The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1950-11-23

rich words, a group of over two
hundred men and women, led by
their campaign general chairman,
PAUL S. Shields, officially brought
to a close the greatest peacetime
Community Chest Campaign ever held
in Washington County.
Called upon to raise $107,770, the
amount needed to adequately finance
the work of the twelve community
agencies that operate with funds
provided by the Chest, a band of
over thousand volunteers, by work
ing day and night, in the space of
one short week not only reached
their goal, but went over the top by
more than ten thousand dollars
the final figure was $117,911.42.
But the self sacrificing work of
this great band of men and women
would have gone for naught had it
not been for the unselfishness of the
citizens of Washington County, who
dug deep down in their pockets to
keep intact Washington County's
remarkable record of never having
failed to go over the top in any
worthwhile undertaking. While big
business gave literally, as it always
does, it was the teamwork of every
one-the big giver; the average Civ
er, the poor mans mite - which
brought forth the heartfelt Prayer
of Thanks that closed the Campaign
Is it any wonder that I keep on
saying, over and over, that Wash
ington County is a wonderful place
in which to live and make living?
1 predicted last week, in this
column, that none of the defeated
candidates for the office of County
Commissioner would file petitions
for recounts. But though George
Fockler, one of the Democratic
candidates, who had announced that
he would ask a recount, later chang
ed his mind, another candidate,
Amos Reeder, a Republican, has filed
and so my prediction went wrong.
However, here is another prediction:
The filing for a recount by Mr..
Reeder could very well result in the
present Republican controlled Board
of County Commissioners fixing, not
only the County's 1851 budget, but
also the tax basis and the 1851 tax
rate and here's why:
Had there been no petition for
recount, the successful candidates,
three Democrats and two Republi-
cans, would have received their
certificates from the Governor, and
be sworn in by about December 8,
thus giving the Democratic controll-
ed Board time to work on the bud
get, decide the tax basis and fix the
tax rate, which, under the law, must
BID publicly announced on January
/, 1850.
But as matters stand now, it
could well be the end of the year
before it is officially decided who the
members of the Board will be- The
Democrats do not have to reply to
Mr. Readers petition until Friday,
November "a. At that hearing,
testimony will have to be given and,
if the Democrats ask for a complete
recount of the vote cast for County
Commissioner, from top to bottom,
and their request is granted by the
Judge, the present Board could
easily have completed the work
necessary for setting up the 1851
tax rate before the ultimate sue
cessful candidates could be sworn
in and take over.
Francis Urner, one of the attorn-
eys for Amos E. Reeder who have
filed petition for a recount of the
votes for Mr.. Reeder and E. Lester
Mobley, who won over Reeder in
the official count, in announcing that
an amended petition on behalf of
Reeder is being filed, stated that
check made with some of the judges
on duty at the city boxes, indicates
that some thousand illegal ballots
were counted.
According to Mr.. Urner, these dis
puted ballots, while properly mark
ed for some of the candidates, were
improperly marked for others, since,
in some places on the ballot the x
was made, not in the space provided
for it on the ballot, but outside it.
The claim is further made that some
election judges counted the votes on
these ballots for the candidates
where the x was properly placed,
throwing out only the votes for
candidates that were illegally
marked.
If this actually happened, then it
is obvious that mistake was made,