Thursday, May 16, 1976
STATE RUNNER-UP
Greg Friel, student at Marlinton School and son of Mr. and Mrs. Kyle Friel, was runner-up in the State Spelling Bee held in Charleston to determine the winner to go to the National Spelling Bee in Washington. Greg was the Pocahontas Champion.
PCHS TRACK
The PCHS Thinclads finished a very close third in a track meet at Lewisburg last week. Greenbrier East won the meet.
First places scored by the Warriors were Albert Pondexter in the long jump, Jim Cutlip in the pole vault, and the mile relay team of William Dilley, Rick Irvine, Scott Kelly and Mike Buzzard.
Second place finishes were Ryder, shot put; Tibbs, discus; Albert Pondexter, 100-yard dash; Buzzard, 440-yard dash and the 880-yard relay team of D. C. Gum, Randall Nottingham, Gregg Brubaker and Albert Pondexter.
William Dilley set a new school record in the mile run with a time of 4:56.1.
PANTHERS
By Annie L. Cromer
I am surprised that experienced workers in nature are looking for a shy animal in the form of a cougar, mountain lion or as I know it, a panther. They are tame or impudent and very unafraid.
I have heard, seen and been followed by such an animal and have heard many true stories by others from Pocahontas County and Randolph and have yet to hear of one running away from a person. Oh, I remember telling Howard Hevener about seeing a panther a measured 100 yards from our house, walking slow to the carcass of a sheep that had drowned in a water trough.
He laughed, “Annie, you have been drinking too much of the ‘mountain water.’”
To set a record straight that a panther hasn’t been seen in West Virginia for more than one hundred years, I am not that old and can tell of many times we have heard and seen them on Cheat Mountain.
A few years ago, my husband, Harvey, and his brother, Rube, took a pony on a pickup to a road on Cheat Mountain where they planned to leave it. About two hours before, one of our horses had kicked the pony and broke its neck. After a short distance they found they were mired in a swampy road. The truck was stuck. While they worked to get it out, two panthers screamed, one in a tree over them and another one a few feet away in the other direction…
BIRTH
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Adam Bond, of Cass a daughter, Mindy Marie.
THE OLD ARMCHAIR
“The old rocking chair is empty today
For Grandma is no longer in it.
She is off in her car to her office or shop
And she buzzes around every minute.
No one shoves Grandma back on the shelf,
She is versatile, forceful and dynamic.
That’s not a pie in the oven, my dear,
Her baking today is ceramic;
You won’t see her trundling off early to bed
From her place in a warm chimney nook.
“Her typewriter clickety-clicks through the night
For Grandma is writing a book!
Grandma never takes a backward look
To slow her steady advancing,
She won’t tend the babies for you anymore,
For Grandma is taking up dancing!
She is not content with crumbs of old thoughts
With meager and second-hand knowledge;
Don’t bring your mending for Grandma to do
For Grandma has gone back to college!”
So, there you are. The aged have become youthful and the young women and young men seek interchange. Thus has our modern world absorbed us.
