Nearly $1.7 million for Garrett Head Start
Elaine Blaisdell
OAKLAND — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded the Garrett County Community Action Committee with a $1,696,669 grant for Head Start. Head Start is a federal program that promotes school readiness for children under 5 from low-income households.
“Head Start is a major priority for Community Action and we have been working on it for a number of years,” said Duane Yoder, president of GCCAC.
The Head Start program runs from Feb. 1 to Jan. 30 and if it’s prorated it’s the largest grant that GCCAC has received, according to Yoder.
“Today’s announcement of the HHS Head Start grant for Garrett County Community Action is good news for my constituents in Maryland’s westernmost county,” said 6th District Congressman John Delaney on Monday. “Head Start is one of our most important federal programs because supporting early education clearly benefits both individual children and our society as a whole. Every child in America deserves a world-class education and an opportunity to pursue the American dream.
“I have been impressed by the work done by the Garrett County Community Action Committee, which is a tremendous on-the-ground resource for the people of Garrett County in implementing federal programs and helping people in need. Partnerships that combine federal resources with local expertise can often produce better results, especially with a dedicated staff such as the one at the GCCAC.”
GCCAC has an Early Head Start program which is for children up to age 3 and the Head Start program is for ages 3 to 4. The Early Head Start, which has 80 children enrolled, has the largest waiting list and the Head Start program has 220 children enrolled, according to Yoder.
“The Head Start school readiness scores for children coming out of Head Start, which is for low- to moderate-income students, are the same as the rest of the population. We are the only place in the state that has scores that are the same as the rest of the population,” said Yoder.
Last year, the Head Start program closed for a month due to the federal government sequestration and during that time the school readiness scores dropped, according to Yoder.
“We have worked very hard on this and have 11 different classes around the county and have infant home visiting,” said Yoder.
The majority of the classrooms are at the Dennett Road facility and there are classrooms at Friendsville, Grantsville, Accident, Kitzmiller, Crellin and the Overlook Child Development Center in Oakland.
Founded in 1965, GCCAC is a private nonprofit corporation that provides services to Garrett County residents. It is governed by a 15-member board of directors composed of community leaders. Delaney toured its headquarters in Oakland earlier this year and met with Yoder to discuss the organization’s needs and priorities.
Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com.
Garrett County B-52 crash to be commemorated
For the Cumberland Times-News
GRANTSVILLE — A B-52 bomber with a crew of five and two thermonuclear bombs crashed in a snow storm on Big Savage Mountain, near Grantsville, Garrett County, on January 13, 1964.
The result was a massive search for the location of the plane, and for the crew, four of whom had ejected from the plane.
The military was heavily involved in the search and rescue, but the people of Garrett and Allegany Counties in Maryland and Somerset County, Pennsylvania joined in to walk through deep snow looking for parachutes, plough the roads for the search personnel to travel more easily, run telephone line and feed the large number of people participating.
A collection of news stories is now online at digital.whilbr.org, the history website of Western Maryland Regional Library.
There are stories published at the time by the Cumberland newspapers, the Cumberland Evening Times, Cumberland News, Cumberland Sunday Times and later the Cumberland Times-News, together with The Republican from Oakland, Garrett County.
Both towns also reported on all commemorative events. In addition there are several in-depth articles about the events, bringing the perspective of time to the story.
The website allows one to see how the events of that very cold and eventful January were reported at the time, with the concern for human lives but also the initial fear of the potential nuclear threat that the bombs posed. One can read the stories chronologically, using the browse feature or search for an individual.
The crash of the B-52 will be commemorated Saturday, July 12, 2014 in Grantsville.
The stories are available at http://digital.whilbr.org or from the Allegany County Library System’s website http://www.alleganycountylibrary.info <http://www.relib.net> under “Research.”
The Whilbr website features images of original source documents from the collections of the public libraries, historical societies, and individuals in Western Maryland. Its purpose is to display Western Maryland-related historical documents, images, audio, and video.
Western Maryland Regional Library provides support and materials for the continued enhancement of resources available through the Allegany County Library System, the Ruth Enlow Library of Garrett County, and the Washington County Free Library System.
New listing! 711 Lakeshore Drive - 6BR, Type A dock, sandy beach area, all day sun & sunsets - GA8388900
| Property Type: Single Family-Detached | ||
| 6 | 4 Full/1 Half | |
| 32,460 Sq. Ft. | 3,484 (approx) | 1995 |
| Yes- 2 spaces | 3 | |
| CALL SCHOOL BOARD | SOUTHERN MIDDLE | SOUTHERN HIGH SCHOOL |
| Bathrooms | |||
| 4 | 1 | ||
| Fee Simple |
| 1218028840 |
| $9,743 |
| 2013
Much more here. |
New listing! 1333 Deep Creek Drive - Lakefront townhome- Mountain View - GA8385901
| Property Type: Single Family-Attached | ||
| 3 | 3 Full | |
| 1,563 (approx) | 1989 | 3 |
| CALL SCHOOL BOARD | NORTHERN | NORTHERN GARRETT HIGH |
| Bathrooms | |||
| 3 | |||
| Condo |
| 1218054639 |
| $4,619 |
| 2013 |
Much more here.
New listing! 2474 Marsh Hill Road - 4/5 BR log chalet with dock - GA8385918
| Property Type: Single Family-Detached | ||
| 4 | 4 Full/1 Half | |
| 47,480 Sq. Ft. | 3,600 (approx) | 2001 |
| Yes- 1 space | 3 | |
| CALL SCHOOL BOARD | ||
| Bathrooms | |||
| 4 | 1 | ||
| $883 Annually |
| Fee Simple |
| 1218048116 |
| $5,409 |
| 2013 |
A Different Kind of Rainbow
A different kind of rainbow was on display following one of the fundraising events that was part of the annual William G. Weissgerber Benefit Golf Tournament, held Friday and Saturday in McHenry and in Oakland. This photo was taken at the conclusion of the 5-K Color Run, during which participants were coated with colored dye. With the rainbow known as a symbol of hope, the 5-K run specifically raised funds for Samantha for the Arts, a program founded in memory of Samantha Gibson that provides additional arts funding in the local school system. The WGW tournament, and various other companion fundraising activities, supports not only Samantha for the Arts, but also Landon’s Library and the Andrew Woods Memorial Scholarship program. According to tournament organizers, the overall effort once again yielded proceeds of approximately $100,000, but the final tally had not yet been tabulated by presstime today. The winning golf tournament team and other tournament results can be found in today’s sports pages.
