News Articles

Nearly a dozen county residents urged planners to exercise caution when considering Coolfont redevelopment plans and cluster housing rules during the September 25 meeting of the Morgan County Planning Commission.

The board took a second look at rules for mixed-type residential subdivisions at the Tuesday meeting.

The coverage area of a high-speed broadband wireless Internet access system being deployed in Morgan County is expanding. The system is being installed by World Airwaves of Winchester, which is a subsidiary of Visual Link of Winchester. The broadband system will operate primarily on the 2.4 gigahertz frequency.

The Morgan County Commission had contracted with World Airwaves more than a year ago to put in the broadband wireless system. The county will receive a 10% fee of the revenues to compensate for the use of public lands and equipment.

Morgan County Planning Commission president Jack Soronen opened the September 25 meeting by focusing attention on the 11 members of the volunteer board.

Soronen, who has served on the board for 10 years, briefly introduced each of the members.

The Town of Bath Streetscape Committee is sending out a request this week to potential bidders for the design of a comprehensive streetscape plan and specifications for work on Wilkes, Congress and Independence streets as the first part of the project.

Committee members received approval to begin the process from West Virginia Division of Highways last week. A legal advertisement for consultant services is also being placed in local newspapers.

Design firms have been chosen for the new Morgan County War Memorial Hospital.

Perkins and Will, Inc. of Washington, D.C. will be the architectural firm and Valley Engineering is approved as the civil engineering firm, said Hospital Administrator John Borg.

You'd expect the county's top teacher to be dynamic and caring, excited about students and willing to do whatever it takes to help kids succeed. Someone willing to go the extra mile, so to speak.

That describes Dixie Deering pretty well, though the platitudes don't seem quite strong enough to capture the passion and effort she puts into her work as a special education teacher.

Maryland highway engineers are taking a closer look this week at what appear to be patched cracks in the support structure of the U.S. 522 Bridge over the Potomac River at Hancock.

The inspection was sparked by a photo taken by Pete Denzer, former reporter for The Hancock News and Morgan Messenger. Denzer snapped pictures of the bridge supports from the Western Maryland Rail Trail in Hancock on Monday, September 17.

Berkeley Springs resident John Petersen urged the Morgan County Commissioners to pursue energy efficiency in the new courthouse design.

Petersen strongly encouraged the commissioners to spend time exploring alternative energy sources such as geothermal heating and cooling for the courthouse complex.

Councilman David Crosby proposed that Town of Bath buy a new garbage truck and increase garbage pickup rates by 10% to help pay for it.

Crosby, who chairs the town's Finance Committee, made the proposals at the September 18 meeting of the Bath Town Council.

Assessor John Allen Swaim is trying to take back his "no contest" plea to a charge of making false application for an infant's lifetime hunting license last winter.

Swaim filed a petition in Morgan County Circuit Court, asking the circuit judge to allow him to withdraw his "no contest" plea and enter a "not guilty" plea so the case can go to trial.