10 Years Ago
Week of November 28, 2012
SUGAR GROVE
Pointers for Gettin’ Along with Country Folk
Many folk have misconceptions about living in the country. There are some pointers in case anyone ever decides to visit or come live in the country.
There is no need to speak “country” when visiting people in the country. Words such as y’all, howdy, yeah howdy, hoo boy, yep, over thar, them thar, git, and bar are not necessary for country folk to understand one.
Remember: “Y’all” is singular.” “All y’all” is plural. “All y’all’s” is plural possessive.
Don’t be worried that one doesn’t understand a person.
It is not a requirement to spit, scratch or chew. Neither is it necessary to pick one’s teeth with hay, wear overalls or a cowboy hat or “hitch up yer britches.” Please wear a belt instead of a rope. There are no outhouses.
The cars in front of the house are fully operational.
Do not try to pet the many wild animals here in the country.
People walk slower here.
If attending a funeral, remember, we stay until the last shovel of dirt is thrown on and the tent is torn down.
A lot of country folk do not use turn signals, and they ignore those who do.
Do not bring out one’s winter wardrobe until November.
If there is the prediction of the slightest chance of even the most minuscule accumulation of snow, one’s presence is required at the local grocery store.
In the churches, one will hear the hymn, “All Glory, Laud and Honor.” One will also hear expressions such as, “Laud, haver mercy,” “Good Laud” and “Laudy, Laudy, Laudy.”
As one is cursing the person driving 15 mph in a 55 mph zone, directly in the middle of the road, remember this: many folks learned to drive on a model of vehicle known as “John Deere,” and this is the proper speed and lane position for that vehicle.
Get used to hearing “You ain’t from ‘round here, are you?”
One can ask a country person for directions, but unless one already knows the positions of key hills, trees and rocks, one is better off attempting to find it oneself.
If one does run a car into a ditch, don’t panic. Four men in the cab of a four-wheel drive with a 12 pack of beer and a tow chain will be arriving shortly. Don’t try to help them. Just stay out of their way. This is what they live for.
True country girls know not to wear too revealing clothing in public.
There is no real sense of urgency.
People are very welcoming here and very supportive.
Every person in a vehicle waves. It’s called being friendly.
We eat dinner together with one’s families. We pray before we eat. We go to church on Sundays and to high school football games on Friday night. We address the senior citizens with “Yes sir” and “Yes ma’am.”
We still open doors for women. That applies to all women regardless of age.
The country woman knows to cook fried chicken, mashed potatoes and biscuits. She has her mother’s peach cobbler recipe tucked away in a safe place. The three main dishes are meats, vegetables and breads. The three spices used are salt, pepper and ketchup.
Most importantly, leave one’s city style behind and come to put up one’s feet, stay long, and enjoy the relaxed hospitality. Before one knows it, the country life will become a part of one’s well being.
20 Years Ago
Week of November 28, 2002
Working
For West Virginia
by
Senator Jay Rockefeller
I am proud and honored to have been elected by the people of my home state to serve for a fourth term as West Virginia’s advocate in Washington. Since coming to Emmons as a VISTA volunteer almost 4 decades ago, I have made fighting for West Virginia’s families and upholding their values the cornerstone of my work.
My desire to see West Virginia grow and advance has always been a passion for me. During my tenure as a public servant in West Virginia, whether as a legislator, Secretary of State, Governor or Senator, West Virginia’s best interests have been my compass.
While I have been in public service for many years in West Virginia, I believe my re-election is more about the future than the past. I will keep up my fight to protect our traditional industries like manufacturing, coal, timber, natural gas, steel and chemicals. But I will also continue to push to see new industries develop here that will help us realize our enormous potential. We must have more opportunities for our young people to find good jobs in the new economy without having to leave West Virginia.
30 Years Ago
Week of November 19, 1992
SUGAR GROVE
Thanksgiving
Celebrations Here
Date Back to the 1700s
Thanksgiving celebration in this area dates back as far as the late 1700s. Thanks and praise are the central theme in religious faiths around the world. It can unite people in ways that no other observance can.
Prepare Plants for
Long Winter Nap
Take steps now to help your yard plants make it through the winter.
Extension plant specialists at West Virginia University say broadleaf evergreens are especially vulnerable to cold weather damage. All newly planted ones should have protection through their first winter. Perennial flowers and roses also could stand some help.
To protect broadleaf evergreens, build up mulches two to three inches deep around the roots. Make sure the soil is moist going into the winter; water if needed.
If the plant is in an exposed area, erect a sun and wind shield. This may be a snow fence or a burlap screen. Place it where it protects but does not touch the leaves of the plant.
Perennial flowers suffer most from freezing and thawing of the ground. This action can heave roots from the soil.
In November, go through the flower border, cutting back dead tops to about six inches. After the ground freezes, lay a light, airy mulch over the crowns. Evergreen branches, such as hemlock are ideal; salt hay, oak leaves, pine needles and straw also work well. If you use straw, support the mulch with springy branches to keep it from packing down over the tops of plants.
Rose growers should prune back plant tops to 2-1/2 to 3 feet in late November. Whether roses need any winter protection depends on the variety and on how exposed is the area.
The best way to protect them is to bring in some good top soil mixed with peat moss or compost. Mound this up 12 inches around each plant. Remove this protective mound when growth begins in the spring.
50 Years Ago
Week of November 30, 1972
Junk Cars
Being Assembled
After several years of hard work by various committees in Pendleton County, things are looking good for the Mountaineers for Rural Progress committee in the county. The committee has been working on a plan for eliminating unwanted abandoned cars. The plan was completed a few days ago and several cars have been placed on the working sites.
The committee located a crushing machine for junk cars. This machine will be moving into Pendleton County within a few days to crush old abandoned cars. After crushing these cars, they will be loaded on trucks and hauled away for recycling.
“I think this will be a very good way to eliminate the abandoned and unwanted cars in the county,” stated Moses Taylor.
Five sites have been located in Pendleton County for the machine to work. The sites are as follows: (1) Fred Dice place Route 33, Franklin; (2) Rock Quarry South of Franklin on Route 220; (3) Elmer Bodkin farm above Sugar Grove, the old schoolhouse site; (4) U. S. Forest Service, Mouth of Seneca; and (5) old Route 33 at Oak Flat, the James Pitsenbarger farm on West Virginia Route 25 on Sugar Grove road will be used if needed. If anyone would like to take old cars to these sites they may, Moses Taylor said.
“This operation will not cost the owners any money to get old junk cars moved, but we will need cooperation from the people in the county. Any suggestions or ideas on making this project a success will be greatly appreciated,” Taylor remarked.
60 Years Ago
Week of November 22, 1962
DAHMER
In 1820, the post offices in the Highland area were Hull’s Store in Crabbottom, Wilsonville at the mouth of Bolar Run and Shaw’s Ridge in the Cowpasture Valley. By 1832, Crab Run was established and later on known as McDowell.
Week of November 29, 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.
Lincoln Suggests
Emancipation by 1900
President Lincoln came forth with a new idea for freeing the slaves 100 years ago this week.
The plan: to give the states of the Union 37 years—until January 1, 1900—to free their slaves. Those states which did so would be compensated for their loss.
The plan was outlined in Lincoln’s second annual message to Congress on December 1, and it included—was based upon, in fact—a proposed amendment to the Constitution. That amendment already had been drafted.
“Every State,” it said, “Where slavery now exists which shall abolish the same at any time of times before the first day of January, A.D., 1900, shall receive compensation from the United States…” The payment was to be made in United States bonds, and blanks were left in the document for Congress to fill in, naming the amount to be paid for each slave thus freed.
There were other parts of the amendment, too. One part authorized Congress to provide for colonizing freed slaves outside the United States if the slaves wished. But the idea of compensated emancipation by 1900 was the nut of the idea.
Lincoln described the plan as “a compromise…with the friends and not with the enemies of the Union.”
Since it was an amendment, two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the States would have to agree to the plan before it could be used, and that assured that emancipation would take place. At the same time, as Lincoln stated, “the length of time should greatly mitigate” the dissatisfaction of those who favored perpetual slavery and would spare “both races from the evils of sudden derangement.”
The cost would be large, he admitted, but not so large as the cost of continuing warfare. “The plan would, I am confident, secure peace more speedily and maintain it more permanently than can be done by force alone,” Lincoln said.
Finally, Lincoln pointed out that his recommendation would not delay his earlier proclamation of the preceding September that all slaves in rebellious states or parts of states would be freed on January 1, 1863. The new plan was recommended “as a means…additional to all other plans—including warfare—for restoring the Union.”
There was much more to that annual message from the President to Congress. Lincoln reviewed the facts of the war; he told of achievements of his administration—including the creation the preceding spring of the United States Department of Agriculture. But his emancipation plan, clearly, was his chief idea.
The idea was to go unheeded. Except for some efforts toward compensated emancipation in Missouri, the idea never got off the ground. Senator Orville Browning of Illinois wrote in his diary after hearing the message that the President suffered from a “hallucination…that Congress can suppress the rebellion by adopting his plan of compensated emancipation.”
Next week: The Battle of Prairie Grove.
70 Years Ago
Week of November 27, 1952
LOST PLANE MAY BE DOWN IN THIS AREA
Residents of Pendleton County have been asked by Corp. Bob Schnell of the Franklin detachment, West Virginia State Police, to be on the lookout for the wreckage of a Navion private plane, which has been reported missing in flight between Reading, Pa., and Charleston.
The craft, which is green and red in color, has been the object of an intensive search in the mountains. Anyone having any information should contact Corp. Schnell or the Civil Aeronautics authority in Washington. The plane disappeared Sunday.
