Izaak Walton League

Editorial - What's best for animals Last Friday The Fund for Animals sent the West Virginia Board of Education a letter complaining that many local school systems were excusing students from class during the first week of hunting season. Heidi Prescott said students should not be freed from their studies to participate in an activity having "no redeeming social or educational value. " We love animals, too, but we believe that Prescott and the members of her Silver Spring, Md.-based group have not considered the possibility that an outright ban on hunting - which is after all, their true objective - might not serve the best interests of the animals they claim to love.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - During a summer when farmers were hit hard by drought, it was rain that ended up hurting the Franklin County Fair, according to Fair Association President Robert H. Eckstine. "We got rained out on a Friday night, which is our biggest night. Because we got rained out, we lost some money," said Eckstine, who last week was named the new president of the association. He replaces Gerald W. Reichard of Waynesboro, Pa. "(Weather) is one of those elements you just can't predict," said Eckstine, 57, who owns the Meadow-Vu dairy farm at 14422 Bain Road, Mercersburg, Pa. The dairy farmer has been the associate manager in charge of the Livestock Division for several years, but his involvement in the fair goes back much further.

The Clear Spring area Homemakers Club meeting for January has been canceled. Still target shoots The Washington County Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America on Independence Road is starting its still target shoots this month. Meat shoots (674 choke, scopes allowed) will be held the second and fourth Fridays of each month at 7 p.m., starting Jan. 14. For more information, call 301-582-4118. Pancake breakfast Wilson Ruritan will hold a country butchering and pancake breakfast Saturday.

The Clear Spring area Homemakers Club meeting for January has been canceled. Still target shoots The Washington County Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America on Independence Road is starting its still target shoots this month. Meat shoots (674 choke, scopes allowed) will be held the second and fourth Fridays of each month at 7 p.m., starting Jan. 14. For more information, call 301-582-4118. Pancake breakfast Wilson Ruritan will hold a country butchering and pancake breakfast Saturday.

Clayton Albert Hayes Jr., "Bud," of Hagerstown, passed away at the home of his son, Clayton, on Monday, Aug. 6, 2012. Bud was born in Hagerstown on Sept. 24, 1921, the son of Clayton A. Hayes and Lillian Eastella Sanbower Hayes. He was a graduate of Hagerstown High School, class of 1939. Bud served in the U.S. Air Corps as a staff sergeant during World War II, stationed in the Aleutian Islands. He retired from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Martinsburg, W.Va. During his retirement, Bud became an avid and accomplished photographer, winning numerous awards for entries in the Cumberland Valley Photographic Salon.

By BRENDAN KIRBY Staff Writer HANCOCK - A private hunting club formally takes control of 1,400 acres of state land in Washington County today, beginning a public-private partnership that state officials describe as "win-win" but some critics contend will close access to regular folks. The Izaak Walton League of America in July signed a 15-year lease that gives the club control over about 1,400 acres of the Woodmont Rod and Gun Club, which is several miles west of Hancock.

Run for the money To the editor: The Washington County tourism board is missing out on a great opportunity to put the city on the map of worldwide attractions. Since the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain has been a tradition since Hemingway's time, why not the Running of the Bulls in Hagerstown, Maryland? (Herald-Mail, June 18) With ESPN televising the event, a dozen bulls would be turned loose at Four States Auction and, trampling anybody in the way, head down Memorial Boulevard to Municipal Stadium.

Too many geese in city park, rich boys don't have any thing to hunt...hmmm Two incredibly huge problems arose in the state of Maryland over the past two weeks that need to be addressed: 1. Hagerstown has too many geese. 2. The rich boys of Baltimore don't have anything to hunt. Am I missing something here? Isn't the solution obvious? On one hand we have City Park, where administrators say too many rooks are spoiling the broth. Or, actually, they are creating something of a broth out of the lake, and I'm not talking about the type of broth you would wish to sip on a winter's day when you have a headcold.

HANCOCK - Thelma and Richard Wagner of Hancock wanted to come the first time the Maryland Department of Natural Resources opened the Woodmont Rod and Gun Club lodge to visitors in 1996. A flood in town that weekend kept them away, said Thelma Wagner. But she wasn't about to let a little rain Saturday keep her from missing a second chance to tour the historic hunting lodge, which once boasted presidents, entertainers and sports stars as members and guests. "I was not going to miss it this time," said Wagner, who said her husband, a contractor, was especially interested in the architecture of the stately 1930 building.

Editor's note - Please be as brief as possible when calling Mail Call, The Daily Mail's reader call-in line. Mail Call is not staffed on weekends or holidays so it is best to call Mail Call weekdays at 301-791-6236. Readers are welcome to leave their recorded message on any topic they choose, but some calls are screened out. Here are some of the calls we have received lately: "This is in response to an article in the local newspaper. After reading the article on Thursday, July 13 about the Department of Natural Resources purchasing 141 acres of land at $155,000 I'm becoming confused.