Published: April 07, 2009 11:54 pm      

WCI inmates may clear, maintain Big Savage Trail

CUMBERLAND — Inmates from Western Correctional Institution could help clear parts of the 17.2-mile Big Savage Hiking Trail within Savage River State Forest in Garrett County.

The idea was first put forward by Allegany County resident Sam Metz, who contacted Larry Maxim, forest supervisor. Maxim said he talked this week with WCI Administrative Officer Bill Jewell, who oversees such projects with the prison.

The trail has suffered due to effects from gypsy moth deforestation in 2006 and 2007 and a severe ice storm in 2002.

“He seemed very interested,” Maxim said. “Seventeen miles is a long way. It’s a lot of trail.”

Maxim said he doesn’t expect any one entity to clear the entire stretch, which features a vertical rise of 1,300 feet and scenic views. Maxim said a combination of state employees, volunteers from the Maryland Conservation Corps and others with an interest in keeping the trail open to the public would be needed.

The part Jewell said he talked with Maxim about collaborating on and clearing first is a short, one-third of a mile stretch adjacent to property owned by Barton area resident Frank Sgaggero. It was at that location during a blizzard in January 1964 that a Strategic Air Command B-52 bomber crashed with two, unarmed thermonuclear bombs. Three crew members perished. There were two survivors.

A monument on the east side of Grantsville commemorates the crew, and three individual sites in Garrett and Somerset counties mark the locations where the three crew members died. But Maxim said Sgaggero’s intent is to clear a space for a permanent plaque and perhaps install a bench or two for trail users. The move serves a practical purpose, Maxim said. It would keep people who want to visit the crash site off Sgaggero’s land and away from ornery cattle he owns.

Jewell said there are benefits to the inmates, the prison system and the community in such a partnership.

“We like to get them out in the community,” Jewell said.

Aside from the public relations aspect, Jewell said most projects are done at no cost to the organizing group. Inmates receive their normal daily pay.

“We go out and show them we’re doing some good things,” Jewell said.

He said it might be possible to use inmates to clear larger portions of the trail — if asked, and if permission is received from Gary Maynard, secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Other projects WCI inmates are involved with include maintenance of the Great Allegheny Passage trail in Cumberland from Baltimore Street to Market Street and tree plantings around the county, such as the Cresaptown baseball field. They also participate in County United Way’s Day of Caring & Sharing and this week cleaned Dan’s Rock for a third time.

Department spokesman Mark Vernarelli said Maynard hopes inmates can help a community complete projects “they otherwise might not have the manpower or resources to take on.”

“No institution has answered the call better than WCI,” Vernarelli said in an e-mail. “This work fits right in with what’s known as ‘restorative justice,’ which is giving an inmate the opportunity to pay society back a little. The inmates are all minimum or prerelease security level and in the case of WCI, many of the men have done multiple projects. They are usually supervised by prison staff.”

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.