The Garrett County Democratic Central Committee (GCDCC) is pleased to announce that three new committee members were elected in the Primary Election in July of this year. Jim Hunter and Darryl Glotfelty, both of Accident, and Tracy Edwards of Grantsville will begin their terms on the committee in November. Says Betty Pritt, current Chair of the GCDCC, “we are so thrilled to have three new committee members who will bring new perspectives, skills, and talents to the good work the GCDCC does. Already in the months since the Primary Election, they are engaged in the work we do, so they are prepared to hit the ground running when they officially take office after the General Election.”
Jim Hunter is the Former President of Unions for Jobs and Environmental Progress (UJEP). Jim worked for Potomac Electric Power Company as a Relay Technician for over 20 years. In 1994 he was elected as the President and Business Manager of IBEW Local 1900 in Washington, D.C. In 1998, Maryland Governor Paris Glendenning appointed him to the Governor’s Taskforce on Electric System Reliability. Jim was appointed to the IBEW International staff and, in 2004, was promoted to Director of the Utility Department.
Additionally, Jim served on the advisory boards for Carnegie Mellon Institute; on sustainability Boards for American Electric Power and Energy Future Holdings; on EPRI’s advisory board; on the Executive Council for the Center for Energy Workforce Development; and on the Board for the IBEW Utility Training Trust. Jim worked as a subject matter expert to help formulate the IBEW’s position on global warming and also worked on the IBEW/AEP International piece (boarder adjustments) that was in three climate change bills. He represented the IBEW at the U.N. climate change conferences in 2008 thru 2015. Jim ALSO served on the EPA Clean Air Act Advisory Committee from 2010 to 2012. He has testified before Congress on workforce issues as well as electric system reliability. Jim retired from the IBEW in 2017 and now works as a consultant on Labor/Management relations.
Darryl Glotfelty is the Founder and CEO of Meadow Mountain Hemp, LLC. After graduating from Towson University in 2011 with a degree in Chemistry, he was a volunteer in the US Peace Corps in Tanzania, where he was placed as a science teacher and also worked to solve health and nutritional deficiencies within the local community, including planting thousands of fruit trees, educating students on propagation, and developing solutions for water catchment and storage. Upon returning to the US in late 2016, Darryl moved to DC to work for an agricultural/technology start-up to grow novel edible hydroponic crops for some of DCs best-rated restaurants. The 2018 Farm Bill was passed, and the opportunity to grow hemp on the Glotfelty family farm was made possible. In late 2019, Darryl and Haeli Gustafson, his business and life partner, decided to leave their jobs and make the move back to Garrett County to launch Meadow Mountain Hemp with the goal of creating a sustainable future for themselves and their community.
Darryl is a founding member of the Mountain Maryland Hemp Alliance and its first and current president. The Mountain Maryland Hemp Alliance focuses on educating, supporting industry, sharing ideas, preserving farmland, and creating sustainable solutions that improve economic opportunities through the production of industrial hemp in Western Maryland. Darryl is also an incoming Board Member of the Garrett County Farm Bureau and has already been instrumental in a number of its projects and initiatives in the past year. Darryl and Haeli are the recipients of the Garrett County Democratic Central Committee’s 2022 Inspiration Award.
Tracy Edwards has lived in Garrett County for half of her life, having spent her early years in Grantsville and the past fifteen years living on LongStretch. Tracy graduated from Beall High School, earned a BS degree in Geography from Frostburg State University, and earned her MA degree from Syracuse University. She teaches Geography and Sustainability courses at Frostburg State University, where she has worked since 2001 and has an interest in both human and physical geography. Tracy has served as an election judge through three Presidential elections and is pleased to be elected to the Garrett County Democratic Central Committee. She is the proud mother of two Northern High School graduates. Her hobbies include exploring and learning more about the county, the state, the country, and the world – and also prepping to survive LongStretch winters.
Also re-elected to the Democratic Central Committee for another term were Jeff Hovis (serving his fourth consecutive term), Judy A. Carbone, Betty Pritt, Erin-Ruth Natividad, and Bob Spear. Officer elections will take place when the new committee members begin their terms after the General Election.
The Garrett County Democratic Central Committee is constituted as the governing body of the Democratic Party in Garrett County, with rights and privileges granted under the Constitution and Laws of Maryland and the Constitution and Bylaws of the Maryland Democratic Party. The Garrett County Democratic Central Committee promotes the election of Democratic candidates at the state and county level and conducts the business, organizes the activities, and fosters the growth of the Democratic Party in Garrett County. For more information, please visit www.gcdems.com or send an email to gcdemcc@gmail.com.
