The Endicott Enquirer News from the Southern Tier

10Oct/091

Leaving Hagertucky

I didn't really think I would be saying this, not for a long time anyways, but I will be leaving Hagertucky for New York at the end of this month. I never really planned on leaving to tell you the truth, I love it here and I like having farms all around me but in the industry I work in you have to follow the jobs to some extent. Someday I hope to return but for now I need to move on and continue to develop my career. I guess that means I will be changing my blog as well, not that I will ever give up Hagertucky since I do think I will come back some day.

Oh yeah, and if you are in the market for a house, let me know. I need to sell mine...

12Sep/090

From the Herald Mail Letters – Don’t Brainwash Our Kids! Signed the TEA Party

Thanks to school system for not showing speech

To the editor:

The Hagerstown TEA Party thanks Washington County Public Schools Superintendent Elizabeth Morgan and the school system for listening to parents and for providing a common-sense solution regarding Tuesday's speech to students by President Obama.

With this decision, the school system empowered parents to make decisions regarding whether or not their children would view the president's speech. This decision allowed parents to watch the program with their children and have a healthy discussion afterward.

Red flags regarding the speech appeared when the press found out the U.S. Board of Education was asking students to "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the President." Workbooks and activities have since been modified to remove objectionable content. We are thankful this partisan politicization has been exposed and removed from the U.S. Board of Education's curriculum guidelines.

Locally, the superintendent of schools has made the right decision to not politicize the school system by airing President Obama's speech live. It appears the school system just learned about the speech on Thursday. Morgan has used caution and wisdom rather than bowing to political pressure to air the broadcast.

The school system has appropriately listened to the parents that they serve and said "no" to unfettered access to Washington County's most precious resource, our students. This type of unfettered access to school students would set the nation's school system on a very slippery slope. The temptation for a president to politicize the school system to achieve political goals may prove too great to overcome. We are thankful and proud to know that our school system will not be participating in this activity.

Neil Parrott
Hagerstown TEA Party

Are you kidding me? How can I respect someones opinion on a matter that clearly is already so biased towards one side of the political spectrum that there is no point in even trying to reason with them? Do I need to remind them that George H. W. Bush did exactly the same thing and no one was running around claiming that it was going to corrupt our children. Nope, when the true red Republicans do this stuff they can do no wrong...

Clearly this opinion is not based on the content of the address, but on the politics of the writer. Our children deserve to hear from our national leaders, the deserve to know that the entire country is working for their future and that it is important for them to work hard. The only reason the school board didn't air the speech is because they have a weak stomach for people like Neil who writes into the Herald-Mail to rail against something that he really doesn't have much interest in other than that he is a Republican and the President is a Democrat.

If this country is to the point where people censor the president's speeches at the local level then we truly have entered a era of political upheaval. Personally, you respect the office that the President holds, I trust him to not do something stupid when talking to my kids and I think it is important that they understand he wants them to do well. I am ashamed of the weak willed folks at the school board that shut the access to a speech by our president, the leader of our country, the man or woman who we are all supposed to look up to and respect for who they are and what they represent.

16Aug/091

Mail Call: Why Shouldn’t We Develop the Dual Highway?

Why build another building on Dual Highway?

To the editor:

A beautiful piece of property at the point of Mount Aetna Road and Dual Highway has been wiped away, with numerous trees cut down only to build another office building.

Is it really needed? While other buildings sit empty on Dual Highway and the newest office building has yet to be finished?

There is so much talk about going green, it would seem that at least a couple of trees could have been left if the property had been planned better, but the only thing that matters is the green dollar.

It is a shame to see Dual Highway becoming more commercialized every year.

Carolyn Blitz
Hagerstown

Why shouldn’t the Dual Highway be developed? It seems to me that we need Hagerstown to bring in some new, more commercially viable office space so we can grow the service sector of the economy rather than try and pretend that manufacturing is going to keep this area alive. The only thing that is going to make Hagerstown thrive once again is the constant influx of technology driven businesses that need good office space to conduct their business in, without it we rely on businesses like Volvo Power Train to keep the economy is moving. Unfortunately, this is not going to be a long term solution since manufacturing is driven to the lowest cost economic center which is not Hagerstown, Maryland.

What will sustain Hagerstown? Technology, and despite what you may think, global warming. Hagerstown could actually regain its place as a major transportation hub in the region if the railways become a favored method of transportation because of fuel efficiency. If Hagerstown could bring in CSX and companies that make railway electronics to fuel the reemergence of the industry, we could be on the forefront rail transportation revitalization. So bring in new office space and encourage the development of office based service companies, after all do you want Washington County to have a 10% unemployment rate?

16Aug/090

Herald Mail Makes a Play for More Balanced Commentary

The Herald Mail (http://www.herald-mail.com) recently announced that it is bringing in Rush' Limbaugh’s younger brother to balance out their commentary each week but I have yet to see the value in bringing in either far left or far right columnists to a paper. They are guaranteed to do only one thing, make 50% of the people at least somewhat happy, and 50% of the people at least somewhat unhappy. What ever happened to the value of having someone with a more balanced and thoughtful viewpoint? Why can we not find some more centrist columnists that don’t take one extreme or another but actually logically think through an argument and make real insights into the situation at hand.

Not once has a Rush Limbaugh or a James Carville done this because they are paid to create controversy. Unfortunately this is rarely helpful for the task of having a civil conversation about a topic. Me personally, it has come to the point where I don’t read or watch or any of them. Once people realize that the center is actually the way to get things done, the sooner this country can actually move forward and stop wasting time worrying about whether the right or left is more crazy.

Here is a compromise to get you thinking: Guns should be legal under the bill of rights but clearly the spirit of the document was not to allow people to keep high-powered assault rifles in their homes and create dangerous situations for their fellow citizens. People should be able to keep their hunting rifles and their handguns but turn over their AK-47s and AR-15s.  You can protect your self filth an handgun or hunting rifle, but you don’t need to mow down the entire neighborhood with an assault weapon.

3Jul/090

It’s Time Again! – July 4th at Antietam National Battlefield!

It's time once again to pay tribute to the founding of this great nation in Washington County, Maryland. You will never find a better group of people than at Antietam National Battlefield Park this Saturday on the 4th of July. The 30,000 - 35,000 spectators of the event will be there once again this year and we are looking forward to see them all there.

We also look forward to seeing all of our veterans and current service members there to be recognized, your actions have allowed us to celebrate this day for the past 233 years. Please come and be recognized by the crowd, we all appreciate how hard you have worked and fought for us.

If you need more information about the event, please take a look at the National Park Service's information page about the event.

19Jan/090

It’s Time to Mobilize!

Are you ready Hagerstown? Are you ready to believe in what can be done by the power of the human spirit? How many times have you heard the following:

  • We need to clean up downtown...
  • We should help those in the community that are less fortunate...
  • We should be more active in the education of our children...
  • We should volunteer to help other that have physical or mental disabilities...
  • We should help make where we live a better place.

Whether you are a democrat or republican, everyone can rally around the idea that each of us can contribute to our community out here in Western Maryland. Our new president is asking us to get involved, to stay involved and return the United States to the country that all others look up to as the pinnacle of a free and open society. Take a minute to watch Barack Obama's call to service...

If you are so moved, please look for ways to give back in Hagerstown:

23Nov/080

When All You Want to Do is Work…

What do you do when all you want to do is work in the town you live in, serve your community, and do what is best for your family? That is the situation I am in right now, I have applied for a job in Hagerstown, interviewed and now am waiting on whether or not I will get the position. The worst part is that I don't know if I will be considered seriously because I am younger than what they likely expect and it just makes me very anxious.

I guess I just had to write this down since I have been thinking about it for the past few days and at this point I just want to know one way or another. I guess I will find out...

18Nov/080

Maryland: Four airlines apply to serve Hagerstown

WASHINGTON COUNTY — Four companies have applied to provide commercial air service out of Hagerstown Regional Airport through a federal subsidy.

via Maryland: Four airlines apply to serve Hagerstown

8Nov/080

2008 Mummers Parade – A Family Event?

I saw this in Mail Call today:

“I was calling to just let everybody know that I thought the Mummers Parade was one of the best that I’ve seen in probably the last 10 years.”

— Hagerstown

No Offense to anyone who really liked this parade this year, but the crowd that turned out for it was not something I would let my kids come out to. Constant swearing and vulgar comments. Hearing grown men and fathers talk about how they would have loved to knock someone out on their front porch while their kids are around?

Sorry Hagerstown, but you still have a lot of cleaning up to do before I consider these events worthwhile going to.


8Nov/080

Relgion in Schools

The genius of mail call and this area:

“Inmate population, 9,000. If we can’t have religion in our schools, which is greatly needed, why in the world do we allow it in the prisons? ... Why do we allow religion in the prisons, and not in the schools?”

Maybe because in prisons no one is forced to sit through a service? Maybe because there is this little clause called separation of church and state in the constitution?

If you want your kids to have a religious education send them to private school. You have an option, don't complain if you don't want to take it.