Organizer

Chambersburg Civil War Seminars and Tours donated $6,500 for battlefield preservation on Oct. 2, presenting $5,000 to Antietam National Battlefield and $1,500 to the Save Historic Antietam Foundation. The Greater Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce offers the seminars with co-founder Ted Alexander. The money was raised through the auction of Civil War books and other memorabilia at a July seminar about the Battle of Antietam, as well as other fundraising efforts, according to a news release.

Several hundred members of area social clubs, veterans groups and nonprofit organizations flocked to the Franklin Fire Company in Chambersburg on Tuesday night hoping to make sense of a revised state gaming law. The Small Games of Chance seminar, hosted by the Franklin Fire Co., was intended to clear up confusion about the recording and reporting process of HB 169, officially known as Act 2 of 2012. Todd Merlina, enforcement officer supervisor with the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, told the crowd that the law is an improvement to the outdated small games of chance law from 1988.

The Hagerstown City Council and Washington County Board of Commissioners met in a joint session Tuesday to hear the results of a feasibility study recently completed that examines the current arts and entertainment community in the city and county. Economist Anirban Basu of the Sage Policy Group, which administered the study, said that Hagerstown stands as the most logical point to establish the hub of the local arts and entertainment scene since it already has the needed infrastructure.

Indictments on forgery and embezzlement charges were handed up this week by a Jefferson County grand jury against former treasurers - one for a Shepherd University sorority, the other for a local volunteer fire department. Susan Roxanne Carter, 46, of 196 Mountainside Road, Harpers Ferry, W.Va., is charged with 114 counts of fraudulent use of a credit card, 18 counts of forgery and one count of embezzlement while she was the treasurer for the Blue Ridge Mountain Volunteer Fire Department.

Turnout for a Saturday morning voter registration drive in Hagerstown might have been low, but organizers said that will not deter them from holding similar events in the coming months. After all, every vote counts. “We feel it's our civic duty to get out in the community,” said Russell Daiello, one of the organizers. Hagerstown Professional Firefighters Local 1605, which is an International Association of Fire Fighters chapter, decided to increase its focus on politics and voting this year, Daiello said.

Thirty-two bluegrass bands performing on three stages, 76 barbecuers competing for a state title, food concessions and a beer garden add up to a weekend of music, the aroma of wafting grilled meat and Pickin' in the Panhandle. Officially called Pickin' in the Panhandle, West Virginia BBQ & Blue Grass Festival, the event began Friday at the Lazy A Campground. Organizers predict crowds of 8,000 to 10,000 patrons through Sunday. Large and small RVs and tents began to fill the fields that make up the large campground.

Far from this idyllic town, Zane Steward traveled the globe to help others. The assistant manager of E.L.M. Shoes in the square of downtown Greencastle, Steward, 25, said it was just coincidence that his first humanitarian trips involved shoes. It was the shoe store's partnership to collect donated shoes in the past that raised Steward's awareness of the group. Steward said they have run a short donation period in exchange for a discount on new shoes once a year, every other year.

In an attempt to be more efficient in the struggling economy, the Alzheimer's Association will close its Hagerstown office at 5 Public Square on Sept. 1 and will run its Western Maryland operations from its Frederick, Md., office, the executive director of the organization's Maryland chapter said Monday. Like other businesses in the tough economy, the Alzheimer's Association is faced with doing “more and more with less and less,” Cass Naugle said. While doing more, the organization has put off investments in technology and other needs, and closing the Hagerstown office will save the organization about $6,400 a year, Naugle said.

The local NFL Punt, Pass and Kick competition will be returning to North Hagerstown High School this year on Sept. 8 at 2 p.m. Junior Hubs president Ron Thomas is taking over the event from last year's organizer, Randy Franklin. “We registered with USA Football and they gave us a whole gameplan,” said Thomas. “We want exposure in this area, we're trying to do that.” NFL Punt, Pass and Kick is a competition for boys and girls ages 6-15, in which each competitor gets one punt, pass and kick and the distances of all three are combined for each individual's final score.

Elks Lodge 278 and Sharon Temple 160 in Hagerstown will host the annual organization weekend today through Sunday for Tri-State area members. Although the celebration will not include the traditional parade, it will be a time of enjoyment and fellowship with the community and fellow brothers and sisters of the organization.  Perrow to speak at Bridge of Life church On Sunday, the speaker at Bridge of Life church, 14 S. Potomac St.,...