20 Years Ago
Week of April 20, 2006
Schlaegels Are Alpaca Pioneers in Pendleton County
In 2000, Becky Schlaegel was pulling weeds in the miniscule backyard of her condo in Columbus, OH, her hometown.
She began to experience a sudden restlessness and with it came an urge to take a risk in life, make a career change and make West Virginia her home.
“I had no idea where [the feelings] had come from,” she says. “But they had that feeling about them, and I listened.”
She shared her sense of restlessness and her risky urge for change with her husband, Bob.
Bob Schlaegel was not thrilled with his job working for a big banking corporation. After all, a retired military man, he had worked in logistics at the theater Army level in Europe in the 1980s, in the tense twilight of the post-Afghanistan Cold War era.
The Schlaegels began making exploratory trips to West Virginia.
On a whim, the Schlaegels went one fateful day to a Pet Expo on the Ohio State Fairgrounds. There they made a life-altering discovery.
“We came across an obstacle course event being done with some animals that looked like a llama, but they were smaller,” Becky recalled. “We were mesmerized; kids about 10 or 12 years of age were maneuvering these animals around the course with amazing ease. Afterwards, we were able to get close to these graceful creatures. I was entranced with their brown, soulful eyes and their obvious intelligence.”
It was love at first sight. Indeed the animals weren’t llamas. They were their cousins. They were alpacas.
In a lightning-flashed moment, the Schlaegels knew not only that their lives had changed but that alpacas, Becky recalled, “were in our West Virginia future.”
At first, the Schlaegels were sent reeling by “sticker shock.” The prices for breeding animals ranged from $10,000 to $30,000 on average. Nevertheless, they persisted in following their dream.
While searching for property in West Virginia, the Schlaegels found that the Lord planned for them to become Pendletonians—because the one school system in the state that hired Becky was the one here, with its strong history of support for special education, the area in which Becky has rare professional expertise.
In the meantime, the Schlaegels took a steep financial plunge into the alpaca business, purchasing two young junior herd sires–Ringo (for Ringo Starr) costing $10,000, and Foxworthy for $12,000 (his brown fleece made him more rare).
“We’re so glad to have taken what Robert Frost called ‘the road less traveled’ and found our way to Pendleton County.”
30 Years Ago
Week of April 18, 1996
WWI Veterans Celebrate 100th Birthdays Last Week
Two Pendleton County veterans of World War I were honored last week by fellow veterans in celebration of their 100th birthdays.
Honored at a birthday party last Thursday morning at Pendleton Nursing Home where both reside were Ona Propst, formerly of Brandywine, and Clem Bennett, formerly of Dry Run.
The party was sponsored by Pendleton Post No. 30, The American Legion Post No. 183, Riverton, and Rock Cavern Post 6862 VFW, Riverton.
Clem Bennett was born April 14, 1896, on North Dry Run, a son of Jacob Floyd and Maude Hinkle Bennett. He entered the Army September 18, 1917, at Camp Lee, Virginia, and served in the infantry. He was sent overseas and served in France and Germany and saw combat in the Muse Argonne Campaign where he was disabled by mustard gas. He was hospitalized in England and discharged May 7, 1919.
Ona B. Propst was born April 8, 1896, near the present Navy Base. His parents were Samuel and Lenora Propst. He had two sisters, Elva Alma who died as an infant and Lena Jane.
After attending school at Lone Poplar, Propstburg, and Cedar Grove and then completing Normal School, he taught school in the Smoke Hole from 1915-1916 and one year at Brandywine.
He entered the Army on May 26, 1918, serving in Company F 128th Infantry in France and Germany where he was wounded. He was discharged from service on May 19, 1919.
DAHMER
A backward look at Rockingham Memorial Hospital in the year of October 20, 1934, John Dahmer paid Dr. Vanghon for major surgery for his two daughters, Arla and Rose Dahmer, $75.00 and Dr. Armstrong, $20.00. The Rockingham Memorial Hospital bill was $30.65. Back then, ether was used for the anesthetic. A special night nurse, Mary Comer, for two nights marks $15.00.
40 Years Ago
Week of April 17, 1986
Sugar Grove Naval Base Eyed for Star Wars Role
U. S. Senator Robert C. Byrd led a delegation of Pentagon officials to Pendleton County April 1 to visit the site of the Sugar Grove Naval Receiving Station in hopes that the federal government will choose the facility as a good location for part of the “Star Wars” defense system.
Byrd said computer systems will comprise a large portion of the “Star Wars” program and added that the state’s recent efforts to develop a high-tech industry could help make West Virginia an attractive location for part of the SDI program.
Some 250 Members Honor Rev. O’Gorek At Farewell Service
Some 250 members of the congregations of the North Fork Presbyterian Charge attended a farewell service Sunday at 4 p.m. in the Circleville High School honoring the Rev. Paul O’Gorek and his family.
The Rev. Mr. O’Gorek has served as pastor of the North Fork Presbyterian Charge since April, 1977. He has accepted a call to serve the Westminister Presbyterian Church near Parkersburg and soon will move there with his wife, Sandy, and children, Sarah, Samuel and Joseph.
During the nine years the O’Goreks have lived and worked in Pendleton County, they have made many staunch friends and their churches have made much progress.
50 Years Ago
Week of April 8, 1976
It’s that Time of Year . . .
To paraphrase Shakespeare: “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet and the ramp by any other name would smell as potent.”
The ramp is one of those plants you are for or against: that is for eating it or being around it, or being against it and people who eat it.
“It’s in the lily family and is close kin to the wild onion and the wild garlic. Most botany books call the wild leek. It is believed the name ramp comes from the French word “rampion.”
The ramp for generations has become a part of the life of people in the hill country. It is one of the first plants to send up new leaves in mountainous areas. This enticed the people to find a source of fresh green food after long winters of sow belly and beans.
Also the ramp is high in vitamin C which the hill people needed to bolster health requirements.
The leaves are like wide leaves of grass with a bulb-like root. Both parts of the plant are eaten in a variety of menus. It’s used in soups, salads, sandwiches, stews, with steak and practically all the ways you would use onion or garlic.
The ramp as a first sign of spring gave rise for a time of celebration. Now there are a dozen or so ramp festivals held throughout the Mountain State.
Richwood lays claim to the dubious distinction, “ramp capitol of the world” but people in other places of the state gather by the hundreds to eat ramps by the bushels.
Until you have eaten a “messaramps” or have been around people who have eaten them, you can’t believe the powerful lasting odor ramps send forth. They seem to get absorbed by every cell in the body.
The air wreaks in all directions with wild leeks. In fact, they give rise to two pungent sayings, “a West Virginia boy can do anything, even be the president of the United States, ‘cep’n go to school after eatin’ ramps,” and “there ain’t no schoolhouse airish enough to hold more than one ramp eater.”
One group of serious ramp eaters are concerned about the future supply. The increasing interest in ramp eating and possibility of over-harvesting have led to depletion in some areas.
So now, the Society for Protection of Alium Triococcum (SPAT), has been organized. Those two Latin words are the scientific name of the ramp.
Whether you’re a ramp romper or not, you’ll never catch the true flavor of the hills and the spirit of the people until you see a hillside of ramps and the lighter side of life they bring.
EDITORIALS
What the Chamber of Commerce Says About Pendleton County
The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, which is an organization composed of many businesses throughout the State, has been waging a strong fight against the State Aid to schools. The Chamber publishes a Bulletin which it sends to its members periodically.
In singling out Pendleton County and using it as an example of counties that “raid the State Treasury for public school funds,” the Chamber of Commerce is apparently taking the position that Pendleton gets more than its share of State Aid. If that is true the Chamber is committing a serious error.
The fact that the citizens of Pendleton County are paying only 13 per cent in local revenues for the operation of schools does not prove that the citizens of Pendleton County are not contributing as much for their schools according to their ability to pay as are the citizens of other counties.
It is a well known fact that the per capita income in Pendleton County is much lower that it is in many counties. It could thus well be that the citizens of Pendleton are contributing more of their total income for their schools than are the citizens of many counties in which the per capita income is higher.
There are other facts also that must be taken into consideration. Pendleton County is large in area—almost 700 square miles; yet the population is less than 10,000. This necessarily results in two things—many one-room schools, and a vast amount of school bus transportation, both of which make the school system costly.
It must be remembered, too, that approximately one third of Pendleton County is in National Forest land and therefore is not subject to taxation. As a result the County is deprived of a great amount of local taxes that could be used for school purposes.
It is interesting to note, therefore, that property assessments in Pendleton County are the eleventh highest among the State’s 55 counties.
It would seem, therefore, that if the Chamber of Commerce wants to chide a county for not paying its share it would be an easy matter to find counties that are paying far less, according to their ability, than is Pendleton.
In light of the foregoing we resent the fact that Pendleton County has been singled out and used as an example of the counties that “constantly and brazenly raid the State Treasury” for school funds.
