“Well, I guess the word is out on the street, that the school board is paying $1.5 million for a property that was recently bought for $500,000. Hmm, local builder, developer, who also sells buildings to the county for triple profits, and a golfing buddy friend of Mayor Bruchey. Something smells. It usually does, and it’s not a skunk.”
— Washington County
“I like the Food section in The Herald-Mail, because I love to try new recipes. There’s only one thing that concerns me, and that is a lot of the recipes themselves are full of cups of sugar, sticks of butter; everything that could eventually hook you up to a cardiac machine. A recipe I read today in the paper called for three cups sugar, two cups of butter. Come on now, let’s encourage healthier eating by putting healthier recipes in the Food section of The Herald-Mail.”
— Clear Spring
“Once again, I see another baseball league is asking for money. Taxpayers’ money should not be used to send players’ parents on a vacation. Why can’t each year all these leagues, Little, PONY, etc., put, say, a thousand dollars into a fund at a bank? Then when a team qualifies for something above a regional tournament, they can draw out of these funds. If no one qualifies to use it, then each year this money would accumulate. Players’ use only, receipt mandatory to receive these funds.”
— Hagerstown
“This is to Roscoe Bartlett and his cronies who called me two times in two days, with the same exact message, about Congress being broken. I want them ... to stop calling. And because of that, I won’t vote for him this year. I am so sick of all these phone calls coming in. Please tell them to stop calling. He will not get my vote this year.”
— Leitersburg
“Read in the paper where the tip-jar money’s less to distribute this year. Well, duh. You people got what you wanted. You’re not allowed to smoke in clubs or bars or anything. Pretty soon you won’t be allowed to smoke in your own house. When people went out to drink, what’d you think they were going to do? People are not going to go out if they can’t smoke. Who wants to stand out in 10-degree weather? Talk about being discriminated against. The crazies always get their way, because they always holler the loudest. Well, less smoke, less money.”
— Hagerstown
“I’ve been saying for years that the police need to sit on the interstates at the exit ramps and ticket those who fail to yield, because a tragedy was going to happen. So, in Wednesday’s paper on Aug. 1, a motor vehicle accident where an 80-some-year-old lady was killed. ... Why can’t they put cameras up and fine each person at least $100? People don’t even know what that sign means anymore. I would sue the Maryland State Police for failing to keep the highways safe.”
— Hagerstown
“I was reading the article about the Fairplay fire company. Well, I think it’s pretty bad when the county commissioners don’t give a fire company the option to stay open, when it’s a volunteer fire company, and do what they did to it. I really think it’s unfair. I hope this is put in, and Fairplay, I wish you all the luck in the world, because you’re a fantastic fire company.”
— Hagerstown
“Sorry to see Brownsville post office close, and nice article in reference to that, but people in America have to wake up. The free ride is over. The post office is losing money, and you can’t keep all these post offices open. People are buying stamps online, everybody’s getting direct deposit on their Social Security checks and government checks. So folks, wake up, the days have ended, and online is killing everybody.”
— Leitersburg
“I’m not concerned about Mitt Romney’s tax returns. I’m more concerned about President Obama covering up Fast and Furious, documents that will prove that his administration is involved in corruption and cover-up. I’m also not concerned about the rich paying taxes. They do pay taxes. The problem is we have 50 percent of this country paying no taxes, and getting all the benefits from the taxpayers who do.”
— Hagerstown
“I see where all sorts of people are now responding to the president’s speech about government helping business, with claims that they built their business with their own two hands, and that they didn’t get any help, and the government has no role. My question is, why then do we see government-funded marketing strategies, why do we see economic development commissions, why are we paying tax incentives and taxpayer subsidies, to all these businesses that got built without any help? Maybe we’ll get that money back when Mitt Romney becomes president.”
— Keedysville
“In answer to the Hagerstown caller’s rhetorical question: Yes, I am better off now than four years ago. During that time, I’ve bought a house, thanks to President Obama’s $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers. I’ve gotten a newer car, and due to an increase in demand in business at work, I’ve gotten a raise, just this year. I understand everyone else is not as fortunate as I; however, I would never presume to answer for everyone else, nor suggest anyone who isn’t like me needs psychiatric attention. However, some people should seek it.”
— Waynesboro, Pa.
“Has Washington County ever met a project that has not been late being completed or had cost overruns? I doubt it. I see the library is going to be late, and it’s hundreds of thousands of dollars in cost overruns. Why are we paying big money to county engineers, whenever they can’t even pre-plan enough to quit costing the taxpayers?”
— Williamsport
“Well, here I sit. It’s 4:30, I’m at Longmeadow Road and Marsh Pike, at the new interchange that took over a year to finish, and the traffic is backed up over a quarter of a mile, to make a left-hand turn. So I don’t know really what the point was of this new intersection, if the traffic’s still going to be this heavy and this backed up. It seems like it was a lot of wasted time and money.”
— Hagerstown
“I read in Mail Call, someone called in and said how bad the traffic comes around the turn on Eastern Boulevard at the YMCA. Some of the problem also is people pulling out from the YMCA. Several people have pulled out in front of me, talking on their cellphones. I’ve had to hit my brakes. I was not going fast. I had just pulled out from the road below the Y. So the problem is on both sides.”
— Hagerstown
“What’s with these companies that work on your automobiles, doing tires, brakes and stuff like that? They charge you $25 for shop supplies, for paper towels and hand cleaners the mechanic uses to wash his hands? My gosh, I can buy enough towels and hand cleaner to last me three months, for that kind of money. And then they don’t want the guys to use them when they’re done, to clean their hands and stuff.”
— Hedgesville, W.Va.
“I just don’t understand, when you’re in a building, and there is rear-view mirrors in a building, why people can’t look up in the mirrors, especially when they’re coming around the corners. They have a tendency to run into people, and you wonder, if they do that with walking, if, how are they with driving, if they pay attention to actually when they’re driving their vehicle, and mirrors on their car, around the area.”
— Hagerstown
“Wednesday, Aug. 1, front page story, county had less tip-jar money to disburse this year. You can thank your local law enforcement for that. They sit outside of clubs and wait for patrons to leave, and then harass them when they do. So no one goes out anymore.”
— Boonsboro
“This is about every day, almost every day it seems like, here in the last two months, if you pick up The Herald-Mail, there has been a fatal accident. I just wonder what’s up with all these fatal accidents here lately. Is there some kind of distraction? Is it cellphones? To me, it’s very upsetting, all these people being killed. Usually it seems like they’re young people.”
— Hagerstown
“I just heard on the news that Frederick County is giving a $100 rebate check, and they said on there that Washington County did it; they learned it from Washington County, that did it five or six years ago? I’ve been a property owner in Washington County for 33 years, and I surely don’t recall getting a $100 check. If anybody knows anything, I’d like to hear about it in Mail Call.”
— Hagerstown
“It is my impression that in Maryland, you need not remove a deceased person’s name from real property or from personal property. So the Mail Caller concerning the MVA, I would highly question that. Call your state representative and find out.”
— Hagerstown
