Hoping to keep the Jubilee Days festival alive, the Nettle Creek Lions Club is inviting Hagerstown-area organizations and residents to help run it. A public planning meeting for the 2024 festival is planned Tuesday. The Lions Club has too few members to continue organizing and carrying out the annual summer festival, said Robin Nugent, club […]
Author Archives: Bob Hansen
Bob Hansen is a reporter for the Western Wayne News.
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Workshop starts school improvement program
Work on improving student academic performance through a Next Generation School Improvement Grant started last Wednesday, Sept. 13, after a year of planning. Local educators are working with consultants from Equitable Education Solutions on implementing methods they can use to improve student performance, concentrating on employability skills. The program is funded by a $2.45 million […]
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Town renews solar power talks
Hagerstown Town Council has renewed talks with an electric company about building a solar generating station. The council met last week with representatives from American Electric Power, which sells power to the town. The company had expressed interest in building a solar array on town-owned land in 2016. By consensus on Sept. 12, the council […]
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Hagerstown set to hire building commissioner
A new building commissioner for Hagerstown will be in place within a month, if all goes according to plan. For five months, the Town Council has been looking to replace Bob Bullock when he retires. It appears that the lone applicant for the job, Terry Ford, will be hired by the council Oct. 2. The […]
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Food need outstrips township’s resources
Hunger knows no boundaries. A food pantry for the Hagerstown area, run by the Jefferson Township trustee, continues to grow and is asking for help meeting the need for food. Jefferson Township trustee Chris Lane has asked trustees of other Wayne County townships for assistance. When he took office on Jan. 1, he inherited a […]
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Scout sees world at Korea gathering
A Centerville lad’s summer experience half a world away from home turned out differently from what he expected when record heat changed the plan. Quentin Turner, the 14-year-old son of Kelly and Karen Turner and a freshman at Centerville Sr. High School, attended the 25th World Scout Jamboree in Saemangeum, South Korea. A member of […]
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Superintendents aim to improve schools
Two years ago, Emily Schaeffer didn’t know that she’d be a school superintendent when the 2022-23 school year started. Andy Stover, on the other hand, had just become one. Schaeffer, 38, is starting her second year leading the Nettle Creek School Corporation from Hagerstown. Stover, 35, is starting his third year leading Western Wayne School […]
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Egg farm hearing plans scrambled again
A Hagerstown-area couple’s plans for a 20,000-hen egg farm have been delayed a second month because of problems with notification of the neighbors. At the same time, the town is searching for a new building commissioner. The town Board of Zoning Appeals canceled an Aug. 23 hearing. The date had been scheduled during a July […]
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Town buying a crack sealer
Hagerstown is planning to buy a crack sealer to prolong the life of town streets. The Town Council authorized Town Manager Chris LaMar to buy a machine that will seal cracks in streets after quizzing him about it on Aug. 8. LaMar told the council that the machine, which puts tar in cracks, would keep […]
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Educators focused on improving ILEARN scores
Some Wayne County educators are relieved that last year’s instructional changes boosted their student’s state-mandated standardized test scores, while all say they’ll analyze their districts’ weaknesses and target improvements to score better next year. Statewide, 40.7% of Hoosier students who took the Indiana Learning Evaluation and Assessment Readiness Network (ILEARN) test in 2023 were at […]