Sled

The noise, which is deafening to some, doesn't bother them. They like the noise. They don't wear protective headphones or earplugs, and some of them sit pretty close to the track. The better to see the action and feel the noise -- right in the chest. They are dedicated truck- and tractor-pull fans, and their Tri-State-area opening day is Saturday with the South Berkeley Fire Department Truck and Tractor Pull. Janie Blair, 70, of Middletown, Md., has even been to the tractor-pull version of spring training -- a "test and tune" session on the Washington County Agricultural Education Center grounds in early April.

Sixteen-year-old Brittany Heller hears the roar in her ears and feels the vibration in her chest when the powerful engines throttle up. Brittany sits on the track guardrail, as close as she's permitted to get to the trucks and tractors as drivers gun the engines and try to pull a weighted sled as far as they can. She is one of thousands of people who attend tractor and truck pulls in the Tri-State area. The season began in April and several pulling events are coming up in the Tri-State area starting this weekend.

Editor's note - Please be as brief as possible when calling Mail Call, The Daily Mail's reader call-in line. Mail Call is not staffed on weekends or holidays so it is best to call Mail Call during the week. The Mail Call number is 301-791-6236. You are welcome to leave a recorded message on any subject, but some calls will be screened out. Here are some of the calls we have received lately: "One would think that churches would treat their employees properly, but I found that not to be the case for all the churches in Hagers-town, at least one in particular.

Brittany Nicole Slick, 6, gives her dog, Maggie, a ride in her sled Tuesday outside her house on Clarendon Avenue in Hagerstown.

Cedar Ridge Ministries of Williamsport will hold its annual Wild and Wacky Cardboard Sled Derby at Whitetail Resort on Sunday, Feb. 24, at 2:30 p.m. Co-sponsored by Whitetail Adventure Tubing, this event is a day of competition on the tubing slopes as participants bring their own cardboard sled creations and race them down the hill. Participants can be as creative as they like in making their sled; however, the only construction materials allowed are cardboard, paint, glue and tape.

Sledding safety tips offered By BOB PARTLOW / Staff Writer, Martinsburg MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Parents and their children can take a number of steps to increase safety when kids are sledding during snowy winter weather, a Berkeley County official said Wednesday. "Not in the street - that's the biggest thing by far," said Steve Allen, director of the Berkeley County Office of Emergency Services. "There are lots of places with hills away from road surfaces or that don't discharge onto a road.

Sledding death touches many By BOB PARTLOW / Staff Writer, Martinsburg MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The families and emergency workers who had to face the death of a 5-year-old boy in a sledding accident on Needmore Loop Tuesday afternoon were dealing with the emotional aftermath of the incident Wednesday. continued Police and medical personnel who responded to the accident will have a chance to talk about their feelings in a private meeting tonight. The family of Timothy Lee Moffit of Needmore Loop has decided to have no services or visitation.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A 10-year-old girl was rescued by Martinsburg Fire Department firefighters Tuesday afternoon after reportedly crashing into a tree while sledding near Marshall Avenue, Lt. Donna Harmison said. The girl was in "good spirits" after firefighters used a 150-foot rope rigging system to bring her up in a basket Harmison said. Reported at 3:02 p.m. near East Burke Street, Harmison said firefighters employed the carriage system because of the steepness of the slope.

Among the creations was a sled with a simulated toilet mounted on it. Kenn Speaks had it rigged so he could sit on the toilet and read a version of “The White Tales” newspaper as he slid down the slope. Speaks slid off the mountain in his contraption, at one point going backward as he read his paper on the throne. The sled, among others like one carrying Hagerstown firefighters in a simulated firetruck, got a round of laughs Sunday afternoon from hundreds of spectators at Whitetail Resort.