Research

Menard appointed to Gaming Commission seat The Washington County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to appoint John Menard to an open seat on the Washington County Gaming Commission. Menard, a Hagerstown resident, is senior vice president of Centra Bank and serves on the boards of directors of the Hagerstown Home Store, ARC, Hospice of Washington County and The W House, according to his application. The seven-member Gaming Commission is responsible for distributing the proceeds of tip jar gaming to charitable organizations that apply for the money each year.

bonnieb@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. When Lori Rovito noticed that her 6-month-old daughter had a droopy eyelid and an abnormally small pupil on one side, she took her to an eye doctor. Advised to put the baby, Dena, through further testing, she sought a second opinion at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "There was no discussion about it being cancer," Rovito recalled. Dena saw a neurologist and underwent an MRI. "The day I went for the results, I found out she had cancer at 2 p.m. and at 2:30, I was meeting with the oncologist," Rovito recalled.

WAYNESBORO, PA. Jackie Barlup doesn't understand why anyone would want to write a newspaper story about her life. "What's newsworthy about me?" she said. Barlup's name often shows up as the author of some historical research document or pamphlet about Waynesboro, its architecture or its people. Barlup, 73, and her husband, Louis Barlup Jr., Waynesboro's mayor, were married in August 1949. She retired as a teacher in the Waynesboro Area School District in 1993. She also taught at Shippensburg (Pa.)

marlob@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - After more than 30 years in nursing at Washington County Hospital, Julianne Harp was sick and tired of seeing patients getting sick after surgery and sometimes having to be hospitalized longer than expected. So when Harp chose a research project for her bachelor's degree program in nursing, she had no trouble zeroing in on the nausea and vomiting many postoperative patients endure. Harp has received a grant from the American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses to complete her study, one of only two grants awarded nationwide and the first ever to a nurse at Washington County Hospital.

Lexi Turano, 17, wanted more than a resume builder when looking for an internship -- she wanted experience. This summer, Lexi, a senior at South Hagerstown High School, interned with the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Md. "Going into it, I didn't have any biology experience, besides honors biology as a freshman," Lexi said, "but my main reason for doing it is because I plan on doing research in college, and I needed to figure out...

shappell@herald-mail.com One Washington County Sheriff's Department officer has been hard at work in recent weeks researching the fatal shooting of an on-duty sheriff's deputy. The case that Cpl. Daryl L. Sanders is looking into is nearly a century old. Sanders has been piecing together information on the 1905 shooting of Deputy Thomas Hardy on a train traveling the B&O railroad route near Weverton along the line between Washington and Frederick counties. He said the research was begun after the department was told its belief that no one had been killed in the line of duty in the department's history was incorrect.

Family should be compensated for cells To the editor: In 1951, a woman became the source of the first immortal cell line (HeLa), which was obtained from biopsies performed during her treatment for cervical cancer, at Johns Hopkins University, as reported in “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” by Rebecca Skloot. Her physicians did not ask her consent before using her tissue for research. However, the cell line became extremely lucrative for the university, providing a lot of revenue, estimated to be in hundred millions of dollars.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- Carl Barton, who ran against former Chambersburg School Board President Thomas Orndorf in 2005, was selected Wednesday to fill the vacancy created by Orndorf's resignation last month. The board voted 4-3 to appoint Barton, 66, to the Region 4 seat Orndorf had held for 10 years. Orndorf had been board president for the past three years and another former board president, Stanley Helman, was picked last month as president. Barton, a retired research assistant professor with the University of Pittsburgh Child Welfare Training Program, was picked over David Black, an architectural engineer.

Frederick County Commissioners Jan Gardner, David Gray and Kai Hagen joined representatives from the Office of Economic Development, the Business Development Advisory Council and other partner agencies to tour Windridge Farm in Adamstown, Md., recently. Hosting the visit were Robert and Jeremy Butz with Windridge Farm along with representatives from Chesapeake Green Fuels and Petroleum Marketing Group. Windridge Farm, founded in 1954 by Thompson H. Butz, was originally in Germantown, Md, but is now in southern Frederick County.

Flexible hours an important factor for older working women, professor finds By RICHARD F. BELISLE / Staff Writer, Waynesboro MONT ALTO, Pa. - A Penn State Mont Alto economics teacher who is researching older working women said those who are still in the work force value flexible hours more than money. Elizabeth Hill, assistant professor of economics, said she came up with some surprises in her two-year study of working women. She found that while many older women classify themselves as being retired they continue to work.