Homes

Similar to the United Way's annual Day of Caring, a Christian workcamp is planned for part of Washington County next June to help those in need with home improvements, according to a presentation Pat Martin made to Funkstown officials on Monday night. Trinity Lutheran Church in Smithsburg and GroupCares, of Loveland, Colo., are co-sponsoring the June 16-22, 2013, event with the goal to perform repairs and maintenance on 60 to 80 homes that are within a 30-minute drive of Smithsburg.

Home Store to open six newly renovated homes The Hagerstown Home Store and the City of Hagerstown are teaming up to open six newly renovated homes to the public Sunday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., the Home Store announced this week. The homes, which are owned by the city, have been completely restored with improvements that include new heating systems, hot water heaters windows, appliances and carpeting. The homes are at 44 Madison Ave., 62 Madison Ave., 226 Summer St., 228 Summer St., 725 Washington Ave., and 727 Washington Ave. They are available to purchase by anyone meeting U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development income guidelines.

GREENCASTLE, Pa. - The 2005 Greencastle Heritage Christmas Home Tour committee is looking for five homes to highlight on this year's tour. The home tour will be Sunday, Dec. 11, from 1 to 5 p.m. This is the sixth year that the Greencastle-Antrim Chamber of Commerce has coordinated the annual event, which benefits Heritage Christmas in Greencastle. The tour costs $10 per ticket. Children 10 and younger are admitted free, but organizers ask that arrangements be made for small children.

Hagerstown firefighters evacuated 28 residents in the area of the 200 block of Frederick Street on Tuesday after scrap metal thieves cut a gas line inside a vacant duplex, fire officials said. The street was blocked off to motorists and pedestrians from about 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Hagerstown Fire Marshall Doug DeHaven said the matter would be turned over to the Hagerstown Police Department for an investigation. “City police will handle it from here,” he said.  City Fire Department Capt.

marlob@herald-mail.com Holly Place and North Holly Place, two senior assisted living homes in the 200 block of South Potomac Street, will be closing their doors in mid-March, displacing 28 residents and idling 22 employees. Resident David Adams got the word Tuesday that he would have to leave the place he has called home for 14 years. "I have nowhere to go," Adams said Wednesday. The 80-year-old Hagerstown man said he has been upset about his uncertain future since he was told of the closings.

Keedysville opens home to visitors By KIMBERLY YAKOWSKI / Staff Writer photos: KEVIN G. GILBERT / Staff Photographer KEEDYSVILLE - Sixteen homes, churches and buildings in Keedysville displayed their finery Sunday during "Keedysville by Candlelight," a tour of homes sponsored by the Washington County Historical Society. continued One thousand tickets were sold for the day-long tour of the historic sites, all on Main Street, according to organizer Nancy Baer.

gregs@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - A measure expected to be adopted next week will force anyone who wishes to build a home within the City of Hagerstown to pay $8,500 that will be used to pay for new school construction or expansion. Home builders who do not sign a contract to build a new home by midnight tonight would be subject to the fee, and must pay the amount at the time a building permit is issued. Those who do sign contracts by midnight must receive building permits before Feb. 1 or they also will be subject to the fee, city officials said.

GREENCASTLE, Pa. -- Dozens of hand-cut ornaments hang on a tree in the home of Jan Eppleman and Harry Miller of Greencastle. Eppleman, who made the ornaments, was one of five homeowners who participated Sunday in the annual Greencastle-Antrim Heritage Christmas Home Tour. Also featured were the homes of Cory and Jessica Green, Cherish and Jeremy Eby, Allyson and Bryan Flynn, Misty and Michael Stenger, and the Antrim House Restaurant.

by Joe Crocetta / staff photographer click for larger image Landmarks Commission gains deed to Burr home By CLYDE FORD Staff Writer, Charles Town BARDANE, W.Va. - Peter Burr was an ordinary farmer and that's what makes the fact that his 1750s house is still standing extraordinary. Bill Theriault, chairman of the Jefferson County Historic Landmarks Commission, said the county has numerous examples of how the rich lived in the 1700s and 1800s.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- West Virginia State Police this morning were back in contact with a Winchester, Va., man who police said was holding a woman hostage on Raider Lane near Martinsburg, W.Va., and were trying to negotiate with him, Lt. Lisa Lambert said at about 10:20 a.m. Monday. About an hour later, State Police Capt. Rob Blair said that negotiations were continuing off and on with the man police identified as Donald Berkeley Surber, 37, of Winchester, Va. Blair said authorities had not been in contact with the woman being held inside the house since early Sunday.

Hagerstown Police Department detectives would be allowed to drive their unmarked police vehicles home under a proposal Chief Mark Holtzman made during a Tuesday work session of the City Council. Each of the department's six detectives get called in while off duty an average of 21 times a year, Holtzman told the council. Allowing them to drive the unmarked vehicles home would mean they could respond to a crime scene without first having to switch their personal vehicles for a police car at headquarters, he said.

The Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office said it was investigating a fire that caused $200,000 in damages to a house early Wednesday at 21201 Reno Monument Road near Boonsboro. The fire, which was reported by a passer-by shortly after 3 a.m., destroyed the house, according to a Fire Marshal's Office news release. Damages to the structure were estimated at $150,000. The fire caused $50,000 in damages to the contents. Authorities said 65 firefighters from Boonsboro, Sharpsburg, Middletown, Myersville, Wolfsville and Potomac Valley took 15 minutes to control the blaze.

It takes careful balance to maintain favorite family culinary traditions while exploring new foods. But that's what Hagerstown resident Sally Poole has done. “My husband's family had gathered for oyster stew and ham sandwiches on Christmas Eve for at least 20 years before we were married,” Poole said in an email sent with her recipe. “When we moved into the family home, my husband and I decided to continue the tradition.” Now, 31 years later, Poole has maintained the family tradition.

The Antrim Township Board of Supervisors made it clear it is not in favor of a variance that would allow a personal-care facility to be located in an agricultural residential zone. At Tuesday's meeting, Sylvia House, township zoning officer, asked the board of supervisors for direction on how to represent the township during the zoning appeal. Lana Gordon with Caring Hands Personal Care Homes and Nursing Services LLC wants to put a personal-care home at 7465 Angle Road in Chambersburg, Pa. In March, Gordon told the supervisors that she wants to operate the facility at the vacant estate of Donald R. Wishard.

A Monday morning fire that started on a bed caused $25,000 in damages to a single-story house at 103 Crest View Road near Hagerstown, the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office said. The fire, which was discovered by the occupant at 5:07 a.m., caused $20,000 in damage to the structure and $5,000 in damage to the contents, according to a Fire Marshal's Office news release. The Fire Marshal's Office said the fire was out when firefighters from Funkstown and Hagerstown arrived. Authorities said smoke detectors were present and operating.

In the 1950 comedy “Kill the Umpire,” Bill “Two Call” Johnson (played by William Bendix) is chased by a vengeance-seeking mob of fans after he made what they believed to be a bad call in a minor league baseball game. Calling balls, strikes and checked swings could be a thing of the past in amateur ball if the Eagle Eye Electronic Home Plate is all that inventor Jerry Spessard claims. He has enough faith in the product to begin construction of a plant in Hancock this June, with production expected to begin by fall.

Firefighters were at the scene of a mobile home fire Friday night in Hedgesville, W.Va., a Berkeley County Emergency Services dispatcher said. The dispatcher said the fire was reported at 9:15 p.m. in the 3700 block of Allensville Road. Further information was not immediately available.

The Hancock Town Council voted Wednesday to provide a $200,000 loan to the company planning to build electronic home plates there later this year. The council voted to loan the money to Spessard Manufacturing with a personal guarantee from owner Jerry Spessard. Spessard is the co-inventor of the Eagle Eye Electronic Home Plate, which can call balls and strikes, as well as record pitch speed and other data. He plans to build a 6,000-square-foot facility in the town-owned Stanley Complex property.

Firefighters contained a mobile home fire to the property's kitchen Sunday afternoon. The Franklin Fire Department and a half-dozen other departments responded to 649 N. Franklin St., Lot 112, at 3:15 p.m., according to fire officials and the Franklin County (Pa.) Department of Emergency Services. The first crews to arrive saw fire coming out of one window in the single-wide trailer, Franklin Fire Chief Mark Trace said. Everyone was out of the home, although one of the residents tried to go back in, Trace said.

Police are looking for a Hagerstown man who violated restrictions of his home confinement, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Office. At about 3 p.m. Saturday, Bruce William Herbert II, 26, of 213 N. Cleveland Ave., told a home-detention supervisor at the Washington County Detention Center that he was going to Meritus Medical Center, according to a news release. Herbert was told to maintain hourly contact with home-detention staff while he was getting medical treatment.