The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1945-02-01
DURELY
i Official
BY BALLOT BOX

Senate Bill No. 80 is one of the
most pernicious bills ever dropped
into the hopper of the State Legis-
lature and, if it ever reaches the
floor, which l doubt, it is hoped that
Washington County's Delegation and
State Senator, will jump on it with
both feet.
Obviously unconstitutional, even
to layman, Senate Bill 80 proposes
to put into the hands of one man,
the power to not only designate any
public highway in the state as
main highway, but also gives him
the power to determine what build
ings, if any, may be erected within
200 feet of such highway.
1t would be bad enough if the
bill set forth in plain language just
what type of building could be
erected by property owner within
200 feet of any so-called main high
way, but Senate Bill 80 provides
that any property owner, before
erecting any building within two
hundred feet of a highway, must
apply to the commission for a per-
nit and must submit with this APP
plication plans for such building.
Then, and only then, will he find
cut what sort of a building he can
erect, if any.
The bill proposes to set up within
the already existing State Roads
Commission, another commission, to
be known as the Maryland Roadside
Commission. The bill further pro-
poses that only the chairman of this
Maryland Roadside Commission is
to receive salary and it also pro-
vides that this Maryland Roadside
Commission can demand from the
State Roads Commission and the
State Planning Commission, the
services of any engineers and plan
ming experts they want, and, fail
ing to get them, they can hire their
own
If Senate Bill 80 ever became a
law, there would be nothing to pre-
vent the Maryland Roadside Com
mission from coming into Washing
ton County (the bill provides for
adequate travelling expenses for the
chairman and declaring that every
side road in the county is hereby
designated as main highway,
which would mean that no building
could be erected within 200 feet of
any road in the county, without
first getting permission from the
Maryland Roadside Commission.
Perhaps you are wondering why 1
am taking this matter up in my
column, Purely Political" instead
of having the editor of The Globe
Independent write an editorial on it.
The answer is simple This infamous
Senate Bill 80 is purely political
vancouver, obviously dreamed up
by someone with an eye to the chair
manship of the proposed commits
sion, and therefore doesn't belong
anywhere else but in a political
column.
The proposed bill has met with
a storm of protest from one end
of the state to the other and / be-
ieve, when the public hearing on
the bill is held on February 6, that
there will be such an outcry against
it that it will be dropped like a
hot potato.
In talking to the editor of Globe
Independent last week, l asked him
why he hadn't carried the story of
the christening of the S. S. Frost
burg by Mrs J. Glenn Beall, wife
of the Congressman from the Sixth
District, and his answer was that he
hadn't had a news release of any
sort from Congressman Beall since
the election, or for that matter from
Senator Tydings either.
Ai'nt politicians funny? Before
campaign they will keep in close
touch with the hometown weeklies,
but after elections they seem to
think that the news wire services
releases of their activities is all that
is needed, completely overlooking
the fact that the news wires service
the daily papers only.