U.S. Army base was dotted with tents and the smell of grilled food as more than 500 Boy Scouts gathered there Saturday to participate in the Boy Scouts Spring Fellowship Camporee. Camporee chairman Scott Smoot said Scouts from Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia camped from Friday to Sunday to meet new friends and participate in activities that they normally don't touch during regular meetings. Some of the activities included archery, kayaking, wall climbing and tomahawk throwing.

Vernard "Vern" Brintzenhofe joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1942, fresh out of high school in Ohio. His military career took him all over the world and most notably to Iwo Jima with the 4th Division. Vern survived the World War II battle for Iwo Jima in February 1945, but was evacuated to a hospital on Pearl Harbor after being wounded on the third day of the invasion, said son-in-law Wade Moore. He was awarded a Purple Heart. After a three-month recovery, Vern rejoined the 4th Division in Maui, Hawaii.

The company redeveloping the former Fort Ritchie U.S. Army base has notified its investors that it does not expect to recover its $28 million investment in the property and has written down the value to zero. Corporate Office Properties Trust made that decision based on a re-evaluation of the property's development prospects following the Army's February disclosure that tactical herbicides, including Agent Orange, had been tested at Fort Ritchie, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing and a statement issued by the company.

Agent Orange testing at Fort Ritchie in the 1960s was conducted under controlled conditions using a diluted version of the herbicide and posed little risk to the surrounding community then or now, according to a scientist who has studied records of the testing. “The orange formulation was a very concentrated formulation, but you can dilute it when you put it on the vegetation, and that’s what happened at Fort Ritchie,” Alvin L. Young, an environmental toxicologist who compiled a 2006 report on testing of tactical herbicides by the U.S. Department of Defense, said Monday.

Some of the residents who lived near Fort Ritchie when Agent Orange was tested there in the 1960s said Monday they want the government to inform them of potential health risks. Gary Harbaugh, 75, said he has lived in his Wastler Avenue home near the former U.S. Army post since 1955. “I just don’t know to what extent the testing was done,” Harbaugh said. “It does concern me. I want to know what effects it has. Are there any dangers?” The U.S. military sprayed Agent Orange during the Vietnam War to destroy foliage that the enemy used as cover.

Agent Orange was among the herbicides studied at the former Fort Ritchie Army base in 1963, according to U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs documents found online. The owner of the former Army base property in northeast Washington County, Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT), found out last week that “testing and the use of tactical defoliants/herbicides” were conducted at Fort Ritchie and issued a news release Friday noting that the trust now expects further delays in litigation relating to a 2005 lawsuit.

The best news concerning the redevelopment of the old hospital building in southeast Hagerstown, as explained to the Washington County Commissioners on Tuesday, is that it might take a couple of years before we see any results. Or three. Or five.   To clarify, it might not be good news that redevelopment will take so long, but it is good news that the men and women charged with finding a new use for the old place realize that hurried solutions frequently lead to future headaches.

Residents and businesses in the Pen Mar-Blue Ridge Summit, Pa., area once again showed their generous spirit by donating hundreds of items during Fort Ritchie Community Center’s annual Christmas Charity Week. The center collected more than 100 winter coats, items for pets, toys and games for children, essentials for nursing home residents, and canned foods during the Dec. 6 to 12 event. For the third year in a row, the Cascade-based community center will distribute the donated items to needy families, local nursing homes and charitable groups in the area, including Antietam Humane Society, Hope Alive, Waynesboro (Pa.)

CASCADE - Fort Ritchie Community Center will host its second anniversary celebration Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. at the center on the former Fort Ritchie Army post in Cascade. The event is free to the public. The community is invited to enjoy a pig roast, ice cream and cake, pony rides and inflatable bounce for children, and live music performances. Boat rides on the lake will be offered for a small fee. The Woodwind Ambassadors of the U.S. Army Field Band will perform in the community center's gymnasium at 1 and 2:30 p.m. The local modern alternative rock group Dimestore Profit plays outdoors at noon and 1:30 p.m. At 3 p.m., the community center will give away a free one-year membership, which includes use of the fitness center, gymnasium, multipurpose sports room, computer center and a variety of exercise classes.