10 Years Ago
Week of October 25, 2012
New FES
Will Cost $10.5 Million
A formal application to the state School Building Authority (SBA) for a new Franklin Elementary School (FES) took a step closer to reality following last Tuesday evening’s regular meeting of the Pendleton County Board of Education.
The board heard a detailed presentation from Greg Williamson and Bill Ratcliff from the firm Williamson, Shriver Architects.
The proposed new school would carry a construction price tag of about $10.5 million. That figure does not include any costs associated with property acquisition, should property be purchased for the location of a new elementary school in the county seat.
Williamson and Ratcliff provided an estimate of FES enrollment in 2018–285. Current enrollment is 311.
They also discussed infrastructure issues, such as required square footage, water, sewage and so on, and reviewed the SBA funding formula.
WVU Mountaineer
Visits Franklin
Elementary School
Amid a sea of blue and gold, West Virginia University (WVU) Mountaineer Jonathan Kimble inspired Franklin Elementary School (FES) students to be accepting of others no matter what the differences might be. Kimble was the guest speaker at a recent assembly held at FES to reinforce the current anti-bullying initiative underway at the school.
He said that he has met people from all over the United States including California, Texas and New Jersey. Everyone has differences and one must learn to embrace those differences. The Mountaineer emphasized the dangers of social media and the damage that criticizing people on the Internet can incur.
Kimble spoke of how sometimes he is ridiculed because of his unusual costume which includes a coonskin cap, buckskin pants and shirt and curly maple muzzleloader. Other mascots make fun of the small state where he lives. Kimble said, “They are just jealous of our great state.”
Kimble is a former student of FES and graduate of Pendleton County High School where he played football under FES principal Rick Linaburg.
Linaburg remembers Kimble as one of his most dedicated and hardest working players on the team. He further demonstrated his perseverance by trying for three years for the honor of representing WVU as the Mountaineer.
Extension Service
by Janice Heavner
Kids love Halloween! They get to dress up and get free candy! What a perfect holiday!
There are many ways to keep your child safe at Halloween, when they are more prone to accidents and injuries. The excitement of children and adults at this time of year sometimes makes them forget to be careful. Simple common sense can do a lot to stop any tragedies from happening.
Teaching your kids basic everyday safety such as not getting into cars or talking to strangers, watching both ways before crossing streets and crossing when the lights tell you to, will help make them safer when they are out Trick or Treating.
Make Halloween a fun, safe and happy time for your kids and they’ll carry on the tradition that you taught them to their own families some day!
20 Years Ago
Week of October 24, 2002
Circleville Baseball
1977 State Champs
Celebrate
25th Anniversary
In sports—indeed, in all walks of life—when a “David” beats a “Goliath,” most people get big smiles on their faces, to say the least.
And a David beating a Goliath always makes for a good story.
Take, for example, the popular film, Hoosiers, which is based on a true story and features Gene Hackman as a small-town basketball coach at a little high school in rural Indiana, a state where basketball is almost an unofficial religion.
If Hollywood ever wants to make a baseball version of Hoosiers, script writers need look no further than little Circleville High and its 1977 baseball team.
They won the state baseball championship that year, way back when Grey Cassell was the Pendleton County Superintendent of Schools.
In fact, they won the Class AA title, as well as the Single A title, since there were only two classes for baseball that year, A-AA and Triple A.
With about 150 students, Circleville High School, probably the smallest school ever to win a state title in West Virginia, won the championship by taking the measure of Buffalo of Wayne, a Double A school with about 800 students, in the title game, which was played at Parkersburg.
What’s more, the Indians whipped St. Mary’s and Ravenswood to get to the title game.
On Saturday evening at the Seneca Caverns Restaurant, just about all of the 16 members of that team, along with family and friends, got together with coach Orville Harper to celebrate the 25th anniversary of what Harper called “the first team, not just from this county, but from this area, to win a state championship.
After dinner, Harper and his “boys”—who are now grown men in their 40s—sat around and reminisced.
Harper recalled that on the day of the title game, “We just drove up to Parkersburg that day and played the game. Now you hear about these teams chartering buses and going up early and staying in hotels and everything. We just drove up and played—and won, sort of like it was just another game.
Asked if he thought going into the season that his team might be good enough to play for the state title, Harper replied, “Oh, we didn’t think in those terms back then. We knew we’d be good, but back in those days you didn’t talk about ‘going to state.’ We just played every game and played hard. We didn’t talk about it. These days there’s a lot of talk about this team and that team ‘going to state.’ Maybe there’s too much talk about it and not enough doing it.”
Steve Bland, now the manager of Seneca Caverns Restaurant, but back then a hard-hitting left-fielder, remembered the season opener, which resulted in a 9-8 loss to Mathias. After that loss, the Indians went undefeated the rest of the way, winning 18 consecutive games.
Amber Alert System
Now Operating
In West Virginia
Gov. Bob Wise has announced that the Amber Alert system is fully operational in West Virginia.
The Amber Alert system is an investigation and communication tool used to help find abducted children. In West Virginia, it is a voluntary partnership between the state police, county and municipal law enforcement agencies, the West Virginia Broadcasters Association, the West Virginia Emergency Alert System Committee and the National Weather Service. The agencies will combine their services to send out an Amber Alert message when law enforcement officers believe an abducted child’s life is in danger.
“This is a tremendous program, and I’m pleased to announce that Amber Alert is operational in West Virginia,” Wise said. “Obviously, we hope that we never have to post an Amber Alert. But we can take some comfort in knowing that our law enforcement agencies have this tool at their disposal.”
40 Years Ago
Week of October 28, 1982
Family Raises
Huge Hanovers
It was a good season for rutabagas, also known as hanovers, at Dryfork this year. Bruce Tingler and his son-in-law, Albert Nelson, raised a 28-pound one in their garden during the past season. Tingler says they raised several more just as big and “are they good!”
60 Years Ago
Week of October 25, 1962
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.
McClellan Advances as Bragg Ends Invasion
A Confederate campaign through Kentucky ended, and a Federal campaign into Virginia began 100 years ago this week.
In Kentucky, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg led his army and a long wagon train of supplies into the Cumberland Mountains, up through Cumberland Gap and down into Tennessee and Confederate territory. He had raised the hopes of Southerners everywhere when he had invaded the bluegrass state in mid-summer, but now Southern hearts fell as he pulled back, unsuccessful, into Tennessee.
In the East, Federal Gen. George B. McClellan, after six weeks of delay, finally crossed the Potomac River west of Washington onto Virginia soil again.
The two events occurred the same day—October 26.
Bragg retreated from Kentucky somewhat disillusioned. “The expectation that the Kentuckians would rise en masse with the coming of a force which would enable them to do so,” he wrote, “alone justified an advance into that state…that expectation has been badly disappointed.”
Still, when Bragg reported to Richmond a few days later, he was able to relate some success from his adventure.
He had captured and brought out of Kentucky thousands of horses, cattle, and hogs—driving them on foot. His wagon train carried 50,000 barrels of pork and hundreds of thousands of yards of cloth and clothing.
Still, Bragg was never to completely live down the failure of the adventure. He had invaded Kentucky hoping to bring it into the Confederacy, and he had not done so.
He had fought one major battle—the battle of Perryville—and though his army had inflicted more casualities than it had suffered, he had withdrawn after the battle—not the Yankees.
From then on, disappointed Southerners heaped criticism on Bragg, although President Jeff Davis kept him in command. If it was any recompense, Federal Gen. Don Carlos Buell—Bragg’s opponent in Kentucky—was relieved of command October 23 and replaced by Gen. Rosencrans because he, Buell, had failed to destroy Bragg’s army.
On the same day that Bragg passed through Cumberland Gap, McClellan’s huge Army of the Potomac, 126,000 strong, began crossing the Potomac from Maryland into Virginia, and a new cry of “On to Richmond” began to rise in the North.
But Gen. Robert E. Lee, McClellan’s longtime enemy, moved quickly to halt any such aspirations. As McClellan began his crossing, Lee messaged Richmond: “McClellan is moving more rapidly than usual, and it looks like an advance.” Quickly, Lee’s army moved out from Winchester, swooped south behind the Rapidan River and stepped neatly in between McClellan and Richmond.
Another campaign for the defense of Richmond had begun.
Next week: Vicksburg Campaign Begins.
70 Years Ago
Week of October 30, 1952
Roaring Plains Forest Fire Is Finally Quelled
A huge forest fire which burned over some 3,000 acres of land in the Roaring Plains section of Pendleton county was finally brought under control over the weekend. The fire was conquered about midnight Saturday and mopping up operations continued Sunday.
Hundreds of fire fighters from the county were augmented by state road employees, Davis and Elkins college students and others.
Hume C. Frayer, assistant supervisor of the Monongahela National forest, stated that when the fire was at its peak, as many as 300 men were on the fireline. The number was reduced to 75 on Monday.
Frayer said the timber damage could not yet be estimated. He likewise could not estimate the loss of wildlife but expressed the belief it was heavy.
The fire burned its way across the Pendleton line into Randolph and Tucker counties before it finally was controlled.
The woods have been unusually dry this fall, and more than 200 fires were reported over the state. A fire on North Fork mountain was fought for several days before it was controlled.
USDA To Buy Up
Surplus Turkeys
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has in operation a program which provides for the purchase of frozen ready-to-cook 1952 crop turkeys as a means of providing an outlet for temporary surpluses of turkeys which are resulting in unfavorable prices for producers.
