The Phone Call I've Always Feared

Today just as I was getting ready to call it a day for work, I received a phone call - a call I've always feared receiving. "Hey, we saw someone trying to break into the house and they ran off in the direction of your house. I'm not sure if you're home or not, but get a hold of your wife and have her lock the doors."

My heart sunk.

Fortunately I was working from home today, so my wife was only a few steps away from my home office. But the first thing that came to my mind was "Oh my God, what if I wasn't here and she was home alone? What if they tried to break in and she was the only person here?"

My house is at the entrance of a dead-end lane. From the moment I received that call from my neighbor, I timed the response time of our local police department. It took 25 minutes.

I'm not writing anything negative against our local law enforcement for this response time. We live in the middle of the country. This call didn't require an urgent response because the person did run off, and no lives were in immediate danger. I feel that's an acceptable response time in this case. However, even if the response was half that time - 12 minutes - that's still an eternity, and if someone had broken into the house and was attacking my wife, there's no way that law enforcement will arrive in time to stop it.

This is why we have firearms in the home - readily accessible in case of an emergency.

Right now there are a lot of proposed laws in the Maryland legislature further restricting firearm ownership. The harsh reality of these proposed laws is that none of them will make us any safer. In fact, several of the proposed laws will actually reduce my wife's safety.

HB1261 redefines "assault weapons" to include a much larger number of rifles, prohibiting their purchase after October 1, 2020, as well as requiring registration of current "legally owned" long guns which are redefined as assault weapons. How does this make my wife less safe? The new definition is basically any semi-automatic magazine fed rifle with a single feature, such as pistol grip. Weapons with pistol grips are much easier to handle, and by restricting the types of firearms my wife can purchase in the future, the Maryland legislature is reducing her chances of survival if someone ever breaks in with the intent to do her harm. On top of it all, we have to pay a minimum $290 registration fee for firearms we already own, and can never transfer the firearms. We're now being taxed on property we purchased years ago, all in the name of "public safety".

HB0636 and SB0646 make things even more difficult for my wife by implementing intentionally vague requirements prohibiting someone from storing a firearm where an unsupervised minor could access it. The proposed law as written could theoretically result in myself and my wife being charged with a misdemeanor just for having our firearms readily accessible, even if we don't have children in the home, since a family member could bring their children to visit.

To add to the insanity, the Maryland legislature is now trying to solve problems that don't even exist.

HB0910 and SB0958 prohibit private manufacture of firearms, which is contrary to the ATF ruling that a Federal Firearms License is not required for private manufacture of firearms for personal use. Let's be honest, how many homemade firearms have you heard of being used in a crime in the news?

Then there's HB1257 which increases the cost of doing business for gun shops. This will only result in higher prices at gun stores, meaning less affordable firearms.  SB0422 will have a similar effect in that it will increase the yearly cost of possessing a conceal carry permit, taking away firearms from law abiding citizens while doing nothing to disarm the criminals carrying illegally.

Enough is enough. Our legislature needs to start focusing on real issues, instead of trying to make life more difficult for law abiding firearm owners who simply want to be able to defend themselves.

Criminals don't care about laws. They carry whatever firearm they want anyway. Maybe it's time Maryland started trusting its own residents, instead of trying to control them.

This is an opinion piece by Ken Buckler, Editor.

Reporters Need Universal Background Checks, Limits on Articles per Year

With the advent of blogging, podcasts, and social media, anyone can claim to be a journalist these days. I believe that while California's new law restricting freelance journalists to 35 stories per year is a step in the right direction, we must do more to regulate journalists, including licensing and mandatory background checks.

Firstly, we need to begin requiring universal background checks and licensing for journalists. Currently only journalists directly employed by a major news organization are subject to background checks as part of their employment. We must close the "freelancer" and "self-publishing" loophole by requiring that all journalists participate in a Federal background check program prior to publishing each and every article they write. The journalists should also be licensed as part of this program, requiring that they pay a yearly fee of at least $150 to their state government to properly register their status as a journalist. Please note that this license is only a license to practice journalism in their home state, and other states may or may not accept this license. Some states, such as Maryland, may not accept out-of-state licenses at all.

California is too generous with 35 articles per year. We must urge for national legislation restricting ALL journalists to be restricted to one article per month, unless they are willing to pay an extra $500 per year licensing fee and submit to additional background checks to be considered a professional journalist, at which point they will be allowed to write 35 articles per year, in line with the California law.

Journalists should also be restricted in what type of equipment they're allowed to use to write their articles. They should be restricted to electric or manual typewriters, as long as those typewriters cannot exceed 35 words per minute. Production of future devices which can exceed 35 wpm will be prohibited, and a $200 federal tax stamp will be required for any existing devices when they change ownership.

Steps also need to be taken to prevent "assault journalism", in which a journalist uses not only written words, but photos, videos, or sound. "Assault journalism" should be banned outright, and any journalist found using such techniques be permanently prohibited from ever writing an article again.

Finally, journalists can be extremely dangerous, possibly writing articles which may encourage others to perform acts which are not in society's best interests. As such, journalists should be subject to laws in which a doctor, family member, or neighbor can report to police that the journalist may be writing anti-societal articles. Police can then perform a no-knock raid of the journalist's home and confiscate any and all devices used to write articles. It is possible that the journalist may resist, at which point police are fully authorized to kill the journalist.

If you're a journalist absolutely horrified by this opinion article, then do take a breath, as it is satire. These restrictions are almost identical to the ones being called for against firearm owners across the country. Perhaps now you understand how we feel.

This is an editorial by Ken Buckler, editor of WashCo Chronicle.

Tis the Season of the Scammers

Well, it's that time of year again. Only a few days into what seems like an endless week of turkey leftovers, and already we're seeing annual holiday lights, trees, decorations, and scammers. Wait, holiday scammers? Oh yes, tis the season to scam others.

It never fails, happens like clockwork every December. We see our social media accounts and sometimes even email inboxes flooded with stories about some poor family who's hard on their luck "lost everything" and need help with utility bills, or thy're facing eviction, or (when they really want to tug on your heart strings) just want to provide for their kids for Christmas.

And heaven forbid if you question their story! Not only will you be attacked by the person who posted it for being "heartless", but others will also join in on telling you how terrible a person you are for wanting to make sure the circumstances are legitimate before helping.

However, despite the public lashing, people eventually poke enough holes in the story that it resembles a piece of Swiss cheese, and people finally realize it's a scam after they've already donated money or items. And before you ask, no, donating items is not any protection from being scammed, because the person will turn right around and list those donated items on the Facebook marketplace or craigslist, and turn your donations into cash. And of course, those who defended the scammer quietly sit back silent, refusing to acknowledge that they just enabled a scammer to turn a profit from gullible people with good intentions.

So the next time you have an urge to help one of these "people in need", instead make a donation to one of these organizations, and direct them there for further assistance. One of the tell tale signs of a scam is when you start hearing a sob story about how these organizations couldn't help them.

The below contact information is for the Hagerstown area, so if you're outside of Hagerstown you may need to do a little additional research.

The Salvation Army - According to their website, the Salvation Army will not only help with food, clothing, and utility bills, but also have the Angel Tree program, in which Christmas gifts are provided for children in need.  Donation Link

The Salvation Army
541 George St.
Hagerstown, MD 21740-0747
Phone: (301) 733-2440

Horizon Goodwill - One of the common themes in many of the scams we see around the holidays is that someone lost their job. Fortunately, Horizon Goodwill has a Job Training Program which can help people get back on their feet quickly.  Donation Link

14515 Pennsylvania Avenue,
Hagerstown, MD 21742
Phone: (301) 733-7330
Website:
https://horizongoodwill.org/job-training/job-training-programs-services/

Your Local Church(es) - Many local churches and church associations also have programs for helping people in need year-round, but especially during the holidays. The Hagerstown Area Religious Council is probably a good starting point to connect you (and the "person in need") with help.   Donation Link

Hagerstown Area Religious Council
P.O. Box 1158
Hagerstown, MD 21741 USA
301-842-HARC
Website:
https://harccoalition.org/



Now, if you'd like to help spread this message, here's a standard reply you can copy and paste to any post or email requesting help for the holidays. Don't worry about offending people - those who are truly in need will be grateful that you've connected them with the resources they need. Most people who have genuinely fell on hard times through no fault of their own are looking for a hand-up, not a hand-out.

Unfortunately the holiday season is filled with scammers preying upon those of us with good intentions who genuinely want to help others. Since it's impossible to truly tell if someone is scamming or not, the best thing to do is donate to a local organization that helps people in need, then direct those people in need to those local organizations. Here's a link with some great resources for people to donate, as well as contact information for those in need to obtain those resources. This is a much safer alternative for everyone in order to avoid scams. http://www.washcochronicle.com/2019/12/tis-season-of-scammers.html

That's it! Just copy and paste the above, and you're all set. Then go to one of the above donation links, and if you can afford to do so, spread some holiday cheer to one of those organizations. By connecting people with the resources they need and educating others, when can fight back against the holiday scammers and hopefully help prevent others from falling victim.

Ken is the editor of the WashCo Chronicle.

The Harsh Reality of Beto's Gun Ban Impending Death Toll

Last night during the Democrat Presidential debates, Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) stated that he will ban AR-15 and AK47s, requiring that these firearms be sold back to the government. With over 15 million AR-15s in the United States, that's going to be a serious problem.

First, let's do the math on this. Typically an AR-15 cost anywhere between $500 to $1,000. After accessories, this could be well over $2,000 or beyond. If someone spent $1,000 on a firearm, they are not going to willingly sell it back to the government for less than $500, even under threat of imprisonment.  So what would be the minimum cost of such a mandatory buyback program?

Completely disregarding any associated marketing costs, overtime costs, processing costs, or any other cost - the cost for the Federal government to purchase every single AR-15 in the United States is $7.5 billion.

Of course, that's assuming Americans comply. New Zealand's banning of semi-automatic rifles has resulted in only a small fraction of the privately owned rifles being turned in.

And of course, it's easy for O'Rourke to campaign for taking these rifles from the law abiding owners because he doesn't have to be the one to actually take the rifle.

Instead, it would be law enforcement officers putting their lives on the line, conducting no-knock raids to confiscate rifles from owners who refuse to give them up. The end result? People are going to die. Either the firearm owners themselves, or law enforcement officers who have been instructed to confiscate the weapons - people who otherwise would be law abiding citizens will become felons because of something they lawfully acquired. If only 10% of AR-15 owners resist confiscation, that's approximately 750,000 to 1.5 million people who may lose their lives. Is confiscating firearms from otherwise law-abiding citizens truly worth that potential death toll?

There's an excellent editorial in the Washington Post titled "Don't support laws you are not willing to kill to enforce". Make no mistake, when Beto O'Rourke says that he's "gonna take your AR-15", he's willing to have you and every other gun owner in the country killed in the process.

Ken is the editor of WashCo Chronicle.

Letter to Editor - Humane Society Lack of Communication

The following is a letter to the editor by Jessica M. The WashCo Chronicle and its editor are not responsible for its content. If you would like to contribute to the WashCo Chronicle, please contact on the Facebook Page.

I wanted to relay my experience with the Washington County Humane Society in the hopes that maybe it will reach someone that can make a change. My intention is not to deter people from adopting but to be cautious and to set expectations for what you can expect to deal with in some cases. I had a friend pass away at a very young age that left behind two pets (cat and a dog). Unbeknownst to any friends the family surrendered them to WCHS, which I cannot fault them for in the wake of the tragedy they experienced. We did not find out about the passing until the animals were gone. I made a call to WCHS to check if the animals were there. I was advised that they were after I explained the situation. I was advised that my name and number were taken down and that I would be contacted right away as soon as they became available. They were going through the initial screening process. I was going to be taking the cat. The same was told to another friend that was adopting the dog.

I waited for them to call, not wanting to interfere with any processes or contribute to what is I am sure is already a heavy workload. The friend that was to adopt the dog messaged me very upset, and stated that the dog was up for adoption on the site. I contacted the WCHS and explained the situation to the front desk and then transferred to the customer service manager who stated that they did indeed have notes that we were to be contacted and apologized for the inconvenience. I was also informed that they had already adopted the cat to someone else without calling me as promised. I was absolutely heartbroken as was my family who were waiting for Willow to come home. They apologized again and advised they would immediately hang up with me and contact the person who was listed for the dog.

They did contact the friend that was listed for the dog and apologized and she advised them she would be in as soon as her husband got off of work and she was off as well. They got there and immediately experienced rudeness from the employees as well as being told that the dog was “mean”, and as they did not know that she knew the person that had passed gave gross inaccuracies regarding the passing of the person that previously owned the dog. She brought her dog to meet the dog as well as her son and husband and they did wonderfully together. He took to them right away. She wanted to go ahead and take him but was told that there were no more appointments for same day adoption that evening. She said that was fine and she would come back tomorrow. She was callously told that they could not hold him and that he may not be there when she returned. She explained the situation and offered to leave a deposit or fill out the application while there and was told she would not be able to do that, and told to come back and if he was there that she could get him.

I am appalled at the lack of any type of communication and rudeness of employees at this organization. They took much more from me than an animal and made a time that was extremely difficult for many people even worse. I have always dealt with Cumberland Valley and have never been treated in such a manner. This has been a devastating experience for all involved. There is nothing in the world that can now make this situation right but again I have high hopes that the right individuals will see and acknowledge this information and make whatever corrections are necessary so that something like this does not happen again. There seems to be a huge disconnect and lack of communication and information between employees and managers, as well as just a general lack of caring.

I waited to post this until the dog was able to gotten from WCHS about an hour ago .

Jessica M.

Leitersburg BBQ Festival a New Local Tradition

LEITERSBURG, MD - Today was the First Ever Leitersburg BBQ Festival, and it was a huge success. So much of a success, some vendors completely sold out of food after only a couple hours of opening!

The music was great.  The food was delicious. And best of all, the event provided a family-friendly atmosphere of games, as well as community.

This was more than just a chance to try delicious BBQ and listen to great music. This was a chance to learn about little-known small businesses in our area, as well as promote agriculture in Washington County.

The Washington County Department of Business Development was on site to promote farming in Washington County, and help encourage purchasing food from local farm markets. Educational children's activities were also provided to help them learn about farming. Everyone who stopped by received a bag of goodies, including all natural soybean oil based grill cleaner. I couldn't think of a better freebie for a BBQ festival than that.

The Washington County Fire and Rescue Association was also present to encourage volunteers to sign up. There's no better way to help serve your community than volunteer - even if you don't want to become a firefighter or EMT, there are plenty other volunteer positions available, including administrative, fund raising, and maintenance positions.

CASA of Washington County Maryland was on site to help promote awareness of their services. If you or someone you know is an abusive environment, contact CASA today for help.

And finally, The Downtown Movement was also present, to promote their next pop-up shop event, which will take place during Blues Fest. 

Of course, in addition to delicious food, there were several arts and crafts vendors available. A full list of all the vendors is available at the Leitersburg BBQ Festival web site. A lot of the food vendors I had never heard of before, and I will be visiting their business locations in the future, especially the CharColes Hot Sauce Store!

My wishlist for the next iteration of this event is very short. I loved this event, and
1) There was plenty of BBQ pork and beef, but not very much BBQ chicken. Perhaps get Smithsburg Market to bring in some of their famous fried chicken for next year?
2) Many vendors could only accept cash. I would strongly encourage vendors in future events to consider a mobile payment processing system such as Square. Unfortunately, many people don't carry cash anymore.
3) Consider reducing the admission fee, or make it a "donation requested" entrance fee. For a family of four on a budget, $28 ($7/person) is a bit high, considering food was not included in the price of admission.

It is my hope that this BBQ Festival becomes an annual tradition of Washington County - and based upon the overwhelming turnout, I suspect we'll be seeing it again next year.

Ken Buckler is the editor of the WashCo Chronicle

Home Invasion Suspect Dies, Media Does Hatchet Job on Hagerstown Police

HAGERSTOWN, MD - The following is the official press release from Hagerstown Police Department regarding a home invasion suspect who died while being transported to Meritus Medical Center.

On April 16 at 10:32 PM a call for a disturbance came in to the 911 center from the 400 block of North Prospect where a female could be heard screaming in the background. A second caller reported a male broke into her house. The caller described the suspect as a black male wearing jeans and a shirt and was currently in front of the house stumbling around.The first two responding officers found the male suspect in front of the house in an aggressive stance and appeared to be highly agitated. Two additional officers and a supervisor arrived on the scene shortly afterward. The officers believed the suspect was under the influence of drugs and requested an ambulance to respond to the scene as well.
While waiting on the ambulance, the suspect refused to comply with the officers and remained aggressive. During the arrest, the suspect was tased by the police and placed in handcuffs. The suspect was conscious and remained uncooperative when he was placed in the ambulance for transport to Meritus Medical Center. As some point, the suspect suffered an unknown medical emergency and was later pronounced dead by Meritus medical staff at 12:11 AM on the 17th of April.
The identification of the male has not yet been confirmed.
The department has requested the Washington County Sheriff’s Department conduct the death investigation.

The department will be available for comment at 10:00 a.m. at police headquarters, located at 50 N. Burhans Blvd, Hagerstown, MD 21740 and by calling 301-790-3700.

This press release tells a much different story than the sensationalist headlines used by multiple media outlets to describe the incident.

Screenshot of Google News

Not only do media outlets fail to mention in their headlines that this person is suspected of breaking into someone's house, but they also try to make it sound like the stun gun was the cause of death.

However... "The suspect was conscious and remained uncooperative when he was placed in the ambulance for transport to Meritus Medical Center."  You read that right - after they tased him, he was still alive.

Could it be that he had some other medical emergency, possibly due to the fact that he may have been "under the influence of drugs"? That is after all the reason they called the ambulance in the first place.

Herald Mail, Baltimore Sun, and every other media outlet using this misleading headline and not telling the whole story - shame on you. As members of the press, it's your job to provide news in an unbiased manner. A hatchet job like this against our law enforcement officers, who put their lives on the line every day, is completely unacceptable.

Here's a better headline for those news sites which wish to report fairly.

"Home Invasion Suspect Dies on Way to Hospital"

Ken Buckler is the editor of the WashCo Chronicle

Dear Subway - Help Support Local Radio and the Local Economy!

UPDATE: After discussing with the owner of the Middletown Subway, this isn't being "mandated" for Subways, but is being highly encouraged by Subway as a way to make customers aware of new specials/etc. The actual cost is $180 per year, not per month.

It is still the belief of the editor that Subway should support local radio and the local economy, instead of using "Subway Radio".

Dear Subway,

I stopped in my usual Subway this morning on the way to work. The Subway is very convenient for me, because I can stop in at Middletown on Alt-40, and listen to local radio traffic reports while waiting for my food. By the time I'm ready to leave, I'll know which way to continue going to get to work on time. It's really become part of my morning routine, and it's working out pretty well.

Today I was very disheartened when I was informed by Birdie, the wonderful lady who always makes my subs for me, that they're going to have to stop playing local radio in the Subway.

Apparently, Subway came up with some brilliant idea to switch all the music systems to some sort of music box that plays "easy listening" elevator music, as well as Subway commercials (you know, because obviously you need advertising to tell you to go to Subway, while you're at Subway). Even worse, they're going to charge the franchises well over a hundred dollars a month for this "service". This is an unnecessary cost for franchise owners to worry about! Even if it only cost $100 - that means an owner must sell 20 additional $5 footlongs to make up the difference.

Sure, I get it. You want to make sure that while customers are in a Subway, they only hear Subway advertisements, and not advertisements for competitors. However, this reasoning is fundamentally flawed. If a customer is already inside a Subway, it's because they've chosen to eat there! The key to getting a customer to come back is good service, reasonable prices, and excellent quality food.

I'm not stopping in Subway to listen to elevator music. I'm stopping in to get my breakfast, knowing that if there's a traffic accident, I'll still be able to hear it on the radio.

More importantly, by just allowing local radio stations to be played in your stores, you're helping the local economy! You see, local radio stations actually help the local economy of the area they serve - in fact they generate approximately $1.24 Trillion per year in local economic stimulus. See http://www.nab.org/documents/newsroom/pressRelease.asp?id=3320

I hope that you will reconsider this, and keep local radio in Subway.

Thank You,
Ken Buckler
Editor, WashCo Chronicle

Metro Mishap Mayhem - A Commuter's Point of View

Dear Metro,

You have destroyed all confidence of your riders that your system is safe, and that your staff are properly trained for emergencies. Of course, I've always questioned if we'll even be able to hear staff instructions in an emergency, since you normally can't even understand the train operator when they tell you which station you're arriving at.

When it takes 40 minutes for help to arrive, when a train is only several hundred feet away from a station, you've got a serious problem.

Add to this the fact that a person died due to the train operator instructing people to remain in a smoke filled train, when they could have easily evacuated the train and walked back to the station, now you're simply negligent and incompetent.

Let me explain to you the repercussions of this serious problem.

Now that riders have lost all faith in Metro staff to properly handle an emergency, we are not going to pay any attention to what your staff tell us to do in an emergency. Instead, we are going to look out only for ourselves, and find the quickest way out of a train or Metro station.

This really becomes problematic, because the next time there's an emergency, it might actually be critical for passengers to shelter in place, instead of attempt to escape. However, you have now destroyed any chance of that happening.

As a regular rider of Metro, I am quite angry. Metro is supposed to be safe. Metro employees are supposed to be properly trained to deal with emergencies. The response to this incident is inexcusable.

I refuse to be the next statistic in Metro's long line of avoidable accidents.

Ken Buckler is the editor of WashCo Chronicle. He regularly commutes to DC through MARC and Metro rail lines.

Divided we are Weak, Together we are Strong

The following is an Editorial from Ken Buckler.

By now, you've most likely heard about Mayor Gysberts' recent personal attack against myself as well as a Board of Education candidate.

I've spent a lot of today thinking on how to approach this topic. You see, when an elected official begins publicly attacking local residents, resorting to name calling and bashing, it's a sign of a serious problem. However, while this problem has manifested itself in the form of a personal attack, the underlying problem is not a personal attack at all - the personal attack is merely a symptom of the problem.

Before I continue, I'd like to share a letter which I received I sent in May, and the response I received from Mayor Gysberts.

Opinion: I can't wait until November 5th

I can't wait until November 5th. This has been an extremely ugly election year, with personal attacks in multiple campaigns, and some candidates refusing to focus on the real issues that affect Washington County and the rest of Maryland.

At the end of the day, it is my hope that any candidate running for a public office is doing so because they care about the community. As such, once the dust has settled from the elections, maybe we can actually get some real improvements and changes for Washington County by working with our elected officials.

I started WashCo Chronicle to make a difference in this community, and help give the community a voice. Unfortunately, as with many elections, the voice of the community is drowned out by the sound of the election war drums. Once the elections are over, we'll have almost a solid two years to get some real work done.

Here's my list of topics which need to be discussed with elected officials after the November elections.

• Public Transportation - What can we do to help improve public transit within Hagerstown and Washington County, as well as public transit to surrounding communities, including Washington DC?
• Crime - When gangs have shootouts in Downtown Hagerstown in broad daylight, there's a problem - and this is a problem which should concern all of Washington County, not just Hagerstown. We must take control of the situation and eliminate the gang presence within our community. Community members cannot simply sit around and wait for someone else to address the problem. There are steps we as citizens can take to help with this issue.
• Growing Washington County Economy - On October 18, yet another local business is closing - the Cearfoss Emporium. We need to bring businesses back to Washington County and provide good paying jobs for local residents. Hagerstown needs to start promoting and taking advantage of its HUBZone status to bring in small business Federal contracting companies.

Working together, we as a community can ensure the growth and success of Washington County. Please join me and share your thoughts with our local elected officials on how our county can improve.

Would you like to have your voice heard? Please email your letters, guest articles, and thoughts to WashCoChronicle@gmail.com. Together, we can make a difference.

Article by Ken Buckler, Editor

Public Transportation & Hagerstown - Letter to The Editor

The following is a letter to the editor from Jamie Rowland, founder of "Healing Hagerstown"

Dear Editor,

In an effort to both gain information and share information with the fine people of the Washington County/Hagerstown community, I am seeking additional information and attention to the matter with regard to the lack of a regulated, affordable, and accessible, transportation infrastructure in our community. As many community members may or may not know, the Greyhound bus route has not had a formal bus stop in Hagerstown since early 2012. Many may not think they are personally or directly affected by this specific issue however, I would like to suggest that we consider the fact that when this bus stop was located on Rt. 65/ Sharpsburg Pike near McDonald’s, it was conveniently located across from the Premium Outlets and only a few miles north of the Roxbury corrections facilities also located on Rt. 65. This proximity, to arguably the most impactful large-scale cluster of revenue generating businesses in the area, can only have been favorable in the long run because it provided an additional point of access for non-residents to enter Washington County and spend their money here. We have a handful of Tesla vehicle recharging stations at the Premium outlets and while these recharging stations may be scarce to find nationally, they hardly seem to have the potential to be as fiscally impactful as busloads of people bringing cash carrying customers to our county retailers. There is so much dialogue in the local media about bringing new businesses to Hagerstown/Washington County. While I agree that recruiting big city employers to relocate to our area should be one of our many priorities, those currently in position of privilege and power aren’t doing enough to support the diverse number of businesses that are already in Hagerstown/Washington County.

Another point to consider, as we all grapple with the prospect of continuing to watch our neighborhoods be plagued by a devastating wave of drug use, crime, and violence; when the Greyhound bus stop was located on Rt. 65, it was a convenient location for inmates released from any of the Roxbury corrections facilities to catch a bus and head back to their home towns or elsewhere thus giving them the opportunity to leave the Hagerstown/Washington County area. I ask my fellow community members, as I know many of us have expressed concern about the quantity of criminals making homes in our community, if we don't even have a Greyhound bus stop or Amtrak station in a central location in this county, how are these individuals supposed to have the slightest chance of leaving the community once they are released from incarceration?  It goes without saying, that most of them don't leave because they are unable to do so. Instead, they become our new neighbors throughout the city and county in every neighborhood. Mr. Ralph M. Ruark No. 125977, Western Correctional Institution, shared in his letter to the editor published July 14, 2014 present factors he identifies as  obstacles which parolees face, and that significantly contribute to recidivism. He also states that upon release, many parolees are homeless and have about $50. If this community does not want to continue to absorb this population, this community must be willing to support a public transportation infrastructure  that provides  reasonable access to a ticket out of the community . At this moment, a one-way ticket from Frederick to Baltimore is roughly $30.

According to Herald Mail articles I’ve been able to locate online, it seems Hagerstown’s place on the Greyhound bus stop route started changing near the end of 2010. At which time the bus stop moved from the Sharpsburg Pike location to the Foxshire Plaza on Dual Highway as Hub City Shippers became a Greyhound ticket agent. In February 2012, the Washington County Zoning Board denied to give a special exception to allow the bus stop to continue operation at the Dual Highway location thus terminating all Greyhound operations in Hagerstown/Washington County. It is my understanding that at present date, in order for an individual residing in our community to access Greyhound’s transportation services, for an additional fee, they may take a shuttle from the downtown County Commuter transit center that will transport the passenger to Frederick, MD as it is the next closest Greyhound bus stop.

It is ludicrous to me that a city whose nickname is based on the idea of being a central hub of transportation, can have such few and often poor quality community transportation services available to its residents. A fundamental necessity of a thriving community is a sound public and private transportation system.  We should all expect and demand better bus routes and schedules, regulated and inspected taxi services, and Hagerstown/Washington County initiatives to explore an Amtrak stop in Hagerstown.  Amtrak’s personal railway transportation stations are thriving in Martinsburg, WV and Brunswick, MD.  Monday thru Friday, Maryland Transit Administration’s MARC train  system uses the Amtrak system to provide public transportation for the hundreds of people living in rural communities like our own, who travel daily to their places of employment in the Washington D.C./Baltimore Metro areas.  Surely, between the depleted quality of life one endures as a commuting employee sitting in hours of gridlock traffic just to get to and from work and the constantly rising costs of gasoline for vehicles, many Hagerstown/Washington County residents would welcome an alternative means of transportation to and from their jobs.

We are all part of the same community and we are having similar conversations about what’s happening in our community.  We need to start getting better at asking the difficult questions and making phone calls. Whatever it takes, we need to get so emotional about what’s happening in our community that it fuels our motivation to get behind a cause.  Too many of us have waited too long for someone else to fix Hagerstown. We need to unite and take action to restore our community to a place of prosperity and desirable living. If each of us does our own share of responsibility and took ownership in the community. I think we'd all be pleasantly surprised by the positive changes we'd begin to see and maybe, just maybe, people would want to continue doing their part in little ways every day to keep moving in the direction of finding ourselves in a community we can thrive in. Hagerstown's buildings didn't crumble overnight and all our downtown and county businesses didn't close up shop at once. We are in this mess because over the past several decades, elected officials and people, including myself, got lazy and stopped taking ownership of the community.  Please write your City Council member and County Commissioners if you are in support of getting Hagerstown/Washington County back on the map with regard to affordable interstate transportation.
The various issues needed to be addressed to mend our community are multidimensional and will require efforts from all residents, business owners, and elected officials. This letter is intended to get people thinking about all of the different issues in the community that can stem from one seemingly small issue like public transportation. Clearly, affordable and accessible public transportation in any community will serve everyone for various purposes. In Hagerstown/Washington County's case, having a better transportation infrastructure will have significant positive impact the city/county's economy because more people will have the accessibility to come into our area to shop and visit and travel out of our area for work and leisure, all while residing locally. Consequently, there will be a ripple effect as we make our community more accessible; being a part of our community will become more desirable. In an effort to get as many people thinking about these issues, I am forwarding a copy of this letter to the Washington County Chronicle, the Hagerstown City Council, the Washington County Commissioners, and Congressman John Delaney.

I believe each of us has much to offer our community so, I created the local Facebook group Healing Hagerstown.  Healing Hagerstown is a grassroots movement intended to be representative of the community's journey from despair to prosperity and crime-ridden to charming. This journey, to seek and expect better for this town, can never end. Healing Hagerstown must start from within. By this I mean within the hearts and minds of the residents who live here and those in position of power and privilege that are willing and motivated to put words into actions.  Any community member with an authentic desire to improve our community is welcome to join the group and our efforts to make positive changes in Hagerstown.

Sincerely,

Jamie L. Rowland MSW, LCSW-C
Hagerstown Resident

On Dirt and Politics - A Post from the Editor

As a general rule, I try not to post opinion pieces. In fact, I try not to post anything at all - and allow the community (through independent contributors) to have their voice. As the editor of the WashCo Chronicle, I strive to remain neutral on all topics, and let the facts speak for themselves.

However, I feel it is necessary to address recent issues brought up by both traditional media and social media posters. Specifically, the issue of digging up "dirt" on politicians. So while we're on the topic of dirt, I'm going to let you in on a dirty little secret. Dirt is typically an intentional distraction from the real issues.

Digging up dirt on politicians is an age old tradition used to distract people from the facts, especially when opposing candidates have a weak political platform, or view someone as a threat to their candidacy. It's also important to note that sometimes, media outlets or social media posters will purposely dig up dirt on political candidates, in order to convince voters to vote for someone else.

Lynda Givens Evans, a conservative blogger, made a very interesting observation about the Washington County Board of Education elections - there are currently three openings, and interestingly enough, another media outlet conveniently omitted dirt on three candidates.  While it is impossible to know if this was intentional or not by the other media outlet, it should be noted that in most cases, the "dirt" has nothing to do with the Board of Education elections. The fact of the matter is, if you do enough digging you can find something negative about anyone. People make mistakes - they're only human. Making mistakes is how we learn.

So this election season, I have a challenge for you the voter.  Don't ignore the dirt, but ask yourself a few questions...

1) Does this really impact a candidate's ability to perform the elected office?
2) Where is this information coming from? Is it possible the information is being purposely displayed to discourage you from voting for this candidate, or does it actually portray a fair, balanced view of all candidates?
3) Does this affect a candidate's views on important issues? Or is it just a distraction?

Focus on the issues at hand, and not just the negative information. Don't pick a candidate due to lack of a known rocky past. Instead, pick a candidate based upon how they will perform in office, and their views on the issues at hand.

I hope that with this information, you too can be an informed voter, and help to better our community.

Sincerely,
Ken Buckler
Editor

You can view Lynda Givens Evans blog, The Liberated Conservative Woman, at http://liberatedconservativewoman.blogspot.com/

WashCo Chronicle encourages discussion of current political issues and candidates, regardless of viewpoints. Please keep comments polite, and on topic.

Opinion: Maryland Needle Exchange Program

The following is a guest opinion article by Angel McLaughlin. The WashCo Chronicle and its editor are not responsible for its content. If you would like to contribute to the WashCo Chronicle, please contact on the Facebook Page.

The senate in the state of Maryland is currently working on a bill that would allow drug users to obtain
more than one needle at a time in a new addendum to the current needle exchange program that is
currently being used. Currently, users may trade each needle for another clean needle but only one,
with the changing in requirements they will be allowed to obtain more than one needle for each they
turn in.

The current needle for needle exchange program in Baltimore City has been quite successful on reducing
the transmission of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis B/C. With the expansion of the program they are looking to
even further cut down on the rate of transmission of these terminal diseases. The diseases are a public
safety risk and the needle exchange program will help reduce that. In addition to exchanging needles
the program also provides education on drug use and the transmission of these diseases and referrals to
substance abuse programs.
Many people in the state are up in arms about the fact that this is even being brought up as a possible
program to fund. They must not realize that this program has in fact been up and running since 1994
and the state is just looking to expand its funding and availability.

Many statements have been made about how the state should use this funding for rehabilitation
programs and detoxification centers. However, they do not realize that the state of Maryland’s COMAR
regulations are that any person admitted into a substance use treatment center of any kind has to be
treated for these diseases whether they are being treated by that facility or referred out. There are
over 29,000 people infected or diagnosed with HIV in Baltimore City alone. So if the state of Maryland
is using its money to treat these diseases instead of putting that money toward rehabilitation wouldn’t
it make sense for them to spend money on preventing the transmission of these diseases in the first
place? Each syringe costs 13 cents and the state is looking to expand the budget for the program an
additional $19,500 in the next fiscal year. The average rehabilitation cost of a person in the state of
Maryland is upwards of $700 a day for inpatient rehabilitation. With the $19,500 budget expansion next
year the state of Maryland could only afford to treat a maximum of 27 people for one day, as opposed
to giving out 150,000 needles.

There has also been a lot of talk about why people that have legitimate illnesses that require them to
use syringes and why they have to pay for theirs when drug addicts get free ones. I don’t see any reason
why you would not be able to go down to Baltimore to trade in your used diabetes needles for clean
ones. I simply think that it is a matter of getting past ones pride to go stand in line with the drug addicts
and get clean needles.

Even though we may not all see how this is going to beneficial or fair, sometimes we have to step
outside of our own personal beliefs and thoughts to realize what is really going on in our state and why
things are done the way they are. We can’t complain if we are ill informed or clinging to our personal
beliefs without actual knowledge.

*All information and statistics retrieved from Dept. Health and Mental Hygiene for the State of
Maryland , COMAR & CBS WJZ13 Baltimore.

Opinion: The Technology Revolution and How Hagerstown Missed It

The following is a guest Opinion article. The WashCo Chronicle and its editor are not responsible for its content. If you would like to contribute to the WashCo Chronicle, please contact on the Facebook Page.

In the year 2014, we have wireless phones with the computing power greater than most desktop home computers in 2001.  GPS devices are built into nearly every new car manufactured at no additional cost to the consumer.  Social networking has become a standard that even the most technology inclined are connected to their family and loved ones.  Washington and California have respectably become the Silicon Valley behemoths of all things tech in the United States.

WashCo Chronicle Seeking Commentary on Area Political Issues and Candidates

Boonsboro, MD - The WashCo Chronicle is seeking volunteer contributions for commentary on local area political issues and candidates. Anyone can submit, including political candidates and elected officials, regardless of issue stance or political affiliation.

This is your chance for your voice to be heard, and be part of this exciting new effort to bring free news to the Washington County area. Best of all, your opinions will never be hidden behind a paywall or page view limit.

A few topics to get everyone started:

• Speed Cameras
• Maryland "Rain Tax" (which is NOT required for Washington County, yet.)
• "Western Maryland: A New State Initiative"
• Upcoming 2014 Elections

To contribute, simply click the "Email me!" button on the WashCo Chronicle homepage.

Please include your full name and city/state of residence.

Please note that the editor reserves the right to edit your submissions for grammar, spelling, and to remove offensive content. The editor also reserves the right to not publish your submissions. Your submissions remain your intellectual property, and will be considered "licensed" royalty free for permanent one-time publication on WashCo Chronicle Page TWO.