“I was in The Herald-Mail Friday afternoon — my husband had died on Thursday — to put an obituary in the paper. And everyone told me I couldn’t just go by and have it done myself, but man, am I glad I did. To begin with, the receptionist who meets you is just the most marvelous, charming lady, and then we got to talk to Kelly, and she let us put in about what a great man my husband was. Every person that walked through there spoke to us, spoke to my granddaughter, made us feel very welcome and comforted. It’s a hard time during death, and the people at The Herald-Mail made me feel so much better, and did such a beautiful job.”
— Hagerstown
“Well, the scam artists are at it again. I received a phone call this morning from my daughter, saying that she won $2.5 million, and that UPS would be delivering the papers that I need to sign so that she could win this. And I didn’t fall for it, because it’s a scam. So be careful out there.”
— Falling Waters, W.Va.
“As a taxpayer here in the state of Maryland, I have a question for the Division of Corrections. Who classifies these inmates to be minimum security and work outside the fence? I thought there was a pretty tight process for these guys to gain minimum-security status. ... And if a guy’s going to be able to walk away that easily, something needs to be looked at. My taxpayer money is being wasted.”
— Hagerstown
“I watched the Republican debate last night, and I have to tell you, the person I really thought who won that debate is President Obama. Those people are all way out of it. Secondly ... when a woman’s scared enough and has to come in and file a report like that, the police ought to automatically assign someone to follow the perpetrator. Follow him around for a couple days. If they keep doing this stuff, they should be able to be arrested immediately. ... This type of thing has to stop.”
— Hagerstown
“In our country today, we are supposed to be able to agree or disagree with one another, but apparently that’s not so, because I’ve noticed that you’re not allowed to disagree on hardly anything. And I also have noticed that as long as your opinion is the same as other people’s opinion, they treat you like a hero, but — yeah, as long as you’re on their side of the fence, they’re all for you, but if you’re not, then they look down on you. That’s the way people are.”
— Greencastle, Pa.
“Falling Waters caller, I don’t own a computer, either, and I was beginning to think I was the only one left who didn’t, and I feel the same way you do. At least when it’s a private company we have the choice not to deal with them, but government’s something else again — no choice there. And I don’t know about other places, but it seems like in Frederick, everything is online now, and this is clearly an equal- protection violation. By the way, I’ve seen many warnings by consumer protection agencies, etc., never to give my credit card number to anyone but the company where you’ve initiated a transaction, so if someone calls you and asks for it, watch out.”
— Frederick, Md.
“This is in response to the person who called in from Boonsboro about the mo-peds on the road, and that person said that most of the people that drive mo-peds or bicycles is because they have a DUI conviction. That’s totally untrue. I ride a mo-ped every day back and forth to work and to do my errands around town, simply because it’s cheaper on gas. I have a car, I have a license, I have tags, I have insurance, but the mo-ped is more economical for me. So you’re wrong, very wrong.”
— Hagerstown
“Does anyone out there know why home heating oil is so high, when there’s no tax on it? It’s more than gasoline, and in my book, that’s not right.”
— Hagerstown
“I hope somebody’s satisfied now, since the recycling bins are gone at three places. Where’s the money going to go to now, to some fat cat for a raise or something? How about bringing the bins back? Don’t let a couple people make it bad for everybody else.”
—Washington County
“Those who are rooting for their political candidate to win the next election, no matter what the cost to the country, must realize politicians are not hurting. They have the best job, and one you do not have to retire from. If they lose the election, they will still have the gravy train. We need to vote for economic recovery, not new spending with money we do not have.”
— Hagerstown
“I haven’t heard any President Obama fans complaining about Pelosi giving all fancy restaurant owners and business pals in her district waivers on this great health care, and Obama on his favorite unions until 2014.”
— Funkstown
“I live on Crestville Road, and as we come out of Crestville Road onto Dual Highway, on the lefthand side there’s a bunch of overgrown weeds and grass that the state’s supposed to take care of. It’s a hazard. You can’t see to pull out unless you pull out almost into the lane. I contacted state roads department, and they said that they would get on it and cut it down. Well, it’s been two weeks. It’s not cut yet. Call to get some action done, because there’s going to be a terrible accident, and the state better not hope that it’s me or my wife that’s in the accident.”
— Hagerstown
“On May 23, I had a gentleman help me on Washington Boulevard. I fell and I hurt my ankle. I had my two puppies with me. I would like to thank that gentleman. I believe his name was Jeff ... if he could stop by my home where he took me to, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you very much. God bless you, have a nice day.”
— Hagerstown
“I think it’s sad that practically all of the top number of employees, as stated on the front page of your June 5 edition, are of service organizations. Employment by manufacturing firms was formerly the backbone of this country.”
— Hagerstown
“Anthony Weiner should forget about running for mayor of New York. With his ability to lie with such a straight face, he needs to go to the front of the line as the next Democratic presidential candidate. Look out, Obama.”
— Chambersburg, Pa.
“Two days past, President Obama has again for the umpteenth time blamed Bush for the $3-trillion hole he dug us into. Now that Obama has been in office for three and a half years, the Obama game has increased to over $14 trillion. In the past year and a half, Obama has touted the economy has turned the corner more times than you can count on one hand. Plus all of Obama’s solutions have never got the unemployment rate under 8 percent, even though he got the stimulus package that was going to do it over three years ago. Anybody, in my opinion, that has the guts to vote him in in 2012 needs to be committed to the funny farm.”
— Martinsburg, W.Va.
“This is in response to the Myersville caller who stated Maryland needs to change its child support laws. Perhaps you should stop making babies with so many losers.”
— Cavetown
“I’m a senior citizen, and my nose don’t work so good anymore, but something sure smells rotten about the senior center at HCC. It makes no sense at all. Maybe a grand jury investigation should look into it.”
— Hagerstown
“I’d like to know when the county’s going to do something about those properties on the Dual Highway, coming off I-70 in Hagerstown. Those weeds are getting ridiculous.”
— Hagerstown
“I read how many of you don’t want your Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid changed. Common sense tells us that those entitlements are unsustainable at the rate that they are. Now when you look at your grandchildren that you love so much, if something isn’t done, what future do they have? Don’t listen to vote-hungry politicians, but look at your grandchildren.”
— Boonsboro
“Let me get this right. You buy a building in downtown Hagerstown, you let it — you don’t fix it up, you let it go to pot, and then your buddies on the town council agree to buy it for more than it’s worth. That sounds like a pretty good deal for politics.”
— Hagerstown
“Hi, Myersville caller, regarding the child support laws, you have one absent father that owes $60,000, one absent father that owes $80,000. You need to stop having babies, and you need to also have a better choice in men.”
— Boonsboro
“Leonard Pitts’ column June 9, 2011, ‘It seems we are a nation of Palins,’ just may be the truth — albeit, for different reasons. Sarah Palin loves God, her family and country, and embodies our spirit of freedom endowed by God. She, like most of us, knows that we are comprised of 50 states, not 57 as President Obama has stated. Thanks, Mr. Pitts, for backing into the truth.”
— Williamsport
“Reading your story about cicada ice cream — and boy, was I glad I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet — got me thinking. If people will actually buy and eat this stuff, hmm, could this be a possible and even a profitable solution to our stink bug problem? Of course, we’d have to rename them, like they’ve done with prunes and string beans. Remember string beans? ‘Chocolate caramel stink bug,’ the flavor of the week, doesn’t cut it. How about ‘Chocolate butter bug bombers,’ because they sure do like to come buzzing at you. OK, it’s wishful thinking, but we stink bug specialists can dream, can’t we?”
— Frederick, Md.
“To the person in Clear Spring who said they wanted to thank Sen. Cardin for not voting for Paul Ryan’s health care bill: Please read Mary Burkholder’s excellent letter of June 9, and be informed of the real facts.”
— Hagerstown
“I just want to say shame on Washington County for not coming on board with going green. It all stems from the removal of those recycling bins. It doesn’t matter if they’re in the North End, South End, East End or West End of Hagerstown. We do need the recycle bins. We could put cameras up at one of those sites to get the violators, and they could be fined. That’s extra revenue. But also, the main thing is we need to go green. We need to have a place to care.”
— Hagerstown
“Hagerstown and Washington County are expecting block grants for Yale Road (Drive) and to buy buildings in downtown Hagerstown. Sens. Mikulski and Cardin must be living on another planet because our government can’t pay its bills and they’re giving out money like this. And that’s all taxpayer money, so I guess the taxpayers are going to have to pay more and more money to the federal government.”
— Hagerstown
“I don’t have a child that goes to Bester Elementary. In fact, I don’t have any children in school, but I was listening to the proposed building layout for the new Bester school, and I’d like to know why they have a portable class on the back of it. Are they not planning on building it big enough, or is that for future use, or why would you build a new school where you have to have a portable class in it? Please explain it to me.”
— Hagerstown
“This is in regards to the recent decision for the Waynesboro Area School District laying off schoolteachers. I have a big question for them. All of that money, that $42 million that they spent on that new building, perhaps they could have been a little bit more frugal with the beautiful building that they built, instead of having to have ... students suffer for not having certain classes and teachers.”
— Waynesboro, Pa.
“When the Democrats were in Congress, had Congress, had majority, things were picking pretty good. And then the Republicans got in there and they took charge, and things got worse. So what happened? They were going to do this, do that, and still the only thing they do is say ‘no, no, no.’ That’s their motto, ‘no, no, no.’”
— Hagerstown
“I’m calling about an ongoing problem. It really upsets me when I see dogs that are left in cars while their owners go into tanning salons or the grocery store or the drugstore or wherever, and leave the dogs in the car for maybe half an hour, 45 minutes, with the windows all up — maybe just a little bit cracked. I think they ought to ... I think this is horrible, and it’s been going on too long, and I think it needs to be stopped with a severe punishment.”
— State Line, Pa.
“This is to the people who deliver the phone books. We live on Virginia Avenue, and they only left one phone book, and we have four apartments. ... I’d like to know who you call about that.”
— Hagerstown
“I’d like to reply to the Williamsport letter that was in Friday, June 10, about Sheetz. I don’t understand why there’s so much protest in Williamsport about Sheetz, because if Sheetz wasn’t there, the people living in Williamsport wouldn’t have anywhere to buy their bread, their milk or cigarettes or anything. It’s the only place left over there to sell that. And if they want to cross the street and expand ... they could carry more products for the citizens of Williamsport. I think it’s an improvement. They ought to be glad to have it.”
— Falling Waters, W.Va.
“I was just reading in the paper about the ACLU complaining about the petitions. You know, when the Democrats do anything, they’re right up their alley. There’s no complaints if it’s a Democrat promoting something like that. But anything immoral, yes, they jump right on the bandwagon.”
— Cavetown
“I am so sick of reading Mail Call and all the conservative whiners out there. They expect you to get out of a major recession in two to three years. With their kind of backbones, we would have never made it through the Great Depression and World War II. These people are ingrates and think that everything should be handed to them. Ninety percent of the people in this country are still working, and yes, President Obama did get bin Laden.”
— Hagerstown
