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Month: January 2010

Snowmobiling at the Deep Creek Lake State Park

Snowmobile parking at the Deep Creek Lake State Park has been moved to the upper lot of the boat ramp. This will allow the Discovery Center Parking Area to be open for automobiles during regular day use visitors and special events such as the Snowflake Chase this weekend. The restrooms in the upper lot are open and heated.

To use any of the State Park or Forest designated Trails, users must have an ORV Sticker that can be purchased for $15, at any of the DNR offices. The sticker is valid for the current calendar year.

Also, in an effort to ensure safety the park has blocked areas that are not to be accessed by motorized vehicles with signs and plastic barricades.

If you have any questions about snowmobiling in the Deep Creek Lake State Park, call 301-387-5563.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

Friends of the Casselman River

Friends of the Casselman River will want to familiarize themselves with this issue.

I want to go on the record as not being for or against this (yet) – but from what I have read and researched, there a few things that concern me about this project that need to be addressed:

1) Pulling 750,000 gallons of watre per day from the Casselman River? That is excessive and their is no way to know if that will adversely affect the wells (no public water through most of the Casselman basin) of local residents, not to mention the wildlife and trout stream concerns.

2) Tunneling under the river itself? I’m no expert on coal mining and I am sure it’s been done before in other places, but that is an extrememly risky proposal should something go ‘wrong’.

3) It appears to me that this is state land, not privately owned. I am a huge proponent of private property owners rights to use that property as they see fit, but the taxpayers should have a say in anything regarding public lands.

That being said, there are some unavoidable issues that lend creedance to the idea of this:

1) The number of jobs that it will bring to Garrett County cannot be ignored.

2) Western Maryland has always been known for its coal heritage, and I have always been for alternative fuels, though not on state land.

3) A proposed coal power plant in the region? A big plus for jobs..

From their website:

Environmental Alert for Grantsville, Maryland!

Hot Topics – Maryland Energy Resources Corp., LLC/ Joseph Peles Coal Company mining application in Grantsville, Maryland –

What you need to know!

The Maryland Energy Resources Corp., LLC (affiliated with the Joseph Peles Coal Company) is proposing the construction and operation of a 3040 acre coal mining effort in Grantsville, Maryland. This mining effort is slated to take place along the north branch of the Casselman River. It is ironic that this portion of the river is just recovering from a acid runoff mining disaster from years past. The Patuxent Conservation Corps, along with many local residents, are concerned about the implications of this pending mining operation, as it applies to both the environment and the quality of life for the local residents. Our concerns are as follows:

The proposed mining application requests the permission to pump 750,000 gallons of water from the ground on a DAILY basis. This volume of water draw from our community’s aquifer/water source could dramatically impact the well water quality and water levels within, and well beyond, the 2941 acre area. Furthermore, a loss of quality well water associated with this activity could certainly affect the real estate property values for local residents.

The proposed mine plan includes tunneling under the Casselman River at several points. This delicate trout fishing estuary is a valuable source of outdoor recreation in Garrett County.

The proposed mining site design requires the direct encroachment and adverse impact of sensitive wetlands.

The proposed site design requires the encroachment of the protective environmental setback buffers along the Casselman River.

The estimated traffic impact from this operation is believed to be 100 coal truck passings per day. This potentially equates to (1) coal hauling truck, potentially loaded with 22,000 pounds of coal, traveling on our community roads every 10 minutes.
Due to the grade of the county road (Durst Rd.), it is anticipated that the noise generated by this traffic would approach the effective noise level of an interstate highway to the surrounding community.

Due to the close proximity of the mining haul road to the Casselman River bridge and riparian water bodies, it is our fear that the dust from this excessive traffic would negatively impact the water quality, as well as the local air quality.

It is believed that the mining company is retaining the right to go into a 24 hour around the clock operation in it’s application with the Bureau of Mines

The mining company representatives have admitted to participating in discussions associated with the potential construction of a coal burning power plant on or near the same site along the Casselman River.

The mining site is directly adjacent to a sensitive conservation area operated by the Patuxent Conservation Corp. The Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources – Bureau of Mines has already invested more than $150,000 of taxpayer dollars in reclaiming this site after previous mining activity left it an environmental disaster. The Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources – Maryland Environmental Trust jointly holds the environmental easement associated with this riparian parcel in partnership with the Patuxent Conservation Corps.

The Boy Scouts of America regularly use the parcel adjacent to this proposed mining site for scouting activities. Should the proposed mining application be approved, this site would no longer be suitable for use for the scouting outdoor program

How scenic do you really think Maryland’s “Scenic Byway” Route 495 will be when it is polluted by coal and road dust caused by the estimated 72 to 144 additional coal trucks traveling the road each day?

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

Local legislators to ask for $600,000 for museum

Local legislators to ask for $600,000 for museum

Kevin Spradlin
Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — A request for a $600,000 bond bill to support the Allegany Museum moved forward Tuesday when the District 1 legislative delegation to Annapolis voted to introduce the bill this session.

Sen. George Edwards said it depends on how much, if any, money for bond bills is in Gov. Martin O’Malley’s proposed budget, which was set to be released the same day Gary Bartik, museum president, and Joe Weaver, vice president, met with the delegation in Edwards’ capital city office.

The discussion centered around the museum’s request for funding that would be used to help renovate the first two floors of the former district courthouse at 3 Pershing St. Cas Taylor also attended the meeting as a lobbyist for the museum.

Edwards scheduled the meeting after the Allegany County commissioners made the bond bill request in November on behalf of the museum’s board of directors. Edwards said the delegation needed “more specifics on what you want to do with the $600,000 you’re asking for.”

“We don’t know yet if there’s going to be any bond money,” Edwards said, but local lawmakers need to have details of the project if the request moves forward into hearings in the Senate and House of Delegates.

Bartik highlighted the impact on local restaurants and other businesses by noting the museum gets approximately 57 percent of its 8,000 annual visitors from out of the area. Further, the museum has attracted visitors from 46 states and 31 countries.

“I try to frequent the downtown mall” often, said Delegate LeRoy Myers of the Queen City’s commercial center. “You know the thing I’ve noticed about downtown on Friday nights? You don’t know the people. You know why? They’re coming from somewhere else.”

Bartik and Weaver spoke of a planned partnership between the museum, downtown Cumberland and the Canal Place Heritage Area. Bartik said the museum is the first major private-sector entity to invest in Canal Place.

“Tourism is a regional business,” Weaver said. “All of us have to cooperate.”

The two officers talked of a new partnership with the Garrett County Historical Society and Museum and an attempt to form a joint Western Maryland Museum Association. It’s possible to include Washington County if museum representatives there are interested, Bartik said.

The Allegany Museum re-ceived a total of $275,000 in bond bills in the previous two legislative sessions. The estimated $7.4 million renovation and restoration project could require up to $3 million of state funding. Weaver said further investment by the state makes sense.

“If you want to attract visitors, you have to have attractions,” Weaver said. “I think this is just as legitimate an expense of public funds as roads, bridges and industrial parks. We are, in a sense, a part of your industrial park. We’re just a different industry.”

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

12th annual Deep Creek Dunk coming soon!

I found this awesome aerial video from Paul Thompson’s blog of last year’s Deep Creek Dunk:

Deep Creek Lake Dunk in Western MD on 2/28/2009 from Paul Thompson on Vimeo.

Here is a link to some more info on Facebook regarding the event.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

Garrett County’s bills to go to state Assembly

Garrett’s bills to go to state Assembly

Megan Miller
Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — Legislators met Thursday to review requests from Garrett County and determine which bills to take before the Maryland General Assembly in its current session, which began Wednesday.

Several would expand the powers of the county commission, including one bill that would enable county officials to hold a public sale of the homes of residents who are 60 or more days delinquent on payment of their water and sewer bills.

Linda Lindsey, director of the county’s Department of Public Utilities, said as of November the county was owed $282,000 in unpaid water and sewer bills.

“The county needs some mechanism to be able to collect that,” Sen. George Edwards said in a phone interview from Annapolis. “The commissioners requested this legislation, and we’ve agreed to introduce it.”

The legislators said they will also submit a bill to enable the county commission to adopt local ordinances establishing minimum setback requirements for commercial wind turbines. It would allow the commission to require turbines to be placed a minimum distance from a property line.

“The main purpose of that is if a turbine would fall down, or a blade would fly off,” Edwards explained. “You want them back far enough that if they fall down they’re not on someone else’s property.”

Another bill would allow the commission to require companies to make provisions for decommissioning wind turbines and restoring turbine sites to their original condition in the event that the turbines go out of operation.

“There might come a point where they reach the end of their life and they just sit there,” Edwards said. “In mining, you have to have bonds or some other kind of instrument to provide for reclaiming the land if the mining company stops operations. This would be the same scenario.”

The commission also requested legislation that would enable it to increase the existing hotel rental tax if needed. Currently, that tax is set at 5 percent. The draft legislation would enable the commission to increase it as high as 8 percent, though the commission has stated it would not implement a 3 percent increase all at once.

Legislators will also follow up on a bill requested by the commission granting it the ability to establish a county emergency services board.

Delegate Wendell Beitzel said he and Edwards also intend to work on a legislative solution to an ongoing problem with the availability of OB/GYN services in Garrett County.

Currently, a handful of general practitioners delivers babies in the county. If a doctor delivers more than 30 per year, the cost of medical malpractice insurance can increase by about $100,000 because of insurance stipulations. Previously, legislation was in place that subsidized the gap between the general practitioners’ malpractice insurance costs and the increase, but that has expired.

Beitzel said they also plan to reintroduce legislation called the Dormant Mineral Act, which would provide a process for landowners to recover the mineral rights to their property if it was impossible to trace the current owner of the rights.

“We put in the bill last year and it passed the House and went to the Senate, but got stuck in committee,” Beitzel said. “This year, we’ll be dropping the bill earlier to try to get it through.”

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

More seeking heating, energy assistance

More seeking heating, energy assistance

Megan Miller
Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — Energy assistance agencies in Allegany and Garrett counties say more residents are struggling to pay their bills as temperatures drop, heating costs rise and the economic recession drags on.

Linda Green, director of the Garrett County Department of Community and Emergency Services, said she ran a report Wednesday on the number of applications for energy assistance filed in her office since July 1 and compared it to the same time period last year.

This year, they’ve had 2,869 applications — 139 more than last year, she said. But that isn’t the only noticeable change.

“We’re seeing more people come in who have never come to Community Action before,” Green said. “Most of them are people who are now unemployed. We’ve also seen a few more seniors, but basically it’s the unemployed.”

Allegany County’s energy assistance program through the Human Resources Development Commission has seen an increase of about 100 applications per month over last year, according to Director Jenetta Hampton.

That’s not a drastic change, considering that the office typically handles several thousand applications each year and approves between 4,000 and 5,000 annually, Hampton said. But she also noticed a difference in early demand for the applications.

“It seemed like everyone wanted to apply earlier,” she said. “Normally, we tend to see an influx of applications around October when it starts to get cold, but people seem more anxious to get their heating grants this year.”

Todd Meyers, spokesman for Allegheny Power, said statewide, the company has seen a significant increase in the number of people enrolled in its Electric Universal Service Program. That program is designed to help people pay past due bills and handle upcoming bills.

Between July 1 and Dec. 31, 9,037 Marylanders were in the program, Meyers said. That’s compared to 7,400 one year before.

Hampton said the people who need help are not only those on fixed incomes, such as the elderly or disabled, but also a large number of families struggling to make ends meet.

“In most of those cases, both parents are working,” Hampton said. “But they might be in part-time or minimum-wage jobs, and they need a little additional help.”

Green said her office operates a program provided by Allegheny Power called the Community Energy Fund. In that program, the utility’s customers can donate money the company will match to create a fund to help people whose inability to pay bills leads to energy emergencies.

“In the past, we’ve seen maybe three or four emergency calls per day,” she said. “But this year people just cannot keep up with their payments. We’ve had up to eight calls in a day.”

And donations to the program have been decreasing even as the need rises, she added.

“Allegheny Power customers who may typically donate $50 every year, this year may donate $30,” Green said.

Both Green and Hampton said the most important thing is for people to request help before they find themselves in an emergency situation.

“I just want to encourage people, if they see that they’re falling behind, to come in before they fall so far behind,” Green said.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

ASCI To Host Olympian, National Champion Casey Eichfeld Jan. 16

Jan. 14, 2010

Casey Eichfeld, a 2008 Olympian and National Champion on the U.S. Whitewater Slalom Team, will be telling Olympic stories and signing autographs at ASCI’s “Little Otter Discovery Room” on Saturday, Jan. 16, from 2 to 4 p.m. The Adventure Sports Center’s new mascot, “Asci the Otter” will also be present. Kids are invited to meet Eichfeld, and to play in the Little Otter room for free.
Eichfeld is just finishing a winter training camp at Lake Placid in New York, and will be working part time at the Adventure Sports Center International on weekends during the winter. He also works as a raft guide and canoe instructor for ASCI during the summer.

Eichfeld grew up Drums, Pa., and has traveled the world racing in whitewater canoes. He began slalom racing at age 5, and by the age of 8, he was on the National Slalom Cadet Team as the youngest competitor ever at a U.S. Whitewater Slalom National Championship.

As a teenager, Eichfeld was competing in Europe as a National Junior Team member, and in the June 2000 issue of Paddler magazine was recognized as one of the “Paddlers of the Next Century.” Later that year, he was featured in the Sports Illustrated for Kids Olympic issue as a future “Olympic Hotshot.”

By 2007, Eichfeld had become a stalwart member of the U.S. Junior and Senior National Teams, racing in the double canoe with Ricky Powell. He also continued to race in the single canoe, and won gold in the 2007 Youth Olympic Festival at the Penrith Olympic Whitewater Stadium in Australia.

Support the Republican Newspaper! Buy an online membership! Read the rest of the article here.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

427th Maryland General Assembly Now Open: Facing $2 Billion Deficit

427th Maryland General Assembly Now Open: Facing $2 Billion Deficit

Jan. 14, 2010

by Daniel Leaderman

Capital News Service

ANNAPOLIS – The Maryland General Assembly kicked off its 427th legislative session Wednesday, a term likely to be dominated by the state’s nearly $2 billion budget deficit, as well as legislative efforts to protect citizens from sex offenders.

Lawmakers just need to agree on how to balance the budget, especially with so many reluctant to increase taxes in an election year. In the last year the Board of Public Works has cut more than $1 billion from the operating budget.

“We’re facing our California moment, as are many other states,” said Delegate Luiz R. S. Simmons, D-Montgomery. The legislature will have to “make some very painful choices … we should be very careful about imposing any new taxes.”

Some lawmakers and advocates are calling for a dime-a-drink tax that would help fund public health initiatives. But legislative leaders including Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Calvert, and House Speaker Michael Busch, D-Anne Arundel, are opposed to the idea.

Delegate Paul S. Stull, R-Frederick, said new taxes this year would be political suicide.

“There’s too many people out of work, too many foreclosures have taken place … I don’t think you can tax the working man to work your way out of debt,” Stull said.

The solution, Stull said, is to create jobs and to “take a hard look at where we might be able to make cuts that hurt the fewest number of people … that’s going to be very difficult.”

Delegate Roger Manno, D-Montgomery, said he was aware that tax increases would not be a popular topic in the legislature this session, but didn’t see more budget cuts as a viable solution.

“We’ve cut all the fat off of the bone. More than that, we’re cutting into bone,” he said.

“We weren’t elected to do the right thing only in non-election years,” Manno said. “If we wait until 2011, it will get worse.”

The December murder of 11-year-old Sarah Haley Foxwell on the Eastern Shore is also likely to be a key issue this session. Thomas J. Leggs Jr., registered as a sex offender in both Maryland and Delaware, was charged Monday with kidnapping Foxwell.

“As the father of an 11-year-old-girl, it enraged me,” Busch said, in his address to the House. “There’s got to be better communication between the states when these predators are out on the streets.”

Delegate Andrew A. Serafini, D-Washington, said Foxwell’s death will affect many issues this session.

“It will be interesting to see how people vote this session considering it is an election year,” Serafini said.

Support the Republican Newspaper! Buy an online membership! Read the rest of the article here.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

Maryland Public Schools Once Again Rank Best In The Nation

Jan. 14, 2010

The Maryland public school system remains firmly at the head of the class, according to an independent national report being released today.
Education Week, the nation’s leading education newspaper, looked at data in six critical categories over the past two years, and once again placed Maryland’s state education system at the very top of national rankings.

Maryland placed at the top of the list in Education Week’s annual “Quality Counts” tally, with the nation’s only B+ average. New York and Massachusetts followed closely with B grades. The majority of states received grades of C or less, according to the report.

“We have chosen as a people to invest in our public schools – in the future of our State – even when times are tough,” said Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. “Today, Education Week, for the second straight year, has certified that Maryland has built the number-one public school system in America. Even during these difficult economic times, we’ve continued to fully fund efforts to build new, state-of-the-art classrooms, integrate curriculum across all grade levels, and hire and retain the nation’s best educators. Now, for yet another year, Education Week has affirmed the importance of protecting these shared priorities.”

Maryland’s 2010 ranking is based on state education policies and student performance that reflect nearly two decades of work on a preK-12 curriculum; state accountability and standards; teacher effectiveness; and work on school readiness, high school reform, and preparation for college and the workplace.

Support the Republican Newspaper! Buy an online membership! Read the rest of the article here.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

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