10 Years Ago
Week of September 22, 2016
Haslacker Smokes Competition in Mountain Brews BBQ Contest
Wesley Haslacker of Meadowbrook Smoke edged out last year’s winner, Lem’s Meat Varnish, and took the top prize at the second annual Mountain Brews and BBQ Festival held Saturday in the CMI field at Franklin.
Haslacker was awarded the $500 grand prize and also earned first place honors in the creative hot dog, creative appetizer and barbecue chicken categories. The Grant County native received third place honors in the barbecue steak and pork categories. He won the People’s Choice award in last year’s inaugural event.
Coming in second place was Chris Lemon of Lem’s Meat Varnish. Lemon hailed from Charleston. In addition to being named runner-up in the overall category, he also took second place awards in the creative hot dog, creative appetizer and chicken barbecue divisions.
Rounding out the placings in the overall category were Pappy Mark’s BBQ, third, Flavor Savor, fourth, and Fox’s Pizza, (Franklin), fifth.
Those attending the event had the opportunity to hear performances by area music talents, The Hackens Boys and Davisson Brothers Band. A craft beer garden was available as well.
According to Kim Kirk, proceeds from the event will be donated to Franklin Elementary School. Last year’s event raised $5,000 for the local school.
20 Years Ago
Week of September 21, 2006
SUGAR GROVE
Writer Addresses ‘Drug’ Problem of Older Generation
Things seem to be back to normal for the school-aged children. This being the fourth week of school, has anyone ever considered how long it takes to raise a human being from birth to maturity and get him/her ready for independent living? Other creatures do the job more quickly. It takes 20 years or more to produce a son/daughter who can earn a living, stay out of trouble and make adult decisions. There simply aren’t any shortcuts to do the job right. Like any other project worth doing, the important thing is to persevere to the finish. The writer is reminded of the classic “drug” problem in her generation. While young:
“We were drug to church on Sunday morning.
“We were drug to church for weddings and funerals.
“We were drug to family reunions no matter the weather.
“We were drug to the bus stop to go to school every day.
“We were drug by our ears when we were disrespectful to adults and teachers.
“We were also drug to the garage when we disobeyed our parents.”
Those drugs are still in our veins; and they affect our behavior in everything we do, say and think. They are stronger than crack, heroin, cocaine or meth, and if today’s children had this kind of drug problem, America might be a better place.
Child rearing is worth what it costs one — right through to its conclusion.
30 Years Ago
Week of September 26, 1996
Franklin Traffic Signal To Cost $49,300
The first traffic signal installation in Pendleton County was awarded to Bayliss & Ramey, Inc., of Dunbar for $49,300.
Requested by the town of Franklin for an area where turning radii were recently improved, the signal at the intersection of North Main Street (US 220) and Maple Avenue (US 33) will relieve periodic traffic backups and improve access to a nearby school.
40 Years Ago
Week of September 25, 1986
More River Channel Reclamation Work Begins in Pendleton County
Two contracts were awarded Monday for stream reclamation work in Pendleton County under a new program funded by a special act of Congress.
A contract in the amount of $47,847 was awarded to Earth Movers Unlimited of Tyrone, Pa., for river channel work at the lower end of the Wilson Hole at Ruddle to remove rock and debris from the river and to stabilize the bank to protect the highway and homes on the west side of the river from flooding.
A second contract in the amount of $85,347 was awarded to James J. Manno Construction of Ridgeway, Pa., for river work at Riverton.
Two more jobs were showed to contractors Tuesday. One is located on the North Fork River at Cherry Grove, and the other is located on the South Fork River at the Olin Adamson farm near Fort Seybert.
Scheduled for work in Pendleton County are a total of 39 jobs which will be performed under 22 contracts.
The 22 contracts to be let in Pendleton County are among 77 to be let statewide.
Of the $8 million allocated for the state, approximately $1.1 million will be spent on work in Pendleton County.
Senator Robert C. Byrd obtained the funds by a Congressional allocation for the Soil Conservation Service.
Former Local Artist’s Work Will Be Exhibited Saturday, Sunday
Around the turn of the century, Franklin boasted a young ladies’ art school taught by a Franklin native, Mrs. Sallie Anderson Cunningham.
Painting was not taught in the local school system then, and Mrs. Cunningham, a skilled artist who had been educated in Winchester, Virginia, had been asked by parents in Franklin to fill this void for their daughters. Painting was considered then an ability that lent polish and culture to a young lady’s education.
Holding class in her stately home, Mrs. Cunningham helped her young students select “studies” to be followed and they then worked at their easels until Mrs. Cunningham was satisfied that the picture was good enough to leave the studio to be framed and hung.
Over the years, many of the paintings of Mrs. Cunningham and her students have found their way into Grant County where they have been proudly displayed. It seems, however, that they have never before been shown as a group nor the interesting story of the young ladies’ art school been told.
50 Years Ago
Week of September 23, 1976
First Lady Sends Festival Greetings
Mrs. Betty Ford sent the following telegram of greetings to all who gathered for the Treasure Mountain Festival:
Dear Friends:
I am delighted to send greetings to all who have gathered for the Treasure Mountain Festival in Franklin, West Virginia.
It was a pleasure to learn of this special event celebrating Pendleton County’s treasures of history and culture.
You each have my best wishes for a most enjoyable experience of frontier activities, as well as traditional food, fashion, crafts, music and dance.
Sincerely,
Betty Ford
Festival Goers Have Voracious Appetites
Festival goers had voracious appetites according to the quantities of food sold during the Treasure Mountain Festival.
Local clubs and organizations report sell-outs of mammoth quantities of food during the weekend. the Mormon Church sold 1,000 pounds of barbecued beef plus 1,000 hotdogs and hamburgers, and the Sugar Grove Extension Homemakers Club and Lions Club sold 575 servings of chicken potpie in open kettle.
Other food sales reported included the following: Franklin Ruritan Club, 1,500 barbecued chicken halves; South Branch Fire Department, 155 gallons homemade ice cream; Franklin PTA, 2,000 barbecued chicken halves; South Fork Ruritan Club, 1,200 cups of cider and 300 gallon jugs of cider; Franklin Lions Club, 475 pancake breakfasts; Franklin Band Boosters, 132 pounds of buckwheat flour and 183 pounds of sausage; Brandywine 4-H and Home Demonstration Club, 300 barbecue sandwiches and hot dogs; Cedar Grove Youth Group, 35 pounds of hot dogs, 200 barbecues and 600 drinks; Franklin High School FHA, 300 ham dinners; Ruddle Presbyterian Church, $2900 worth of sandwiches and drinks; and Fort Seybert Home Demonstration Club, 250 gallons of apple butter.
A number of other organizations sold food but have not reported the extent of their sales.
60 Years Ago
Week of September 22, 1966
1,687 Pupils In Pendleton County Schools This Term
Enrollment in Pendleton County schools at the end of the first month of the current term is 1,687, with 56 fewer pupils attending local schools this year than last year.
The county’s two high schools have a total enrollment of 488 and there is a total of 1,199 pupils enrolled in Pendleton’s six elementary schools.
A drop of 29 in the enrollment in Franklin High School accounts for most of the decline in high school enrollment.
80th Division Vets Hold Reunion
A total of 58 veterans, members of their families and friends attended the annual picnic reunion of the 313th Field Artillery Regiment of the 80th Division at Thorn Spring Park Sunday.
Thirty-five of those present were members of Batteries of A, B, E and F and other units of the 80th Division during World War I.
70 Years Ago
Week of September 27, 1956
West Virginia State Picnic Held on Dicky Ridge
The annual state picnic for West Virginians presently and formerly from Pendleton County and now living in the Washington, D.C., and the greater metropolitan area, Virginia, and Maryland, along with their friends and neighbors, was held on “Dicky Ridge” on Skyline Drive five miles south of Front Royal, Virginia, on Wednesday, September 9.
The highlight of the day was the usual picnic dinner which is always thoroughly enjoyed by all.
The number of West Virginians with their family and friends, attending this all day festivity was decreased this year because a great number did not learn about the change of location in time to attend.
This being a yearly event, the date has been changed for next year from the first Sunday after Labor Day in September to the second Sunday in August which will be August 18, 1957. The place will again be “Dicky Ridge.”
Sugar Grove Soldier Chosen to Play Role In Fox Company Movie, ‘Threshold of Space’
To charm others with imaginative true-life performances is the ambition of thousands of would-be actors and actresses, but seldom blooms the opportunity for one to face a battery of cameras and bring life to a fabulous character.
Yet a similar opportunity came to him like a bolt out of the blue to T/Sgt. O. Dwight Shrader, then a senior aircraft control and warning supervisor of the 27th Air Division by way of a telephone call from the movie capital.
“Hello…this is 20th Century Fox…we need an AC&W advisor and plotter,” was the message that volunteered the spellbound sergeant to Hollywood.
Commotion followed but introductions to technicians, movie stars, and “extras” on location, faded his fevered excitement and soon he was in the midst of the “Threshold of Space,” a 20th Century Fox production which portrays the progress of medicine in the conquest of space.
For three days, Sgt. Shrader played the supporting role of an aircraft plotter. Behind a vertical plotting board, he tracked the climb and fall of atmospheric balloons which register interplanetary conditions and personal reactions.
Participation in the movies at Hollywood, after spending almost four years on isolated radar sites of the 27th Air Division, remains a surprise to the Air Force actor. His surprise performance gave birth to an uncontrolled passion to revisit the film center with hopes of “hitting the pictures” again.
Sgt. Shrader, the son of Mr. and Mrs. W. Russell Shrader of Sugar Grove, is a graduate of Franklin High School in the class of ‘49. He pronounced his official oath of enlistment in the Air Force on August 18, 1950. Upon completion of basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, he attended the radar operator’s school at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi.
Many of T/Sgt. Shrader’s friends here are anxious to see his movie, “Threshold of Space,” when it is run in a local theatre.
