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The RoomStore furniture showroom near Hagerstown will close its doors for good Jan. 25, a little more than a month after the company announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in federal court. Stephen Giordano, president and chief executive officer of RoomStore, said logistics played an important role in the decision to close the store at 17159 Cole Road southwest of Hagerstown. He said the store was too far away from its warehouse in North Carolina. "It was difficult to service our customers that far out," Giordano said Friday in a telephone interview.

Editor's note: The following story about the former Fort Ritchie U.S. Army Base is one in an occasional series of stories about some of the treasures of Washington County's past. CASCADE - What was to become Fort Ritchie U.S. Army base in Cascade started out as the Buena Vista Ice Co., became a National Guard camp and then was taken over by the U.S. Army to train soldiers in military intelligence and psychological warfare during World War II. It wound up its military years as a command center for Site R, a government installation known locally as the Underground Pentagon, built under Raven Rock Mountain in neighboring Pennsylvania.

A mass of people holding cat carriers waited in line Saturday at the Antietam Humane Society for a spay and neuter clinic. Debbie DeWees, executive director of the humane society, said feral and homeless cats are such a huge part of the growing pet overpopulation problem that the clinic is held every other month. “It's a humongous problem,” DeWees said. From 8 to 9 a.m., 83 cats were dropped off in their cat carriers, which were stacked three high in the shelter waiting for Dr. Matthew Murphy of Keystone Mobile Veterinary Services in Chambersburg, Pa., to perform the procedures.

A visit to Statton Furniture Manufacturing Company's historic factory at 504 E. First St. in Hagerstown's South End provides a rare opportunity to observe skilled craftsmen using traditional hand tools and modern woodworking machinery to create the finest reproductions and adaptations of Early American masterpieces from the 18th and 19th centuries. As you walk across the well-worn wooden floors, you might see in production a large conference table and set of chairs, tall cabinets and bookshelves for an executive suite, and many elegant accent and occasional pieces for the bedroom, dining room, and home office.

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- A woman who, on the advice of an attorney, took steps 25 years ago to ensure her phone number and address were unlisted found out recently that her phone number was among thousands included by mistake in the latest edition of the Washington County Phone Book. Then, she discovered that, in an unrelated matter, her address is readily available on the Internet. Her unlisted phone number is not included in the WhitePages.com listing, but her home address is. A click on "Listing detail" beneath her address takes one to a map that shows how to get to her home.

Ever since the great British historian Edward Gibbon wrote “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” (1776), writers have adapted a portion of this title to describe “The Decline and Fall” of everything from a regime to a prominent family or person. So there should no alarm when it is applied to a political party. The Republican Party, now 159 years of age, shows all of the signs of decline and possible death. A party that began with a vision of free men and free territories has declined to an aggregate of naysayers dominated by a cadre of political absolutists who continue to bring the nation to the edge of financial chaos if they don't get their way. When their demise is final, I suggest this limerick be on the gravestone: Here lies the party of “no.” They knoweth not which way to row. There's no doubt about it, Their record doth shout it, 'Twas truly their time to go. It might turn out that this ailing party might not be pronounced dead.

Allegiant Air will be halting its service from Hagerstown to Orlando, Fla., in August. Does that signify the airline might be leaving Hagerstown Regional Airport? The question comes from Howie Lore of Winchester, Va., who recently sent an email to The Herald-Mail saying the airline was only booking flights on its website through Aug. 13. “... Is this a sign once again of departing Hagerstown?” Lore asked. He said in a follow-up email that he and others enjoy being able to fly out of Hagerstown rather than traveling to Baltimore or Washington, D.C. According to Allegiant spokeswoman Jessica Wheeler, the airline has no intentions of leaving Hagerstown and the absence of available flights after Aug. 13 is only part of its “seasonal suspension” of service.

At least 140 competitors are slated to take to the streets for this weekend's Tour of Washington County bike races, which will begin in Hagerstown's Arts and Entertainment District Friday night. On Saturday, the racers will move to Smithsburg, and on Sunday, they will be in Williamsport. “Think of it as NASCAR on two wheels,” said Race Director Joe Jefferson of the  Antietam Velo Club, which is hosting the event. “You're going to be seeing bikes that weigh 14 pounds that cost over $5,000 and $6,000 doing speeds of 35 to 40 mph in downtown Hagerstown - you can't even get a car to do that fast on these streets because of how tight the turns are.” Modeled after the Tour de France, the weekend of racing includes road races, time trials and downtown circuit events.

There’s been a lot of talk about the economy lately. Couple that with the role of federal, state and local government, and you have a subject that will usually set anyone’s hair on fire. So, what is the role of government in the economy? On one side, you have conservatives, who believe the government’s role in the economy must be “hands off.” The more conservative in nature, the more and more hands off. Some conservatives beat their chests and shout, “Don’t spend taxpayer money (often expressed as “my money”)

A Hagerstown pharmacist has been prohibited from dispensing drugs classified as controlled dangerous substances following allegations that he filled thousands of prescriptions for Oxycodone, OxyContin, methadone and other powerful painkillers written by two physicians whose licenses were subsequently suspended. The Maryland Board of Pharmacy voted on Dec. 22, 2010, to summarily suspend the license of David Russo, owner of Russo's Rx at 25 N. Cannon Ave. "There has since been a consent agreement by which my license has been restored, but I cannot dispense controlled dangerous substances," Russo said Tuesday.