Dear Editor;
I got my first COVID-19 vaccination at Pocahontas County High School Thursday in the over 70 group, and I’m writing to acknowledge the exemplary efforts of the Pocahontas County Health Department and all the nurses and volunteers.
I am always pleasantly prideful of the public service work done by our citizens serving others. Such things as the “all hands on deck“ response to this public health threat and, lately, the precision and fairness of taking and counting votes at the courthouse are just a few things that come to mind in the forefront of the many reasons of why this is such a wonderful county to live in.
Martin Saffer
Hillsboro
Dear Editor;
I just saw in the paper that I received today dated January 14, 2021, the article about the Tannery at Frank. I must tell you my thoughts on this.
I was born in a house over from the tannery more than 80 years ago and at that time my granddad, Joe Puffenbarger, my uncle, Eugene (Amos) Puffenbarger, and my great uncle, Warrick W. Hoover, among several relatives from Blue Grass (Crabbottom), Virginia, worked at the Tannery.
Joe worked in the “hair house” (later as night watchman, when he retired) where the hair from the hides was baled, not sure where Amos worked, and Warrick was a bookkeeper and timekeeper.
Joe was working when the hair house caught fire many, many years ago.
I remember when I was older we would go into the tannery with Granddad and look at the vats in the room where the hides were soaked in the smelly stuff – I think it was called liquor – to clean them. This room was forbidden to us kids, even with an adult.
I would love to see the brick office building become a museum with meeting rooms or offices upstairs.
I believe if more time would be allotted before making a decision to tear it down, a way to help preserve the building could be found. Perhaps even through donations from those who have many memories of and stories about the building(s).
Sometimes folks are too quick to tear down history, and the Tannery is certainly history.
Again, I surely hate to hear it may be torn down, even through I don’t live in the area now.
Maxine M. Elbon
Maryland
