10 Years Ago
Week of April 11, 2013
Mr. Wiggles Brightens Patients’ Stay at Grant Memorial Hospital
Patients at Grant Memorial Hospital’s extended care unit (E-Wing) recently adopted a stuffed puppy as their mascot. The toy animal was purchased by Josie Goldizen, activities director, at the hospital’s Books Are Fun show, sponsored by GMH Auxiliary, so pediatrics can give books for wellness children visits.
Patients voted to name the stuffed puppy “Mr. Wiggles” and take turns watching him at night while he sleeps in their rooms.
Studies show that dogs can reduce stress, lower blood pressure and help relieve depression. Stuffed Mr. Wiggles is certainly brightening the stay of E-Wing patients.
30 Years Ago
Week of April 8, 1993
Chocolate Can Be
Fatal to Dogs; Avoidance Better than Treatment
Dog owners should take care that their dogs do not eat chocolate.
Made from the cocoa bean, chocolate contains theobromine and caffeine, both toxic to canines. Chocolate stimulates the heart and central nervous system and relaxesthe smooth muscles, which generally means a loss of bladder control. The dog may also become nervous and restless and suffer from insomnia, tremors and/or seizures.
According to State Veterinarian Dr. Lewis P. Thomas of the West Virginia Department of Agriculture, doses of 200 mg/kg of theobromine may prove fatal. In other words, a mere 4-1/2 ounces of bakers unsweetened chocolate could kill a 22-pound dog. Some deaths have even been reported after feeding commercial dog food derived from cocoa by-products that contained 0.2 percent theobromine.
Although the theobromine content of unsweetened chocolate is about ten times greater than milk chocolate, white chocolate falls on the other end of the spectrum, because it has fairly low concentrations of either drug, it’s rarely toxic to dogs.
However, no chocolate is good for man’s best friend, although milk chocolate and dark chocolate are both dangerous, Dr. Thomas said. Dark chocolate may call for quick action.
When a dog ingests too much chocolate, induced vomiting may help if done within six hours. Veterinarians may use charcoal to absorb the theobromine and caffeine, and electrolytes may help prevent an imbalance of necessary ions in the animal.
50 Years Ago
Week of April 5, 1973
Value of West Virginia Farm Land
Increased 17% Last Year
Farm land in West Virginia shot up 17 per cent in the average value per acre last year, said J. Kenton Lambert, state director of the Farmers Home Administration.
It was one of the sharpest increases in farm real estate values in the nation. The national average was 10 per cent.
The state’s rapid increases in farm land values hinge on several factors. With the close proximity to huge population centers, there is a strong nonfarm demand for farm land, pointed out Lambert. Urban families buy small farms for a place to rusticate in the country or for investment purposes.
DAHMER
Mr. and Mrs. Mahlon Lambert in returning from Florida brought John Dahmer a nice bag of tree ripened oranges. In our home 50 years ago, the only time we children received an orange was when we were sick or on a special occasion like Christmas.
Chewing gum was also strictly rationed and we chewed the same gum over many times. In school students sometimes complained someone snipped their chewing gum that had already been chewed from the handkerchief.
Walton Shrader, who keeps up with the local farm news, reported that Charles Hartman of Smith Creek at the present time from his 82 ewes, that 21 ewes had triplets.
60 Years Ago
Week of April 11, 1963
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.
Ft. Sumter Attacked; Federals Repulsed
Historic Fort Sumter, guarding the entrance to the harbor at Charleston, S. C., had leaped into the headlines when Federals in the fort and Confederates at Charleston began shooting at each other on April 9, 1861—the first day of the American Civil War. One hundred years ago this week—almost exactly two years after that fateful day—the fort leaped into the headlines again.
The occasion for the second set of headlines came on April 7, 1863, when nine Federal war ships attacked the island fort and the Confederates who now occupied it. The Federals’ success in the 1863 battle was no better than their success in the 1861 battle: they were forced to yield.
Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont led the Federal attack, and his opponent was the same man who had commanded Confederate forces at Charleston on the first day of the war—Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard. This time, however, Du Pont thought he had a weapon that would change the outcome; his attacking ships were ironclads, loaded with rifled guns and armored so heavily that, Du Pont hoped, Confederate shells could do them no harm.
April 7 was a beautiful day in Charleston when the ironclads, their armored turrets bristling with weapons and their hulls mostly submerged, formed a line and moved to the attack.
Confederates at Fort Moultrie, another fort defending the city, fired the first shot at the first ship in line, the “Weehawken.” It missed, and the “Weehawken” steamed to within 1,000 yards of Sumter and opened fire.
Confederates began zeroing in on the ironclads from all directions—from Sumter, Moultrie, from Battery Bee, from Battery Beauregard and Cumming’s Point. All nine Federal ships now began shooting back, mostly at Sumter but occasionally at the other emplacements.
A Federal officer later described the scene: “It seemed as if the fires of hell were turned upon the Union fleet. The air seemed full of heavy shot, and as they flew they could be seen as plainly as a baseball…”
The Federals found their mark on Fort Sumter, but their shells did little damage. The fort’s five walls ranged from five to ten feet in thickness.
The Confederate shots had more effect. The Federal ironclad “Keokuk”—nearest to Fort Sumter—was hit 90 times, and she got out of the battle only to sink to the bottom next morning. The “Weehawken” was hit 53 times, and water flowed through her deck. All the other ships were hit at least a dozen times.
Not even ironclads could stand such torture. As evening came on, Du Pont ordered a temporary withdrawal. By morning, he decided to make the withdrawal permanent.
And the battle ended a victory for the Confederates—their second in Charleston harbor.
Next week: Grant moves South.
Local Guild Being Formed to Promote Handicrafts
More money from handicrafts—this is the purpose of the new Allegheny Highland Craft Guild, a select group of craftsmen now being formed in Pendleton, Pocahontas, Randolph and Tucker counties.
According to Frank Wade, area development agent for the Cooperative Extension Service, the Guild will accomplish its purpose through a three-pronged program:
- Encouraging and sponsoring craft training classes.
- Locating top handicraft markets both inside and outside West Virginia.
- Accepting only those craftsmen who meet strict and exacting standards of skill and quality.
“The many tourists who travel through our area are anxious to buy good craft items,” said Wade. “The production and sale of high quality items can be a fine source of extra income for talented people.”
DAHMER
There are now three vacant houses on Lower Thorn, where more than a dozen school children from these homes would accompany their teacher, John Dahmer, to the Huffman School House. Mr. Harvey Rexrode said that scene reminded him of a mother hen with her brood.
70 Years Ago
Week of April 2, 1953
EDITORIAL
A Child’s World – – –
A child’s world contains many small things. A favorite toy, a playmate, a pet. A child’s world contains many important things, too—his ability to be independent to find a world of his own in which he is free to discover the satisfaction of competitive play and the joy of exchanging ideas with his parents and friends.
This is surely every child’s right, but what about the thousands of crippled youngsters whose handicap makes these simple things impossible? What can and what is being done for these children?
Because Americans voluntarily assume responsibility for their neighbor’s welfare, there is an answer to that question. A good answer. All of us help to answer when we contribute our dollars to the annual Easter Seal campaign now being conducted in West Virginia. Our dollars provide the surgery and medical treatment; the convalescent care; the physical therapy; occupational therapy; speech therapy; and special education, recreation and many other important services crippled children need.
The greater part of every dollar you contribute—91.7 per cent—works for crippled children in West Virginia. The remaining 8.3 per cent goes to support a nationwide 3-point program of research, education and direct services.
Week of April 9, 1953
County Lad’s
World Champion Ham Enjoyed by Ike
At Easter Breakfast
CHARLESTON—President Eisenhower partook of the grand champion West Virginia ham as the main course for his Easter breakfast.
The ham was sent by plane to the President last Friday. It was adjudged champion in the recent Ham, Bacon and Egg show in the Daniel Boone Hotel.
Bob Phillips, Charleston restaurant operator, bought the ham for $51 a pound, or a total of $816, all of which went to Maxie Armentrout of Circleville, Pendleton County.
Armentrout was one of the many members of the West Virginia Future Farmers of America Association, who participated in the show.
The ham was presented to Eisenhower on behalf of the FFA and with the compliments of Phillips.
The show itself was a record breaker. A total of 24 smoked country hams, 146 pieces of bacon and 113 dozen eggs sold for a total of $7,454.25, which compared with $5,802.38 received in the event last year.
Champion eggs sold for $82 a dozen, and the champion piece of bacon brought $41 a pound, or $266.50.
First prize hams brought about $1 more on the pound than the average hams that failed to qualify for ribbons. The difference between first prize bacon and ordinary bacon was about $2 on the pound.
Average price for all hams was about $1.65 a pound and all bacon about $1.15.
Fifty-five of 107 FFA chapters were represented in the show.
Ground Observers
Needed in County
“We should not permit our county to be the weak link in America’s air defense,” Trooper Bill Cunningham, newly appointed supervisor of the Ground Observation Corps, told the dozen men selected for chief ground observers at a meeting in the court house last week.
“Though it is unlikely that we are in danger of being bombed here in Pendleton, it is very probable that enemy planes might fly over this territory en route to the key industrial centers of Pittsburg, Charleston, Wheeling, Weirton, and other cities,” he said. “The radar screen will not detect low flying planes,” he said, “and that is the chief function of the Ground Observation Corps—to report to the air force possible enemy planes so that they may be intercepted and destroyed.”
“Our goal is to establish a 7-day a week 8-hour a day observation post which could be converted to a 24-hour basis in an emergency.”
About 50 volunteer observers will be needed to make this project a reality. Those persons interested may contact Trooper Cunningham, or the Editor of the Times.
Worth More…and why
There’s an old saying that a thing is worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
