Sand

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. -- The glass from which you drink, a dish that holds your food or the paint on your walls all could have begun at U.S. Silica, the sand-mining plant in Morgan County. The process of making sand has been around a long time. At the U.S. Silica plant off U.S. 522, the mining and processing of silica began around the late 1800s. Ted Glennon, plant manager, said small family-owned companies mined and processed sandstone until Pennsylvania Glass Sand acquired the companies in 1929.

Steffey & Findlay usually sells sandbags for use in mortar for the bricks it also sells, but on Monday it was selling them for reasons related to Hurricane Sandy, said Phil Adams, president of the company. “We normally sell sandbags for building material purposes,” said Adams. “Today we're selling them in order to help with flood control.” Customers who want sandbags to keep their homes or workplaces from flooding can purchase them from Steffey & Findlay, at 177 S. Burhans Blvd.

GOLF Hole-in-one Danny Harrison aced Black Rock's 105-yard second hole using a sand wedge. The shot was witnessed by Jim Powell and Randy Bradley. BRIEF Shepherd Military Appreciation Day The Shepherd University-Shippensburg football game Saturday at Ram Stadium has been designated as Military Appreciation Day. Active military with identification, and prior service personnel with proof of service, will be admitted free.

An overturned dump truck scattered its load of sand across Black Gap Road near Chambersburg, Pa., Wednesday afternoon. The truck was traveling north when it became involved in a crash with a southbound Nissan Sentra, Fayetteville Volunteer Fire Co. Deputy Chief Curtis Bryan said. There were three people in the Sentra, two of whom got out unaided, but the driver had to be freed from the wreckage and was flown out by helicopter with what Bryan described a moderate injuries.

WILLIAMSPORT ? While the Atlantic Ocean is several hundred miles from Washington County, some of the residents of the Williamsport Retirement Village recently got a little bit closer. A Day at the Beach activity brought residents, staff and volunteers in close proximity of sand, shells and other beach items right in Williamsport. The event attracted more than 30 staff members and volunteers along with about 70 residents.

EMMITSBURG, Md. - Commemorating the 27th annual United Nations' International Day of Peace, students at Mother Seton School in Emmitsburg cooperatively created a peace mandala titled "Sand 'Safeguard Creation' Mandala" on Sept. 21. The schoolwide project, led by art teacher Karolyne Myers, focused on expressing the students' desire to be peacemakers in a global world and their own environmental responsibility. Older students approached the mandala with their younger prayer partners and the students added sand together to complete the finished picture.

The Hagerstown Suns on Tuesday announced their coaching staff for the 2007 season. The Suns manager will be Tommy Herr, a lifelong resident of Lancaster, Pa. Herr spent the past two seasons managing the Lancaster Barnstormers of the independent Atlantic League, leading them to the 2006 championship. Prior to his stay in Lancaster, Herr spent 12 years as an assistant coach of Hempfield High in Landisville, Pa., his alma mater. Herr enjoyed a 13-year career in major league baseball.

A Pennsylvania lake closed to swimming amid a summertime E. coli outbreak will be open for all activities in 2012, according to a Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources spokesman. Routine E. coli testing at Cowans Gap State Park has resumed, after a period of intensified testing for the source of bacteria that the Pennsylvania Department of Health said sickened at least 18 people. "There will be no (additional) dredging or removing (samples) from sand," said Terry Brady, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

My mother made me a journalist. And a musician, an artist, a poet and a playwright. I realized this recently while taking in an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. - “The Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design, 1848 to 1900.” My mother, Rosemary Bacon, grew up in a small town in Michigan, the youngest child of four by eight years and hugely creative. She studied piano and played the organ at her church. She drew. She sang. After high school, she went to Taylor University in Indiana and took art and music classes.

charlestown@herald-mail.com SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - During an afternoon ceremony Tuesday, a reading room in Shepherd University's Ruth Scarborough Library was transformed into a rare public display of the traditions of Tibet. The attraction was a group of monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery in Karnataka, India. Participating in a tour as a way to spread world peace, the monks have engaged in past high-profile performances by performing with singers Paul Simon and Natalie Merchant.