Limbs

scottb@herald-mail.com As people in Hagerstown cleaned up damage left in the wake of Tropical Storm Isabel, the City of Hagerstown was helping them Friday and Monday by collecting more than 36 truckloads of tree limbs and taking them to the Forty West Landfill, a city spokeswoman said Monday. The truckloads weigh an average of 1.2 tons, city spokeswoman Karen Giffin said. The city pays $35 per ton to Washington County for use of the landfill for the yard waste, which will be mulched, she said Public Works Manager Eric Deike asked residents to put the tree limbs at the front of their properties, with the limbs cut or sawed to no more than 6 feet in length.

The trash pickup schedule for Hagerstown has resumed its normal schedule, City Engineer Rodney Tissue said. Hagerstown residents may get some help from the city in cleaning up big fallen tree limbs, city officials said. Branches or limbs that come off trees onto private property are the responsibility of the homeowner. However, the city is willing to make exceptions and help out, said Wanda Miller, an administrative specialist with the Department of Public Works. Residents can call 301-739-8577, extension 178, to provide their address, although city workers will be driving throughout the city starting Monday to pick up large pieces left by the curbside.

High winds toppled a large dead tree this morning into the slow lane and part of the fast lane of southbound Interstate 81 west of Hagerstown just before dawn today, its limbs "impaling the windshield" of a Pennsylvania woman's minivan. Cpl. Mike Fluharty of the Maryland State Police said the woman was taken to Washington County Hospital with minor injuries after the 7:10 a.m. incident just south of the U.S. 40 interchange. "The tree was blown over," Fluharty said. The driver of the minivan was apparently unable to see the tree until it was too late since it was still dark at the time.

KNOXVILLE -- Dave Pershing knows firsthand the value of a positive attitude. That attitude has helped the Knoxville resident overcome many obstacles since losing both legs above the knee as the result of a nighttime highway construction accident in 2003. Pershing was lucky. He said there are hundreds of accidents like that each year and most are fatal. Following treatment and rehabilitation, he returned home, where he was fitted with C-Leg prosthetics. The state-of-the-art limbs are computerized, programmed specifically for the user.

julieg@herald-mail.com SMITHSBURG - It's spring, that time of year when love is in the air. Unfortunately, this year love also will be in the trees, on the fields, on your windshields and maybe in your hair if you get too close to the Brood X cicadas as they emerge from the ground for their once-every-17-years mating ritual. Between the shell casings, the bugs and the screaming serenade, Tri-State area residents may want to put off any romantic picnics. "It's a little hard to relax with that level of background noise," Smithsburg area orchardist Henry Allenberg said.

gregs@herald-mail.com CASCADE - A Virginia man was suspended more than 50 feet in the air for two hours Saturday after his hang glider crashed into high trees near Cascade. Chris McKee, 37, of Alexandria, Va., was not seriously injured, but rescuers faced unusual difficulties in bringing him down from his perch. "I just caught a crosswind," McKee said shortly after he was safely lowered down by rope. "That was my first incident," McKee said. "And hopefully the last.

The mission was simple: Find an apple tree. In Washington County? Why not try and find an igloo in Inuit country? You don't have to be a detective to track down an apple tree in our community. With orchards all around, an apple tree was easy pickin'. The trick, though, is to find one with apples still in it. Uh-oh. Why the search for the tree still bearing fruit? My niece was searching for just such a tree to fulfill her whim to climb an apple tree and pick some apples.

WASHINGTON COUNTY - The destruction left behind by Wednesday's storm in southern Washington County was caused by straight-line wind gusts of as much as 100 mph, according to a National Weather Service representative who surveyed the damage Thursday. The downed trees and structural damage found in the Sharpsburg, Keedysville and Boonsboro areas is all aligned in one direction, indicative .He did say he does not think it will be enough to meet the thresholds required to apply for state or federal assistance.

After a week off, I returned to work and, among other things, an e-mail from a well-known local veteran decrying what he felt was Hagerstown city officials' inadequate observance of Memorial Day. Because I was out of town, I can't judge the adequacy of the event, although The Herald-Mail reported that 25 groups laid wreaths at the memorial outside of the Washington County Courthouse. It would be good, as one veteran said, if more people had attended the event. But let me suggest that there is another duty ordinary citizens need to perform for veterans - one that will take more than an hour on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

By RICHARD F. BELISLE / Staff Writer, Waynesboro photo: RIC DUGAN / staff photographer WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Gregory Baker has found a niche balancing woodlot owners' desire to make money with their timber against protecting wildlife that make the owners' trees their home. Baker, 43, owns Ridge and Valley Forestry at 219 W. Main St. in Waynesboro, a one-man show that operates out of a small office behind an apartment building. Baker, a Waynesboro native, has been in business for 14 years.

A Fairplay woman accused of breaking the arms and legs of her 8-month-old daughter told investigators the injuries occurred while exercising the infant, a charging document filed with Washington County District Court said. The documents alleged that Stacey Renee Reese, 25, told investigators “I've always been rough, and I don't mean to hurt her.” Reese, of 7821 Sharpsburg Pike, is charged with six counts, including first-degree child abuse resulting in severe physical injury and first-degree assault.

A Boonsboro woman is facing child abuse charges after her 8-month-old daughter suffered fractures to both arms and legs, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Office. Stacey Renee Reese, 25, of 7821 Sharpsburg Pike, has been charged with first-degree child abuse resulting in serious physical injury, second-degree child abuse, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, neglect of a minor and reckless endangerment, according to a news release from sheriff's department spokeswoman Carly Hose.

Clinton “Leeds” Corbin remembered the day in October when he fell 11 feet headfirst into a hole in the ground. The fall broke his neck, leaving him without use of his arms and legs. “That's the sad part,” he said Tuesday from a Philadelphia physical rehabilitation center. “My doctor said I'd never walk again or use my arms.” Corbin, 62, of Summit Point, W.Va., doesn't accept that fate. “I'm doing exceptionally well, well above where I'm supposed to be at this point.

A strong line of thunderstorms swept through the Tri-State area Wednesday afternoon, producing high winds that temporarily knocked out power to thousands of people in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Winds began picking up in Hagerstown around 2:30 p.m. as the storm blew in from the northwest. The highest gust recorded in Hagerstown was 48 mph, according to local weather observer Greg Keefer's website, www.i4weather.net. The gusts brought down several trees and limbs around Hagerstown, which affected one electric circuit in the North End of the city, said Michael Spiker, director of Hagerstown's utility department.

KNOXVILLE -- Dave Pershing knows firsthand the value of a positive attitude. That attitude has helped the Knoxville resident overcome many obstacles since losing both legs above the knee as the result of a nighttime highway construction accident in 2003. Pershing was lucky. He said there are hundreds of accidents like that each year and most are fatal. Following treatment and rehabilitation, he returned home, where he was fitted with C-Leg prosthetics. The state-of-the-art limbs are computerized, programmed specifically for the user.

WASHINGTON COUNTY - The destruction left behind by Wednesday's storm in southern Washington County was caused by straight-line wind gusts of as much as 100 mph, according to a National Weather Service representative who surveyed the damage Thursday. The downed trees and structural damage found in the Sharpsburg, Keedysville and Boonsboro areas is all aligned in one direction, indicative .He did say he does not think it will be enough to meet the thresholds required to apply for state or federal assistance.

High winds toppled a large dead tree this morning into the slow lane and part of the fast lane of southbound Interstate 81 west of Hagerstown just before dawn today, its limbs "impaling the windshield" of a Pennsylvania woman's minivan. Cpl. Mike Fluharty of the Maryland State Police said the woman was taken to Washington County Hospital with minor injuries after the 7:10 a.m. incident just south of the U.S. 40 interchange. "The tree was blown over," Fluharty said. The driver of the minivan was apparently unable to see the tree until it was too late since it was still dark at the time.

After a week off, I returned to work and, among other things, an e-mail from a well-known local veteran decrying what he felt was Hagerstown city officials' inadequate observance of Memorial Day. Because I was out of town, I can't judge the adequacy of the event, although The Herald-Mail reported that 25 groups laid wreaths at the memorial outside of the Washington County Courthouse. It would be good, as one veteran said, if more people had attended the event. But let me suggest that there is another duty ordinary citizens need to perform for veterans - one that will take more than an hour on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

gregs@herald-mail.com CASCADE - A Virginia man was suspended more than 50 feet in the air for two hours Saturday after his hang glider crashed into high trees near Cascade. Chris McKee, 37, of Alexandria, Va., was not seriously injured, but rescuers faced unusual difficulties in bringing him down from his perch. "I just caught a crosswind," McKee said shortly after he was safely lowered down by rope. "That was my first incident," McKee said. "And hopefully the last.

julieg@herald-mail.com SMITHSBURG - It's spring, that time of year when love is in the air. Unfortunately, this year love also will be in the trees, on the fields, on your windshields and maybe in your hair if you get too close to the Brood X cicadas as they emerge from the ground for their once-every-17-years mating ritual. Between the shell casings, the bugs and the screaming serenade, Tri-State area residents may want to put off any romantic picnics. "It's a little hard to relax with that level of background noise," Smithsburg area orchardist Henry Allenberg said.