Local Elections

BOONSBORO Editor's note. This is the first in a series of stories examining the history of towns in Washington County. heathers@herald-mail.com More than 200 years ago, would-be landowners were leaving more congested areas and higher prices to find affordable land. The quest for land led two brothers to Western Maryland, where they settled and established the town of Boonsboro. While the town was not officially founded until 1792, its roots reach to the late 1770s, when Lord Baltimore offered land to German farmers who were fleeing rising land costs in Pennsylvania.

More than 200 years ago, would-be landowners were leaving more congested areas and higher prices to find affordable land. The quest for land led two brothers to Western Maryland, where they settled and established the town of Boonsboro. While the town was not officially founded until 1792, its roots reach to the late 1770s, when Lord Baltimore offered land to German farmers who were fleeing rising land costs in Pennsylvania. Baltimore hoped the farmers would settle the land and help Western Maryland prosper, Douglas Bast, a historian and longtime Boonsboro resident, said in 2004.

WASHINGTON COUNTY - Some voters say they can't imagine worse picks than the ones on the ballot. Others must figure even Satan could do better. On Nov. 7, the day of this year's general election in Washington County, Satan picked up at least one vote. So did God, Frank Zappa and Peter Pan, Washington County Board of Elections write-in ballot results show. One Hagerstown man who picked up a couple of write-in votes in the race for state senator said he was serious when he submitted his name.

HAGERSTOWN - Talk at the area labor council's biennial dinner Wednesday centered largely around November's election. Union representatives were clear about their choices for national, state and local elections. And candidates said they wanted to support unions, working people and the middle class. U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, D-Md., was the guest speaker at the Central Maryland AFL-CIO Council dinner at the Elks Club on Robinwood Drive in Hagerstown. Sarbanes' said several times that the Bush administration is anti-labor and anti-working people.

An encouraged Del. Neil Parrott was in the Maryland Secretary of State’s office in Annapolis on Thursday night, where organizers of a petition drive challenging in-state tuition for illegal immigrants were about to deliver 74,980 signatures. That would put the total number of signatures on a petition seeking a voter referendum on the law at more than 100,000, according to Parrott, R-Washington. Parrott said he and other organizers were still organizing names in the secretary of state’s office at 9:30 p.m.  He said they planned to turn over the petition signatures by 10 p.m. Parrott said he did not have a feel for how many might be valid, but he felt it was a “good percentage.” Signatures in the petition drive had to be handed in by midnight.

Greg Ochoa. Amy Churchman. Marilyn Smith. Pat Heefner. Ashley Newcomer. Rita Daywalt. Emilee Eckels Bakner. Pat Heraty. Sam Miller. Larry Eberly. John Alleman. Gary Gontz. Bob Ziobrowski. Steven C. Rock. Mark A. Bumbaugh. Glenn Manns. Richard Swartz. Andrea Malmont. David Phillip Miracle. Do you know any of these folks? Not really, you say? If you live in Franklin County, Pa., and aren't familiar with at least some of these 19 names, you should be. These are people who mean a lot more to you than you might think.

I recently received an e-mail containing the reposting of a blog written by Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, the spiritual leader of Congregation B'nai Yeshurun in Teaneck, N.J., and a well-known conservative blogger. The rabbi's comments from his blog (several of which I will quote in this column) are both enlightening and, in the end, alarming. Pruzansky writes: “The most charitable way of explaining the election results of 2012 is that Americans voted for the status quo - for the incumbent president and for a divided Congress.

You can't pick up a newspaper or surf the Web without seeing another end-of-the-world story about the newspaper industry. The stories generally follow one or more of the following themes: Circulation is declining. Fewer people are reading the paper. Profit margins are falling. Staff is being eliminated. The end of newspapers as we know them is near. Some of the coverage seems to reflect an almost perverse pleasure in reporting our industry's challenges, perhaps by newspapers whose newsrooms have felt the unfortunate consequences of RIFS and buyouts.

Primary elections seldom give any real clues about the mood of the electorate beyond what is already known. True, Democrats in Connecticut made it clear recently that they are strongly against the war in Iraq. But then, we already knew that. And in Florida, Republicans went with Katherine Harris, even after she raised a ruckus by proclaiming that electing nonChristains was basically an endorsement of sin. So Florida Republicans are religious. Stop the presses. Likewise, Tuesday's Washington County Commissioner election isn't likely to offer us much insight beyond the basic winners and losers.

A few weeks ago, I interviewed Kendel Ehrlich, the wife of Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich, about what teens should do to get involved in the political world. The interview was released as a podcast on Alan's Yak, at antpod.com. Here is a hold-in-your-hands version of the interview: Alan Sokol: Is this your first podcast? Kendel Ehrlich: It is my first podcast! But I'd like your listeners to know that I do have an iPod. ... Mine only has music on it so far. Alan: Why should teenagers be interested in politics?