World

The City of Hagerstown and Bikes for the World are holding a bike collection Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the city's public works building at 51 W. Memorial Blvd. The collection will be in the parking lot at the corner of South Potomac Street and Memorial Boulevard. Bikes for the World is a nonprofit organization that sends bicycles to developing countries. From January 2005 to December 2008, the group donated 31,000 bicycles to developing countries. The city will hold a second collection Nov. 6 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the same spot.

Louise Wine runs laps Friday on the indoor track at Hagerstown Community College's Athletic, Recreation and Community Center.

Michael Moser and April Ceravalo-Moser of Boonsboro announce the birth of their second daughter, Abigayle Grace Ceravalo-Moser, Dec. 15, 2006. Maternal grandparents are Nancy Ceravalo of Keedysville and the late Victor Ceravalo. Paternal grandparents are Marlene and Elbert Moser.

"Her own world"

HAGERSTOWN -- The Bridge of Life Church in downtown Hagerstown hosted the Touch Your World conference Friday through Sunday, which featured missionaries from around the world, including Romania, Zimbabwe, the Philippines, Ecuador and the United States. Sunday's events featured a procession of flags, speakers, a buffet lunch and a missions fair. For more information, to to www.bridgeoflife.org.

OK, so the end of the world didn't happen. Hmm. Time to regroup. Now what? 1. I guess I have to keep being a nice guy. I have a fantasy of being Bill Murray's character in “Scrooged” for like a week ... 2. I suppose I won't give a dirty look to the woman who just butted in front of me in line at the post office. 3. Figure out how to pay for that 90-inch plasma TV and gold-plated toilet I just purchased on QVC using an 18.9 percent interest-rate credit card I thought I would never have to pay. 4. Take back my generators and 16 packs of “D” batteries.

I would personally like to thank National Geographic for abandoning its mission of education, science and natural beauty long enough to bring us a television show chronicling the activities of a handful of certifiable wackos. This would be the community known as “preppers,” people who believe the world is going to end, or at least partially end, and want to be able to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Before I offend (and you know it's coming) any of these preppers, especially the ones with guns - which is pretty much all of them - I should mention that I'm not too far from going over to the dark side myself.

Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you that sports dominates my life. Some people think this is a negative (see my wife, Julie), but I believe this is a positive. I know that my background in sports has helped me in the business world, and I believe participation in sports can only enhance your resume when you are ready to enter the working world. One attribute that sports helps teach is teamwork. To be successful, you will need to work with your teammates. Teammates that get along with each other tend to play better together.

With the number of World War II veterans dying at the rate of more than 600 per day, it was a rare occasion to have two veterans of the conflict together in Chambersburg on Thursday. World War II veteran and best-selling author of “Hell's Guest,” Col. Glenn Frazier, 89, was the guest speaker at the Rotary Club meeting at The Orchards Restaurant. He shared his experiences of fighting a losing effort to save the Philippine Island of Luzon from the Japanese to the infamous six-day Bataan Death March and three years of torture in Japanese prisoner of war camps.

Retired World Bank administrator Anne B. Thomas will be the guest speaker at the League of Women Voters annual meeting Tuesday, May 21, at 7:30 p.m. at Otterbein United Methodist Church on the corner of East Franklin and Locust streets in Hagerstown. The event is open to the public and there is no charge. Thomas has worked as a civil rights attorney with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington D.C., and at the University of New Mexico, after her first job out of law school as a Landman for ARCO in Colorado.

Jessica Andrews and Paul Whitmore II of Harpers Ferry, W.Va., announce the birth of a daughter, Chloe Lynn Whitmore , April 13, 2013. Maternal grandparents are the late Linda Andrews and Timothy Andrews. Paternal grandparents are Paul Whitmore and Kathy Moats of Harpers Ferry, W.Va. Maternal great-grandparents are the late Earl and Doris Hohl. Paternal great-grandparents are the late Alvin and Delores Manuel. Ashley Nicole and Christopher Michael Croson of Kearneysville, W.Va., announce the birth of a son, Anthony Maddox , April 19, 2913.

Wilson College will observe World Labyrinth Day on Saturday by creating a temporary labyrinth on the campus green and hosting activities. Those who walk the labyrinth are said to “find” themselves rather than getting lost, as they might in a maze, according to a news release about the labyrinth. The event is free and open to the public. At 11 a.m. in Warfield Hall's Allen Auditorium, the Rev. Margee Iddings will present “Preparing to Walk a Labyrinth,” where participants can learn more about this ancient practice before experiencing it themselves.

Sandra Volneck has faced many challenges over the years, but the hardest thing she ever had to do was look at her 15-year-old daughter's battered, lifeless body before closing the casket and burying her. “I wouldn't wish that on nobody. I'll never get over it,” Volneck said last week. “Never.” Twenty-nine years later and recovering from surgery for lung cancer, Volneck still does not know who killed her only child. Maryland State Police recovered Lorraine “Lori” Zimmerman's body from a wooded area outside Boonsboro in April 1984.

The term “globalization,” as it is currently understood, has not been around all that long. Today, we don't flinch if our X-rays are read, real time, by a doctor in India. But a decade ago it would have been the stuff of fiction. It is fitting in several ways that Japanese language teacher Ayako Shiga was named Washington County Teacher of the Year for 2013-14. The Boonsboro teacher was honored Wednesday during a ceremony at Fountain Head Country Club before an audience of 170 people.

John Leather wears earplugs to church, but it's not the sermon that the 88-year-old World War II veteran is trying to muffle. He said he wears the earplugs to drown out the rumble of a drum that's played when the congregation sings hymns. “I've had to leave the service a couple of times,” Leather said with a shiver. “It reminds me of artillery coming in.” Nearly 70 years ago, Leather was a sergeant in the 17th Airborne Division, a unit of paratroopers and glider soldiers who saw some of World War II's most ferocious fighting during the Battle of the Bulge and Operation Varsity.