How Fairplay fire company benefits from Rotary Club grant
The Community Volunteer Fire Company of District 12 out of Fairplay in Washington County is pleased to announce that they were 1 of 25 Washington County charitable organizations to receive a grant from the Rotary Club of Hagerstown. The grants were awarded at a luncheon held on June 19 at the Morris Frock American Legion Post 42 in Hagerstown. Company 12 was awarded $1,000 from Hagerstown Rotary.
As a volunteer fire department, Company 12 relies on grants and donations to cover expenses for the purchase and maintenance of equipment for their firefighters, and for the upkeep of their fire department and banquet hall on Tilghmanton Road in Fairplay. The banquet hall is also an important source of fundraising, as they rent the hall to other groups and use it for their own fundraisers, including a monthly Bingo game, meat bash and a variety of other events.
Currently, Company 12 has embarked on a significant fundraising project to purchase a new fire truck — estimated cost of which is $898,000. They are also in the middle of their annual fund drive, proceeds from which go to support the invaluable efforts to protect the Fairplay community and surrounding area. You can go to their website to contribute to their worthy projects and to learn more about Company 12, including how you can become a member: www.fairplayvfc.com/ . Any contributions are greatly appreciated.
Pat Miller
Member, Company 12
Fairplay
Passing of SB25 is not good news for Pa. healthcare
Wake up Pa.! SB25 really?
On July 1, the Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee passed SB25, or did they? Read the amendment. It took out the entire SB25! What a setback. Obviously, those that voted for it know absolutely nothing about healthcare. You passed a completely different bill using the Full Practice Authority name. Really? I hope the “new and not improved” SB25 never passes. If it does, you will only make it more difficult for the disadvantaged.
A Rural Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner Health Care Access Program sounds awesome, but it is not. The bill only gives access to a population less than 291 per square mile. Yearly, the state will “recalculate” the population for that county. How does this help? So, if people move in and the population goes to 292 per square mile, does this mean those citizens lose their access to a healthcare provider? I have said it before, public officials have no worry about their healthcare because they have “privilege.” What about the rest of Pa. residents? Why not just fail SB25 and create a new one. Oh wait, that’s what happened incognito.
What happened is deceitful and another political under-table action. I applaud those who voted against the completely new bill. I encourage everyone to read it. The Pa. legislature again is denying access to health care. This “program” makes it impossible for any nurse practitioner to provide care with these restrictions in place. Or, maybe that was the intent. Pass a bill making it impossible to change how we practice. Who would want to open a practice only to have to reapply to the “program” every two years or hold your breath every year that you can still have a practice. If not, back to finding a collaborator. Oh yeah, you have to tell the patient, “I’m sorry, the state says there are too many people living in your county.”
I am so disappointed in our government. Of course, why should anyone be surprised or disappointed. Isn’t that what politicians do? Create a bubble of inclusion and access for themselves and keep everyone else under the thumb?
You have continually single-handedly destroyed access to healthcare. Is that the intent? Deliberate withholding of healthcare? A basic right of everyone, not just you.
What are you afraid of? Us giving better healthcare? That’s the difference we make. You obviously cannot say that in your current privileged political bubble.
Deb Nunemaker
Mont Alto, Pa.
Thank you to the volunteers, sponsors, donors of Franklin Couny book sale
On behalf of the Franklin County Friends of Legal Services, I want to thank everyone who contributed to the tremendous success of our 38th Annual Friends of Legal Services Book Sale last month. The sale was a wonderful community event, and all the proceeds will go to provide legal help in civil cases for low-income families and individuals in our area.
The local businesses and offices that served as donation sites, the hundreds of people who donated thousands of books, and the volunteers who transported, sorted, priced and sold them — all deserve our thanks and the thanks of the community. We are particularly grateful to the Fayetteville Elementary School for making its space available for the sale, and to Kegerreis Outdoor Advertising, GDC IT Solutions, the Franklin County Bar Foundation, F&M Trust, Classic Rock 94.3 WQCM, St. Thomas American Legion Post 612, and the law firm DiLoreto, Cosentino & Bolinger for their generous support as sponsors of the sale.
The dates for our 2025 sale have not yet been set, but please watch this publication or visit www.fcls.net for announcements regarding the book drive and the dates of the sale. In the meantime, if you have books to donate, or if you are interested in volunteering, please call us at 717-496-3364 or email legalservicesbooksale@gmail.com.
Sue DeVos
President
Franklin County Friends of Legal Services
Chambersburg, Pa.
Trump is lying about knowledge of Project 2025
Project 2025 is what Trump and the Federalist Society have planned if they take the presidency.
Trump is now saying he knows nothing about this. Just another lie — his three Supreme Court judges, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett are members of the Federalist Society.
Trump is only denying he knows anything about this because of all the negative blowback he is getting.
Patricia Taylor
Williamsport
Closing of Saint Maria Goretti can be traced to superintendent
Saint Maria Goretti locked its doors on June 30, 2024. We should all ponder why. Why are Loyola, Calvert Hall, Notre Dame, and Maryvale operating successfully in the Baltimore area? Archbishop Spalding has more than 1,200 students at its high school. All have tuition that is higher than Goretti. McDonogh is a private coed school with tuition more than double that of Goretti.
The answer is easy; it is called leadership. Dr. Joe Padasak was the superintendent of the Chambersburg, Pa. school district in Franklin County. It was one of five school districts. I tutored there for a number of years. Chambersburg was always the poorest of the five districts on standard test and SAT scores. It never improved. I was a witness to the reasons.
Goretti hired Padasak as its president/superintendent. Why the board at Goretti hired a failure I will never understand. His experience was in a public school. Padasak had none of the experience or the skills to run a private Catholic school. In 2018, Goretti's enrollment was 219 students. Under Padasak's leadership enrollment began a steady decline. The board could have corrected its hiring mistake in 2020 or 2021. The Archdiocese of Baltimore was forced to supply millions to pay the bills. Given the liabilities the Archdiocese already had, that was clearly unsustainable. But the board did not act.
In 2023, the Archdiocese announced it would stop supplying any money. As a result, Goretti announced it would close. By that time, Goretti's enrollment was down to 147 students, a decline of more than 33% from 2018.
Goretti graduated 36 students in 2024. That left 111 students who must find another school in order to complete their education. The board owes those victims along with their parents a letter of apology. I wonder if the letter will be forthcoming.
Len Lindenmeyer
Waynesboro, Pa.
Most Popular
Comments / 0