10 Years Ago
Week of October 16, 2014
State Asked To Adopt Two Franklin Streets
County school officials and the Town of Franklin are asking the State of West Virginia to take over full maintenance duties, from snow removal to paving, for Lee Drive and part of South Branch Street.
South Branch Street runs parallel to the new Franklin Elementary School and parallel to Main Street in the county seat. Lee Drive shoots off from Route 220 near the Shell station, runs past Hartman’s Garage and continues a short distance to its intersection with South Branch Street.
The part of South Branch Street for which the state is being asked to take responsibility is from Walnut Street, which runs past the county courthouse and school board’s central office building, to the intersection of South Branch and Lee.
BES To Represent State In Salt Lake City
On behalf of Brandywine Elementary School, principal Travis Heavner traveled to Charleston last Wednesday evening for the West Virginia Department of Education ceremony honoring the three schools to be named state Schools of Excellence for 2014-15.
Heavner is in his first year as the principal at Brandywine, having succeeded the long-time Lincoln Propst.
Heavner noted it was Propst and his staff that entered BES in the statewide competition of the School of Excellence recognition. It is the second time BES has been named one of the state’s Schools of Excellence. BES received the honor for the 2006-07 school year.
20 Years Ago
Week of October 14, 2004
Fitness Center
Coming to CHS
From the very beginning, the vision that the members of the Circleville High Preservation organization had was greater than the sum of its parts.
The ambitions underlying the community-wide effort to preserve the structure involved more than simply not letting a big part of county history and a building that’s on the national historic register fall into a state of disrepair and dilapidation.
An over-arching goal of CHS Preservation, Inc., was to make the building a vital community resource and even an incubator for local economic development.
And, since the beloved old building has been restored, it, indeed, has become a vital community resource.
The beautifully restored “Home of the Indians” gym is now the site of the annual Circleville High School reunion—an event hundreds of alumni attend—and the gym has also been used for numerous wedding anniversaries and other family celebrations.
But now, another important step is about to be taken in realizing the dream of those who worked to preserve Circleville High School—later this year, or perhaps around the time of the New Year, a spacious, bright-with-natural-light room in the building will serve as a work-out and exercise center for local residents.
With the help from Delegate Harold K. Michael in the form of a $20,000 grant, seven new, gleaming and state of the art physical fitness machines, in addition to an array of free weights, are already installed and operational in the building.
What’s more, the seven workout machines and the free weights are only the beginning. Plans are in the works to double the amount of exercise and cardio-vascular equipment in the foreseeable future.
Another goal of CHS Preservation, Inc., is to “secure business and activities that will generate enough revenue to make CHS self-supporting while also providing economic development for the North Fork community,” to quote from the mission statement.
Slusher Sings National Anthem at Orioles’ Game
A Franklin native, Cathy Slusher, sang the national anthem before 39,000 baseball fans in Baltimore, MD, on June 28. It was a contest at Camden Yards between the National League’s Atlanta Braves and the American League’s Baltimore Orioles. Slusher was called out of the crowd 40 minutes prior to the game’s first pitch. She was accompanied to the game by her son, Drew, her daughter, Julie, and Donald Phares. She is the daughter of Leo and Juanita Slusher. A resident of Harrisonburg, VA, Slusher serves there on the board of education.
SUGAR GROVE
One’s ancestors lived much more of their lives outside than one does now. They took many colorful examples from nature and passed on to one a linguistic heritage rich in reference to the great outdoors. Early settlers discovered a new prey for hunting. Raccoons and possums were abundant and could be hunted with nearly any kind of dog. When pursued, a ‘coon would run through the underbrush. But as the dogs neared, they would climb the nearest tree. Sometimes a shrewd animal worked its way through branches and across other trees to freedom—leaving dogs barking under an empty tree until hunters came to make the kill. This outcome of a hunting expedition was common enough to cause one to say another person is mistaken by commenting that he or she is “barking up the wrong tree.”
Some of the colorful language is all but self-explanatory. Almost anyone from the rural South may be called a redneck because anger makes the neck turn red, according to some analysts. However, the simple truth is that most that work in the fields wear clothing that provides a loose open neck. Day after day, rays of the sun reach the exposed skin. After spending 25 years planting, cultivating and harvesting, a fellow’s neck is likely to appear brownish red and stay that way. Because the South has been more agricultural than the industrial North, the redneck term has become associated exclusively with Southerners.
30 Years Ago
Week of October 14, 1994
SUGAR GROVE
Scarecrows Scare Crows, Humor Humans
Hanging around all day isn’t an awful lot to crow about…unless you are a scarecrow. Job descriptions for those old-fashioned critter-chasers may not have changed much over the years. Now that the growing season is over, some of the scarecrows seem happy and energetic. The harder working stuffed characters have taken on a forlorn look, particularly since the winds and rains of time have slimmed down their plump padding. Is the primary objective of these scarecrows to keep crows at a distance or to bring smiles to the passersby? Whatever the reason, displays never fail to bring smiles to neighbors, who see them…autumn – atic!
Reaching Out With
West Virginia’s
Scientific “Ear”
By Robert C. Byrd
In November 1988, the old National Radio Telescope at Green Bank, Pocahontas County, collapsed.
Understandably, the collapse of the telescope brought a cry of dismay from the nation’s scientific community, with calls for an early replacement.
Subsequently, to replace this vital scientific instrument, I added $75 million to a supplemental appropriations bill in 1989.
When fully operational, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory will place West Virginia firmly in the front ranks of international space research.
In spite of the 1988 calamity, the Green Bank scientific installation has nevertheless continued to host numerous educational activities, in anticipation of fully resumed research and training in the future.
Additionally, the observatory staff conducts workshops for small college science faculties nationwide; provides summer jobs for undergraduate science, engineering, and computer students, conducts tours for interested visitors, and, in cooperation with Glenville State, provides an “elder hostel” program that allows the senior citizen participants to operate the 40-foot-diameter radio telescope.
Certainly, the Green Bank facility is proving its value as an educational tool, and I look forward to the completion and dedication of the new massive telescope and fully resumed activities two years hence.
Benedum Foundation
No Stranger to Pendleton
The Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, an independent philanthropy whose grant making is focused principally in West Virginia and Pittsburgh, will mark its 50th anniversary with a special ceremony in Charleston on October 14. West Virginia Governor, Gaston Caperton, will be among the speakers. Foundation President, Paul R. Jenkins, will preside.
The Benedum Foundation was established in 1944 by Michael and Sarah Benedum, natives, respectively, of Bridgeport and Blacksville. Michael Benedum amassed a fortune in the oil and gas business. Known world-wide as “The Great Wildcatter,” his business successes ranked him, in his day, among the 100 wealthiest Americans.
Mr. and Mrs. Benedum named the Foundation in memory of their only child, Claude Worthington, who died in 1918 at age 20 during service with the U. S. Army during World War II.
In its 50 years, the Foundation has made 5,193 grants totaling $145,405,192 — the large majority directly benefiting West Virginia.
The Benedum Foundation, with current assets of $217 million, makes grants in West Virginia to support education, health, human services, community improvement, economic development and the arts. In Pittsburgh, the Foundation focuses on institution-building.
The Foundation is located in Pittsburgh in the Benedum-Trees Building which once served as the headquarters for the oil and gas empire.
Total grants to Pendleton County during 1987-1993 were $644,205.
60 Years Ago
Week of October 15, 1964
100 YEARS AGO
By LON K. SAVAGE
Editor’s Note—The following is one of a series of articles on the Civil War. Each weekly installment covers events which occurred exactly 100 years ago.
Hood Enters Alabama, Sherman Pursues
Confederate Gen. John B. Hood, the man who had been forced to give up Atlanta to the invading Federal army of William Tecumseh Sherman, turned his back on Sherman 100 years ago this week and marched from Georgia into Alabama, bent on an invasion of his own.
For more than two weeks Hood’s army of 35,000 had been moving back and forth through northwest Georgia, striking again and again at the railroad that fed Sherman’s army in Atlanta. Finally, in early October, Sherman had pulled out of Atlanta and headed northwest himself, pursuing his tormentor, and sharp fights broke out in a dozen towns—Dallas, Rome, Allatoona, Coosaville and Lafayette.
On October 13, Hood recaptured Dalton, Ga., just southwest of Chattanooga, directly across Sherman’s supply line. From there, he turned southwest toward Alabama, hesitated two days while pondering his situation, and pushed on. His mind was made up.
Hood knew he could not beat Sherman’s army of 60,000, but he could out-maneuver it. By marching into Alabama and thence to Tennessee, he could turn from the defensive to the offensive. If Sherman followed, the effect would be to maneuver Sherman out of Georgia. If Sherman remained behind, Hood would go north to wreak havoc in Tennessee.
By October 17, Hood had passed through the mountains to the Alabama line, and by the next day he was in Alabama on the road to Gadsden.
Sherman, meanwhile, was troubled. His pursuit of Hood was half-hearted. His large army could not move as fast as Hood’s, and if he gave chase, he would lose the ground he had won in the Atlanta campaign. To make matters worse, Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest was coming east into Alabama and Tennessee and was tearing up the Federally-held railroads leading to Atlanta. Hood’s cavalry chief, Joe Wheeler, also was operating behind Sherman in northwest Georgia.
On October 9, Sherman telegraphed Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia: “It will be a physical impossibility to protect the roads, now that Hood, Forrest, Wheeler and the whole batch of devils are turned loose . . .”
Instead of pursuit, Sherman suggested, “I propose . . . that we strike out with our wagons for Milledgeville, Millen and Savannah . . . By attempting to hold the roads, we will lose a thousand men each month, and will gain no result. I can make this march, and make Georgia howl!”
In the days that followed, he planned the details of this march to the sea. Gen. George Thomas, the “Rock of Chickamauga,” could be left to defend Tennessee. Sherman had 8,000 head of cattle and three million rations of bread. Forage for his animals, he said, promised to be plentiful in the Georgia countryside.
Sherman’s proposal, when it reached Grant and the officials in Washington, was greeted coolly.
Next week: Cedar Creek.
