Number

North Hagerstown wrestling coach Greg Slick had Catoctin sized up pretty well before their MVAL Antietam Conference showdown Thursday night. “When I looked at it on paper, I thought they were going to score 30 points,” he said. “I was only hoping we'd score 31.” The Hubs did that and more. They beat the host Cougars 42-30 to take home the Antietam title, completing a perfect run through the conference. It was the first Antietam loss for Catoctin (17-4, 3-1), which began the night as the No. 14 dual-meet team in the Maryland State Wrestling Association's top-20 state poll.

Maryland health officials say laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of the illness-causing bacteria, Campylobacter jejuni, in two unopened samples purchased from the Family Cow farm in Chambersburg The number of people in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and New Jersey stricken with illness after consuming raw, unpasteurized milk from the same farm has risen to 37, the Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed Thursday. Pennsylvania officials said their tests for bacteria in samples had not yet yielded results.

Despite already hitting historic highs for January, the average price of gas around Hagerstown increased this week, according to the American Automobile Association weekend gas watch. The average price of regular-grade gas in Hagerstown was at $3.45 per gallon this week, higher than the nationwide average of $3.39 per gallon and the Maryland average of $3.42, the AAA said. It is also 6 cents higher than the local average last week. The lowest price for regular-grade gas in the area was $3.37 per gallon, and the most expensive was $3.45 per gallon, which was also the average, according to the AAA Fuel Price Finder at http://midatlanticaaa.com.

You can always count on numbers. Outside of maybe air, food and water, numbers might be something that every one of us uses every day. Right there, air … food … and water. That's three. It starts when we are born. Doctors check to make sure we have 10 fingers and 10 toes. In fact, they are each called digits, which also are another name for numbers. After that, we keep track of how many years we are alive with birthdays. That one year is divided by 12 months, which have 365 days divided into segments of 28-31 days.

The Washington County Restaurant & Beverage Association wants to tighten the limit on how many liquor licenses may be issued in the county. The association has proposed changing the county's law so that one license would be allowed per 3,500 people in an election district, instead of the current ratio of one license per 1,000 people. The new limit would not apply to restaurants. Louis L. Thomas, the association's president, said in a telephone interview  Thursday that the change is meant to protect the community from having too many liquor-selling establishments.

With only eight players dressed, it was important for North Hagerstown to use its energy with a lead instead of having to work from a deficit. On Friday, the Hubs bolted to an early lead and were never threatened as they dashed to a 60-47 MVAL Antietam Conference boys victory over Clear Spring. By the same token, it was imperative the Blazers get off to a good start to rekindle some of the positives they had in starting the season at 7-0. But they couldn't and fell for a fifth straight game.

It isn't uncommon to be searching for value these days. In these economic times, many look for small numbers to make the dollar worth more. In sports, it's a different story. In most events, the bigger the numbers are, the better - well, at least in nearly every sport but golf. If that was the case, I'd have a Masters title and a humanitarian award for the digging the furrows to plant crops and feed the nation. Numbers are important to sports. Figures and fractions are like chips and chili at a tailgate party.

Almost half of Washington County Public Schools' students in kindergarten through 12th grade are eligible for free or reduced-price meals this school year, school system officials said. As of Oct. 31, 46.8 percent of K-12 students were eligible for the discounted meal program, according to presentation documents for the enrollment report provided to the Board of Education during the Nov. 1 meeting. "It's always sobering to me to see the free and reduced meal rates continue to climb," said school board member Justin Hartings, according to an online broadcast of the meeting.

In the last decade, more than 34,000 students dropped out of school in West Virginia, and statistics show about 80 percent of them will end up in prison, a circuit judge told an overflow courtroom crowd Tuesday in the Berkeley County Judicial Center. "The numbers are staggering," said 19th Judicial Circuit Judge Alan Moats, who began an anti-truancy and dropout program in Barbour and Taylor counties when he realized he was seeing many of the same people appear before him in criminal cases who had appeared before him in truancy cases.

From tip jar players' hands, to restaurants, bars and private clubs across Washington County, the money rolled in to the county's new gaming fund. In April 1996, in accordance with the county's gaming law, the county government issued its first check - for $124,215.60 - from the fund to the Washington County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association. What happened next is unclear. The money was divvied up, but how, why and on whose authority? Now, 15 years later, the answers to those questions hold the key to how much money the association keeps for itself and how much it gives each of its member volunteer fire and rescue companies.