Mosh

Mitchell Akers' friends said he had planned to attend a rock concert Friday night at the Smithsburg fire hall on Main Street. But the 18-year-old Smithsburg High School senior never got the chance to go. Mitchell died Wednesday from injuries he suffered after falling off a vehicle Tuesday morning while working for the Hagerstown Suns at Municipal Stadium. The concert originally was supposed to feature the Detroit-based band Rocky Loves Emily and five other acts. However, the sudden tragedy prompted Mitchell's friends to change the focus of the show.

By JULIE E. GREENE Staff Writer The Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Program plans to open an office in Hagerstown, possibly at the city-owned Elizabeth Hager Center, officials said Thursday. MOSH has closed its College Park, Md., office, which served Western Maryland, and will open a new office in Hagerstown to serve Washington, Frederick, Allegany, Garrett and Carroll counties, said Dale Valentine, MOSH's regional supervisor. The community-based office is expected to be more accessible to both employers and employees, Valentine said.

By JULIE E. GREENE Staff Writer Hagerstown officials are planning to contest charges by state safety officials concerning the March 6 accident in which a City Light worker died, the city administrator said Friday. "We'll probably contest all of them," Bruce Zimmerman said. The city was charged in June by the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health program with four state citations encompassing 10 violations following the accident that led to the death of Ronald L. "Beaner" Jones Jr. The most serious citation, deemed "willful," was issued because Jones was not wearing a safety harness while about 30 feet above the ground in a cherry picker while trying to remove a transformer.

Maryland Occupational Safety and Health inspectors Tuesday were investigating three separate accidents in which three workers were injured last weekend at the Maryland Paper Co. [cont. from front page ] "There is a double investigation going on," said Joseph Seidel, a Maryland Occupational Safety and Health administrator. MOSH inspectors were looking into separate incidents, one on Saturday afternoon and one on Sunday afternoon. In a third incident later Sunday, two workers were burned.

HAGERSTOWN - It was easy to tell the veterans from the rookies. The veterans didn't mind belly-flopping into a pit of slimy mud. The rookies wanted to stay upright - a difficult challenge, considering the muddy water was 6 inches deep with zero traction. Under these conditions, there would be few feats of dexterity. But Saturday's 2008 Citi MUDD Volleyball Tournament was more about fun than athleticism. It also was for a good cause. The annual event is a fundraiser for the Community Free Clinic in Hagerstown.

City, MOSH reach settlement in worker's death The City of Hagerstown has reached a settlement with a safety regulatory agency on citations from last year's accident in which a City Light worker died. Under the settlement, the most serious of the 10 alleged violations in four citations to the city was downgraded from "willful" to "serious. " The settlement also called for rescinding three "serious" violations. Four "serious" violations were sustained. Ronald L. "Beaner" Jones Jr., 34, died March 6, 1997, after he was thrown from a cherry picker as he and four other City Light crew members were removing a transformer from a utility pole at the Hagerstown Fairgrounds.

By JULIE E. GREENE Staff Writer The City of Hagerstown has been charged with four state citations encompassing 10 violations for the March 6 accident in which a City Light worker died, officials said Monday. The most serious citation, deemed "willful," was issued because Ronald L. "Beaner" Jones Jr. was not wearing a safety harness while about 30 feet above the ground in a cherry picker while trying to remove a transformer, according to a Maryland Occupational Safety and Health program citation.

The Hagerstown Suns have been fined $3,500 in connection with the death of an 18-year-old Smithsburg man who fell off a vehicle and struck his head at Municipal Stadium in April, according to documents released Tuesday by the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. In addition, the Suns were fined $5,600 for other violations that inspectors found at the stadium as they investigated the death of Mitchell Akers. Ten of the 20 violations issued were deemed serious.

pepperb@herald-mail.com WASHINGTON COUNTY - Lack of training on a piece of equipment, a part of which crushed and killed two Leon E. Wintermyer Inc. employees who were installing underground cables along U.S. 40 west of Hagerstown last summer, resulted in three Maryland Occupational Safety and Health violations and a fine, according to a MOSH investigation report. Mark Andrew Goshorn, 25, of Blairs Mills, Pa., and Jamie L. Peterson, 29, of Spring Run, Pa., were working for Leon E. Wintermyer Inc. of Etters, Pa., on July 20, 2004, when they tried to move a rod box that weighed about 8,400 pounds.

Maryland Occupational Safety and Health has cited the City of Hagerstown for 10 violations at the city's main water plant. Most of the violations are related to emergency policies in case of a chlorine leak, officials said. All four of the violations deemed "serious" by a Maryland Occupational Safety and Health inspector have been corrected, said Austin Abraham, the city's project coordinator and acting city administrator while Bruce Zimmerman is on vacation. City officials will ask that the four serious violations be reduced to "other than serious" since no one was hurt, there was no accident and three of the violations were corrected during the inspection, Abraham said.

The Hagerstown Suns have been fined $3,500 in connection with the death of an 18-year-old Smithsburg man who fell off a vehicle and struck his head at Municipal Stadium in April, according to documents released Tuesday by the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. In addition, the Suns were fined $5,600 for other violations that inspectors found at the stadium as they investigated the death of Mitchell Akers. Ten of the 20 violations issued were deemed serious.

Mitchell Akers' friends said he had planned to attend a rock concert Friday night at the Smithsburg fire hall on Main Street. But the 18-year-old Smithsburg High School senior never got the chance to go. Mitchell died Wednesday from injuries he suffered after falling off a vehicle Tuesday morning while working for the Hagerstown Suns at Municipal Stadium. The concert originally was supposed to feature the Detroit-based band Rocky Loves Emily and five other acts. However, the sudden tragedy prompted Mitchell's friends to change the focus of the show.

JAN. 25, 1944-OCT. 10, 2009 Charles W. "Woody" McNemar, 65, of 519 Brown Ave., Hagerstown, Md., died Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009, at Washington County Hospital. Born Jan. 25, 1944, in Martinsburg, W.Va., he was the son of the late Woodrow W. and Rose G. Hewett McNemar. He was a 1962 graduate of South Hagerstown High School. He attended Shepherd University for two years. Woody served in the U.S. Army from 1962 to 1970. He was a member of St. Andrew's United Methodist Church from 1956 to present date.

HAGERSTOWN - It was easy to tell the veterans from the rookies. The veterans didn't mind belly-flopping into a pit of slimy mud. The rookies wanted to stay upright - a difficult challenge, considering the muddy water was 6 inches deep with zero traction. Under these conditions, there would be few feats of dexterity. But Saturday's 2008 Citi MUDD Volleyball Tournament was more about fun than athleticism. It also was for a good cause. The annual event is a fundraiser for the Community Free Clinic in Hagerstown.

HANCOCK - Two Berkeley Springs, W.Va., men were burned in an accident Thursday night at Rayloc Corp., Deputy State Fire Marshal Jason M. Mowbray said in a press release Harry Didawick and Donald R. Stotler were working around a propane filling station when a propane leak was ignited by a fork truck, Mowbray said. A subsequent flash fire burned both men, Mowbray said. Didawick, 63, sustained second- and third-degree burns to his head, neck, chest and arms, Mowbray said Friday morning.

HAGERSTOWN - There was no mosh pit or body surfing, but the fun, pulse-pumping entertainment had the audience rocking. And it was all parent approved. It was Lollipopalooza, a family-oriented event held Saturday at the Hagerstown Community College Alumni Amphitheater. Sponsored by the college's Student Government Association, a variety of activities kept children of all ages moving - from a giant inflatable slide to the Nicolo Whimsey Show, which featured music, juggling, storytelling and audience participation.

Last month, Diana Shafer's arm nearly was torn off after it was caught in machinery at her workplace, the Good Humor-Breyers plant in Hagerstown. On Friday, Shafer visited the crew she credits with saving her life, and her arm, at Community Rescue Service (CRS). "A combination of my supervisor with the tourniquet and your decisions saved my life and my arm," Shafer said as she hugged each member of the crew. Amos said the crew - James Sprecher, Tony Delosier, Damien Teal and Lauren Dofflemyer - will receive a unit citation.

WILLIAMSPORT Alvey Banzhoff, a Maryland Paper Co. employee who died Wednesday after he was caught between two machines at the plant near Williamsport, was a hunter, fisher, jokester and all-around good guy, his family said Thursday. Banzhoff, 58, of Williamsport, worked at the plant for seven months before his death. His younger brother, Ronnie Banzhoff, said the men worked together at GST AutoLeather until the plant closed. Maryland Paper Co. Operations Manager George Delaplaine said Banzhoff died after he "somehow was pinched between two pieces of machinery" about 12:15 p.m. Wednesday.

pepperb@herald-mail.com WASHINGTON COUNTY - Lack of training on a piece of equipment, a part of which crushed and killed two Leon E. Wintermyer Inc. employees who were installing underground cables along U.S. 40 west of Hagerstown last summer, resulted in three Maryland Occupational Safety and Health violations and a fine, according to a MOSH investigation report. Mark Andrew Goshorn, 25, of Blairs Mills, Pa., and Jamie L. Peterson, 29, of Spring Run, Pa., were working for Leon E. Wintermyer Inc. of Etters, Pa., on July 20, 2004, when they tried to move a rod box that weighed about 8,400 pounds.

gregs@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - A Martinsburg, W.Va., woman who died in a workplace accident in Williamsport earlier this year was remembered Wednesday during a workers memorial service. Deanna L. Stottlemyer, 37, died Jan. 21 when she was caught in a conveyor belt roller while working at a machine that dyes leather at GST AutoLeather. Kelly Miles, 42, of Hagerstown, said he used to work closely with Stottlemyer, sometimes on the same machine at which she was working when the accident occurred.