Published: May 29, 2008 11:32 pm         

‘Readers’ Choice’ is coming

Readers’ Choice, one of the biggest projects of the year for the Times-News, will appear in our June 30, 2008 edition.

Last year, readers cast 42,000 votes in selecting their favorites in 45 categories.

The ballots are appearing every day and deadline for returning them is June 9. You can vote for your favorite restaurant, beauty salon, dentist, golf course, tire shop, etc.

Winners in each category will receive an award certificate and be listed in our June 30 Readers’ Choice section....

Clotheslines, which in some communities disappeared years ago, are making a comeback thanks to the “Right to Dry” movement.

Project Laundry List, promoter of the clothesline comeback, notes that community covenants, landlord prohibitions and zoning laws in many communities stop people from using the lines. The organization is encouraging state and federal legislators to introduce “Right to Dry” legislation as a way of saving money and energy by using a “solar dryer.”

The movement is already making an impact in Vermont, New Hampshire and North Carolina....

Tax deadbeats are everywhere — even in the White House.

Scripps Howard News Service says 2.2 percent of employees of the Executive Office of the President are tax scofflaws, while 4 percent of the House of Representative staff are delinquent in paying taxes, and another 3 percent in the Senate. The worst agency for deadbeats is the Government Printing Office, with 7.2 percent being delinquent....

There are not many freight trains traveling through Cumberland on CSX lines that do not show signs of graffiti. CSX reports graffiti costs the company between $5 million and $7 million a year to clean up.

The cost of repainting one 53-foot boxcar in CSX colors is about $3,083....

The Philadelphia Inquirer last week published an article entitled 10 for the Road. It told readers about weekend events occurring within a few weeks and within a day’s drive of Philadelphia.

Coming in at No. 4 was Allegany County’s 40th Annual Heritage Days Festival June 14-15. The newspaper listed the festival’s Website, www.heritagedaysfestival.com., and phone number, (301) 722-0037....

West Virginia has imported 6 million honeybees from Georgia and 100 tons of corn syrup to replenish and nourish existing colonies, according to The Associated Press. A prolonged drought and late freeze last year sent commercial bee numbers plummeting by about 30 percent....

The Social Security Administration has issued its annual list of most popular baby names.

No. 1 for boys is Jacob, followed by Michael, Ethan, Joshua, Daniel and Christopher. For girls, the first choice is Emily, then Isabella, Emma, Ava, Madison and Sophia.

Emily has topped the list since 1996. Jacob has done so since 1999. Elizabeth returned to the top 10 after a two-year absence....

Higher food prices are the impetus for higher lunch prices and four-day weeks for a number of schools in the nation.

A Minnesota school system went to a four-day week, closing schools on Mondays and extending each of the other school days by an hour to make up for 23 lost Mondays. Four-day school weeks are also fairly common in rural areas of South Dakota, according to wire reports....

Commuter bus service in the state is getting a little closer to this area. Gov. Martin O’Malley has approved $3.3 million for additional Mass Transit Administration bus lines, including one daily round trip to the No. 991 line between Hagerstown, Frederick, Shady Grove metro, the Rock Spring Business Park and Washington, D.C.....

Seen on the Internet — More Mostly Useless Facts:

• “Stewardesses” is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.

• It is illegal to hunt camels in the state of Arizona.

• “The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint — no two lions have the same pattern of whiskers.

• Cranberries are sorted for ripeness by bounding them; a fully ripened cranberry can be dribbled like a basketball.

• More people are killed annually by donkeys than airplane crashes.

• The highest per capita Jell-O consumption in the U.S. is Des Moines.

Jan Alderton is managing editor of the Cumberland Times-News. His email address is jpalderton@times-news.com.