National Park Service

National Park Service officials on Tuesday were looking for the public's help to determine who dumped 77 tires at the Taylors Landing boat ramp in the Chesapeake and Ohio National Historical Park, according to a press release from the park. The dumping of the tires, which occurred Oct. 14, involved tires ranging in size from tractor tires to all-terrain vehicle tires, the release said. Due to the large number of tires dumped, it is believed more than one person was involved, the release said.

katec@herald-mail.com America's largest national park, Wrangell-St. Elias, is in Alaska. Named for the volcanic Wrangell mountains and the peaks of the St.Elias range, the 13.2-million-acre park and preserve is larger than Switzerland and as big as six Yellowstones. Wrangell-St. Elias, established as a national park and national preserve in 1980, is home to the greatest concentration of glaciers outside the polar ice caps. Nine of the country's 16 highest peaks stand tall in Wrangell-St.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Two people working on details of a planned $250 million National Park Service museum near Harpers Ferry, W.Va., appeared before the Jefferson County Commission Thursday to emphasize that the project is still on track. A development team known as Stonewall Heights, LLC is proposing a museum that would be built on top of a mountain at a site that includes the former Old Standard Quarry off Millville Road. The proposal involves scraping off the top of the mountain, building the facility, and placing fill over the structure, helping it to blend with the natural surroundings.

katec@herald-mail.com There were openings at Fairchild Industries aircraft plant in Hagerstown. Planes were required for the U.S. forces in World War II. Women were needed for homefront jobs while "all the boys were in the service," said the former Catherine Slick, now Catherine Pitts. The young woman joined the factory work force. She learned to glue fabric to wooden wing frames. Later, when wings were made of sheet metal, Slick was trained to rivet the wings. "I loved the riveting," Pitts said.

Washington County will retain ownership of two roads in the Four Locks area along the C&O Canal. The National Park Service requested that the county close, abandon and transfer Starliper and Hart roads to the park service. While the county has not maintained the roads for years, the County Commissioners voted not to close them. Commissioners Vice President William J. Wivell said he disagreed with the National Park Service acquiring the land. He said he thought the park service would not maintain the roads.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - A planned museum in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., that would have been home to artifacts from across the country is off the drawing board - at least temporarily - according to a local National Park Service official and the head of the agency. There were concerns about the size of the project and lack of National Park Service funds to run it. Bradley Gray, a spokesman for a group of developers working to purchase the former Old Standard Quarry property where the museum would have been built, emphasized Wednesday that the museum idea is out of consideration only for this year.

The National Park Service is seeking information regarding vandalism earlier this summer at the McMahons Mill area of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park at the end of Avis Mill Road. Sometime between Sunday June 8, and Tuesday, June 10, graffiti was spraypainted on the parking area and the park's natural and cultural resources along the Potomac River. Park Rangers have increased patrol in this area to prevent further vandalism. Anyone with information regarding this crime is asked to call the National Park Service toll-free at 1-866-677-6677 or contact U.S. Park Ranger Dan Johnston at 301-714-2235.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A 49-year-old Shenandoah Junction, W.Va., resident was named in an indictment returned May 20 by a federal grand jury. U.S. Attorney Sharon L. Potter announced that Robert Danno turned himself in to law enforcement authorities on May 29. The indictment alleges that Danno knowingly received, concealed, and retained stolen property in excess of $9,000 belonging to the National Park Service on Aug. 31, 2007. If convicted, Danno faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

A study by the National Park Service and Michigan State University has shown that the country's national parks are a valuable asset during the current recession, drawing thousands of visitors and propping up local economies. Visitors to National Park Service sites last year helped support more than 200,000 jobs and spent $11.8 billion in gift shops and nearby businesses such as hotels, restaurants and gas stations, according to the study. Visitors staying outside of the parks in motels, hotels, cabins and bed-and-breakfasts accounted for 55 percent of the total spending.

The National Park Service will conduct required dam inspections for Potomac River Dams No. 4 and No. 5 on Wednesday, according to a park service press release. Water will be lowered behind the dams to permit the inspections by National Park Service and Bureau of Reclamation personnel. Water levels will be noticeably lower for 24 to 48 hours, according to the release. Periodic inspections are required by the National Park Service to ensure the proper maintenance of the dams, and the safety of people and property downstream.

Williamsport Elementary School fourth-graders helped National Park Service officials open two new educational trails Friday morning at the C&O Canal National Historical Park in Williamsport. Park Superintendent Kevin Brandt was among a handful of officials to welcome the fourth-graders, who were tagged at the ceremony as the future stewards of the National Park Service. “You guys are our future, and we're glad that you're here,” Brandt said. The two new trails are part of the National Park Service's TRACK Trails program, which promotes self-guided tours in an effort to encourage children and their families to explore the outdoors.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's capital budget bill that cleared the Senate on Wednesday sets aside $100,000 for renovations and repairs to Lock 44, Lockhouse 44 and the Western Maryland Railroad Lift Bridge in Williamsport as part of improvements to Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park. A bond bill request by state Sen. George C. Edwards, R-Garrett/Allegany/Washington, asked for $175,000 for the renovations, but the request was only partially funded. The National Park Service is expected to match the amount.

Officials at Antietam National Battlefield probably will cut back on park ranger-led tours, programs for school students, regular maintenance of monuments and historical buildings and mowing due to the federal budget cuts known as sequestration, the superintendent of the park said. Also, park officials probably will not extend the hours of operation for the park's visitor center during the summer this year, said Susan Trail. The visitor's center closing time is usually extended from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. during the summer months, Trail said.

The latest figures for visitation show that the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park is Maryland's largest and most visited national park. Figures released by the National Park Service recently show that the park ranks 11th in number of visitors out of 398 national parks. The 2012 visitation numbers showed an  increase over the previous year (the park was ranked 17th in visitation in 2011). Visitation parkwide, and in Washington County, has greatly increased. “To have such a positive increase in the number of visitors shows that park usage is way up, in recreational tourism and heritage visitation,” said Tom Riford, president and chief executive officer of the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Labor Day Breakfast in the Park, a 65-year-old Martinsburg tradition, continued Monday with more than 500 diners sitting down to breakfast under the park's main pavilion. “It's our single War Memorial Park fundraiser of the year,” said Bonn “Buzz” Poland, who for the umpteenth time organized the effort to get tickets out to the public. This year's breakfast, featuring steak or ham, cost $30. Proceeds will be used to replace the McKee Pavilion with a larger structure and pay for renovations to the bathhouse.

A broken link in America's longest national park is nearly fixed. Two National Park Service officials said Friday that repairs to the Big Slackwater section of the C&O Canal National Historical Park will be completed soon and the park might reopen next month. For years, about 2.7 miles of the park at Big Slackwater has been closed and considered impassable, especially by bicycle. Hikers and bikers have been forced to take a hazardous 4.5-mile detour along Dam 4, Dellinger and Avis Mill roads, which have no shoulders.

The town of Hancock will host one of two National Park Service open houses next week on a proposed extension of the Western Maryland Rail Trail. The park service has prepared an environmental assessment for the extension of the rail trail from Pearre Station near Lock 56 in Washington County, Md., to the public access parking lot of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park near Paw Paw Tunnel in Morgan County, W.Va. The first meeting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Hancock Town Hall, 126 W. High St. A second meeting is scheduled for to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Paw Paw School, 60 Pirate Circle, Paw Paw, W.Va.

Dot Foods WILLIAMSPORT - Dot Foods, the nation's largest food redistributor, will host a job fair Saturday, March 31, from 9 a.m. to noon at 16301 Elliott Parkway in Williamsport. Positions available include full- and part-time warehouse order selectors and customer-delivery drivers. Warehouse order selectors use state-of-the-art material handling equipment and warehouse management systems to build pallets of products for shipment and to receive products. Drivers deliver mixed loads of dry, frozen and refrigerated products from Dot's eight distribution centers to food distributors across the country.

This year's 50th running of the JFK 50 Mile ultramarathon will still include a 13-mile section of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, and organizers will look at ways to expand the field of entrants in future years while maintaining a limit of 1,000 runners on that portion of the course. The Cumberland Valley Athletic Club, which organizes the race, and the National Park Service reached an agreement in early February to allow continued use of the trail on Nov. 17 and in subsequent races, JFK Co-Director Mike Spinnler said Monday.

John Philip (Phil) Myerly, 79, of Hagerstown, died Friday, March 9, 2012, at Meritus Medical Center. Born Feb. 8, 1933, in Hagerstown, he was the son of the late John T. and Evelyn Jennings Myerly. He is survived by his wife of 4 years, Judith (Judy) Myerly; two sisters, Mary Kammerle of Hagerstown and Helen Ann Spessard of Forest, Va.; one brother, Richard Myerly and wife, Mary, of Hagerstown; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by a brother, Robert S. Myerly.