Rural Areas

By RICHARD F. BELISLE Staff Writer CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Date rape drugs such as Rophynol are spreading from metropolitan cities to rural areas, according to an official with a victim's group. Agencies that track rape cases in Pennsylvania have reported that the drug, used by rapists to sedate their victims, may have been used in 23 suspected cases of date rape. One of those cases, still unconfirmed, was reported in Franklin County, Pa., said Alecha Cauffman, prevention education specialist with WIN Victim Services.

Washington County's 11/2-year ban on major residential development in rural areas may be up for review next month, County Attorney Richard Douglas said.The County Commissioners plan to discuss the growth moratorium after a task force studying the county's proposed plan to rezone approximately 250,000 rural acres completes its report and submits it to the commissioners. Douglas said the commissioners should have the report in June. He said the moratorium was adopted in October 2002 and extended in October 2003.

The fat is out of the fire, so to speak, for at least one more school year. After opposition to a plan to weigh schoolchildren periodically as part of an effort to reduce - or keep track of - childhood obesity - Maryland state lawmakers instead opted for another year of study. Translation: It's an election year, so why upset anyone? We agree that this is one more burden that would be laid on the school system. But if we were talking about an epidemic of lead poisoning as opposed to obesity, lawmakers would be rushing to co-sponsor this bill.

laurae@herald-mail.com ANNAPOLIS - Government agencies in Washington County finally will be able to tap into a broadband network cable that was buried along Interstate 70 five years ago. Maryland's chief information officer, Ellis Kitchen, said Wednesday that telecommunications equipment needed to gain access to the fiber optic cable was installed in Hagerstown and Frederick last week. The new points of presence (POPs) will allow state and local government offices to hook up to the high-speed network known as networkMaryland, he said.

A 13-member task force will begin studying parts of Washington County's plan to limit growth in rural areas in February. The County Commissioners approved the make-up of the task force at Tuesday's meeting. The task force won't review the part of the plan that drew the most controversy - a proposal to reduce the number of homes allowed in agricultural areas. It will study issues including the type of businesses allowed in rural areas and programs that would help property owners recover if the value of their land decreased as a result of the proposed density changes.

tarar@herald-mail.com As of now, Washington County's more than two-year ban on major residential growth in rural areas is set to expire on April 18. The Washington County Commissioners on Tuesday discussed whether to extend the building moratorium for up to 90 days, but there weren't enough votes to do so. "I think the moratorium has gone on long enough," Commissioner John C. Munson said. "I don't think we're being fair to the people. " The commissioners, instead, plan to discuss at next Tuesday's meeting ways to control growth through the county's Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO)

WASHINGTON COUNTY tarar@herald-mail.com The Washington County Commissioners on Tuesday formally adopted tighter growth regulations affecting 250,000 of the county's rural acres. The County Commissioners voted 3-2 to adopt a new zoning map, a comprehensive planning map and text changes to the county's Zoning Ordinance. In a nutshell, the action means fewer homes are allowed per acre in rural areas. Commissioners President Gregory I. Snook and commissioners James F. Kercheval and Doris J. Nipps supported the zoning changes, known as the county's rezoning plan.

tarar@herald-mail.com The Washington County Commissioners on Tuesday accepted a draft ordinance that would prevent large residential developments from being built in rural areas for a year. A final vote on the proposed ordinance might be taken by the end of next month, county officials said. If the commissioners give final approval, the moratorium would apply to residential subdivisions consisting of six or more lots on land outside the Urban or Town Growth areas, County Attorney Richard Douglas said.

A decision on whether to rezone more than 250,000 of Washington County's rural acres is tentatively scheduled for October. The Washington County Commissioners on Tuesday discussed a timetable for the vote, as well as the dates of meetings and public hearings on the proposed rezoning. Discussions and hearings on the issue probably would be held from August through October, according to the tentative timetable. The proposed rezoning would reduce the number of homes allowed in rural areas.

tarar@herald-mail.com The Washington County Commissioners on Tuesday approved a task force to study the county's plan to control growth in rural areas, but the committee won't be discussing the part of the plan that's drawing the most controversy - the proposal to limit the number of homes allowed per acre. The County Commissioners decided not to allow the yet-to-be-appointed, 13-member task force to make recommendations on whether rural areas should be rezoned to keep a handle on growth in those areas.

For several years, Gov. Martin O'Malley has been talking about raising transportation funds for Maryland with a possible sales tax increase on gasoline. Last year, he floated an idea of a 6 percent sales tax increase on gas, but did not find a lot of backers. In his State of the State address Wednesday, O'Malley made another reference to the state's transportation needs. “There is no reason why we should be content with having the worst traffic congestion in the country. Building a 21st-century transportation network won't happen by itself,” O'Malley said.

Since 2010, when Frontier Communications assumed landline phone service from Verizon, about 96 percent of West Virginia households and businesses, including those in the Eastern Panhandle, have enjoyed broadband Internet access, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin said Monday. Manchin, D-W.Va., joined Frontier officials at a brief press conference at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center in Shepherdstown to explain how Frontier expanded broadband across the state. Paul Espinosa, area general manager for Frontier, said the company continues to bring the faster Internet service to Berkeley County areas that previously lacked it. It is now available in Martinsburg on Rock Cliff Drive, Tavern Road, Gloucester Drive, Harris Way, Artisan Way and neighboring areas, he said.

The U.S. Postal Service has amended its latest cost-savings plan, proposing to limit the hours of rural post offices instead of closing them. The change, announced last week, apparently would keep open four Tri-State-area post office branches that were considered last year for closure. Two are in Washington County - Big Pool and Brownsville. The other two - Crystal Spring and Wells Tannery - are in Fulton County, Pa. Under the new plan, the Crystal Spring and Wells Tannery post offices would be open four hours a day instead of eight, according to a list of affected branches.

Mark Sands of Hagerstown expressed his unhappiness Monday at the way residents in rural communities in Maryland are treated by elected officials. “Rural people get the short end of the stick throughout the state,” he said. “Even with a gasoline tax, rural people have to pay more because they have to drive further into work. Then, the money is disbursed back into the cities.” Sands, 50, was among Hagerstown residents who said elected officials in Maryland tend to put the needs of rural areas in Maryland, particularly Western Maryland, behind the needs of the rest of the state.

The phrase "war on rural Maryland" was repeated again and again Monday night at a legislative public forum at South Hagerstown High School as the Washington County delegation commiserated with constituents about state policies seen as unfair to rural areas. "The governor of this state is so prejudiced (against) Western Maryland in general, it's ridiculous, and I'd like something to be done about it," said Oscar Evans of Sharpsburg. Evans was one of five people to speak at the forum, which drew about 15 people, a smaller crowd than in previous years when the forum was held on Saturday mornings.

Charges of Democratic gerrymandering and complaints that Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley is conducting "a war on rural Maryland" came up Saturday morning when Republican members of Washington County delegation's to the Maryland General Assembly met with the Washington County Republican Central Committee. State Sen. Christopher B. Shank and Delegates Neil C. Parrott, Andrew A. Serafini and Michael J. Hough met with the committee over breakfast at Next Dimensions restaurant. Parrott, R-Washington, discussed how the 6th Congressional District's lines were redrawn in a redistricting plan passed last month during a special session in Annapolis.

Washington County residents will have another opportunity Tuesday to weigh in on broad changes proposed for the land-use policy in the area around Hagerstown, Williamsport and Funkstown. The county's proposed comprehensive rezoning of this “urban growth area” is the subject of a public hearing scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Hager Hall Conference and Event Center on Dual Highway. A previous public hearing on the UGA rezoning drew hundreds of people to Kepler Theater in October, leading officials to extend the hearing over a second evening.

A controversial proposed ban on new large-development septic systems in Maryland will be replaced by a broad study of environmental-protection issues, a House committee chairwoman said Wednesday. The plan was in a bill filed by Del. Stephen W. Lafferty, D-Baltimore County, and championed by Gov. Martin O'Malley. It was seen as a way to bolster Maryland's efforts to protect the Chesapeake Bay by limiting pollution that ends up there. However, Republicans from Washington County argued that it could devastate homebuilding and other associated trades.

Donoghue’s group to look at rural health care Maryland House Speaker Michael E. Busch, D-Anne Arundel, has created a group to look at the state’s rural health care and has put Del. John P. Donoghue in charge. “Rural communities across Maryland face different challenges with access and quality of health care than the urban and suburban counterparts,” Busch said in a statement released Thursday. “I am pleased that Del. Donoghue has accepted this challenge to work with rural communities across the state to keep their challenges at the forefront of the debate in Annapolis.

Washington County has been approved for a $500,000 grant to preserve forest and farmland through Maryland's Rural Legacy Program, state officials announced this week. The award is part of $12.6 million in Rural Legacy allocations approved Wednesday by the Board of Public Works, according to a press release from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The funds will be used to buy permanent easements preventing development of land within the Mid-Maryland Washington Rural Legacy Area, an area of about 40,000 acres around Antietam National Battlefield, said Eric Seifarth, Washington County's rural preservation administrator.