The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1951-12-06

county turned out Tor the third an
nual Town Hall Dinner Meeting,
held in Franklin Court Auditorium
on Monday night, under the auspices
of the Hagerstown Chamber of Com
merce.
J. w. Jamison III, president of the
Chamber, presided and Odello M
Letter was the moderator. Seated
with them at the head table were:
Mayor H. L. Mills; Councilmen Lu-
Their Broom, Jack Hellane and Mel
vim Jennings; Winslow F. Burhans,
president of the Board of County
Commissioners; Commissioners Lei
ster Mobley, Sr. and Chester Del
phey; and DR.. Wilson P. Ard, who
offered the invocation.
Following the dinner, the meet
ing got off to a fine start when the
Hagerstown High School Choir,
under the direction of Mrs. H. T.
Davidson, teacher of music at the
school, gave just about as fine a pro-
grom as one could wish to hear.
Their numbers were: MADAME
Jeanette" by Alan Murray; peas
ants Wedding March," by Solder
man; "Climbin' Up The Mountain, -
a negro spiritual; Country Style, F"
by Van Heusen; the beautiful
Viennese Waltz, by Charles, LET
My Song Fill Your Heart" and "The
Lords Prayer" by Malotte.
Mr.. Jamison then made a few
brief remarks, after which the mod
orator took over and questions be-
gan pouring in. The sincere interest
of the assembly was proven by the
fact that all the questions presented
and answered by either the members
of the city government or the coun-
ty government, as the case might be
were really constructive and there
was no attempt made to interject
questions of a personal matter.
Insofar as the city government
was concerned, most of the ques.
tons conferred around such subjects
as: the tax rate, the light plant anc
major projects such as, sewerage
service to homes in the city limit;
that are now without it and the
paving of streets and alleys; while
the questions directed to the Boarc
of County Commissioners had to d.
with the tax rate, the schools, thu
County Home and the proposed
mental hospital for Washington
County.
All the answers given by thu
Mayor, the members of the Coun
Gil, and the members of the Count,
Commissioners were both full ant
frank and there was no attemp
made to pull any punches. For in
stance, when question was direct
ed to Councilman Broom as tt
whether any attempt would be mad,
by the present administration to in
crease the cost Of such services a
lights, water and sewerage, h,
answered it very emphatically il
just one word-No.
A question that has been in tn,
minds of people for sometime :
whether it would not be better Il
develop the present site of the Coun
ty Home for commercial and resi-
Dental purposes (the site is recog
nized as a very valuable one) anc
then from part of the proceeds o
such developments buy another site
for the mental hospital-was direct
ed at Mr.. Burhans and he too gave
very frank answer. He pointed
out that the offering of this site tx
the state for a mental hospital wa.
perhaps the deciding factor in the
state deciding to put the Western
Maryland mental hospital in Wash
lIISI OI1 AOlulLy cllQ IlG lGlI tlIdG
would be very poor policy to nov
advise the state that they were go
ing to offer them another site, par
ticularly as it is expected that at the
I Forthcoming session of the legisla
ture the funds for the hospital vii
be appropriated. Mr.. Burhans add
ed that the entire board was vel
aware of the high value of the Coun
ty Home site and will keep that il
mind, but that they would not a
this time make any move that nigh
endanger the hospital, which othel
counties in western Maryland have
been trying to get.
In discussing the possible increas,
of the 50-cent tax rate for the city
of Hagerstown, Mayor Mills stated
that the recent postcard poll which
he conducted at his own expenst
showed that those who returned
their cards were overwhelmingly il
favor of keeping the tax rate down
He said that over 600 cards were re