Thursday, August 11, 1973
U. S. Forest Trails
M. L. McManigle
SNAKE FACTS
No animal is so widely feared, misunderstood or misrepresented as the snake, and many are the superstitious tales told about them. As big around as a stove pipe and as long as from here to the door are remarks frequently heard when talking about snakes. As you know, fishermen are notorious for tall tales but are only second best when people start unfolding snake stories.
Some of the myths that give support to these whopping snake tales are: spitting vipers, joint snakes that break into pieces and come back together, hoop snakes, cow milking snakes and on and on.
There are also some fantastic snake tales about snake bite remedies. To listen to some of these cures makes one thankful that there are few people bitten by snakes because the “cure” suggested in most cases is worse than the bite…
All snakes found in West Virginia can be said to be beneficial to men: the economic value of snakes is almost always overlooked. Since the majority of them feed on mice, rats and other rodents, as well as injurious insects, they are of value to the farmer and his agricultural lands
All dangerous snakes of West Virginia belong to one group, the pit viper, whose members are so called because they possess a small pit between the eye and nostril. The pit is a sensory organ and may aid the snake in directing its strike toward warm blooded prey. Actually, of the many kinds of snakes recorded in West Virginia, only two are poisonous, the timber rattlesnake and the copperhead. Non-poisonous snakes lack this pit.
Non-poisonous snakes also lack fangs on the upper jaw and have spherical pupils. The pit viper’s eye appears as a vertical slit. However, it is rather interesting to know that at night, which is the time when most pit vipers are active and hunting, the pupil of the eye of these poisonous snakes expands to spherical shape because of poor light…
I feel that all snakes have a place in our complex environment, even the rattlesnake and copperhead, and do not encourage discrimination against poisonous snakes just because they are dangerous. The poisonous snakes have no place around human habitation, homes, recreation areas and other areas of human concentration and should be discouraged in these surroundings…
WEATHER-WISE
U. S. Forest Service
The average rainfall on the Cranberry River watershed for the month of July was 4.90 inches of precipitation. The five year average for the same period is 5.64 inches.
High temperature for the month was 85 degrees at Black Mountain on the 13th and 14th and at Aldrich Branch on the 12th…
WEATHER
J. P. Schaffner
July 1973
Minimum Temperature: 39 degrees on the 12th.
Maximum Temperature: 89 degrees on the 8th and 13th.
Average high temperature: 82.6 degrees
Average low temperature: 52.7 degrees
Rainfall: 4.58 inches. Rainfall: 8.01 a year ago.
WEDDINGS
Miss Vicki Darlene Beckwith, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Beckwith, of Slaty Fork, became the bride of Charles Edward Woods, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Woods, of Marlinton, at two o’clock in the afternoon Saturday, June 30, 1973.
The double-ring ceremony took place in the Big Springs Presbyterian Church with the Rev. A. E. Johnson officiating…
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Mr. and Mrs. Alvin P. Hogan, of Dunmore, wish to announce the marriage of their oldest daughter, Charlene Frances, to William Orville Taylor, Jr., son of the late Mr. and Mrs. William Orville Taylor, also of Dunmore.
The double-ring ceremony took place July 27, 1973 in the parson’s study of the Covington Baptist Church in Covington, Virginia, with the Rev. Robert G. Davis officiating…
BIRTH
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Jimmie Ingram, of Sissonville, a daughter, Jennifer Tracy. The mother is the former Lois Friel.
DEATHS
Moody Kincaid, of Fort Myers, Florida; born at Minnehaha Springs, he was a son of the late Sherman C. and Barbara Ella Cutlip Kincaid. Burial in the Fort Myers Cemetery.
James Corso was born April 30, 1900, in Italy, lived in Clover Lick, and died in Michigan. He married to Goldie E. McCloud. Burial was in McCloud Cemetery at Poage Lane.
C. Walter Nelson, 85, of Elkins; except for living one year in Elkins, he was a lifelong resident of Pocahontas County. Burial in the Arbovale Cemetery.
Bruce Kerr Nottingham, 61, of Durbin, a lifelong resident of Pocahontas County; he was the supervisor of electrical equipment at NARO at Green Bank. He was a son of the late J. Z. and Jessie Kerr Nottingham. Burial in Arbovale Cemetery.
Prentiss Moore Ginger, 54, of Huntington; born at Huntersville, a son of the late George and Nola Moore Ginger. He served in the Navy in World War II. Burial in White Chapel Memorial Gardens.