Media & Public Relations


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Contact:

Joe Agnello
Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission
Western Regional Office, New Stanton, PA
(724) 755-5262
fax: (724) 755-5142
e-mail: jagnello@paturnpike.com

August 25, 2008

MEDIA ADVISORY

Attention: news directors, print editors & photographers


Event:  The Chambersburg Garden Club will hold a public ceremony at 1 pm Tuesday, August 26 to commemorate the placement of a Blue Star Memorial Highway marker at the newly revamped Sideling Hill Service Plaza in Taylor Township, Fulton County.  Jeffrey L. Hess, Director of Operations/Projects – West, will accept the marker on behalf of the Turnpike Commission. Also representing the Turnpike at Tuesday’s ceremony will be Landscape Architect James H. Kaiser, Jr. Ann Hull is chairing the event for the 47-member Chambersburg Garden Club, which purchased the marker for $1,150. Chambersburg Garden Club is part of the Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania’s District IV. Ms. Hull also serves as District Director. District IV stretches from Breezewood to Lancaster. Other guests at Tuesday’s ceremony will include Fulton County Commissioners Bonnie Mellott Keefer, Daniel H. Swain, Jr., and David R. Hoover II.

Location:  The ceremony will take place at the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Sideling Hill Service Plaza, located at Milepost 172.3. Access to the site is available from the eastbound or westbound lanes of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The plaza is located between the Breezewood and Fort Littleton interchanges. It reopened on May 16 of this year after an extensive renovation and is one of the busiest service plazas on the Pennsylvania Turnpike system.       

Additional info:  The National Garden Clubs, Inc. designation of Blue Star Memorial Highways as a tribute to men and women serving past, present and future in our armed forces and as a demonstration of roadside beautification dates back to 1944 and became a national project in 1951. The marker program features the traditional blue star symbol for heroism that was flown on house banners during World War II by families with sons or daughters in the military. It has grown to include all 50 states and facilities such as national cemeteries, parks and historic sites. New markers are dedicated annually.


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