Small Town

HANCOCK -- Santa Claus is coming to town. But perhaps more important to Hancock residents is that activity and vitality seem to be coming, too. People who live in Hancock and the surrounding area sent a clear message Saturday morning that they are ready for all of the above. Hancock Town Councilman Tim Smith is president of Hancock in Motion, a nonprofit organization sanctioned under the town to bring people and events to Hancock. "We want people to know this small town has a lot to offer," Smith said.

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. - Michael Dougherty, a West Virginia University extension agent whose expertise is in financial planning, met Tuesday night with Town of Bath residents. Dougherty met with town businesses earlier Tuesday. Eighteen people attended the town meeting, which Dougherty called a "Berkeley Springs Forum. " Mayor Susan Webster and council members David Crosby, Dave Hall and Irene Hedrick attended. Dougherty told the audience that the town meeting was to find ways for the town to direct its resources to make the town more efficient and more effective and find ways to increase revenues.

The Small Town America Tour, which was scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 16, at Springfield Barn in Williamsport has been canceled, according to event officials. The event was to feature Seven Day Slumber, Cory Lamb and Southbound Fearing. For more information, call 301-223-4070.

Kellie Pickler, 22, may not have won season five of "American Idol," but it doesn't seem to have hurt her career. The "Idol" top 12 finalist is now an award-winning country singer-songwriter. "Growing up, I had been a big dreamer. Never in a million years did I think that everything would happen as quickly as it did," she said during a telephone interview. Pickler tried out for "American Idol" at the age of 19 in North Carolina. "I was encouraged by different family members to try out and I was also following in the footsteps of Dolly Parton, by trying to become a country singer," she said.

BOONSBORO karenh@herald-mail.com Outside Crawford's Confectionery, a steady stream of traffic zipped through downtown Boonsboro. Near midday, the store was almost empty, but Main Street was busy. New developments are bringing change to Boonsboro, customer Neil Fales said over a cup of hot chocolate. "Well, I don't want to see it change. I like it country. I'm a mountain person," said Fales, 73, a Boonsboro High School graduate who lives south of town. For now, new growth in the areas surrounding Boonsboro is on hold, Mayor Charles "Skip" F. Kauffman said.

Beth always says it's a good thing she didn't have children given the inordinate amount of attention she showers on mere animals. My idea is that the animals are often more worthy of care, but that is another matter. So when the SUV she calls Big Red was in the middle of tipping over on a steep hill last week, her first thought was not for her own health and safety, but for her dogs, which were on the way to the groomer's. The bouvier de Flanders named Opie, as has been documented in past columns, has a soulful howl/moan (Opie's Opera, they call it at the vet's)

The closing of post offices and an increase to the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fee were some of the topics that were discussed during a small town forum Thursday at Hager Hall in Hagerstown. Dozens of officials from small towns across the state attended the discussion, which was one of many that will be held for the rest of this week in the city as the Maryland Municipal League holds its annual fall conference. Maryland Municipal League President Judith Davis said the primary focus of the event is for league members to discover their legislative priorities and vote on them as a body.

A strategic plan commissioned for the Hagerstown-Washington County Economic Development Commission suggests a greater effort to market the small towns and rural areas of the county, an idea Hancock Mayor Daniel A. Murphy welcomes. “I certainly would agree. They need to become familiar with us on the fringes of the county,” Murphy said recently. “It's not the Hagerstown Economic Development Commission.” Communication between the county and Hancock has improved in recent years, but Murphy said he could remember a time not so long ago when it seemed that the town at the western edge of the county was mostly forgotten.

Click here to read a serial novel published each week thorough November.

marlob@herald-mail.com Town Manager Larry Logan described Saturday's holiday festivities this way - "It's just a small, simple tree for a small, simple town. " Still, more than 50 citizens of that small, simple town in far western Washington County turned out at the Hancock Community Center for the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony which featured music, cookies, a dash of patriotism, a Christmas story and the arrival of Santa Claus. The 15-foot evergreen tree was planted at the edge of the center property about five years ago. For the past four years, the Interfaith Service Coalition has sponsored the event while the Hancock Chamber of Commerce contributed an assortment of cookies and other goodies.