Hancock

Esther Geneva Barnhart, 86, of Hancock, died Wednesday, April 10, 2013, at her home. Born March 20, 1927, in Hancock, she was the daughter of the late Simon and Cora Mae Bivens Younker, and widow of Harry "Ike" Barnhart, who died April 24, 2000. She was a member of the Orchard Ridge First Church of God, and a member of the Webster B. Harrison Post 26 American Legion Ladies Auxiliary. She is survived by one daughter, Janice Fink, Hancock; two sons, Leroy Barnhart and Edward Barnhart, both of Hancock; one sister, Ida Hart of Hagerstown, Md.; seven grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandson.

Dolly Lorraine Shives, 72, of Hancock, died Wednesday, April 10, 2013, at NMS Healthcare in Hagerstown. A memorial service will be held at a later date. Arrangements are by Grove Funeral Home, Hancock.

Election requirements, how to break an election tie and firing a council member were among the issues raised this week as the Hancock Town Council discussed possible changes to the town charter. One election requirement, that council members running for mayor first resign their seats, came up in January's municipal election. Two councilmen, Nigel Dardar and Tim Smith resigned their seats to run against incumbent Mayor Daniel Murphy. That might not be the case in the future, at least for a person in Dardar's position, whose four-year council term was about to expire.

Mayor Daniel Murphy gave an encouraging report Tuesday night about business growth in town but asked county officials for help in bringing back another business and pitched an idea for a new library. Evolve Composites, which manufactures heating and air-conditioning condenser pads, Handi-Block lightweight deck piers and other products, has moved into the former Fleetwood building. Murphy said the company has been doing well and is expected to increase its work shifts. Also, local businessman Jerry Spessard has invented a device that automatically will call balls and strikes at home plate in baseball games and he plans to start manufacturing the devices in a building next to Evolve Composites, Murphy told the Washington County Board of Commissioners during a meeting at town hall.

District Gov. Jim Eberly recently attended a meeting of the Rotary Club of Hancock to honor the club with several awards based on the giving levels that the Hancock club made to the Rotary Foundation. The first award placed Hancock among the 1,550 clubs worldwide as the highest per capita in annual giving in their district. Hancock is in District 7350.  The next banner honored Hancock as one of only 1,064 clubs worldwide to attain status as a 100 percent Rotary Foundation Sustaining Member Club, which means each Rotarian personally contributed at least $100 to the annual fund during the Rotary year.

A Waynesboro, Pa., woman was flown to a Baltimore hospital and a man was taken to Meritus Medical Center to be treated for injuries they suffered when their vehicle struck the rear of a tractor-trailer Thursday morning on Interstate 70 near Hancock, Maryland State Police said. Nicole A. Ellington, 34, of Waynesboro, was flown to R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore for what appeared to be non life-threatening injuries, according to a state police news release. Michael Anthony Bevelacqua, 39, who was the front-seat passenger in the vehicle Ellington was driving, was taken by ambulance to Meritus Medical Center east of Hagerstown.

On their final day of spring break, students from Hancock Middle-Senior High School braved the cold Tuesday to join Good Shepherd Preschool students in planting a tree and a blue pinwheel garden at Widmeyer Park, releasing blue balloons into the air and distributing blue ribbons around town in memory of child-abuse victims. Hancock senior Tanner Faith, who lost a 5-week-old cousin, Bella Appel, to child abuse in 2010, said the issue of child abuse “strikes home” for him. “There is child abuse out there, and people need to realize how severe it is and what effects it has on families,” said Tanner, 17. “I was going to make sure I was here.” Tanner's brother, Skylar, 16, a sophomore at Hancock, said the tree that was planted signifies the “suffering” of families of child-abuse victims.

“Somebody from the tea party needs to explain this to me. Your motto is you don't want government in your life, you don't want government telling you what to do. But yet in the same breath, the same sentence, you're telling women that they have to have an ultrasound, and they can't have abortions. I'm not a genius, but isn't that government - although being local government, isn't that still telling you what ... sounds to me like you guys are talking out both sides of your mouth.” - Hagerstown “Hey, you people in Hagerstown, you people running Hagerstown, about this $1,000 pay increase you're going to give every city worker, how about if everybody working for the city or work in Washington County that comes from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, shouldn't get nothing.

Hancock multisport athlete Sara Elizabeth Wagner is like a lot of high school seniors - one of her biggest concerns revolves around where she'll attend college. Wagner, who has played volleyball, basketball and softball for the Panthers, started using the National Collegiate Scouting Association athletic recruiting website in an effort to find a college that will allow her to continue her athletic and academic pursuits. It just so happens Wagner, a middle hitter, found a volleyball program interested in her ... and it wasn't one she expected at all. Wagner has been selected by American International Sports Teams to be part of their volleyball squad, which will carry the USA banner at United World Games 2013 in Klagenfurt, Austria, from June 20-23.

Charles Michael Cubbage Sr., 80, died Tuesday, March 19, 2013, at Meritus Medical Center, Hagerstown. His wishes were to be cremated with a service held at the convenience of his family. Arrangements are by Grove Funeral Home, Hancock.