Time Limit

Editor's note: This installment of The Next Generation series is the fifth story in a six-part series about some of the people who will compete in the JFK 50 Mile ultramarathon Saturday in Washington County. HAGERSTOWN - Training for the JFK 50 Mile ultramarathon is enough to make even a seasoned runner back down. So why would Rebecca Smith, a nonrunner, want to make the endurance test her first running event? Because her older brother and older sisters have done it. And because her mother and father have walked it a few times, too. "Now, it's Becky's turn," said her mother, Merrily Smith.

Swimmers raise money for YMCA By STACEY DANZUSO / Staff Writer, Chambersburg CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - While many area residents were bundled up shoveling their driveways Sunday afternoon, others stripped down to their swimsuits for a dip in the water at the YMCA Pool Fest. "It was something fun to do for a change," said Melanie Wennick, whose husband Bob and children Adam, 10, and Chase, 8, all participated in the swim-a-thon. "We'll all compare notes later," she said, freshly changed from her dunk in the pool.

By BRYN MICKLE / Staff Writer, Martinsburg photo: RICHARD T. MEAGHER / staff photographer MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - More than 25 years after her parents opened a savings account for her, Amber Boeckman has finally gotten her piece of $65 million worth of unclaimed property in the state of West Virginia.. All $331.91 of it. West Virginia State Treasurer John D. Perdue was in Martinsburg Tuesday afternoon to pass out checks to five local residents who discovered they were entitled to some long overdue cash.

David Scott Knapp's five-year prison sentence for the 1997 robbery of a Williamsport bank will stand, despite his contention Tuesday he was denied the right to seek a modification of that term. Washington County Circuit Judge Kennedy Boone read aloud the portion of the March 1998 sentencing transcript dealing with Knapp's post-trial rights. "It says right here that you were advised that a letter to the judge would not be sufficient to request a modification," Boone said. Knapp, now 20, wrote a letter to Judge Fred Wright, well within the 90-day time limit for a modification, got no reply and then wrote another when the 90 days had passed.

A Washington County Circuit Judge Monday denied Timothy Lorne Massie's request for post-conviction relief from his 30-year prison sentence in the 1995 Valentine's Day strangulation death of his estranged wife. But Judge Kennedy Boone held off ruling on a request that the matter be sent back to Circuit Judge Frederick Wright, who sentenced Massie, for reconsideration of the sentence he imposed. That legal right wasn't sought within the legal time limit of 90 days after sentencing in October 1996.

Editor's note: Last week, The Herald-Mail profiled seven participants in the JFK 50 Mile ultramarathon held Saturday in Washington County. Here's how they fared. erinc@herald-mail.com On Saturday, Paul Betker ran 50 miles in about 10 hours and 30 minutes. On Sunday the 60-year-old walked a much shorter distance outside his Hagerstown home, making sure everything worked. "I didn't wear on my muscles too bad," he said. Aside from swollen and blistered feet, Betker also came out of Saturday's 43rd Annual JFK 50 Mile ultramarathon with his third-worst time in his 24th consecutive finish.

Have you cleaned a cupboard, your refrigerator or freezer and tried to remember when you bought the food you found buried in the back? When studying these foods you probably discovered a code or date on the package. How do you interpret this information? You are likely to find either open dating or closed, coded dating on many food products. Open dating gives an actual date. It is used primarily on perishable foods, such as meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products. These dates help the grocer determine how long to display food products for sale.  It can help you, as the consumer, to know the time limit to purchase or use the food product at its best quality.     There are three types of open dating:  A sell-by date tells the grocery store how long to display the product for sale.

andrews@herald-mail.com FAIRPLAY - A hole in one wouldn't get you far in Fairplay on Saturday. This wasn't golf - this was jousting. The best riders in the afternoon competition jabbed lances through tiny hanging rings three times out of three. As horses pounded the gravel in a fast canter, riders froze themselves high in the stirrups, keeping their lances extended and still. Jousting, the Maryland state sport, is a tradition at the Old Tilghmanton Tournament Grounds at Community Park.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Inwood, W.Va., developer Doug Bayer told the Berkeley County Commission on Thursday that he's willing to donate the land needed for a project that would help alleviate flooding in the southern county community of Inwood, but time is of the essence. During an appearance in commission chambers, Bayer, who said he's already spent $250,000 to develop a stormwater management pond for the 385-unit Webber Springs subdivision he is currently building, told the group he'd donate land to build a $2.3 million box culvert to help reduce problems caused by high volumes of stormwater in the area, but there was soon coming a time beyond which he couldn't wait for the project to be completed.

Mark down these four dates on your calendar - Aug. 16-17 and Oct. 18-19. Starting at 7 p.m. each night, there will be a local candidates forum at Kepler Theater at Hagerstown Community College. For those of you who can't make it to the theater, don't worry - it also will be broadcast live by Antietam Cable. There also will be complete coverage in the next day's Herald-Mail newspapers, as well as on our Web site at www.herald-mail.com . For the first time in recent memory, the League of Women Voters of Washington County, Hagerstown Community College, Antietam Cable and The Herald-Mail Co. will join forces to present the candidates forums.