Home Economics

By KERRY LYNN FRALEY Staff Writer It's out of a few things, like yellow highlighter pens and the no. 2 pencils with the Washington County Board of Education's imprint. But the shelves of the school board's cavernous warehouse on North Avenue are still well-stocked with more than a thousand different office and school supplies worth about $500,000, according to Washington County school officials. The stock will thin a bit as internal orders for the coming school year are filled, said Jeff Harr, who as facilities assistant/operations has the job of overseeing the warehouse.

"I never thought I would see the day the Family and Consumer Sciences program (formerly Home Economics) would be removed from a school's offerings. Nevertheless, the principal has elected to take such action at Boonsboro High School. Instead, he is hiring a fourth Spanish teacher. I'm sorry, but another Spanish class will not improve the quality of life for students. Knowledge of nutrition, meal preparation and child care will! If the FCS program at Boonsboro High has had an impact on your life, I urge you to contact the principal and let him know!"

pepperb@herald-mail.com In the business of education, schools are small companies, principals are their CEOs and their decisions - cutting school staff, programs and supplies - sometimes are the hardest to deliver. The federal No Child Left Behind act is testing the limits of Washington County's education business. The act, which is designed to close the achievement gap between schools and make sure all students, including disadvantaged groups, are academically proficient, has caused the Washington County Board of Education to ask for more money to help finance its general fund operating budget for next year.

Vicar tells of her close call with dehydration By MARLO BARNHART marlob@herald-mail.com When Elaine Prince noticed some flu-like symptoms last winter, she was determined not to miss a beat in her busy schedule - a decision that nearly cost the 57-year-old Episcopal priest her life. "I now know that I was within a few hours of dying," said Prince, who a year later is slowly resuming her work as vicar of St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Smithsburg. The problem wasn't some rare strain of influenza or exotic mutation, it was simple dehydration and Prince wants people to know that what happened to her could happen to anyone.

Chambersburg woman named runner-up in Southern Living cooking contest By MEG H. PARTINGTON / Staff Writer When Carol Gillespie sees a notice in a magazine or newspaper about a cooking contest, her adrenaline starts pumping. That energy usually gets channeled into her recipe-formulating mind rather than a mixing bowl. continued "I do them in my head most often," said Gillespie, of Chambersburg. "It has become a gift from God. " Her latest concoction, Fudgy Chocolate Malt-Peppermint Pie, won her $500 and the title of runner-up in the Perfect Pies category of Southern Living's Holiday Recipe Contest.

GREENCASTLE, Pa. - Mary Lou Barnhart didn't mind waiting more than 45 minutes for homemade apple dumplings Saturday at the 24th annual Community Apple Festival and Antique Engine Show at the Tayamentasachta Environmental Center. "I'm really getting them for my kids," said Barnhart, of Greencastle, who comes to the festival every year to get apple cider and apple dumplings. "(We also) come here to support the apple festival. " The reason for the long wait: The dumplings are made the day of the event and take 45 minutes to bake.

GREENCASTLE, Pa. - Mary Lou Barnhart didn't mind waiting more than 45 minutes for homemade apple dumplings Saturday at the 24th annual Community Apple Festival and Antique Engine Show at the Tayamentasachta Environmental Center. "I'm really getting them for my kids," said Barnhart, of Greencastle, who comes to the festival every year to get apple cider and apple dumplings. "(We also) come here to support the apple festival. " The reason for the long wait: The dumplings are made the day of the event and take 45 minutes to bake.

By RICHARD F. BELISLE / Staff Writer, Waynesboro photos: RICHARD T. MEAGHER / staff photographer WAYNESBORO. Pa. - Burns Cabin, Waynesboro's oldest and most well-known building, has for the last year been mostly a pile of rubble on the hill overlooking East Main Street and Roadside Avenue. Now it's looking like a building once again. [ cont. from news page ] Burns Cabin, or Bourns Cabin, depending on which history one reads, was built in 1780 by John Burns, a local blacksmith and sawmill owner, as a school house for his 11 children.

Teens are known for loud music, low jeans and being as lazy as a mayfly on its day off (i.e., dead). Gardening is regarded as a time-consuming, deliberate art practiced by adults in straw hats. The two don't seem to mesh, to say the least. However, as in everything, there will be individuals who stand out as daringly unique: teens, who enjoy a long-term, slow to fruition project, involving long hours in hot sun, dirt, bugs and manure. Daveeda Land, a homeschooled 16-year-old, uses gardening for part of her curriculum.

Much of what we mean when we say a food tastes good is that it smells good. Try holding your nose while you eat, and the flavor just isn't the same. Think about how bland food tastes when you're stuffed up with a cold. Our sense of smell, centered in the nose, intensifies our experience with a food with aromas and warns us of a spoiled food before it enters our mouth. Taste refers to the ability of the tongue's taste buds to perceive four things: salt, bitter, sour and sweet, and perhaps a fifth taste sensation described as meat-like savory.