Red Tape

The Washington County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday heard firsthand accounts of the frustrations small business owners have experienced in trying to start or expand their operations. During a forum attended by about 30 people at the Hancock Community Center, David Pittman, the owner of Pittman's Market, recounted how he was told by a county Planning Commission official that he needed a site grading plan after he had been informed it was not required for a project. The official told him it was in case “the Maryland Department of the Environment might want it later,” he told three of the five commissioners who were present.

Hagerstown businessman Ryan Null will tell Congress today how the government's red tape ties him up. The owner of Tristate Electronic Manufacturing, Null said he spends more than five work weeks every year taking care of federally mandated paperwork and regulations. He is scheduled to testify before a House committee this afternoon on H.R. 350, The Mandate Information Act. The act would require Congress to find out what new regulations cost the country's businesses before passing them.

With the help of the Internet, the tedious task of applying for a business license could become a lot easier in Washington County. To obtain a business license, a person must go to at least six different state and local agencies for approvals, according to Dennis J. Weaver, clerk of Washington County Circuit Court. Under the new program, Weaver's office will collect information and fees required from applicants. The clerk's office will then e-mail the relevant agencies for approvals and issue the license.

Most Hagerstown elected officials said Tuesday they would not hold up a permit to stave off the demolition of the roundhouse complex. But Mayor Robert E. Bruchey II said the city is known for having a slow permit process. "Ask any developer," he said. The issue arose after David Nelson, a new member to the Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum Inc., suggested the city hold up the permit if CSX Real Property sticks to its July 3 deadline. CSX has given museum officials until July 3 to raise $500,000 to buy the 40 acres along South Burhans Boulevard and get a government agency to take over legal responsibility for the land or the buildings will be razed.

Washington County is ready to lend a hand if local governments in North Carolina want help fixing their sewer systems in the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd. "If the call comes then we should give them a helping hand," Commissioners President Gregory I. Snook said. Public Works Director Gary Rohrer went before the County Commissioners Tuesday with a plan to send up to 10 employees, at a total cost of about $16,000, to North Carolina for a week. The money would come from the general fund, not the water and sewer funds, he said.

SMITHSBURG -- It took some time to break through the red tape with various petitions. Then, the arduous task of raising money took place to achieve one goal. Around 6:40 p.m. on Friday, festivities will begin in earnest with the formal naming of Coach Carroll Reid Field as the Smithsburg Leopards open the home portion of the prep football season against Walkersville. Reid, who passed away on March 29 at age 80, coached the Leopards from 1967-97 and produced four Maryland state championships.

Click here to view the slideshow. SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. -- Before a charged and sometimes raucous crowd of about 350 people at Shepherd University, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday worked to keep up the energy in her battle with Barack Obama, detailing her agenda for a better economy, renewable energy and better health care and education options. "I'm so happy to be here in West Virginia and excited about the next week as we campaign here in this beautiful state about our country's future," Clinton told the Shepherd audience.

julieg@herald-mail.com Although she recently won a pickup truck and last year won a trip to Cancun, Nichole Rivera said she has no plans to try her luck in the casinos when her family visits Las Vegas later this year. Rivera, 41, who lives south of Hagerstown, said she doesn't think she's had a lot of good luck. She just picks up contest entry forms when she sees them and feels like filling them out, she said. She won the Cancn trip by mailing in a Coca-Cola contest entry she saw in a store.

waynesboro@herald-mail.com One of Sandy Hook's earliest recollections as chief of staff in the Waynesboro office of Pennsylvania Rep. Pat Fleagle is of a man calling to ask if Fleagle would get a dead cat off the road. "A guy and his mother were walking along a state highway and they came upon this dead cat," Hook said. "They called the office and asked if Pat could come and take care of it. " Hook, 53, started working for Fleagle, R-90th, in January 1989, a week after Fleagle was sworn in for his first two-year term.

Why was this on front page? To the editor: This is just my two cents and the community's two cents. Who, up high, deemed it necessary that an expired-tags pull-over was worthy of a front-page story? Congratulations to the city and Councilwoman Alesia Parson-McBean for holding its first Minority Business Program Luncheon at the Clarion Convention Center. The community supports you and feels that this is the story that should have been made front-page news.

The Washington County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday heard firsthand accounts of the frustrations small business owners have experienced in trying to start or expand their operations. During a forum attended by about 30 people at the Hancock Community Center, David Pittman, the owner of Pittman's Market, recounted how he was told by a county Planning Commission official that he needed a site grading plan after he had been informed it was not required for a project. The official told him it was in case “the Maryland Department of the Environment might want it later,” he told three of the five commissioners who were present.

"Hats off and well done to the Maugansville 11-12 Little League All-Star Hornet team. They won all their traveling Hornet games, then two games in Maryland District 1's Little League. What do you think about that? Well done. " - Maugansville "I'm calling, I'm wondering who had the ... idea to plant all those trees on the Hagerstown side streets. It's bad enough when you pull up to a stop sign and you can't see, for trucks parked in the way and everything else - now you plant trees there.

SMITHSBURG -- It took some time to break through the red tape with various petitions. Then, the arduous task of raising money took place to achieve one goal. Around 6:40 p.m. on Friday, festivities will begin in earnest with the formal naming of Coach Carroll Reid Field as the Smithsburg Leopards open the home portion of the prep football season against Walkersville. Reid, who passed away on March 29 at age 80, coached the Leopards from 1967-97 and produced four Maryland state championships.

MIDDLETOWN, Md. -- Louise Virginia Snodgrass, who represented parts of Frederick and Washington counties in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1995 through 2003, died Friday at the age of 66 after a long battle with breast cancer. Friends and fellow legislators remembered her Saturday as a grass-roots-oriented public servant who went to great lengths to solve problems for her constituents and braved breast cancer with positivity and grace. Del. Richard B. Weldon Jr., an independent who represents parts of Frederick and Washington counties and a longtime colleague and friend of Snodgrass, said he liked to describe her as "having a heart as big as the Middletown Valley.

Click here to view the slideshow. SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. -- Before a charged and sometimes raucous crowd of about 350 people at Shepherd University, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday worked to keep up the energy in her battle with Barack Obama, detailing her agenda for a better economy, renewable energy and better health care and education options. "I'm so happy to be here in West Virginia and excited about the next week as we campaign here in this beautiful state about our country's future," Clinton told the Shepherd audience.

Why was this on front page? To the editor: This is just my two cents and the community's two cents. Who, up high, deemed it necessary that an expired-tags pull-over was worthy of a front-page story? Congratulations to the city and Councilwoman Alesia Parson-McBean for holding its first Minority Business Program Luncheon at the Clarion Convention Center. The community supports you and feels that this is the story that should have been made front-page news.

waynesboro@herald-mail.com WAYNESBORO, PA.-One doesn't drink tea in TranquiliTEA. One "takes" tea. The distinction is important to Kelly McGahen and Donna Shaffer, who are converting an 1880s brick Victorian building at 117 W. Main St. into a formal tea room they call TranquiliTEA. The women are hoping for a Sept. 1 opening for their new business. McGahen took advantage of the borough's facade-improvement program for a $6,000 matching grant to rehabilitate the front of the building, which has been painted pink with green trim.

katec@herald-mail.com About 640,000 individuals become naturalized American citizens every year, said Chris Bentley, spokesman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service in Washington, D.C. It's not easy. Citizenship is not a right. It is not automatic. "It is something to be earned," Bentley said. Requirements include legal residence and good moral character, according to the agency's Web site at uscis.gov . Applicants must show that they are "attached" to the principles of the Constitution.

julieg@herald-mail.com Although she recently won a pickup truck and last year won a trip to Cancun, Nichole Rivera said she has no plans to try her luck in the casinos when her family visits Las Vegas later this year. Rivera, 41, who lives south of Hagerstown, said she doesn't think she's had a lot of good luck. She just picks up contest entry forms when she sees them and feels like filling them out, she said. She won the Cancn trip by mailing in a Coca-Cola contest entry she saw in a store.

julieg@herald-mail.com Last year, Lee Ebersole's family moved from Montgomery County, Md., to Shepherdstown, W.Va., so he began looking for a teaching job closer to his new home. Ebersole, who teaches English to gifted and talented students, brought with him a master's degree in education from the University of Maryland and a Maryland teaching certification for kindergarten through eighth grade. But when he applied for teaching jobs in West Virginia, Ebersole said, he was treated as though he didn't have a degree from what he considers one of the best education colleges in the country.