Rifle

An Army National Guardsman who was carrying a training rifle and wearing military desert camouflage and a ballistic vest was arrested Monday morning after he was spotted running near two Martinsburg schools, police and military officials said. Monday was the first day of classes for the 2012-13 school year in Berkeley County. William Everett Alemar, 23, of 1013 S. Raleigh St., Apt. 3 in Martinsburg, was charged with committing a terroristic act and wearing body armor while committing a felony offense, according to police and court records.

A Mercersburg man was flown to York (Pa.) Hospital on Monday after he accidentally shot himself at his Peters Township home, Pennsylvania State Police said. Police said Robert E. Pine, 40, of Dickies Road, went into his laundry room to grab a 22-caliber rifle to shoot a groundhog that was on his property about 11:20 a.m. While grabbing the loaded rifle, it discharged and struck Pine in the left shoulder, police said. The injury was considered nonlife-threatening, and he was flown out as a precautionary measure, police said.

A Hagerstown man with prior criminal convictions was arrested after police found 18 rifles and shotguns at his house, the Washington County Sheriff's Office said Thursday. Kenneth Eugene Butts III, 39, of 14713 Daley Road, was known by police to have prior criminal convictions that prohibited him from possessing handguns, Detective Cpl. Greg Alton said in a news release. Butts has been charged with 18 counts of possessing a rifle or shotgun with a felony conviction, possessing a firearm with a felony conviction and illegal possession of a regulated firearm, Alton said.

Hundreds of Franklin County hunters have been making a list and checking it twice, preparing for one of Pennsylvania's unofficial holidays. The Monday after Thanksgiving traditionally marks the opening of Pennsylvania's two-week general deer hunting season, and about 750,000 hunters statewide will take to their tree stands and hunting camps bright and early in search of their first big catch of the rifle season. Weather forecasts predict some rain early in the week with colder temperatures and snow possible by Wednesday, which might deter some hunters from heading out, Stu McFerren, owner of Hunter's Den in Rouzerville, Pa., said Saturday.

The American Civil War might have reached a swifter conclusion had the federal government not armed its soldiers with inexpensive weapons to save money, said George Wunderlich, executive director of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, Md. The .58-caliber rifle that was the workhorse of the Union army was mass produced because it cost only $13 to manufacture, Wunderlich said. But the drawback was that the soldier had to reload the weapon through the muzzle after he fired each shot.

MONT ALTO, Pa. -- A man seen carrying a rifle prompted Penn State Mont Alto to lock down its buildings Thursday for about a half-hour until Pennsylvania State Police told campus officials the man was hunting groundhogs. Penn State Mont Alto spokeswoman Kristie Fry said the school used "PSU text" to notify people by cell phone, Facebook and Twitter. The school also sent out mass e-mails using internal lists. Students were included in notifications. Although classes don't start for another week, a few students have been on campus in recent days getting ready for the start of the academic year, Fry said.

o If you like reading Tim Rowland, you'll love watching him. See what else Tim has to say I like to say that I studied marksmanship under Olympic rifle gold medal winner Ed Etzel. Which I did, just not very successfully. Etzel was coach of West Virginia University's rifle team when I was there, and shooting was also offered as a phys ed course (this is West Virginia, remember -- I think they had a major in 12-gauge shotguns). The rifle team was wildly successful, having won multiple NCAA national championships.

Here are some of the things happening in Washington County Public Schools this week: Today Bester Elementary - Individual picture day Boonsboro Middle - Homecoming/Spirit Week Clear Spring Elementary - Green School Committee meeting E. Russell Hicks Middle - PTA meeting, 6 p.m. Greenbrier Elementary - PTA meeting, 6:30 p.m. North Hagerstown High - All County Chorus rehearsal, 6:30 p.m....

HAGERSTOWN -- A 16-year-old male and a 17-year-old male were charged as delinquent juveniles after police responded to Noland Village on Tuesday afternoon for a house burglary. Police initially responded to the scene at 1:25 p.m. after a report of shots being fired, according to the Hagerstown Police Department. Police said they determined the gunshots might have occurred in the area of Court 1 in Noland Village, and they later spotted two males at a construction site at the end of Sweeney Drive.