Vol. VI No.25
August 30, 1990
From the Greenbrier
Valley of West Virginia
Ronceverte
School,
1927
old Ronceverte High School? If you do, you were born well before 1928 when the
Virginia Yates of Ronceverte loaned us this postcard picture of the old school.
high school was constructed on the original site of the old high school.
Marshall
Assistant
d Center
has been hired
A cheese production plant ill
Union will be back in operation
as soon as a new cheesemaker is
hired, officials say.
Cheeses of Monroe, a 20-em-
ployee firnl which opened in
July 1989, closed several weeks
ago when its cheesemaker left.
Since then the board of directors
has interviewed a number of
applicants for the position,
mostly from Wisconsin, accord-
ing to ~,,awson Hamilton. Mr
Hamilton of Lewisburg and lira
Justice of Beckley recently
bought controlling interest in the
plant.
"We had an expert from Wis-
consin in recently to give us
some advice on what we need to
do to get back into production,"
Mr Hamilton said. "He advised
us we'll need to produce a wider
assortment of cheeses, which we
plan to (Io." Mr Hamilton said he
anticipates the eventual re-
hiring of the 20 employees who
worked at the Union plant belbre
its July closing.
Byrd White, a Beckley busi-
nesslllan ~,vh() ~'rves as treastlrer
for the operation, said produc-
tion was "sporatic" before op-
erations ceased in ]ely. Al-
though some sales were realized
in the local area and at the
plant's fetal! tgre on the prom
ises, most business was gener-
ated bv a sales rep,'esentative in
New York, he said.
Cheeses of Monroe is located
one-half mile east of Union on
Route 3.
By Jonathan Wright
Country traditions are the fo-
cus of one of weslern Greenbrier
County's most popular annual
events: the Rupert Country
Fling, scheduled this year for
September 8 and 9.
The Rupert Area hnprovenmnt
Council sponsors the festival
each year, with much of the
profit used lot maintenance of
the Rupert Community Building.
The remainder of the profit is
given back to participating civic
groups. Jeanne Brenneman is
chairman of the 1990 event.
The Rupert Junior High
School Band will kick off the
lling with a concert at 10 a.m.
September 8, along with the
opening of the Country Store at
the Rupert Community BuiMing.
The store will offer arts, crafts,
home-canned foods, plants,
llowers, and garden vegetables..
Among displays featured dur-
ing the two-day event are a quilt
disl)lay by the Crawley Home-
makers at the Rupert Public Li-
brary, a trap display by the
Greenbrier County Trappers' As-
sociation at the community
buiMlng, and antique car dis-
plays in the community buiMin/4
,_ parking lot.
Children's games will kick off
September 8 at 10:30 a.m., fol-
lowed by a wheelchair race at
noon. Forestry fieM day events
will begin at 1 p.m, int~luding a
log roll, wood split, pulpwood
toss, and crosscutting.
At 6 p.m. that clay awards will
be presented for old-fashioned
costumes, followed by a "Great
Craft Giveaway." The "Hometown
Show" at 8 p.m. will feature the
Greenbrler Stompers, Tall Tales,
and the Rupert History Drama
entitled "Mountain P.oots." A
cakewalk will be conducted dur-
ing the show, free to everyone
wearing official "Fling', buttons.
September,9 festivities will
start off at 1 p.m. with the Ro-
tary Club Horse Show at Joe
Costa's farm at Crawley, The
Greenbrier Stompers 4-t-t Club
will conduct a pet show at 2
See "Fling", Page 2-A
assistant lot
s Carnegie flail. Mrs
Previously served as
tor of Southeastern
(SERW) in
Popular
Stop On Tourist
Circuit
Position at the re-
center, Mrs
ticket sales,
and general of
duties. The set-
Hall is lkuniliar
Cotmtv native.
graduate of Green-
for Women. which
buiklin~ as
until the school
Un job.- she said.
SChool he[e, I'm
Hall being
to good tlse. I1
lime. I look
anti feel
re."
ited potential lot
she continued.
of Space in this
sponsoring a
classes, and
schedule.
space lor
I", Page 2-A
..10A
....................... 7A
....................... 3A
&7B
............. 5A
5B
7A
"""'",. ........ ..... 8A
"'""'""'-" ... .......... 4A
"'"'"" ...... ..... ...... 6A
.................. 3B
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........................ 8B
It's Pocahontas County's larg-
est slaughter house and a
popular stop on the local tourist
circuit.
Mountain State Meats, an un-
assuming building on Highways
92/28 in Green Bank, is a sur-
prise to many who visit it for the
first time. The small, cramped
retail area represents only a
small fraction of the entire area
of the building. No space is
wasted.
Besides the large-meat
counter on one side of the r( )m
is an assortment of 30 different
homemade fruit preserves; nu-
merous boxes and jars of special-
ized, ,sometimes hard-to-find
grocery items; maple syrups;
specialty nuts; honey; and other
products. Meats offered are
those prepared at the plant itself,
along with cheeses from
Helvetia and goat's milk cheese
from Birch River.
Owner and manager Sheldon
Risser displays an assortment of
antiques both inside and outside
the shop, including a collection
of meat cleavers, butcher blocks,
and sausage stuffers. One of the
stuffers dates from 1858.
"We get a big tourist trade,,"
Mr Risser says. "Lots of folks
come over from Cass, and we
have many customers from the
Charleston area who have
camps here. With the paving of
the road from Snowshoe to Cass,
we expect to to get even more
business. Also, the [National
Radio Astronomvl Observatory
creates a demand for the some ot
the specialty items we carry. We
have good, consistent trade
among our local people."
The business sees its busiest
times in the hll and early win-
Sheldon Risser And Porker
ter, from October to January,
when employees butcher np to
12 beef and 25 hogs each day
Nearly all animals used corne
from the local area and livestock
auctions, The firm implements a
large variety of meat prepara-
tions and often provides custom
preparation for wild game
brought m by local hunters.
"We cure enure deer hams
See "Slaughter", Page 2-A
Citizens On Guard Again
At Local Wood Treatment Plant
"We are here to remind Mr
Moore and his associates (own-
ers of Woodguard wood treat-
ntent plant) that the citizen eflbrt
remains active. There has been
some activity here, but we don't
Local Man
On State Legal
Ethics Board
For the first time a physician
has been appointed to the West
Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics
Committee.
Retired Charleston pediatri-
cian Dr Thomas G. Potterfield,
now of Lewisburg, was recently
appointed to the Investigative
Panel of the Bar's Imgal Ethics
Committee by President Richard
L. Douglas.
Dr Potterfield will serve as one
of the two non-lawyer members
of the SLn-member panel that re-
views complaints of unethical
conduct of attorneys. Other
newly-appointed members of the
committee are Elkins attorney
Stephen Jory and Fairmont at-
torney El~abeth Rose.
After reviewing allegations of
misconduct, the panel may refer
the matter to the State Bar's Le-
gal Ethics Hearing Panel for dis-
position or may dismiss the
complaints. Mr Douglas said.
Dr Potterfleld has served as
Chairman of Charleston Area
Medical Center's Hospital Ethics
Committee, established a Bio-
Ethics Committee lbr the West
Virginia State Medical Associa-
tion and has authored several
articles on hospital ethics.
"Dr Potterfield brings to the
legal ethics process not only the
perspective of a non-lawyer, but
also he is keenly aware of the
necessity of maintaining a high
standard of ethical conduct
within a profession," Mr Douglas
said in annotmcing the appoint-
ment.
Dr Potterfleld served as the
Director of the Medical Affairs at
Charleston Area Medical Center
from 1977-82 and as its Chief Of
Staff in 1976. He practiced pedi-
atrics In Charleston for 26 years,
and was Chief of Pediatrics of
Charleston Memorial Hospital
from 1960 to 1972. A graduate
of Georgetown University and
the Medical College of Virginia,
Dr Pot terfield served as a Cap-
lain in the Army Medical Corps
at Walter Reed Hospital. He re-
tired to Lewisburg in 1988 where
he lives with his wife. Ann. They
have eight children and five
grandchildren.
know what," Ed Brown, spokes-
man for a group of demonstra-
tors said August 22 at the
Woodguard plant located near
Alderson.
Controversay has swirled in
this Greenbrier River commtmity
ever since Woodguard started
construction of a plant designed
to treat lumber with preservative
chemicals which are considered
toxic.
"David Cheney, a DNR (West
Virginia Department of Natural
Resources) geologist toM us he
doesn't know what is going on
here either," Mr Brown said. "Its
that unknown aspect which
bothers us. Plus there's an tlnle~
solved appeal before the state's
Water Resources Board, a Small
Business Administration investi-
gation which is now underway in
conjunction with the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, and a
Flood Emergency Management
Agency inquiry,
"The citizens cannot rely
alone on these agencies for the
safety of this operation," Mr
Brown added.
A WOAY-TV (Oak Hill) career-
man recorded the quiet demon-
straiten during the early morn-
ing hours of August 22 when
about 20 placard-bearing per-
sons gathered at the Woodguard
installation.
State Pianist
Will Give
Carnegie Concert
Dr James Argent, a native
West Virginian, will present a
concert of classical nlusie at
Carnegie Hall Stmday. Septem-
ber 9 at 3 p.m. Dr ArRent at-.
tended Wilberforce University
where he studied with Marie Y.
Ware and received a B.A. De/.{ree
in music. He also attended the
Chicago Conservatory, studying
with Celia Bender and received
the M.M. Degree in Music. Ite
completed his academic work for
a Doctoral Degree at Ohio State.
Dr Argent does not consider
himself a concert artist but more
oVa composer and is listed in the
"Contemporary Composers of
America'.
The public is encouraged to
attend this concert which is
sponsored by the Choir of the
John Wesley United Methodisl
Church in Lewisburg. Tickets
are $3 and can be obtained front
Reverend David Jasper or any
member of the John Wesley
choir. For further information,
call 645-2470.
The continuing preliminaor
hearing before Judge John
Ashworth regarding proposed
junior high school consolida-
tion in Eastern Greenbrier
County has been postponed
until 9 a.m. September 6.
The continuance was made
upon a request from the plan-
tiffs In the matter.
Judge Ashworth has been
appointed to hear cases In the
Greenbrler County Circuit
court during the absence (due
to illness} of Judge Charles
Lobban.
