4A The Mountain Messenger, Thursday, May 10,1990
t
!
Have you noticed how some of our little secondary roads have become
"Primary" roads recently? Just in time for the Primary Election, the Depart-
ment of Highways got out and filled potholes, re-surfaced and graded. The
timing could have been happenstance. Then, again...
We used to laugh about a mysterious race of mountain men who would
appear every four years (curiously, their cycle coincided with election years)
to repair our highways, Great speculation was made about what these folk
did during their period of 'hibernation'. O, the stories we used to tell! Now
we're between tears and laughter.
Should we laugh or cry about what happened last week out on Route 60,
west of Lewisburg, near Merlunda Farms? That little-used section of Route
60 has recently been re-surfaced and it is a lovely black ribbon of roadway
gliding through some of the most picturesque portions of the Greenbrier Val-
ley.
Well, State Department of Highways and Department of Natural Re-
sources employees were busy there last week --- throwing trash along the
grassy verge! While they were tossing uut the trash, a camera crew from
West Virginia Public Television was busy recording the procedure. All the
time, volunteers from the Frankford Extension Homemakers group were
standing by to pick up the trash which the state employees had just thrown
out!
We noticed all the trash was "generic" --- that is, there were no brand
names showing. God knows the Great State of West Virginia would not
want to offend McDonatds, Burger King, Hardees, Pepsi, Coca-Cola,
Strohs, Budweiser, Micheiob, Luv, Huggies, or Pampers by allowing their
trash to be video taped.
What was going on here? The State was recording two public service
announcements (one 60.seconds tong and the other 30-seconds) for the
Adopt A Highway program! And they were spending $25,000 of our money
to do it!
Out at Mdrlunda's Preston Unit, on the north side of Route 60, there were
at toast a dozen vehicles with the familiar green state license tags. Any
number of state employees, decked out in blaze-orange vests, were milling
around.
And the trash b~an to fly. It took the Public Television crewmen two
days to record this epic~ They stopped traffic (for which two flagmen, of
course, were required) as other state employees arranged the trash in artis-
tic patterns. They wanted to take ful( advantage of the scenic beauty on this
pristine road{
Silty me! I suggested they could film a place high atop Muddy Creek
Mountain -- where a stream is born and cascades over moss-covered rocks
and is surrounded by magnificent conifers -- as an ideal location for their
film. There they would have had to do nothing more than start their cam-
eras. At my suggested beauty spot a pink refrigerator adds a splash of color
to the gray rocks and green trees -- perfect for color television! Thousands
of rusting cans are scattered over the craggy hiffsides near this stream and
water splashes merrily over other pitched appliances -- creatin~g rainbow
spumes of dancing waters.
Anna Shahan, coerdinator for the Adopt A Highway Program, said "Don't
give us too hard of a time about the $25,000 budget. We think we are
getting good value for our money.,"
Now, don't get me wrong. I think the Adopt A Highway Program is just
fine. Ms Shahan tells me there are more than 30,000 individuals participat-
ing in this laudable venture in West Virginia. She also added the Depart-
ment of Highways spends more than $1 1/2 million a year on trash pickup!
My big bone of contention is that the State would spend $25,000 of our
hard-earned money to throw trash along an otherwise fairly clean highway
just in order to video record it for public service announcements. There are
thousands of gorgeous locations where the trash is already there. It would
have taken just a little forethought before the crews began making this
trashy film --- and charging us $25,000 for it!
-- Chas. A. Goddard
Dear Editor:
With Earth Day 1990 fresh in our
minds I would like us all to be vision-
aries, Today we find our planet
being destroyed by greed. The pro-
duction and economic system is
based on increasing profits at all
costs. Those costs are our environ-
ment.
Solar power has been available
to us for 40 years. '~he oqly reason
it has not been utili}ed as it should
be is the fact that the oil and gas
companies have so ~much wealth
and power. This is longer a de-
mocracy as our nation% fathers in-
tended. The corporations control our
government. They have the money
to influence elections and buy your
votes with glitzy advertising. The
earth has tremendous energy com-
ing from the sun everyday. If only
10-20 per cent of the solar energy
coming to earth was utilized we
could still expand our present rate of
energy use. My fatuity and many
others are operating houses on so-
lar energy for electricity. Solar cars
are a reality and could be in use in
all cities with ease, Why aren't they
in production? Because the oil and
gas companies lobby against them
and the present auto companies
would have to re-tool and the gov-
eminent won't support the research
and developmem. Greed is the rea-
son clean and safe power is not a
part of more people's lives. The nu-
clear industry still wants you to be-
lieve they are the answer. After Ch-
ernobol and Three Mile Island and
the fact that they can't find places to
put the deadly by-products should
let you know nuclear energy is not
safe.
We need another revolution in
this country and the world. We need
to alter the means of production of
goods and foods so that our envi-
ronment is safe. Organic farming is
on the upswing because now even
the government agencies have real-
ized that the use of pesticides and
fertilizers pollute the ground and
water. Studies have s~own that or-
ganic farming has 8 to 10 per cent
less output but makes the same
amount of money per acre because
you don't spend modey on chemi-
cals. We need to radically change
our way of doing business so that
the environment comes first and
profit second. Moral and enwron-
mentally safe business m possible
and it can be profitable too. Instead
of controlling pollution or cleaning
up we must eliminate it at the
source. We must demand that our
government establish policies that
insure a clean world.
Get involvedt Do something!
Danette Brandy-Condon
Hillsboro
Dear Editor:
Please note that Bonnie Cathcart
was omitted from the Union High
School honor roll.
Sincerely yours,
C. Doyle Kester, Principal
-, Unlon
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Garden Patch
Leslie Price Shaver
Ed. Note: Ms Shaver's column
appears on the Opinion page to-
day due to a heavy concentration
of news and advertising on other
pages of this edition.
If you garden at all, chances are
you're getting antsy. Here it is the
first of spring, the ground warming
and the birds returning, and the
frost-free date seems further ahead
than ever. This year is especially dif-
ficult because it's been such a mild
winter. The forsythia got fooled here
and received its come-uppance --
no arching, golden bushes will dot
the neighborhood this year. The for-
sythia froze the first night it was n
bud. Now I wonder what has hap-
pened to everything else. Were the
lilacs hurt as wet{? How about the
daffodils, already three inches
above the ground? I don't have any
idea and will have to wait and see
what effect this strange winter had
on the garden. I try hard to be pa-
tient, but rd never make it as an or-
chard grower unless I lived on a
tropical island where the tempera-
tures never plummet below forty de-
grees.
Anyway, since it was a bright
warmish Saturday, I made my first
tour o1 the yard after my winter
months of neglect. Many of the per-
ennials are sending up new growth.
Green clumps of leaves are starting
around the bases of leftover stalks
and stumps that I never got around
to cleaning up. The delphinium and
the rudabekia already have a
healthy start on the growing season.
The perennial bachelor buttons 1
planted as a single leaf from a
friend's bed are coming up thick and
established, and I anticipate a huge
bouquet of that bluest of blues.
The bulbs are going to town too.
Tulips, hyacinths, scilla, narcissus
are making themselves known. I
wonder as I walk slowly by the beds,
hands behind my back and head
bent low, how many moies ate how
many tulip bulbs. Moles won't touch
a poisonous daffodil, but they
gobble down tulips like a feast. But
for the damage they have done, I
likewise will have to wait and see.
As I stroll I think about the new
additions I will plant soon. More dill
for the herb garden -- I only bought
two plants last year at the farmers'
market, but I lost one and ended up
without enough to flavor all the fish
and potato salad and deviled eggs.
I'm going to plant more zinnias in
the front as we{1 because I've gotten
pickier about cutting my perennials.
They have only two blooming sea-
sons if luck is with me and in be-
tween is tootong to wait. Zinnias, on
the other hand, once they start,
flower like mad and will do so the
more you pick them. When you
break off a stem, the remaining one
will send off two more shoots. They
are about the only flower that can
compete with dandelions. I recom-
mend highly the green zinnia Envy
to all of you who find the general
species too gaudy. The green is the
palest chartreuse, ice green or mint
green if you were looking at paint
store charts, and the flowers look
fabulous by themselves or with oth-
ers in a vase. On the hottest sum-
mer day when even the breeze is
dry, green zinnias will coot you off.
Regardless of what I do or don't
do, my rose bushes seem to have
few blooms and become scrawny by
mid-summer. I have no strategies
left to try. I threatened last fall to dig
them up and plant dahlias in their
place this spring, but I didn't have
the heart for it.
This stroll around the yard has
put me in an excited and optimistic
mood. i guess I'll leave them right
where they are and buy a new kind
of rose food -- even one long-
stemmed blushing pink rose is worth
it.
Eli FOLKS WHO
NEVER DO ANY
MORE THAN
THEY GET PAID
FOR,NEVERGET
PAID FOR ANY
MORE THAN
THEY DO
ELBERTHuBBARD
By Jonathan Wright
When it comes down to what I
appreciate most about my mother, I
hardly even consider those things
the world would deem spectacular,
even though there are a good num-
ber of them.
No, when I think how much I love
my mother, my mind instinctively
goes to all the so-called "little things"
she does from day to day. They are
those unrecompensed things which
demonstrate her love--and the fact
she wants only what's best for me.
They include "non-dramatic" ac-
tions such as these:
1. Doing laundry. To this day,
doing laundry is one of those duties
t dread the most. To think my
mother did mine for over two dec-
ades without a complaint, simply as
a matter of loving duty, is incredible.
I can't imagine anyone anywhere
enjoying this task, but she did it so
much as a matter of routine that it
faded into that category of day-to-
day chores I never gave much
thought to--until now•
2. Cooking. Despite the fact we
kids occasionally complained about
certain varieties of vegetables in-
compatible to the childish palate, we
always knew we would have a
meal--almost without fail it was
cooked by that woman who thought
little about how tired she might be at
the time. To this day I rarely cook a
full meal for myself--it's a job I don't
often have time or energy for. A
quick meal from a fast-food restau-
rant, dell, or Clingman's is more my
style. Those few times I do cook a
meal, however,
antly how much is
paring one--and I
mother even more.
3. Cleaning house.
fact I refuse to live in
my cleaning habits around
ment far from adequate.
keep things from
they look dirty, but I
dust, mop, and vacuum
often. In my growing-up
mother did these chores
ting an eye, and often
rather to enjoy them. she
importance of a clean
she also knew how
for her family• Naturally,~
helped her out in varioUS
our part in the work
what she did on a regular
What I have listed
servations about three
dane household chores.
them apart in my mind,
the person who perforrn~
and why she
was nothing less than a
love for her children, her
and her God. She
was involved in one of
privileges: raising a
ing their lives. Though
have thought about it rn
time, I believe down deep
that the way to shapin~
was through these
which we would take for c
til later in our lives.
She was right.
Day, Mother!
by Senator Jay
Working for
West Virgi
ACADEMIC EXERCISE
qtaess of all types is important.
Recently in this column I dis-
cussed how important physical fit-
ness is for all of us, especially our
young people. There is such a
thing as academic fitness, as well.
A program called the
Pre,,: 4ential Academic Fitness
Js (PAFA) stimulates stu-
dent to exercise their minds. It re-
wards them for academic
achievement.
PAFA was initiated by the
Department of Education in 1983.
Awards are given at three levels -
as students graduate from elemen-
tary, middle or junior high, and
senior high school.
Students are recognized for
maintaining an overall B + aver-
age during all years at the level for
which they receive the award.
They also are recognized for at-
taining a standardized achieve-
ment test score, such as an SAT or
ACT, at the 80th percentile.
Senior high school students
are also recognized for obtaining
12 credits in the "New Basics," a
group of classes that include En-
glish, math, science, social studies,
foreign languages and computer
science.
A unique award given as part
of the Presidential Academic Fit-
ness Awards is one for "Extraor-
'Our children
strong, healthy,
both physically
dinary Effort."
limited number of
may not meet all the
criteria, but who
tion for giving an
strengthening
The Department
tion provides special
no cost to schools
also be obtained,
Program
cently mailed to all
cipals. I urge you
valuable program
child's teachers and
We must
knowledge our
ic fitness much as we
reward their achR
sports, which results
ca] fitness. Economic
for our state goes
with quality learning
cared workforce.
the future of our
strong, healthy and
ically and
ii
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ET'. BUI
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lock and end gate, tongue or
THE PRIC
If you want a wagon of any
of yours. Don't you want i'
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nD THIB 3 'AG'
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IS REAS
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painted or repaired in some w:
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call.
J. L. HELMS 6: SON,
!22 North Court S~t ." Lewlsburg, W. Va. 2490!
