To The Editor:

I am a once-a-year volunteer for the Fulton County Historical Society during the Fall Folk Festival. The society has done a lot for the county and the Fulton House. This includes, but is not limited to, preserving the Winegardner School, maintenance of the Big Spring Cemetery, maintaining a history room in the local library. My favorite is educating the fourth-grade students on the history of Fulton County by distributing the book "My Home is Fulton County" to every fourth-grader in the county.

I have been dismayed by things I have learned about the way Mc- Connellsbug Borough Council is treating the Fulton County Historical Society and the Fulton House, which houses the society's museum collection. As I understand the history, the Fulton House burned in the 1940s and was in danger of being razed. The Historical Society was formed to save the Fulton House. Several citizens organized, raised money and cleaned it up. In the 1970s McConnellsburg Borough bought it for approximately $15,000, and it was used for borough offices. The deed says that the borough is responsible for maintenance.

The Historical Society has a lease on the east end of the building, consisting of a log cabin, four rooms, an attic and the basement under the log cabin. I don't know when this lease expires, but the FCHS needs a permanent place for its museum.

I do know that the Fulton County Historical Society has spent thousands of dollars repalcing the roof of the Fulton House and at a later date repainting the roof. The log cabin has been restored. Recently the FCHS had the Fulton House stonework repaired and repointed at an astronomical cost, mostly financed with a grant the FCHS applied for and received. The cost of all this ran at least $250,000.

At one point the borough asked the FCHS to purchase the building. The society didn't have money to do so at the time. As I understand it, after a year or so of debate and reseach, the Historical Society board applied for a grant that would allow it to purcahse the building. The grant was approved. When the Historical Society approached the borough, the society was told that the building was worth more than what was originally asked and Borough Council refused to sell. The grant had to be returned. Since the FCHS put the money into the building that raised the value, why does it not get credit? The last figure I heard quoted as a selling price was $500,000, well above the assessed value of the building.

My dismay comes from the fact that the borough cares so little for the building that it seldom puts forth the time and money required for its upkeep. A donation was given to the FCHS to clean and repair the toilets in the basement, which had been out of commission since the 2004 flood. Work was done under the auspices of the FCHS, not the borough.

In addition, the borough complains about not having enough room.Why on earth didn't they sell the Fulton House to the Historical Society, take the money and buy the old hospital for offices and rent the rest for income? And then, I've been told that there was another property in town that could have been purchased and was never considered? And the last foolish move of elimianting the police force, which, incidentally, is currently housed in the Fulton House.

So, once again I ask, Erin D. Cromer Schellsburg, Pa.