Western Maryland

MIDDLETOWN — Even some Democrats out here call this rolling country "Bartlett Territory," a respectful nod to the deeply conservative longtime congressman who routinely rolls up 20-point electoral margins in the most reliably Republican region of the state. But now the son of Western Maryland's favorite son is in trouble, facing questions from reporters, political challengers and some Republican colleagues about using more than $30,000 in taxpayer money to pay rent to his girlfriend in Annapolis.

Western Maryland College will induct five Maryland natives into its Sports Hall of Fame at its annual banquet and induction ceremony Saturday at 7 p.m. in the college's Decker College Center Forum.Jerry Phipps of Cockeysville, Charles White of Laytonsville, Lynn Glaeser Damiano of Ellicott City, Charles "Skip" Brown of Arnold and Ken Volk of Towson make up the Hall of Fame's Class of 1991, which brings its membership to 88.Reservations may be made by calling the Western Maryland Office of Alumni Affairs at (410)

Let's hear it for the Green Terrors, the Western Maryland College football team that is going to play a really-away game in Moscow (the one in Russia) on March 18, against a team called the Bears before a much bigger crowd than even at homecoming in Westminster. And it will be televised.This follows the path pioneered by the Johns Hopkins University baseball team, but it is believed to be a historic event, the first football game in Russia by an American college team. Western Maryland is NCAA Division III, Middle Atlantic Conference-Southwest Division -- honest amateurs.

Interstate 68 comes to Western Maryland today, a development that could presage dramatic changes for the chronically depressed area. In short order, the valley towns of this Appalachian region could attract new industries, truck traffic and tourism. The interstate roadway, dubbed the National Freeway, holds vast potential as a crucible in which isolated Western Maryland becomes accessible to the East Coast's urban centers and the Ohio Valley's industrial heartland.Lack of access has been a key reason for Western Maryland's steady descent into high unemployment and continuing despair.

Affordable housing is the invisible problem in Western DTC Maryland. The Western Maryland Interfaith Housing Development Corp., which just celebrated its fourth anniversary, wants to raise the recognition of this issue and, more important, wants to build 1,000 units by the decade's end.Unlike cities that have blocks and blocks of substandard housing, most of the estimated 13,000 dilapidated units throughout the western part of the state are hard to find....

For Al Feldstein, an award-winning historian who has written and self-published 26 books and videotapes on the Western Maryland counties of Allegany, Garrett and Washington, there is nothing more exciting than an abandoned mining town, a crumbling building foundation, rusty, weed-grown rail line or a monument-choked graveyard. Feldstein's perambulations have taken him throughout Maryland's westernmost counties in search of historic photographs, prints, newspaper clippings, maps, old postcards and other ephemera which have filled a former bedroom and spilled over into the living room of his LaVale home.

Two organizations that promote big-game hunting have joined with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to study the viability of reintroducing elk to the western part of the state after more than a 200-year absence. The feasibility studies conducted by the Maryland Legislative Sportsmen's Foundation and the Department of Natural Resources in conjunction with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation will take about a year. The studies will look into the biological, social and economic impact elk might have in the western part of the state.

T. J. Gondek scored 34 points to lead Colby-Sawyer past Western Maryland, 92-72, in the consolation game of the Elmira Tournament yesterday in Elmira, N.Y. Pat Young (Mount St. Joseph) and Jeff Daniels led Western Maryland with 12 points each.Western Maryland (5-6) scored the first nine points of the second half to break a 40-40 halftime tie. But the Chargers (8-2) went on a 25-6 run to put the game out of reach.* Bates 98, St. Mary's 85: Mike Marsh had 29 points and 10 rebounds as Bates defeated host St. Mary's in the consolation game of the Show Place Arena Invitational tournament.