West Virginia

A West Virginia woman died after the vehicle she was riding in crashed Wednesday on Apple Harvest Drive (W.Va. 45) southwest of Martinsburg, according to West Virginia State Police. The woman's name was not immediately released pending notification of next of kin, troopers said. The crash in the 8700 block of Apple Harvest Drive near Loop Road was reported at 5:11 p.m., a Berkeley County emergency communications supervisor said. The woman was thrown from the vehicle, troopers said.

Man pleads guilty to sale of a firearm to a prohibited person MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A Sharpsburg man entered a plea of guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Martinsburg before Magistrate Judge David J. Joel, according to U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld II. Wilbur Slick, 60, pleaded guilty to sale of a firearm to a prohibited person in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., Ihlenfeld said in a news release. Slick, who is out on bond pending sentencing, faces up to 10 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

U.S. marshals Thursday captured a man in Charles Town who was wanted in an armed home invasion in Pennsylvania, the U.S. Marshals Service said. Authorities learned that Andrew Baumgartner, 25, was at a house on Jefferson Terrace when they received a tip from another U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force in Harrisburg, Pa., according to a news release from the Mountain State Fugitive Task Force. Baumgartner was wanted by Susquehanna Township Police on charges stemming from his alleged involvement in an armed home-invasion robbery in Dauphin County, Pa., the release said.

The Hagerstown Suns were stuck in suspended animation. The Suns didn't move a muscle to score three runs against the West Virginia Power on Friday. But then, again, Hagerstown's offense barely twitched once it fell behind. West Virginia's pitching issued 10 walks, but only surrendered two hits, as it somehow rendered the Suns' offense powerless in a 5-3 victory before 733 fans at Municipal Stadium. If the game was a work of art, sculpting would have been the most effective medium.

The following state Legislature candidates in the Eastern Panhandle were running uncontested in Tuesday's West Virginia primary: State Senate District 15 Craig Blair, Republican District 16 Herb Snyder (incumbent), Democrat District 16 Jim Ruland, Republican State House of Delegates District 58 Daryl Cowles (incumbent), Republican District 59 Larry Kump (incumbent), Republican District 61 Jason Barrett, Democrat District 61 Walter Duke (incumbent)

Since 2010, when Frontier Communications assumed landline phone service from Verizon, about 96 percent of West Virginia households and businesses, including those in the Eastern Panhandle, have enjoyed broadband Internet access, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin said Monday. Manchin, D-W.Va., joined Frontier officials at a brief press conference at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center in Shepherdstown to explain how Frontier expanded broadband across the state. Paul Espinosa, area general manager for Frontier, said the company continues to bring the faster Internet service to Berkeley County areas that previously lacked it. It is now available in Martinsburg on Rock Cliff Drive, Tavern Road, Gloucester Drive, Harris Way, Artisan Way and neighboring areas, he said.

The Heart Link Women's Network, winner of the Women Entrepreneur Business Award of Excellence in 2010 and 2011, recently opened a networking location in Martinsburg. Regina Terry-Jackson, an independent associate with LegalShield, creates an environment where professionals can connect, help one another grow, expand their circle of influence and market their business in a fun, effective way. The Heart Link Women's Network is an organization that was developed specifically for women, based on the female endocrine system.

A Berkeley Springs man serving a 321-year prison sentence following a 1993 crime rampage that included the rapes of two West Virginia women has confessed to strangling a Berkeley Springs woman in 1982 and putting her body in the Potomac River near Berkeley Springs, officials with the Morgan County Sheriff's Office said Thursday. Randy McBee confessed to the strangulation of Ginger Holly Gregg, who was 20 years old at the time, during an interview Tuesday with Lt. Tim Stapleton of the sheriff's office at the Mount Olive Correctional Complex, according to a sheriff's office news release.

The Rev. Dr. Edgar N. Howell, “Doc,” 84, of Middletown, Md., passed away peacefully in his sleep on Saturday, May 18, 2013. He rejoined his wife of 51 years, Catherine Patrice “Pat” Howell, who preceded him in death in 2009. Born Dec. 5, 1928, in Sayville, N.Y., he was the son of Edgar Sidney and Marie Magdeline (Finkelmeier) Howell. He graduated from Regis High School in New York City in 1946. He earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry and Latin from Spring Hill College in Alabama.

Authorities are investigating incidents at two cemeteries in Martinsburg, where approximately 50 to 60 crypts have been tampered with, according to a news release from the West Virginia State Police. According to the release, Trooper 1st Class R.D. Eshbaugh on Tuesday responded to the Pleasant View Cemetery on Charles Town Road, where a caretaker at the facility noted damage to the mausoleum buildings on the south side of the property. Further investigation revealed approximately 50 crypts between two buildings had been tampered with, according to the release.

There were some proud moments at Town Hall on Friday morning for the ladies of the Tuesday Craft Group as they showed off the big signature quilt they made for the town's 250th anniversary in 2012. The 5-by-8-foot textile hangs in an environmentally protected case on a first-floor wall of Town Hall, a temporary home until it moves to a permanent home if a new town library is ever built, according to anniversary officials. The “nondenominational” craft group meets Tuesdays at Trinity Episcopal Church.

Where one business has closed, another has opened. Scott Electric, a large wholesale electrical distributor and supply business based in Greensburg, Pa., opened a Hagerstown branch in the 18043 Oak Ridge Drive building long used by Flameless Heating Supply Inc. Scott, which was a supplier for Flameless until it closed last fall, now has five employees working out of the Hagerstown facility and wants to hire three more, said John Forish, general...

A Martinsburg man was apprehended Saturday morning following an eight-hour standoff with police, according to a Martinsburg Police Department news release. Terry Lee Mason, 25, of 116 Wilt Drive, is charged with wanton endangerment and felon in possession of a firearm through Berkeley County Magistrate Court, according to the release. The incident began Saturday at about 1:30 a.m., when the Martinsburg Police Department responded to The Dirty Dawg Saloon at 1017 S. Queen St. in Martinsburg for a report of shots fired.

Civil War cannons that occupied Doubleday Hill in Williamsport from the late 1800s until they were removed in 2000 returned to their home during a ceremony Saturday. Williamsport Town Councilman Scott Bragunier coordinated the historic project, through which the cannons were sent away to Kentucky firm Steen Cannons for restoration. Bragunier said in 1896, U.S. Sen. Louis E. McComas donated the tubes that had been stockpiled following the war. The town of Williamsport mounted the tubes on bricks and dedicated them on Doubleday Hill on July 4, 1897.

Clarence "Tommy" F. Grams, 80, of Frederick, Md., passed away Tuesday, April 30, 2013, at Frederick Memorial Hospital. He was the husband of Valeria Grams. Born Sept. 3, 1932 in Washington County, Md., he was the son of the late Thomas Franklin and Madeline Springer Grams. Mr. Grams was a graduate of Middletown High School. He proudly served his country in the U.S. Army. Tommy enjoyed baseball, traveling, gospel and bluegrass music. He sang in the Parkway Church of God choir, and was active in scouting Troop 274. He worked at American Optical, Roterex, Airpax, and the Frederick board of education.

Wade Delaney Davis Jr., 49, of Greencastle, Pa., died Wednesday, April 24, 2013, at Waynesboro (Pa.) Hospital. Born June 21, 1963, in Alexandria, Va., he was the son of the late Wade D. Sr. and Sylvia Davis. Wade was a graduate of T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria. He worked as a landscaper for Landscapes by Wade. Wade loved all types of sports, but held a huge passion for the Redskins. He will be remembered as a great cook who loved to prepare meals for his family, as well as an outdoorsman who loved sightseeing and going to the beach.

Since I've been writing this column - more than two years now - I've wanted to write about West Virginia. You see, as much as I love Maryland and the Hagerstown/Washington County area, I'm still a West Virginian at heart. I was born and reared in Summers County, educated in West Virginia public schools and flunked out of my first college at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va. I entered the military and my permanent home address was in West Virginia until I left active service in 1972.