Legislation offered by both Del. Wendell R. Beitzel and Sen. George C. Edwards failed...

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Because of the unusually high amount of snow that has fallen this winter, flooding is...

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The first of four indictments handed down by the March 2010 term of the grand jury has...

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The Deep Creek Hydroelectric Station issued another press release this week in its...

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The House Economic Matters Committee will hear three separate proposals sponsored...

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The Garrett County Airport Runaway Extension Project is officially completed now...

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The Garrett County Board of Education recently held its March meeting, at which several...

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Oakland's municipal election was held this past Monday for town mayor and three council...

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Who We Are / Video

A sharp-skinned hawk paid a visit to an Oakland back yard recently, and was photographically captured by Lisa Rook, advertising manager of this newspaper. A variety of critters have had difficulty this winter just trying to find enough food to survive because of the deep blanket of snow, and this guy was eying fellow much smaller fowls on Lisa's birdfeeder. The aforementioned blanket is now melting rapidly, and because of a rainy forecast Garrett County is now under a flood watch.


There was no prouder grandfather in the state of Maryland on Saturday than George Scheffel Sr. of Oakland, who is pictured congratulating his grandson George III also known as Brutus after the Southern High School senior won his fourth straight Maryland high school wrestling championship, a feat that had been accomplished by only three other wrestlers in the history of the state tournament. The icing on the cake for George Sr. was that Jakob "Bubba" Scheffel, younger brother of Brutus, claimed his second state title, as did teammates Lex Ozias and Davey Stewart. The four individual titles, plus a runner-up win by Ryan Bennett, gave the Rams their second consecutive team state championship. See sports pages for details and additional photos.
Paintings In The Old Master's Style

"Simple Things Remember-ed" is the title of the collection of oil paintings created by artist Daniel Helsel now on display at the Gallery Shop in Oakland. The exhibit of "old masters'" style paintings will be up through April 16. Helsel is a resident of Pennsylvania but is a member of the local arts council, and has exhibited in numerous area locations. Plans are under way for him to teach a beginners oil painting class in Oakland this July. See related story on the arts link. Helsel will be honored with a wine and cheese reception Saturday, March 27, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Gallery Shop, 206 E. Alder Street, Oakland. The public is invited. For more information, persons may call the office at 301-334-6580 or visit www.garrettarts.com.

"How Sweet It Is!"

It's definitely sweet for Southern High School fans that their wrestling team brought home from College Park on Saturday a second straight 1A/2A Maryland team championship. The Rams soundly defeated grapplers representing 68 other schools throughout the state, with second-place Glenelg finishing more than 30 points behind. While only five Rams qualified for the state event, four of them won individual state titles and one placed second to amass plenty of team points for the championship.

Pictured from left are: Davey Stewart, 103-pound champion; Jakob "Bubba" Scheffel, 160-pound champion; Coach Dave Taylor; George "Brutus" Scheffel, 152-pound champion; and Lex Ozias, 140-pound champion. Not present for the photo was 189-pound division runner-up Ryan Bennett. Brutus Scheffel made history by becoming only the fourth Maryland high school wrestler in history to win four individual state titles.
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