Fishing Is $309 Million Industry In West Virginia
The annual economic impact of fishing in West Virginia is $308,804,127, according to Scott Knight, the business manager for the Wildlife section of the state Division of Natural Resources (DNR).
In an interview, Knight additionally noted that anglers in West Virginia annually spend $205 million on retail sales in pursuit of their sport and hobby. Fishing, Knight said, supports 4,450 jobs in West Virginia and provides the state with $12.3 million in sales tax revenue.
Moreover 336,000 resident and non-resident anglers fish in West Virginia, and those 336,000 anglers spent a
total of five million days fishing in the state last year.
28 Local Students to Get Promise Scholarship
According to final numbers released by Governor Bob Wise for the PROMISE scholarship, 28 Pendleton County High School (PCHS) seniors have met the requirements for it and will be awarded the new, merit-based college scholarship this spring.
In this county, 38 PCHS seniors applied for the PROMISE scholarship, and 28 students have met the required
qualifications of a “B” average in core academic subjects and a composite score of 21 on the ACT test.
Those 28 students maintained an average GPA in core subjects of 3.49 and an average ACT composite score of 24.7. They had an overall average GPA of 3.58.
State-wide, more than 5,800 students applied for the PROMISE scholarship. According to the final number, 3,862 will be awarded the scholarship, which provides for tuition and fees at West Virginia colleges and universities.
Hunters Donate Deer To Feed Hungry
Hunters donated a record 1,715 deer to the Hunters Helping the Hungry (HHH) program in 2001, providing
almost 70,000 pounds of venison to needy families across the state, according to Curtis Taylor, chief of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR) Wildlife Resources Section.
For the third consecutive year, deer donations from hunters have exceeded 1,000. This year’s record is almost a 50 percent increase over last year.
40 Years Ago
Week of April 1, 1982
A VIEW FROM SENECA
Vultures—or Are they Bussards—Returning to Potomac Valley
By Ray Blum
The vultures are returning to the Potomac Valley. It is not a well known event. It doesn’t touch us like the returning of the swallows to Capistrano, but it does mark the beginning of the northward migration of birds into this area.
The two species of vultures or bussards found in this area are the Turkey and Black Vulture. The California
Condor is the only other species of vulture found in the United States and there are less than 40 condors alive today.
Our vultures are scavengers. The bulk of their food is fresh carrion, although Black Vultures are occasionally
known to kill young pigs, lambs, and other small helpless animals. Neither species are well equipped to kill since their legs and feet are relatively weak. I can’t help but wonder how many of our eagles are accused of killing young livestock when the Black Vulture was the real culprit.
The Turkey Vulture is the most familiar of our vultures. It is a large, dark brown bird with a naked head and a
wingspread of six feet.
Awkward as Turkey Vultures are on the ground, in flight these birds are masterful gliders. Along our ridges they soar effortlessly on updrafts for hours, rarely having to flap their wings. While flying over flat fields, vultures use thermals (rising bubbles of warm air to sustain their flight). Their habit of holding their wings in a V helps to easily identify these birds at considerable distances.
Turkey Vultures have both keen eyesight and a well developed sense of smell for finding food. The Turkey
Vulture is one of the few birds found in this country that has developed a sense of smell. In its search for food, a Turkey Vulture generally flies low over the ridge crests and trees while it flies much higher when not looking for food.
In comparison with the Turkey Vulture, the Black Vulture is black with a short, square tail and a small white patch on the underside of the wings. The birds fly with several rapid flaps followed by a short sail rather than soaring for long periods of time.
Since these birds lack the well developed sense of smell as Turkey Vultures, they do not find their food in this
manner. However, evidence suggests that they fly much higher and watch the Turkey Vultures when searching for food. The Black Vultures then quickly gather at the carcasses and drive the Turkey Vultures away.
Vultures are not pleasant to look at, but there is a reason for the look. When feeding on carcasses, the birds
undoubtedly pick up large amounts of bacteria. After feeding, they sun themselves on a perch and let the suns ultraviolet rays kill these germs. The one area that would be impossible to expose all the feathers to the sunlight is the head, so this bird has evolved with no feathers in this area.
The vultures are returning. To be honest, I hardly noticed that they were gone. Yet, whenever I see these birds
soaring magnificently over the hills, my spirits are lifted, and I am thankful they’re back.
50 Years Ago
Week of March 23, 1972
Effort Revived To Obtain Nursing Home For County
New life was breathed into an effort to obtain a nursing home for Pendleton County last week when a survey of the area revealed that a nursing home is needed and that it would be supported by the local people.
Good Samaritan Society operates 160 nursing homes throughout the United States. It formerly was a branch of the Lutheran Church, but recently it has become an independent organization.
Week of March 30, 1972
$600,000 Appropriated For Fish Hatchery
In Pendleton
The 1972 session of the West Virginia Legislature apropriated $600,000 for the construction of a trout hatchery on Reeds Creek in Pendleton County.
The hatchery will be constructed on a 13-acre tract of land purchased in 1965 from Lon Simmons. Water for the hatchery will come from a spring on adjoining land purchased from Eston Simmons the same year.
The state paid $35,000 for the spring and $35,000 for the 13-acre tract on which the hatchery will be constructed.
60 Years Ago
Week of March 22, 1962
Two Deer Die In Accidents
It never pays to look back…
And Denver Bennett, driver of the Franklin-Harrisonburg mail route has this story to prove it.
Several mornings ago Bennett was on his way to Franklin with the mail. It was about 6:45 a.m. and he was
approaching the foot of Shenandoah Mountain when he looked out the window and saw two deer running along the road just ahead of the truck. One of the deer jumped out into the road and the truck struck it. Bennett got out and found that it was dead.
The other deer looked back to see what had happened, and as it did so, it ran into a fence and broke its neck.
Times Have Changed – – –
A lot of talk has been going around about the snow two weeks ago being the biggest one in history. We think it is time we set the record straight.
Hugh Moyers has informed us that while this year’s snow was a whopper, we had a bigger one in 1890. He says that on December 16, 1890, thirty-six inches of snow fell in 24 hours.
Week of April 5, 1962
100 YEARS AGO
19,000 Fall In Bloody Shiloh Battle
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.
“Tonight,” said Confederate Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston to his staff, “we will water our horses in the Tennessee
River.”
It was early morning of Sunday, April 6, 100 years ago this week, and a bright, spring sun was rising over the
undulating woodland around Pittsburg Landing in Southern Tennessee. As Johnston spoke, his army of 38,000 slipped through the forest toward an unfortified, unsuspecting federal encampment of 37,000 men scattered around Pittsburg Landing and a little church named Shiloh.
It was the beginning of the battle of Shiloh (also called Pittsburg Landing), the bloodiest battle of the Civil War’s western campaigns. For Johnston, it was a surprise attack to stop the southward march of the famous federal general, Ulysses S. Grant, to corner his army between the Tennessee River and Snake Creek and detroy it before it could be reinforced by Gen. Don Carlos Buell’s army, then only a few miles north. Johnston had moved his army north from Corinth, Miss., to strike this important blow.
Breakfast Interrupted
At Savannah, Tenn., 10 miles to the north, Grant was having breakfast when he heard the first shots and,
surprised, he hurried to the front.
The Confederates first collided with the troops of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman on the federal right, then with the men under Gen. Benjamin Prentiss in the center, and finally they were fighting desperately along a five-mile front.
The federals couldn’t stop the onslaught. Thousands of them fled to the river where they cowered all day beneath its high banks. Sherman’s horse was shot from under him, and he was wounded slightly in the hand. Gen. W. H. L. Wallace, commanding the right center, fell mortally wounded. Grant, cigar in mouth, galloped along the lines giving orders. Gen. Lew Wallace (later author of “Ben Hur”), ordered to bring up his reserve, took a wrong road and didn’t reach the battle until night—a misfortune he never lived down. Prentiss, told to hold his position at all hazards, did so until the Confederates labeled his position the “hornet’s nest.”
Johnston Killed
Directing the Confederate assaults, Johnston led two brigades into a sheet of flame near the “hornet’s nest” early in the afternoon, and bullets ripped through his clothing. He rode on, not realizing blood was seeping from a leg wound into his boot. Weakening, he was helped from his horse and taken to the rear, and in moments he was
dead.
But gradually, the federal lines disintegrated. Late in the afternoon, Confederates swept through the “hornet’s
nest,” capturing Prentiss and more than 2,000 troops. By dusk, the federals were cornered between river and creek as Johnston had planned, and the Southerners were in position for the kill. It was a kill they couldn’t bring off.
The exhausted Confederate soldiers, after 11 hours of ceaseless battle, simply were played out, according to
Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard, who had succeeded Johnston. The attack petered out, and as it did, the advance of
Buell’s army arrived to reinforce Grant. Beauregard ordered his men to withdraw.
Next morning, fresh federal troops from Buell’s army and Lew Wallace’s reserves, helped by Grant’s veterans,
moved into attack, and the Confederate line slowly gave way. By afternoon, Beauregard was in retreat, headed back to Corinth. The attack had been repulsed.
But more than 1,700 men dead and 8,000 wounded could be counted from each army, and nearly 4,000 men
from the two sides were missing.
Next week: The Great Locomotive Chase.
70 Years Ago
Week of March 27, 1952
HOMEMAKER NEWS
By MARY MANN ZINN
Rabbits Delight – – –
Wild rabbits that get into your garden and play havoc with the carrots know a good nutrition bargain when they see one.
Take a tip from these furry gourmets of the vegetable patch and highlight carrots in your early spring meal.
Carrots are on the thrift list at your grocer’s.
This sweet-tasting vegetable constains more than a day’s allowance of vitamin A and good quantities of vitamins B one and B two.
It takes just a touch of ingenuity to liven cooked carrots. Try mashing them and season with cream or rich milk
and butter, or bake carrots at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until tender.
Don’t forget that carrots are extra nutritious and tempting in salads.
