Warfordsburg

A fire Tuesday night destroyed a 71-year-old farmhouse at 340 Cove View Lane, fire officials said. Needmore, Pa., firefighter Robert Fleegle said heavy smoke was coming from all sides of the two-story oak house when he arrived at 9:15 p.m. The Needmore Fire Department called for additional tankers and manpower, bringing firefighters from six counties in three states. A woman was treated at War Memorial Hospital in Morgan County, W.Va., for smoke inhalation. Resident Mark Palmer said his grandfather built the house around 1939.

WARFORDSBURG, Pa. -- Grief counseling for Southern Fulton Junior/Senior High school students continued Tuesday, the day after two of their fellow students died in an automobile accident. Sophomore Destiny Knable, 15, and senior Matt Weller, 17, died Monday morning when the 1997 Saturn in which they were riding on U.S. 522 near White Oak Hollow Road went off the road and struck a utility pole and a tree, according to school officials and Pennsylvania State Police. A counselor with Adams-Hanover Counseling Services, who would not give her name, said the students were expressing their grief through music, by writing messages on a banner and by crying.

Vearl D. Fletcher, 80, of Warfordsburg, Pa., died Friday, Dec. 18, 2009, at his residence. Visitation will be Tuesday one hour prior to the service at Pleasant Grove Christian Church, Warfordsburg. The service will be Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the church. Arrangements are by Howard L. Sipes Funeral Home Inc., McConnellsburg, Pa.

A court schedule has been set up for the case of Robert G. Bard, a Warfordsburg, Pa., financial adviser accused of bilking investors. An order signed this month by U.S. District Judge William W. Caldwell in Harrisburg, Pa., put the case on the January 2011 trial list, according to a court docket. Amended pleadings are due by March 1, 2010. Other deadlines throughout 2010 also have been set. Previously, an order by Caldwell continued a freeze on assets of Bard and his firm, Vision Specialist Group LLC. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Bard of squandering clients' money in risky investments and creating false statements to mask the true value of clients' accounts.

Catherine M. Palmer, 80, formerly of Alpine Road, Warfordsburg, Pa., died Tuesday, July 21, 2009, at Woodland Retirement Community, Orbisonia, Pa. There will be a visitation Friday from 2 to 8 p.m. at Warfordsburg (Pa.) Presbyterian Church Faith Center. The service will be Saturday at 2 p.m. at the church. Arrangements are by Howard L. Sipes Funeral Home Inc., McConnellsburg, Pa.

NOV. 18, 1913-MAY 23, 2009 WARFORDSBURG, Pa. -- Goretha "Turz" Brice, 95, of Great Cove Road, died Saturday, May 23, 2009, at Washington County Hospital in Hagerstown, Md. Born Nov. 18, 1913, in Richwood, W.Va., she was the daughter of the late Arthur and Grace Shaver Hinkle. She was preceded in death by her first husband, Robert Lewis Wheeler, who died in 1965; and her second husband, John Thomas Brice, who died in 1999. Turz was a 1932 graduate of Richwood High School.

Maryland State Police continue to conduct an internal investigation into the March 6 shooting of a Fulton County man, Sgt. Arthur Betts said Thursday afternoon. Randall Charles Sipes, 27, of Warfordsburg, Pa., was shot and killed by a trooper after he allegedly pulled a loaded handgun during a traffic stop on U.S. 40 near Indian Springs Road. The investigation should be complete in a couple of weeks, Betts said. Investigators will submit their report to the Washington County State's Attorney's Office for review, he said.

CLEAR SPRING -- Maryland State Police have identified the man who a trooper shot and killed Thursday after he allegedly pulled a loaded handgun during a traffic stop on U.S. 40 near Indian Springs Road. Randall Charles Sipes, 27, of Warfordsburg, Pa., was pronounced dead Thursday at Washington County Hospital in Hagerstown, according to a press release from the state police. Sipes name was withheld from public release until the state police could make a positive identification, MSP Sgt. Arthur Betts said Friday morning.

WARFORDSBURG, Pa. - A Warfordsburg man was seriously injured Friday morning in Fulton County when he was thrown from his motorcycle while trying to avoid hitting a pickup truck, according to a Pennsylvania State Police press release. Christopher Howard, 21, was riding a 2001 Suzuki GSX in the 3000 block of Timber Ridge Road when a Chevrolet pickup truck pulled out onto the road from a private drive, according to the release. Howard was heading north "at a high rate of speed" at 11:23 a.m. when Lee Johnson, 63, also of Warfordsburg, pulled onto the road from the east side of Timber Ridge Road, according to the release.

WARFORDSBURG, Pa. - A father and son died Saturday when a large pine tree fell on their car as they were traveling down a rural road, Pennsylvania State Police said. Carlen R. Kalbach Jr., 57, and Richard Cory Kalbach, 24, both of Warfordsburg, Pa., were killed by the falling tree about 1:15 p.m., police said. The accident occurred on Old 126, about three-quarters of a mile south of Locust Grove Road in Fulton County, Pa., police said. Richard Kalbach was driving the car, a 1999 Kia Sportage.