Shepherdstown

Donald Lee Barb, 72, of Shepherdstown, W.Va., died Monday, April 8, 2013, at Heartland of Martinsburg (W.Va.). The family will receive friends Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Eackles-Spencer & Norton Funeral Home, Harpers Ferry, W.Va.

The Shepherdstown Rotary Club recently donated $500 to the Shepherdstown Middle School band program. The funds will be used to support music clinics for students participating in the school's award-winning jazz band. The clinics, which are held monthly during the school year, bring professional jazz musicians and outside music teachers to the school to provide expert instruction in jazz technique, style, tone, rhythm and interpretation. The band's next public performance will be Monday, April 15, at the annual spring concert for all Shepherdstown Middle School band students at Jefferson High School in Shenandoah Junction, W.Va.

In an empty downtown city street, an invader peers around an office tower. The giant four-legged robot towers above a nearby car and semi, abandoned in what has become a war zone hostile to humans. The robot steps around the corner and see its enemy, another giant robot down the street. The two fire projectiles at each other in fierce combat. That's the scene in the Mech-Warfare division of ShepRobo Fest, the annual robot competition at Shepherd University. The third annual robot competition is Saturday, March 30, and Sunday, March 31, in Butcher Center on the university campus in Shepherdstown, W.Va.

The town of Shepherdstown is spending $4 million to increase the capacity, flow and pressure of its public water system by replacing two aging 500,000-gallon water tanks on W.Va. 45 about a mile from the corporate limits. The first one old tank was razed to make room for the first of two new 700,000-gallon tanks which is expected to go on line this spring, said Public Works Director Frank Welch. The remaining old tank will be razed to make room for the second new one schedule to be ready for service in September.

Worship Pastor Ginger Medley set the tone Sunday when, in her booming voice, she exclaimed, “What a mighty God we serve.” Medley stood on the side lawn of Asbury United Methodist Church surrounded by about 200 congregants and supporters ready to watch the groundbreaking for a $2.2 million addition. It will be a major expansion for the 25-year-old edifice at 4257 Kearneysville Pike. When finished in about a year, the nearly 24,000-square-foot multipurpose addition will include a gym, six classrooms, a nursery, restrooms, a commercial kitchen and a covered canopy to protect those entering the main church or the new addition, said Clark Dixon, building committee chairman.

The Shepherdstown Rotary Club recently donated $500 to the Shepherdstown Public Library. The funds will be used to help purchase a new set of children's books that will provide information about different nations around the world. The club presented a check to Hali Taylor, the library's director, at the club's March 5 weekly breakfast meeting at the Bavarian Inn in Shepherdstown. Making the presentation were Shepherdstown Rotary Club President Monica Lockett and Peter Smith, the club's vocational service committee chairman.

A Shepherdstown, W.Va., man who pleaded guilty last year to taking part in the 2010 armed robbery of Beck's Kennels in Berkeley County was placed on probation for five years Tuesday at his sentencing hearing in Berkeley County Circuit Court.   Ian Michael Derr, 23, who pleaded guilty in February 2012 to first-degree robbery and felony burglary, successfully completed a rehabilitative education-based program at the Anthony Correctional Center for...

Shepherd University President Suzanne Shipley announced the name of the new theater in the second phase of the Center for Contemporary Arts. The 180-seat theater and multipurpose venue will be called the Stanley C. and Shirley A. Marinoff Theater when it opens later this spring. The naming opportunity is in recognition of a recent legacy endowment contribution to the Shepherd University Foundation by Dr. Stanley C. Marinoff, of Shepherdstown and Chevy Chase, Md., and in memory of his late wife, Shirley.

A Pennsylvania man was being held in the Eastern Regional Jail on Friday night following his apprehension in Berkeley County, W.Va., in connection with an armed robbery at the Shepherdstown Pharmacy on Thursday morning. Joshua Armolt, 30, whose address was not available, was taken into custody at an apartment building on Holiday Road in the Swan Pond area of Berkeley County. Members of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, West Virginia State Police and U.S. Marshals were acting on a tip from Martinsburg Police when they spotted Armolt's black Pontiac Sunfire convertible parked in front of the apartment building, according to Lt. T.H. Hansen of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department.

A man pointed what appeared to be a handgun in the direction of employees at Shepherdstown Pharmacy when he robbed the business Thursday morning at 7670 Martinsburg Pike, police said. The employees were upset, but not injured in the robbery, which was reported at 10:21 a.m., Jefferson County Sheriff's Deputy Sgt. Victor Lupis said.  Police were told the white male suspect concealed his identity with a black ski mask and also was wearing glasses, Lupis said. The robber was wearing a yellow sweat shirt and blue sweat pants when he entered the business and demanded prescription drugs while brandishing the firearm, according to Lupis.