Maryland Department

Landfill takes in 170 tons of tires during amnesty More than 1,040 households took scrap tires to the Forty West Landfill during the May 5 Scrap Tire Amnesty Day, according to Harvey Hoch, Washington County's recycling coordinator. In all, 170 tons of tires were taken to the landfill in eight hours of the program, during which Washington County residents could dispose of up to 10 scrap tires for free, he said. A contractor hauled away the 14 tractor-trailer loads of tires, which are to be shredded and used for civil engineering projects and/or alternative fuel, Hoch said.

Lloyd Dallas Grim, 88, of Sharpsburg, Md., passed away Sunday, June 10, 2012, at Meritus Medical Center near Hagerstown, Md. Born June 5, 1924, in Dargan, Md., he was the son of the late Clyde McClellan Grim and Lottie May Ingram Grim. He was retired from the Maryland Department of Corrections. He was a veteran of the U.S. Navy, serving in World War II, in the Atlantic and Pacific Theatres. Lloyd is the last of his immediate family, survived only by many nieces, nephews and cousins.

The Washington County Solid Waste Department's Recycling Office will offer a scrap tire drop-off day for county residents, according to a county press release. The event will be Saturday, May 2, from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Forty West Landfill at 12630 Earth Care Road off U.S. 40, one mile west of Huyetts Crossroads. Disposal/recycling costs will be paid by the Maryland Department of the Environment, and residents will not be charged, according to the release. Residents may bring in a total of up to 10 tires per household.

By MARLO BARNHART Staff Writer CEARFOSS - One day after fire burned a 100-by-200 foot area behind his home, destroying the columns of tires he used as planters, Denzil Poling surveyed the damage. "For five years, I've been building a firetrap," Poling said Wednesday. What Poling in 1992 viewed as a grand experiment involving tire recycling and conservation, on Tuesday became a nightmare. He said that he blames the State of Maryland for letting him use the tires for his inventive method of gardening.

By LAURA ERNDE Staff Writer CEARFOSS - A 100-by-200-foot section of tires being used as garden planters accidentally caught fire Tuesday, sending billows of thick black smoke toward Hagerstown. The fire broke out about 12:45 p.m. on five acres behind the 17049 Castle Hill Road house of Denzil and Dolores Poling, just south of the Pennsylvania line. No lives or property were threatened by the fire, which spread to about one-third of the thousands of tires the Polings used as containers for growing vegetables, herbs and flowers.

tarar@herald-mail.com Washington County Health Department officials told the County Commissioners Tuesday that state grant money probably would be available for a water line extension in the Boonsboro area, a project being proposed to keep several homes and businesses from using potentially contaminated well water. Laurie Bucher, environmental health director for the Health Department, said in June that well and surface water for some homes and businesses along Old National Pike from Lappans Road (Md. 68)

To save an estimated $50,000, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources is dumping the 74-year-old system that requires deer and turkey hunters to bring their kills to approved checking stations. To save an amount that is a drop in the bucket in terms of the state budget, we believe the DNR is risking a number of problems. State lawmakers should not allow it. DNR officials say they're changing from the traditional check-in system to one in which hunters call a toll-free number or use the Internet because harvest levels have grown to more than 85,000 animals each year.

WASHINGTON COUNTY Veteran prison warden Lloyd L. "Pete" Waters filed Wednesday as a Democrat for Washington County Commissioner, making him the 11th candidate to announce for the five-person board. "This is new to me, but I like a challenge," said Waters, who has never run for political office. Employed with the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services for 34 years, Waters said he is familiar with the political arena. Waters, 57, retired in 2003 as warden of the Maryland Correctional Institution south of Hagerstown - a position he held for more than 15 years.

Development rights on 27 acres of land in Washington County have been entered into two preservation programs, according to state news releases. Gov. Martin O'Malley and the state Board of Public Works approved the addition of the lands into the Rural Legacy Program and Conservation Reserve Easement Program, or CREP, the releases said. A 17-acre parcel near Clear Spring has been preserved through CREP, one release said. CREP is part of the Chesapeake Bay initiative, and purchases easements on properties to buffer streams and erosion-prone slopes, said Eric Seifarth, the land preservation planner for Washington County.

The unemployment rate in Washington County fell from 9.4 percent in January to 8.8 percent in February, and the number of people working and the total labor force also dropped, according to preliminary figures released Friday by the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. From December to January, the county jobless rate rose from 8.9 percent to 9.4 percent as the labor force - the combination of people employed, unemployed and looking for work - rose by more than 2,800, last month's report said.