Green Light

The Hancock football team got stuck in stop-and-go traffic on Saturday. The Panthers couldn't stop Kent County's offense and couldn't move against the Trojans' defense. It ended up in - you got it - gridlock. Hancock was in a standstill with only 3 yards of total offense and four first downs as the Panthers got run over in their season finalé in a 36-0 loss at North Hagerstown's Mike Callas Stadium. Kent County (3-7) was too quick and too efficient in its maze of traps, counters and sweeps - an offense similar to that run by Catoctin.

A little late in coming but overwhelmingly welcome nonetheless, the City of Hagerstown announced this week that in August the first of some major, citywide traffic-signal upgrades will begin. Gone by November, among others, will be those red, yellow and green dinosaurs on Wilson Boulevard - the lights I've loved to hate the most over the years. And by 1999, 60 or so city's other traffic signals will be replaced as well. Ah, just think of the traffic-light indignities we've endured over the years.

charlestown@herald-mail.com CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - An expansion of Charles Town Races & Slots that was halted because of a stop-work order issued by county officials was approved by the Jefferson County Planning Commission Tuesday night. Planning commission members approved the expansion with little comment. The expansion will be the second phase of a new gaming area that will have about 1,800 slot machines, track President Jim Buchanan said Tuesday. The first phase included the Slot City gaming area and a food court, Buchanan said.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- The developer of a Burger King planned for Spring Mills hopes to have the restaurant open for business by the end of the year. A preliminary site plan for the Burger King at Potomac Station, just west of Interstate 81 at Exit 20 and north of W.Va. 901, was unanimously approved Monday evening by the Berkeley County Planning Commission. "Did he bring any Whoppers with him?" Commission President Donald Fox asked an engineer on hand to answer any questions about the project.

WAYNESBORO, PA. - About 20,000 vehicles roll through Washington Township on Pa. 16 each day, making it increasingly difficult for those motorists trying to get across the road or make a left turn along the corridor. At one particularly busy intersection, that situation should improve next year after state Sen. Terry Punt, R-Franklin, announced Friday that the township will receive a $100,000 grant to install a traffic signal at the Oller Avenue intersection. "We opened our business here in 1984, and from that time, we've been telling them how much we need a light here," said Paul Gunder, an associate broker with Jack Gaughen Realtor ERA at 1814 E. Main St. "I'll be able to turn left and go home at the end of the day ... It's wonderful," said Magisterial District Judge Larry Pentz, whose office is on North Oller Avenue.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - State Sen. John Unger said he received an assurance Wednesday from officials in Charleston, W.Va., that a Division of Motor Vehicles office will open near Charles Town. "The Jefferson County DMV is a go," Unger said. Robert Ferguson Jr., secretary of administration for the governor's office, has given the project a green light, although some details, including the site of the Division of Motor Vehicles office, remain unknown, said Unger, D-Berkeley/Jefferson.

Vehicle hits woman A Hagerstown woman was struck by a minivan Thursday afternoon in downtown Hagerstown as crowds awaited the arrival of the Olympic torch. The 60-year-old Hagerstown woman was listed in fair condition at Washington County Hospital Thursday evening, a nursing supervisor said. She was struck as she crossed Potomac Street at Franklin Street, Hagerstown City Police said. The woman was hit by a 1990 Dodge minivan driven by Timothy Sowers, 26, of Hagerstown, police said.

A 92-year-old Hagerstown man has been charged with driving his car through a funeral procession Thursday and hitting one of the vehicles, Hagerstown Police Department Sgt. Tim Wolford said. George Frost, of 18924 Dover Drive, was charged with vehicle entering intersection occupied by funeral procession - which carries a $45 fine- in connection with the 11:30 a.m. accident on Burhans Boulevard, he said. The funeral procession was headed west on West Franklin Street through the Burhans Boulevard intersection when another driver inched their car into the procession, causing a break between the cars, Sgt. Fred Wolford said.

The Borough of Chambersburg has given the green light to LEDs, taking on the rising cost of energy one bulb at a time. "We have gone through the process of converting almost all our traffic lights from incandescents to LEDs," Borough Council President William McLaughlin said. At this point, the borough has concentrated on replacing green and red lights while allowing amber bulbs to burn themselves out before being replaced, he said. The savings will be considerable, said Ron Pezon, the assistant superintendent of the borough's Electric Department.

A 70-year-old pedestrian hit by a Washington County Commuter bus was listed in fair condition at the Washington County Hospital on Monday evening. Neither the bus driver, Sherry Bowers, nor the pedestrian, Herbert Dotson, were at fault, according to a report by Hagerstown Police Department Officer Angela Poole. The accident happened shortly before 10 a.m. Monday. Bowers, 60, of Hagerstown, had a green light as she turned the bus right from Washington Street onto Potomac Avenue, said Sgt. Mark Renner.

The Hancock football team got stuck in stop-and-go traffic on Saturday. The Panthers couldn't stop Kent County's offense and couldn't move against the Trojans' defense. It ended up in - you got it - gridlock. Hancock was in a standstill with only 3 yards of total offense and four first downs as the Panthers got run over in their season finalé in a 36-0 loss at North Hagerstown's Mike Callas Stadium. Kent County (3-7) was too quick and too efficient in its maze of traps, counters and sweeps - an offense similar to that run by Catoctin.

“To the Hagerstown caller asking service workers if the obnoxious and aggressive people last Friday are becoming the norm: I work in the restaurant, and notice similar patterns. However, it's not every Friday, it's once a month, during the full moon. I am a strong believer, confident from experience, and will never schedule a big event or trip around the full moon, and if out of my control, will be extra cautious.” - Boonsboro “I think it is terrible that Funkstown is having both a water and tax increase.

The Berkeley County Roundhouse Authority board on Wednesday authorized its chairman to negotiate a proposed lease with the West Virginia National Guard, which is interested in using a historic railroad maintenance shop complex in Martinsburg. Authority Chairman Clarence E. “CEM” Martin III told board members that the National Guard is interested in leasing the Frog & Switch and Bridge & Machine shop buildings that the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad built after the Civil War. Community use of the cast-iron frame roundhouse at the property would be maintained, Martin said.

The Blue Devils won't have to play on substandard fields much longer. At a Greencastle-Antrim School Board meeting Thursday, the middle school cafeteria was packed to almost overflowing as taxpayers awaited the board's vote on whether to move forward with spending more than $2 million on the district's athletic complex. By a vote of 6-1, the board voted to award the $2.2 million stadium improvement project bid to David Martin Excavating of Chambersburg, Pa., for the sitework, field and track, and Monacacy Valley Electric of Littlestown, Pa., for the electrical work to replace the lights at the stadium.

Move over Da’Sean Butler, Christian Laettner and Tyler Hansbrough. Please welcome Dee Mency to the club. It is a club that Mency could have only imagined in the days when he played for North Hagerstown a few years ago. Now, as he leaves Merrimack College, he joins the group of players who have left their respective schools as the basketball program’s third all-time scorer. Mency recently completed his senior year as the leading scorer at Merrimack, a Division II school in Massachusetts.

Mo Sallah probably thought he would never be a difference-maker in his first year of organized basketball. He has become a fast learner, and on Thursday night he was all the difference in the world for Broadfording Christian Academy. The 6-foot-7 sophomore, who hails from the Republic of The Gambia in West Africa, had a double-double by halftime and ended with a triple-double to lead Broadfording over Clear Spring, 68-57. By halftime, Sallah had 10 points and 10 rebounds and by night’s end he posted a line of 16 points, 15 rebounds and 12 blocked shots.

"I would like to thank the City of Hagerstown for the beautiful fireworks display they put on Saturday evening, July 4. It was certainly an entertaining evening and I'm thankful that they still see the importance of doing this. " - Hagerstown "I was at the Junior League All-Star game in Clear Spring Sunday night and I thought that both teams played wonderfully, did a great job, but I wanted to apologize to the umpires for the way that they were screamed at by some of the parents from one of the Little Leagues - and I'm sure they'll know which ones, and not all parents act like that.