Community News

The first meeting of 2007 for the Morgan County Historical and Genealogical Society will be Wednesday, April 11, at 1 p.m. in the social room of the First United Methodist Church of Green Street in Berkeley Springs.

The executive committee will meet at 12:30 p.m. just prior to the meeting of the full membership. This meeting will also be in the social room of First United Methodist Church.

President, Morgan County Planning Commission

Puffenberger

A public meeting to update citizens concerned with the intersex and fish kill situations in the South Branch of the Potomac will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, April 10 at the Moorefield Middle School.

The meeting is sponsored by the West Virginia Department of Enviromental Protection, (DEP) Division of Natural Resources and the Potomac Water Watch.

Over 100 community cleanups have been organized for the 2007 West Virginia Make It Shine Statewide Cleanup. The event is scheduled for the first two weeks of April and is sponsored by the Department of Environmental Protection's REAP program and the Division of Highways.

Beginning April 1 through April 15, the WV Make It Shine program will provide resources such as cleanup materials, hauling and landfill fees to citizens volunteering to conduct litter cleanups on streams and public lands.

The new $3.1 million, 17,980 square-foot Rankin Physical Therapy and Fitness Center opened on Monday, April 2. The facility is located in Berkeley Springs off U.S. Route 522 South on Fitness Lane just below the Best Western Inn.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Rankin Physical Therapy and Fitness Center is planned for Wednesday, April 11 at 2 p.m. Governor Joe Manchin is scheduled to attend. An open house is set for Saturday, April 14 from 12 to 3 p.m. Light refreshments will be served at both events.

by Kate Shunney

After running her Fairfax Street spa and bath shop for nearly 15 years, Maria Spencer has sold The Bath House to a Morgantown couple who fell in love with Berkeley Springs and wanted to relocate here.

Area bluegrass band New Moon will officially debut their new album with a CD release party this Saturday night, April 17, at The Troubadour near Berkeley Springs.

Called New Moon – what else? – the disc includes 15 songs that range from lively bluegrass and folk standards, such as "Saro Jane," to ballads like "My Heart Never Lies."

Out in Cold Run Valley, there was an auction at Coolfont last Wednesday. Everything was sold. When I arrived at about 11 in the morning, people were already carrying chairs and tables and dishes out to their vehicles. Inside, I watched as the auctioneer moved swiftly from room to room. It took two minutes to sell a mountain of wooden coathangers for $16.

After an hour, without buying anything, I drove up to the little house on the mountainside where Sam Ashelman lives now. He was sitting by a window. I described the scene at the auction to the man who had established Coolfont in 1961 and ran it for more than 40 years before selling it a year or so ago.

Bohrer-Malmquist

Becky and Eddie Bohrer of Shepherdstown, W.Va., announce the engagement of their daughter, Michelle McKinley Bohrer to Brian Eric Malmquist, son of Kathy and Terry Malmquist of Valparaiso, Ind.