10 Years Ago
Week of July 7, 2016
Warner Drive-In Board Raises Curtain On Fundraising Efforts
“It sort of indicated the importance to the community of that place,” Hal Stickley said to a large crowd gathered at an auction house.
He was describing the public reaction to a book he placed at the Korner Shop in Franklin over a year ago to obtain community opinion on the closing of Warner’s Drive-In.
“There were like 287 people that signed off on that book. Some were signatures, some were comments, some were offers of money,” he noted.
Stickley is now a board member of The Warner Drive-In Cultural and Resource Center, Inc., (WDI), a non-profit organization consisting of an eight-member board. After more than a year of planning, the group met with the public for the first time to discuss plans for the drive-in. The meeting was held on June 25 at M&M Auction Emporium in Franklin.
“Most of us that got together love movies, and love that drive-in. We don’t want to see the community lose that,” WDI chairman Bob Davis said in an opening address to the crowd.
The meeting moved into what the immediate needs are to reopen Warner’s Drive-In, which closed at the end of summer 2014.
FES Fourth Graders Recycle 160 Pounds Of Paper
Franklin Elementary School’s fourth grade students learned that a little bit of work can go a long way. As part of the West Virginia Next Generation Standards, students are to demonstrate patriotism by creating and implementing school/community service projects.
Fourth graders in Jennifer Cook’s and Shanna Eye’s classes decided that they would like to start a recycling project. In October, they set a goal of collecting 100 pounds of paper by the end of the school year. The students surpassed their goal by collecting 160 pounds of paper to recycle. Wilma Pitsenbarger and her husband transported all of the paper to the recycling facility in Harrisonburg, VA.
Cooper, Dove, Wright Named ESN Scholarship Recipients
Logan Cooper, Matthew Dove and Thad Wright have been selected as recipients of the 2016 ESN Ray Lopez Athletic Scholarship at Pendleton County High School. Each of the three students received a scholarship in the amount of $1,000 to be used at the college of their choosing.
Each year since 1999, students that display the qualities of dedication, character and work ethic are selected to receive the scholarship. Preference is given to students that participate in multiple sports.
20 Years Ago
Week of July 6, 2006
Highlands Remains On the Market
“Notwithstanding any rumors to the contrary, there is not now nor has there ever been an offer to buy the golf course.”
Rob Locklin, the developer of the new golf course and housing development in Deer Run, made that declaration on Friday, the day after an effort was made to sell or at least secure bids on the Highlands Golf and Sports Club and the course’s adjoining real estate.
Sugar Grove Home To New Housing Subdivision
A new housing development, named “South Fork Crossing,” is under construction in the Sugar Grove area near the Navy Base housing complex.
The new subdivision is the creation of Almost Heaven Habitat for Humanity, who purchased the 5.62-acre site from Jeffrey and Kim Pitsenbarger.
Asked if the new subdivision might be described as “Painters Point east,” Michelle Connor answered in the affirmative.
South Fork Crossing will consist of 12 homes, with four being constructed now for occupancy before the end of 2006. Five houses are slated for construction in 2007, and three are to be built in 2008.
Michelle Connor noted in an interview that South Fork Crossing’s lots are .33 acre in size as opposed to the .25-acre lots at Painters Point near Franklin.
SUGAR GROVE
Signs and Folk Lore Live On in Rural America
The last few days of June simmer their way out to make room for July “Dog Days,” known as the hottest days of the year. The name “Dog Days” is derived from the “Dog Star” Sirius.
There is much folklore connected with “Dog Days.”
Area folk have been brought up on folklore, much of which deals with weather.
A lot of folklore has been heard and taken for granted. To those who have been spending their lives in the hills, it all sounds perfectly normal.
40 Years Ago
Week of July 3, 1986
Federal Flood Assistance In West Virginia To Exceed $300 Million
Estimates of federal recovery funding for West Virginia climbed to nearly $300 million by the end of June, seven months after floods swept through 29 eastern counties in one of the most natural disasters in the past decade.
DAHMER
Shirley Rexrode, daughter of the late Frank and Julia Dickenson Propst, returned to her home near Brandywine with glowing accounts and the experience of representing Pendleton as County Belle at the West Virginia Folk Festival at Glenville, June 20-21-22. There were 33 County Belles from various counties in attendance. These belles were honored to be a part of the parade and in other activities. Mrs. Rexrode attended church in Job’s Temple, a little church on the national register of historical places near Glenville on Sunday.
50 Years Ago
Week of July 1, 1976
Run-away Rig Has Happy Ending
The driver of a big rig was able to guide it to a safe stop last Thursday night about 10 o’clock in the driveway of the Reid Kimble home on North Fork Flats after losing his air coming down the upper reaches of the east side of North Mountain.
The rig, belonging to Star Supply Corporation out of Columbus, Ohio, was loaded with 15 tons of water pipe and fittings for the street project in Franklin.
The Ford 800 tractor and tandem trailer suffered only a slight shifting of the load and one broken pipe fitting “T” after its 375 foot trip off the highway through a hay field and swamp to the Kimble driveway.
The rig was approaching the last steep grade on North Mountain when the driver, knowing something had happened to his braking system, saw a sign marked “Hill” and immediately detoured, luckily, into the hay field and to a pre-holiday happy ending.
Later examination disclosed a hole rubbed in a plastic air line in the braking system.
50,948 Pounds of Wool Sold by Pool
Pendleton County Wool Pool took up 50,948 pounds of wool June 23. Of the total, 50,751 pounds was graded clear. The pool sold to DeLone, Tasney, Inc., of Allendale, S. C., and brought a total of $33,067 for producers who received 65 cents per pound.
DAHMER
Mrs. Lorraine Harper of Franklin is wondering if anyone knows anything about the rattle-core apple, which is a new name to me. Perhaps it received this name in a manner like that at the Bud Dahmer farm. A man passing through spied some nice apples on a tree. He jumped up, grabbed an apple, took a bite and remarked, “sour as the devil.” After that they called it the “devil apple.”
Rodney Shaw purchased an old log house at Harrisonburg, Va., and has moved the logs to Moyers on the late J. Harry Propst farm.
Declaration of Independence Signed 200 Years Ago
Contrary to popular belief, the Declaration of Independence was not signed by the delegates on July 4, 1776.
Rather, Thomas Jefferson’s final draft on the Declaration was merely approved by the delegates, signed by John Hancock, president, and attested by Charles Thomson, secretary.
This was the moment history calls the “signing” though the delegates did not put their signatures on the final version of the Declaration until August 2 and later. At least one man signed as late as November. And all of the 56 signatures but Hancock’s and Thomson’s were kept secret until 1777.
Not until noon on July 5, 1776, after copies were printed, was the Declaration read in public. Only a small crowd gathered. Philadelphians already knew what had occurred in the State House—and some disapproved.
That night the document was read again to a much larger group as bells pealed and bonfires lit Center Square. Symbolically, the royal coat of arms was wrenched from a wall and burned.
Few outside of the Continental Congress knew the author of the Declaration was Thomas Jefferson until the fact appeared in a newspaper in 1784. He had lived through all the bell ringing and speech making without any personal commendation from the press.
The Declaration itself led a precarious life from the very beginning. It was among other official papers transported in a light wagon when Congress fled from Philadelphia to Baltimore in December, 1776.
It soon returned to Philadelphia but was on the move again when British advances forced the delegates to set up other temporary capitals first at Lancaster, then York, Pennsylvania.
After the war won, the priceless parchment traveled with Congress, in turn, to Annapolis, Maryland, Trenton, New Jersey, and New York City.
60 Years Ago
Week of June 30, 1966
364 Pendleton County Children Attending Summer School Classes
A total of 364 children of school age and pre-school age are attending summer school in Pendleton County this summer.
Employed in the summer school program are 25 teachers, 25 teacher’s aides, 11 school bus drivers, four janitors, six cooks and a secretary.
The program is being conducted in four centers in various sections of the county—at Franklin Grade School, Circleville School, Upper Tract Elementary School and Brandywine School.
A total of 98 children are enrolled in the Head Start program and 266 are enrolled in the academic section.
The purpose of the Head Start program is to give children who will enroll in school for the first time this fall training which will prepare them for the new experience of attending school.
The academic section of the school is a remedial program directed primarily toward helping pupils who are doing below average work to improve the level of their academic standing.
The school is financed primarily with federal funds with a small contribution by the county.
EDITORIALS
Old Churches – – –
Appearing in this issue of the Times is an interesting account by Mrs. Harlan M. Calhoun of the history of the Mission Home in the Smoke Hole and an appeal for funds for the restoration of this old church.
It might be said that Pendleton County is a land of churches. Historically, residents of Pendleton County have been a God fearing, church going people. Churches, down through the years, have served not only as places of worship, but also as rallying points and community centers for the people in every section of the county. The history of the churches of Pendleton County would, indeed, be a history of the county, itself.
The old Union Church which played such a vital role in the early history of Franklin and which was used as a hospital by Union forces during the Civil War unfortunately has been destroyed. Its bell, however, still rings atop the Fire House in Franklin.
There are other old churches in the county which are still standing. They should be preserved. For example, the old Propst Church which still can be seen near Brandywine was one of the first churches in the county. Surely these landmarks, which reflect the heritage of the county perhaps more than any other structure, should be preserved.
We applaud Mrs. Calhoun for her efforts to save the Mission House. We trust that her efforts will be rewarded with sufficient financial support to create a shrine here which will be a lasting tribute to the early Christian settlers in this section of the county.
