Ice

The Unilever ice cream plant in Hagerstown will close its doors for good on July 27, leaving 391 hourly and salaried employees without jobs, a company spokesman said Tuesday. Jeff Graubard said news of the closure was no surprise. “They've known about this beforehand,” he said. Unilever officials told employees in 2009 that the plant at 1100 Frederick St. would close around the end of 2011, but that date was delayed. Then, in September 2011, the company announced plans to close the plant in August 2013.

Coffman Nursing Home in Hagerstown celebrated the first day of spring by taking its residents across Pennsylvania Avenue for free ice treats at Rita's Italian Ice. Brandy Beard, activity director at the nursing home, said the rain held off long enough for the staff and residents to make it to Rita's for its free Italian Ice, which was Rita's first-day-of-spring promotion. Coffman had a total of 25 residents make the trip Tuesday. Family members, staff and volunteers partnered one-on-one with the nursing home residents and wheeled them across Pennsylvania Avenue to Rita's Italian Ice. Two Hagerstown Police Department auxiliary police officers escorted the group to Rita's and back, stopping traffic for the group to cross safely.

About five years ago, farmer David Herbst and his family had a big decision to make. With two of his four children - married with kids of their own - wanting to continue the family business of operating Misty Meadow Farm on the outskirts of Smithsburg, they either needed to drastically increase their dairy production or undertake more custom-crop farming to support everyone. “We needed to go to 600 cows if we wanted to support these other families,” Herbst said, saying the idea was met with great resistance by his daughter, who handles most of the milking of their 160 cows.

Hagerstown Ice and Sports Complex recently hosted the Delaware Valley Collegiate Hockey Women's Division 1 and Division 2 hockey playoffs. It was the third year in a row the championship tournament was hosted by the ice rink. The women's hockey playoff teams included the University of Delaware; Slippery Rock University; the University of Virginia; the U.S. Naval Academy; Columbia University; Rutgers University; California University of Penn; West Chester University; American University; Liberty University; the University of Pennsylvania; and Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Thousands of people packed the streets of downtown Chambersburg on Saturday to admire and photograph the more than 70 ice sculptures on display at IceFest. But it's been a tough week for the festival's main attraction - ice. First, rain forced Thursday's carving activities to be postponed. Then, Saturday's unseasonably warm temperatures disfigured some of the ice masterpieces. But most of the passers-by seemed unfazed that many of the ice sculptures had lost their original brilliance.

Normally on the first night of IceFest, downtown Chambersburg is packed with curious spectators watching huge blocks of ice carved into frozen masterpieces. But, not this year. The rain put a damper on the 10th annual event. Not only is the rain going to erode the sculptures, but also attendance will be down, IceFest committee members said. All of Thursday's IceFest activities, including the ice carving, were postponed due to the rain. The ribbon cutting ceremony will be held at 5 p.m. today.

It probably will be be easy to spot the contestants, even in a crowd. They'll be the ones with the watery eyes and flushed skin - the faces that prove you are what you eat. And in this case, what they'll be eating is jalapeno peppers. A little bit of fire will mix with IceFest in downtown Chambersburg when the annual winter celebration offers two food competitions - a chili cookoff and a challenge to see who can eat the most hot peppers. The contests have become a popular tradition during the four-day event, said Tina Flohr, coordinator of the Downtown Business Council of Chambersburg.

A Hagerstown grandmother who allegedly entered the United States illegally is in the custody of federal agents awaiting deportation to Mexico, an official from U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement said Friday. Josefina Rodriguez-Vega, 60, whose last known address was 1401 Haven Road in Hagerstown, will be deported after failing to adhere to an immigration judge's order to leave the United States before Jan. 5, according to an ICE news release. Nicole A. Navas, an ICE spokeswoman, said Rodriguez-Vega was arrested by ICE agents in Hagerstown on Jan. 12. She said ICE does not release deportation dates for security reasons.

Sharpsburg Elementary School nominated 14 students for exemplifying all the character traits of a responsible student. These students enjoyed lunch at the Golden Table with counselor Jacklyn Kinzer, eating ice cream sundaes to celebrate their accomplishments.   Legion members hand out oranges Sharpsburg American Legion Post 236 continued the holiday tradition of giving students and staff oranges and candy canes for Christmas. The Legionnaires said they were impressed with the enthusiasm and behavior of the students at Sharpsburg Elementary School.                    Sharpsburg Elementary celebrates Sprit Day Students and staff will wear clothes inside out or backward today for Spirit Day. Today is also Bank Day and the Good News Club will meet after school.

Hagerstown Ice & Sports Complex is sponsoring a Business After Hours event for Hagerstown-Washington County Chamber of Commerce members on Thursday, Jan. 19, from 5 to 7 p.m. Chamber members can skate for free from 5 to 6:20 p.m. during the event, and Hagerstown Ice & Sports Complex will be giving away other prizes, including a one-hour private ice event and two birthday parties. Chamber members should register to attend to be eligible to win the chamber's prize drawing of $3,000.