7th Graders Continue Legacy of Favored Teacher

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USPS 362-300VOLUME 124 - NUMBER 51

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

and Hardy County NewsTWO SECTIONS • 28 PAGES 94¢

Final Edition oF thE YEar

7th Graders Continue Legacy of Favored TeacherJoy of Reading

By Jean A. FlanaganMoorefield Examiner

“I love the smell of a new book.” It’s not something you’d ex-

pect to hear from a 7th grader. But thanks to Moorefield Middle School teachers Jeremy Simmons and Joy Coby, a group of 7th grad-ers are developing an appreciation for reading which they are also putting into practical experience.

In September, Coby and Sim-mons collaborated on a Do-norsChoose project to purchase copies of “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption” by Laura Hillen-brand. “If I made a Top-Ten list of

my favorite books, that would be number one,” Simmons said.

DonorsChoose is an Internet crowd funding source specifically designed for teachers and students to access funds for school supplies and equipment. It was developed by a teacher who got tired of using his own money for classroom sup-plies.

Simmons has used Do-norsChoose several times in the past, “all for books,” he said.

Then Coby tragically died and the project was put in a drawer. When the students found out about it, they wanted to revive it, in Coby’s memory.

In the meantime, Simmons dis-

covered that there are donors as-sociated with DonorsChoose who will fund half a project if it is writ-ten by the students. So, he turned the project into a writing lesson.

“We really wanted to continue Ms. Coby’s legacy,” said 7th-grad-er, John Lahmeyer. “We knew the proposal would be a lot of hard work.”

Simmons broke the project into four segments. The first segment was naming the project.

“We broke into groups and each group submitted a name,” said Ol-ivia See. “The one we chose was a combination of a couple of sugges-tions.”

Continued on page 8

Moorefield NamedOne of Top 10 SafestCities in W. Va.

Winter Wonderland Extravaganza

Johnny Biggs, 36, of Moorefield, West Virginia, was sentenced in federal court for his role in man-ufacturing methamphetamine, United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced.

Biggs was discovered in May 2015 in Hardy County, West Vir-ginia in possession of materials commonly used to manufacture methamphetamine. Those materi-als included a bottle, coffee filters, drain cleaner, batteries, cold medi-cine, and fuel.

Biggs pled guilty in October 2015 to one count of possession of material used in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

Biggs was sentenced to 21 months in prison for the possession charge. He was also sentenced to

Moorefield Man Sentenced In Federal Court


Zachary W. Ayers, 29, of Peters-burg will spend not less than one year and not more than 10 years in prison for a crime he committed in 2013.

Ayers was one of a dozen felons who appeared in Hardy County Circuit Court on Tuesday, Dec. 15.

According to court documents the victim reported a 2009 Takeuch

Ayers Sentenced To PrisonFor Theft

Moorefield was named one of the Top 10 Safest Cities in West Virginia by Safewise, a communi-ty-focused safety organization, ac-cording to Moorefield Police Chief Steve Reckart.

Safewise reviews FBI Crime Re-port statistics, eliminates all cities with less than 2,000 residents and cities that do not report crime to the FBI. Then they evaluate the number of reported violent crimes and the number of property crimes per 1,000 residents.

Moorefield scored #8 with 2.81 violent crimes per 1,000 residents and 8.03 property crimes per 1,000 residents.

White Sulphur Springs was #1 with 0.41 violent crimes per 1,000 and 0.00 property crimes per 1,000.

“We are proud of the work we do to keep our community safe and work very hard to keep our com-munity that way,” Reckart said.

Congratulations to the Moore-field Police Department and the citizens of Moorefield.


The Hardy County Sheriff’s Of-fice received official approval to apply for a grant at a special meet-ing of the Hardy County Commis-sioners held Thursday, Dec. 17.

The grant, through the U.S. De-partment of Agriculture, will pro-vide funding for 35 percent of the cost of two police vehicles. The county must provide the other 65 percent.

According to Sheriff Bryan

Ward, the vehicles include a Ford Intercepter sedan and a Ford In-tercepter SUV.

“They will be purchased through a state bid, with the police pack-age,” he said. “The camera, radar and other accessories are extra, but we’ve included the price in the grant.”

The commissioners, William “JR” Keplinger and Harold Mi-chael, also approved the reap-pointment of Rodney Branson to the Hardy County Rural Devel-

Commission Approves GrantApplication in Special Meeting

Park Board to Install Security System to Thwart VandalismBy Jean A. FlanaganMoorefield Examiner

As episodes of vandalism contin-ue to plague the J. Allen Hawkins Community Park in Wardensville, the Park Board is in the process of installing a security system.

A committee report was sub-mitted to the Wardensville Town Council which met on Monday,

Dec. 14.“All park vandalism is still unre-

solved,” the report stated. “Notice went out with Town Water bills no-tifying residents of the vandalism and phone number to call to report vandalism. Human defecation was discovered Saturday morning in the green restroom entrance area near the flagpole.”

The report further states the se-Continued on page 14

Continued on page 3Continued on page 8

Continued on page 8

By Lon AndersonSpecial to the Examiner

There was nothing small about the Smith family’s Win-ter Wonderland Extravaganza event held last Saturday night on South Fork Road in Moore-field. With some 85 inflatable Christmas figures, Santa Claus, Christmas lights, and food ga-lore, it was a Christmas carnival--an event not to be missed. And a lot of area folks didn’t.

The event, held annually by Brenda Smith and her sons Da-vid and Harry, drew an estimat-ed 150 parents and grandparents with children in tow who turned out to view the amazing, color-

Smiths Share Their Christmas Display with the Community

Photos by Lon Anderson

Continued on page 14Host Brenda Smith prepares buns for the pulled pork that she cooked for 14 hours to serve to visitors.

Santa has student reindeer drivers as he prepares for his work on Christmas Eve. This is just one of the 85 inflatables on display at the Smith Community Christmas.

Students in Mr. Simmons and Ms. Coby’s class show the books they received from their DonorsChoose project.

Photo by Jean Flanagan

2 - MOOREFIELD (WV) EXAMINER, Wednesday, December 23, 2015

OpiniOn

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THE EXAMINER IS THE DEMOCRATIC NEWSPAPER OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF HARDY COUNTY

Member: National Newspaper Association and West Virgina Press Association

Publishers: Mr. and Mrs. David O. Heishman; Editor: Phoebe F. Heishman; General Manager: James O. Heishman; Managing Editor: Jean A. Flanagan; Advertising Manager: Mike Mallow; Staff: Kathy Bobo, D.J. Bosley, Carolyn Burge, Sam R. Fisher, Carl Holcomb, Diane Hypes, Carissa Kuykendall, Sharon Martin, Faye Staley, Peggy Wratchford.

M OOREFIELD E XAMINER

News Briefs

Christmas is a time for excitement and family. It’s a time we enjoy decorating the house, cooking those things we only do during the holidays, finding special gifts to place under the tree or in stockings, searching for just the right size and shape cedar tree, listening to carols being sung, spending time with family and shar-ing the very essence of Christmas.

The smells of cedar and spice and candles, the sounds of bells and song and laughter, the look of wonder in the eyes of a child, all blend together to brings us Christmas.

It goes back to that stable in Bethlehem where a Child was born. The heavenly hosts sang. A star shone above. The shepherds knelt in awe, and the wise men came bearing gifts. From this seemingly small begin-ning over 2000 years ago came a belief in a God and a religion still strong today.

When December 25 rolls around we ask that you take a few moments from the dinner and the crowds and the confusion and the noise and the chaos and re-member why it is we really celebrate Christmas.

*********

We send holiday greetings from our house to yours filled with warmth and good will.

We thank all of you for your support as subscribers, as advertisers and as our readers and contributors.

From all of us at the Moorefield Examiner, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

David and Phoebe HeishmanJames Heishman • Hannah Heishman • Sam FisherJean Flanagan • Mike Mallow • Sharon MartinCarissa Kuykendall • D. J. Bosley • Kathy BoboCarl Holcomb • Peggy Wratchford Faye Staley • Carolyn Burge • Diane Hypes

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Next week there will be no Moorefield Examiner in the mail or online. It’s the week we take off so the staff has a bit of a break as part of Christmas. We promise we’ll be back the first of the year thanks to our advertisers and sub-scribers.

Merry Christmas

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the area Christmas dec-orations, we suggest you make the effort of the holiday. There are some lovely lightings to be seen.

Merry Christmas

Strange things happen in NYC. Mayor de Blasio in a speech at the Islamic community center praised the contributions of Muslims to New York City. It was only 14 years ago that Muslims took down the Twin Towers in the most hei-nous attack on a U.S. city in the history of this country. And that

was their second try. We may be a forgiving Christian, but we have real trouble praising “contribu-tions” like this. It might be easier if we didn’t think the mayor was courting the 800,000 Muslims in New York City for political pur-poses. Even better, if the Mus-lim community was doing some-thing about “outing” the terrorists among them we would be more inclined to think positive about them.

Merry Christmas

Another NYC strange thing was renaming a hospital which has been around for, oh, close to

150 years. The Roosevelt Hospi-tal which was founded with mon-ey from the Roosevelt family in 1869 is having its name changed to Mount Sinai West. Wonder if they will give back the money donated by the Roosevelts? According to hospital folks the name change is reflecting the health system’s long-term strategy. Seems to us nearly a century and a half of Roosevelt Hospital health service care to the community is pretty long term al-ready. But what do we know?

Merry Christmas

Fifteen Years AgoDecember 20, 2000

Hardy County was to receive $16,406.51 from the Public Service Commission for fees collected for cell phones used in the county.

The South Branch Cinema 6 was scheduled for completion in Janu-ary.

The Board of Education was told the early cold weather was putting a strain on the 73 heating units in the county schools.

Joseph Fisher Wilkins, 32, Ri-verton, died Dec. 16...Janet Wil-liams Rohrbaugh, 60, Old Fields, died Dec. 15...Reuben Willis Bai-ley, 89, Sanford, NC, died Dec.12...Gilbert Franklin Gochenour, 84, Baker, died Dec. 14.

Born to Amanda Shockey and Junior Ketterman, a son, Noah Ja-cob.

East Hardy boys lost to Pend-leton 61-39 and Paw Paw 65-34...East Hardy girls defeated Mussle-man 79-37...Moorefield boys beat Tygarts Valley 59-58... Lady Jack-ets beat Berkeley Springs 50-29, Tygarts Valley 63-43 and lost to Pendleton 58-51 in overtime.

Thirty Years AgoWeek of Dec. 18, 1985

The state issued families the first 93 Individual and Family Flood grant checks totaling $249,079. A total of 2,889 applications had been received to date.

Perdue donated 100 turkeys and Rocco donated over 1000 turkey breasts to be distributed to flooded families for the holidays.

Donated supplies were arriving in the schools...food baskets were available through the Salvation Army and the ministerial associa-tion...the American Legion was hosting the annual Christmas party with help from the Winchester Le-gion Post.

A Washington Law firm had “ad-opted” the special education class at Moorefield Elementary. Princi-pal Peggy Hawse had received 250 telephone responses following a Channel 9 (Washington, DC) story on the damage to the school.

Edwin Evans, 90, Rig, died Dec. 11...Daniel William Shockey, 85, died Dec. 11...Stella Smith Kimble, 80, died Dec. 12...Junior Thomas Funk, 57, died Dec. 11... Eliza Fitz-water Cullers, 75, died Dec. 17...Odessa Hose Wilson, 69, died Dec. 14.

Born to Mr. and Mrs. Charles J. Rinker, a son, Charles Joseph II...to Mr. and Mrs. Roger Riggleman, a son.

East Hardy beat Harman 59-47.

Forty-five Years AgoDecember 23, 1970

The U. S. Supreme Court again postponed Gordon vs Lance which would decide if a simple majority could pass a bond issue. Hardy County was waiting for the deci-sion having passed a $1.7 million bond issue by 54 percent of the votes cast.

Moorefield’s new 15-acre park was to be under construction in the spring of 1971. Facilities would include a swimming pool, Little League ball field, picnic shelters, basketball courts and a barbecue pit.

Mary Southerly Zirk, 74, died Dec. 17 in Baltimore...Keith Allen Biller, 3, Mathias, died Dec. 16.

Debbie Combs and Larry Saul were married Dec. 1...Florene Wilkins and Carter Jenkins were married Dec. 16.

Moorefield’s Yellow Jackets de-feated Ridgeley 73-56.

Sixty Years AgoDecember 21, 1955

Grant County was allocated $430,000 of Federal Hill-Burton funds for construction of a 40-bed hospital.

Lt. M. W. Gamble, Jr. was ap-pointed commanding officer of the local National Guard unit.

Hardy County farmers were to meet with representatives of ma-jor canning companies who were to outline the need for truck and vegetable production here.

George T. Dodd, 32, Ogdens-burg, NY, died Dec. 12.

Joan Elaine Pratt and Carroll Michael were married Dec. 17...Alyce Keffer and Brown Kessel were married Dec. 18.

Born to Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Layton, a son Steven Wayne...to Mrs. Albert Snyder, a daughter, Helen Elaine...to Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Elosser, a son...to Mr. and Mrs. Russell Kaplinger, a son...to Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Moyers, a son...to Mr. and Mrs. Floyd May, a daughter.

Moorefield defeated Wardens-ville 72-42 and Franklin 73-31...Sanders lost to Charles Town 55-52.

Seventy-five Years AgoDecember 18, 1940

The Moorefield Lions Club sent a resolution to the South Branch Bank requesting that Saturday af-ternoon hours continue as a ser-vice to local businesses which did most of their business on Satur-days. Lions members pointed out

that under the new proposal, the bank would be open only 28 hours a week.

Local businesses reported that Christmas sales had been better than any season of the past de-cade.

Plans for the vocational pro-gram of instruction essential to the national defense were being set up as quickly as possible. Cours-es most likely to be offered were operation, care and repair of trac-tors, trucks and cars, metal work, woodworking, and care and repair of electrical equipment.

Only 4 registrants passed the physical examination out of 12 who were called. Defective teeth seem to be the most common dis-qualification. The Selective Ser-vice Board also reported 12 con-scientious objectors.

John W. Dasher, 79, Baltimore, died Dec. 9...John Randall, 81, Winchester, died Dec. 13...Willye Corrina Mickens, 14, died Dec. 11.

Born to Rev. and Mrs. B. Lehew Wood, a son, James Herring.

Wardensville lost to Paw Paw 54-12...Moorefield opened its sea-son defeating the Lions Club 24-10, the Alums 31-16 and the Fac-ulty 32-15.

Ninety Years AgoDecember 17, 1925

The Central Hotel in Wardens-ville had opened to the traveling public by Heishman and Peer.

G. K. Chambers was elected commander of the American Le-gion Post.

The Harper Kelly family had moved into Joseph Miller’s tene-ment house in the Flats.

Santa Claus was scheduled to appear at Saville and Company’s Store the day before Christmas.

Born to Mr. and Mrs. Elwood Hutton, a son...to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Barbe, a son...to Dr. and Mrs. C. A. Young, a daughter.

=====

Thirty Years AgoWeek of December 28, 1985

The Grinch visited Moorefield and stole one of the Christmas wreaths on the Hester Building. The wreath was valued at $200.

Citizens were reminded that the deadline to apply for disaster as-sistance was Jan. 6.

Copies of “The Flood” were to be available the first of the year. The book was compiled from pic-tures from the Moorefield Exam-iner, the Grant County Press, the Parsons Advocate and the Preston

County Journal.Guy Nelson Lang, 61, well-

known local pharmacist, died Dec. 26...Boyd Tom Snyder, 74, Wardensville, died Dec. 24... Ber-nie Randolph Vaughn, 90, Berg-ton, died Dec. 21...Ethel Burgess Crane, 85, died Dec. 19.

Moorefield lost to Union 51-34 and Elk Garden 53-46...East Har-dy lost to Petersburg 72-53.

Seventy-five Years AgoDecember 25, 1940

Hardy County’s retail business totaled $1,099,000 in 1939 accord-ing to the Bureau of the Census. The Census listed 112 unincorpo-rated retail establishments with 109 employees and a payroll of $72,000. There were 33 stores sell-ing food, three general merchan-dise stores, five automobile agen-cies, ten filling stations, six stores selling lumber and hardware, ten eating places,four drug stores, thirty-one grocery and combina-tion stores, seven restaurants, and five feed, farm and garden supply stores.

The 1940 deer kill was 1081 with 38 being killed in Hardy County.

One hundred and fifty West Virginians were to be drafted be-tween Jan. 13 and Jan. 30.

The Christmas mail was so heavy that a mail truck broke down just outside Cumberland. The local mail was delayed until that afternoon.

The Rev. J. McCarty Duckwall, 85, died Dec. 22 near Berkeley Springs.

Lois Ann Hora and Frank Wil-liams were married Dec. 1 in Lou-isville, KY...a marriage license was issued to Helen Rankin and Wil-liam Thomas Barb.

Born to Mr. and Mrs. Garrett Parsons, a son, John Seymour...to Mr. and Mrs. Gus Nordsdrom, a son.

Ninety Years AgoDecember 24, 1925

Students home for Christmas were Aaron Wilson, Potomac State; Mary Bond Baker and Tom Williams, WVU; Alice and Fanny Tucker, Marshall College; Louise Chipley, Lewisburg; Albert Chi-pley, Louisville; Janet Hall, Rich-mond; Robert Knee, Baltimore; Alastair Love and Samuel Hall, Washington and Lee.

Jim See had died at the home of his daughter at Bass.

Viola Lee Funk and James L. Funk were granted a marriage li-cense... Ernestine Felnora Sim-mons and George William Keller were married... Minnie Mathias and Albert Strawderman were married.

By

DaviD O.HeisHmaN

my UNBaseD OpiNiON

Letters to the Editor PolicyThe Examiner encourages letters to the editor. To receive expe-

dited consideration, letters should be no more than 500 words long. Shorter is better. The Examiner reserves the right to edit letters for length, clarity, grammar and offensive language.

All letters, including those e-mailed, must include a mailing ad-dress and a telephone number for verification purposes.

Please e-mail letters to [email protected]. Letters also may be mailed to Letters to the Editor, the Examiner, P.O. Box 380, Moorefield, WV 26836, faxed to (304) 530-6400 or dropped off at the Examiner, 132 S. Main St., Moorefield.

A number of West Virginia’s State Parks are celebrating New Year’s Eve with special activi-ties. Within our area New Year’s Eve parties will be held at Caca-pon Resort State Park in Berkeley Springs and Blackwater Falls State Park in Davis. For information, call 800-225-5982 or visit www.GoToWV.com.

**********A New Year’s Eve Murder Mys-

tery dinner show will offer an eve-ning’s entertainment in Elkins at the Gandy Dancer Theatre. Seat-ing is limited. For information and reservations call 304-636-4935.

**********Many state parks are also spon-

soring First Day Hikes on Jan. 1. Among them Blackwater Falls State Park at Davis, Cacapon Resort State Park near Berkeley Springs, and Cass Scenic Railroad State Park at Cass. For more in-formation go to www.GoToWV.com.

**********Thirty five recipients in 26 coun-

ties received $2.2 million in grants from a West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection pro-gram to help recycling efforts.

Recipients included solid waste authorities, municipalities and nonprofit groups. Among the re-cipients were Grant County and Hampshire County.

**********AAA Fuel Gauge says the av-

erage price last week for a gallon of regular unleaded gas in West Virginia fell an additional 6 cents to $1.952. The national average is still poised to fall below $2 per gallon at $2.013. Overall, average prices remained relatively steady this week, with 26 state averages falling below the $2 per gallon mark. The market focus continues to center on the Federal Reserve’s potential to raise interest rates, for the first time in seven years, fol-lowing a strong U.S. jobs report. An increase in interest rates of-ten leads to a stronger U.S. dollar, which would make oil relatively more expensive for those with foreign currency and potentially exacerbate the global over sup-ply. Across West Virginia prices ranged from a high of $2.179 at Martinsburg to a low of $1.846 at Parkersburg. Gas prices across the county remained at $2.09.

**********

Twelve Days of Christmas. Part of the Christian church year be-tween Christmas and beginning of Epiphany. Some denomina-tions celebrate between December 25th and January 5th, while oth-ers recognize period between the 26th and the 6th. I don’t remem-ber which period my Mother and Grandmother observed. I don’t remember how old I was when those twelve days were impressed upon me, but I still remember the results.

A big box. Not very thick, may-be six inches. About same width and height as Mom’s old Maytag wringer washing machine. She kept the box on end pushed back behind the washing machine be-side her kitchen sink. A fit tight enough to fend off a curious lit-tle boy. That physical protection atop her verbal admonishments to stay away from and stay out of “the box” were enough to give me pause.

Grandmother Cook’s idea I think. I can hear her chuckle over the whole thing as I write. She

packed that box with twenty four presents. Twelve for Sis and twelve for me. Each present wrapped separately. I can’t remember what any of them were, but all were wonderful.

Anticipation. Sis and I like baby birds in a nest, mouths open wait-ing for our gift from Mom. She’d roll old washer out slightly, pull box from behind it, open the flap, fish around in there for a present. First she pulled out might be for me. Yes! Agony when she pulled Sis’ first and I had to wait a couple seconds longer. Both gifts out, we were free to unwrap carefully so as to save paper for another year.

Every day for twelve days, even through my Birthday on January

4th. “Hurry up Mom.” “Come on Mom”. “Please Mom.” “Is it time yet Mom?” Mom was a “toughy”. She enjoyed torturing me, but she always relented with a big smile.

I remember the anticipation of receiving each gift, but I also re-member the let down feeling when all twelve were handed down and opened. That’s all. No more. None tomorrow. Devastating to know Christmas was over after looking forward to every day of it for so long.

Grandma and Grandpa talked about those days in later years. A lot of work before the days of com-puter ordering. Maybe Sears Roe-buck, maybe Montgomery Ward orders, but I think most came over the counter from variety stores in Chillicothe, Ohio where they lived. Grandma didn’t drive, Grandpa griped a bit about hauling her all over the countryside shopping, but they laughed when they told about it. No big gifts. Nothing expen-sive. It was that anticipation that grew each present to massive size.

I thought a lot about subjecting

my own children to such exquisite torture, but I never got around to it. Thirty six gifts plus all the has-sle and hullabaloo buying, wrap-ping, distributing was more than I wanted to tackle on top of learn-ing to run the Moorefield Exam-iner. I don’t even remember if Phoebe and I ever discussed it seriously. I wish we had. I wish we’d done it. To this day perhaps most memorable Christmas I had back home. Ranks right up there with first shotgun, first ice slates and first big bicycle and American Flyer electric train.

Thank you, my readers. This column ends twenty first calendar year of my writing. Your com-ments pro and con, written or ver-bal have been appreciated. Those comments are proof I’ve been read. Those comments keep me writing after the twenty years I’d allotted myself.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and God willing, you’ll see next installment January 6th, 2016.

MOOREFIELD (WV) EXAMINER, Wednesday, December 23, 2015 - 3

HARDY TIMESHoliday Closings• The Moorefield Town Of-

fice will be closed Thursday, Dec. 24 through Sunday, Dec. 27 for the Christmas Holiday. They will reopen on Monday, Dec. 28 at 8:30 a.m.

• The Moorefield Examiner will be closed Thursday, Dec. 24 and Friday, Dec. 25 to celebrate the Christmas holiday. There is no Ex-aminer published on Dec. 30. The deadline for the Jan. 6, 2016 edi-tion is Thursday, Dec. 31.

• The Hardy County Court-house will be closed on Thursday, Dec. 24 and Friday, Dec. 25 for the Christmas holiday.

• The Moorefield Town Of-

fice will be closed Friday, Jan. 1 through Sunday Jan. 3, 2016 for the New Years Holiday. They will reopen on Monday, Jan. 4, 2016 at 8:30 a.m.

• The Hardy County Court-house will be closed on Thursday, Dec. 31 and Friday, Jan. 1, 2106 for the New Year’s holiday.

• The Moorefield Examiner will be closed on Friday, Jan. 1 to cel-ebrate the New Year.

Flu ShotsAdult and child flu shots are

available at the Hardy County Health Department, on Wednes-days from 8 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3:30 p.m. The Health Department

is located at 411 Spring Ave. in Moorefield. No appointment nec-essary. Bring insurance or Medi-care card. For information, call 304-530-6355.

Candlelight ServiceSt. Peter’s Lutheran Church in

Wardensville will host a Christmas Eve Candlelight Service beginning at 11 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 24. All are welcome.

Christmas Day DinnerThe annual Christmas Day Din-

ner at Moorefield Elementary School will continue this year. A free meal will be served from 1 - 4 p.m. at the Moorefield Elemen-

tary School cafeteria on Friday, Dec. 25.

Donations to support this event are being accepted at MES. Please make checks payable to Moorefield Christmas Dinner. Volunteers are also needed to serve guests, deliver meals and clean after the event. The kind-ness and love in your heart chang-es your life.

Food SchoolFood School will be held Mon-

day, Jan. 4 at Hardy County Health Dept. at 9 a.m. and Moore-field High School auditorium at 7 p.m. No food or drinks are al-lowed in the school auditorium.

All classes are on a first come, first serve basis.

TASC TestingSouth Branch Career and Tech-

nical Center has announced the TASC Testing Center Schedule, formerly known as G.E.D, for the 2015-2016 School Year

• Jan. 21-22,3:30-8:30 p.m.Dates are subject to change.

Registrations must be made no later than the Monday of the test-ing week. For more information or to schedule contact Amanda Barg-er, 304-257-1277, or

[email protected]

Steve Arbaugh, 304-257-1331 or

[email protected]

Vera Shockey 304-434-8000

ex.324 or

[email protected].

Spay and NeuterSpay Today is our area’s non-

profit, reduced-price spay and

neutering program. At the time of

surgery, initial shots and tests can

also be obtained at lower rates.

Choose from many vets over a

wide area. New vets added! Con-

tact Spay Today: www.baacs.org

or call 304-728-8330.

News [email protected]


Mahlon “Lon” Anderson is one of those people you see in the gro-cery store and think, “I know that guy from somewhere,” but can’t remember exactly where you’ve met. It’s probably because you’ve seen him a million times on televi-sion news, talking about gridlock, drunk driving, speed cameras, seat belt laws, gas prices, winter weath-er - anything that has to do with driving. Until recently, Ander-son was the spokesperson for the American Automobile Association - AAA - Mid Atlantic.

“I feel like I was an advocate for motorists,” Anderson said. “Mo-torists are a group of people, a spe-cial interest that really don’t have a voice.”

Anderson recently retired from his job at AAA and moved full-time to Mathias. “I’ve gone from the most congested place in the country to a place with four traffic lights,” he laughed.

Anderson began his career in the newspaper business. He grew up in Montgomery County, Md., attended Montgomery Commu-nity College and later graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in journalism.

He went to work for the Damas-cus Courier in Damascus, Md. and eventually bought the paper and changed the name to the County Courier. “Montgomery County was growing and we eventually had community newspapers covering Olney, Germantown and all of the northern county,” he said.

In 1976, a friend who worked in the White House asked if Ander-son would help with the Gerald Ford reelection campaign and he agreed.

When Ford lost the election, An-

derson was asked to help promote the opening of a new Montgom-ery Community College Campus in Germantown. “I went to work for the director of community re-lations of the community college I attended,” he said.

Working in the education field near Washington D.C. put Ander-son in the White House radar. He went to work for William Bennett, the Secretary of Education under Ronald Reagan.

When George H. W. Bush (Bush 41) was elected, Anderson became press secretary to his Secretary of Education Lauro Cavazos.

“When Cavazos left, a friend asked me to come to work for the Beer Institute,” Anderson said. “I became vice president for Public Affairs.”

The Beer Institute is a nation-al trade association representing brewers, industry suppliers and im-porters. It was founded in 1862 as the U.S. Brewers Association and changed its name in 1986. “We’re committed to developing sound public policy, focusing on commu-nity involvement and personal re-sponsibility,” according to its web site.

“I became an expert on drunk driving,” Anderson said. “If a ve-hicle crash involved beer, whatever manufacturer would send the press to the Beer Institute. It was up to me to craft a response.”

While Anderson worked at the Beer Institute, he met his wife, Claudia. She worked for the Na-tional Beer Wholesalers Associa-tion and they met at a trade show in Las Vegas.

In 1994, Anderson saw an adver-tisement for a position with AAA.

“It was in the public affairs of-fice,” he said. “I knew the media and the area, so I applied and got the job. It originally covered just

the metro DC area, but later be-came Mid-Atlantic. My territory was New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Delaware.

“I helped craft public policy, lobbied before Congress. I’m a registered lobbyist in Virginia and Maryland. I had a staff of 15.

“I represented the motorists. I would talk about how things im-pacted motorists. How does this tax impact motorists? How does this road, or lack of a road impact motorists? I would call out public officials when we thought legisla-tion did not give motorists a fair deal.”

That’s where the appearances on TV news began. “I’d put out a press release and do six or seven interviews for different media out-lets,” he said.

Ironically, Anderson had a taste of country life throughout his childhood

“I grew up in two places,” he said. “We lived in Montgomery County, but my parents bought a small farm outside Culpepper, Va. That was back when Culpep-per was out in the country. We had horses and cows and would spend weekends and summers there.”

He had also been visiting Hardy County.

“I had been going to Capon Springs since I was a little boy,” Anderson said. “I have a picture of me when I was 6 years old on my great grandfather’s knee with the resort in the background.

“We would go to Wardensville for supplies. Wardensville was my introduction to Hardy County.”

In 2006, Claudia’s son gave them a gift certificate for a weekend at a cabin in Lost River. They fell in love with the place.

“We sat in the woods,” Ander-son said. “It was fall, so the trees were beautiful. We did a lot of

Lon Anderson sits in his Mathias home office. The Washington Post story of his retirement on the wall behind him, was given to him by his coworkers,.

The Voice of AAA-Mid Atlantic Retires to Mathias

reading, watched the deer come up to the cabin. It was so relaxing.”

They bought a cabin in Mathias the following year and have been coming on weekends ever since.

“It used to take us 45 minutes to go 8 miles,” Anderson said. “Now I can’t see a road, I can’t hear a road.

“If you walk down the street in D.C. people won’t even make eye contact. Here, they wave when they pass you on the road, whether they know you or not.”

Although Anderson is looking forward to spending the rest of his life in leisure, actual retirement has been a bit elusive for him. He’s

been asked to work as a consultant for the American Highway Users Association.

“The day after my retirement party, the president of AHUA called and asked if I would help roll out a study they were going to release on the nation’s worst bottlenecks. It was very timely, be-cause the transportation bill was in conference committee. The House had passed a version and the Sen-ate had passed a version and they were hammering out the final bill. We had the Secretary of Trans-portation on the podium. The (Obama) administration used the press conference to send a pretty

strong message about transporta-tion funding.”

Anderson wasn’t in front of the camera this time. He organized and managed the press confer-ence. “At last count, the press con-ference was covered in more than 900 news stories across the coun-try,” he said.

“I’ve had an unbelievable career. It’s been so much fun. I worked under three presidents, helped shape public policy when it comes to transportation issues, and now have an opportunity to live in this wonderful place in West Virginia.”

By Hannah HeishmanMoorefield Examiner

Energy Express is scheduled come to Moorefield Elementa-ry and Moorefield Intermediate schools in 2016. Beverly Coppe, Hardy County Director of Elemen-tary Curriculum, presented the Family Issues Task Force with in-formation on Energy Express at the task force’s meeting on Wednes-day, Dec. 15. Coppe and West Vir-ginia University Extension Agent Elizabeth Metheny have complet-ed and submitted the application. It was the first application submit-ted in West Virginia this year.

According to the WVU Exten-sion website, Energy Express is a summer nutritional and reading program. It is a joint effort be-tween schools and the Extension program.

“AmeriCorps Energy Express mentors make learning fun for small groups of school-age children by creating a safe, enriching envi-ronment focused on reading, writ-ing, art and drama,” the website said. “In addition to the learning

activities, mentors eat nutritious, family-style meals with children, make family visits and complete a community service project.”

According to the application, Hardy County is requesting the 5-week program versus the tradi-tional 6-week program because of the 2016-2017 school calendar.

The application is for six Ameri-Corps mentors to be recruited from Eastern West Virginia Com-munity and Technical College and West Virginia University, and for 40 students in grades 1-5, with eight students from each grade. The stu-dent selection process has not yet been determined, but will likely be need-based.

Although most of the funding comes through the W.Va. Depart-ment of Education Title I, the Family Issues Task Force contrib-uted $2,000. That money will cover postage, family-style meal supplies, AmeriCorps member meals, and writing and art supplies. Hardy County Schools will cover a custo-dian, transportation, and students’ take-home books.

Coppe said an English as a Sec-

ond Language (ESL) program will run at the same time, and will be able to share expenses such as meals and custodial services.

Energy Express will operate from 8 a.m. to noon. There is an intelligence test at both the begin-ning and the end of the program to measure student improvement. A bus will pick up students at des-ignated stops, and return them to those stops. The program employs six people, and a site supervisor.

Once the application is formally approved, Coppe said she will be-gin distributing information, in-cluding the student selection pro-cess, as she anticipates there will be more than eight students in the in-cluded grades who are interested.

If Energy Express is successful this year, Coppe said, the plan is to expand to include East Hardy next year.

There will be additional Energy Express information at the next meeting of the Family Issue Task Force on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016 at 11:30 a.m. in the Brighton Park meeting room.

Energy Express Summer Program Coming to Moorefield Schools

Hardy County’s Universal Pre-K Program will soon hold registra-tion for the 2016-2017 school year.

Registration will be held on Fri-day, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Moorefield Early Learning Center (Head Start Building) for students in the Moorefield attendance area and at East Hardy Early Middle School for students in the East Hardy attendance area.

Please call 304-530-7787 for an appointment.

All children who will be four years old before Sept. 1, 2016 will be eligible to enter Pre-K for the 2016-2017 school term. Parents should bring the child’s legal birth

certificate (from the state in which the child was born), social securi-ty card, verification of income by Head Start, and the child’s immu-nization record.

To be a legal birth certificate, the certificate must be an original birth record certified by the state registrar of vital statistics confirm-ing the child’s identity, age and state file number of the original birth record. The birth certificates can only be obtained by contacting the Bureau of Vital Statistics in the state where the child was born. The school has forms to order birth certificates for children born in West Virginia and Virginia.

All Pre-K students in West Vir-

ginia are required to have immu-nizations for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, rubeola and rubella. Boosters for DPT, polio and MMR are required af-ter the fourth birthday.

During the registration process the child will be screened in the ar-eas of vision, hearing, and speech. At the conclusion of each test, parents/guardians will be verbally notified of the screening results.

While the application does have a place to mark your site prefer-ence, this is not a guarantee that your child will be placed in the specified site.

If you have any questions, please call 304-530-7787.

Hardy County Universal Pre-K Registration to be Held

opment Authority Board. His new term will end on Dec. 31, 2018.

The commissioners approved a letter to Sen. Bob Williams, re-questing $20,000 grant for the

Mathias Ruritans, to be used to repair the Mathias 12-Year School gym floor.

The next meeting of the Har-dy County Commissioners will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016,

beginning at 9 a.m. Anyone wish-

ing to be included on the agenda

should contact the County Clerk’s

office at 304-530-0250.

Continued from page 1Commission Approves

The 2015 Christmas Yard is Mr. and Mrs. Roger Lee Pratt, 109 Manor St., Moorefield. Other yards nominated were Jacob Wel-ton, Central Ave. and Jeff Fraley, Evening St. “We are very ap-

preciative of all nominations this year. Moorefield has many beau-tiful yards each year and at times it is difficult to pick a yard of the month,” said Billie Jo High, Com-mittee Member.

Yard of the Month is sponsored by the GFWC Moorefield Wom-an’s Club. In 2016 Yard of the Month nominations will be taken May through October and in De-cember for a Christmas Yard.

Pratts Have Womens Club Christmas Yard

There will be no Moorefield Examiner on Wednesday, Dec. 30. The next edition will be Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016.

Merry Christmas and Happy, Healthy New Year from the staff.


ObituariesJames Omer Bobo, age 88 of

5th Street, Misty Terrace, Moore-field, W.Va., passed away Saturday morning, December 12, 2015 at his residence.

He was born on February 14, 1927 in Hardy County, W.Va., and was the son of James Marion Bobo and Grace Lee (Kuykendall) Bobo.

A member of the Walnut Grove Church of the Brethren, he was retired after 27 years of service to Hester Industries of Moorefield and was a farmer and gardener. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Rosa Lee (Fultz) Bobo in September 1958 and two sisters, Elva Lee Weese and Ruth Mon-gold.

Surviving is his wife of 52 years, Betty Jean (VanMeter) Bobo; a son, Steven O. Bobo (wife Ethel) of Moorefield, W.Va.; two daugh-

ters, Judy E. Corbin (husband Doug) of Fisher, W.Va. and Patri-cia M. Runions (husband James) of Moorefield, W.Va.; a brother, Junior B. Bobo of Fisher, W.Va.; two sisters, Sue Moyers of Moore-field, W.Va. and Mamie Ratcliff of Petersburg, W.Va.; three grand-children and two great-grandchil-dren.

Funeral services were conduct-ed Tuesday, December 15, 2015 at the Fraley Funeral Home Chapel, 107 Washington St., with Pastor Don Knotts officiating. Interment was at the Walnut Grove Gardens near Moorefield.

Condolences, shared memories and photos may be left on Mr. Bo-bo’s Tribute Wall at www.fraleyfu-neralhome.com .

Arrangements were under the direction of the Fraley Funeral Home.

JAMES OMER BOBO

WANDA LEE CRITES

Wanda Lee Crites, age 81 of Walnut Bottom Road, Fisher, W.Va., passed away Tuesday morn-ing, December 15, 2015 at the Grant Rehabilitation and Care Center in Petersburg, W.Va.

She was born on August 30, 1934 in Kessel, W.Va., and was the daughter of the late Raymond Levi Baldwin and Velva Cathe-rine (Kuykendall) Baldwin. Three brothers and a sister preceded her in death.

An excellent seamstress who made wedding gowns for some of her daughters, she enjoyed gar-dening by raising beautiful flow-ers and wonderful tomatoes. For enjoyment she and her husband would embark on Sunday drives and would return bearing fruit or vegetables they found on their way. Her large family was her love and passion, as she cared for each of them through her life.

Surviving is her loving husband of 63 years, Emory N. Crites; two sons, Leslie P. “Buck” Crites and Douglas E. and Cindy Crites of Fisher, W.Va.; five daughters, Karen Colasessano of Moore-field, W.Va., Aneita and Rick Shirk of Old Fields, W.Va., Jenny

and Roger Riggleman of Moore-field, W.Va., Marsha and Richard Fulcher of New Holland, Penn. and Amy Jo and Allan Kile of Fisher, W.Va.; a special son, Jeff Wilkins of Romney, W.Va.; a brother, Kurt Baldwin of Cockeysville, Md.; thir-teen grandchildren, Josh Shirk, Adam Colasessano, Ashley Shirk Fitzwater, Matt Riggleman, Sar-ah Fulcher, Brooke Fulcher Fish-er, Clint Riggleman, Allie Crites Rohrbaugh, Cassie Rinker, Katlin Shirk, Meagan Crites, Paige Crites and Lindsey Rinker; six great-grandchildren, Micah, Wyatt, Dylan, Sawyer, Addison and Cole.

Funeral services were conduct-ed on Saturday, December 19, 2015 at the Oak Grove United Methodist Church, Kessel Road, Fisher, W.Va. with Pastors Re-becca VanStavern and Brad Taylor officiating. Interment was at the Fultz Cemetery, Fisher, W.Va.

Condolences, shared memo-ries and photos may be left on Mrs. Crites’s Tribute Wall at www.fraleyfuneralhome.com .

Arrangements were under the direction of the Fraley Funeral Home.

Aaron David Pauley, age 25 of Petersburg, W.Va., passed away on Tuesday, December 15, 2015 at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Mor-gantown, W.Va., after a battle with Leukemia.

He was born on July 6, 1990 in Petersburg, W.Va., and was the son of Jeffrey Lewis Pauley and wife Genie of Petersburg and Pamela Sue (Lipscomb) Sulser and hus-band Darrell of Petersburg.

Mr. Pauley was a 2008 graduate of Petersburg High School where he was a member of the High School Marching Band and he at-tended Potomac State College where he majored in Criminal Jus-tice. Aaron was an Assistant Man-ager at Walmart in Moorefield and he was serving with the US Army National Guard 157th MP Unit. He enjoyed shooting rifles for tar-get practice and he was a member of the First Baptist Church in Pe-tersburg.

In addition to his parents, Mr. Pauley is survived by: his compan-ion, Chelsey McDowelle of Mor-gantown, W.Va.; his grandmother, Sandra K. Taylor of Clendenin, W.Va.; a sister, Brookelyn Paige Pauley of Petersburg; a brother, Adam Corey Pauley and compan-ion Meagan Kauffman of Morgan-town; and several aunts, uncles,

AARON DAVID PAULEY

and cousins. He was preceded in death by his grandparents, James David Pauley and David and Betty Lipscomb.

Funeral services were held in the Basagic Funeral Home Chapel on Saturday, December 19, 2015 with Pastor Rick Bergdoll officiating. Interment was in South Branch Valley Memorial Gardens in Pe-tersburg.

Memorials may be made to “Be The Match” at BeTheMatch.org. Memories and words of comfort may be left at www.basgic.com or on Facebook at Basagic Funeral Home.

Funeral arrangements were un-der the direction of the Basagic Fu-neral Home, Petersburg, W.Va.

Epiphany of the Lord Catholic

Church Rt. 55, Moorefield, WV

304-434-2547

Saturday Mass 5:00 PM Sunday Mass 8:30 AM

Assembly of God Church

• Sunday Morning Service at 10 a.m.

• Sunday Night Service at 6 p.m.

• Wednesday Night Service at 7:00 p.m.

10 Queens Drive Rig, WV 26836 (304) 4 34-2073

www.rigassemblyofgod.org

Rev. Brad Taylor

Rig

“We Work For Those Who Love and Remember”

IMPERISHABLE MEMORials

Granite • Marble • Bronze

W.A. Hartman Memorials, L.L.C.

540-434-2573 • 459 Noll Drive (Opposite the Plaza Shopping Center)

Harrisonburg, Virginia 22802 BRANCH: E. Market St. Charlottesville, VA 22902 • 434-293-2570

Walnut Grove

Pastor Donnie Knotts 1-877-371-9928

E VERYONE W ELCOME !

Sunday School 10 a.m. Church Service 11 a.m.

Church of the Brethren Rt. 55 East, Moorefield just before Corridor H exit

I can’t believe that it has been a year already since the good Lord took you home to be with him, because he saw that you were getting very tired and needed to rest. We know that you are in

very good hands. We miss you everyday, but Tommy and I know that you are watching over us everyday.

You may be gone, but you will live forever in our hearts.

With Love Always, Your Wife and Son!

IN LOVING MEMORY OF OUR LOVED ONE

THOMAS R. MYERS, SR. Who passed away on December 23, 2014

Keith McNeal Redman Sr., age 80, of Moorefield, W.Va. passed away on Thursday, December 17, 2015 at Grant Rehabilitation and Care Center in Petersburg, W.Va..

He was born June 1, 1935 in Pe-tersburg, W.Va. and was a son of the late Harry L. Redman and Flo-ra E. (Beckwith) Redman.

In addition to his parents he was preceded in death by one brother, Dana Redman and two sisters, Selena Redman and Shirley Red-man.

Keith was a truck driver for Beans Oil Company and Southern States in Moorefield, W.Va. and was a retired school bus driver for Hardy County Schools. He later worked for Wal-Mart in Moore-field, W.Va..

He was a member of Ashbury United Methodist Church in Moorefield, W.Va..

Keith is survived by his wife of 59 years, Mary M. (Hilliard) Red-man; two daughters, Sherry Red-

man of Moorefield, W.Va. and Ta-Yare Meade of Petersburg, W.Va.; one son, Keith M. Redman Jr. of Moorefield, W.Va.; two sis-ters, Sharon Redman of Moore-field, W.Va. and Dawn Redman of Petersburg, W.Va.; two broth-ers, Roger Redman of Moorefield, W.Va. and Harry G. Redman of Petersburg, W.Va.; four grandchil-dren; five great grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.

Funeral service were held Satur-day, December 19, 2015 at 11 a.m. in the Schaeffer Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Carl VanStav-ern officiating. Interment was in South Branch Valley Memorial Gardens, Petersburg, W.Va..

Memorial contributions may be made to the Redman Family, c/o Sherry Redman, 110 Allegheny Street, Moorefield, WV 26836.

Arrangements are under the direction of Schaeffer Funeral Home in Petersburg.

KEITH M. REDMAN SR.

Moorefield Assembly of God

Sunday School – 10 a.m. Morning Service – 11 a.m.

“Come celebrate the presence of the Lord”

139 Chipley Lane Moorefield, WV 26836

Special Guests Dec. 27 - Sunday A.M. Worship:

Brother Matt Shrout from Moorefield Church of God

Frances Inez Souder Hite, age 72, passed away peacefully sur-rounded by her family on Decem-ber 18, 2015—having lost her bat-tle to ovarian cancer, but winning the war of life. She was born May 18, 1943 in Harrisonburg, daughter of Ervin and Gussie Snider Souder of Mathias, W.Va. Her mother died in childbirth, so she was raised in the home of Pearl and George Dis-panet.

Fran is survived by her husband of 28 years, Justin (Jay) Hite. She is also survived by a son, Mitch Strickler of Weyers Cave; a daugh-ter, Connie Fulton and husband Jerry of Elkton; step-son Bradley Hite and wife Carrie of Fairfield; grandchildren, Michael Fulton and Maggie and Macey Hite. In addi-tion, survivors include her sister, Elnora Hawse and husband Ken of Mathias; brother Roland Souder and wife Gatha of Mathias; brother Marion Souder of Harrisonburg; sister Sue Harner and husband Steve of Richmond; step-brother Gene Wilkens and wife Portia of Mathias; nephew K L Hawse of Mathias; sister-in-law Carol Har-low and husband Johnnie of Rock-bridge Baths; sister-in-law, Becky Hite of Vesuvius. She is also sur-vived by her “chosen family”, Sha-ron and Norman Fifer, Carolyn “Blondie” Howe, Diana Glover, Robin Dean and many more dear friends. In addition to her parents she was predeceased by her sister-in-law, Glendora “Gig” Souder; brothers-in-law, Wayne and Doug-las Hite; step-brother, Herndon Wilkins; and former husbands, Earl “Bub” Strickler and Bobby Shipe.

Fran retired from Kroger in 2004 after 27 years of service. Prior to that, she was a dispatcher with

FRANCES INEZ SOUDER HITE

the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Department. She was a member of Mt. Olivet Christian Church, Elk-ton and a leading member of the church choir. Her ministry was to send cards for all occasions and the gratitude of her recipients has been lovingly returned in the num-ber of cards she received during her illness. She was a special friend to all with a smile that lit up your heart.

In accordance to her wishes, there was a visitation on Tuesday, December 22, 2015 at Kyger Fu-neral Home in Harrisonburg. Fran will be buried in Cedar Hill Cem-etery in Mathias on Wednesday, December 23 at 11 a.m. conducted by Pastor Wayne Wright. A memo-rial service will follow at 2 p.m. at Mt. Olivet Christian Church, con-ducted by Pastor Wright and Asso-ciate Pastor John Crawford. Fam-ily and friends are invited to attend either or both services.

Those wishing to honor her may do so through contributions to the Mt. Olivet Christian Church Need Fund, Cat’s Cradle, or Augusta Health Hospice of the Shenando-ah.

Eulajean Alverta Sites, age 74 of Sites Lane, Moorefield, W.Va., passed away Friday morning, De-cember 18, 2015 at her residence. Born September 10, 1941 in Grant County, W.Va., she was the daugh-ter of the late Richard Jacob Thorne and Eula Addline (Cleav-er) Thorne. She was preceded in death by her husband, William Harold “Mack” Sites in March 1992 and a grandson, Kendrick. A loving mother and grandmother, she enjoyed sewing and cooking for her family.

Surviving is a son, Jeff Sites of Moorefield, W.Va.; three daugh-ters, Cindy S. & Gene Mangold of Moorefield, W.Va., Terena and Robert Dolly of Moorefield, W.Va. and Tammy and Danny Wimer of Moorefield, W.Va.; two brothers, Eddie and Melba Thorne of Pe-tersburg, W.Va. and Kenny and Lisa Thorne of Petersburg, W.Va. and five grandchildren, Shelly Sites, Jeni Sites, Mackenzie Wil-son, Desiree Wimer and Hunter Wimer.

Graveside Services were con-

JEAN SITES

ducted 11:00 AM Monday, De-cember 21, 2015 at the Olivet Cemetery with Pastor Chris Whet-zel officiating.

Memorials may be directed to the Moorefield Awanas, 100 N Elm St, Moorefield, W.Va. 26836 or the Children’s Home Society, 550 Sioux Lane, Romney, W.Va. 26757. Condolences, shared mem-ories and photos may be left on Jean’s Tribute Wall at www.fraley-funeralhome.com.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Fraley Funeral Home.


SocialAge in Action

MENUDec. 28, 2015 - Jan. 1, 2016

Mathias, Moorefield, Wardensville

Mathias & Wardensville - Home Delivered Only

Meals served at 12:00 NoonMonday, Dec. 28 - Chicken nug-

gets, mixed veggies, scalloped po-tatoes, jello

Tuesday, Dec. 29 - Sloppy Joe on bun, 3-bean salad greens, fruit

Wednesday, Dec. 30 - Sauer-kraut with pork, mashed potatoes, lima beans, fruit

Thursday, Dec. 31- Cook’s choice. Serving at 11:00 and clos-ing at 12:00.

Friday, Jan. 1 - CENTER CLOSED: HAPPY NEW YEAR

Due to the availability of deliv-ered food, substitutions are some-times necessary.ACTIVITIES AT MOOREFIELD

SENIOR CENTERMonday, Dec. 28 - Puzzles,

CraftsTuesday, Dec. 29 - Puzzles,

Crafts, Senior Shopping 1:00Wednesday, Dec. 30 - Puzzles,

Crafts, Thursday, Dec. 31 - Center clos-

ing at 12:00Friday, Jan. 1 - Center Closed -

“HAPPY NEW YEAR”REMINDERS

If you want to pick up/carry out a meal at the Senior Center call by 9:30. Wardensville area, please call by 9:00 a.m. for a home deliv-ered meal. Persons under the age of 60 are welcome to come and eat with us at a cost of $3.50 per meal. Any donation over $3.50 would be greatly appreciated.

*************DONATIONS

Those making donations were Lola Crider, Lona Sherman, Charles Hefner, Geraldine Hef-ner, Patty and Harold Michael, Wes Thompson, Ron and Cor-rine Lambert, Food Lion and the Moorefield Examiner. All dona-tions--time, money, food, etc. are greatly appreciated.

*************HCCOA receives funding from

federal and state entities includ-ing WV Bureau of Senior Services,

Upper Potomac Area Agency on Aging, local government, dona-tions and memorial contributions.

WE HAVE ENSURE. Flavors available are chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and butter pecan. Reg-ular and plus in same flavors. The cost has increased effective imme-diately. We will only accept checks for Ensure. No cash. Sorry for the inconvenience. Any questions call the Center at 304-530-2256.

MEDICARE - Do you need help with Medicare Parts A, B, C, D? Call to make appointment with Arline by calling the Senior Center at 304-530-2256, 8:00 - 4:00, Mon-day through Friday. Anyone who needs extra help with Part D thru DHHR or Social Security you can check and change your plans any-time after Dec. 7 to be effective Jan. 2016. Call to set up an ap-pointment.

The Seniors have their neck-laces and other craft items avail-able for sale. Check them out for Christmas gifts.

Nancy, Glenda, Roschelle & Mike (304) 530-6744 • 231 N. Main St. Moorefield

“Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the

East and have come to worship Him.”

M ATTHEW 2:2 (NKJV)

DMV Commissioner Pat Reed is pleased to announce the release of the “In God We Trust” special license plate.

According to Commissioner Reed, “In God We Trust” bears historical significance, as it is our nation’s motto, adopted in 1956. “In God We Trust” also appears on United States currency and coins.

DMV Releases “In God We Trust” License Plate

“We congratulate the members of the Dry Fork Recreation Cen-ter, the sponsors of the “In God We Trust” plate, for their efforts in

obtaining the first 250 paid appli-cations to produce a special plate. Not only have they achieved that number, but have almost doubled that amount in the last several months,” said Reed.

For information about ordering the special license plate, contact the Dry Fork Recreation Center at 304-227-4565.

Durgon School Reunion Held

The annual Durgon School re-union was held Aug. 8 at Brighton Park with 16 former students at-tending.

The group enjoyed interact-ing with each other and sharing special memories of their school years.

The Durgon School reunion was started on Aug. 5, 1995 by Hilda See. There were 52 in at-tendance. The largest group that attended the reunion was Aug. 1,

with 66 attending. The reunion is always held on the second Satur-day in August at 6 p.m. at Brighton Park.

The 2016 reunion will be on Aug. 13, 2016. All former students and their families are invited to at-tend. This year was the 21st year. Durgon School closed in the 1972-73 school year.

Former students attending this were were:

Front row: Judy (Bergdoll) Jen-

kins, Rosco Bergdoll, Iona (Crites) Bergdoll, Beverly (Hinkle) Judy.

Second row: Frances (Bergdoll) Funk, Bonnie (Hinkle) Crites, Ja-net (Bergdoll) Hammond, Bonnie (Collins) Wilson, Juanita (Hinkle) See, Otha Hinkle

Third row: Teddy Garrett (for-mer teacher), Ricky See, Jerry See, Mack See, Jack See and Sam Harper III.

The “Operation Wildflower 2016 Roadsides in Bloom” cal-endar, which showcases the natu-ral beauty along West Virginia’s roads, is now available.

Orders for the calendar, which are free to West Virginia resi-dents, are now being accepted on the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

The photos featured in the cal-endar were submitted by photog-raphers from across West Virginia for a contest co-sponsored by DEP and the Division of Highways.

This year’s cover photo, which showcases white heath aster along Route 200 in Mineral County, was submitted by Patty Barker.

The 12 pictures featured for each month of the year are:

• January: Dogwood in bloom on a clay road in Roane County; Gladys Carper, photographer.

• February: Mountain laurel along Lake Stephens Road, in Ra-leigh County; Kathy Taraczkozy, photographer.

• March: Wildflowers along Rt.

19 in Mercer County; James W. Lyons, photographer.

• April: Spotted star thistle on Whitley Road in Raleigh County; Rita D. McAlpine, photographer.

• May: Turk’s cap lilies along the Highland Scenic Highway in Pocahontas County; Edward Reh-bein, photographer.

• June: BlackEyed susans on Rt. 20 in Summers County; Angie Bolen, photographer.

• July: Bluets along County Route 6 in Pleasants County; Pam Mulligan, photographer.

• August: Showy orange hon-eysuckle along Rural Mountain Road in Randolph County; Lois Pigott, photographer.

• September: Fall wildflowers on the Highland Scenic Highway in Pocahontas County; Patricia Moles, photographer.

• October: Cosmos in a Divi-sion of Highways plot along Rt. 14 in Wirt County; Carletta John-ston, photographer.

• November: Thistle on Rt. 39 in Pocahontas County; Ann Walk-

er, photographer.• December: Bee Balm near

Onego, Pendelton County; Sydney Morgan, photographer.

To qualify for the calendar, the photo must have been taken in West Virginia and must feature wildflowers – not cultivated flower beds. The road near the wildflow-ers must also be prominently vis-ible.

For more DEP news and in-formation, go to www.dep.wv.gov. Also, be sure to connect with the agency on all social media plat-forms. Follow @DEPWV on Twit-ter and find them on YouTube by searching “Environment Mat-ters.”

For specific information about the REAP (Rehabilitation Envi-ronmental Action Plan), West Vir-ginia Project WET (Water Educa-tion for Teachers), West Virginia Watershed Improvement Branch, Youth Environmental Program and Human Resources initiatives, connect on Facebook.

‘Roadsides in Bloom’ Calendar Now AvailableCover Photo Taken in Mineral County


School DayS

Prizes were awarded to the top point earners in the Accelerated Reader Program at MES on De-cember 3, 2015. Coming to the school to present the incentive prizes was Nicole Keller of Edward Jones Investments.

Earning 26 points for the 2nd six weeks period was Brenna See. She is a first grade student in Mrs. Au-ville’s class. Achieving 54.4 points for the same time period was Fer-nando Hernandez in Mrs. Rumer’s second grade class.

Congratulations to our two first-time winners, Brenna and Fernan-do, and thank you to Mrs. Yvonne Williams of Edward Jones Invest-ments, for sponsoring our AR Pro-gram.

By Hanna CarlsonMMS FFA Reporter

The Moorefield Middle FFA Chapter took 12 members and 4 chaperones to the National FFA Convention in Louisville, Ken-tucky during the week of October 27 – October 31, 2015.

Leaving Tuesday morning at 6:00am from Moorefield Middle School, Mr. Harper’s van, Mrs. Kim Carlson’s van, and Mr. Sam Williams’s car started on their way to the 2:00pm tour of the Louis-ville Slugger Museum and Fac-tory. From there, we went to tour Churchill Downs and the Ken-tucky Derby Museum. At 6pm, we ate at Shogun’s Japanese Steak-house for dinner. After dinner, we went to our hotel which was not too far from the Kentucky Expo-sition Center where the National FFA Convention activities were being held.

Wednesday morning, we left the hotel around 7am to drive to St. Louis to tour the Gateway Arch. Then we toured and visited the Cahokia Mounds, an ancient In-dian civilization.

Thursday morning, we left the hotel at 6:30 a.m to attend the Opening Session at 8 a.m. The motivational speaker was Rick Rigsby. After the Opening Ses-sion, the group toured the FFA Career Show and the FFA Mall. At 4:30 p.m., we saw the Hypno-tists Dr. Jim Wand show. At 6:30 p.m., we went to watch the World’s Toughest Rodeo.

Friday morning we attended the fourth session at 8:00. The Keynote speaker was Amberley Snyder. Mrs. Ellen Harper was awarded with the National FFA Honorary FFA Degree. Afterward we went to the FFA Mall and Ca-reer Show. After lunch, we went to the Bluegrass Indoor Karting center and raced each other. We then went to the Louisville Mega Cavern Zip Line tour.

Saturday morning we started on our way home at 6:30am and stopped at Cabela’s in Wheeling. We arrived home around 5:00pm.

The FFA members that attend-ed the National Convention were Hanna Carlson, Thomas Williams, Lindsey Rinker, Isabelle Nesbit, Madison McGregor, Sydney Har-dy, Anna Riggleman, Ethan Brake,

Moorefield Middle FFA Members Attend the National FFA Convention

Ellen Harper receiving her National FFA Honorary FFA Degree.

MMS FFA members at the Gateway Arch.

Going to the Opening Session.

The Bluegrass Indoor Karting was great.

Seth Bishoff, Derika Crites, Ken-nedie Hinger, and Tayla Ours. The chaperones that attended were Mr. Harper, Mrs. Harper, Mr. Sam Williams and Mrs. Kim Carlson.

This trip would not have been possible without the support of the following people and businesses: Summit Community Bank, Har-dy Telecommunication, Wolfe’s

North End Garage, Baker Insur-ance Company, Dr. Michael and Kelly Riggleman, Love Memorial Clinic, Tim Ball, Mathias & As-sociates, Judy Ball, Elmore Fu-

neral Home, Sions Equipment, Hawse Shop N’ Save, Fisher Fam-ily Dentistry, Mr. Harold Michael, Pendleton Community Bank, E.R. Excavating, Grant County Bank,

Chris Alt’s Trucking, Moorefield Southern States, Mr. and Mrs. Sam and Ellen Harper, Mountaineer Veterinarians, Hardy County Farm Bureau and See Law Firm.

The Moorefield Middle School FFA Chapter held a Halloween corn maze on Oct. 17, 2015, from 7:30-9:00 p.m. It was located behind Moorefield Intermediate School. More than 150 people attended the maze and had an excellent, but scary time.

The MMS FFA took a Paintball trip to Skyline Paintball on Friday, Nov. 6. They left MMS at 3 p.m. and returned at approximately 7 p.m. Thirty-four FFA members attended the trip and had an excellent time.

MMS FFA Halloween Corn Maze

MMS FFA Paintball TripKevin Whetzel, Mark Bowen, Seth Wilson, William Mitchel and others having a great time shooting each

other with the paintball guns.

MES 2nd Six Weeks AR Winners

L to R, Brenna See, Nicole Keller, Fernando Hernandez.

Ninth graders from East Hardy and Moorefield High Schools re-cently visited Potomac State Col-lege (PSC) of West Virginia Uni-versity. In addition to learning about admissions and financial aid, academic offerings, and hous-ing and residence life, and athletic opportunities; they sat in on biol-

ogy and physics demonstrations, toured campus, and had lunch in the dining hall.

Pictured kneeling from left are Tanner McDonald, Hailee Zirkle, Julia Schoolcraft, Caitlin Strick-ler, Victoria Heishman, Jasmine Abrell, and Kaitlynn Funkhouser. Back row from left are Keegan

Wolfrey, Jessie Shepherd, Ki-ara Bowers, Star Moton, Ethan Combs, Isaiah Fluelling, Brittany Dove, Natalie Vanarsdale, and PSC Admissions Counselor Re-becca Holler.

To learn more about Potomac State College, visit www.potomac-statecollege.edu

Hardy County 9th Graders Visit Potomac State College

See More School News on

Page 7


School DayS

Mary Catherine Slack, a teach-er at Moorefield High School, earned certification as a REAL Instructor. REAL, Rural En-trepreneurship through Action Learning, is a curriculum and an active hands-on teaching method. More than two hundred are now

REAL Instructors advancing en-trepreneurship education across the Mountain State.

Entrepreneurship, a key to West Virginia’s economic future, is the message of the REAL Insti-tute held at Stonewall Resort near Roanoke, WV, October 26 – 28,

2015. The Institute is sponsored by

the Ohio-West Virginia Youth Leadership Association (YLA) with a grant from the Appala-chian Regional Commission, the support of the West Virginia De-partment of Education’s Office of

Career and Technical Instruction, and the West Virginia Develop-ment Office.

REAL Entrepreneurship In-structor Susan Rice from Beck-ley, Tami Maynard with the De-partment of Education and David King with YLA, led the Institute.

MHS Teacher at Entrepreneurship Institute

Moorefield Intermediate School is happy to share the No-vember Golden Apple recipient, Mrs. Holly Howard. Mrs. Howard has substituted in Hardy County for eleven years before finally set-tling into her own classroom this school year.

Mrs. Howard loves helping her students learn. “I love that mo-ment when they finally get it and for the first time understand a new concept. I enjoy letting them know I care for them and love them.” Mrs. Howard states.

School principal Mrs. Van Me-ter says Mrs. Howard is one of a kind. “Mrs. Howard has a way of getting to know her students and appreciating their individual qual-ities. She makes them feel loved and valued, which is very impor-tant in today’s world. I’m thrilled to have her as one of our teachers here at MIS.”

Mrs. Howard resides in Old Fields with her husband, Dan Howard, and their six children; Sarah, Jason, Adam, Aaron, Luke, and Levi.

Howard Receives MIS Nov. Golden Apple Award

The Golden Apple winner for the month of November/Decem-ber was Cassie Evans. Cassie graduated from East Hardy High School in 2000. She attended Shenandoah University to obtain a degree in Business Administration with a Concentration in Manage-ment, with a minor in Healthcare Management in 2004.

She married her husband Jer-emy in 2008. They have three chil-dren together: Channing, Chloe, Ashton and one granddaughter Nataleigh.

She decided she wanted to be a teacher after being a substitute teacher. She is currently finishing her master’s degree in Special Ed-ucation. Her degree will be com-plete in December 2016.

Cassie is currently a first year teacher employed at Moorefield Middle School teaching Special

MMS Announces Nov./Dec. Golden Apple Recipient

Education and truly enjoys her job. She said that she feels at home here at Moorefield Middle School,

that this is where she belongs. Family is very important to her.

She enjoys spending time with

them as much as possible. If she is not at school she can be found on the baseball or softball fields, coaching baseball with Ashton and assisting Chloe’s softball team. During the summer months when they are not playing ball, they spend time together as a family at Summersville Lake, where they enjoy boating and tubing with their children. During the winter sea-son, she spends snow days crafting or scrapbooking with her children.

She is grateful to receive the Golden Apple Award for the recognition of her efforts as she strives to do better today than she did yesterday. She feels that she could not effectively do her job without the support of the staff at Moorefield Middle School as well as the support from her husband and family.

The following events happened on these dates in West Virginia history. To read more, go to e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia at www.wvencyclopedia.org.

Dec. 23, 1987: Lynette ‘‘Squeaky’’ Fromme escaped from the Federal Prison Camp in Alder-son. Fromme, who was serving a life sentence for trying to kill Presi-dent Gerald Ford, was captured two days later near the prison.

Dec. 24, 1942: The Committee on Fair Employment Practices or-dered that Jehovah’s Witnesses be reinstated to their jobs at Pitts-burgh Plate Glass in Clarksburg. The workers had been fired for refusing to participate in union-sponsored flag-salute ceremonies at the plant.

Dec. 25, 2002: Jack Whittaker, a Putnam County contractor, won the $314.9 Powerball jackpot. At the time, it was the largest single lottery jackpot in history.

Dec. 26, 1917: Instrument mak-er Harold M. Hayslett was born in Putnam County. Hayslett’s vio-lins, violas and cellos have received awards for tone and workmanship, and are cherished by collectors and players alike.

Dec. 27, 1797: The county seat of Ohio County was moved from West Liberty to Wheeling.

Dec. 28, 1978: The last trains ran on the Greenbrier Division,

Harold Hayslet

a branch line of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway. Unlike most C&O branches in West Virginia, the Greenbrier Division was not a coal-hauling line but served the valley’s timber industry.

Dec. 29, 1861: Confederate sol-diers burned most of downtown Sutton. The town slowly rebuilt but remained small until the local tim-ber industry boomed.

Dec. 29, 1970: John Denver and two friends completed the song, “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” Denver performed ‘‘Country Roads’’ in West Virginia on several occasions, notably for the opening of the new Mountaineer Stadium in Morgantown in 1980.

e-WV: The West Virginia Ency-clopedia is a project of the West Virginia Humanities Council. For more information, contact the West Virginia Humanities Council, 1310 Kanawha Blvd. E., Charles-ton, WV 25301; (304) 346-8500; or visit www.wvencyclopedia.org.

David A. Rudich - Broker , Tim Ramsey - Realtor ® , Ann Morgan - Realtor ® , Lynn Judy - Realtor ® , Ken Judy - Realtor ® , Vicki Johnson - Realtor ® , Paul Yandura - Realtor ® ,

Al Gramprie - Realtor ® , Donald Hitchcock - Realtor ®

304-897-6971 8079 SR 259, Lost River, WV 26810

304-897-3300 285 E. Main St., Wardensville, WV 26851

LOST RIVER

W ARDENSVILLE

304-538-2816 7570 US Hwy 220 S, Moorefield, WV 26836

SOUTH BRANCH

The South Branch Duplicate Bridge Club held a Christmas din-ner at O’Neills Restaurant on Dec. 16. After dinner a Howell game was played at the Hardy County Public Library with four tables in play. There were 28 boards in play

with an average match-point score of 42.

Overall winners were Sandra Evans and Polly Ours, 48; Jim Kelly and Steve Kimble, 48, Bruce Leslie and Lary Garrett, 48; John Childs and Bill Long, 45; and Polly Long and Kathleen Puffenberger, 44.

The next bridge game will be held Jan. 6 at Colt’s Restaurant be-ginning at 7:00 p.m.

Duplicate BriDge cluB

Following is Hardy County Schools menu for January 2016:

Monday, January 4: Ravioli w/Sauce, Broccoli, Frozen Fruit Cup, Mini Garlic Toast, Fruit & Garden Bar, Milk;

Tuesday, January 5: Creamed Chicken on Biscuit, Peas, Peaches, Fruit & Garden Bar, Milk;

Wednesday, January 6: French Bread Pizza, Sautéed Vegetables, Corn, Applesauce, Fruit & Garden Bar, Milk;

Thursday, January 7: Oven Roasted Chicken, Mixed Vegeta-bles, Mandarin Oranges, Wheat Roll, Fruit & Garden Bar, Milk;

Friday, January 8: Chicken Pat-ty on Bun, Beans, Pears, Fruit &

Garden Bar, Milk;Monday, January 11 – No School

– Continuing Education DayTuesday, January 12: School

Made Pizza, Sautéed Vegetables, California Blend, Pineapple, Fruit & Garden Bar, Milk;

Wednesday, January 13: Chick-en Nuggets, Sweet Potatoes, Mixed Fruit, Whole Wheat Sugar Cookie, Fruit & Garden Bar, Milk;

Thursday, January 14: Chili Na-chos, Quick Baked Potato, Peach-es, Fruit & Garden Bar, Milk;

Friday, January 15: No School – OS Day

Monday, January 18: No School – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Tuesday, January 19: Calzone w/

Pizza Sauce, Broccoli, Pears, Fruit & Garden Bar, Milk;

Wednesday, January 20: Chick-en Patty on Bun, Green Beans, Mixed Fruit, Fruit & Garden Bar, Milk;

Thursday, January 21: Pork Ten-derloin, Mashed Potatoes w/Gravy, Applesauce, Wheat Roll, Fruit & Garden Bar, Milk;

Friday, January 22: Beef Taco, Salsa, Beans, Pineapple, Fruit & Garden Bar, Milk;

Monday, January 25: Spaghetti w/Meat Sauce, Mixed Vegetables, Bread Stick, Fruit & Garden Bar, Milk;

Tuesday, January 26: Pepperoni Roll w/Pizza Sauce, Carrots, Fro-

zen Fruit Cup, Fruit & Garden Bar, Milk;

Wednesday, January 27: Chick-en Quesadilla, Salsa, Beans, Ap-plesauce, Fruit & Garden Bar, Milk;

Thursday, January 28: Salisbury Steak, Mashed Potatoes w/Gravy, Mandarin Oranges, Wheat Roll, Fruit & Garden Bar, Milk;

Friday, January 29: Cheese-burger, Oven Fries, Mixed Fruit, Fruit & Garden Bar, Milk;

Breakfast includes a variety of low fat milk, cereal, fruit and juice daily.

Hardy County Schools is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer.

Hardy County School Menu for January Announced

I am sure anyone reading this especially those who have been following my earlier writings will be wondering what the heck I am talking about. Of course there is a ‘Thief’ you can arrest and ulti-mately dismiss. This ‘Thief’ whose mission is to temporarily steal your joy and time and ultimately im-pede your productivity should not be given any chance at all in your life and as such must be dealt with. I am talking about the ‘100-day cough’ otherwise called pertussis or whooping cough.

Pertussis A.K.A whooping cough or ‘100-day cough’ cause se-rious respiratory illness in babies, children, teens, and adults and can even be life-threatening, especially

By Dr. Ugoeze Otome

HealtH talk

The ‘Thief’ You Must Arrest

in babies. Adolescents and adults most importantly act as a vehicle to the spread of this silent killer if not appropriately treated. There are several suspected cases this December, 2015 in some Eastern counties of West Virginia. It is at our door step.

Pertussis is a very contagious disease caused by a type of bacte-ria called Bordetella pertussis. The bacteria release toxins (poisons), which damage the cilia and cause airways to swell.

Early symptoms can last for 1 to 2 weeks and usually include:

• Runny nose• Low-grade fever (generally

minimal throughout the course of the disease)

• Mild, occasional cough• Apnea - a pause in breathing

(in babies)Because pertussis in its early

stages appears to be nothing more than the common cold, it is often not suspected or diagnosed until the more severe symptoms appear.

After 1 to 2 weeks and as the disease progresses, the traditional symptoms of pertussis may appear and include:

• Paroxysms (fits) of many, rapid coughs followed by a high-pitched “whoop”

• Vomiting during or after coughing fits

• Exhaustion after coughing fitsAdults may get mild pertussis

and unrecognized without com-plications. Treatment and pro-phylaxis is VERY IMPORTANT TO PREVENT DISEASE IN INFANTS AND YOUNG CHIL-DREN.

Adults and older children who have the following should be test-ed for pertussis:

• Cough illness lasting for 14 days or more with fits of rapid cough (paroxysms) OR Whoop sound when breathing in OR vomiting with cough (Post-tussive vomiting).

Symptomatic contacts of a per-son with pertussis.

If you are not in close contact with a person with pertussis and who do not have symptoms of pertussis or the worried well, you should not be tested.

The most effective way to pre-vent pertussis is through vaccina-tion with DTaP for babies and chil-dren and with Tdap for preteens, teens, and adults. Pregnant wom-en get Tdap which is especially important to help protect babies. Vaccinated children and adults can become infected with and spread pertussis; however, disease is typically much less serious in vaccinated people.

Good hand washing hygiene or use of sanitizers as well as appro-priately covering of the mouth and nose with tissue or upper sleeves or elbow (not hands) during coughing and sneezing can mini-mize spread.

Pertussis is generally treated with antibiotics, which are used to control the symptoms and to pre-vent infected people from spread-ing the disease.

See your doctor if you fit the criteria above or have an infant or young child at home or pregnant with close contact with adult or adolescent who has been coughing for more than 14 days or contact with pertussis. For more informa-tion, visit cdc.gov/pertussis.


Hardy County Health & Wellness Center 411 Spring Ave., Moorefield • 304-538-7380 Open Monday–Friday 6 a.m.–8 p.m., Saturday 8–noon

Spread the word & Workout for free

Tell your friends Member referral program

GET A MONTH FREE Invite your friends and family to join the wellness center

and you could get a free month! Pick up a member referral card today and you can be on

your way to a free membership! *Visit HCWC to pick up a referral card, referred members

must stay a member for 90 days to receive the membership!

Library WindoWs

The name chosen was - “Read-ing for JOY: Her ‘Unbroken’ Leg-acy.”

“The second segment was the opening paragraph,” said Isaiah Leininger. “We combined our ideas. Mr. Simmons used a really cool program in Microsoft to edit it.”

“In our school, the importance of reading is emphasized,” the stu-dents wrote. “We know that it will prepare us for life’s challenges. A few goals that we wish to accom-plish are to enrich our vocabulary

and to raise our reading compre-hension levels. With the set of “Unbroken,” we can expand our knowledge of American history. By reading this book we will also learn about courage and determi-nation in the face of adversity and hopefully be willing and able to persevere through challenges.”

The third segment was an over-view on how the students would lead the project. Sam Shaffer came up with the idea for a Read-A-Thon to raise money.

“The idea was that we could raise some of the money ourselves

and if the project was funded, we could put the money towards buy-ing other books,” Simmons said. “The total cost of the project was $872.”

“With our teacher’s help we plan to lead this project, not only by coming up with ideas for funding through DonorsChoose, but also to help raise money through school and community fund raisers, such as Read-a-Thons,” the class wrote. “In bringing this project to life and meeting our goals, we will all feel a sense of accomplishment. In order to be a leader in this project, we

Continued from page 1

7th Graders Continue

Moorefield Man Sentenced

Ayers Sentenced

Closed for the HolidaysThe Hardy County Public Li-

brary will be closed Dec. 24, 25, and the 26 for the Christmas holi-day. They will reopen on Monday, Dec. 28 for regular hours. Have a safe and happy Christmas!

They will also be closed on New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, 2016 but will open the following day at our reg-ular hours.

New FictionThe Immortal Nicholas by Glenn

Beck – Beck re-tells the story of Santa Claus, imagining him at the first Christmas and casting him as a guardian for the infant and adult

Jesus.Somewhere Only We Know (Cal-

laways; 8) by Barbara Freethy – Firefighter Burke Callaway has been living in the shadows since the tragic death of his fiancée. He had no interest in coming out of the dark, until the beautiful and unpredictable Maddie came back to town.

Whistleblower by Tess Gerritsen – When a man emerges from the mist, right in front of her car, on the run from killers, Cathy Weav-er has no choice – either pick him up or he dies. And as each hour brings pursuers ever closer, she has to wonder, is she giving her

trust to a man in danger – or trust-ing her life to a dangerous man?New Non-Fiction & Bios

How to Retire with Enough Money: And How to Know What Enough Is by Teresa Ghilarducci – A single-sit read than can change the course of your retirement by cutting through the confusion, misinformation, and bad policy-making that keeps us spending or saving poorly.

Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words by Randall Munroe – In a series of annotated blueprints, Munroe explains ev-erything from nuclear bombs to ballpoint pens, providing simple

explanations for some of the most interesting stuff there is.

S.P.Q.R.: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard – Beard nar-rates the unprecedented rise of a civilization that even two thou-sand years later still shapes many of our most fundamental assump-tions about power, citizenship, responsibility, political violence, empire, luxury, and beauty.

Unfaithful Music & Disappear-ing Ink by Elvis Costello – Written entirely by Costello himself, this memoir offers his unique view of his unlikely and sometimes comi-cal rise to international success.

The Facts of My Life by Char-

lotte Rae – Charlotte Rae’s career spans more than seventy years, from the golden age of television to Shakespeare in the Park, the New York Cabaret scene of the late 1940’s and 50’s to her hit se-ries, The Facts of Life and well beyond.

Bog Bodies Uncovered: Solving Europe’s Ancient Mystery by Mi-randa Aldhouse-Green – The au-thor presents a real-life forensic thriller that reveals the secrets of ancient and modern bodies pre-served in bogs – some for nearly 3,000 years.

New Jr. Fiction

I Funny TV (I Funny; 4) by James Patterson – Wheelchair-bound middle school student Ja-mie Grimm’s recent victory in the Planet’s Funniest Kid Comic Contest leads to a television sit-com based on his life, but being the star of the show forces him to balance his newfound success with the responsibilities of being a good friend.

Captain Awesome and the Mum-my’s Treasure (Captain Awesome; 15) by Stan Kirby – Captain Awe-some ventures into the depths of a museum to reclaim a mummy’s ancient treasure.

track loader stolen in October 2013.

In May, this year, the victim re-ported to West Virginia State Po-lice that they had found the equip-ment. Following an investigation, it was learned that Ayers had been using the equipment.

Ayers pleaded guilty to one count of grand larceny last month. Prosecuting attorney Lucas See said the state would not oppose probation if Ayers paid restitution

According to a representative of the victim, Ayers and the victim enjoyed a congenial working rela-tionship, “that Mr. Ayers took ad-vantage of.”

The representative said the vic-tim lost revenue from the loss of the equipment, has had to pay higher insurance rates and is not able to get lower insurance rates because of the theft.

“My employer does not see any reason for leniency in this case, your Honor,” the representative said. “He took this piece of equip-ment and had it for two years.”

Larry Sherman, Ayers’ attorney argued Ayers is remorseful, has the ability to pay the victim restitu-tion and it was not a violent crime. “We believe society would be best served if Mr. Ayers remains free and can work to pay restitution,” Sherman said.

Ayers pleaded for his freedom. “I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve

caused,” he said. “I meant to bring it back several times. I did some re-pairs, replaced the track. I’m sorry about the insurance. Give me a chance to make it right.”

Circuit Court Judge Charles Parsons sentenced Ayers to prison. “If you can find some way to pay them back, I might reconsider,” he said.

A tearful Eulah Higgins, 38, of Moorefield, was remanded to the penitentiary for not less than one year and not more than five years for forgery.

Higgins had been on probation and violated the terms three times according to Prosecutor See.

Court documents show Higgins was arrested in 2012 for having a fraudulent registration sticker on a vehicle. She pleaded guilty and was placed on probation.

When she violated probation in 2013, she was ordered to attend the Day Report Center.

“She did not comply with the Day Report Center’s conditions, nor did she report to her probation officer,” See said.

Joshua Orndorff, Higgins attor-ney, argued Higgins was working and doing well and asked the judge to reconsider the Day Report Cen-ter requirement.

“Her behavior is driven by her

addiction,” Chief Probation Offi-cer John Rohrbaugh said.

“She has been given every op-portunity,” See echoed. “We are cognizant of her addiction, but you can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.”

When Judge Parsons asked Hig-gins why she could not comply with the Day Report Center conditions, she told him she had no cell ser-vice and the Day Report Center wouldn’t call her at home.

“You are not a victim,” Parsons said as he pronounced sentence.

Orndorff asked that Higgins be credited with time served.

Katie Brown, 25, of Moorefield, was remanded to jail for violating the terms of her probation.

In 2014, Brown was convicted of one count of delivery of a Schedule II controlled substance and placed on probation. She was placed in Drug Court, but was asked to leave, according to Prosecutor See.

Parsons revoked Brown’s proba-tion, reinstated her sentence of not less than one year and not more than 15 years. “Come back for re-consideration after 120 days,” he said.

Leroy Cook, 46, of Moorefield pleaded guilty to three counts of breaking and entering and two counts of burglary. He was origi-nally indicted on 11 counts, includ-ing two counts of grand larceny

and one count of conspiracy. According to court documents,

when Moorefield Police investigat-ed a series of burglaries last sum-mer, they spotted a vehicle loaded with doors, ceiling fans and light fixtures. The vehicle was registered to a relative of Cook. When MPD was given permission to search the Cook residence, they discovered other property reported stolen.

Cook admitted to stealing prop-erty from two private residences, the Southern States store and the Hardy County Committee on Ag-ing.

Cook will be sentenced on Jan. 11, 2016. In the meantime, Judge Parsons ordered Cook to report to the Day Report Center.

“He tested positive for drugs the last time he was here,” Prosecutor See said.

“He’s clean today,” PO Rohrbaugh said. “But he is an ad-mitted drug user. If he’s referred to Day Report, they will test him regularly.”

Parsons warned Cook, if he tests positive for drugs, it would be a vi-olation of his bond and he will go to jail.

Michael L. Vanmeter, 42, of Moorefield, pleaded guilty to one count of burglary.

According to court documents, Vanmeter admitted accompany-ing Cook to the house owned by

the Hardy County Committee on Aging and taking doors from the house. “I was told they were tear-ing the house down,” he said.

Judge Parsons found Vanmeter guilty of burglary and referred him for a 60-day evaluation.

According to the plea bargain, the prosecution will not oppose probation if Vanmeter receives a good evaluation.

John D. Barnett, 39, of Peters-burg, was sentenced to not less than one year and not more than 5 years for conspiracy. The sentence is to run concurrently with a fed-eral sentence for aiding and abet-ting the manufacture of heroin. The federal sentence is 18 months and Barnett is to report for prison in January.

Meghen Lantz, 22, of Moore-field petitioned the court for a re-consideration of her sentence into the Anthony Center for Young Of-fenders.

Lantz was convicted of forgery in 2013 .

According to Lauren Wilson, Lantz’s attorney, the Anthony Center Program can be anywhere from six months to two years. “She wants to go to jail because she could theoretically spend less time,” Wilson said.

“The defendant shouldn’t be about to pick their sentence,” Prosecutor See said. “I think she

should complete the program at the Anthony Center.”

Judge Parsons agreed and or-dered her to remain in the Antho-ny Center.

Michael Redman, 26, of Peters-burg, entered an Alford Plea on one count of misdemeanor acces-sory after the fact burglary.

An Alford Plea is an acknowl-edgment that there is enough evi-dence to convict, but not an admis-sion of guilt.

Redman was originally charged with one count of accessory before the fact of first degree robbery, one count of accessory before the fact of burglary, one count of accessory after the fact of first degree rob-bery, one count of accessory after the fact of burglary and one count of conspiracy. The charges were the result of an attempted robbery and attempted murder of a Moore-field man.

John Ours, Redman’s attorney, successfully argued Redman was merely a passenger in a vehicle and had no knowledge before, during or after the crime.

As part of the plea agreement, Redman was sentenced to one year in jail, which was suspended and three years probation. He was also ordered to pay court costs.


an additional 15 months in prison

for violating the terms and condi-

tions of a previously imposed peri-

od of supervised release. The sen-

tences will be served consecutively for a total of 36 months in prison.

Further, Biggs was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $13,937.46.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen

Warner prosecuted the case on be-

half of the government. The West

Virginia State Police investigated.

U.S. District Judge John Preston

Bailey presided.

must work hard and encourage our classmates to do so as well.

A set of 60 books cost $700, and DonorsChoose adds a processing fee and labor and materials for ful-fillment.

DonorsChoose works to get the materials requested for the best price. No money goes to the schools. Everything is done online. The project is posted, donations are made, and when the project is funded, the materials are shipped to the school.

The fourth segment of the proj-ect was why the project is impor-tant.

“We all wrote a paragraph about why this is important to us,” Tori Humphries said. “We listened to each other and put the paragraph together.”

“In September 2015, our be-loved reading teacher, Ms. Joy Coby, was tragically killed, the stu-dents wrote. “Her goal was to have children to find their passion in

reading. Our school/community is trying to continue her legacy. Ms. Coby wanted us to read this book and learn something new as we always did in her class. Our inspi-ration is to keep her passion alive through reading the book. We are all looking forward to reading and studying ‘Unbroken’ to accomplish our goal.”

The editing process was ardu-ous.

“It took three class periods to edit,” Humphries said. “We went over it with a fine tooth comb.”

“We wanted the vocabulary to be strong and clear and not repeti-tive,” Simmons said. “This was a real-life writing assignment.”

The project was approved be-fore the Thanksgiving break. With-in 12 hours, it was totally funded.

The organizations Ashoka & Think It Up funded half the proj-ect. The other half was funded by 10 donors, many of whom were in the Moorefield community.

“Donors can choose whether they get a personal thank you or not,” Simmons said. “Each do-nor got eight thank you notes with pictures of the students with the book.”

There is actually a fifth segment the students completed. It is an Impact Letter.

“It was about how we felt being funded within 24 hours,” said Leah Swift. “We wrote about how happy we were and our sense of accom-plishment. We really did some-thing.”

“I think the project brought us closer together as a class,” said Tamiya Miller. “We laughed, dis-cussed, compromised, negotiated.”

The entire class agreed, they can’t wait to do it again.

Editor’s Note: When it came time to taking a picture, the class insist-ed including Ms. Coby. There was no question she had been there all along.



Hardy County WrestlingDecember 23, 2015

SportSExaminEr

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Moorefield WrestlingPreviewBy Carl HolcombMoorefield Examiner

The Yellow Jackets know how to fly opponents into the mat to feel the sting, so Moorefield Wres-tling is preparing for success each match leading to the state tournament in Huntington.

Moorefield senior Lawrence “Wil” Schoonover III (182-lb.) has three state tournament appearanc-es under his belt with a fourth place and two third place podium finishes in Huntington, so his experi-ence will be a guiding force for the new wrestlers on the squad.

Wil’s father Larry Schoonover is the head coach entering his fifth season at the helm, but has giv-en his son more responsibilities in practice to help mold these grapplers into state caliber competitors.

“It’s pretty cool that I can come out here and coach,” Moorefield senior Wil Schoonover com-mented.

“My dad knows just as much as I do, but he’s not able to roll around like I can. I take advantage of kind of being a coach and I’ve always been taught. It’s cool to be able to coach them like I’ve been taught.”

Larry Schoonover coached the Moorefield Youth Wrestling Club for seven years prior to taking the high school position.

Schoonover was a wrestler on the Frankfort High School squad, so his wrestling knowledge runs very deep and has been passed to the next generation.

Recruiting from the state semifinal football team will help the wrestling program and improve the blocking strength of the linemen who have made the commitment to join the wrestling squad and the conditioning will help other position players get faster and stronger overall.

Schoonover was a first team all-state running back this year and his power was enhanced from his wrestling experience and his form tackling on de-fense was improved from the techniques learned on the mat.

Joining Schoonover from the football team are juniors Stuart Sherman (220-lb.), Da-kota Sulser (220-lb.) Justin Kline (195-lb.), Zachary Eye (285-lb.) and freshman Mat-thew Wright (126-lb.).

First year wrestlers also include junior Tristan Dennison (170-lb.) and freshman Garic Gray (160-lb.).

Gray just came here from Jamaica and is learning as much about this sport each day.

Schoonover is off to an undefeated start with three wins at the Frankfort Quad in-cluding a pin in the first period against Hampshire at 1:11.

Garic, Wright, Schoonover, and Sherman each got wins via forfeits at Frankfort.

Kline notched his first career pin against East Hardy’s Luis Calderon at 1:27.

Eye narrowly lost to East Hardy’s Nick Miller in an 8-6 decision.

The main goal is preparing the wrestlers for next year, but still reserving hope to have state tournament appearances this year.

“We have a lot of new guys. We just want to get them some good wins and get them ready for next year,” Moorefield Coach Larry Schoonover stated.

“A couple of the boys have an outside chance of making the state tournament. Zach Eye in heavyweight has re-ally come along in the few weeks of practices. There’s two really good guys in our region, but if he can place third or fourth in regionals, then he can get to go. We’ve got a couple of lightweight guys and they might have an outside chance to go. Hope-fully Wil can make his fourth trip to Huntington.”

Wil Schoonover hopes his teammates can enjoy the state experience this season.

“It’s great to be in the state tournament. A lot of people get the deer in the headlights look at the state tournament for the first time down there. Since I’ve been down there before, it’s kind of com-fortable being there and nothing new. I’d like to get a few guys down there for state this year. We have some great guys out here on the team this year. It’s not a one-man show anymore and we’ve got some football players out here. I’d liked to place and to win a championship would be nice. My goal is to get somebody else on the podium from the team this year,” Wil Schoonover noted.

The Yellow Jackets are learning moves everyday.Moorefield Coach Larry Schoonover discussed

each wrestler and their signature moves:A lot of them are just starting out, so they are just

doing basic stuff.Matt Wright is picking up really quick on the

moves. He seems to have taken a liking to duck-under.

Stuart Sherman & Justin Kline have been work-ing well on their pinning combinations.

Zach Eye is doing well with the duck-under and pinning combinations.

Garic Gray has done well with the single leg take-down.

Tristan Dennison has been working on his favor-ite move called the set out switch from bottom

Dakota Sulser is mastering the inside stand up from bottom move.

Wil Schoonover has always done well with his double leg and single leg takedowns, then he will throw in a couple big throws, lateral drops, bear

hugs, blast doubles.None of them have experience besides what

they’ve learned this year except for Wil. You’ve got to start sometime. It’s big step to take

off and try something new. A lot of people don’t take that venture, but I’m really proud we have some boys who are going to give it a try.”

Learning takedowns is an important aspect of wrestling and the best part of grappling for Wil Schoonover.

“Definitely the takedowns, I like taking peo-ple down. I’m really good on my feet and on the ground, I usually do a cross-face cradle or near-side cradle,” Wil Schoonover said.

Moorefield Coach Larry Schoonover explains wrestling in more detail through a series of ques-tions and answers.

What do you need to do to prepare for a wres-tling match?

First off, you have to be in tremendous condition and have great core strength. You only wrestle for six minutes, and you don’t think it is that much, but I guarantee you will feel it. Wil has wrestled and played football his whole life and when he gets done with football season he’s in prime football shape, then he says dad, it’s time to get in shape. It’s a whole other ball game when you’re out there wres-tling. Once you learn your moves and you’re in good condition, it becomes a mental battle. You have to

be mentally tough to be able wrestle, sometimes you

get beat and you have to turn around

and wrestle again

i n 45 min-

utes later. It’s not like in football where you have a whole

week to recover. In wrestling if you get beat, you’ve got to put it behind you and move on. There’s no place to hide out there in the circle, so you have to be a gladiator.

How important is the clock?Sometimes it is very important, especially in a

close match it could come down to getting that last takedown to win or not allowing the other guy to score on you to win in a decision.

What are some of the best moves to use on a mat?I’ve always been a big guy on being good on your

feet and getting takedowns. That’s how a match starts and 80 percent of the time, the guy who gets the first takedown will win the match. If you can dic-tate on your feet and get a takedown, then you can put him down and let him up and you get two points for every takedown and he only gets one for each escape. If you do that two or three times, that’s just demoralizing for that guy. He knows that you can just get him, then he doesn’t pay attention right and then you go and take him down and put him on his back and pin him.

What are the types of takedowns?There are many types of takedowns. There’s the

single leg, double leg, a blast double which is very similar to a form tackle in football. You have all kinds of throws, lateral drops where you pick the guy up and slam him down on his back which is a big five point move. When you’re in the down referee position, if you’re on the bottom there’s all types of reversals and escapes, granbys, sit-outs, and switch-es, Petersons. There’s so many moves, I’ve been do-ing this for 12 years and I know very little of them when you think of what there is to do and there’s new things coming up all the time. There’s an old wrestling saying that ‘it’s better to know and do five wrestling moves 1,000 times, than to know 1,000 moves and have done them five times.’

Larry Schoonover coached the Moorefield Youth Wrestling Club for seven years prior to taking the

Schoonover was a wrestler on the Frankfort High School squad, so his wrestling knowledge runs very deep and has been passed to the next generation.

Recruiting from the state semifinal football team will help the wrestling program and improve the blocking strength of the linemen who have made the commitment to join the wrestling squad and the conditioning will help other position players get

Schoonover was a first team all-state running back this year and his power was enhanced from his wrestling experience and his form tackling on de-fense was improved from the techniques learned

Joining Schoonover from the football team are juniors Stuart Sherman (220-lb.), Da-kota Sulser (220-lb.) Justin Kline (195-lb.), Zachary Eye (285-lb.) and freshman Mat-

First year wrestlers also include junior Tristan Dennison (170-lb.) and freshman

Gray just came here from Jamaica and is learning as much about this sport each day.

Schoonover is off to an undefeated start with three wins at the Frankfort Quad in-cluding a pin in the first period against

Garic, Wright, Schoonover, and Sherman each got wins via forfeits at Frankfort.

Kline notched his first career pin against East Hardy’s Luis Calderon at 1:27.

Eye narrowly lost to East Hardy’s Nick Miller

The main goal is preparing the wrestlers for next year, but still reserving hope to have state tournament appearances this

“We have a lot of new guys. We just want to get them some good wins and get them ready for next year,” Moorefield Coach Larry

“A couple of the boys have

ally come along in the few weeks of practices. There’s two really good guys in our region, but if he can place third or fourth in regionals, then he can get

be mentally tough to be able wrestle, sometimes you

get beat and you have to turn around

and wrestle again

i n 45 min-

utes later. It’s not like in football where you have a whole

week to recover. In wrestling if you get beat, you’ve got to put it behind you and move on. There’s no

East Hardy WrestlingPreviewBy Carl HolcombMoorefield Examiner

Cougars are known for their tenacity on the ground, pouncing on the prey for victory and this time the mat is the hunting territory as East Hardy High School Wrestling starts its trek into its inaugu-ral season.

This is the first year for wrestling at the high school level in Baker, but the roots of the program run deep in Hardy County.

There has been a youth mat club at East Hardy for several years which branched off the Moore-field program and the coaches from both clubs have joined forces to guide the Cougars.

East Hardy head coach TJ VanMeter brings his knowledge of nine years working in the Moorefield youth ranks, while his assistant Scott Mongold has been with the East Hardy program since its incep-tion.

VanMeter is thrilled about the new wrestling pro-gram at East Hardy.

“To me, that means the growth of the sport in Hardy County. I love coaching wrestling and I love being around it,” East Hardy Coach TJ VanMeter stated.

“I think it’s a great sport. It teaches kids a lot of things as far as heart and determination and effort. All of the good things about sport in general per-sonified through wrestling. All the life lessons it can teach kids about advancing through hard work and determination. For East Hardy to start a wrestling program, Moorefield has had one for years, for me

it not only means wrestling is growing in the county, but the sustainability

of the program in each of the

schools.”

The Cougars hit

the mat with seven total wres-

tlers (as of press time) including two se-

n i o r s Anthony Miller (182-lb.) and Dalton Dotson (170-lb.), junior

Charlie Mellen (126-lb.), three sophomores Luis Caleron (195-lb.), Nick Miller (285-lb),

Phillip Mullin (160-lb.), and freshman Marina Stotelmyer (113-lb.).East Hardy has the talent to win crucial matches

and send wrestlers to the state tournament in Hun-tington.

The only wrestler with any varsity experience is junior Charlie Mellen who wrestled at Class AAA Hampshire during his freshman year, just after join-ing the youth program.

“I’m pretty excited to be a part of this wrestling program, especially in the first year,” Charlie Mel-len noted.

One of Mellen’s signature moves is the cross-face cradle.

Nick Miller and Phillip Mullin placed in the Top-5 of the junior state wrestling tournament last year, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

“It’s exciting because it’s history. We’re the first ever ones. It’ll be fun doing what we have to do,” Nick Miller said.

Miller has been wrestling since the fifth grade and Mullin is starting his fifth season.

“I’m real excited to have this opportunity. It’s ex-citing to have this sport at East Hardy,” Phillip Mul-lin remarked.

Both Miller and Mullin favor the three-quarters move which features hooking an opponent’s leg, pulling the head down, and rolling them up.

Stotelmyer has wrestled in the youth program for four years and has some second and third place tro-phies.

“I’m very excited, been doing it for five years,” Marina Stotelmyer noted.

Stotelmyer prefers the cradle and using her legs for tilts.

Experience in the youth program will certainly help guide this team to a great finish.

Anthony Miller, Dalton Dotson, and Luis Calde-ron are novices in wrestling, but show a strong de-sire to learn.

“I’m pretty excited. I haven’t seen much wrestling before, but I look forward to it,” Anthony Miller re-marked.

Miller likes the half-nelson move the best so far.“I feel that we should get a good program going

for our first year. I feel excited about it,” Dalton Dotson noted.

Dotson was in his second day of practice and just learning some techniques, but noted the 2-on-1 move is pretty good.

“I’m very excited. We need to work hard,” Luis Calderon said.

Calderon loves the front headlock move and is striving to learn more.

Dotson, Mullin, Mellen, and Nick Miller were a part of history on East Hardy’s first state football championship trip, so making history continues from the gridiron to the wrestling mat.

The excitement on the mat is electric, because ev-erything is brand new with the record books being started with their names for each aspect of the wres-tling match and season. There are many individual goals to be achieved.

“I’m big on setting goals. I think goals are impor-tant,” Coach VanMeter remarked.

“I have four wrestlers with considerable experi-ence with multiple years of youth experience. I don’t think it’s unrealistic that we could send a wrestler to the state tournament in our first year as a program. I think it is possible. It’s an attainable goal. On the same side, we have several kids where it’s their first year. They have their work cut out for them. I think that first goal of winning the first match, once you win that first match, win the second match. If you’re struggling and you’re not winning that first match, then score your first points, your first takedown, and build on that. It’s not necessarily, especially when you’re in your first year, it doesn’t matter if you started wrestling when you were eight, ten, 12 or 15. Everyone has to get that first year out of the way and you learn so much that first year. For my first year kids, my goals and expectations are a bit different.”

Nick Miller picked up the first ever match and decision win in East Hardy history during a quad-match to start the season against Frankfort by a score of 3-1.

Miller added an 8-6 decision win over Moore-field’s Zachary Eye in his third match of the day.

Stotelmyer was the first in school history to earn a win through forfeit and got three of them at Frank-

fort.Mullin became the first wrestler to get a pin with one in the first period at 1:36

against Moorefield’s Garic Gray at the Frankfort Quad.

Anthony Miller and Charlie Mellen got wins by forfeit at Frankfort, then notched their first pins at the Mussel-

man Duals. This looks to be a very promis-

ing start for the East Hardy program with a good potential to have wrestlers

advance to the state tournament.East Hardy will compete at Strasburg

on January 6, host Frankfort on January 14, travel to the Viking Smash on January

29-30, and visit Berkeley Springs on Febru-ary 4.Coach VanMeter hasn’t wrestled before, but

has picked up many tips of the sport through ob-servation.

“My wrestling background as far as an actual wrestler is zero. I can remember my son is 13 and he has had some success in the youth ranks. When he was four, my wife showed me an ad in the paper that they were starting a youth program in Moore-field and Larry Schoonover and Rick Dolly started that. When my son was four years old, he signed up to wrestle and that’s kind of where it all began for me. I started not knowing a thing about wrestling, but just learning by going to practice with my son. It evolved from me being out there on the mat and helping four year old do push-ups to actually learn-ing and teaching the moves and taking kids to tour-naments. Nine years later, here I am,” Coach Van-Meter commented.

VanMeter was a baseball player during his high school days at Moorefield High School (Class of 1996), then played one year at West Virginia Wes-leyan.

VanMeter completed his undergraduate studies at Eastern Mennonite University and finished grad-uate school at WVU.

Coach VanMeter is more concerned over helping the kids grow in the sport of wrestling, than the ri-valry. Although, he did mention having picked black polo shirts for the job.

If you mix blue and yellow, then you get green, so it is a unity that has deep roots enabling this wres-tling program to blossom.

“Putting the green and gold on will be a little dif-ferent, so Coach [Chad] Williams has allowed the black coaching shirts. I’m in favor of those shirts. It will be good for the county and good for Moore-field,” Coach VanMeter noted.

Talk about each wrestler and what they bring to the team:

Luis Caldron 195 - He’s new. The kid is all heart. He’s come in having not done another sport. He never complains and he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do. I can say that about all these kids, they’re hard workers. They’re good kids. Because of the extended football season, we haven’t had the privilege of having all the kids together the whole time we’ve been practicing, but there’s not a smart mouth in the bunch and that’s refreshing. To me, it’s great to have a group of kids who are dedicated and willing to work hard. Luis definitely epitomizes that and he’ll ask questions. How do you do that. He wants to learn, very willing to learn and that is where it starts, you have to be willing to learn the moves and put the work in.

Anthony Miller 182 - Anthony is a tall, lanky kid. I’d look to have him pose some matchup problems at 182. Most likely he’s going to be one of the taller kids in his weight class. As a new wrestler, he has a lot to learn and a short time to learn. Once he learns how to use those things, his leverage and reach to his advantage much like a tall boxer uses his reach to his advantage, we’ve keyed in on that for him to use to

Continued on page 10 Continued on page 11


Is a cradle a common move?Back when I was wrestling, the

cross-face cradle was my signature move. There’s a near side cradle, a far side cradle and there’s even a thing called a leg cradle. Instead of using your arms to hold some-body in a cradle, you use your legs. It’s kind of wild looking. A cradle is hard to get out of, even if you don’t pin him, you get your full set of back points.

Is it more important to get a pin or points?

It’s just like anything else, if you win by one, it’s a win. One good thing about a pin is, once it’s done, it’s over. You could be losing 14-0 and five seconds left pin the guy and win or viceversa.

If you’re wrestling a superior wrestler and you hit a big lateral drop in the beginning of the match and you stick him on his back and pin him, then he never gets the opportunity to do anything to you. In most sports there’s a time limit or inning limit that dictates when the game ends, but in five seconds in wrestling, the match can end.

How do you approach an oppo-nent out on the mat?

This is my philosophy: The guy you’re going to wrestle, the first time you’re going to see him up close is when you’re weighing in. I always tell my guys to look him square right in the eye and you’re not trying to belittle him, but you want to let him know that you’re coming to wrestle. When you come out to shake his hand in the circle before you start, you look him right in the eye and grab a big full of his hand and give a man’s handshake. That’s the last time you look at him in the eye, be-cause you’re looking at the things that can getcha. By that time, you’ve let him know you’re com-ing to wrestle before the referee even blows the whistle.

What has Wil accomplished in his wrestling career?

He had nearly 200 wins in youth wrestling, I think it was 196 youth wins. His record right now in high school is 113 wins and 14 losses. He’s a three-time state placer at the state tournament. That was a fourth and two thirds.

Last year he was voted the most outstanding wrestler at the Vi-king Smash. He’s been a regional champion or regional runner-up every year. He won it his sopho-more year. The boy he lost to in regionals was the state runner-up last year. The boy he lost to in regionals his freshman year was third in the state and Wil ended up in fourth place, losing to him again at the state tourna-ment. He’s made a lot of friends and that’s better than all the wins.

We’ve made friends across the state that we stay in contact with all year. I’ve watched all these boys since they were six years old and they may go battle each oth-er inside the circle and might try to rip each other apart, but when they get outside of the circle they are best friends.

Wrestling isn’t like any other sport. It’s a camaraderie for ev-eryone. At our WVSSAC state meeting, the director wished all sports conducted themselves like wrestlers. Wrestling has ten times less penalties or ejections than ev-ery other sport. They’re the most sportsmanship type team, because you respect others and they learn to respect you. You have ahold of each other in that circle and both are working hard to get the win and it becomes a mutual respect.

How important are individual wins?

It’s always important for each guy to get some wins, especially if you’re first starting out. If you get a few wins that first year, it means a lot. This year we will have seven or eight wrestlers and if another team has the same amount or less, we have an opportunity to win as a team. Last year we only had two wrestlers and we actually won a dual meet. We wrestled another team with two wrestlers and we were able to win that. The year before we won a couple matches. This year we have an opportunity to win several matches. We have a couple freshmen and some first year guys. I’m just hoping they get some experience so they can have a more successful year next year.

You have a number of football players coming in to the wrestling program, how do they benefit the program?

They had a very successful sea-son and they’re pretty confident in their abilities, because they fin-ished in the top four in the state. That will help, but what will really help them next year in football is wrestling this year to prepare them for next year. Wrestling, es-pecially for linemen, is all about leverage and balance, plus hand and footwork. When you’re block-ing, that’s what you’re doing, try-ing to get leverage and balance on that guy. You only have to dictate what he’s going to do for a few seconds to let the running back get by. If you’re doing that for two mintues, trying to dictate what a guy is going to do, then surely you’ll be able to do it for two sec-onds.

What do you see in Kline, Sher-man, and Eye?

They’re really just learning ev-erything on the mat. What I really like is seeing how dedicated they are to learning in just a couple

weeks. Kline is like the hardest working guy you want to see, but so is Sherman and Eye. After two weeks of practice, we had a light moment. They were talking about how they wished they had started this sooner. They really like this wrestling. I’ve been trying to tell them for years it’s a pretty good sport.

What do you see in the fresh-men?

They have a lot of potential. They are just starting out, but they have an opportunity to wrestle for four years. Garic and Matthew have the opportunity to be really good wrestlers by the time they’re seniors. They’re working hard and working together. I don’t worry about things, because they’re all good kids. I could go to a tour-nament and stay two or three days and I wouldn’t have to wor-ry about them getting in trouble. They all look out for each other. Last evening it was kind of funny, Wil left with Tank [Eye], Sher-man, and Kline and when I got home they were all at the house after practice. Wil was on the back porch giving them all haircuts. Wil is the barber and he’s been giv-ing them haircuts in football sea-son too. That’s camaraderie right there and it’s carrying over to wrestling season.

Wrestling isn’t always about winning and losing, it’s about working hard and trying your best.

My favorite saying was from my wrestling coach, he would say ‘there’s only one way to lose a wrestling match, that’s if you don’t try your hardest and you don’t learn anything.’ If you try your hardest and you learn some-thing from the match, you didn’t lose. The other guy just won, so get up and shake his hand and tell him he did a good job. If you want to beat him next time, then go to work. It’s not about winning, it’s about trying your hardest and get-ting better, that’s what wrestling is about.

Is your schedule going to change?

This is only the tournament schedule, because we didn’t know how many wrestlers we were going to have to start the season. Teams don’t want to travel to just wrestle two guys and we now have eight, so we will be adding some duals. Petersburg will let us join duals or tri-matches.

How exciting is it to have East Hardy in the wrestling commu-nity?

That’s my favorite part of this story. Let me tell you how wres-tling all began...

When Wil was in first grade, I was out shooting bow one day and a guy said I’ve got to leave to take

my boy to wrestling practice. I said you’ve got youth wrestling around here. He said, yes Petersburg just started a wrestling program. Ask the coach if we can take a Moore-field boy up there. Two days later I was back shooting bow and the guy said to bring him up one day. On Saturday, we have a big wres-tling tournament in Keyser, so you should bring Wil up to check it out. I said I would and asked Wil if he wanted to check it out to see what wrestling was all about. Wil said, yeah dad, I’d like to do that. We were watching the guys wrestle and I pointed out the ones who would be in his weight class and said these are the kids you’d be wrestling. He said, I think I can take them dad. I think I can beat them right now. I went down to talk to the Petersburg coach who was Tony Weatherholt, in his first year in the pee-wee division. Me and Tony go way back, our teams wrestled each other in high school. I said how would you like to get a boy from Moorefield to come up. He said that would be great, I’d love to get someone from Moore-field to come up. That’s how it all started, we went up to Petersburg and started wrestling. It’s kind of ironic, those five boys I showed Wil, in the next two years he beat every one of them. For the first two or three years, I was part of the Petersburg wrestling group and it was called the Tri-County Wrestling. It got to where I was bringing seven or eight wrestlers from Moorefield after a couple years, then one year it got up to 20. They had 30 and Pendleton County had eight. That was way too many for one team. Rick Dol-ly helped us start a program in Moorefield, but we wrestled un-der Tri-County’s name and prac-ticed down here. The next year we started out on our own start-

ing the Moorefield Youth Wres-tling program eight or nine years ago. For another three or four years I coached the youth team. When Wil was in the 8th grade, Coach Bailey at the high school level moved on to other things and the job opened up. They said nobody from the staff signed up to coach, so I went to take my coach-ing classes. If you aren’t a teacher, you have to take special coaching classes. I was going to do it until somebody else stepped up, but nobody has stepped up and I’m still here. Wil graduates this year, so I don’t know that I will be the head coach next year. I will stay to help in some way. When he’s off at college, I’m going to have to find something to do when I’m not at football and baseball games. I really like the kids here and they like being around me. Moore-field branched from Petersburg, then some kids from East Hardy came over to practice. Scott Mon-gold came over with his kids and a couple other kids came over and started wrestling with us. For a year or two, East Hardy was on the Moorefield team. Then Scott started the East Hardy youth team and got a mat and that’s been go-ing on for a few years. Now we have the high school team. It all started with a first grader who wanted to wrestle in Petersburg and now we have two wrestling teams in Hardy County. It’s more than wins and losses, it’s the ca-maraderie and now we have boys from Moorefield and East Har-dy wrestling. It’s all grown from Wil wanting to wrestle. I’ve got a lot of friends from Petersburg, Moorefield, and East Hardy. TJ VanMeter was my assistant in the youth program and when I moved to the high school team, he took over the youth team. Now he is the high school coach. We started

out in Petersburg and I was an as-sistant coach there. It’s like we’ve all grown up in wrestling. TJ never wrestled before, just learned from what I taught and what he saw on the mat. He’s taken his boys to special camps and is pretty knowl-edgable for someone who hasn’t wrestled before. It’s neat how it all grew from Wil’s desire. There’s been over 250-300 youth wrestlers from East Hardy and Moorefield and they never would have if we hadn’t got it going.”

Wrestling one of the favorite sports for Wil Schoonover and he understands the mental toughness required to win.

“Wrestling and football are def-initely my two favorite sports. My two favorite sports, there’s noth-ing like wrestling and football is hard, a contact sport. You have to be physically trained to wrestle. It’s mentally tough, you’ve got to be mentally prepared to go out and wrestle your guy. It’s kind of like going out for a fight, if you’re already scared before you wres-tled your opponent, then you’ve probably already lost. You have to try to stay focused. Before you’ve wrestled, you’ve wrestled that guy 100 times in your head before you get out there on the mat. Practice and constantly working on your moves are key to winning,” Wil Schoonover stated.

The road to Huntington in-cludes a strong tournament schedule: January 6 at Strasburg, January 15-16 at Braxton County Invitational, January 29-30 at Vi-king Smash in Petersburg, Febru-ary 13 at Grafton Duals, February 19-20 at Frankfort for Region II Tournament.

The state wrestling tournament is February 25-27 in Huntington.

Experience and determination will yield results this season.

Moorefield WrestlingContinued from page 9

By Jay Fisher

The basketball team is back on track, heading to 2016 and Big 12 league play. The Big 12 looks extra tough this year: Kansas is ranked in the Top 5, but so is Oklahoma. Iowa State has been in the Top 10, and Baylor has been in the Top 20. Of course, WVU has moved into the Top 20 themselves, so they should be competitive throughout the conference season.

They rolled over Marshall, 86-68, but the Herd used very hot shooting in the first half to lead throughout much of the half, be-fore WVU’s depth and pressure started wearing them down. The Mountaineers held Marshall with-out a three pointer in the second

half, and they pulled away for a relatively easy victory in the series.

They had a game against East-ern Kentucky on Monday, which should have been an easy win. The Colonels can shoot the ball pretty well, but their defense is poor, and they don’t rebound well, and have trouble with turnovers. In short, a very poor matchup against WVU.

Next Wednesday, WVU has a key game at Virginia Tech. It’s a game they should be able to win, but it is a true road game against an ACC team, and over the holi-days, strange things can happen with game results. That will be the last game of 2015, and the last one before Big 12 play starts.

The football team is quietly preparing for its bowl against Ari-zona State. I’ll have a preview of

that game next week.Congratulations to a couple of

members of the women’s soccer team, who raked in some more post season honors. First, Kailey Utley was named to the NSCAA Scholar All-America 3rd team. Most collegiate athletes never go pro, especially in the Olym-pic sports, and it is nice to see a Mountaineer receive an honor that recognizes quality both on and off the field. Also, Kadeisha Buchanan is now one of four final-ists for the Honda Sports Award for women’s soccer. Additionally, she won the 2015 BMO Canadian Female Player of the Year. Con-gratulations to Kailey and Kadei-sha.

Merry Christmas to all!

The Old MasTer


his advantage for leverage to get advantage on the mat.

Dalton Dotson 170 - Dalton is new to the sport. He’s a senior this year and is very athletic. The only criticism we have about Dal-ton is he is a senior. We need to find another three or four years of eligibilty. A tremendous athlete and it shows up in the workouts we’ve been doing. I look for Dal-ton to be fairly competitive from the midpoint of the season on, just because his athleticism will shine through. He’ll win a lot of matches for us this year.

Marina Stotlemyer 113 - Fifth year of experience coming out of the youth level. Filling that 113 spot is big. In the 106 and 113 ranks in high school, traditionally there are a lot of holes in those lower weight classes. Marina by just being on the team, helps a lot as far as team points at 113.

Obviously, she brings a lot of experience. She knows a lot of the moves and how they’re to be ex-ecuted. It’s very helpful in practice to have her partner up with some-body and have her teach someone what the coach is having run and demonstrate that day. It’s very helpful to have her on the team and bring that experience to a new program.

Charlie Mellen 126 junior - Charlie started wrestling his fresh-man year. I first met Charlie at Hampshire County. He started the sport after the season had started and he had a half dozen practices with the youth program at that point in time. I first met Charlie when he was my son’s size and they gravitated towards each other as practice partners at a couple of Hampshire’s practices a couple years ago. Charlie showed rapid improvement and is a great athlete in his own right. That year he went from being brand new in the youth program to be-ing Hampshire’s starter his fresh-man year. Charlie has some var-

sity level experience as a wrestler at a AAA program. He’s our only wrestler that has any varsity high school experience and we look to draw upon that even though he doesn’t have a great amount of wrestling experience under his belt as far as years go. It’s very different to move from the youth ranks to the high school ranks, it’s not the same. I’m sure Charlie re-alizes that and knows that better than most. We look to him to be a big part of what we do in our first season.

Phillip Mullin 160 & Nick Mill-er Hwt. 285 - I’ll talk about Phil-lip and Nick together. Phillip and Nick to me, are the future of East Hardy wrestling. They are both sophomores and they both have five plus years of experience in the youth program. They both placed in the junior state tourna-ment (Top-6), so they know what it takes. They know what they’re up against. They know what goes into a wrestling practice and a wrestling season. They know what the competition is like at that lev-el. It’s getting them to make that transition from a youth wrestler to a high school wrestler. It’s getting them to understand that the com-petition is stiffer and tougher and to be realistic with themselves. That’s just taking it one day at a time, one match at a time, im-proving everyday. We’ve been big on that. Did we learn something today that made us better than we were at 3:30 when we started practice. What’s going to help us win matches and that’s really our goal and sort of our mantra when we started.”

What is the mentality a wrestler needs going into a match?

It’s a warrior mindset, it really is. It’s just you and your opponent out there on the mat. There’s a certain amount of heart and de-termination and grit that you have to be willing to put forth. You’re going out there and I tell all my wrestlers not to worry as much

about what the other guy does, but be confident enough in your own abilities that you’re going to im-pose your will on your opponent. If you do that and you have that level of confidence in your own abilities to impose your will, I’m not going to worry about what you’re going to do, bu this is what I’m going to do and you can’t stop it. Even the most basic moves, you can win with the basic moves if you know them forward and back-ward.

I talk to the kids all the time about drills. Drill work isn’t the most glamorous, everyone likes to live wrestle. Drill work is the bread and butter of what we do. I talk to them about knowing the wrestling moves and it’s a lot like tying your shoes. When you first learn how to tie your shoes, you’re looking at the laces and fumbling through. When you get older and more ex-perienced, you can tie your shoes in the dark. That’s where we need to get. We need to start with our beginning wrestlers fumbling with the laces, we know what the moves are, but we have to think about it. In order to get to that point where we can do the moves (snaps fin-gers) automatically in the dark. If you can do the moves that way and do them automatically, you don’t have to worry what the other guy is doing.

What are some of the moves that are advantages for wrestlers on the mat?

There’s a variety of moves, some basic moves. You have a half [Nelson], three-quarter at-tack, takedowns, some of the basic moves, front headlock, different throws you can do. There’s a vari-ety of moves and we could be here all night talking about the moves you can do in wrestling. What we’ve talked about and what oth-er coaches talk about a lot is how every wrestler has their own style. They might have moves that work for them and that’s part of the process too. I may show the wres-

tlers a move in practice today that might work great for Phillip, but not for Charlie. Tomorrow I might show another move that works great for Charlie, but not for Phil-lip. Knowing those moves is also still essential, because we talk a lot about when a wrestler starts to put things together and they know what they are doing, we call it chain wrestling. It’s when they go from one move to another and another. They’re not just stuck on one move working on it over and over again. If I try one move and it doesn’t work, then I go right to another. When a wrestler does that, you talk about putting it in your toolbox. If you have mul-tiple tools in your toolbox, then you’ll get the job done. If you only have one tool, then there are just a few things you can do. It’s about the variety, then recognizing dur-ing the course of the match which move to utilize at that point. I’ve made the comparison over the year, that wrestling in my mind is really a physical version of chess. In chess strategy, for every move, there’s a countermove to that. Wrestling is the same way; if I do an offensive move, then there is a defensive move you can do to counter it. It’s if you can recognize it fast enough and execute that move and if you know what that move is.

How important is it to make the first takedown in a wrestling match?

It’s very important. I’ve seen statistics before where the wrestler that scores the first takedown wins 65 to 70 percent of all matches. Scoring those first points is criti-cal. I saw something here more recently of a statistical break-down in the NCAA Tournament. They broke it down by points. If you score more than ten points in a match, you’re going to win over 90 percent of your matches. Especially with some of the kids who are brand new, I don’t want timid wrestlers. I want aggressive

wrestlers who are trying to score points. Wins and losses are going to come in that first year as you’re learning the sport. If we can be aggressive and lose matches, but score I’d rather lose a match 10-12 than I would lose a match 2-1. I want us to have an aggressive fash-ion to earn points.

How important are escapes and reversals in earning points?

When you are talking about es-capes and reversals, you’re talk-ing about being on the bottom. For me, my mindset is if we’re on bottom, it’s not a matter of if we are going to score, but how many points we are going to score. My expectation for all my wrestlers are we are going to get up off bot-tom. There is a certain amount of technique that goes into every wrestling move, but a lot of being on bottom is about a lot of heart and determination. I’m not going to stop moving, until I’m free. Are we going to score one point or are we going to score two. That’s go-ing to be our mentality.

Do you want to try to get a pin immediately or work with an op-ponent to learn more?

It depends on the situation. If you’ve wrestled a kid before and you know you outmatch that kid physically and let’s say it’s a dual meet; the WVSSAC limits the amount of matches we can have during a season, so you’re only go-ing to get a certain amount of mat time, so you might not want to pin that kid right away. That might be your only match for the night and you want to work on your moves, so you are better than you were when you entered the gym that day. In that instance, you might want to prolong the match, but not to the point to embarrass your opponent, but to put your time in and work the mat. If it’s a tourna-ment situation with nine teams, then that’s a lot of matches. If we can get a first period pin, then you do that because you’re going to have to save some gas in the tank for the rest of the weekend. I would say the same for a tri or a quad, if you’re wrestling two or three matches over the course of an evening, then you should try to get that first period pin. You don’t get any bonus points for getting them in the third period.

How important is the clock in wrestling?

I’ve always stressed in my coaching background with the

youth wrestling is for the wrestlers to have mat awareness. You want kids to wrestle, you don’t want them to necessarily be worried about the clock. At the same to-ken, if they have an internal sense of how long that time is, that’s a good thing. You want them to wrestle from whistle to whistle, you don’t want them to ease up and take a break looking at the clock. At the same time with expe-rience, comes that internal clock they know about how long that pe-riod is and that’s never a bad thing. They need to know the situation. There will be verbal commands given in the corner, typically if a kid is losing by a five point margin or more. You’ll hear a coach yell big move, that means we have to do a throw, a cowboy, a pancake, something that takes your oppo-nent straight to their back. Pinning is the only way you’re going to win in that situation with that little bit of time. You’ll hear coaches say we need a takedown or short time and that means you have ten seconds left to try and score.

How important is training wres-tlers in conditioning for a match?

Very important. I talked earlier about the wrestlers making the transition from youth ranks to the high school level. Youth matches are typically one minute periods and high school matches are two minute periods. It’s twice as long. You’ve seen youth wrestlers who are gassed after a three minute match, so just multiply that by two and that’s the kind of output and effort these kids will need to ex-pect. We’ve done a lot of running and a lot of conditioning. We’ve had kids come off a very successful football season and kids who have wrestled before and they weren’t in wrestling shape. It’s just a dif-ferent sport and a lot of work you need to put into it. We have been hampered in practice with the ex-tension of the football playoffs, but we’ll be in better shape next month than we will be next week-end at Musselman. Conditioning is extremely important. Charlie can attest to it that there is a lot more work in a two minute period compared to a one minute period. Phillip and Nick competed in mid-dle school matches with one and a half minute periods and there’s a lot of difference between that and a two minute period. All of that makes conditioning that more im-


East Hardy Wrestling

Continued on page 12


5

portant.” Wrestling shows the confidence

one has in a match.“In the team sports, a lot of

times it comes down to the indi-vidual making the play in the big moments. Wrestling to me, it’s on you. Every moment is a big moment, whether or not you suc-ceeded in making a takedown or whether you succeeded in defend-ing that takedown. That’s where that mental toughness comes in and you can translate that into team sports when that big mo-ment comes. If you are a baseball player down to your final out with the winning run on third, not that

there aren’t any butterflies; but you’ve been there before. You’ve been tested before for that mo-ment.”

Coach VanMeter is passionate about this program and it all starts with the relationships in the com-munity and how invested he is in helping the kids grow.

“I love the people. I’ve known Nick, Phillip, Charlie and Marina for years working with them in the youth ranks and Charlie was start-ing out in the Hampshire ranks as a freshman. They’re great kids and having the opportunity to help them is great. When Scott asked me to spearhead the coaching here, I was flattered and honored. I’m glad to help them out, because

they’ve helped me out many times in the past. I’m glad to give the kids this opportunity coming up through the youth ranks. If I was in the kids shoes, it would be dis-heartening to me putting forth all the effort and hard work they put in, then not to have a high school program to showcase their talents and abilities. To me it’s all about relationships. I love the kids I’m working with and I love the peo-ple I’m working with. Coach Wil-liams has been very supportive of the program. I’ll always appreciate that. There’s some selfish motiva-tion, because the youth wrestlers I’ve coached now and worked with in the past, I want them to have somewhere to go.”

Continued from page 11East Hardy Wrestling

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By Derek TaylorCharleston Gazette-Mail

Charleston -- From 2012-14, high school football fans in West Virginia got to know the name Wil Schoonover as one of the best de-fenders in Class A, if not the entire state.

The Moorefield standout earned his reputation as a hard-hitting line-backer that was named to the All-State team in each of the past two seasons. For his curtain call, a shift was in order. Schoonover ran for 2,530 yards and 39 touchdowns in 2015, leading the Yellow Jackets to the playoff semifinals for the first time since 2004.

To cap off his career, Schoonover was named the captain of the Class A All-State offense, as chosen by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.

“He’s the best athlete I’ve had in eight years here,” Moorefield coach Josh See said of Schoonover.

“He’s been the face of the pro-gram for three years, and the only reason he’s probably not the defen-sive captain is kind of my fault.”

See moved Schoonover from his traditional position at linebacker this year to play strong safety.

“I wanted to get some athleticism downfield so I moved him to the sec-ondary,” See said. “If I didn’t, I fig-ure he’d be right there again.”

Schoonover’s offensive produc-tion didn’t wane once the Yellow Jackets reached the playoffs. He scored six touchdowns and ran for 169 yards against Meadow Bridge in the first round, then he piled up 212 rushing yards and three scores in a quarterfinal win against Tug Valley.

Although eventual state cham-pion Magnolia was able to slow him most of the game in a 13-7 semifinal win, Schoonover had a long run for a touchdown that got his team back in the game in the second half, and finished with 154 yards in the loss.

Schoonover added 473 yards and three touchdowns on 10 kick returns in 2015.

Somewhat fittingly, the All-State defensive captain for Class A played right up the road from Schoonover.

East Hardy senior linebacker Teddy Cassell helped lead the Cougars to their first state championship game appearance with what coach Chad Williams said was a departure for his previous teams’ mentalities.

“We’re stronger defensively this year, I think, than we’ve been in the past,” Williams said. “Teddy’s an animal. He’s the best player I’ve coached yet, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy with a motor that runs as fast as his without ever need-ing a break.”

Cassell had 93 solo tackles and 97 assists in 2015. He added 39 tackles for loss and five forced fumbles to a total of 23 quarterback sacks to his totals.

The Cougars, who were blanked 62-0 in the Class A title game by Magnolia, also landed the All-State quarterback in Corey McDonald. The junior finished the season by throwing for 2,981 yards and 36 touchdowns while completing 178 of 340 passes.

McDonald wasn’t simply a prolif-ic passer. He ran for 1,160 yards and 12 touchdowns in 14 games.

While Hardy County’s two schools featured the All-State cap-tains, state champion Magnolia landed four players on the first team alone.

All seniors, running back Tyler Anderson, offensive lineman Hunt-er Brill, defensive lineman Kyle Ritz and linebacker Carter Seckman were each named to the team.

Anderson ran for 1,931 yards and 20 touchdowns on 242 carries, and said it was largely the lack of singu-lar stars that accounted for the team winning its second state champion-ship in six seasons.

“We just all came together and played as a team all year,” Anderson said after the Blue Eagles won the title game. “This is what happens when we do that.”

Anderson and Schoonover are joined by Buffalo junior Dylan Lu-cas at running back. Lucas, who re-placed 2014 All-State pick Jordan Tucker in his role with the Bison, carried 178 times for 1,986 yards and 29 touchdowns. He was also Buffalo’s leading receiver, with 412

yards and five touchdowns on 21 catches, and rolled up 745 return yards.

East Hardy sophomore Brett Tharp, who was named the Cou-gars’ MVP in the title-game loss, was named to the squad as was Man senior Ross Osborne.

Tharp caught 64 passes for 1,199 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Osborne had 68 receptions for 984 yards and 15 touchdowns while helping lead the Hillbillies to the No. 5 seed in the playoffs.

In an off year for Class A kick-ers, Pocahontas County senior J.D. Hensler was listed as a kicker/utility player. Hensler kicked 39 PATs and a field goal, but also had 28 recep-tions for 818 yards and 13 scores as a receiver.

The other utility players were Valley (Wetzel) senior Trey Streets and Williamstown junior Trenton Tallman. Tallman finished the year with 2,120 rushing yards and 25 touchdowns to go with 677 passing yards and 16 more

Joining Brill on the offensive line were St. Marys senior Zach Davis, Morefield senior Zackery Liller, Meadow Bridge senior Jimmy Rich-mond and Buffalo senior Jacob Easton.

The defensive line included Ritz, South Harrison senior James Childers (80 tackles, 16 TFL, 9.5 sacks), Williamstown junior Trevor Hoosier (122 tackles, 13 TFL, five sacks) and Bishop Donahue senior Dylan Druschel (66 tackles, 26 TFL, 14.5 sacks).

Moorefield junior Nathan Jen-kins, who See said would move right into Schoonover’s vacated role on the team in 2016, was named as a linebacker along with senior Shane Harless from Meadow Bridge, Seck-man and Cassell.

The secondary included Wheel-ing Central junior John Burkhalter, BishopDonahue junior Trey Miller and South Harrison senior Ian Rig-gleman. Tug Valley sophomore Jer-emy Dillon and East Hardy senior Bryce Strawderman were selected as defensive utility players and Cal-houn County senior Cole Ritchie was chosen as the punter.

Hardy Athletes Included in All-State Football


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FOR RENT STORAGE*OLD FIELDS Storage* (Units

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WANTEDTO DO*PAINTING ROOFS* 25 years experience. Houses, Interior, house roofs, barn roofs, church roofs, poultry house roofs, out-buildings, mobile homes, fences, staining log homes, businesses, pressure washing. Call Ronald Kimble, 304-358-7208. tfnWANTING TO do odd jobs such as mechanic work, etc. Contact Wade at 304-749-7881. Thanks.

HELP WANTEDRESIDENTAL ADDICTIONS Program. House Manager, FT with benefits. Sun- Thurs, 12 am - 8am. HS Diploma/GED req. CPR req. Background check req. Exp working in residential. Respon-sible for client support & building oversight. Apply: http://some.org/about/careers/. 1/20RESIDENTIAL ADDICTIONS Program. Substance Abuse Coun-selor, PT with some benefits. Bachelor’s degree in related field with ability to obtain CAC/ADC is required or CAC/ADC w/re-lated exp. CPR required. Back-ground check required. Duties in-

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POSITION AVAILABLE NURSE PRACTITIONER OR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT

POSITION DESCRIPTION: Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant opportunity at our Walk-In Medical Center/Urgent Care, Moorefield WV. We are seeking a provider who is experienced working in an Urgent Care, primary care, or emergency setting. The candidate must be highly motivated, hard working, possess excellent communication skills and work well with oth ers in a team-oriented environment. The individual must be extremely comfortable dealing with a very hectic/busy setting and be able to handle pressured and time-sensitive situations. Full time and part time available. Flexible scheduling/no on-call, or hospital responsibilities. Excellent pay and benefit package. POSITION REQUIREMENTS: Experience in an Urgent Care/Emergency Room/Critical Care/Primary Care Setting Certified NP , WV License or PA-C WV License Please submit CV to mailto:[email protected] or fax to 304-916-1705

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Charlotte Bowman, Broker John B. Bowman, Associate Broker

www.highlandtrace.com

E. A. Hawse Health Center is accepting applications for the following position:

Full Time Registered Nurse or Full Time Licensed Practical Nurse

This positions is for our Mathias, WV location. Medical Office experience is a must. Hawse Health Center is a federal and state supported Community Health Center providing access to care for all. We

provide a competitive salary structure, benefits package and standard working hours.

Interested applicants should submit their résumé to the attention of

Brenda Thompson PO Box 97, Baker, WV 26801

Application deadline is December 31, 2015 HHC is an EOE

MEDICAL STAFF

Hawse Health Center, a growing Community Health Center/ Federally Qualified Health Center, in response to the needs of our patients is expanding our behavioral health services. We are seeking to fill two therapist positions. Therapists will provide assessment, psychotherapy and counseling services as part of our behavioral health program. Behavioral Health services will be provided at our centers and in our School Based Behavioral Health Programs. Applicants must be able to work independently and under supervision as a member of a Primary Care Team. Experience in working with adults, families, children and adolescents is preferred. Applicants must have a Master’s Degree and be eligible for licensure (LPC, LGSW, LCSW, LICSW, or Psychologist). Competitive salary and benefits package is offered.

Interested persons should contact us at 304-897-5915, x261 and forward a letter of interest and resume to HAWSE HEALTH CENTER, PO BOX 97, BAKER, WV 26801. ATTN : Behavioral Health or by email to [email protected]

HHC is an EOE

THERAPIST POSITIONS Town of MoorefieldPublic Notification

Notice of Intent to File Application

The USDA, Rural Utilities Service has re-ceived an application for federal assistance from the Town of Moorefield. The purpose of this notice is to inform the public of the proposed project, which consists of a new 8.0 MGD membrane filtration water treat-ment facility, upgrades to both surface water intakes for the water plant, approxi-mately 9,000 LF of 12” distribution line to upgrade the system in the areas of Main Street, Winchester Avenue and South Fork Road, a new 1.5 MG finished water stor-age tank, about 1000 new radio read water

meters, and various other controls and ap-purtenances.

This notice is also to inform the public of a public meeting to be held on January 5, 2016 at 6:30 P.M. in the Moorefield Town Office at 206 Winchester Avenue. The pur-pose of the meeting is to provide an op-portunity to become acquainted with the proposed water project and to comment on economic and environmental impacts, service area, or alternatives to the project.

For further information regarding the proposed project, please contact the Town of Moorefield at 206 Winchester Avenue, Moorefield, WV 26836, or by telephone at 304.530.6142.

12/19, 1/6 2c

LEGAL ADVERTISEMENT


ful and fun event. With colorful in-flatable Christmas figures arrayed from one end of their large yard to the other, festooned with massive numbers of Christmas lights strung everywhere, it was truly a sight to behold.

And then there was the food. Brenda, who is a cook for the Moorefield Middle School, sim-mered her large pots of pulled pork for over 14 hours. There were the endless platters of chicken sal-ad sandwiches, she along family and friends prepared, along with the over 70 dozen cookies that she baked, all served free to visitors.

“This is our Christmas,” she explained. “We don’t buy gifts or anything for ourselves. This is what we do for Christmas.”

“We don’t exchange gifts,” her son, David, emphasized. “Seeing everyone enjoying themselves, eat-ing and having a good time. That’s our Christmas.”

Even though David was left par-alyzed by a skiing accident in 1995 and must rely on a wheel chair, “he’s the brains of the operation, the driving force,” his mother ex-plained. “He’s an amazing kid. I actually have two amazing boys,” she said proudly. Harry also works in the Hardy County Schools where he serves as a custodian.

Harry is also in the middle of it all, helping with everything, but playing a very central role in the event as Santa, in their large ga-zebo, decorated as Santa’s court holding children on his lap and listening to their eager requests for Christmas presents. Each child also received a small gift after the visit with Santa.

“It’s our gift to the community,” David explained. “After Dad died of cancer and I had my accident, they were so good to us. It’s our way to thank the community.”

But it’s become much more than just a Smith family event. Family and friends do a lot, Brenda, ex-plained. The event has gotten so big that visitors have to park about a half mile away and a shuttle runs to their home.

Believers Victory Center do-nates the van that hauls the visi-tors, and is driven by friend Nor-man Delawder, who also helps set up the inflatable figures.

Roger Mongold manned the bonfire, keeping it stoked for the many who huddled and sat around it to stave off the night’s winter chill. Tim Lewis and Carl Mon-gold keep all of the inflatables up and running and repaired. Bill Miller helps with the challenge of providing electricity to each and every item from the endless strings


curity system has been installed.According to Mayor Barbara

Ratcliff, the most recent vandalism described above was done prior to the installation of the security sys-tem.

P-CardGary Cogle, from the West Vir-

ginia State Auditor’s Office, spoke to council about the state’s Pur-chasing Card, or P-Card.

The P-Card is basically a credit card with no annual fee and no in-terest if paid every month. State and county agencies, as well as mu-nicipalities use the P-Card for reg-ular purchases, trips, fuel. “It elim-inates writing checks,” Cogle said.

In addition to no interest, the us-ing agency can get rebates ranging between 1.25 percent to 1.60 per-cent.

“The card is very secure,” Cogle said. “You can pre-program spend-ing limits and only allow certain

people to use the card for specific things.”

Cogle said the State Auditor’s office provides training at no charge.

The council said they would con-sider using the P-Card.

Mayor’s ReportRatcliff said the State Auditors

were very helpful in explaining how to correct the errors they found in the town’s financial management.

State Auditors released a 70-page report with 10 Findings and Recommendations following an audit of the town’s financial condi-tion in the Fiscal Year 2014.

“I want to personally thank Har-old Fortuner and Stewart Stickel for taking the time to meet with us, answer our questions and give guidance on making the necessary changes,” Ratcliff said. “They did express the fact that many of the citings on the current Audit will be cited in the next few years. This

will take time to correct.”In related news, Ratcliff report-

ed the conversion to the Quick Books accounting system has been done and she thanked Shelba Tucker for her work on the task.

Ratcliff mentioned that Jon Crowe was appointed Recorder and R. Thomas and Associates were chosen as accountants for the town’s general fund. Those were approved by the council at a spe-cial meeting held Nov. 19.

Crowe will be organizing and implementing the physical inven-tory of materials and equipment in the town’s possession. “Jon met with the Moorefield water and sewer folks to see how they take and manage inventory,” Ratcliff said.

“The inventory is necessary to make sure we have the equipment to repair leaks, etc. when it be-comes necessary,” Crowe said. “It is a public health and safety con-cern.”

Ratcliff thanked all those in-volved in the Wardensville Christ-mas Celebration held Sunday, Dec. 6 at the War Memorial Build-ing. Santa arrived and there were plenty of cookies, hot chocolate, spiced cider and coffee. Tom Aus-tin served as Master of Ceremo-nies and the Methodist Children’s Choir, Jennifer Combs, April Frid-ley and Patty Austin provided mu-sic.

Ratcliff thanked Donald Hitch-cock and Paul Yandura for their help in decorating the Wardens-ville Christmas tree and the local churches for erecting the Nativity, donated by Carlton and Betty An-derson.

“2016 offers the promise of a new start for all,” Ratcliff said. “It is my personal hope that everyone can come together in the New Year to continue to make Wardensville a wonderful place to live.”

Development Authority

In its report to the council, the Wardensville Development Au-thority stated they raised rates at See’s Motel. The new rate sched-ule is as follows:

•Daily Rate - $65 plus taxes = $72.50

•Weekly Rate - $60 per night, plus taxes = $67.80

•Monthly Rate - $50 per night, plus taxes = $57.80

The report also offered com-parative rates for Super 8, Econo Lodge, Red Roof Inn and Echo Village.

The rate was effective Nov. 9 and will be reviewed again in June.

There were 27 rooms rented at See’s Motel in October.

WDA Chair Joe Kapp report-ed the only finding in the State Auditor’s report for Fiscal Year 2014 was “responsibilities for ap-proving, executing and recording transactions and custody of the resulting assets arising from WDA transactions were not assigned to

different individuals in the WDA.”Kapp said he would investigate

options to correct the finding.

Sewer ReportMike Kesecker, sewer operator

for Wardensville sent a report that indicated the town had zero viola-tions for the month of October.

Kesecker reported the BOD rate was 98 percent and the total suspended solid removal rate was 91 percent.

BOD is biochemical oxygen de-mand, a measurement of oxygen in the water.

Kesecker said he would en-deavor to send reports to council monthly.

The next meeting of the War-densville Town Council will be held on Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, begin-ning at 7 p.m. Meetings are held at the Conference and Visitors Cen-ter on Main Street and are open to the public.


Park Board to Install

Smith’s Share

of colored lights to each figurine that has not only lights, but fans to stay inflated. Kay Delawder works inside to help with all of the cook-ing and food service.

Lots of folks help with dona-tions, Brenda explained. The 4-H plays a big role too. The family is very active, with all three serving as 4-H leaders, and David current-

ly serving as president of the 4-H leaders group.

But at the end of the day, for the Smiths this event is all about the smiles and amazement on the faces of the children and adults as they view the vast array of colorful and often humorous inflatable figures that cover—yes cover—the yard.

There’s Santa on his lawn ser-

vice tractor, and there’s the North Pole Police, and Santa Skiing, and yes, even Santa emerging from his North Pole outhouse. “We’ve col-lected them over the years, adding a few ones each year,” David said.

It wasn’t always an “Extravagan-za”, he said. “It started small over a dozen years ago, according to its creators, “when we just had a few

decorations in the yard and people would drive by to see them.”

It’s taken on a life of its own, they explained and promise that it will be back again next year on the last Saturday before Christmas.

So what do the visitors think? “It’s pretty cool,” said young Starly Federowicz, pretty much summing it up.

Above: It’s a seemingly endless parade of Santa inflatables stretching around the yard.

Right: Santa, aka Harry Smith, brother David and Mom Brenda.

Photos by Lon Anderson

December 23, 2015

BSection

The Reason foR The season

Page 2

ColoRing ConTesT WinneRs

Page 3

leTTeRs To sanTa

Page 4

holiday ReCipes

Page 11

ColoRing ConTesT RunneRs-upPage 12

2B - MOOREFIELD (WV) EXAMINER, Wednesday, December 23, 2015

With warm wishes to you and your family as we celebrate this special time of year. It has been

an honor serving you, and I look forward to all we can

accomplish in the coming year.

The Reason for the Season

Misty Valley Hardware & Grocery Mathias, WV • Charles & Vivian Hardware (304) 897-7331 Grocery (304) 897-5976

Rejoice With exceeding great joy, we

wish you and your family much peace, love and harmony this

Christmas season.

307 N. Main St. Moorefield • 304-538-6950 A Cut Above

Merry Christmas to our Customers We appreciate your business

Kenya, Jade & Mal

Wishing you every happiness this Christmas and beyond. Thank you for the privilege of serving you all year long.

115 Natwick Circle Moorefield, WV 26836 (304) 530-2101

Your Home Town Quality Auto Body Shop

Pulmonary Associates, Inc.

May you and your loved ones be blessed with all the rapture and fellowship this special season holds.

Merry Christmas Tammy, Todd, Staci & Ed

Wishing You A Glorious Season

433 Keyser Ave. Petersburg 304-257-9758

Kerr’s Sales & Service 29126 SR 55, Wardensville, WV • 304-874-3094

For all the joy you’ve brought to us go our very best wishes for a Merry Christmas!

Thanks for your patronage!

M ERRY C HRISTMAS !

MOOREFIELD (WV) EXAMINER, Wednesday, December 23, 2015 - 3B


‘TIS THE ‘TIS THE SEASON SEASON TO SAY TO SAY

THANKS! THANKS!

Thank you for your patronage this past year.

Merry Christmas! Berg In surance

& F amilies 413 Virginia Ave., Petersburg • (304) 257-4244

Here’s hoping your holiday season is the picture of perfection.

LettersTo Santa

Saint Nick has some reading to do this year

DEAR SANTA,My name is Isabella and I am 4

years old. I would like Butterfly’s Toy Butterfly that sleeps, Barbies, Horses, Barbie Car, a blanket too because I really like blankets and if Santa could, can he bring my mommy a coffee cup that is spar-kly? She likes coffee.

Thank you and love you,Isabella

**********

DEAR SANTA, My name is Gage Riggleman

and I am 2 years old. I have been such a good boy this year. I am the best big helper and have the sweetest personality. For Christ-mas I would like some tractors and a stuffed Olaf. I would also like a new bigger airplane rider since I’ve out grown my little one. Remem-ber my big sister, Ieesha and my little brother who is on his way. I

will leave come carrots out for your reindeer and cookies and milk for you. I want to wish Jesus a very happy birthday!

Love,Gage

**********

DEAR SANTA,Hi. My name is Tiana. I am

3 years old. I would like a lot of blankets. Some Barbies and some clothes for my Barbies and a Ipad like my sister’s, except another col-or like purple. Please don’t forget my mommy, daddy and GG.

Love and thank you,Tiana

**********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Bayleigh Marie

Crites and I am the daughter of Stanley and Brittany Crites of

Mathias, WV. I will be turning 15 months old on Christmas Eve and since I’m still too little to write this myself, my Mommy is helping me. I have been a very good girl this year. I will leave you milk and cookies and carrots for your rein-deer too. Some of the things you can bring me this year are anything Mickey and Minnie, clothes size 18 months, baby dolls and toys. Any-thing is fine for I am not picky. Merry Christmas!

Love,Bayleigh Marie

**********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Dakota Saul and I’m

8 years old. I have been a good boy. This year I want XBox games.360 system. I would like a crime scene kit, cop outfit, remote controlled equipment, transformers of any kind, batteries for all my toys. I

would like some peanuts to eat. I would also like to have a battery operated cop car you can ride in. Thanks.

Dakota Saul

**********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Connor William

Ault. I am now 2 1/2 years old and have tried very hard to be a good boy this year. But remember San-ta, it’s not called the terrible twos for no reason. I hope you and Mrs. Clause and the reindeer are all do-ing well. Thank you for the great gifts last year. I loved them. This year I would like:

Thomas the Train toys, Paw Patrol toys, 4-wheeler, cars and trucks.

Please Santa don’t forget my big brother Trevor Gage. He is now 13 years old and he too has tried to be a good boy, but you know

how those teenagers are. Also re-member my Daddy and Mommy, Grandma and Pappy too, please.

Love,Connor William AultP.S. Santa I will leave milk,

cookies and apples on the table for yourself and your reindeer. But mommy also has soda in the fridge. If you want one, help your-self. Have a safe trip and I will see you soon!

**********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Hunter I. Park-

er. I have been a really good boy this year. Will you bring me some Mickey Mouse stuff and the Paw Patrol Talking Mission Chase toy. Some jumbo crayons, books, col-oring books, puzzles? Don’t for-get my twin brother Hayden. I will leave you some milk and cookies and carrots for your reindeer.

Merry Christmas Santa.LoveHunter I. ParkerAge 3Moorefield

**********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Hayden W. Parker.

I have been a very good boy this year. Will you bring me the Light-ing McQueen water color changing car toy with extra cars and anything with Lighting McQueen and Mater on it, some Minion stuff and Mar-shall the fire dog stuff. Please don’t forget my twin brother Hunter. I’ll leave you some milk and cookies.

Merry Christmas Santa.Love,Hayden W. ParkerAge 3Moorefield

Continued on page 5B


Taxes | Quick Books Adviser | Payroll | Audits

108 N. Main Street, Petersburg, WV 26847 Office (304) 257-4992 Fax (304) 257-9755

As we usher in another holiday season, we hope it brings an abundance of happiness and wonder to you and yours.

Bean & Bean Attorneys At Law

Oscar M. Bean ~ William H. Bean 116 Washington Street, Moorefield

304-530-6198

Thorne & Keplinger, DDS, Inc. Dental Practice 304-530-2775

Dr. Timothy Thorne, Dr. Aimee Keplinger, Dr. Justin Whetzel, Mary Lou, Judy, Emily, Tonya,

Kelli, Heather, Ashley, Chelsea & Zanna

We know it makes us smile when we think about all the great people we’ve had the privilege to serve this year, and we wish

you all a happy and healthy holiday season.

It’s Almost Christmas!

SMILE...

S MITH ’ S A UTO P ARTS (304) 530-2351 AUTO PARTS

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

– Joe, Matt, Mark and JoAnna

O’Neill’s 614 N. Main St., Moorefield, WV 26836

304-530-2727 Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

DEAR SANTA,My name is Harper Kline and

I live in Rock Oak, WV (a.k.a. Baker). I have been good this year and I love my teachers at Sunday School, Ms. Tina and Ms. Donna and Ms. Debbie, please bring them something nice. Also my cousins, Alex, Norah, Ronnie, Alli, Wyatt, Wendy, Ryan, Ella and Aunt Betty and Aunt Deb (she gives me choc-olate doughnuts) and Aunt Jackie and baby Layla, also. Can you help Bingo to be good?

I would like to have Chase the dog from Paw Patrol pajamas and a playhouse like the one on Maw Maw Pingley’s street.

I love you Santa,Harper KlineAge 4

**********

DEAR SANTA,How are you? My name is Em-

ily and I am 6 years old. This year for Christmas I would like: Rain-bow ball, items to play school with, stuffed animals that look like your elfs and a bike.

Most of all I would like adults and children to be cancer free and that is my number 1 wish for the holiday season.

Love,Emily EvansAge 6MoorefieldP.S. As always we will leave you

and your reindeer plenty of good-ies.

**********

DEAR SANTA,I would like a toy cat, cotton

candy maker, big doll house, crazy sand, dress up clothes, cayla, cool baker, easy bake oven, Zoomer kit-tie, cleaver keet, ice cream maker, beddos jems, snack-in Sara, sing along Elsa, a pump and balloons, coloring books, make up, shoes, jewelry, bubble big container

Merry ChristmasLove,Lilly Myers

**********

DEAR SANTA, I would like some shoes. socks:

white, black, gray, pink, blue, clothes, Zoomer Kittie, snack-in Sara, snow cone maker, cotton candy maker, coloring books, spar-kle crayons, glass doll, doll house, stuffed animal dog!!!!, notebooks & pencils, peek-a-boo, rubber snake, frozen desk, tea party setup, toy dog that plays.

Merry Christmas!Love,Makayla Myers

**********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Alexis Thorn. I

will be 6 years old on Christmas day and I’m in Kindergarten. For Christmas I would like Shopkins, Singing Elsa doll, Barbies, Draw-ing kit and a Paw Patrol puppy. Please bring all the other little kids something nice too. Don’t forget to say Happy Birthday to Jesus. We will leave milk and cookies for you.

Love,Alexis

**********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Abby Thorn. I am

8 years old and in the third grade. for Christmas I would like some makeup, drawing kit, clothes, shoes, Barbies. Please bring all the little kids who don’t have much something extra special. Happy Birthday to Jesus and also my little sister on Christmas Day. We will leave you milk and cookies.

Love,Abby

**********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Alissa Skye. I’m six

years old. I have 2 brothers, a sis-ter, a cat and a dog.

Thank you for all the great things you brought last year. You are welcome for those good cook-ies I left you.

Santa, I want goggles, some clothes and a baby doll that has a bed for my sister, NeNe, an Iphone 5S, a tablet, new bike, a Wii game and a Romeo and Juliet movie.

For my brother Evan, a lego set, scooter, and a book called Diary of a Wimpy Kid. For my brother Mat-thew, a new bike and new Xbox. For Mommy and Daddy, new coats.

I love you Santa. I hope you have a safe trip and don’t wreck...please.

Love,Skye

**********

DEAR SANTA,It’s Evan again. I wrote to you

last year. Yes, I’ve been an excel-lent boy this year. My parents would agree. I’m better than last year. I even am good in school. I’ve got straight A’s. Thanks for all the nice things you got me. I have a basset hound named Jim. He’s a good dog. His favorite treat is hot dogs. Could you bring him some? I also have two sisters, NeNe and Alissa. Would you bring NeNe an Iphone 5s and Alissa a Frozen costume? i have a brother named Matthew and he really wants a pel-let gun.

I’d like the following: Zoomer Dino, dirt bike, new bike, 4000 Ex Poke’mon cards, Red Rider BB gun, plat RPG gun, Laser Light, Treasure Truck, Giant RC Air-plane, starter pack for disney in-finity 3D (Xbox), Demolition site lego set, Avengers age of Ultron game for (xbox), Xray vision gog-gles, drum set (like Bub’s).

Thanks Santa.I love you.Love, Evan

**********

DEAR SANTA,I want a pair of binoculars, some

monster trucks, clothes and a can-dy cane.

Thank you,Love, Luke, 31/2P.S. I’ll leave some milk and

cookies for you and carrots for the reindeer.

**********

DEAR SANTA,My name is McKenzie and I am

only 2 years old so my mommy is helping me write this letter to you.

Thank you so much for all the great gifts you brought me last year. Mommy says I have been a very good girl this year. This Christmas I would like some new baby dolls, a kitchen set, a music player because I love to dance, clothes and some new shoes. Please bring Mommy and Daddy, MawMaw and Pappy something nice too. I will leave some cookies and milk for you and some carrots for your reindeer too.

McKenzie Ann BradleyAge 2P.S. Merry Christmas! Don’t for-

get Row Row, Toe Toe and all the kids at daycare.

**********

DEAR SANTA,For Christmas I want a Wintec

Bridle and a Wintec, a CD of Billy Ray Cyrus and a CD of Dolly Par-ton, Martinsburg T-shirt. a football t-shirt, a pair of boots, a wax pro, hand held sewing machine, Dove body wash, a water pick, a small hair dryer, a pair of jeans by Rid-er and Lee, an engagement ring, a Hovsewave New Market groom tote, a deluxe grooming caddy, an apple tablet.

Becky GochenourP.S. I believe in you Santa.

**********

DEAR SANTA, I have been a good girl this

year. Thank you for all the stuff you got me last year. This Christ-mas, I would like a shopkin bakery, shopkin fast food, shopkins, Barbie glam camper, clothes, shoes and anything else you want to bring me. Don’t forget to bring my sister something nice and bring some-thing for my cats Wilber and Milo.

Love,RachelP.S. I will leave you some home-

made cookies and milk and some carrots for your reindeer.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

**********

HELLO SANTA,My name is Jaxon Wichael and

I am 2 years old. I am very excited

for Christmas this year! I plan on making you lots of cookies when you come to visit. And I’ll leave carrots for the reindeer.

This year for Christmas, I sort of have a big list! I would like a four-wheeler, a big bike, some tractors, a few new fire trucks, a pair of new snow boots, and some m&m’s. I hope it’s not too much to ask of you and the elves this year! My mom says I have been good for the most part, so hopefully that will help me out!!! I look forward to seeing you this year Santa. Merry Christmas to you, Mrs. Claus, and the elves!

Love,Jaxon Wichael

**********

DEAR SANTA,My Grandma Ross is helping me

write this letter. I am 5 years old and go to school in Burlington, WV. I have been a good boy all year long.

I would like a tablet to play games, some clothes, lego blocks and maybe a surprise or two. Please bring mommy and daddy something too.

I will leave milk and cookies for you and the reindeer.

Thank you Santa.Keaton

**********

Dear Santa,My name is Allison Ours. I’m

from Purgitsville, WV, and I’m 2 years old. I’ve tried my very best to be good this year. I love baby dolls, coloring, anything pink and necklaces. I would really like a few of those things. I’ll leave you some cookies and milk along with some carrots for the reindeer. My cous-ins Abigail and Alexis have also tried to be good this year too, so maybe you could check and make sure they’re on the nice list.

Merry Christmas,Allison

**********

DEAR SANTA,I would like to ask for the mov-

ies and toys, Cinderella, fox and hound, bambi, Rio 1, adventures in Zambezia, the little mermaid, aladdin, sofia, the first beverly hills chihuahua, flicka 1 & 2, Santa Paws, madagascar 1 & 2, Dolphin Tale 1.

Toys: xbox 1, mind craft, race game, cat on wheels, barbie with a horse, truck and trailer, horses, barn and fence, camera, bratz dolls, games for InnoTab3, polly pocket, Frozen sing along with Elsa, Ice palace, Anna with a horse.

Allison Saul

**********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Brenna See and I

am six years old this year. I have been a really good girl since last Christmas.

This year I would like the fol-lowing: Shopkins, a barbie dream house, a Kindle, a crayon carver, a gel maker, coloring books, clothes, and some barbies.

Don’t forget to bring something nice for my brother, sister and best friend Mady.

I will leave you lots of milk and cookies for you in the kitchen. Also, I will leave your reindeer lots of carrots on the back porch.

Thank you very much for all of my gifts you brought me last year.

Love,BrennaP.S. My elf “Winter” has been

very naughty since she has arrived this year!

*********

DEAR SANTA,I will not lie but I have been bad

at times but I am good when I am asleep. I would like to wish for healthy people and plenty of sun-shine. For me, I would like any-thing paw patrol, superheroes and monster trucks. I will leave my fa-vorite dessert for you. I will make green and red cupcakes.

Love.Landon Wilson

*********


Continued from page 4B


G. P. REGESTER, INC. Moorefield, W.Va • Phone/Fax 304-538-6572

Manufacturer of WOODEN FENCES Come see us and buy your Rustic Fence

to spruce up your property.

M ERRY C HRISTMAS ! Tim, Tammy, Erica, Jared, Brandon & Michaela

Judy & Lisa

HAIR H UT 116 Jackson Avenue, Moorefield, WV • 304-530-3668

To our customers, friends, and neighbors, we’d like to extend our sincere best wishes for a holiday that’s as beautiful as you are, and hope that all your dreams come true during this magical time of year.

MAY YOUR DREAMS BE MERRY & BR IGHT

P.O. Box 377, Shanks, WV (304) 496-7777 6020 N. Main St., Moorefield, WV (304) 538-7066

J UDY’S M OBILE H OMES , I NC . & F AMILIES

With tidings of comfort and joy to you and your kin during this holy season.

Joyous N oel

DEAR SANTA,Hi, my name is Chelsea and I

am 8 years old. I want to thank you for all the wonderful gifts last year, they were great! This year I would like to have a bean bag chair (any color), a Barbie doll horse and rider, Puppy Surprise, the Descen-dants movie music, Elsa’s castle lego set, Bunchems, kinetic float-ing sand and the movie Inside Out.

Please tell Mrs. Clause and the elves hello for me and give the reindeer and extra carrot or two!

I will leave cookies and milk for you and carrots for the reindeer.

Have a safe trip and please ask everyone to remember the reason for the season.

Love,Chelsea Mills

**********

DEAR SANTA,I hope you had a nice nap at the

North Pole. This year I would like an American Girl Doll with match-ing outfits for us, some PJ Masks DVD’s, and if you have room in your bag, I’d like you to send every girl and boy a toy. I will be leaving cookies and milk out for you on Christmas Night.

Love, Brooklyn SavilleAge 7

**********

DEAR SANTA,I did not cry this year when I saw

you at the mall so I am hoping that puts me on the nice list this year. For Christmas I would like a train set, a ball pit, and a Mickey Mouse potty seat. When you do come to my house, don’t worry about our cat, he wont bite. Just pet him and he will walk away.

Love,Briggs HaywoodAge: 16 months

**********

DEAR SANTA,Get me my Snoopy doggie!Thank you Santa,Rylee Keplinger

**********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Talia McCuiston.

I’m a year old so of course my mommy is writing this. I’m the

youngest so I’m kinda the spoiled child. But mommy says on a scale of 1-10 on well behavior I’ve been a 10, because I’m the good one. I’m not asking for much except some new clothes. I wear size 12-28 months. I’m on the small side, but that’s okay. I also like toys of all kind of course. Mommy says they have to be age appropriate. I’m not as picky as my sister. I really like Mickey Mouse clubhouse toys, toy trains. I like babies and stuffed ani-mals. I really like movies, Sofia the First is my favorite, but what I’d re-ally want from you on Christmas is something special.....I’d really love to have a bell from one of your reindeer collar... I’d really like it to be from Rudolph’s collar, but any of them will do. Please tell Mrs. Santa my family and I say hello and Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas Santa.Love Talia

**********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Trinity McCuiston.

I’m 2 years old. My mommy is writ-ing this because I can’t write yet. For Christmas I would like some clothes. I wear size 3T-4T. I’d also like you to bring some toys for me. Frozen toys are my favorite. Anna, Elsa and Olaf. I also would like 3 new pairs of shoes because mommy said my feet grow too fast, 1 pair to play in, 1 pair to go on outings and another pair of san-dals. Please don’t forget our house and don’t let our Diesel dog scare you. He’s just a big baby. He likes Christmas too. Mommy said she’ll leave some snacks and something for you to drink on the counter....hope you like Pepsi or Dr. Pepper. Good luck with your flight to all the other boys and girls around the world. I hope your reindeer drink lots of water.

Merry Christmas Santa.Love,Trinity

**********

DEAR SANTA,I love you. Please bring good

food and clean water to the poor children.

Olivia

**********

DEAR SANTA,I want a little live pet keite, I

also want a puppy. I want a little live pet turtle.

Taylor Long

**********

DEAR SANTA,I want a wrestler.Daniel

**********

DEAR SANTA,I want make-up/nail polish. My

favorite color is green.Your neighborZoey

**********

DEAR SANTA,I want make-up also. I want my

mommy to have a baby boy.Your neighbor,Brooklynn

**********

DEAR SANTA,For Christmas I want Pie in the

Face game, Adventures ornament, thats a toy, Nabi tablet, star wars toys, train. I hope I’m on the nice list. I will be good til Christmas.

Enzo

**********

DEAR SANTA,I’ve been good and I love you

because I love you. I Want a Fro-zen vehicle.

Ava

**********

DEAR SANTA,I would like a teddy bear Zippy

sac. Olivia

**********

DEAR SANTA, I would like a fish for Christmas

and a dog.Emmalee

**********

DEAR SANTA,I would like a good Christmas

and a star wars Santa but mostly I would like you to have a good Christmas.

Daniel

**********

DEAR SANTA,I have been very good this year.

I would like a bicycle pretty please.Love, Ella

**********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Hannah Snyder.

I am 8 years old. For Christmas I would like to have some boots, Highlights Magazine, some horse stuff, craft stuff and Kineticsand. Please bring my sister, Alexis, and my brother, Blake, something nice. Also my 3 dogs would like to have some new toys and bones. I will leave you milk and cookies under the tree.

Love,Hannah

**********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Blake Snyder. I am

5 years old. I have tried really hard to be a good boy this year. I would really like it if you could bring me a Paw Patrol van with all the pups, even Sky. Please bring my sisters, Lexi and Hannah, something and don’t forget my puppies Jake, Chase and Rubble. This is Chase and Rubble’s first Christmas. They love Pig Ears. Don’t forget my kin-dergarten teacher, Ms, Duncan. She needs something special. I’ll leave you chocolate chip cookies and chocolate milk by the tree.

XOXOXOXOBlakeP.S. I’ll leave the reindeer a

snack too!

**********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Alexis Snyder. I am

10 years old. I have been good(so has CoCo and a little bit crazy).

For Christmas I would like Ki-netic sand float, ipod cases, pull-up-bar, groilla gym, and aqua beds. Bring Hannah and Blake some-thing too and my puppies Jake, Rubble and Chase. Rubble and Chase like pig ears. I will leave you milk and cookies. I will leave the Reindeer somthing too.

Love ya,Alexis Snyder

**********

DEAR SANTA,I would like to have a remote

control terxanda, make up kit with

all kinds of make up.Love,Teresa Nicole Riddleage 10 years old

**********

DEAR SANTA,All I want for Christmas is a

horse set that way I can play hors-es with my big horse I have. I also want a toy that walks and says words like hi, hello, and say what I want it to say. The toy has to look like a horse or a wolf that is fuzzy and the horse has a mane and tail that I can brush and braid.

Love,Linda RiddleAge 12

**********

DEAR SANTA,Hi! How are you? I am good. I

am Seth Riley Bow. I will be 2 in January. For Christmas I would like anything. Paw Patrol and I like Mickey Mouse. Thank you for all my presents I got last year. Please bring other children something too. Santa, please remember my Grandma and Grandad Bierkamp. They live in Moorefield. I live in Moorefield too. Thank you Santa and God bless and I love you

Love,Seth Riley BowMoorefieldP.S. I will leave milk and cookies.

**********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Shayla Rohrbaugh

from Maysville, WV and I am 5 years old. I have been a good girl this year so please bring me a tram-poline and anything “Frozen”; like maybe an Ice Castle. Please remember to bring my “big cous-ins”; Seth, Michelle, and Carson something nice and also my friends in my Maysville Pre-K class. At Maw Maw’s and Pappy’s in Fisher, WV please remember to leave me something under their tree; like a pair of pink camo bibs so I can play outside in the cold and snow. In Pappy’s barn you can find hay for your reindeer and in Maw Maw’s fridge there will be chocolate milk for you and on the table help your-self to the cookie jar. Please re-member all the other boys and girls around the world and also remem-ber our military servicemen and women. Have a safe trip this year!

Love,Shay

**********

DEAR SANTA,Hi! My name is Trenton. I just

turned 14 months old. I live in Rig, WV. I have been a good little boy this year. I am getting so big so I would like to have some new clothes for Christmas. Also I’d like to have some new toys, a drum, a ride on an elephant, trucks that light up and make noise, and what-ever else you want to bring me! Please bring my big brother a lot of nice things too!. Please don’t forget the rest of my family and friends!

Merry Christmas!Love,Trenton Davis

**********

DEAR SANTA,Hi! My name is Alex. I’m 7 years

old. I live in Rig, WV and go to MES. I have been a pretty good boy this year! I have been doing really good in school. This year for Christmas I have a couple odd re-quests. I would love to have a met-al detector and a violin. Also I’d like to have a matchbox treasure truck, monster trucks, a big remote control truck, some Ps3 games, clothes, snow boots, and what-ever else you would like to bring me! Please bring my baby brother alot of nice things too. Pleae don’t forget the rest of my family and friends!

Merry Christmas!Love,Alexander Davis

**********

DEAR SANTA, I’ve been wanting an Ipod. My

mom says that I’m not responsi-ble. I’m more responsible than she thinks. All I want is an Ipod if not I want a great pair of head phones and all my family to be together, Mommy, Nanny, Uncle Jason, Brittany, Kyle, Dad and Jeffery

Sincerely,Karissia Spring

**********

Sharon, Sheila, Colleen and Jared

BAKER INSURANCE SERVICES, LLC 109 Washington Street Moorefield, WV 26836

(304) 530-7600

With thanks for your business this year

from our entire team.

Have a Blessed

Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Wishing you all things merry and bright this Christmas. With thanks for your kind patronage from all of us.

Chinese Bu ffet 747 North Main St., Moorefield WV 26836

In the Hawse Plaza 304-538-3200

PEKING PEKING




747 N Main Street, Hawse Plaza,

Moorefield, WV

To our patients, associates and friends, go our best wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season,

trimmed with the blessings of peace, love and joy.

We value your trust in us, and are proud to serve you

all year long.

With Well Wishes from our Entire Staff

Mon.–Fri. 9 AM –7 PM • Sat. 10 AM –6 PM 304-538-8000 • http://ezcareclinics.com

Thanks for trusting us to keep you running smoothly. Have a safe and Happy Holiday Season!

WOLFES GARAGE, LLC Used 4x4 Truck Sales

1479 US 220 S., Moorefield, WV • 304-530-6994 Steve, Martha, Dwayne, Nathan, Jay, Justin & Logan

Love Memorial Clinic 112 Kuykendall Lane • Moorefield, WV

304-530-7755

Merry Christmas! May Your Days be Happy and Healthy!

With glad tidings to you and your loved ones at the Christmas season.

We appreciate your business and look

forward to serving you again s oon.

Merry Christmas from the folks at

Foltz Litter, Inc. Mathias • 304-897-5266

May faith be your guide and may His good graces

follow you wherever you go during this season of

fellowship.

We wish all of you a Merry Christmas with our

heartfelt thanks.

DEAR SANTA,My name is Jonah Gregory

George and I was born on Dec. 9, 2015. My mommy is helping me with this letter, cause I am still re-ally little. I’m not going to ask for a lot of presents this year. I’m pretty sure that you will still bring me a couple because you know what a good baby boy I am. I am going to ask you to maybe have a little talk with my big sister, Jocalynn, about her orniess. Mommy says she can’t help it though because she just turned terrible two on December 5, 2015. Me, mommy and daddy still love her with all our hearts though. Mommy and Daddy said to tell you that I am a very good baby and I hardly ever cry. I love cud-dles from Mommy, Daddy and my sister. I also wanted to thank you for letting me get my picture taken with you yesterday. It was fun! Me and my sister, Jocalynn, will leave

you some yummy milk and cookies on our table this Christmas. Merry Christmas Santa.

Love, Jonah

**********

DEAR SANTA, My name is Jocalynn Debo-

ra George and I just turned two years old on December 5, 2015. I don’t need to ask for a whole lot for Christmas this year. Mommy and Daddy already gave me the best present ever! A baby broth-er that we named Jonah. He was born on Dec. 9, 2015. But you can still bring me more presents if you want. I love anything to do with the Disney movie ‘Frozen’ and I love baby dolls and dollhouses. My baby brother says that I might be on your naughty list this year be-cause I just turned terrible two. But I know that you know better.

Otherwise why else would Mommy and Daddy tell me what a good girl I am all the time. Plus I am a very good helper for my mommy. Whenever you decide to visit our house on Christmas night Santa, you will find milk and cookies on our kitchen table. We love you Santa Clause!

Merry Christmas,Love,Jocalynn

**********

DEAR SANTA,I would really want for Christ-

mas is Monopoly Jr. and I want Skylanders Super Chargers. And I want some books. And I want Minecraft story mod, Nascar 15.

Love,Austin

**********

DEAR SANTA,For Christmas I really want a

Barbie house, a Barbie boy and a Barbie sister and anything else Barbie you want to bring me. I have been a good girl most of the time. I will leave you cookies and milk. I love you.

Love,Taylor WolfeP.S. How are you so quiet when

you come in my house?

**********

DEAR HO HO!My name is Trenton Varner. I am

3 years old and live in Moorefield, WV. I have been a good boy even though I get into trouble some-times. For Christmas, I would like for you to bring me some Chug-gington trains, paw patrol toys and anything else you want to bring me. Please bring my little brother, Dylan, my mommy and my daddy

all something special. Don’t forget the rest of my family and all of the other boys and girls also.

I will leave you some milk and cookies on the table.

Love,Trenton VarnerAge 3

**********

DEAR HO HO!My name is Dylan Varner. I am

almost 1 1/2 years old and live in Moorefield, WV. I have been a good little boy.

For Christmas, I would like for you to bring me some Thomas the Train toys and anything else you want to bring me. Don’t forget my big brother, Trenton, my mommy and daddy also. I will leave you milk and cookies on the table.

Love,Dylan VarnerAge 1 1/2

DEAR SANTA,Merry Christmas to all. My

name is Aaron Teets. I’m 2 1/2 years old. Thank you for what I re-ceived last year. May I have a truck and some trains. Thank you. Also something for Daddy and Mommy. The reason for the Season is Jesus.

Thank you.Aaron

**********

DEAR SANTA,For Christmas I would like Lego

Jurassic World (PS3). Long sleeve T-shirt, black earbods, bacon look-ing long socks for crazy sock day at school, google play card, WWE ZK1bl (PS3) and last but not least Deadpool (PPS3). If I could only get one it would be Lego Jurassic World. We will leave carrots and milk and cookies for you and your reindeer.

From BubContinued on page 8B



Wishing you a warm, wonderful Christmas, filled with lots of love. To all, thanks for your business and support.

MALCOLM’S G ROCERY 101 South Fork Road, Moorefield, WV (at the Railroad Track)

(304) 530-6707 Tim, Kimberly, Barb, Heather, Penny, Donathan, Kenytha & DJ

Highland Trace Realty, Inc . PO Box 307, 200 E. Main Street, Wardensville

Charlotte Bowman, Broker Office 304-874-3030 • Fax 304-874-3151

www.highlandtrace.com

Home Is Where the Heart Is

Thanks for warming our hearts with your friendship and kind support this year. Merry C hristmas!

P OTOMAC H IGHLANDS G UILD , I NC . A Licensed community behavioral healthcare provider, serving the people of Hardy, Hampshire, Mineral, Grant, & Pendleton Counties

May the coming year bring peace, joy and enlightenment to you and those you cherish.

from all of us from all of us

DEAR SANTA,I wish for Shopkins toys, puppy

surprise dog, long socks, dog and cat pajamas, cupcake chapstick, Kitty book and Elsa toy. I have a new sister this year. Could you bring her a new toy.

My mom wants clothes. My dad wants pants. Thank you for my presents last year Santa. Be careful on the way here. I miss you.

Love,Paylynn

*********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Adison Wolfe. I am

6 years old. Thank you for my pres-ents last year. As you already know I love to go hunting with my fam-ily and enjoy the outdoors. This year for Christmas I would like some hunting movies, a new gun, tablet, and toys. I really like the Power Rangers, Transformers, and the Ninja turtles. If possible please bring both of my sisters, Gabriella and Vanessa, presents too.

Thank you Santa,AdisonP.S. There will be cookies and

milk for you and carrots for your reindeer.

*********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Gabriella Wolfe. I

am 4 years old. Thank you for all the toys last year. I loved them all. This year I was a good girl and for Christmas I would like a tablet, an Elsa Scooter and anything else of Frozen. And please don’t forget to bring my brother, Adison, and my little sister, Vanessa, something. They were good just like me.

Love,GabriellaP.S. We’ll have cookies for you

and carrots for your reindeer.

*********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Vanessa Wolfe. I

am 3 years old. Thanks for the toys and my Anna dress. I love Elsa and Anna a lot. This year I was a good little girl and I would really like to have a tablet like my brother and sister. And I just got my ears pierced so I would like to have Elsa and Anna earrings. If it’s not to much trouble will you bring Adison and Gabriella something for Christmas?

Love,VanessaP.S. I’m helping make cookies

for you and leaving carrots for the reindeer. We will have milk too.

*********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Leighton Helman

and my mommy said that I have been a very good girl this year. I started Kindergarten and mommy and daddy say they are proud of all I am learning. I would love to have more items for my American Girl doll and clothes for her too. I’d re-ally like to have the Pie in the Face Game. It looks like it is a lot of fun! Please don’t forget about all my cousins either.

Love You Lots,LeightonP.S. I’ll leave out cookies for you

and carrots for the reindeer!

*********

DEAR SANTA, My name is Annikha Rose Fitz-

water. I’m only 9 months old and it’s my first Christmas this year. I know that I’m awfully young, but my mommy and daddy say that you’re the guy to talk to since I have been a good baby girl. They say I’m learning new things every day. So, Santa if it’s not too much to ask, could I please have some new pajamas and clothes, a win-ter coat and boots, some learning toys and books, and a few Disney DVDs. Oh yeah Santa, could you please bring my mommy and dad-dy something nice and don’t forget about my two puppies, Lady and Layla. I know they would like a surprise under the tree too. Thank you for reading my letter and have a safe flight on Christmas Eve.

Yours Truly,Annikha RoseP.S. Mommy said that you and

your reindeer will have some deli-cious goodies by the tree.

*********

DEAR SANTA,Hi hoho. I want a b-bot and me-

mes. Also a let it go. I want some-thing to watch PBS on. I have been a good girl.

Love,Hazel M.

*********

DEAR SANTA,

My name is Amarri James Stro-man-Funkhouser and I am 4 years old. I would like a new batman bat cave and the batman jailhouse. I would also like an easy bake oven. I said I wasn’t going to clean my playroom but I’ve decided that I will. Santa, I will leave you some cookies and milk and some carrots for the reindeer.

Thanks SantaAmarri James Stroman Funk-

houser

*********

DEAR SANTA,Hello again to you and Mrs.

Claus. I hope you are as excited about Christmas as I am! Thank you for sending Monte, the elf, to me. He is a lot of fun! Daddy & Mommy say I have been a good boy this year, Santa, so I hope to get lots of presents for Christmas. I am now 3 years old and like to pretend that Daddy and I are su-perhero’s. My favorites are Spider-man, Hulk, & Captain America. When I’m not protecting Mommy from bad guys, I like to play with GI Joes, dinosaur toys, and hot wheels. My uncle Brandon is sta-tioned in the North Pole so if you run into him, Aunt D, or Baby Lane tell them “Hello” for me. I promise to have cookies and milk for you and some goodies for your reindeer. Bring the reindeer inside to warm up if they get cold!

Lots of love,Truett Watts

*********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Brody and I am 6

years old. For Christmas I would like some Skylanders figures, a Nintendo WiiU and some games. I would also like a Mad Max tow truck and Crayola Crayon Maker Set. I will like whatever else you want to leave me. I’ll leave you some milk and cookies too.

Love,Brody ShermanMathias, WV

*********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Brady Miller. I am

5 1/2 years old. I live in Wardens-ville , WV.

Thank you for what you brought me last year. I really enjoyed it.

I have tried to be a good boy this year. I would like you to bring

me Paw Patrol Look Out this year. Please don’t forget my Big broth-er Austin and my Baby brother Eric. They have tried to be good. Austin, Eric, and I will leave milk and cookies for you and carrots for the reindeer and also cookies for you to take home to Mrs. Santa.

Thank You,Brady Miller

*********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Leiliiana Lopez. I

am six years young. I have been very good all year long except for picking on my older cousin Kaden James.

I would like to have a metal de-tector that is a truck, a pink IPOD, a Wii, a pink barbie dream house and a new puppy. My mommy says you won’t bring me a new barbie house or puppy because I got them last year...please prove mommy wrong. Can you please make sure that Kaden, Uncle Josh, Real Pap-py, Daddy and Daddy Dave get a lump of coal? They have been naughty all year! And can you please bring all the disney char-acters at Walt Disney World some presents too? I will leave you milk and cookies and some reindeer food!

Love,Leiliiana Lopez

*********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Colt Sherman. I am

six years old. I hope that you and Mrs. Claus have had a good year. Thank you for all of the gifts that you brought to the children around the world last year. I have been try-ing to be good, but as you know no one is perfect. Please bring me a toy motorcycle, some good books, and a Scooby-Doo Lego set. I will leave snacks for you and your rein-deer. Merry Christmas!

Sincerely, Colt Sherman

*********

DEAR SANTA, I am only four and I can-

not write yet so my maw maw is do-ing this for me. I love you Santa, my name is Bryce Lee and I have been good, but not all year, some-times I am bad. I would like to have a Mickey Club House the game, a sticky brain, a mickey pillow, and my baby sister Zoey, you can bring

her something to, she is a good girl, I am her big bubby, you can bring her a doll baby, or stuff that moves she like that. I will leave you lots of cookies.

Love, BryceP.S. You can bring mommy and

daddy something too.

*********

DEAR SANTA,Hello my name is Will See. I

am 3 years old. I live in Old Fields, WV. This year I love fire trucks and Fireman Sam. For Christmas I would like a Ride On Fire Truck, Fireman Sam toys and some new toys for my kitchen. Please fill my stocking with chocolate candy, smelly markers, and more choco-late. I would also like a toy cross bow so I can hunt with my Dad-dy. Pickle (my Elf) left me a note saying I should pick up my toys and eat my veggies…I will start soon. I keep looking for your reindeer when I see you but they are always hiding. Please bring my sister, Morgan some nail polish and girly stuff. Please bring my Daddy some new socks. Please bring my Mom-my a new nutcracker to add to her collection. Please bring Chile and Bear some special pet treats. I will leave some cookies and milk for you and some carrots for the rein-deer, Rudolph is my favorite.

Love,Will See

*********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Patricia Crites. I am

7 years old. I have tried really hard to be good this year. I really like Snowflake, she has really been or-nery this year. I think I might be teaching her how to be bad. She may need a “Time Out” when she gets home.

Some of the things I am ask-ing for Christmas is, a puppy, My Life doll items, clothes, craft/bead kits, some wrestling toys, Girl Scout Barbie and Girl Scout baby dolls and anything else you might think need or would want. I will be sure to leave you cookies and milk under the tree, and carrots for the reindeer. Until Next Year.

Love,Patricia CritesMoorefield

*********

DEAR SANTA, My name is April Dove. I am

nine years old. I have been a good girl this year. This is what I’d like for Christmas:

Sky viper, Peek a boo for my iPod, Hover ball, Little live pet, Winter dresses, Summer dress-es, Frozen gift set, Monster high gift set, Gorilla gym, Cotton can-dy maker, Magic pen set, La La Loopsey baking oven , Y fliker lift scooter, Nerfrebelle code breaker, Crayons, Notebook and composi-tion book, Paper, Zippy sack, 3D Magic, Osmo, Monster High DS Game, Paint, Makeup, Goose-bumps books, Creepover books, I Survived books, Monster High Books, Frozen books, Fudge

I hope you have a very Merry Christmas.

Love,April

*********DEAR SANTAI would like the $100 big truck

at Tractor Supply, a marker maker, a real cop dog, a coon dog for my older brother Hayden and a toy phone for my baby brother Lukas.

I will leave carrots for your rein-deer and some cookies and milk for you.

Love,Trevor Baldwin

*********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Alexis Mae McKin-

ney. I am 7 years old. I live in War-densville, West Virginia. I am a good girl.

For Christmas I would like Elsa with a microphone, Little Live Pets Mouse, Little Live Pets Turtle, Tablet like Lauralee’s with a case, Smart Watch, Pie Face game, Clev-er Keet, Match Up game, Potty Surprise doll, Girl Scout Cookie Oven, MC2 Science stuff and sur-prises.

Please bring Lauralee her cell phone and bring Jimmy some-thing, even though he says he nev-er wants anything.

I will sprinkle reindeer food out-side. I will leave you hot cocoa, cookies and a drink and snack for the road.

Love,Alexis

*********



Riggleman’s Towing (304) 434-2746 • (304) 538-6192

Here’s hoping your holiday season finds you laughing all the way!

Merry Christmas to all! TIMOTHY E. BALL, PLLC Certified Public Accountant and Registered Investment Advisor

At the Birth of Our Savior!

In the spirit of this holy season, I’d like to extend best wishes

to you and your family, along with thanks for

your goodwill all year long. Moorefield • 304-538-2424

Romney • 304-822-3831


May peace, love and happiness be yours throughout the holidays and new year.

A special holiday greeting to all Pilgrim’s Team Members and Growers.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

STATE FARM INSURANCE COMPANIES

HOME OFFICES: BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS

JUDY M. BALL, Agent 334 S. Main Street P.O. Box 90 Moorefield, WV 26836

(304) 538-6166 Fax: (304) 538-7230 www.judymball.com

May Christmas bring everything you’ve ever dreamed of and more.

We know we couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of neighbors than you.

PETERSBURG BLOCKS, INC. (304) 257-4848

Warm Wishes for the most memorable Christmas ever!

DEAR SANTA, My name is Blake Robinette. I

am in Mrs. Rao’s 1st grade class at Moorefield Elementary. I have been a very good boy this year. My Mommy & Daddy are very proud of me. Thank you for everything you brought me last year. This year I would like a Nintendo 3DS XL, Wii U, Mario games, some new nerf guns, kinetic floating sand, pie face game, ugliest pet shop and a Hot Wheels terrain twister. Please bring my Mommy, Daddy, Pappy, Grandmas, Baxter and my cousins Chey, Jerrika, Zoe something nice too. I will leave you cookies and milk and carrots for your reindeer under the tree. Safe travels!

Love,Blake RobinetteHappy Birthday, Jesus!!

*********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Jaselynn Cate Wol-

ford and I live in Fulks Run, VA. I am two years old and I have been pretty busy this year. I like to keep my mom and dad on their toes. I would like some little bunnies. I would also like an IPad mini, some clothes and some toys. I will leave you some cookies and milk.

Love,Jaselynn WolfordPS Don’t forget my big sister

Sydney.

*********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Sydney JoErin Wol-

ford and I live in Fulks Run, VA. I will be 4 years old on Christmas day. I have been a pretty good girl this year. I would like some little bunnies for Christmas. I would also like some candy, a baby doll, an IPad mini and some clothes. I will leave you some cookies and milk.

Love,Sydney WolfordP.S. Don’t forget my little sister

Jaselynn.

*********

DEAR SANTA,I have been a very good girl. I

would like a big remote control car, a big girl bike, coloring books and toys.

Love,Rebecca Woodson

*********

DEAR SANTA,This year for Christmas I would

like something special because I am 3 years old. Maybe a baby doll that I can take care of. A unicorn, a purple dress, and a purple car. Please bring my dog a bone to eat. Mommy says we will leave you milk and cookies and carrots for the reindeer. Thank you Santa. I have been very good this year.

Love,Elina Jacinda AcostaDEAR SANTA,All I want for Christmas is

health, love and peace for the en-tire world and my love ones.

Thank you.Love ,Joshua Candelario-Vega

*********

DEAR SANTA,I have been a good boy this year.

I would like to have bow and ar-rows and a shot gun to go hunting with daddy. I will leave you some cookies and milk.

Love,McKylin Wratchford

*********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Hunter Dylan Mal-

colm and I am 4 years old. I guess I’ve been pretty good this year. I would like to have a new coat, new pair of shoes, socks colored orange. I would like some cars, books to read, a new pair of gloves and a hat. Santa if its not too much trouble can you bring my cousin Mariska, Minnie Mouse stuff and my cousin Jace, bubble guppies stuff. They really like those char-acters. Plus Santa can you bring something good for my best friend, Levi, too. Thank you and God bless you Santa.

Love,Hunter Malcolm

*********

DEAR SANTA,On this Christmas I want to be

able to go to Puerto Rico to see my great-grandparents and I want a lot of toys and Ninja Turtles.

Love,Jayden L. Roberto-Rodriquez

*********

DEAR SANTA,I want a big horse for Christmas

and another Dora towel and more Dora guitars.

Love,Serenity

*********

Hi. It’s Leevi. I am 4 years old. I hope to see you soon. You make me so happy. I love you very much. I would really like to see your rein-deer and maybe they could play with my horses. I would like some new pajamas, play dough mixer, new cowboy boots, and new pre-tend stuff for my kitchen and a baby doll for my baby sister, Lexi. My sister can’t talk yet, but she loves you too! My mommy and me will make cookies for you and leave carrots for your reindeer. Why didn’t you come to my birth-day party? The cake was really good. Mommy told me you were busy. I love you so much Santa Clause. See you soon

Love,Leevi Stoltzfus

*********

DEAR SANTA,I need a doll to play to be mom

and give her food. I also want a castle princess to play with my bar-bie. Thanks.Love

Alianys Gonzales

*********

DEAR SANTA,My name is Brock Linville and

I have been very nice this year. I would like WWE wrestlers Vader and Calisto, a PS4, Star Wars Bat-tlefront, Call of Duty, a pool table, 2 tickets to a Kansas City Chiefs

game, a Wii, Super Smash Broth-ers for my DS and a new basket-ball. You can bring my sister some more baby dolls but she hasn’t been very good this year.

Your Friend,Brock

********* Dear Santa,My name is Bella Linville. I like

baby dolls. I have a lot but I would like some more. I also like Paw Pa-trol, Lalaloopsy, my Little Ponies, clothes, shoes, Little Live Pets, dress up clothes, dishes and food for my kitchen and a Sarah doll. Can you also bring my dog, Hogan, some bones. He likes to eat every-thing in our house.

Your Friend,Bella

*********

DEAR SANTAHi. My name is Kelten Chase

Keplinger, I am 6 months old so nope I am not writing this but I do know what I like because I smile big when I see them especially red, it is my favorite color Santa you know like your suit. Ok fist thing is first I want to wish Jesus a very HAP-PY BIRTHDAY, my mommy and daddy tell all the time that Christ-mas we celebrate his birthday and I want him to have a great day. Ok Santa I have been a good boy in my short 6 months, so I would like very much if you could please bring me anything Paw Patrol, John Deere and firefighter stuff, You see Santa my daddy, uncle and my Pappy Lu-cas are all firefighters and they all love to help others and I love the BIG RED FIRESTRUCK!. San-ta can you please bring my mom-my, daddy, all my Grammys and granddaddies, aunts, uncles and my cousin Colin something nice, they all love me so much and I love them all. Santa I do have a special request, my mommy and I take care of my Pappy Lucas everyday because he does not feel well and Santa could you please bring him something to make him smile and Santa thank you in advance, my Pappy has had a rough year and he deserves to smile. Thank you Santa, My mommy and daddy will

leave you and your buddies some goodies on the table because if not Samson will eat them. Have a safe trip

Thank You.Kelten Chase KeplingerPurgitsville, WV6-months old

*********

DEAR SANTA,Hi Santa. My name is Colin

Jace Murphy. Santa I am 4 and I have been so good this year, But first I want to wish Jesus HAPPY BIRTHDAY because it is his day and he is letting us celebrate with him.

Santa if you can please will you bring all my granddaddies, grand-mas, aunts, uncles, cousins, on goodness Santa I have so many just bring them all a little something please. I myself like anything Spi-derman, Ninja Turtles and I pretty much am satisfied. Santa please bring my Mommy and Hunter something really nice, OH SANTA guess what I am going to be a big brother so bring Baby L. some-thing he or she won’t be here for this Christmas but lookout next, I guess I will have to show them the ropes. Ok Santa I will be leaving you some goodies so mommy says share please. Thank you Santa you have a safe trip see ya soon love ya!!

Thank youColin Jace MurphyKeyser, WV4 years old

*********

DEAR SANTA,This year I have been really nice.

A few things I did nice were, using good manners, playing nice with my dogs, Midas, Meika and Dingo, and helping Mommy cook dinner. If you are not too busy this year, I would love to get some new toys to play with in my bathtub. I love when Mommy and Daddy read to me, so a new book would be nice too! I really need a sled so I am ready to play with Daddy outside when the snow comes to my house. A new coat, and some other warm clothes would also be great for the snow. I am making you fresh cook-

ies on Christmas Eve, so don’t fill up before you make it to my house! Thanks Santa!

Your Friend,Avelyn Bean

*********

DEAR SANTA,I have been a good boy this

year. For Christmas I would like to have Max the tow truck, batman things, Legos and anything else you would like to bring me. Please don’t forget my sisters Hailey and Allie. Thanks for my presents you brought me last year. I will leave you some milk and cookies and some apples for the reindeer.

Love,Kody BiserAge 6Santa Letters 2more

*********

DEAR SANTA,I was good all year and I was

good in school. I will leave cook-ies and milk for you and I give the reindeer carrots. Please get me an Imaginext Power Ranger Morph-ing Megazon.

Love,Bodie Brillage 7

Dear Santa,I love You! You are the best

Santa.Can I have a bow and arrow?

*********

Dear Santa,How are you? I love to sing

about Rudolph. How are the elves? i have been a good boy. I love everybody. I will leave you some cookies and diet pepsi. I am almost 5 years old. My Mommy helped me write this. For Christ-mas you gave me all toys you want-ed me to have. You will give me good stuff. I love my family a lot. They are good to me. I want my Mommy to be happy and have a good Christmas.

I Love you Santa,Jacy Riggleman


Continued on page 10


McKee Funeral Home

304-897-7277

The Pyles Family Baker, WV

The Town of Moorefield Gary Stalnaker, Mayor

RECORDER: Debra Hefner COUNCIL MEMBERS: Scott Fawley, A.J. Wade,

Carol Zuber, Doug Mongold, Roger Pratt POLICE JUDGE: Robert “Larry” Johnson, Sr. BUILDING/ZONING OFFICER: Brian Wolfe

TOWN ATTORNEY: Jack Walters TOWN EMPLOYEES: Bruce George, Randy Funk, Merv Pope,

CW Nesslerodt, Rob Zuber, Bryan Leatherman, Chester Shreve, Darren Vetter, Jim Iman, Steve Reckart, Tyler Robinette, Zachariah Sneathen,

Stephen Riggleman, Ethan Mongold, Rick Freeman, Larry Walp, Gary Ratliff, Chester Mongold, Lucas Gagnon, James Smith, Kevin Helmick II,

Robert Smith II, Terena Dolly, Austin Riggleman, David See, Melissa Haggerty, Juwana Bridger and John Wichael.

Colt’s Restaurant and Pizza Park Moorefield, WV • 304-538-2523

Serving the community for 41 years.

Hope your holiday serves up a

hearty portion of peace, plus an extra helping of joy. We know

serving you has been a real joy

for u s!

We really appreciate your business and look forward to serving you again soon!

A & A Express Mart Route 220, Moorefield

May the blessing of His love be with you this Christmas and throughout the year.

Heavenly Peace

Hayleigh’s & Nadia’s Hayleigh’s & Nadia’s Home Decor Home Decor

304-257-4400 46 S. Main St., Petersburg

34 Ogden Farm Rd., Moorefield, WV 26836 304-538-7444

May the joy and wonder of Christmas fill you with contentment. Thank you for being such an important part of our year. Your friendship and support mean a lot to us.

CELEBRATE THE MIRACLE

DEAR SANTA,I love you forever because you

love me forever. I have been a good boy. I clean up toys. Please bring me Shopkins and the Paw Patrol-ler. I will leave cookies and milk and for the reindeers, carrots.

Love,Ian Brillage 4

*********

DEAR SANTA,Merry Christmas!My wish list and other ques-

tions. For Christmas I want a silicone reborn, a little live pet tur-tle a little live pet mouse with the track, a little live parakeet, the one thats really smart.. Some real baby supplies, so I can take care of my reborn. And last I want a laptop.

S just wondering, my parents say you have to buy some things. Is that true/ Do you and your elves make it all? Oh, last year Mommy wanted to know how you printed the note off her computer. Can you bring me a watch that when you push a button, you can call whoever you say and you push another but-ton it’s a video call. With that watch I can put a disc in and that will give me that power. Oh, and also you can push a button that will give you

Continued from page 9 a real friends named cat and May. They are my imaginary friends and they can really do things and talk with me and I’d like a few stocking stuffers.

Merry christmas,Ella

***************************


CELLULAR X-PRESS CELLULAR X-PRESS Petersburg 257-4711

Ring-a-ling Ring-a-ling Ring-a-ling It’s just us, getting in touch with our best wishes

for a great season. We hope it’s buzzing with texts and talk from loved ones everywhere.

Thanks for calling on us this year. We really appreciate your choosing us. Merry Christmas!

Proudly serving the Tri-County area come see us in Petersburg!

K IMBLE ’ S BP S TATION 351 South Main Street, Moorefield, WV

(304) 530-2231

Merry Merry Christmas! Christmas!

Cynthia A. Hinkle 304-530-6225, Moorefield [email protected]


Skilled Nursing • Therapy • Long Term Care

P.O. Box 70, Box 259 • Baker, WV (304) 897-5903

from t he Residents and Staff at

E.A. Hawse Nursing & Rehabilitation Center

M e r r y C h r i s t m a s !

We’re wishing you a load of holiday happiness and an

abundance o f good c heer.

We hope Santa brings y ou

everything y our heart de sires.

Thanks for being so good to us this year

and have a very merry C hristmas!

Y OKUM ’ S Paint & Body Works

Rt. 42 North, Petersburg (304) 257-4660

Season’s Greetings! Season’s

Greetings!

Coloring Contest Runners-Up1st Runner Up, 5-7 Group

Faith SnyderAge 7 of Moorefield

1st Runner Up, 8-10 GroupRachel Shirk

Age 10 of Baker

1st Runner Up, 8-10 GroupAlyssa McGrathAge 9 of Cabins

1st Runner Up, 8-10 GroupAbigail Leininger

Age 10 of Moorefield

2nd Runner Up, 5-7 GroupBrock Linville

Age 7 of Moorefield

3rd Runner Up, 5-7 GroupJake Lumia

Age 7 of Fisher

Reproductions do not represent the true color of the entry


224 N. Main St. Moorefield, WV 26836 (304) 530-3100 • 1-888-583-5043

William S. Shultz, Broker

John L. Hahn, M.D. Dr. Amanda Borror, D.O.

Potomac Valley Physicians For Women OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY

1-866-900-HAHN (4 246) Offices In Romney, Petersburg & Keyser

With exceeding great joy, we wish you and your family a truly miraculous holiday season.

G ARRETT & G ARRETT Attorneys At Law

105 Rosemary Lane, Moorefield, WV, 26836 • 304- 538-2375

Rt. 42, Petersburg, WV 304-257-2489 www.glotfeltytire.com

Happy Holidays

In this season of giving, we hope you’ll In this season of giving, we hope you’ll In this season of giving, we hope you’ll accept our warm wishes and heartfelt accept our warm wishes and heartfelt accept our warm wishes and heartfelt

thanks for your valued business. thanks for your valued business. thanks for your valued business.

Merry Christmas!

Envirco Inc., 906 Arkansaw Road, Baker, WV 26801 304-897-6060 or 800-235-4044

West Virginia Certificated Solid Waste Hauler Serving Hardy & Grant Counties since 1990

HOLIDAY ROUTE CHANGES Friday, Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 2015:

NO COLLECTION

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR

Service will be provided on: Friday Customers:

Thursday, Dec. 24, 2015 or Saturday, Dec. 26, 2015 Mathias Recycling has changed to the second Saturday of each month, beginning Dec. 12, 2015. Next Mathias Recycling date is Jan. 9, 2016

Friday, New Year’s Day, Jan 1, 2016: Collection services WILL BE provided as usual HAWSE

MOOREFIELD

304-538-6396

Grant Memorial Hospital 117 Hospital Drive

P.O. Box 1019, Petersburg, WV 26847 1-304-257-1026 • TDD 1-304-257-4009

www.grantmemorial.com

from the administration and staff of

Loy-Giffin Funeral Home, LLC

Jerry B. Giffin & Lucas A. Giffin, Directors

Wardensville, West Virginia 304-874-3521 • www.loygiffin.com

with tidings of

As we herald in the start of another holiday season, we’d like to spread a message of peace and goodwill to all of you. Your trust in us fills us with pride, and your friendship fills us with joy.

S OUTH B RANCH T IRE 502 Clements St., Moorefield, WV

304-538-2042

Wishing you much

joy and merriment at Christmastime, plus a bounty of glad tidings and all the gifts of this

wonderful se ason.

(StatePoint)

For many families, the holiday season means giving, celebrating, and spending time together -- but it also means chilly weather and long hours cooped up inside the house. This year, consider using the downtime to help children tap into their natural creativity. Here are some festive ways to motivate kids to engage in fun and active learning.

Family Room FortIf the weather outside is fright-

ful, transform the family room or den into an opportunity for ad-venture. Kids can use the couch, blankets and all those boxes that seem to amass during the holidays to create a fort, which makes the perfect temporary stand-in for a treehouse or out-door clubhouse. Let kids get cre-ative by decorating the outside of the boxes with snowflakes, snow-men and other seasonal shapes.

Imaginative ToysParents can ensure creativ-

ity continues long after kids un-wrap their presents. Playtime is also learning time: according to

Dr. Deborah Libby, Early Child-hood Reading and Language Expert and VTech Expert Panel Member, “Play ideally begins early and continues throughout a child’s life, helping them learn, think, socialize, problem solve and ultimately have fun.”

One great choice for sparking imaginations and building mo-tor skills is the Go! Go! Smart Wheels Ultimate RC Speedway from VTech. With 4.5 feet of track, which incorporates fea-tures like a stunt ramp, eleva-tor, track switches, and more, this new set inspires interactive play all year round. Kids take charge by using a remote control to zoom the RC SmartPoint Rac-er around the brightly-colored course, which also activates play-ful music and sounds to further engage little ones.

Another option is VTech’s Go! Go! Smart Friends Busy Sounds Discovery Home, cleverly de-signed to demonstrate cause and effect relationships to toddlers. Each friend comes alive when placed on one of the house’s MagicPoint locations, through the use of talk, song, light and motion. The characters also in-

teract with one another, teaching children how to introduce them-selves and build friendships.

And the Go! Go! Smart Ani-mals Grow & Learn Farm fea-tures an electronic barn that teaches kids about colors, num-bers, and plants. When toddlers roll Reggie the Rooster over each of the farm’s SmartPoint lo-cations, they’ll hear new phrases, music and sound effects.

Gadgets don’t have to mean passivity: these toys use interac-tive technology to occupy kids with the kind of imaginative play and creativity that furthers devel-opment and learning, long after the holidays are over.

Arts & CraftsMaking holiday decorations at

home is a great way to get chil-dren involved in stimulating, hands-on activities. With just a few simple art supplies, they can craft their own greeting cards, create snowflake shapes that double as ornaments, or help de-sign gingerbread houses. Such activities not only enhance fine motor skills, but also inspire kids to use their innate inventiveness.

This holiday season and be-yond, keep boredom at bay by encouraging kids to be creative and mentally active.

Toddler Boredom Busters for the Holiday Season


The Fraley Families and Staff

Central Tie & Lumber Company

Moorefield, WV • 304-530-5566 | Petersburg, WV • 304-257-1313 Rental Center • Guns, Ammo & Hunting Supplies • FREE DELIVERY

May your home be blessed and your heart filled by the beauty and spirit of this inspiring time of year.

Wishing You Peace at the Holidays

304-530-6290 • 310 Jackson Ave. Moorefield, WV

Drs. Bill and Joe Fisher Linda, Sherry, Betty,

Lara, Anna and Emily

The Perfect Stitch Phyllis

With best wishes for a very merry holiday season.

DECK THE

HALLS

With a record number of entries, this year’s coloring contest was one of the most difficult to judge in recent years. 140 local kids submitted entries to

this year’s contest, smashing the record of 120, set in 2008.

Anything but aFrosty Welcome

VETTER’S MINI MART

& CAR WASH South Main Street, Moorefield

304-530-2096 Monday – Friday 5-9

Saturday & Sunday 6-9

ring i n TH E JOY!

It’s been a joy for us to serve people like you.

Merry Christmas &

Happy New Year!

Guns & Ammo

7th Graders Continue Legacy of Favored Teacher

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