February 6, 1969
The groundhog certainly did not see his shadow here on Sunday.
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The sleet storm last week brought to the remembrance of P. W. Underwood a big storm in the winter of 1906-07. There was possibly six or seven inches of snow on the ground, heavy crust, and he was walking home from Marlinton to Beaver Creek a few days before Christmas. It started hailing as they passed where Zed Smith lives and each ravine along the road acted as a funnel to pour the ice onto the road. The storm lasted two or three days, and a good 12 inches of sleet piled on top of that crusted snow; it stayed on all winter. The middle of April, his brother started back to a logging job at Lobelia with four horses and a wagon and there was still enough ice on the roads to cause a sharp lean to the wagon.
New Position
Kenneth K. Caplinger has been named as the new Superintendent of Blackwater Falls State Park. He will succeed Virgil W. Spitzer, who has been promoted to Superintendent of the new Canaan Valley State Park, one of three parks being developed by the Department of Natural Resources.
Mr. Caplinger, Superintendent of the Cass Scenic Railroad since 1964, was first employed by the DNR in 1947 as a Conservation Law Enforcement officer and has served as Ranger at Babcock State Park and Assistant Superintendent of Watoga State Park.
Stamp Find
Last September Mrs. Harry Hockenberry brought some stamps at the Beard Post Office, mailed letters to her family and kept some stamps for future use. These were the Walt Disney commemorative stamps. Later it was discovered the name “Walt Disney” and the 6 cents were missing from the stamps. Mrs. Hockenberry’s neighbor is Ed Wagner, a stamp collector as well as a postmaster, so she gave him a stamp and he started inquiring as to the rarity of the find.
The February 3 issue of Linn’s Weekly Stamp News carries a front page picture of the cover and a mint – unused– copy of Mrs. Hockenberry’s stamps and story of the “missing color” Disney. The canceled stamp is the only full cover reported found so far, with unused stamps found in New Jersey, (these were returned to Washington for disposal), Minnesota and possibly California.
It might be noted here that tearing of a stamp on opening or folding of the envelope depreciates the value.
There are still some stamps unaccounted for on letters from those sold at Beard and in Minnesota and rare stamps, with misprints like this are right valuable.
Mrs. Hockenberry has already had some calls about her stamps.
Planning – For a Better Place to Live
Rural Pocahontas County has many advantages that its citizens should want to keep and improve. These advantages include fresh air, clean water, open space, peace and beauty in abundance – things that many city people of America yearn for.
As conditions in these cities and urban centers become more and more distasteful, great numbers of these people are buying land and building vacation homes in the open country. Some of this may be desirable, much of it is detracting from the beauty of the countryside. As a result, there is a real conflict of interest.
Such conflicts point up the need for and importance of county planning and zoning. Planning and zoning is designed to protect citizens and landowners from developments that contribute to their personal discomfort or depreciation of their property. Planning and zoning endeavors to allow the development of each designated area to it best possible use… ~ Prepared by Walter Jett, County Extension Agent
BIRTHS
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Dunbrack, of Marlinton, a son, named Shawn David.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. James Stidom, of Renick, a daughter, named Tammy Ann.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Howard Double, Jr., of Aiken, South Carolina, a daughter, named Rebecca Lucille. This is the first girl born in the Double family in 65 years.
DEATHS
Mrs. Mary Allie Cassell Bradley, 72, of Cass, a daughter of the late Thomas J. and Lydia Galford Cassell. Burial in Wanless Cemetery.
Mrs. Mollie Blanch Brown, 69, a daughter of the late Perry and Nannie Lamb McCall, and a member of the Thornwood United Metho-dist Church. Burial in the Arbovale Cemetery.
Mrs. Edna Kerr Nottingham, 92, of New Bedford, Pennsylvania. Born at Green Bank, a daughter of the late George P. and Minerva Deever Kerr.
Robert G. Mullenax, 61, of Clarksburg. Born in Pocahontas County, a son of the late Mr. and Mrs. G. M. Mullenax.
Quinter J. Wooddell, 57, of Meadville, Pennsylvania. Born in West Virginia, a son of the late Charles S. and Virginia Wooddell.