Commissioners Announce Plans For DCL Emergency Numbering System
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Aug. 19, 2010
Garrett County government is teaming with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to develop and distribute address signs around the Deep Creek Lake shoreline, the county commissioners announced on Tuesday.
The signs, which will be affixed to docks, allow emergency personnel to identify and relate a location on Deep Creek Lake to be a landmark, enabling responders to reach an incident without unnecessary delays.
Numerous calls for assistance come from boaters using cell phones, and determining a precise location of the caller is difficult, according to Director Brad Frantz, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Management,
“Presently, our 9-1-1 call-takers get information from such calls that display longitude and latitude,” Frantz said. “While this gives us a general location of an incident, with all the inlets and coves around the lake, it may not be precise enough to approach the call from the correct road. This can result in delays for fire, EMS, or police units.”
Community Calendar - August 20-22 2010
Town of Oakland
08/20/2010 – 08/21/2010
9:00am Come get great bargains and support the Rescue Squad. Lots of school clothes and other items will be available.
Aug 20th – Aug 21st
Starts at 9:00 am
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Music at Penn Alps Concert Series
Penn Alps Restaurant & Craft Shop
Ten concerts will be presented at MPA’s regular venue at Penn Alps, Grantsville, and two concerts at Windsor Hall in Cumberland. All concerts begin at 7:30 PM on Saturday evenings.
Event Website: http://www.musicatpennalps.org
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Celebrate Kids Day!
Tourism Events
08/21/2010
noon – 6 pm, Ridegeview Valley. CELEBRATE KIDS DAY is an opportunity for kids to play outside, enjoy the countryside and be the focus of attention all afternoon. We plan to have games, a petting zoo, fire trucks, State Police demonstrations, celebrities and much, much more.
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Mountain Fresh Farmers Market – Oakland
Mountain Fresh Farmers Markets
Join us in downtown Oakland for a homegrown farmers market including fresh produce, baked goods, jams & jellies, crafts, personal care items, goat cheeses, and more!
Wednesdays & Saturdays 10 am to 1 pm
June 5 through October 30
Aug 21st
Starts at 10:00 am , Lasts 3 Hours
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New listing: renovated waterfont cottage, type A dock
Listing # GA7418006 $569,000
179 Doc Thompson Rd
Vintage lakefront cottage on a grassy, level lot @ southern shores of Deep Creek Lake. The original cottage has been totally gutted and restored from the studs in! Modernized in virtually every way, the house overlooks a rare, undeveloped lakefront setting. Type A dock, dead-end road, storage building & a peaceful cove. Move-in condition, well-insulated (R19) for year-round use. Hot tub! Sunsets!
Deep Creek numbering docks to assist emergency providers
Officials hope system will better pinpoint incident locations
Megan Miller
Cumberland Times-News
— DEEP CREEK LAKE — A new feature required for docks at Deep Creek Lake could help emergency services personnel respond more quickly to situations on the lake.
In the coming months, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources will distribute a sign bearing a unique number to every dock at the lake. The numbers are individual 911 addresses specific to each dock.
The addresses and signs are intended to provide landmarks for the public and emergency services to pinpoint specific locations on the lake, according to Brad Frantz, director of the county Department of Public Safety and Emergency Management.
Frantz said it’s proved difficult to determine the exact location of people who call for help from cell phones while on the lake. That forces emergency responders to waste critical minutes searching for the correct route.
“Presently, our 911 call-takers get information from such calls that display longitude and latitude,” Frantz said in a prepared statement. “While this gives us a general location … it may not be precise enough to approach the call from the correct road. This can result in delays for fire, EMS or police units.”
Each dock’s location will be plotted in the 911 center’s computer-aided dispatch equipment, which will allow emergency services to determine the fastest route to reach it.
The address numbers will be based on mileage along the lake shore, using the dam as a start and end point. That means that the numbers will reflect each dock’s specific distance from the dam.
The numbering system will be similar to the system used to assign address numbers to buildings. Each one-tenth of a mile equals 100 increments in the address number. For example, a Sand Flat Road home located exactly one mile from the road’s starting point will have an address of 1000 Sand Flat Road.
In the same way, a dock that is exactly one shore mile from the dam will have an address number of 1000.
The dock addresses have no relationship to the 911 addresses of buildings on shore.
DNR will act as the enforcement agency to ensure dock signs are displayed. That agency will also be responsible for maintaining the signs, Frantz said, including rearranging signs if a dock is moved.
The joint project between Garrett County government and DNR will cost approximately $14,000, split equally between the two entities. Garrett County’s $7,000 portion will be paid through an allocation from the state Emergency Number Systems Board’s trust fund. The fund is fed by a fee tacked onto the phone bill of every customer in the state, and the money is only used for 911-related projects.
Frantz said the timeframe for distributing the signs is tentative and based on how quickly the vendor can make them.
Gearing up to go camping - Baltimore Sun blog
A Swallow Falls & Deep Creek Lake mention 🙂
Susan Reimer – Baltimore Sun
August 19, 2010
I am not very fond of camping. And I am not very good at the principal requirements of camping: not bathing for several days, finding my way to the bathroom in the dark, cooking over an open flame and sleeping on the ground.
But if you ever go camping, you might want to have me with you. What I am missing in fire-starting, I make up for in list-writing. Go camping with me, and you will never be without something you need.
My husband’s brother, Dan, and his young family love camping, and they began to invite us empty-nesters a few years ago. Not wishing to betray our age or our sedentary lifestyle, we agreed with weak smiles.
Sign up for Entertainment text alerts and you could win 4 tickets to see Justin Bieber at the Md. State Fair
When it became clear that this would not be the last invitation to camp — and not having had such a bad time after all — I did what I usually do when presented with a new task or activity: I researched the living daylights out of camping.
My first step was to take my reporter’s notebook and tour the campground, noting what other camping families considered essential: rope on which to hang wet clothes, for example. And I made notes of everything Jill, my brother-in-law’s capable wife, had in her camping arsenal.
On my way home from that trip to Swallow Falls near Deep Creek Lake, I found a discount store and filled my cart with just about everything on my list. (I planned to search for recommendations and bargains on the big-ticket items, such as a tent, sleeping bags, air mattresses and stove.)
Inside the Mind of an Appraiser
Great article & video sent to me by a good friend:
by Stefanos Chen, posted Aug 12th 2010 6:37PM
First impressions are everything in real estate — a fact Paul Isolda, an appraiser with 22 years of experience, knows all too well. Isolda has seen every home staging disaster under the sun, from tacky cabinetry to dingy flooring. One discerning glance from him could mean a final appraisal worth thousands less-or more-than the price you put on your property. That’s why AOL Real Estate’s What Works Now enlisted his help to share all the dos-and countless don’ts-that go into a successful home sale.
The most important thing to keep top of mind, says Isolda, is to see things from the eyes of a prospective buyer who ultimately want to make a home their own. That’s why one of the most sought after features homebuyers look for is a kitchen stocked with sturdy granite counter tops — they’re simple, elegant, and allow the buyer to play with a blank canvas.
That said, not all renovations are smart ones. “If you overspend on a kitchen or bath renovation,” Isolda says, “you’re less likely to recoup that investment on the market.” Keep in mind that the value of your home is tied directly to the property value of surrounding houses. Before splurging on a major remodeling project, Isolda suggests you find out the value of comparable homes in the neighborhood, as your price will vary relative to their worth.
Surprisingly, says Isolde, “You don’t want to be the best house on the block-your neighbors are pulling your value down.” Instead, he says, “you’d actually prefer to be the worst house on the block, because then your neighbors are pulling your value up.” So before investing in that new chandelier, find out how your house ranks among your neighbors. You might just be better off investing in a new paint job, fixing a sidewalk, or re-wiring your home.
Be on the lookout for kids returning to schools
Cumberland Times-News
— Students will be returning to area schools within the next few days, so motorists will need to be on the lookout for them.
This will be particularly true during the morning and afternoon hours, and to be aware of increasing traffic congestion in and around schools and the neighborhoods in which they are located.
Tomorrow will be the first day for students in Mineral County, W.Va. Hampshire County, W.Va., students will return to schools on Aug. 23. Allegany County schools start Aug. 24, and Garrett County begins the new year on Aug. 25.
Just as drivers are urged to be alert, parents should tell their children about some safety tips as they head back to school. Children are unpredictable and not always mindful of traffic safety.
AAA says parents should tell their children to always obey crossing guards, look both ways each time they cross the street, use crosswalks and corners to cross the roads even when cars are not around, not to run or rush, and to remember that motorists can’t always see them.
They also need to know that they are no match for cars, which are are bigger and faster than they are,
For their part, motorists should slow down and obey the speed limits, particularly in school zones and residential neighborhoods, and be prepared to stop quickly for school buses.
The law forbids motorists from driving around stopped school buses, something that has proved fatal for children in our area.
Drivers also should avoid unnecessary distractions. It’s already illegal to text while driving in Maryland, and it soon will be illegal to talk on cell phones.
If possible, drivers also should modify their routes to avoid school zones altogether.
Price Reductions - Real Estate for Sale - Garrett County
GA7364174
209 2ND ST
OAKLAND, MD 21550
Now $199,000
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GA7347519
267 FIRESIDE RD
OAKLAND, MD 21550
Now $329,900
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GA7381957
442 Deer Run Rd – Sky Valley
Swanton MD 21561
Now $419,500
Local Real Estate Market Update - Garrett County
Some of the stats:
- Closed sales is up 7.4% (YTD), 18.2% in July
- Pending Sales is up 9.6% (YTD), 22.2% in July
- Median Sales Price -4% (YTD), -1.4% in July
- % of Original Price – 0.6%(YTD), +0.2% in July
- Average Days on Market +3.8% (YTD), +49.6% July
Gnegy says office should have ‘personal presence’
Jeffrey Alderton
Cumberland Times-News
— OAKLAND — If elected as sheriff of Garrett County, Republican candidate Larry E. Gnegy would “maintain a personal presence in the community.”
A retired captain who served more than 27 years with the Garrett County Sheriff’s Office following five years as an Oakland City Police officer, Gnegy is a former criminal and narcotics investigator and jail administrator who worked in every aspect of the sheriff’s office operation. Following retirement in July 2007, Gnegy worked as a security consultant for several months at Garrett College prior to being appointed as a special police officer in Garrett County District Court where he currently serves as a bailiff.
“The sheriff is elected by the people to serve the people. The best way to do that is to maintain a personal presence in the county and to keep contact with the people in the county,” said Gnegy, who ran for sheriff in Garrett County in 2006. He said he lost the primary election by 15 votes and failed in his bid as a write-in candidate in the general election by 133 votes.
“The personal contact is something that has not been done enough in the last several terms, and it’s something we need to get back to,” he said. He also invited citizens to visit his website, www.larrygnegy.com
“We want the public to know who we are, what we are and what we can do, and make their choice for the next sheriff,” he said. If elected, Gnegy said he would name George “Butch” Zimmerman as his chief deputy. Zimmerman is a retired Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police officer with 26 years’ service and a native of Garrett County.
Gnegy also said he would work to improve the sheriff’s office relationship with Maryland State Police and allied law enforcement agencies.
The Garrett Bureau of Investigation is a “good idea” that worked much better when Maryland state troopers from McHenry worked in the unit, he said. “They had a high rate of closure of cases,” he said, indicating he would continue the GBI operation with the help of state police.
“We have some work to do in re-establishing relationships with Maryland State Police and all allied law enforcement agencies.”
He said he wants to improve morale of the officers in the sheriff’s office. “Taking care of the officers is a priority and that will help improve morale.” He said he would also look at scheduling of officers and attempt to obtain grant funds that would help improve officers’ compensation.
Gnegy also said he sees a need for improvement in media relations. “We would like the media to be an advocate rather than an adversary,” he said. Publicizing most wanted fugitives in local newspapers is another idea that Gnegy would like to implement.
If elected, he would seek to establish a fire police unit as part of the sheriff’s office, similar to Allegany County’s Fire Police, if there is enough interest in the idea.
“I think it would be a great asset to assist fire departments, traffic accident scenes and emergency situations,” said Gnegy.
As for any new hires in the office, Gnegy said he would “prefer looking for officers who are local residents who are looking for a career in law enforcement.” At the same time, Gnegy complimented the men and women who work in the sheriff’s office, calling it a “great department.”
“If elected, I will get in there and evaluate the whole program. I’m sure there are things that we can do to work things better,” he said.
Concerning the jail, Gnegy said the office will “have to work with what we have.” He also welcomed some improvements currently being made at the detention center in Oakland.
Gnegy would also like to establish an inmate work program in connection with the State Highway Administration. He said such a program existed in the past in the sheriff’s office and was successful.
Gnegy worked for six sheriffs during his career. He was hired by Sheriff John “June” Evans, who was succeeded by Frank Finch, Van Evans, Randy Sines, Dick Sanders and current sheriff Gary Berkebile, who is not seeking re-election.
Gnegy resides in Loch Lynn with his wife, Jerry.
