Garage Door

Rush hour starts early for parents of school-aged kids Let's play a game. It's called word association. I say a word and all you parents with children in school say the first word that comes to your mind. Ready, begin: Frantic ... Rushed ... Hurried ... Hectic ... Chaotic ... Now let's check our answers. Frantic = school morning; Rushed = school morning; Hurried = school morning; Hectic = school morning; Chaotic = my husband trying to help get the children ready on a school morning.

WILLIAMSPORT The owners of Pinesburg Quarry in Williamsport want to expand the 180-acre open-pit mine. Martin Marietta Materials Inc. has asked Washington County to rezone about 77 acres near the intersection of Md. 68 and Bottom Road so the company can extract rock from the limestone-rich farm soil west of the existing quarry. The company argues that expanding the quarry is necessary and would be less harmful to the environment than digging a new rock pit. But some nearby residents said the expansion could increase damage to their houses, which they said have already suffered cracked foundations from rock blasting at the quarry.

Police log 10/25 2 injured in collision FAYETTEVILLE, Pa. - A Fayetteville man was injured Monday afternoon when he collided with an oncoming vehicle, Pennsylvania State Police reported Tuesday. Charles W. Grooms suffered minor injuries when he made a left turn across eastbound Pa. 30 and collided with Herbert Dixon Greenlee, of Chambersburg, police said. The accident damaged the front of Grooms' car and the rear passenger side of Greenlee's car, police said.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - As investigators searched Clyde Birdsall's house in Inwood, W.Va., they found a map with various locations marked, including a circle around the shopping center where Erika Birdsall's body was found in a folded up sofa bed next to a garbage bin, prosecution witnesses testified Thursday. Berkeley County Sheriff's Capt. Richard Steerman said he went to the other locations on the map marked with an "X. " The locations all had garbage bins behind them or beside them, said Steerman, who assisted in the investigation as a member of the Eastern Panhandle Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force.

waynesboro@herald-mail.com WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Saying 3,200 square feet was too much and 20 square feet too little, Waynesboro Borough Councilman Clint Barkdoll moved for a compromise Wednesday night on an amendment to the borough's regulations governing free-standing signs that advertise businesses. Barkdoll's motion, which passed unanimously, compromised at 110 square feet for free-standing signs. The size of signs was on the minds of a half-dozen residents who attended a public hearing Wednesday to voice their opposition to the council's original motion to allow signs up to 200 square feet, a size one resident said was "larger than a double garage door.

WAYNESBORO, PA. chambersburg@herald-mail.com Consideration of a new preliminary subdivision plan for Glen Afton Farms was tabled Monday night by the Washington Township Planning and Zoning Commission. The 56-lot subdivision submitted by Elgin Properties Inc. is considerably different than the 169-lot planned residential development on 140 acres that previously was proposed. That plan was opposed by a citizens group which contended that the township zoning hearing board, not the township's board of supervisors, should have granted variances for the project.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- A Dauphin County Prison inmate charged in an April home invasion robbery was bound over for court Thursday following a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Gary Carter. Chance Bonner, 27, is charged with three counts each of robbery, criminal conspiracy and theft, as well as burglary, criminal trespass and unlawful restraint, in the April 8 robbery at Buckingham Drive in Hamilton Township. One of the victims, Michael Pearson, testified he went to the Greencastle, Pa., home of Lori Miller that night and was jumped by three masked gunmen.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - An Inwood, W.Va., doctor charged with operating a backhoe while intoxicated and hitting a deputy who arrested him has entered a plea that includes providing physical examinations to Berkeley County students at no expense, magistrate court records show. John C. Veltman on Thursday entered no contest pleas to DUI and battery on an officer, and charges of obstructing an officer and refusing to be fingerprinted were dismissed. For the DUI plea, Veltman was sentenced to serve 24 hours in Eastern Regional Jail beginning at 5 p.m., Oct. 22, but he was credited with time already served when he was arrested May 14. A 30-day jail sentence imposed for the battery charge was suspended and the doctor was placed on one year of unsupervised probation, records show.

waynesboro@herald-mail.com WAYNESBORO, Pa. - The historic Harbaugh Church Cemetery moved a step closer to becoming ringed by a 56-lot housing subdivision when the Washington Township Planning Commission gave conditional approval Monday night to Glen Afton Farms, a name that has been in the news in recent years. The plan advances to the Washington Township Supervisors for its consideration Monday night. Contingencies attached to the planners' approval include a look at the plan by the township's engineering consultant, a review by the Washington Township Municipal Authority to ensure that a hydrant serving the subdivision has adequate water supply and an agreement between Susan Elgin of Hagerstown, the property's owner, and members of the Harbaugh Church Cemetery Association over an unwritten easement across Elgin's property.