Sharpsburg

By BRENDAN KIRBY Staff Writer SHARPSBURG - Back on the job for nearly two months, the chief of Sharpsburg volunteer ambulance company is approaching a massive reorganization as if he is starting a new service. The Sharpsburg Area Emergency Medical Services Inc. still is on probation, but Larry Myers said he hopes new bylaws, new officers and help from the Washington County Volunteer Fire & Rescue Association will put the company back on track. It has been a tumultuous year for the service, marked by infighting and staffing shortages.

On that terrible September day 150 years ago on farm fields near Sharpsburg, crowds of men marched and milled, advanced and retreated. Many lived, but many died. There was some order, but plenty of chaos. This weekend, we remember the 23,000 dead, injured and missing that resulted from the Battle of Antietam, known to Southerners as the Battle of Sharpsburg. Venues and festivals around Sharpsburg will host hundreds of events big and small this weekend to commemorate the Battle of Antietam and its impact on the local and on the United States.

A Sharpsburg teenager has been charged as an adult with negligent vehicular manslaughter in the December 2010 death of another teen in a single-vehicle crash. The Washington County State's Attorney's Office filed criminal informations on Sept. 2 against Jorden R. Cruz-Shiring, 17, of 5015 General Branch Court, for the Dec. 22 death of Reed A. Cantler, 14, also of Sharpsburg, according to Washington County Circuit Court records. In addition to the felony count of negligent manslaughter, Cruz-Shiring is charged with reckless driving, negligent driving, high risk driving by a minor holding a provisional license, driving a vehicle in excess of reasonable speed, failure to control a vehicle to avoid collision and failure to reduce speed at the crest of a grade, court records said.

By JULIE E. GREENE Staff Writer SHARPSBURG - Richard Miles Jr. is not Brad Pitt. And he wants everyone to know that. Rumors have been swirling about southern Washington County for more than a month that blond heartthrob and movie actor Pitt had moved into a house southeast of Sharpsburg. That's just not true, according to Pitt's publicist. Miles, who moved into the house in question at 3937 Mills Road on Halloween, said he has had people knocking at his door every 15 minutes since Monday looking for Pitt.

SHARPSBURG - Sharpsburg resident Bob James is tired of his sidewalk serving as a spillway for rain coming down the street. It's been that way ever since the Maryland State Highway Administration redesigned Main Street in 1997. On Monday night James asked Town Council members for their support as he and his wife prepare to meet on Monday with a highway official about the problem. The couple will ask to be reimbursed for flooding and mud damage to their furnace and summer furniture, which were in the basement.

Fire officials said they were waiting for the medical examiner's office in Baltimore to determine the identity of a person whose body was found Monday morning in the charred remains of a mobile home near Sharpsburg. Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office spokesman Bruce Bouch said Monday afternoon that investigators weren't able to determine the name or gender of the person found in the debris at 1807 Back Road. “The body has been collected for an autopsy,” Bouch said. “At this point, we're waiting ... to determine the cause of death.” He said he believed the autopsy would be conducted Tuesday.

A Sharpsburg tradition for 140 years, the Memorial Day Parade draws people from near and far to line porches and lawns along Main Street. Held the Saturday before Memorial Day, the parade is preceded by a wreath-laying ceremony at Town Square, a ceremony at Antietam National Cemetery and the Rohrersville Band playing in Town Square. The next parade will be held May 26, 2007.

The Sharpsburg Historical Society invites the public to a program at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 12, at the Mumma Farm Education Center at Antietam National Battlefield. The guest speaker will be Dean Herrin, National Park Service coordinator, Catoctin Center for Regional Studies in Frederick, Md. Herrin will speak on the history of the Tolson Chapel in Sharpsburg, which dates to 1866, and briefly housed a Freedmen's Bureau School in the late 1860s. The program will be followed by a business meeting.

By JULIE E. GREENE Staff Writer SHARPSBURG - Sharpsburg Town Councilwoman Denise Troxell was in stable condition Thursday in a Pittsburgh hospital recovering from a double lung transplant she had on Tuesday, according to a family member. Troxell, 42, of 114 S. Mechanic St., was flown to Pittsburgh University Medical Center on Monday night for the transplant, said Kathie Rigolage, Troxell's sister. Troxell has had a pilot on standby in case a donor became available, she said.

It was just a few days before Confederate and Union forces would converge on the Antietam battlefield. The people near Sharpsburg could hear sounds of the battle going on at South Mountain in nearby Boonsboro. The war was close to their homes. What should they do? It is the mindset of those civilians that living historians will examine at the Antietam National Battlefield's Before the Storm program, scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 11, and Sunday, Aug. 12. The battle that erupted on those previously quiet farmlands made Sharpsburg the site of the bloodiest single day of battle in U.S. history, with about 23,000 casualties.