Author: CM

by Kym Byrnes   photography by Kelly Heck The performance at a band competition lasts approximately eight minutes. Eight minutes. Eight minutes to showcase the results of weeks of training in the hot summer sun, learning new moves and understanding intricate, individual roles on one dynamic team. Band members carry heavy equipment and wear cumbersome uniforms, wave huge flags and manipulate props. Each second of an eight-minute competition requires complete concentration; one misstep during the carefully choreographed show could throw the entire performance off kilter, like one tipped domino that tumbles an entire set. Carroll County’s high school marching...

by Rebekah Cartwright Training In Hopes of Holding Back Violence If someone close to you plunges into a mental health crisis that puts them, or others, at risk, would you know what to do? That question, posed in 2011 at a faculty meeting at Carroll Community College, sparked a mental health first aid program that has touched hundreds of lives across the county. As more tragedies linked to mental health disorders continued to unfold nationwide, the McDaniel College community and law enforcement agencies unfolded mental health first aid programs as well. The universal hope is that with more training,...

by Barbara Pash   photography by Bill Ryan Gary Cofflin and his wife, Maryanne, live in a big house in Westminster – a two-story colonial with an in-law addition and a garage converted into a kitchen that runs 3,300 square feet in size. When temperatures rose last July and the Cofflins’ monthly electric bill soared to $700, their wallets felt the heat. How did they cool off? Solar power. The first full month fueled by solar dropped the Cofflins’ electric bill to $95. “I signed up thinking I’d save $50, $60 a month [on my bill]. I’ve already saved...