10 Years Ago
Week of November 15, 2012
SUGAR GROVE
Richness Is Present in What Money Can’t Buy
Everyone at every table needs blessings and encouragement. One acknowledges that the food at the table didn’t just appear; someone grew it, ground it, bought it and baked it. One can savor the moments out of time, when love’s presence becomes conscious, of someone’s great abiding generosity to each one and the gratitude of moments together is grace.
It is so easy to criticize and complain, to wallow in self-pity which helps make life miserable for those around us. Why is it so easy to accentuate the negative, in moving from what often seems, like one rut to another? When pointing an accusing finger at someone else, three fingers are pointed back! Most people don’t like to be around that critical, caustic, self-righteous person. Believe it or not, there are steps one can take to avoid falling down the slippery steps of despair.
20 Years Ago
Week of November 14, 2002
Helpline for Safer Schools To Be
In Operation
24 Hours a Day
Gov. Bob Wise recently visited Musselman Middle School to promote the Governor’s Helpline for Safer Schools and unveil the new helpline poster. Wise is urging West Virginia students ranging from kindergarten through high school to speak up against school violence.
“I want to make sure that every student knows that help is here,” said Wise. “If you feel in danger at any time, or feel that someone in your school is in danger, I want you to pick up the phone and call immediately.”
30 Years Ago
Week of November 5, 1992
Rifle Range Opens
On West Side Road
A new rifle range opened Saturday on the West Side Road four miles east of Brandywine in the George Washington National Forest.
During the last year the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources and the Forest Service entered into a challenge Cost Share Agreement to construct a range in Pendleton County east of Brandywine and 26 miles west of Harrisonburg, VA.
Week of November 12, 1992
Hunters Can Be
Prey for Ticks
Hunter safety courses center on firearm hazards and preventions. Another hazard for hunters is the risk of Lyme disease while ticks are still active in the fall.
Ticks generally are considered a spring and summer problem because they are not active in cold weather. However, they pose a threat whenever the temperatures rise above 60 degrees F, which is not uncommon during fall hunting seasons.
Ticks wait on vegetation for an animal or person to come along. When a suitable host comes near, the tick makes its move, usually unnoticed by that host.
To transmit the Lyme disease organism, the tick has to be attached for several hours. It also takes a tick a little while to crawl on the clothing and find an opening to the skin surface. So, frequent checks for ticks during the day will help hunters avoid contracting the illness.
Another potential tick host is your hunting dog. Ticks on a dog can later attach to the hunter or another family member. After returning from the field, comb your dog thoroughly to see if there are any ticks attached.
If you find a tick on you or your dog, use a pair of tweezers to grasp it at the head, as close as possible to the connection to the skin. Tug gently and repeatedly until the tick turns loose.
SUGAR GROVE
Stony Run, Sugar Grove Honor Students in 1947
The nine-week period has just been completed and the students have shared their report cards with their parents. In November of 1947, the following students were proud of their 90 percent or better grades: Stony Run–Arvella Simmons, Dolan Grogg, Jenifer Smith and Harold Puffenbarger; Sugar Grove–Janet Bowers, Elmer Mitchell, Elaine Hoover, Randolph Wilfong, Norman Puffenbarger, Kent Wilfong, Peggy Simmons, Bernadean Kiser, Jimmie Hoover, Carrol Mitchell, Eddie Propst, Ila Rae Cone, Medford Hoover, Elizabeth Propst, John Pitsenbarger, Willard Rader and John Homan.
What To Do When
Cold Weather Hits
With freezing weather around the corner, read the following tips to keep your car ready for the road:
Old, dirty engine oil will contribute to hard starting in cold weather. Have the oil changed to fresh, quality oil that meets the specifications of the manufacturer.
Have the cooling system tested to determine that the coolant will protect against freezing. If the coolant tests -20 degrees to -30 degrees, the vehicle is safe.
Fill the gas tank and pour in a bottle of fuel line anti-freeze as an added precaution. Water condensation in the tank or gas lines can freeze up and block fuel flow.
Since a battery may lose half or more of its power when the temperature dips, it is a good idea to hook up a battery charger to recharge it.
Have some lock defroster and a good scraper handy. Remember, lock de-icer is useless if it is kept in the glove compartment.
Make sure that your windshield wipers and washers work properly. Fill up the windshield washer reservoir with an anti-freeze solvent.
Check your tire inflation. With every 10 degree drop in temperature, tires lose one pound of pressure.
Carry a bag of cat litter in the trunk for extra weight and to use if the car gets stuck in snow.
Keep a blanket in the car. This will come in handy if one gets stuck and has to wait for help to arrive.
40 Years Ago
Week of November 11, 1982
Visitor Center Staff Asked
Amusing Questions
By: Ray Blum,
Kim Montooth
and Bruce Randall
It seems impossible that the summer season has passed by so rapidly. This year seemed especially busy since we had a 17% increase in visitation.
One of our duties at the Seneca Rocks Visitor Center is operating the reception desk and assisting visitors. This is a very rewarding job since we help many travelers and make their trip to the mountains more rewarding. This job may also be frustrating or amusing at times because of the questions we are asked, some of them with great frequency. The intent here is not to be critical, but to have fun by looking at ourselves and our actions.
Following are some questions on several subjects, and if we have a favorite comment it will be in quotation marks. See how many answers you can come up with.
Seneca Rocks
Where are Seneca Rocks? (believe it or not, more than a few people drove into the parking lot and came into the center with the rocks towering behind it, and they never even saw them). One lady was directed to the window and instructed to look up; she then came back to the desk and said, “Okay, now this time, tell me where the rocks really are.”
Is there a way to hike to the top of the Rocks?
Can I drive to the top of Seneca Rocks; if not, then I’m not interested in going.
Is there an elevator that will take me to the top? “Not yet, it ought to be built by October.
How did they get the Gendarme (the rock in the middle) up to the top? Was it lifted up? Did someone put it there?
What keeps the Gendarme from falling over? “Krazy Glue?”
Do you have any pinnacles here like they have in France?
Rock Climbing
Do people really climb up there; they are nuts?
How many people are climbing today?
Do you let people climb on the rocks? Do they need a permit?
How do people get to the rocks; do they just start walking?
“That’s usually the best way to get there.”
Points of Interest
What’s there to see around here?
I’m in a hurry, is there anything worth seeing?
Where is the Mouth of Seneca? Our employees usually point to Ray Blum and say, “here he is.”
What caverns are better, Smoke Hole or Seneca?
Are the caverns worth going to?
Visitor Center
and Facilities
How long have you been open? “Since 9:00 o’clock this morning.”
Why don’t you have smoother paper in the restrooms? (I won’t comment on this one).
50 Years Ago
Week of November 9, 1972
416 Employed
As Result
Of Rehabilitation
The Keyser district of the West Virginia Division of Vocational Rehabilitation placed 416 handicapped West Virginians in gainful employment during Fiscal 1972, according to the division’s annual report for the fical year ended June 30.
Berkeley County had the greatest number of rehabilitants, 107, followed by Jefferson County, 69 and Mineral County, 67. Grant had 55, Hampshire 46, Hardy 40, Morgan 19, and Pendleton 14 during the year.
As a result of being restored to gainful employment, the year’s 8,279 rehabilitants, the report stated, “will add at least $17.8 million to the economy of the state in the form of earnings” during their first year on the job, “while saving the state and federal governments an estimated $636,000 in welfare payments” per year.
60 Years Ago
Week of November 15, 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.
Great Britain Decides
To Stay Out of War
American armies moved, and American men died in the Civil War 100 years ago this week, but the most important news of the week came from overseas.
The English cabinet, after months of torturous argument, decided in a session on November 11 and 12 to refuse a suggestion by France to call for an armistice in the Civil War. In short, the cabinet decided to keep Britain out of the war.
The decision virtually ended the possibility that the American problem would be solved by persons from abroad. It also dealt a bitter blow to the Confederacy, which hoped for foreign intervention. And it provided a victory for the firm but tactful diplomacy of President Lincoln’s Secretary of State, William Henry Seward.
The immediate issue before the British cabinet had been a proposal by Napoleon III, Emperor of France, that France and England ask for a six-month armistice in the American war to halt the slaughter and to re-open Southern ports. Behind it was a desire of both French and English interest in Southern trade—especially in the cotton trade.
When the cabinet assembled to discuss the proposal, most of the leaders had been, at one time or another, in favor of intervention in the war. There were Lord John Russell, the British Foreign Secretary; Lord Palmerston, the Prime Minister, and William E. Gladstone, the liberal cabinet leader who, a month earlier, had argued in favor of the Confederacy despite its stand on slavery. But there were serious difficulties in the path of intervention.
Chief among them was the attitude of Russia. To Russia, the United States presented a guarantee of European equilibrium and a check on British aggression. Three days earlier, Russia had rejected the French proposal.
Moreover, there was the matter of slavery. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of September 22 had been published worldwide, and British intervention might appear as a type of defense of the institution of slavery.
Finally, there was the Battle of Antietam in September, when the Confederacy’s General Robert E. Lee had been driven from Maryland back into Virginia. This tended to reduce the argument frequently heard in Britain that the American Union could never be restored.
In the meeting, itself, Palmerston urged delay in any action on the French proposal. Russell, more inclined in favor of the South than his Prime Minister, conceded. The Russian threat of non-cooperation, more than anything else, probably convinced him. “We ought not to move at present without Russia,” he had said.
“Lord Russell rather turned tail,” Gladstone wrote about the meeting. “He gave way without resolutely fighting out is battle.” The decision was made, and England notified France that it would not join in a request for an armistice, since Lincoln would not accept it.
Napoleon III now was alone in his desire to intervene. Eventually, he, too decided to stay clear of the war.
Next week: Battle lines are drawn.
