Tuesday, May 28, 2013

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COMMISSION

9:00 am Call to order, minutes, President’s and Commissioner’s reports.

9:15 am Dave w/ AFLAC re:  Sect 125 deductions.

9:30 am Hampshire County participation in WV Sesquicentennial Parade.

9:45 am Emergency Management Director position

10:00 am Sheriff Alkire, re: vehicle needs.

10:15 am Evelyn Baker re:  Hampshire Heritage Fest.

10:30 am Hamp. Co. Development Authority, re:  Wellness Center

            Old Business: 

Maintenance

Correspondence and requests

Resolutions

Board Appointments & resignations                   

Grant applications, contracts, resolutions and drawdowns

Budget revisions

Exonerations and consolidations

Invoices

Probate/Estate considerations

Calendar

Personnel

Budgetary/fund actions

Election matters

The Hampshire County Commission reserves the right to re-arrange items on the agenda as needed due to time constraints of the public or the Commission.  Times listed are approximate times for discussion and action by the Commission.    

Posted:  May 23, 2013    

About Rocky Gap Casino Resort
Rocky Gap Casino Resort, located near Cumberland, Maryland in the heart of Allegany County, is a AAA 4-Diamond Award® winning resort featuring a hotel, four restaurants, the only Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course in Maryland, a spa, indoor/outdoor pool, fitness center, pro shop, sundries, free valet and self parking, and several outdoor recreational activities. The casino features approximately 550 slot machines, 10 table games, and a casino bar. A new event and conference center is expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2013. Rocky Gap Casino Resort is owned by Evitts Resort, LLC, a subsidiary of Lakes Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ: LACO). More information is available at: www.rockygapresort.com.

A U.S. Army carry team transfers the remains of Army Staff Sgt. Francis G. Phillips IV of Meridian, N.Y., at Dover Air Force Base, Del., May 7, 2013. Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force/Roland Balik.

What does Memorial Day mean to you?
For some, it’s about a rare weekday off to relax, spend time with family and friends, and perhaps grill some hot dogs and hamburgers. Pools are back open, baseball is on TV, and summer blockbusters have started hitting movie screens.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with enjoying a national holiday. But no matter how difficult or unpleasant, we must also remember the sacrifices that give us the freedom of enjoyment, especially in the aftermath of another terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
Duane Wittman lost his son, U.S. Army Sgt. Aaron Wittman, 28, earlier this year in Afghanistan. We exchanged emails a few days ago.
“I can’t begin to explain the emotions that Carol and I experience every day,” Aaron’s dad wrote. “The grief is enormous!”
As the Taliban launches its annual spring offensive, thousands of U.S. troops are in harm’s way. On May 4, five U.S. soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device planted by terrorists in Maiwand, Afghanistan.
After being flown to Dover, Del., five flag-draped caskets arrived in American towns and cities from Meridian, N.Y. to Meridian, Idaho. The fallen heroes were brought home with honor and saluted by their families, friends and neighbors.
U.S. Army Spc. Kevin Cardoza, 19, was the youngest soldier killed in the attack. Staff Sgt. Francis Phillips IV, 28, was the oldest. The other three soldiers — Spc. Thomas Murach, Spc. Brandon Prescott, and 1st Lt. Brandon Landrum — were 22, 24 and 26, respectively.
Less than two weeks after her son’s death, Mary Murach wrote to his fellow soldiers still serving in Afghanistan on Facebook.
“Thank you so very much for your service to our country,” she wrote. “Thank you for the sacrifices that you and your families make.”
Even in their darkest, most difficult hours, the first instinct of America’s Gold Star moms, dads, wives, husbands, brothers and sisters is often to thank others. While she will spend Memorial Day dealing with unimaginable pain, Spc. Murach’s mother, like her son, sets a selfless example that every American should follow.
No matter what’s going on in our lives, good or bad, we should always show appreciation to our men and women in uniform, veterans, fallen heroes and their families. While about one percent of our country volunteers to serve, 100 percent should be saying “thank you.”
While speaking earlier this year with the mother of fallen U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Edward Dycus, 22, she said her son was shot in the back of the head by an Afghan soldier who turned against the U.S. forces trying to help him.
“It’s hard to talk about,” Carol Dycus said. “It’s hard.”
Carol deals with grief that very few of us can comprehend. She also makes an important point.
It’s hard to talk about the horrors of war and the price that so many military families have paid during almost 12 years of constant conflict. Explaining the price of freedom to our children is even more complicated.
But more than any other holiday, Memorial Day is a springboard for that discussion. Stated simply, every American child should grow up learning about our country’s fallen heroes and what they were willing to sacrifice.
Just weeks before he was killed in Afghanistan, U.S. Army Spc. Douglas Green, 23, wrote a letter to his loved ones.
“I will always love and cherish all the time I was given on this earth and am thankful for this life and everyone in it,” the soldier wrote.
Memorial Day is about being thankful. It’s about being grateful not only for a day off work and a chance to grill hot dogs and hamburgers with family and friends, but for the opportunity to live in a nation that brave men and women are willing to step forward and protect.
To thousands of families who’ve lost loved ones to war, Memorial Day is one of the most meaningful dates on the calendar. It’s the one day of the year that the nation officially pauses to remember the men and women who’ve sacrificed their futures for America’s tomorrow.
What does Memorial Day mean to you?

Coach squirrel gathered his little animal players around in the locker room and told them they could make the score closer in the second half if they just put forth more effort. “Now get out there and show those big animals what you’re made of’” coach squirrel said.

The first play from scrimmage saw the horse go around right end. But right at the line of scrimmage he went to the ground in a flash.”

Read more!

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – We all remember certain moments from our college careers.

Whether it’s our first walk to class, that fight with our roommate we now laugh about, or the time we forgot to study for an exam but aced it anyway-the moments we came to cherish at West Virginia University culminated with one last hurrah.

Ironically, this last hurrah is called “Commencement.”

For any student, it’s the final defining moment of a college career. It signifies the end of one journey, and the start of something new.

More than 4,000 students experienced this moment May 17-19 as they crossed the stage, turned their tassels, and bid farewell to friends, professors, and familiar landmarks.

WVA provides advocacy services to people with disabilities and is requesting comments for the next fiscal year, particularly from individuals with disabilities, their families, service providers, other advocacy groups, attorneys, professionals and others. WVA is a federally grant funded, private, nonprofit agency. Services to eligible individuals are confidential and free.

Comments can be submitted by phone, email or facsimile. Phone: 1-800-950-5250; email: contact@wvadvocates.org with a subject line of “FY 2014 P and O Comments” or fax: 1-304-346-0867.

The mobile office will be held Friday, May 24, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., at the Romney Senior Center, School Street and Birch Lane, Romney.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – May is National Stroke Awareness Month, and one of the key points in the event of a stroke is FAST action.

Certain clot-busting drugs only can be given within a short time frame, said Dr. Ziad Darkhabani, so people need to call 911 immediately upon the onset of symptoms, which can be memorized with the acronym “FAST.”

“Facial, Arm, Speech and Time,” he said. “So facial, any facial weakness basically, that’s going to indicate possible stroke. Arm weakness or drift. Speech problem. And they added the ‘T’ just to show how important time is.”

Time is also vital, said Darkhabani, because with a stroke, brain damage begins right away.

“Every minute passed, thousands of cells will die,” he said. “Thousands of connections between the cells also will die, and that’s why time is extremely important for the treatment of stroke.”

Risk factors for stroke include high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking.

West Virginia has one of the highest rates of stroke in the nation. More than 1,000 people in the state died from stroke in 2010.

More information is online at strokeassociation.org.

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