Sled

WAYNESBORO, PA. - Amanda K. Bowders was remembered Thursday as a sweet-spirited young woman whose smile could "light up a room. " The 19-year-old Waynesboro resident died Wednesday night as the result of a sledding accident at Hooverville Elementary School on Pa. 16 east of town. Emergency workers who responded to the call at 9:34 p.m. said they found Bowders unconscious after her sled hit a pole that supports playground equipment. Washington Township police provided first aid until emergency medical technicians arrived and took Bowders to Waynesboro Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 10:09 p.m. An autopsy will be performed today at Lehigh Valley Medical Center in Allentown, Pa., Franklin County Coroner Jeffrey R. Conner said.

Whether it's tractors or pickups, the pulling season has begun. There will be two truck and tractor pulls this Saturday in the Tri-State area. The Olden Pulling Team is hosting its Truck & Tractor Pull at Washington County Agricultural Education Center starting at 7 p.m. Mountain State Pullers Association will host the first of five truck and tractor pulls this season at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds at 6 p.m. The Washington County pull will raise money for local organizations, including Rohrersville Ruritan and Hagerstown Community College's girls softball team, said event spokeswoman Destinee Olden.

SHARPSBURG tarar@herald-mail.com Souped up pickup trucks with names like "Bow Tie Beast" and "Protest This" pulled on to a scale to be weighed for competition. Elsewhere around the track, male and female participants sat up high on their farm tractors, waiting for crews to prepare the moist dirt strip for the event. Hundreds of fans packed bleachers, sat in lawn chairs and stood to see which vehicle could top the next in might. Wednesday night was tractor and truck pull time in Washington County.

Shayna Earley, 10, of Hagerstown, is pulled down the sidewalk along Memorial Boulevard by her neighbor's dog, Coco, a husky mix, as snow falls Thursday afternoon.

tarar@herald-mail.com SHARPSBURG - The strategy was simple enough Saturday for four Boy Scouts from Greencastle, Pa. They would line up in a row with each foot placed on slabs of wood resembling walking sleds, use ropes to hoist the wood and then try to go a short distance without their feet touching the ground. "Left up! Right up!" Adam Stouffer, 15, shouted to his teammates lined up behind him on the same two pieces of wood. Tim Bair, 15, said Saturday was the team's first "walking sled" attempt at this year's Winter Camporee at the Washington County Agricultural Education Center.

tammyb@herald-mail.com SHARPSBURG - It's a heavy burden, but a horde of folks young and old were ready Saturday to shoulder it. Or pull it, as it were. And really, what's a farm fair without a tractor pull - or two or three? It was midafternoon when the first batch of drivers gathered for the garden tractor pull at the 24th annual Washington County Ag Expo. Would-be spectators drifted into the stands at the Washington County Agricultural Education Center even though the sky looked like slate and a little blond-haired girl, pointing northwest, declared she'd seen lightning.

HAGERSTOWN julieg@herald-mail.com Standing along the short chain-link fence separating spectators from the track at Mason-Dixon Dragway, the sound was loud enough to make people feel their eardrums vibrating. Noise. That's what brought some of the spectators as well as the drivers to Saturday's tractor pull held by the Washington County Tractor Pullers Club. The dragway is along U.S. 40 east of Hagerstown. Thousands of people attended the tractor pull with many bringing their own seats - lawn chairs or pickup beds, and some brought ear muffs.

bonnieb@herald-mail.com WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Small white kites dotted the sky over the brilliantly green meadow at Renfrew Park Saturday afternoon. A child held the string of each kite, either admiring its flight or running with it to send it aloft. A hawk flew over, as though checking out the competition in his territory. There wasn't a lot of wind, but the light sled kites don't need much, and they flew well. Interspersed among the small kites were a few large, colorful kites flown by adult kite fanciers All were enjoying the perfect spring day at the 11th Annual Spring Fun Fly at the park in Waynesboro.

charlestown@herald-mail.com A 12-year-old boy was flown to Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C., and a second boy was taken to Jefferson Memorial Hospital after they collided with a car while sledding along Avon Bend Road on Thursday afternoon, a West Virginia State Police sergeant said. The boys were riding separate sleds down a driveway at a house about 1:15 p.m. when they traveled into the path of a Toyota Camry driven by David L. Athey, 68, Sgt. E.D. Anderson said.