My sister and I visited our aunt in Springfield, W.Va., last weekend and heard all about the Oldtown Bridge fare change.
It was really funny to hear about people planning to take alternate routes under protest. To go from Springfield to Oldtown via Cumberland is a 22-mile detour, costing over $3 in fuel for the average car (24 mpg), over $10 in overall vehicle costs (at federal reimbursement rates) and at least 30 minutes if you obey speed limits.
Even at minimum wage, the wasted time is much more than twice the cost of the bridge toll. For someone in Green Spring to do that in protest is even sillier.
Detour or not, these folks should drive straight to the community college for some math or personal finance classes!
Better, these protesters should instead put their energy in getting support from Mike McKay, Creade Brodie, Bill Valentine, Martin O’Malley, Kevin Kelley, George Edwards, Ruth Rowan, Shelley Capito, Barbara Mikulski, Ben Cardin, and John Delaney in getting not only a better bridge, but better roads between Oldtown and Flintstone and Orleans.
Orleans Road is gravel and completely dark, and Cresap Mill Road and Town Creek Road are both scary and make passengers car-sick. Many places are not wide enough to paint a yellow line in the middle, and driving at night is scarier.
Not only would they provide a safer route to east-bound Interstate 68, but there could be even more recreation and gambling revenue at Rocky Gap.
Of course, increased traffic would also be good for current and new businesses in Green Spring, and Oldtown, and residents there could commute more efficiently to Hancock and Hagerstown.
I know we’d visit our sweet aunt twice as often! And our elected leaders would be heroes!
Let’s make this project shovel-ready and stop the bickering.
Melody Daniels
Chaneysville, Pa.
Letters
Devote your energy to get support for a better bridge
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Maryland has stopped being “The Free State”
I am a lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans and, last but not least, the National Rifle Association. I am a yearly member of the American Legion.
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Save the Bridge Program
Please do not close the Frostburg United Methodist Church Bridge Program. The community and many families need this program. Let me enlighten you about a few things.
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Town of Westernport needs a police force and a curfew
Since the consolidation of Bruce and Valley high schools the town of Westernport rapidly deteriorated from what was once a quite respectable community to a community in a decline in residents, and along with that came a collapse in local government due to lack of knowledge and bad decisions that set the town of Westernport back 60 years.
One bad decision was to give up their police force, and with no constant visual law enforcement it has created an open range for drug dealerss, addicts, thieves, drunks and speeding vehicles that choose to ignore our city laws and speed limits and have totally disregard for the safety of the citizens who are on the streets, especially the children who are like deer, you don’t see them until their in front of you. -
Financial gutting will damage school system
I am writing in response to the Allegany County Commissioners’ efforts to cut local education spending to the lowest possible level allowed under state law.
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Cemetery organization plans events to mark Memorial Day
This upcoming Memorial Day marks the 30th anniversary of the Cumberland Historic Cemetery Organization (CHCO).
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Outside water customers pay for town’s mistakes
The following is the opinion of the individual and in no manner reflects the opinion of any other person or organization.
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We’re twisting the meaning of the Founding Fathers’ words
I really had to chuckle when I read a recent comment someone made in a northeastern publication: “I’d like to suggest that Congress make a tiny change in our Second Amendment that would more accurately reflect the Founding Father’s intent (to wit): “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear muskets, shall not be infringed.”
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Their health benefits proved to be better than they expected
ObamaCare! Of all the terms the GOP uses as scare tactics, that one is my favorite.
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It’s time to ratify Equal Rights Amendment
I have three words I want to say: “It is time.”
By those three words, I am referring to passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). -
Preserve these things for future generations
This is an open letter to the mayor of Cumberland and Allegany County commissioners:
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Maryland has stopped being “The Free State”
