Letters to the editor: Fond memories of the 'Val,' big bands in Hagerstown

Editor's note: This story has been updated to add clarification to the headline on letter from Ginger L. Noble.

'On where everything happened' evokes fond memories

To the editor:

Thanks for "On where everything happened," Nov. 12.

What good memories! I graduated in 1945 from the former Hagerstown High School that was across from the Valencia. I remember there was a jukebox at the "Val," and a small space for dancing.

I remember some or maybe most of us didn't want our parents to know about our teenage smoking. Mr. George Callas worked there.

During school hours, and by high school rules, the "Val" was off limits or you could be expelled from school.

I don't remember what we bought to eat or drink there, or what they sold.

May the Valencia be always historical.

Other memories: The big bands came to Hagerstown, there was Fort Ritchie, downtown YMCA and horse racing at the fairgrounds.

M. Manzella JonesHagerstown

Have an open televised hearing for Hunter Biden

To the editor:

The horrendous pursuit of a private individual, Hunter Biden, who offered to appear in a public hearing, but was denied because GOP traitors know there is nothing to tie his actions to his father. If they did, they would want every TV station in the nation airing it.

Hunter Biden knows that if he testified behind closed doors Republicans would go on Fox and lie about what he said to score points with their base.

Let’s see how the MAGA haters are going to spin transparency into something negative.

We want an open televised meeting, not a closed door hit job.

Patricia TaylorWilliamsport

Saint Maria Goretti is a cause worth fighting for

To the editor:

My name is Len Lindenmeyer. I have 30 years experience in higher education, including seven years teaching at the United States Naval Academy. I worked with Archbishop Spalding High School in Anne Arundel County while I was teaching at Anne Arundel Community College.

I am familiar with the value of a Catholic High School. In my opinion we should not let Goretti close without an effort to save it. Goretti is a valuable asset in this community.

I was part of the team that opposed the high voltage power line that was to be built through farms and residential areas several years ago. I started the GOFUNDME effort so that we had money to wage that effort. Our team won that fight and that 230 KV power line has now been rejected by the Pennsylvania Commission.

So there are resources available if you will fight for a cause. Saint Maria Goretti is a cause worth fighting for.

I propose a committee — two teachers, two coaches, two parents, two students and me. We need to begin immediately.

As I’ve told my kids many times “Success is all between the ears.” You win if you decide you will win. I have seen that happen many times during my career.

I can tell you a story that illustrates the truth to that saying. It is a true story, well documented. You will not soon forget it.

My email address is len.lindy62@gmail.com.

Len Lindenmeyer Waynesboro, Pa.

Recent letter regarding a Tim Rowland column

To the editor:

While I have the deepest respect for those of our citizens who put their lives on the line for their fellow citizens, I find it bordering on presumptuous to think that the existence of our city and, by extension, our great country is due solely to people such as the writer and his family members or "people like" them. Claiming that belief seems preposterous as well as braggingly immodest.

I guess the writer doesn’t count as significant the contributions of the nearly 4,000,000 enslaved people who labored without pay and under laws that prohibited them from learning to read or write as well as vote. Then to use ad hominem attacks in a "weak" attempt to discredit an individual is arguably laughable.

I suppose the writer was similarly outraged when someone made comments such as calling a city led by members of an opposing political party a "rodent-infested mess" or claiming that "Democrat-run states are the ones that are doing badly" during the worst months of the COVID-19 epidemic.

I don't recall the writer's tortured umbrage about labeling “people based on location and political party" when those things occurred. How conveniently and blindingly selective.

The situation with the Florida GOP chair, his spouse and their sexual peccadillos is only made hilarious by their previous sanctimonious endeavors. Without their sanctimony, it wouldn’t be a story, just a sad and painfully embarrassing situation.

I feel that Mr. Rowland's columns are very often quite funny and point out the comedic hypocrisy of the "holier than thou" folks who seem to be commonly foisting themselves and their beliefs on all of us lately.

He’s a gem and we are blessed to have him write for our local newspaper.

Allen W. DittoHagerstown

State of Maryland is severely understaffed

To the editor:

My name is Ginger Noble. I am a 22-plus year employee at the Maryland Department of Agriculture in the Office of Resource Conservation.

We are tasked with working with Maryland farmers to plan and implement conservation practices and programs that balance crop and livestock production with the need to protect natural resources. The office provides a range of educational, financial, technical assistance and regulatory programs to support Maryland agriculture and protect natural resources and water quality for future generations.

I am writing to express my deep concern about the apparent understaffing issues. As a resident and employee who relies on the state's infrastructure, I have noticed the increased workload, regardless of staffing levels.

Employees face multiple “priority” items that compete for our time. Lack of staffing impacts the time lines on how long it takes to develop plans and design work, and the processing of documents in the local and state offices.

Employees are leaving because of lack of competitive pay. When employees are literally tens of thousands of dollars income behind annually, there is little incentive to stay and little draw for new employees to apply. In our Western Maryland region, we lose employees to private industries, often located in another state, that pay more and do not require high levels of overtime, ultimately decimating our workforce and decreasing our state’s economic base.

I urge the state government leadership to prioritize addressing this understaffing situation promptly. Adequate staffing is crucial for ensuring the safety and well-being of Maryland residents, as well as for the overall economic health of our state.

Ginger L. NobleWilliamsport

More transparent and responsive process needed for solar power

To the editor:

Thanks to the Herald-Mail and reporter Dwight Weingarten for the articles concerning the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) and solar power in the print editions of Nov. 30 and Dec. 20.

Since I am mentioned and quoted several times in the latter article, I would like to clarify why I am involved. I believe in climate change caused by human impact and the utilization of renewable energy. However, like almost every matter in the public arena, a fair and balanced approach should be employed.

The Kieffer Funk solar farm project is not at all visible from my home or others on my street, although only just over a mile as the crow flies. In July 2019 a homeowner adjacent to the project asked me to take a look at the proposal then pending approval by the PSC. I was stunned by what I found concerning the proposal and further disillusioned by the PSC process for reviewing it.

Basically, I felt that if this project can be approved, with little response to concrete local objections, then our whole Great Valley is in jeopardy of becoming an electronic supply farm for the metropolitan areas, where land is less available, much higher priced and defended by more organized opposition.

Between July and December 2019, I made several public appearances and wrote three documents outlining issues for opposing the project and providing recommendations concerning major procedural impediments imposed by the PSC.

The documents were distributed to appropriate public officials at the time and remain valid today, four years later. There is not space here to even summarize their contents, but copies were resubmitted to the PSC and the Herald-Mail at the forum in Baltimore on Dec. 15, 2023.

Fred Hoover, the recently appointed chair of the PSC and Hagerstown native, is to be commended for reaching out to involved parties in solar energy to explore improvements in process, siting and other aspects of the PSC responsibilities.

Developers will naturally go for the low-hanging fruit of open farmland over sites less impactful to the community such as commercial and industrial rooftops and unproductive land at more remote but less intrusive locations. Solutions will not be easy, however.

The PSC has the awesome power to override local zoning and siting issues, but at the same time has been assigned major goals to develop renewable energy.

I hope the recent forum is just the beginning of developing a more transparent and responsive process, with siting parameters understood and fairly allocated statewide.

Martin BrubakerHagerstown

P.S. After a four-year hiatus following PSC approval, the Kieffer Funk developer now has site plan and construction permit approval pending before county officials.

Supreme Court needs to overrule Colorado

To the editor:

Hopefully the U.S. Supreme Court will "trump" the Colorado Supreme Court.

Yours for the American idea of "innocent until proven guilty."

Dan MankaFairmont, W.Va.

West Virginia law on negligent homicide must be changed

To the editor:

My name is George P. Martincheck, I am a resident of Berkeley County, W.Va. On Dec. 25, 2021, I lost my wife due to a tragic accident which caused her death.

In the state of West Virginia, the charge was negligent homicide, which in this state is a misdemeanor, and holds very little in the court systems.

I am taking all the proper steps that I can to help get this law changed and I want to personally thank Delegate Larry D. Kump, who has given me guidance on the proper steps of trying to get this law changed so as no one has to suffer, the pain that I went through and many other families prior to my wife’s death.

Thank you and have a blessed day.

George P. MartincheckBerkeley County, W.Va.

This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Herald-Mail letters to the editor, Dec. 31, 2023