Lunch

A reminder to members of the BHS class of 1954: Classmates will meet Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. at Western Sizzlin' steakhouse on Halfway Boulevard for an informal lunch and chat. No reservation is required. Oyster supper planned Saturday Rohrersville Ruritan Club will hold an oyster, ham and turkey dinner Saturday from 1:30 to 5 p.m. at the club's community building on Rohrersville Schoolhouse Road. Tickets cost $15 for adults and $7.50 for children. The building is handicap-accessible.

Nearly half of all Berkeley County Schools students, about 8,000, are in the free or reduced-price lunch program, one that takes a Christmas vacation along with the students. “For many children, the wish for the latest video game or the hottest tennis shoes is overshadowed by the need for something good to eat during the long winter break from school,” said Tracie C. Lane, a South Middle School reading teacher and organizer of the annual Holiday Lunch Bag Project. This is its fourth year.

Claire Rozzi, Queen of the Purple Passions with Hattitude Red Hat Group, brought her group to Chestnut Landing restaurant at Northgate at Menno Haven in Chambersburg, Pa., to enjoy a Christmas lunch.

Washington County Public School lunches are already coming with healthier grains and milks this school year. And other healthy changes were expected to affect school lunches starting with the 2012-13 school year, but Congress has already altered a U.S. Department of Agriculture's proposal and might make more changes, Jeff Proulx, county schools' supervisor of food and nutrition services, said Monday. The menu changes stem from recommendations from the Institute of Medicine, which is the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, and are proposed in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

To walk into the media center at South Hagerstown High School on Wednesday afternoon, you would think maybe Christmas had come early. The library was decked out in green and red, but the season wasn't the reason for the festivities. The principals of South and North Hagerstown high schools hosted a luncheon in advance of the Gridiron Classic football game between the city rivals on Saturday afternoon, the 55th meeting between North and South. The purpose of the luncheon was two-fold: To promote the game and the rivalry while putting forth a spirit of sportsmanship and respect.

Each of us at one time or another has heard the pronouncement that "there is no such thing as a free lunch. " However, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter David Cay Johnson, in "Free Lunch," provides abundant evidence that there are many getting just that. Eventually, the bill has to be paid by someone, and the taxpayer is that someone. To reinforce the point, Johnston's subtitle is, "How The Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves At Government Expense (And Stick You With The Bill)

The Clear Spring High School Blazer Band Boosters will hold a Vera Bradley bingo event Sunday, Sept. 25, at the Clear Spring Volunteer Fire Co.'s activities building. The event starts at 1 p.m. Tickets cost $25, which includes lunch.     For more information, call 240-291-5502, or send an email to ajphish@yahoo.com .

The Southeastern senior site, on Mount Vernon Drive in Keedysville, will hold an open house week of activities the week of June 13 to 17.   Marcia Davies will conduct gentle exercises Monday, followed by guest speaker Chief Jeff Hewitt of the Boonsboro Police Department. Bonnie's at the Red Byrd will  provide a fried chicken lunch.   Ed Plank, director of the Washington County Highway Department, will be the guest speaker Wednesday, followed by lunch from Vestas Pizza in Boonsboro.

Fiestada pizza, shrimp poppers and tasty tacos will cost 10 cents more next school year after the Washington County Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday to approve its Food and Nutrition Services budget. Food and Nutrition Services Supervisor Jeff Proulx warned the school board in February that he would be returning to ask for a price increase for school breakfasts and lunches. While a federal act mandated a price increase, Proulx told the school board Tuesday that he would have recommended a 10-cent increase anyway to help cover increasing food and labor costs.