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First Day of Summer 2010 - continued :)

I promised earlier this week that I would have some photos of ‘Fergy Family Fun Day’ on the first day of summer. Between swimming, boating, discovering (at the Deep Creek Discovery Center), beaching and dinner, we had an incredible first day of summer! I LOVE DEEP CREEK!@!@!@!

Here are some pics:








If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350 Deep Creek Lake Info, Business Directories, Classified Ads, Events & more! Advertise on http://www.deepcreekalive.com/!

United Way funding to target homelessness

For the Cumberland Times-News

Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — More than $150,000 in County United Way funding will be spent to combat homelessness and implement programs for children in response to needs that were identified by community members during the past year.

As part of the agency’s new Community Impact Funding program, organizations applying for funds in Allegany, Garrett, Mineral and Hampshire counties were required to address these key issues as well as collaborate with other agencies to create innovative programs.

“We have been working on achieving Community Impact Funding for the past three years,” said Tom Dowdell, president of the Board of Directors for County United Way. “We certainly recognize that County United Way cannot solve these problems alone, but we can serve as a catalyst in the process and partner in the discussion with others who may be in the best position to meet these critical needs for each community.”

A Community Summit occurred in 2009 with 104 participants focused on determining critical needs for their respective counties. Allegany County prioritized programs to address homelessness while Garrett, Hampshire and Mineral counties agreed to target after-school and summer programs for children.

Allegany County received two proposals for homeless programs with a total award of $97,875 and Garrett County received two proposals for after-school and summer programs amounting to $13,769. Both Mineral and Hampshire counties received four proposals for student programs and were awarded $27,182 and $10,413, respectively.

Betsey Hurwitz-Schwab, chairwoman of the Executive Committee for Allegany County and a member of the Community Impact Task Force said, “The United Way’s goal is to create long-lasting changes by addressing the underlying causes of these problems in our communities.”

County United Way Executive Director Mary Beth Pirolozzi explained the concept behind Community Impact Funding. “We were challenged by our donors and the community to find the best ideas to strengthen and improve our community. As greater needs are presented, donors ask what we are doing to reduce or eliminate the underlying causes of those needs.”

The United Way commissioned a community needs assessment using a public meeting approach. Nine one-hour meetings were held in all areas served by CUW with more than 200 community members participating.

Pam Jan, Community Impact Task Force member and an Executive Committee member for Mineral County, commented on the future of County United Way. “We are very excited about the new direction our local counties have chosen to pursue. As always, donors to the United Way can designate funds for a favorite organization. But we believe this way of allocating resources will make a greater positive impact on our community.”

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

Deep Creek Lake Info, Business Directories, Classified Ads, Events & more! Advertise on http://www.deepcreekalive.com/!

New low price, adjacent to Broadford Park

1104 ALEXANDER LN
OAKLAND, MD 21550
GA7297438

Tastefully updated colonial on quiet cul-de-sac, backs to Broadford Lake park. Move-in ready! Fresh paint inside/out, re-carpeted, new kitchen in Oct 08: cherry cabinets & granite tops. Dining, family room, library, 1/2 bath & deck access on 1st floor. A tranquil 2nd floor master suite w/ 2 walk-in closets, en-suite bath & deck with views. Lower level boasts new media room! Perfect entertaining!

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350 Deep Creek Lake Info, Business Directories, Classified Ads, Events & more! Advertise on http://www.deepcreekalive.com/!

Water permit ‘one step closer’ to Casselman mine opening

Kevin Spradlin
Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — The Casselman Mine is “one step closer to opening” after the Maryland Department of the Environment approved the operator’s application for a water appropriation and use permit.

Joseph Peles, managing member of Maryland Energy Resources LLC, made the statement in an e-mail to the Times-News in response to an inquiry about the issue.

The permit is effective July 1, but the timeline of when Maryland Energy Resources might begin work remained uncertain as of Tuesday afternoon. The proposed underground mine in Grantsville is comprised of more than 4,600 acres and includes 15 million tons of recoverable coal.

The permit authorizes the company to withdraw a daily average of 342,000 gallons of water on a yearly basis. The water, to be taken from the coal seam of the Allegheny formation, is to be used for dust suppression and dewatering of a deep coal mine.

“This is the final agency determination,” said Jay Apperson, a spokesman with MDE. “There is no further opportunity for administrative review.”

There are, however, at least two more potential roadblocks which the Indiana, Pa.-based company needs to clear.

First, MDE has yet to rule on the company’s application for a surface water permit. Approximately 100 people attended a public hearing last month about that issue. Second, an interested party can petition for judicial review in Garrett County Circuit Court, Apperson said.

Under the water appropriation and use permit issued June 17 to Maryland Energy Resources, officials from MDE’s Water Management Administration may conduct inspections and evaluations to ensure permit compliance. The company must submit semiannual withdrawal reports to MDE.

Water withdrawal must begin within two years of the permit’s issuance or the permit will expire.

The company is responsible for providing a temporary replacement for any residential or commercial water supply that might be “unreasonably interrupted as a result of this water appropriation.” If that fails to resolve the situation, the company must provide a permanent replacement “of a quality and in sufficient quantity for the required uses within a reasonable length of time, not to exceed 90 days.”

Short- and long-term fixes would be installed at the expense of Maryland Energy Resources.

If a private well or spring is “unreasonably impacted” by mining operations, the company is to provide a new or retrofitted well.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350 Deep Creek Lake Info, Business Directories, Classified Ads, Events & more! Advertise on http://www.deepcreekalive.com/!

Garrett County farm owner charged with animal cruelty

From Staff Reports
Cumberland Times-News

GORMAN — Authorities have filed charges against the owner of 26 starving horses that were found on a farm in Gorman.

Denise Lohr of the Garrett County Humane Society said Richard Friend of Oakland faces 18 counts of animal cruelty. Lohr said authorities planned to serve Friend with the charges Tuesday.

Friend has not responded to an interview request from the Times-News.

The Humane Society took possession of the horses, as well as 18 cows and six goats May 13. Lohr said one horse had to be euthanized, but the rest of the animals are recovering. It was the largest number of animals ever seized by the county Humane Society in a single incident.

An investigation of the King Wildesen Road property turned up skulls and other remains of at least 17 animals in various stages of decomposition.

The live horses are being kept at Days End Farm to recover, with the goal of adopting them out when they are healthy. The cattle and goats are being kept on another farm adjacent to the Days End Farm Horse Rescue in Woodbine.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350 Deep Creek Lake Info, Business Directories, Classified Ads, Events & more! Advertise on http://www.deepcreekalive.com/!

Latest News: Condo Financing - Resort Life Blog

From the Resort Life Blog:

This article offers a great summary of the new FHA lending rules for condos. It was printed on 20 June 2010, The Atlanta Journal – Constitution (Gary A. Poliakoff, Ryan Poliakoff).

New FHA lending rules for condos could stall the housing recovery: Restrictions open door to heavier weight being placed on owners. Commercial activity limits will add to crisis.
In February, the Federal Housing Administration passed a new set of lending guidelines that removes the long-standing “spot approval” process for FHA-insured condominium loans, and enacts stringent new requirements for projects to be approved on a propertywide basis.

While these new guidelines purport to make the loan approval process simpler, they will dramatically reduce the market for the glut of unsold and abandoned condominium units. And, while the new rules attempt to shield the FHA from the vagaries of the real estate crash, they are likely to have the opposite effect, restricting the overall U.S. recovery and preventing the FHA from building a stable inventory.

Before Feb. 1, 2010, condominium buyers looking for approval of an FHA-insured condominium loan were able to file paperwork for each unit individually, with a determination of suitability made on a per-unit basis. The new guidelines require preapproval of the entire building, ultimately removing the spot-approval process. The FHA has issued new rules that will determine whether a condominium project can be approved, and unless the property passes muster, FHA approved loans will not be available to buyers.

These regulations cast an extremely wide net. It is currently estimated that the FHA insures more than 20 percent of all loans. FHA-backed loans are attractive to buyers — they have lower down payment requirements and often better lending terms.

And in some areas of the country, especially in metropolitan and resort areas, condominiums account for a large percentage of the total home marketplace. It is believed that condominium speculation was a large contributing factor to the housing bubble and crash, and a huge backlog of units remains unsold (which continues to drag down the recovery).

In order to recover, our economy needs a correction in the supply and demand ratio for condominium properties. The federal government should therefore be easing lending requirements for the condominiums, which would allow well-qualified buyers and investors to clear the backlog and start the market flowing again.

Unfortunately, the authors of the new guidelines appear to be out of touch with the current realities in the marketplace, and especially the severity at which condominiums have been hit by the housing crisis, as some of the following new rules will be nearly impossible to achieve for the majority of condominiums.

1. Maintain a reserve equal to 10 percent of the annual budget.

Even completely healthy condominium properties often fail to maintain a reserve of this size, and in many states, condominium owners may chose to waive collection of reserves entirely. A truly distressed property, one that needs the government’s help, will never be able to budget for basic services (such as water and garbage) and still maintain appropriate reserves. Reserves are kept for emergencies — many communities have actually used their reserves to weather the current crisis.

2. Make sure that no more than 15 percent of owners are more than 30 days late on condominium fees.

Again, this is a guideline that seems ignorant of reality — in the current economic environment, even healthy properties can have delinquency rates over 15 percent, and the vast majority of distressed condominiums will never reach this threshold.

There are struggling-but-functional condominiums in the country today where over half of the units do not pay maintenance, but the solution to this problem is to get the abandoned units into the hands of new buyers—not to preclude the entire property from one of the country’s most popular loan programs. This single guideline realistically exempts every single property that the government desperately needs to assist.

3. Assure that no more than 10 percent of the units are held by a single investor.

Not only is this guideline misguided, but it conflicts with the current trend in state law, where states are actually making it easier for investors to buy large numbers of unsold units. Abandoned or empty, ownerless properties contribute nothing to a condominium, and force the other owners to foot the bill.

When investor-owners purchase large blocks of units in distressed condominiums, they have legal responsibilities to pay maintenance on those units and contribute to the upkeep of the property. That’s a good outcome for distressed communities — the FHA guideline, which would block this practice, is perplexing.

4. Have no more than 25 percent of the space used for commercial activity.

Many extremely successful condominiums, especially in large cities such as New York, are designed with large percentages of commercial space — the rents paid can reduce dramatically the maintenance load on owners. The commercial owners attract buyers to the condominium, particularly those who appreciate the convenience of having in-building amenities such as restaurants, shopping and entertainment. Again, this guideline appears to ignore marketplace realities and blocks help for distressed properties that could otherwise be quite successful.

There are other perfectly reasonable qualifications in the new FHA rules (allowing lenders to review association insurance policies and financials, requiring fidelity insurance, etc.), but the guidelines above may have significant unintended negative effects on the housing market, blocking the vast majority of distressed condominium units from federal assistance and leaving millions of owners to the whims of the marketplace.

Original Format: http://www.ajc.com/info/content/services/info/reprint2.html [http://www.ajc.com/info/content/services/info/reprint2.html]

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350 Deep Creek Lake Info, Business Directories, Classified Ads, Events & more! Advertise on http://www.deepcreekalive.com/!

Deep Creek program in search of volunteers

From Staff Reports
Cumberland Times-News

OAKLAND — Friends of Deep Creek Lake needs volunteers for its Off Your Dock program, which begins Saturday.

Lake users with access to a dock are asked to sample turbidity, which is the suspended sediment in the water from stream runoff and shoreline erosion. The group seeks volunteers from a couple of docks in each cove and others areas around the lake.

The group is concerned with the lack of research being done in the zone from the shoreline to 100 feet beyond.

Equipment and training will be provided for samples to be taken twice a week. Participants who have to be away can have the samples taken for them during that time period.

To volunteer, e-mail contact@friendsofdcl.org; call (301) 873-1519; or write to 779 Chadderton School Road, Oakland MD 21550.

Donations are needed to purchase the equipment, with kits costing from $45 to $115 depending on their contents.

Friends of Deep Creek Lake is also planning a Forum on the State of the Lake to be held Aug. 7. The Maryland Department of the Environment is conducting a study on phosphorous in the lake watershed. High levels of phosphorous release nutrients that result in growth of submerged vegetation and algal blooms, contributing to the decline of water quality.

The forum will include a presentation on the study. The community forum is underwritten in part by funds from the Chesapeake Bay Trust and is the focal point of the Friends’ work with the University of Maryland, Center for Environmental Studies. A report card on the lake will be forthcoming in the fall.

House meetings to learn of concerns of property owners are scheduled in the Hickory Lane, Hickory Ridge and Turkey Neck Loop areas. Anyone interested in hosting such a meeting in other areas of the lake is asked to contact Friends of Deep Creek Lake.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350 Deep Creek Lake Info, Business Directories, Classified Ads, Events & more! Advertise on http://www.deepcreekalive.com/!

98 Md. high schools ranked in U.S. survey

State’s percentage is highest on magazine’s top-1,600 high school list
By Liz Bowie, The Baltimore Sun

Maryland claimed 98 spots on Newsweek’s annual list of top high schools in the country, and no other state had a higher percentage of its schools make the list.

More than half of the state’s 185 high schools were considered good enough to be ranked, according to state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick.

The rating system, developed by Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews, includes an index that measures the number of graduates who take challenging Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes and exams. Because Maryland has been placing a priority on training teachers and getting students to take the exams for the past decade, public schools tend to do well on this ranking system.

Only 6 percent, or 1,600, of the 27,000 high schools in the country make the list.

Read the rest here.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350 Deep Creek Lake Info, Business Directories, Classified Ads, Events & more! Advertise on http://www.deepcreekalive.com/!

Welcome to summer 2010 - Deep Creek Lake state park

85 degrees and sunny at the DCL state park. To celebrate the first day of summer, my family and I took a boat ride, went swimming in Mchenry Cove and by the state park bridge. We stopped by the Discovery Center to see the exhibits and then hit the beach for some sun and sand! Next up, Arrowhead by boat for dinner 🙂

Many more pictures to follow later on 🙂

Enjoy your summer!!!

Sent from my U.S. Cellular BlackBerry® smartphone

Marcellus Shale Documentary on HBO tonight

A new documentary on US natural gas companies leasing land to drill for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale area. Good information on drilling pro & con.

HBO Monday 6/21 9:00 pm

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350 Deep Creek Lake Info, Business Directories, Classified Ads, Events & more! Advertise on www.DeepCreekAlive.com!