Allegany County

The state planning department announced today that it will join with opponents seeking to block a 4,300-home planned community near a state forest in eastern Allegany County. Maryland Planning Secretary Richard E. Hall said his department will file a brief in the case, now on appeal before the state's high court. The lawsuit seeks a review of whether local officials acted properly in approving the project, called Terrapin Run, in a rural and environmentally sensitive area that is adjacent to Green Ridge State Forest.

Seeking to bridge a recent history of suspicion, environmentalists and smart-growth activists are reaching out to hunters and anglers in Western Maryland, trying to enlist them in public debates about the development of the mountainous, mostly rural region. It's an unusual overture. Hunters, in particular, fear that "tree huggers," as they sometimes call environmental activists, want to ban firearms or hunting for sport. But with a 4,300-home development proposed near a state forest in Allegany County and a new highway project skirting another state-owned hunting area, activists see the region's many anglers and hunters as potential allies if alerted to how development could hamper their favorite outdoor activities.

Three more deer in the West Virginia county that borders Maryland have tested positive for a fatal disease responsible for the deaths of thousands of deer and elk in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain states. Game officials in West Virginia recently tested 101 deer for chronic wasting disease in Hampshire County, just south of Maryland's Allegany County, as part of a continuing surveillance program initiated after 10 deer within a dozen miles of the state border tested positive in September 2005.

Rescue crews were working last night to reach two coal miners believed buried beneath 75 feet of rock and dirt from a collapsed wall of an open pit mine in Western Maryland, an emergency management official said. The first call about the collapse at the Tri-Star Job No. 3 mine near Barton came at 10:05 a.m. yesterday, according to Brian Miller, an Allegany County 911 dispatcher. "Basically, there are still two unaccounted-for employees that we believe are buried within the pile of debris, which is upwards of 75 feet tall," said Richard L. DeVore, Allegany County director of emergency services.

In approving rezoning for a mini-town center in the middle of the Allegany County mountains, Maryland's Court of Special Appeals ruled that county development master plans don't count for much unless county officials enforce them. That may not be news to citizens across the state who participate in endless meetings and public hearings to shape the future of their communities, only to find their wishes ignored when developers come along. But relegating master plans to wish lists is a practice that can't be tolerated if Maryland is to have any chance of managing its remaining resources wisely for the long term.

ALLEGANY COUNTY Cumberland Defense jobs sought in business parks Allegany County hopes to bring defense jobs to business parks in the Cumberland and Frostburg areas, a county official said yesterday. Economic Development Director Matt Diaz said the Barton Business Park, about eight miles south of Cumberland along U.S. 220, would make a good location for businesses supporting the Allegheny Ballistics Laboratory, a federal weapons lab in nearby Rocket Center, W.Va., operated by Alliant Techsystems Inc. At the Allegany Business Center, a technology incubator at Frostburg State University, an unidentified company specializing in aircraft and office security is trying to land a defense contract, Diaz said.

Remember where you were Dec. 10-12, 1992? Maryland was in the middle of a three-day nor'easter, one of the worst ever to strike the region. Wind and 10-foot waves caused flooding in Ocean City. BWI clocked 3.3 inches of rain and 120,000 people in the region lost power. Two feet of snow landed on Allegany County, 3 feet in Garrett, stranding drivers, knocking down trees and utility lines. Hurricane-force winds and waves smacked the coast from here to New England. This week looks way better.

A boat maker said yesterday that it will close one of its two plants near Cumberland, a loss of 115 jobs and the second blow in a week for manufacturing-dependent Allegany County. Illinois-based Brunswick Corp. blamed a tough marine-sales environment for its decision to shutter by mid-2007 its Western Maryland plant that makes Bayliner runabouts. A sister plant that produces Trophy fishing boats and employs about 125 will remain open, said Dan Kubera, a spokesman for Brunswick. NewPage Corp.

The night of Oct. 26, the town of Frostburg threw its annual Halloween warm-up parade. School bands, cheerleaders and volunteer firefighters snaked down Main Street. Local politicians rode in pickup trucks, tossing candy into the crowd, talking sweet talk to one another. "See you at the polls November 7th!" shouted Mike Wade, a write-in candidate for the Allegany Board of County Commissioners. Frostburg State University students turned part of a municipal building into a haunted house for kids.

From the Eastern Shore to Allegany County and Silver Spring to Aberdeen, suburban voters are riled up about development, angered by what they view as too many new homes, too much traffic and too many crowded schools. "It's been a top issue, I think, in every county of the state," said Dru Schmidt-Perkins, director of 1000 Friends of Maryland, a private environmental conservation group that helped sponsor a group of "visioning" exercises around the state this year to draft blueprints for long term growth.