The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Scholarship Program, which is one of the country's most competitive private scholarship programs, has opened its applications to include graduating seniors and recent alumni from any of the 2,000 accredited colleges or universities in the United States.  The scholarship is open to current Frostburg State University seniors as well as alumni who have graduated since spring 2004.

Frostburg residents who want to recycle their Christmas trees can leave them at the end of the Little League parking lot just below the armory. Allegany County will collect the trees later this month and haul them to the recycling center at the old PPG plant, where they will be processed into mulch.

Weather permitting, the city of Frostburg may conduct a special Christmas tree curbside collection, but such a pickup has not yet been confirmed.

At this point, if you want to recycle your tree, haul it to the armory lot. Or, if your yard allows, simply take the old tenenbaum out, let it lie among the shrubs and brush, and melt into the landscape with the passage of time.

Trees set out at curbside for the trash pickup will be hauled to the landfill to decompose with garbage, grime and other waste, and no Christmas tree deserves such a fate.

So, RECYCLE THAT TREE!!!

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FROSTBURG - The Frostburg Mayor and City Council will kick off the new year Tuesday with a special work session to set a fiscal course through what promises to be a challenging 2009.

The Jan. 6 meeting, to be held in the conference room at City Hall, is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. and conclude at 8:30 p.m.

According to a notice issued at the December City council meeting, the meeting will focus on three main points:

1. Review the Annual Independent Auduit for fiscal 2008, the budget year that ended June 30.

2. Discuss Fiscal Management Issues for the balance of fiscal 2009, the current budget year.

3. Discuss Mayor and Council priorities for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2009.

The meeting is open to the public. For additional information, call City Administrator John Kirby at 301.689.6000 ext. 25.

Additional city meetings scheduled for January are:

Historic District Commission, Monday, Jan. 12, 1:30 p.m. at city Place.

Regular City Council Worksession, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 7 p.m. at City Hall.

Planning and Zoning Commission, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 7 p.m. at the library.

January City Council Meeting, Thursday, Jan. 15, 7 p.m. at the Community Center.

FROSTBURG -- When last we visited the Lampost Elves, a half dozen or so were assembling the wreaths that grace downtown Main Street lamps this holiday season, inaugural year of what promises to become a signature Christmas tradition in the Mountain City.

Turns out, there were quite a few elves behind the curtains, as it were, doing their own part to help weave some winter magic, sprinkle red-glow pixie lights from Water to Grant. 

Thousands have enjoyed the lights, and more than a few likely give a thought to how it all came about.  Only a handful, though, appreciate all that it took to make it happen, the people power required to light the night so beautifully.