COMMUNITY news
Hamrick and Buehrer Win in Unopposed Election
James Rada, Jr.
Thurmont Commissioners Wes Hamrick and Bill Buehrer retained their seats on the Thurmont Board of Commissioners after the town election on October 27, 2015.
A total of 209 residents voted in the town election, and although both men were running unopposed, neither candidate garnered the total support of the votes. Hamrick received 199 votes and Buehrer received 167 votes.
The difference was made up of write-in votes for seven different candidates, including former Thurmont Chief Administrative Officer Bill Blakeslee.
Hamrick and Buehrer were sworn in during the November 3 town meeting.
“I know Wes and I are most appreciative,” Buehrer said of the people who turned out to vote.
He said that he wished more people had turned out to vote, but that at least the turnout wasn’t as low as the town election in Emmitsburg, which also had two commissioners running unopposed.
Buehrer and Hamrick had both posted campaign signs around town in the hopes of encouraging voters to come out and vote, but the commissioners heard after the election that some people had forgotten about the election since there weren’t any major issues or contested races involved. Mayor John Kinnaird said that he would like to set sign boards and banners up for the next election to hopefully avoid the problem of low voter turnout.
This will be Buehrer’s second term on the board and Hamrick’s first full term. Hamrick won the special election to fill the unexpired term of John Kinnaird when he was elected mayor in 2013.
Fall Fundraiser at Lawyer’s Farm a Huge Success
Thanks to all participants who helped to raise $12,238 for the American Cancer Society (ACS) and $776 for the American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA) during the Lawyer’s Farm 2nd Annual Fall Fundraiser on November 1, 2015.
This year, Lawyer’s “Hogan Strong” corn maze was made in the shape of Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s image. Governor Hogan and his family attended the event. Taylor (Lawyer) Huffman of Lawyer’s Farm said, “We had a beautiful day, and Governor Hogan said that even though a concert by Tim McGraw with a ‘shout-out’ was great, being in a field of corn for a great cause was the highlight of being Governor so far!” He donated $1,500 from the Hogan Strong campaign to the fundraiser.
Frederick County’s Chief Executive Officer Jan Gardner signed a proclamation that November 1 is Jan Lawyer Day in Frederick County! Jan Lawyer is Taylor’s father, who succumbed to brain cancer in December 2013. Jan Lawyer was a driving force behind Lawyer’s Farm operations, and is remembered because of his outgoing, friendly personality and his driven work ethics. Taylor expressed, “That was certainly the highlight of my day! So cool.”
To make donations to these causes, please visit the www.lawyersfarm.com and find the Fall Fundraiser tab, with links to donate to ACS or ABTA.
Thurmont’s Think Pink Raises $10,000 for Patty Hurwitz Fund
Deb Spalding
Thurmont Rocks! The check says $9,407; however, with a few last minute business and personal donations, Think Pink ends up raising a total of $10,000 in the month of October for the Patty Hurwitz Fund at Frederick Memorial Hospital (FMH). All of the funds stay in Frederick County to help people with cancer.
Extended gratitude goes out to all of the participating businesses; customers who patronized the participating businesses; all who turned on a pink light bulb; those who walked, ran, or donated to the Thurmont Think Pink 5K; those who participated in the Think Pink Paint Night; and those who purchased tote bags, cookbooks, decals, or a T-shirt.
The vast community support for Think Pink further demonstrates that Thurmont is a superior municipality in Frederick County, because this is a community that unites for a greater cause!
Thurmont Think Pink Businesses and Organizations: YOU are the core of this program. A thank you seems so insignificant for all of your dedication and contributions for The Patty Hurwitz Fund at FMH, and a Gateway To The Cure, so please know how much you make the difference for this extremely worthy cause.
Thurmont presented a check with proceeds from Thurmont’s Think Pink to the Patty Hurwitz Fund. Pictured from left are Jim Humerick, Thurmont Chief Administrative Officer; Bill Buehrer, Town Commissioner; Vickie Grinder, Thurmont Main Street Manager; Wayne Hooper, Town Commissioner; Mayor John Kinnaird; Patty Hurwitz; Martin Burns, Town Commissioner; Jeff Hurwitz; and Wes Hamrick, Town Commissioner.
Colorfest Donates Nearly $17,000 to Thurmont Organizations
James Rada, Jr.
While the Colorfest event in October over for this year, monetary donations to town organizations were made during the Colorfest annual meeting at Simply Asia in Thurmont on November 9, 2015.
“I think everybody was happy with the weekend. I don’t know what we could have done better,” said Colorfest President Carol Robertson, speaking about October’s Colorfest weekend.
During the weekend, the Town of Thurmont issued 713 permits to vendors, including 552 craft vendors. Robertson also said that on the Monday following the end of Colorfest, she started getting calls from vendors who want to participate in 2016, and on the Wednesday after Colorfest, she started getting applications from returning vendors.
“And it hasn’t stopped yet,” she said.
Many organizations in Thurmont have booths at Colorfest to hold fundraisers, and organizations that have the room also rent spaces to vendors. These create significant income streams for the organizations. In addition, Colorfest, Inc. makes annual donations each year to different organizations.
From December 2014 to November 2015, Colorfest made the following donations:
- $1,500 to Guardian Hose
- $1,500 to Thurmont Ambulance Company plus $500 worth of vendor space.
- $1,500 to the Thurmont Police Department.
- $2,551.80 to Catoctin High FFA.
- $3,500 worth of Catoctin High scholarships.
- $300 for straw for the Town of Thurmont.
- $80 for the Town Gardens.
- $2,500 to the Thurmont commissioners to hopefully be used for town parks.
- $50 gift card for the Thurmont road crews.
- $1,800 worth of canned hams to the Thurmont Food Bank plus $500 in the spring and $200 in the fall.
- $100 to the Thurmont Regional Library.
- $200 for Thurmont Christmas decorations.
- $150 to Thurmont Main Street.
- Completed the replacement of all 330 town-owned streetlights with LED energy-efficient bulbs, cutting streetlight energy use by nearly 70 percent and the town’s overall energy use by 10 percent.
- Installed approximately two megawatts of solar panels to provide 95-100 percent renewable energy to run a new, state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant.
- Hosts a weekly Farmers Market.
- Home to one “Maryland Green School” within its boundaries: Mother Seton School.
- Maintains a small Community Garden for residents.
- Adopted a Green Purchasing Policy for procurement of municipal goods and services.
- Created a network of fifteen miles of natural surface trails, utilizing over 1,000 hours of volunteer work and approximately $300,000 in private donations.