10 Years Ago
Week of October 20, 2016
BES Pumpkin Drop Is a Smashing Success
Brandywine Elementary School recently hosted the second annual pumpkin drop. The drop was held in conjunction with literacy night activities at the school. Travis Heavner, BES principal, commented that over 150 parents and children were expected to attend the event.
The annual pumpkin drop/literacy night event is one of BES’s most popular community activities, second only to the Christmas program.
20 Years Ago
Week of October 26, 2006
SUGAR GROVE
Real Jack-O-Lanterns Do Not Need A Bridge to Cross
The Appalachian Mountains are a ground rich for ghost stories. The earliest settlers found the ghost stories to be a popular form of entertainment, and they were also used to reflect moral principles.
Many of these stories have been passed on to be remembered and preserved as family treasures. The stories were told in the fields at home, at gatherings places such as country stores and mills.
Actually, ghost stories have been told in all cultures and throughout time. Perhaps it is the human need to connect to the afterlife, or to use it to excite the senses. Fear can be a wonderful stimulant.
Many years ago, a gentleman living along the river offered this wisdom— “If you see a jack-o-lantern cross a footbridge, you’ll know it is someone pulling a prank. Real jack-o-lanterns do not need a bridge to cross.”
Ninety-Two Pound Watermelon Harvested In Fort Seybert
Wow, what is it about the Fort Seybert area when it comes “to growing things big?” That’s the question that was posted to Fred Hottinger, who brought a 92-pound watermelon to Franklin recently to see if it would be of interest to the local newspaper.
“Just about everything grows like that out our way,” Hottinger said with a smile.
He and his wife, Mary B., “set it out in June and harvested it a few days ago,” he said. The Hottingers live in the Brady Hollow area. An enormous pumpkin they grew was featured in “The Pendleton Times” several years ago.
30 Years Ago
Week of October 24, 1996
Cavers Rally At Reunion Grounds
Some 200 cavers congregated at Thorn Spring Park this past weekend despite cold fall weather. During the weekend they visited eight of the county’s caves, picked rocks that had been left by the flood from Ruth Propst’s field, feasted on a spaghetti dinner catered by Dwayne Propst, and held a business meeting.
“The crowd here is very diverse,” said Alex Sproul, who has been an active caver for 40 years. “Everyone from Ph.D. hydrologists to conservationists to sports enthusiasts to rescue teams are here this weekend. And despite the diversity, we are all a big family that takes care of one another.”
Former Franklin Resident To Have Song Published
Best Way Music, an ASCAP affiliated music publishing company in Nashville, has signed a contract with Lynn Beckman for the publication and recording of one of his gospel compositions. Other Beckman’s compositions are also being considered for possible publication.
The song, entitled “For Me,” caught the ear of national recording and Grand Ole Opry artist Billy Walker who is also the president of Best Way and two other publishing companies in Nashville. Walker has taken a personal interest in the song and plans to record it himself in an album project which is tentatively set for studio production later this fall and release sometime after the first of the year.
Week of October 31, 1996
4,770 Eligible To Vote in Next Tuesday’s Election
Pendleton County voters will go to the polls next Tuesday and play a role in selecting county, state and national officials, as well as adopting or rejecting three amendments to the West Virginia Constitution.
Voter registration in Pendleton County has increased to 4,770, an increase of 126 voters over the 4,644 who were registered for the last presidential election in 1992.
Of the 4,770 citizens of Pendleton County who are registered to vote next Tuesday, 3,055 are registered as Democrat, 1,425 are registered as Republican and 290 are registered as other than Democrat or Republican.
Fish Farming Gaining Popularity In West Virginia
Agriculture Commissioner Gus R. Douglass reports that fish farms and processing plants opening and expanding in rural areas of West Virginia are bringing much needed economic opportunities and jobs. “Plentiful pure water, improved roads and close proximity to major East Coast markets, make aquaculture a great opportunity for West Virginia,” Douglass said. “And, the West Virginia Department of Agriculture is providing technical and marketing assistance, in addition to Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point-based inspections, to support this growing agribusiness.”
Aquaculture is the fastest growing area of agriculture in the United States, but it must continue to expand to meet the increasing demand for fish and seafood. Thirteen percent of the seafood consumed in the U.S. is produced through fish farming and this is forecasted to double in ten years. Experts estimate aquaculture worldwide must triple by the year 2025 to meet demand. Fish farming, therefore, has the potential to become a major growth industry in the U.S. and West Virginia.
40 Years Ago
Week of October 23, 1986
New Service Station Opens in Franklin
A modern service station boasting three fuel islands and three service bays opened in Franklin last Friday.
Located just north of Franklin at the intersection of US Routes 220 and 33, the station occupies an acre of land purchased from the John M. Kee heirs.
Operating under the name of Fort Hill Servicenter, Inc., the new station represents an investment of a quarter of a million dollars.
In addition to all grades of Exxon gasoline, diesel fuel and kerosene, the station will handle a full line of petroleum and motor oil products, all major brands of tires and other automotive products.
Local residents working at the station are Robert Dice of Franklin, Jeff Pitsenbarger of Sugar Grove, Lera Harper of Riverton and Austin Cain of Franklin on a part-time basis.
The station is owned and managed by Ralph C. Kesner of Petersburg and his son, B. Karlton Kesner of Charleston. The Kesners have been in the service businesses for 14 years and own other similar stations at Petersburg and Moorefield.
DAHMER
What Time Is It?
What time is it? It may be Eastern Standard Time or Daylight Saving Time. This depends on the time of year.
To the small child, there were only four important times of the day—breakfast, dinner, supper and bedtime. The first three were welcomed to fill the empty stomach, but the latter was looked upon as an unwelcomed, interruption of many activities.
In early times, to the older folks, time was recorded as related to important functions of farming such as time to get up, time to do the milking, to do the washing, to work the crops, etc. Time was of the essence.
Most folks had the old mantle clock that would strike the hour and the half hour. The writer’s father always enjoyed hearing the clock strike at night. Many of the early pocket watches were family heirlooms. Some of them were the old key-wind type while others were in fancy gold cases. Early men’s pocket watches and ladies’ wrist watches were larger and the ladies also had lapel watches which were attached with a safety pin type fastener to their dresses or coats.
A number of farmers never carried a watch at all, except Sunday and special occasions. When working in the field a number of people depended on the position of the sun for dinner time, or the dinner bell, or even when the shadow shortened to the place where the foot could be placed on their head shadow. When the evening shadow lengthened and the sun neared the western horizon, it was time to find a quitting point, get the cows, milk and do the other evening chores.
Well, after a good day’s work, bedtime came early, compared to today’s standards. Some people called it “going to bed with the chickens.” Bedtime came for others when it was light enough that they did not need to light the oil lamp to wash children’s dirty, bare feet. The exception sometimes was mom, who at times took the advantage of the quiet time when children were in bed, to darn, patch and other essential chores of like nature.
Some people actually never depended a great deal on a clock for the purpose of arising early, but were up at the crack of dawn, winter and summer. A large number of the early risers found the early morning hours the most pleasant time to work.
When one made an appointment to see another person, they would not say, I will see you at 11:10 a.m. They would say, “I will see you around noon, God willing.” You know this is one of the marked changes in the nature of appointments. The Rev. Jerry Lautenschlager often remarked at the close of the worship service at Mt. Zion Lutheran Church, “services next Sunday if God willing?”
Times have changed but the need to know the answer to, “What time is it?” hasn’t.
Week of October 30, 1986
4,195 Are Registered To Vote Here
Every vote will count in next Tuesday’s general election, and in races that are close an individual’s vote may be decisive.
Of the 4,195 persons registered to vote in Pendleton County, more than half of them or 2,595 are registered as Democrats, 1,457 are registered as Republicans and 143 do not claim affiliation with either major political party.
50 Years Ago
Week of October 28, 1976
4,549 Are Eligible To Vote in Pendleton
With only four more days remaining before the 1976 general election, candidates and politicians in Pendleton County and throughout the country are working furiously to garner as many votes as possible in the few remaining days of their campaign.
Pendleton voter registration is higher than it has been for the last two presidential elections and now stands at 4,549. This figure includes 2,829 Democrats, 1,607 Republicans and 113 who are registered other than Democrats or Republican.
State Students Above Average on SAT Tests
CHARLESTON—West Virginia high school students have again scored higher than the national average on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. They have not followed the national trends of drastic decline in achievement scores, according to data released to the State Department of Education from the College Entrance Examination Board.
DAHMER
Perhaps little did Peter Reed know when he built a mill on a stream at Upper Tract that this stream would bear his name Reed’s Creek. The official dedication of Reed’s Creek Hatchery last Friday by Governor Arch A. Moore, Jr., will really help put Reed’s Creek on the map.
Quite a number of folks from the Franklin area and from a distance attended open house at the Naval Radio Station at Sugar Grove.
70 Years Ago
Week of November 1, 1956
Pendleton Has 4,190 Qualified to Vote in Tuesday’s Election
There are 4,910 persons registered to vote in Pendleton County in the election next Tuesday, according to the registration books in the county clerk’s office, Luther Eye announced yesterday.
Of the 4,910 qualified voters in the county at this time, 3,023 are Democrats and 1,855 are Republicans, giving the Democrats a majority at this time of 1,168. In addition to the Democrats and Republicans, there are 32 persons registered who do not claim affiliation with either major party. Most of them are registered as Independent.
DAHMER
I think that wishing is
A lot like fishing;
Without the proper bait
You mostly just sit and wait.
We were fortunate enough to see the Ancient Hand-Operated Press which was owned by H. B. Wood and given to the Smithsonian Institute as stated in last week’s issue of the Recorder.
