Veteran Spotlight
Specialist-4 Richard Sanders “Chopper Down” Rescue Service in Vietnam by Richard D. L. Fulton Helicopters played a major role in the Vietnam War, notably in support of ground operations and in airlifting combat casualties, but this placed many of them at the risk of taking enemy fire themselves. Richard Sanders, Sabillasville, was born in 1947…
Looking Back
the unsolved murder That Haunted Hagerstown by James Rada, Jr. It seems Betty Jane Kennedy of Hagerstown was doomed to lead a short life, but her death continued to haunt Hagerstown for years afterward. When Betty Jane was just six years old in 1933, a car on West Washington Street hit her. She suffered cuts…
World Canals Conference Comes to Hagerstown
James Rada, Jr. Three years ago in Ireland, Hagerstown found out it would be hosting the 2021 World Canals Conference (WCC). However, the world has changed since then. “Last year’s onset of the pandemic suddenly converted the preparations into a series of Zoom calls,” said Bill Holdsworth, president of the C&O Canal Association. “Leipzig was…
Looking Back – 1915 -- The Wreck of the Blue Mountain Express, Part 3
Note: This is the third of three articles about the wreck of the Blue Mountain Express between Thurmont and Sabillasville in 1915. by James Rada, Jr. On June 25, 1915, the Blue Mountain Express bound for Hagerstown crashed head-on with a mail train coming east from Hagerstown, crumpling the two engines and sending a baggage…
1915 - The Wreck of the Blue Mountain Express, Part 2
2by James Rada, Jr. Note: This is the second of three articles about the wreck of the Blue Mountain Express between Thurmont and Sabillasville in 1915. On June 25, 1915, the Blue Mountain Express, bound for Hagerstown, crashed head-on with a mail train traveling east from Hagerstown, crumpling the two engines and sending a baggage…
St. John’s Lutheran Church Appoints Interim Pastor
The congregation of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Creagerstown wishes to announce the appointment of Wayne Blaser as interim pastor (pictured right). He is an ordained Presbyterian minister. Pastor Wayne was born in the Philadelphia area and was educated in the Princeton Seminary. He graduated in 1973. His first charge was in Hagerstown, where he…
Community Gathers to Keep Tradition Going
Deb Spalding The Catoctin FFA (formerly known as Future Farmers of America) Alumni sponsored an educational butchering fundraiser to raise money that will fund their annual banquet in May. The event took place on Friday, February 12, 2016, in the Catoctin High School agricultural area. It brought together an eagerness to learn the butchering process…
mountain talk
by Chris O’Connor There’s More to Bonnie than Postage Stamps Sabillasville resident Bonnie DeLauter is a self-described social butterfly who loves to talk. Many know her as a hard-working employee of the United States Postal Service (USPS), who runs the post office in Cascade and who is a member of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in…
our neighborhood veterans
Department of Maryland Sons of AMVETS 1st Annual Picnic at North Point Home by Jim Houck, Jr. Saturday, June 5, 2015, started out as a dreary, rainy day to have a picnic—especially the very first one—for the immediate residents of North Point Home in Hagerstown. The Department of Maryland Sons of AMVETS Veterans Affairs Voluntary…
New Museum Remembering Battle of Monterey Pass in Blue Ridge Summit
James Rada, Jr. As the Confederate Army retreated from Gettysburg on July 4, 1863, they encountered Union troops in the area of Blue Ridge Summit. A two-day battle ensued in the middle of a thunderstorm that eventually spilled over the Mason-Dixon Line into Maryland. “It is the only battle fought on both sides of the…
