SPRING 2016
37 Years FREE but not cheap
True Love—Lois watching John as he performs his midday set for a small audience. Every now and then I catch her with her hands up in prayer position over her heart while watching him. Lois and John were a duo on stage for over 40 years before Lois’s sight started to fail her. My encounter with the two in Nashville was brief, but it definitely had an impact and showed me the meaning of true love.
PANG TUBHIRUN, PANGTOGRAPHY 2
Issue 144 Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1 LIKE US ON Established May 1979 FACEBOOK! On the Web! PUBLISHER Contents www.shepherdstowngoodnewspaper.org Shepherdstown Ministerial Association SEE ARTWORKS IN COLOR! EXECUTIVE EDITOR Spring 2016 Randall W. Tremba
EDITORS Stephen Altman Essays, Art & Poetry Mary Bell John Case 3 Fan Mail. By Randall Tremba Hannah Cohen Eleanor Johnson Hanold 12 ARTWORKS: Pang Tubhirun, Pangtography Sue Kennedy Mark Madison 14 POETRY Tucker Riggleman Wendy Mopsik 15 EARTHBEAT The Conservation Curmudgeon. By Mark Madison Claire Stuart Ed Zahniser
PRE-PRODUCTION EDITOR People, Places & Things Libby Howard By Stephen Altman SENIOR DESIGNER 4 The Birdhouse Business. Melinda Schmitt 5 Judy Shepherd: You Help Where You Can. By Sue Kennedy DIGITAL IMAGE EDITOR 6 Flor’s Dream. By Isabella Snyder Ellen Smith 7 A Dream Rooted in Saigon, Realized in Shepherdstown. By Wendy Mopsik PHOTOGRAPHERS Jamie Lawrence 8 Blue Ridge Toy Company. By Claire Stuart Jessica Schmitt 9 John W. Aldis: In the Den of a Demon. By Zakee McGill TYPIST Kathy Reid 10 Meet Pastor Ginger! By Mary Bell
COPY EDITORS 11 A Picture of Pang. By Hannah Cohen Rie Wilson Claire Stuart 16 Ralph Scorza: Discovery in the Other Direction. By Eleanor Johnson Hanold 17 New and Familiar Faces at WSHC Radio. By John Case PROOFREADERS Betty Lou Bryant 18 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Museum and Archives. By Claire Stuart Carolina and Brent Ford Eleanor Johnson Hanold 20 Archive: Cherry Trees. By Virginia Provenzano Ed Zahniser
DISTRIBUTION Lex Miller Faith, Hope & Charity TREASURER 21 Religious Communities Alex Shaw 22 Donors DESIGN & LAYOUT HBP, Inc. 23 Business & Service Directory
Circulation: 13,000 copies printed Bulk mail (11,200) Cover Artist Shepherdstown all patrons (3,450) Kearneysville PO, RR 1-4 (3,000) Pang Tubhirun is a photographer and the owner of Pangtography, in Shepherdstown. She Shenandoah Jct (800) Harpers Ferry PO, RR 1,3 (2,250) specializes in capturing the beauty of human relationships and nature. For more information Bakerton (80) about her work, please visit www.pangtography.com Martinsburg RR 3 (620) Sharpsburg PO, RR 2 (1,060) Direct mail by request (1,000) Stacks: area restaurants, shops, and visitor centers Subscription Form (1,000)
Address If you are not already receiving the GOOD NEWS PAPER, we will be happy to send it to you free of charge. Fill in GOOD NEWS PAPER, P.O. Box 1212 and mail this coupon. You may also request subscriptions on our website: shepherdstowngoodnewspaper.org. Shepherdstown, WV 25443 Telephone (304) 876-6466 • FAX (304) 876-2033 Name ______Copyright 2016 Shepherdstown Ministerial Association, Inc. All rights revert to the author on publication. The Address ______opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. City/State ______ZIP ______
On the Web! GOOD NEWS PAPER www.shepherdstowngoodnewspaper.org P.O. Box 1212 • Shepherdstown, WV 25443 SEE ARTWORKS IN COLOR! 3
Fan Mail Randall Tremba
ast September I received an angry letter in response to my essay end: “Some foment fear and hate. Others promote hope and love. In fact, “Drug Alert: Pot, Porn, and Fox News” in which I denounced that sometimes I’m one sort; sometimes I’m another.” But many readers—blinded Lnews outlet for fear mongering. The writer said I was vicious, hateful, by anger over the “Pot, Porn, and Fox News” headline—never got to the rude, self-righteous, arrogant, divisive, conde- confession or simply missed it. scending, liberal, snide, sophomoric (that hurt!), As fate would have it, the day before that and a disgrace to the name of Christ. And that blistering letter arrived, I had been reading the was just the first page. Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh’s The letter was signed: Yours, in Christ. No The Guest House classic Being Peace, in which he says, “If we name. Nothing to identify the writer. Still, that align ourselves with one side or the other, we letter made my day. I love fan mail. This being human is a guest house. will lose our chance to work for peace.” And The writer sent a copy of that letter to Every morning a new arrival. then he says, “Be peace, don’t just talk about it.” every minister in town, just in case my col- Be peace before you try to make peace. leagues didn’t already know those things about A joy, a depression, a meanness, Breathe in peace; breathe out fear. Breathe in me. I don’t resent the criticism one bit. I only some momentary awareness comes love; breathe out hatred and bigotry. wish the writer had included contact informa- as an unexpected visitor. “If in our daily life we can smile, if we can tion, because I would like to respond to him or be peaceful and happy, not only we, but every- her as I did to the other dozen or so people who Welcome and entertain them all! one, will profit from it. This is the most basic called or emailed me with complaints, admoni- Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, kind of peace work. Breathe in calm; breathe tions, and rebukes. out smiles.” who violently sweep your house I’d like to commend the writer for being The day before that letter arrived I was also empty of its furniture, so perceptive. I really and truly am vicious, reading this gospel story: Once upon a time the hateful, rude, self-righteous, arrogant, divisive, still, treat each guest honorably. disciples spoke sternly to those who tried to condescending, liberal, snide, sophomoric, and a He may be clearing you out bring children to Jesus. Jesus, just like us, had disgrace to the name of Christ. Not all the time, for some new delight. much more important things to do, or so the but certainly some of the time. And I suspect disciples thought. But Jesus said: Let the little that particular essay might have been one of The dark thought, the shame, the malice, children come to me; do not stop them. those times. meet them at the door laughing, Breathe in calm; breathe out smiles. I was hoping nobody would notice. But and invite them in. I’m guessing Jesus knew what the Buddha obviously some did, and they were kind enough knew. Breathe in calm and breathe out smiles. to let me know, in most cases because they Be grateful for whoever comes, I’m guessing Jesus was smiling when he blessed truly care about me and my reputation as a because each has been sent the little children. A scowling Jesus would have bridge builder. as a guide from beyond. sent the children flying. “Why must you take sides?” several asked. That little gospel episode isn’t just about I thanked each person for helping me see children. It’s a lesson in acceptance as taught in —Rumi things more clearly and helping me understand Being Peace. It’s about inviting that which can 13th-century Sufi Muslim Persian poet myself a little better. After all, there’s always be annoying, irritating, or interrupting of our more than one way to say something—some well-guarded lives. kinder than others. As the Buddhists put it, Be careful, say the Buddhists, about It’s OK to announce, but don’t denounce, for rejecting things you don’t like or don’t want in denouncing is a form of violence. Or, as the Apostle Paul put it, Speak the your life. Learn to accept and if possible embrace them. Embrace darkness, truth in love. embrace suffering, embrace criticism—and let it be. For darkness and suffer- In this case anger got the best of me. The relentless litany of woe and ing are our teachers, too. negativity on one particular news show over a six-month period enraged me. And so I thank my anonymous critic for bringing me back to my senses Sure, it’s OK to be angry. But it’s not OK for anger to get the best of us. and to deep breathing. Breathe in calm. Breathe out smiles. Just as I was finishing that essay, I realized my own hypocrisy and And so here’s a smile coming your way, my friend: Yours, in Christ. negativity. And so I inserted a parenthetical confession of sorts near the Which is to say, Yours, in Love.
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 4 The Birdhouse Business The Galliennes’ Creations Are Not Strictly for the Birds
Stephen Altman
ob Gallienne and his son Kyle make birdhouses. It was not exactly automatic. “We had the skills of bird species; start at the top with Bluebird-Eastern These are not ordinary birdhouses. One is a to make a birdhouse easy enough,” Bob says, “but we and Bluebird-Mountain and two pages later you’re at Breplica of the Shepherdstown Public Library, didn’t know the right way. That first birdhouse, it didn’t Pygmy Owl. Across the top, the headings read: House complete with that mysterious gazing eye. They’ve have anything it was supposed to have, and what it did Floor, House Depth, Hole above Floor, Minimum also made one that looks like a mansion and others have was the wrong size or in the wrong place.” Diameter of Hole, and Height above Ground. that look like the Mecklenburg Inn, the Hatfields’ log As father and son recall, it was their customers Specs like these are useful, Kyle says, “but there’s cabin, and even a rusty old pressure cooker. Most of the who gave them their birdhouse education. “We learned still a lot of educated guessing. When we do these Galliennes’ birdhouses make you smile. They fashion quick,” Bob says, “that there are things a birdhouse has whimsical designs, we still have to make some educated these little dwellings out of found materials—interesting to have that we didn’t know about, like a clean-out in the guesses about how to make them work for actual birds.” bric-a-brac and scraps of wood that others might burn or back and a drain hole at the bottom. And different kinds Actual birds do seem to like them, but it’s the throw away. of birds have different requirements. We tried selling whimsical part that draws a lot of humans. The “That’s all we use,” Bob says, holding a beat-up birdhouses with the wrong specs and got straightened Galliennes sell their birdhouses at craft shows— old piece of fence board as an example. “This could be out pretty quick. If you can’t sell ’em, you learn how to along what’s called “the festival circuit”—and in anything when we’re done.” make ’em so you can sell ’em.” Shepherdstown during the holiday season. This year they Their workshop is a few miles down the Potomac Bob produces two worn old sheets of paper on hope to make and sell about 200 birdhouses. River from Sharpsburg, along Limekiln Road—hence which there’s a table printed from the Web. Down the A person could wax lyrical about crafting homes the name of their business, Limekiln Rd. Woodworks— left-hand column, in alphabetical order, are the names for birds out of scraps and throwaways, but Bob says his a road that skirts a steep wooded bluff and is so first concern is practical: “A lot of guys my age narrow that when two cars meet, one of them go from a construction job to unemployment has to back up. They live over the river, and the to the next construction job to unemployment shop adjoins their house. again. But doing birdhouses, we get to make a “It seemed huge when we got it,” Bob living, we get to be self-sufficient, and we make says, “but now we’ve all but grown out of people smile, which is a lot of why we’re in it it.” The workshop is characterized by a kind to begin with.” of well-ordered clutter. A visitor has to walk These birdhouses are such beautiful around and between all the power saws and objects, and so beautifully made, that some routers, the drill press and workbench, the purchasers never hang them on a tree limb or lathes and power sanders. There are nail guns fasten them to a post in their yards, but instead and hand tools galore; colorful bottles of paint The Mecklenburg Inn The Shepherdstown The Simply Pretty keep them indoors to admire. Still, most and glue; bins filled with old plumbing parts Library Birdhouse people put them to their intended use. Soon and electrical parts, doorknobs, hinges, bits of they get to know the delight of watching a pair old machinery. of wrens or finches show up, or bluebirds, or “I don’t even know what some of this stuff chickadees—and with them the re-creation of is,” Kyle says. As Shakespeare might have life that comes with spring. A touch of grace said (though he probably didn’t), it’s the stuff out in the backyard. birdhouses are made of. Bob Gallienne grew up in the Maryland suburbs north of D.C. He worked in construc- Stephen Altman has lived in Shepherdstown tion all his life. Kyle grew up learning carpen- since last fall. He is looking forward to the try from his father. But in 2008 the economy songs of spring. went bad, and finding work got harder. Bob made his first birdhouse on a whim. He still has it. Kyle recalls, “My dad had these wood- working skills and nothing to do with them at the time, so once we got going on birdhouses, PHOTOS BY STEPHEN ALTMAN it kind of exploded from there.” The Mansion
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 5 Judy Shepherd You Help Where You Can
Sue Kennedy
udy Shepherd grew up in New Jersey, where she belongs to Judy and her brother. Jack is now retired Judy’s daughter Jenny Haynes is the owner of the lived with her parents, John and Gertrude Shepherd, after a career of teaching history and coaching wrestling Now and Then shop on German Street—a wonderful Jand her brother, Jack. Her father worked for at the Saint John Vianney Catholic High School in place that promotes local artisans. Early on, Jenny met American Export Lines and commuted from Matawan to Holmdel, New Jersey. a veteran of the Iraq War who was making furniture out New York City every workday for more than 40 years. Judy Shepherd graduated from Glassboro of barnwood. Each piece in the shop is wonderful and Upon retirement, Judy’s parents planned to make State Teachers College (now Rowan University) in each sale helps a hero. Jenny is also a chef at the Press their first visit to West Virginia—her father’s family Marlborough, New Jersey, with a teaching degree Room. Judy’s son, Chris, manages the Now and Then directly descended from the founders of a little town in special education. After graduation, Judy married shop, when he’s not digging neighbors out of snowdrifts. there named Shepherdstown. (In checking the history Patrick Haynes and they moved to Myrtle, Missouri. Judy’s other daughter, Jacque Haynes, served tours of of Shepherdstown, one finds that several early settlers There they owned and worked a dairy farm, Judy duty on the USS Bataan with the U.S. Navy, earned a came from New Jersey.) He’d always meant to visit, but taught special education at the Couch School, and they degree in nursing from Shepherd, and today works at the as happens to many, years slipped away. Plans for the increased their family to include Jenny, Jacque, and Veterans Administration. She and 5-year-old son Devon trip were put on hold when Gertrude was diagnosed Chris. The Haynes family time in Missouri spanned 14 recently moved to their new home at Maddox Farm. with cancer. She died shortly thereafter. years, and it was over way too soon. On Halloween in “They gave me Bear so I wouldn’t be lonely,” Judy said To honor his wife, Shepherd finally did follow 1984, 40-year-old Patrick Haynes died. with a laugh. Bear is a jet-black poodle-Pomeranian through with the plan in 1985. Like so many others, he With three young children to comfort and a farm to mix, a little bundle of cuteness. loved Shepherdstown at first sight and returned to visit run, Judy had little time to think of herself and her own Judy Shepherd is a giver, and she passed this trait on frequently. He finally sold his New Jersey home and grief. There were major decisions to make. She sold the to her children. She’s also not one to pat herself on the purchased the Arthur Prather House at 108 W. German farm, packed up her life and her memories, and moved back, so allow me. It’s no exaggeration to say that she has Street, Shepherdstown. her young family to Shepherdstown. John Shepherd had changed the lives of thousands of special education chil- This stately and spacious building contained three moved back to New Jersey, leaving the Prather House dren over the years. Her work has benefited the students private living quarters, two street-floor business spaces, in Judy’s hands, and from the beginning, “it all felt at Glenwood Forrest School, Gerrardstown Elementary and a large garden. Shepherd called in local master like home,” she says. With the private suites, renovated School, Page Jackson Elementary School, The Lowery craftsman Jack Geary to redo kitchens and do other kitchens, and inviting family rooms, it was perfect for School, and Jefferson High School. Since 2000, Judy has renovations. He did such beautiful work that the house three growing children and their dynamo of a mother. taught special education and earth science at Loudoun now boasts a “Jack Geary Room” for entertaining. Halloween should be a happy time for kids, and County High School in Leesburg, Virginia. Eventually though, Shepherd’s New Jersey roots called Judy was determined to make it so for her children. Recently, Judy was awarded the Exemplary Teacher him back. Shepherd still lives there and, at age 90, Their father had died on Halloween and she wanted his Award from Virginia Commonwealth University. works at a health club. Today the Arthur Prather House memory to be honored with joy, not sadness. She deco- She was nominated by her AVID (Advancement via rated the long hall of their historic home to the teeth and Individual Determination) students. AVID is the widely invited all the children of Shepherdstown to come and acclaimed education nonprofit dedicated to closing the enjoy treats and scary stuff and everything Halloween. achievement gap by holding all students to higher stan- The Halloween Hall celebration went on for more than dards and providing them with the academic and social 20 years. Ten years ago the “Hall” moved to the Men’s support to reach them. Club, also known as the Community Club. Every year “It’s a joy being a small part of a child’s life… Judy, Jenny, Jacque, and Chris spend days decorating, to be able to help where you can,” said Judy, explain- always adding new and more elaborate pieces to the ing why she loves what she does. “My students have tableau. Halloween Hall—turned Halloween Club—has graduated from high school, they’ve taken college-prep become legend. courses, and they have made great strides. I really Halloween Hall was just the beginning of Judy’s don’t like the word disabled; my students learn in a dif- immediate contribution to Shepherdstown. Each ferent way. They learn in increments. The work is very Christmas Judy and company prepare dozens of holiday rewarding, but when a former student writes or visits, gift baskets for the day care center, make costumes, and that’s the best reward.” donate time and effort to the Christmas in Shepherdstown Judy Shepherd is certainly a credit to her founding- committee. Judy is also the perfectly cast lady who is family ancestors. Mrs. Santa Claus, reading “The Night Before Christmas” from the McMurran lawn to children every year for more than 20 years. Judy, Jenny, and Chris also lend an ongo- Sue Kennedy lives in Shepherdstown, home of the most ing hand to the Community Club, including running the beautiful springtime.
PHOTO SUPPLIED BY JUDY SHEPHERD reservation and event hotline. Judy Shepherd
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 6
Flor’s Dream Isabella Snyder
n 1994, two years after the civil war in El Salvador United States, Luis Edgardo was 15 and Ana 10. It must ended, a war that lasted 12 years and claimed over have been hard for them to leave their grandmother and 75,000 lives, Flor Davis immigrated to the United the environment where they grew up, just as it had been States.I She was a single mom, and in order to start a hard to live far away from their mother. new life, she made the difficult decision to leave her I’ve known Flor since I was eight years old. She not children, Ana and Luis Edgardo, in San Miguel with only helps us keep our house neat and organized, but she her mother. People who flee their countries, whether goes well beyond her duties and responsibilities. For as for political, social, or economic reasons, can lose part long as I can remember, Flor has been my mom’s big- of their lives: family, wealth, professions, language, gest helper. She is a hard worker, generous, kind, smart, and culture. Flor left all of these, including her teach- caring, and discreet. She is also interested and involved ing profession. in what is going on with our family. I believe we have a One of four children, Flor was born in El Salvador, close relationship with her because we connect through Central America, to a mother from Honduras and a the Spanish language. Flor has seen me finish elemen- father from El Salvador, and grew up in San Miguel, tary and middle school and begin high school; she’s seen one of the largest cities. She comes from an educated my sister finish college and graduate school, my brother family; both her parents were teachers. Even though complete high school and begin college. most Latin Americans are Catholic (according to the My family is one of many in Shepherdstown that Pew Research Center, currently 69 percent), Flor’s has benefited from Flor’s help. Since 1998 she has mother was a Jehovah’s Witness. Still, she insisted her worked for many families in Jefferson County and has daughter attend a Catholic high school. Flor loved using seen local children grow up, complete high school and typewriters and specialized in secretarial work, but her college, and even get married. Flor told me she feels true passion was teaching. After earning her teaching honored to have been part of their lives; they hold a PHOTO BY HOPE SNYDER degree, she taught in a rural school in the eastern part special place in her heart. She’s also grateful for the Flor Davis of the country. There she met the father of her children; trust families have shown her by opening their homes to they separated when Ana was four. her and for their compassion and understanding after her for the contributions they make to our society. I am After arriving in the States, Flor moved in with husband’s stroke. sincerely grateful to Flor for everything she does to her sister in Fairfax, Virginia, and started working for a With Flor’s help and support, Luis Edgardo and enrich our lives. family in Alexandria. Three years would pass before her Ana have built successful lives in the United States. children could join her here. This wasn’t the only chal- They both graduated from Hedgesville High School. lenge Flor faced as a newcomer; in order to work in this At Shepherd University, Ana majored in biology and Isabella Snyder is a sophomore at St. Maria Goretti country, she had to improve her English skills. Although chemistry, receiving honors such as the Ikenberry High School. While writing this article, she discovered she had studied English in school, she was far from Award, which recognizes campus leadership, community many interesting things about Flor’s life. For instance, fluent. She taught herself English by using language service, and overall achievement. one of Flor’s brothers still lives in El Salvador. After programs and practicing reading and writing. After graduation, Ana worked at National Institutes 9/11, obtaining a visa became almost impossible. While Judging by Flor’s beautiful penmanship and by her of Health as a Spanish medical interpreter. Currently, he can visit, he will have to wait until 2021 to move to calm demeanor, her students were fortunate to have she’s pursuing studies in epidemiology while coordi- the United States. her as a teacher. During El Salvador’s civil war, there nating investigational drug trials for Johns Hopkins was no public transportation available, so Flor walked University. Luis Edgardo converted a childhood passion five miles every day to the school, a school so poor it into a career in information technology. He is a systems lacked resources we take for granted, such as drinking analyst at an insurance company in Northern Virginia. water. There Flor experienced the challenges of teach- He and his wife, Kelli, an administrator for a social ser- ing underprivileged children how to read and write, to vice program in Western Maryland, have two children, then watch them put their education aside in order help Oliver and Lily. Edgardo is pursuing a bachelor’s degree their families farm the land. Both teachers and children in business administration. lived in constant fear of the guerrilla fighters who were Flor came to this country empty handed but filled threatening the country and recruiting kids as young as with hope, searching for a better future, which she 12. Hiding during guerrilla raids was a routine practice. found. She’s proud of her family, proud of being a U.S. While living in Virginia, Flor met and fell in love citizen, and happy to be living the American dream. with Harold Davis, a West Virginian working in D.C. These days, there’s a lot of talk about illegal immi- at the time. They got married and moved to the Eastern grants in the United States. But legal immigrants don’t Panhandle. When Flor brought her children to the seem to get the respect or recognition they deserve
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 7 A Dream Rooted in Saigon, Realized in Shepherdstown Wendy Sykes Mopsik
s a high school senior with little background in chose for his growing family was in Martinsburg, geography or politics but a keen sense of world West Virginia. Anews, I vividly remember marches, demonstra- Over the years of driving country roads between tions, and rallies. The war in Vietnam was front and Charles Town and Martinsburg, Nguyen discovered center in our minds as fellow graduates were drafted or Shepherdstown. He began to explore the town, sensing volunteered. Views were strong on all sides of the issue. that it would be a good place for a business. The timing Understood only in the abstract, the people of Vietnam of his discovery coincided with the feeling that casino were not part of the equation. hours were too demanding for a father of two young Fast forward to November 2015, when a brand-new boys. He wanted to “hang out on weekends and holidays nail salon appeared on Princess Street in Shepherdstown. with the family,” engaging in his favorite pastimes of Our small town did offer its residents and visitors many hiking, fishing, and swimming. Nguyen dreamed of services and all kinds of unique goods, and some hair being his own boss and running his own salon as his salons offered manicures and pedicures on the side, but sister had done years before. Helping a friend with a there was no manicure-pedicure spa. The prospect of salon in Martinsburg and returning to beauty school for having such a place close to home propelled me into TD PHOTOS BY WENDY MOPSIK Nails and Spa to take a closer look. Gracious host and owner Tony Nguyen is proud to welcome clients to his new nail salon. The congenial proprietor, Tho Nguyen, greeted me with smiles and information. He proudly outlined And the culture of Atlantic City was all about casi- the kinds of manicures available, pointing to the six nos! Tony Nguyen decided that his next step would be stations for transforming fingernails and six pedicure to embrace it with enthusiasm, and he soon enrolled at chairs equipped with warm whirling water for a relaxing a school sponsored by the casino industry. For the next foot bath and massage. Intrigued by the possibility of five years he earned an ample income as a poker dealer spending a therapeutic, well-deserved afternoon under at the Taj Mahal Casino Resort and became quite profi- professional care, I made an appointment. cient at his specialty. But a different career was always “Tony” Nguyen, as he prefers to be called, has a lurking in his mind: a career that occupied the days of a story that begs to be told. The journey from his birth- great many Vietnamese Americans. place in Saigon to owning a business in Shepherdstown In large cities and small towns across the United is a tale of determination and resourcefulness. Born into States, one can always find a thriving nail salon employ- a family of five brothers and three sisters, he entered ing a workforce from the local Vietnamese community. the post-wartime world of Vietnam in 1984. Nguyen’s Busy workers take out the latest mobile device and use father had been a “big man” in South Vietnam and con- break time to text or converse in their native language TD Nails and Spa offers manicures, pedicures, and waxing in a sequently suffered considerably after the United States while waiting for the next customer. Beginning in relaxing, professional setting. left the country to Communist forces. Imprisoned for 15 Atlantic City and later branching out to the Gulf Coast years, the patriarch was forced to see his large family of Florida, Nguyen’s siblings were part of this mass recertification while continuing his regular job was all become dependent on his wife’s ingenuity and the help phenomenon. After completing a course at the nearest the preparation he needed. of older siblings until he could get re-established. certified beauty school, several brothers and sisters When Suite 10 at 207 S. Princess Street became Following a path taken by many Vietnamese who began their careers as nail technicians and some eventu- available, Nguyen and his wife Xuan “Sue” Tran seized struggled in the aftermath of government change ally became shop owners. the opportunity. The 1,000 square feet of space includes and economic instability, the Nguyens immigrated to Nguyen was tired of poker tables and wanted a a private waxing room, allows for lots of natural light, Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1992, where an uncle had change. His older sister had already established her and has a wall area that can accommodate three large, already put down roots. Tony, then almost nine years salon in Mays Landing, New Jersey, and was happy to mounted, flat-screen televisions. There’s also ample free old, still remembers boarding an airplane for the first employ her brother after his graduation from beauty parking in front of the shop. Nguyen and two other nail time and staring at the food served which was much too school. His experience learning to execute the perfect technicians pamper customers with hand massages, hot strange to eat. He laughed as he remembered the fam- manicure—while observing the details of running a towels, and various kinds of manicures and pedicures six ily’s layover in Singapore. “We were put up in a hotel successful business—was a decisive stop on Nguyen’s days a week from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the night. They gave us a whole roasted chicken for journey from Saigon to Shepherdstown. But a few Three generations of the Nguyen family are now dinner and we couldn’t believe that we could eat the bumps redirected him along the way. United States citizens, and Tho Nguyen’s dream is a whole thing.” His sister sold her salon to move to a warmer reality. “I just want the business to grow, to work hard, Growing up in Atlantic City was a good experi- climate. His next job dealing poker at the Borgata to live my life, and whatever comes will come,” he ence, and the youngest Nguyen loved it. He graduated Hotel Casino ended with the economic slump of 2007. affirmed. “I don’t need anything else.” from high school, where he was part of a substantial Marriage to a woman he met while visiting relatives in Vietnamese community. Although his mother spoke Vietnam created more responsibility, and relocating to little English and retained much of their previous Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races meant leaving Wendy Sykes Mopsik admits to occasionally giving in traditions, the rest of the family easily assimilated into New Jersey. But that is exactly what he did! His new to the urge to be pampered with an afternoon at American culture. position was poker dealer supervisor, and the house he TD Nails in Shepherdstown.
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 8 Blue Ridge Toy Company Claire Stuart
he wooden toy cars, trucks, and trains crafted by Vanessa Morris Taren’t brightly colored, and they use no batteries. They don’t make any sounds, so your little ones will have to make their own “vroom vroom” or “choo choo” noises. If these little vehi- cles are going to move, your youngsters PHOTOS BY VANNESSA PHOTOS MORRIS BY VANNESSA must push or pull them. Truck with bed Custom truck Farm truck Helicopter Of course, there are no stories from popular children’s books or TV She was repurposing before that term “It’s an shows to go with these toys and set up became popular. Old crates and trunks opportunity to expectations on how to play. In short, become shelves and bookcases. Wooden make up new kids will have a chance to exercise their factory carts with metal wheels are trans- things,” she says. creativity and make up their own stories formed into glass-topped coffee tables. Her work- and games the way that children always Her raw materials include things like shop in a small did in the not-so-distant past. Morris’s orchard bulk bins, corncribs, old doors, outbuilding is aim is to inspire imaginative play. beams, and boxes. She rescues cutoff packed from floor The designs are whimsical and wood from furniture makers and other to ceiling with unique. Many of them are based on woodworkers and wood from old barns, boards and slabs Small block set Police car antique vehicles, including old-fashioned sheds, damaged buildings, and closing of various variet- firetrucks, police cars, trains, and farm businesses. She sometimes salvages logs ies of wood, tools, and countless little wooden toys as decorative items. For trucks. Her toys are all heirloom quality, from downed trees with usable wood, vehicles in various states of completion. them, Morris has designed some vehicles built to take the rough handling that kids dries them, and mills the wood. She will At first glance, the toys look alike, but a that are meant to sit on a desk and hold can dish out and remain in good shape to travel as far as 300 miles to salvage wood closer examination of the details shows business cards. be handed down to another generation. but generally tries to stay within about 50 that each toy is one of a kind, slightly Morris is always open to new ideas. Originally from Alabama, wood- miles of home. different from all others. If you don’t see the toy you want on her worker Vanessa Morris came from a “I have walnut from a tree cut from All of the toys are made from clean website, contact her about custom cre- creative family, and her dad did fine railroad tracks during Snowmageddon recovered wood that has never been ations. She can also create custom toys woodworking. She always enjoyed work- and Osage orange wood cut from pow- treated with any chemicals, and the colors for promotions and charitable events. ing with her hands, and says she was erlines,” she reports. “And I have some are the natural colors of the wood. A new In addition to making toys, Morris encouraged to see what she could make old beams from [Shepherd University] line for toddlers features smaller vehicles supplies reclaimed wood to other wood- out of whatever materials were available. McMurran Hall.” with no parts that could come off and crafters such as bowl turners and fine arts “I always enjoyed the hunt for old Morris’s garage is stacked full of pose a danger. They have no headlights or box makers. She also builds displays for things that could become something wood of all kinds, and she points out steering wheels and no finish. other artists. else,” she says. the differences in the grains and natural Morris also makes sets of wooden Morris believes in giving back to the Her Blue Ridge Toy Company is colors of the wood. She notes that she building blocks with blocks in various community, and she participates in many part of her business, Blue Ridge Salvage. also has a cargo container at another site sizes, shapes, and colors. They are pains- fundraisers and charitable events for local Since about 1998, Morris has been that is filled with “stuff.” takingly crafted for safety, each block and national charities. She has donated engaged in architectural salvage, creating “I can tell you the story of some hand-sanded multiple times and sealed thousands of toys over the years to help furniture and what she calls “nonstandard wood pieces,” she says, and the story is with a food-grade, butcher-block finish. raise funds for various causes. decorative things” from salvaged wood. passed along with the items she creates. Morris says that her nieces are her Morris’s toys are available through Morris has been making test subjects for new toy designs. She her website and locally at O’Hurley’s wooden toys since 2009. “A shared that one niece who will be six General Store in Shepherdstown friend of mine knew an older this year takes after her and immediately and Black Dog Coffee Company in gent who made toys,” she says, has her own ideas on what to do with a Shenandoah Junction. Her toys have also “and he needed some help with novel toy. been juried in to sell at Tamarack: The lifting and carrying. I learned When Morris has displays at events, Best of West Virginia, the nation’s first from him as I helped him.” she observes that three kinds of kids center for a state’s handcrafts, in Beckley. It evolved into something come to her table. She says that there are You can see more of her work at of an apprenticeship, and Morris some children who know how to play. http://blueridgesalvage.com. learned traditional toy-making They quickly pick up a car or train and skills and techniques from the start making up stories. Then there are master artisan. There are no children who pick up toys and expect Claire Stuart has a great appreciation patterns for the cars, trucks them to do something or make a noise for creative people, particularly those and trains, only a concept, and seem puzzled when they do not. who work with their hands. Tow truck with car Morris explained. Finally, there are “adult kids” who collect
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 9 John W. Aldis Heroin: In the Den of a Demon
Zakee McGill
he awakes to screams outside her door. “Oh my Aldis, who has spent thousands of his own money God, call an ambulance! She’s dead, she’s dead!” to purchase Narcan administration kits, has also been SFrantic knocks convince her to rise, to find the asked, “Why bother bringing these people back? They’re source of the hysteria. She starts to follow, then runs back just addicts.” The answer, the doctor says, lies in the to retrieve the Narcan. She’s led down the hall to an open faces of those who show up for the classes: the moth- door and a pregnant woman lying frozen, unconscious on ers and sisters and adult children, the faces of people a bed. The lips are already blue. And in that place where who live in fear of finding a loved one given up for time collapses, she forgets her fear, her inexperience, rips dead. “One of my patients told me of a young boy who the vial from the box, screws on the nasal piece and dis- witnessed the use of Narcan. He turned to his aunt, who charges the spray up one nostril then the other. She strains now has custody of him, and asked, ‘Why didn’t you do to remember how many minutes to wait before a second that for my mom?’” dose. But just before she hears the EMTs over her shoul- Yet Aldis admits that reviving them is just the der, the woman jerks, and then coughs. So she returns to Aldis with patient beginning of a long road back to sobriety and health. her own bed, having saved both mother and an unborn He underwent special training to be able to prescribe child, and wonders when she will be able to see Dr. Aldis Suboxone, a medication that decreases the extreme crav- again to replace the kit she had intended to use on one of ings for heroin and other opioid drugs like painkillers. her own daughters, if the time comes. Facing sometimes hostile opposition from the public and Dr. John Aldis’s Narcan instruction workshops even other physicians, Aldis is convinced by his patients’ debuted several months ago at the NewLife Clinic, a outcomes of the need for an opioid substitute to get drug abuse and addiction center in Martinsburg. The addicts away from the frantic pursuit of illicit drugs and clinic’s waiting area was standing-room only, full of back to their jobs, their families, and counseling. mostly young female patients and family members. One However, Aldis believes that Suboxone is only woman has a bruised eye, another a bandage covering “medication-assisted treatment.” Holistic treatment is half of her face. This is the face of heroin after all, multifaceted and composed of counseling and support distraught and wounded. When all of us are led into his groups, exercise and nutrition, help rebuilding broken office, it is clear that the news has gone out over social relationships with spouses and families, and time for media and by word of mouth. We are packed in and, patients to heal from the ravages of their disease and despite the overheated room and palpable anxiety, there their drug-seeking behavior. He emphasizes: “They need is rapt attention to learning how to revive a person who everything anyone else needs who is suffering from a could die from an overdose of an opioid drug before chronic, relapsing condition. We don’t tell diabetics, an ambulance arrives. West Virginia leads the nation in ‘Oh, well, you fell off your food plan, your glucose is PHOTOS BY ZAKEE MCGILL overdose deaths. sky high, and you’re sick again, so we’re not giving you John Aldis and Pheny Cheah Aldis This is hardly the first time Aldis has walked any more medications.’” knowingly into the den of a demon. Drafted right John’s childhood home in Shepherdstown, which Aldis says that addiction, like all chronic diseases, out of a medical internship into the Navy during the the Aldises were able to purchase after they retired from has remissions and exacerbations. Those addicted to Vietnam War, he identified a parasite that was killing the Foreign Service in 2001, offers the avid attention of opioids need practitioners who understand the nature of its human hosts in Indonesia, all while addressing the two Jack Russells, the warm wood of original cabinetry, this disease and are willing to commit to the patient “for general medical concerns of the enlisted men and their the spiritual symbols of East and West, animal portraits the long haul.” He goes on to say, “People who decide families at a communications outpost. His wife, Pheny by one of their two daughters, and photos of their three they want to get off heroin will still have to wait six Cheah Aldis, a medical technologist, guided the young grandchildren. It’s a place of calm that does not let on months for an appointment at any clinic in this area. If family practitioner in the creation of laboratory exper- to the turmoil of decades in overseas service to their they can’t get Suboxone and accidentally overdose on tise far from any sophisticated medical center. country, a CIA overthrow, and all the medical close calls street drugs, they certainly deserve to be brought back Theirs has been a marriage of synchronicity, start- and heartbreaks. and to try again.” ing with their undergraduate days at Kansas University, When asked why he was wading into the headache Dr. Aldis’s Narcan instruction class is held every where they first met and fell in love while learning of addiction treatment after such an arduous and lengthy Friday at 6 p.m. at Callahan Counseling Services, microbiology, through all his assignments in the Navy career instead of just enjoying retirement, he replied, 1020 Winchester Avenue in Martinsburg. Call ahead to and then as a medical officer in the Foreign Service of “There is nowhere for an addict to go around here for help. reserve a place. the U.S. State Department. Humorously, Aldis notes For years I was trying to help a young guy who worked that some assume they met while he was working in with me as a gardener. A very nice guy; we became Asia; Pheny’s parents are ethnic Chinese who grew friends. When he finally admitted to me that he was Zakee McGill is a medical doctor and co-host of up in Indonesia. Pheny and John as adolescents were addicted to heroin, I was willing to spend my own money Health & Wellness Wednesday, the Are You Crazy? each the head of their own local Methodist Youth to get help for him. But he had to travel miles away. It’s show, 7:30–9 a.m., Shepherd University Radio, 89.7FM, Fellowships yet separated by half a globe until that outrageous. There was no way he could maintain a job and www.897WSHC.org. He welcomes questions and com- fortuitous intersection in Kansas. get treatment. And he eventually died of an overdose.” ments at [email protected].
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 10
Meet Pastor Ginger! Mary Bell
ccording to Pastor Ginger Medley, her “minis- morning service in the sanctuary. In coming to fruition, try vision is best illustrated by Isaiah 58:6: ‘To addition to preaching, Medley has African Americans have Aloose the bonds of wickedness. To undo the a special love for conducting the other sources to meet heavy burdens. To let the oppressed go free. And that sacraments—leading communion and some of these needs. “The you break that yoke.’” Pastor Ginger, as she prefers to performing baptisms. church does not have to be called, exemplifies that vision every day in her role She describes Asbury United meet every need,” explains as associate pastor of Asbury United Methodist Church Methodist Church as a community Medley. And that allows in Shepherdstown. church and not exclusively an African- the church to be primarily Medley, who grew up in Winchester, Virginia, felt American church. “You’ll find a a church. her first call to Christ through television. “We were diverse community at our services,” Medley sees the Christmas and Easter churchgo- she adds. “All church as a place of ers,” she says with a smile. “And colors and hope, grace, redemption, always to Grandmother’s church.” kinds, and all affirmation, and empow-
But she was truly exposed to the are welcome.” PHOTOS PROVIDED BY GINGER MEDLEY erment. In her ministry, church for the first time on televi- When she came Medley performing her first river baptism, of Hez she emphasizes investing House member Amanda Licea, in September 2015 sion, and it was through watching to the Eastern in relationships and in the Potomac River a televangelist, when she was 15, Panhandle in seeing people grow. She that Pastor Ginger “acknowledged 2007, she found that the Asbury and others in the Asbury United Methodist community her need for salvation,” she said. congregation includes an active lead small groups that emphasize mentoring and the She graduated from and vibrant West African com- “4-Pillar” practices: praying, studying, giving, and serv- Hampton University in 1997 munity that was new to her. ing. Some groups are open or ongoing, and others have with a bachelor’s degree in mass The role and functions of a fixed enrollment. Asbury United Methodist Church’s media and advertising. “I thought the church must change and website at www.4pillarchurch.org describes the small- I was going to be on televi- have changed with the times, she group experience. sion,” she explains. She became observes. “When I was growing Its missions extend well beyond Jefferson County. involved in Guilfield Baptist Pastor Ginger Medley up, even though we didn’t go It supports “Imagine No Malaria,” an effort of the Church in Millwood, Virginia, a to church, there were no soccer United Methodist Church to end preventable deaths primitive Baptist church, and “surrendered her life to games scheduled on Sunday from malaria in Africa. Christ” in 1997. Accepting the call to ministry there in and there were blue laws”— This program purchases 1999, in 2000 she became the first woman licensed to laws that restricted the sale insecticide-treated bed preach in that church, an accomplishment of which she of alcohol on Sunday, for nets to keep mosquitos is proud. example. Now, families are away, supports over 300 Medley first joined Asbury United Methodist crammed with activities, local clinics that treat Church in 2007, when her husband, Elder Blane Medley, juggling day care, school patients, and trains local became minister of music. Following her own call to the activities, and multiple jobs. community health educa- ministry, she attended Wesley Theological Seminary in And Sunday is much like tors on the importance of Washington, D.C., where she graduated with honors in every other day. Asbury draining standing water, 2014. When she graduated, the congregation at Asbury United Methodist meets improving and maintaining A few of the former and current members of the Hez House asked the bishop to appoint her and, to the delight of all this changing environment Band, all Shepherd University students or graduates. Left to sanitation, and trimming involved, he did. with a plethora of activi- right: Ally Rosle, Caroline Shamberger, House Worship Leader certain foliage where Medley loves to preach, and she preaches every ties, called “The Asbury Eduardo Rivera, Allyson Bayer, Matt Lind. mosquitos breed. Sunday at 9:30 a.m., as part of a nontraditional wor- Academy,” that meets Medley describes ship service at Asbury United Methodist Church called throughout the week. It offers activities for all ages and herself as passionate about worship, connecting with Hezekiah’s House. Hezekiah’s House is a “ministry interests, including fitness, dancing, academic enrich- people, and strengthening disciplines. With love and movement of Asbury focused on reaching new people for ment, Bible study, and stewardship. open arms, she invites all to share joyfully in those pas- Christ.” This service has its special outreach to students, When discussing the role of the church, Medley sions through her ministry. young people, and people who are un-churched (those also observed that the traditionally African-American who have little or no experience with the church) or de- church has changed over the last few generations. “In Mary Bell is a Shepherdstown resident who has been churched (those who have left the church). It has some of the past, the church was sometimes the only avenue churched, de-churched, and re-churched. the elements of a traditional service, including scripture for African Americans for not only spiritual growth, readings and preaching, plus a band, coffeehouse, and but also culture, education, professional training, and Asbury United Methodist Church other forms of fellowship. The people on whom this business and community connections. Other avenues 4257 Kearneysville Pike services focuses are often more comfortable with an simply were not available to African Americans.” Now, Shepherdstown, WV 25443 informal style of worship than with the traditional Sunday with many of the goals of the civil rights movement 304-876-3112 • [email protected]
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 11 ARTWORKS A Picture of Pang Hannah Cohen
ife is very real, and it happens every second of The banal routine can be beautiful; these are the real every minute of every day. We live it and live moments of a person’s life. within it. Even when beauty is raw emotion, life Her clients ask her to photograph life’s important isL very beautiful. It is captivating. Many moments of life moments, and often life-changing events: engagements, go by unnoticed because they are lived. Some are monu- weddings, births, and timeline family portraits. Just as mental, and as a result of their deemed importance, we she aims to capture a candid moment in a staged scene, celebrate with parties and pictures. But have you ever Tubhirun reminds us that the everyday moments are found yourself willing your mind to sear a mental image strikingly beautiful as well: in your kitchen making of a moment, one where you do not possess a camera? dinner, getting your children ready for school, eating a Have you stared so intensely at something, let time slow, family dinner. You will forget that she is there, and she and forced your emotions to etch a mental memory, a will capture you. picture? And while you can do nothing but let the edges Tubhirun uses two cameras: her Canon 5D camera of your vision blur, block off the rapid fire of the world and her iPhone—for traveling and to always be prepared around you, and in a second, a few seconds, or maybe for a picture to come into view. Although digital photog- longer, be fully present, the photographer presses the raphy has advanced the camera’s potential, the camera shutter release. does not make the photographer. She does not believe Photos keep a moving moment still and preserved. that you must have a nice camera to take a good photo. Nothing can be found in the photo that did not exist To date, her work has been featured in the Observer, elsewhere in that second, although it can reveal what we Blisss magazine, the Hagerstown Magazine, Arlington were too immersed to see. A photo is a life documented. Magazine, and WV Weddings. A photo she submitted to Pang Tubhirun is a photographer; she is also a “Looking at Appalachia,” a national photography show creator of documentaries, a lover of nature, and a patient that includes the work of photographers from New York artist. In 2013 Tubhirun founded Pangtography, her pho- to Mississippi, is currently traveling with that exhibit. A tography business. In the years since she began photo- short documentary she produced has been featured by graphing professionally, Pangtography has flourished to The Atlantic. Though she is her toughest critic, her work levels Tubhirun never dreamed. Both professionally and speaks for itself. Referrals have grown Pangtography personally, Tubhirun’s work mainly focuses on people entirely by word of mouth to clients as far away as and our interactions with nature and each other. PHOTO TUBHIRUN, BY PANGTOGRAPHY PANG Sonoma, California; Denver, Colorado; and Portland, Tubhirun prefers to work outdoors and in natural Self-portrait Maine. Tubhirun’s work has not officially been displayed lighting. Using nature as the framework, her subjects are in a show (yet), but over the seasons of 2016, readers of placed in a comfortable environment, such as their wed- What do people reveal to the camera that they do the GOOD NEWS PAPER will have an opportunity to ding venue, a special place, or workshop. If photograph- not reveal to themselves? look through her lens, at how she sees us—she will be ing inside, natural light fills the created space. Truth. the year’s featured cover artist. Her work resides in the moments when we forget Tubhirun became a photographer because she As she grows both professionally and personally, to be staged. The smile that we know is expected of us, always had a camera and was always taking pictures. her goal is to merge the stories that she photographs in or the angle we should face the camera, or the tension Gaining some exposure in high school in a dark room, order to become a photojournalist. But Tubhirun also rising in our cheeks from a smile that has lasted too long Tubhirun captured the moments around her. For personal knows that she already is one. As a professor reminded for our emotions to extend are not often present in her development, she challenged herself to take one picture her, taking photos every day is documenting a life. photos. She is not looking to deliver what we expect in a a day for a year. photo; she is waiting… In 2014 she attended the Salt Institute of Waiting to deliver who we are in the intervals when Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine, for an Hannah Cohen loves photographs. In college she made we forget a camera exists in front of us—when we intensive seminar on documentary photography and a photo collage covering an entire wall. She and her for- let the emotions among ourselves gather, release, and multimedia. Throughout this experience, Tubhirun’s pro- mer roommate are still friends. trigger a physical reaction. One hand finds another, one fessors guided her through her only structured teaching chin tilts, eyes cast a glance, the muscles in the face thus far. For the kid in high school who wanted to study move with the thoughts in our heads, our body moves journalism, a camera rather than a pen became her Pang Tubhirun, Pangtography with us, and the camera’s shutter snaps. When the view- medium of human study. Her favorite assignment at the [email protected] finder is placed at her eye, Tubhirun says she is waiting Salt Institute was to follow a stranger for 24 hours and www.pangtography.com probably “90 percent of the time for that 10 percent,” to document that person’s life. Learning who her subject capture a “relaxed and retrospective moment.” is enhances her ability to photograph the “little things.” ARTWORK
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 12
PANG TUBHIRUN, PANGTOGRAPHY
Morgan, Patch, and Patrick embracing Having fun with the Kruger family in one of One of my favorite photographs from a wedding last fall. each other after exchanging vows at Shepherdstown’s back alleys. Shepherdstown Presbyterian.
Peeks of light—On the way to their reception venue, Jade and Jonah stop to spend a moment together.
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 13 ARTWORKS
Julie and Craig in front of some street art during their love session in Philadelphia. Pride—Struggling with self identity, I often photograph into windows or out of them (outsider looking in). Most of my personal work includes the American flag and the inner struggle I have with being an American at heart but not on paper.
Kisses—I love photographing life’s little beautiful moments. Right before Emele walked down Evin and Barry were married at Blue Moon Rising, a beautiful retreat in McHenry, Maryland. the aisle, her mother gives her a sweet little kiss.
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY PANG TUBHIRUN
See artworks in color at shepherdstowngoodnewspaper.org
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 14 POETRY ‘Focus your iris and draw your own maps’ Tucker Riggleman: Poems
Silver Queen I Was Stupid When I Was Young There was a moment when I could still Sunshine was a luxury that we couldn’t afford back then Discern my name breathed through In fact, I don’t recall a single window in the entire house The silver queen fields— Saturday nights spilled over into Sunday’s shame Syllables choked on chlorophyll I remember quieting my keys as I’d sneak to my room Consonants drunk on dandelion But the clocks were desperate for calibration Head still dizzy from the previous night’s poison So I forgot about time But I cannot blame the chemicals It was my hand that wrote the prescription I had friends who never settled My mouth that invited the lightning Or complained about rough beginnings My brain that begged for the heat Refused to accept anything but the sun Trophies held with blistered fingers On more than one occasion I probably almost died Mountains built on third-degree degrees It’s easy to confuse exhaustion with giving up But they expected reciprocal dialogue I remember wanting nothing else but to just feel normal So I forgot about people Twenty-three years (give or take) of living on polar extremes Trading one form of therapy for another, only to end up the same And once I owned a mirror But I cannot blame the method That only entreated honesty It was my eyes that read the label Historical like the kind that used to exist My guts that savored the storm Countenance reflected like obsidian My lungs that inhaled the venom Background blurred with motor oil But it swore I saw the truth I got out the way most do—a gas pedal and a scholarship So I forgot about me But I didn’t completely dodge the shadows They still hold a piece of me ransom on the weekends and the long nights Because you can’t stare into the darkness for that long Conifer Without letting your curiosity test the waters How do we measure the cost of sacrifice? But I cannot blame the absence of light Is it magnified by the essence of youth It was my grief that closed the blinds Or the ease of frailty? My soul that sought the shade When does one accept that we are nothing but moving ghost bones? And my heart that let you go
I used to fancy myself a conifer That I would remain—defiant, evergreen Iris While I watched those around me splinter My vision failed me in my twenties And crumble into the soil Faded into neon and a lightless apartment Propelled by the slow rot of compulsion But I suppose I was more like corn silk Saturated by years of empty decadence A temporary protector of something golden A bone saw handle delivering the means A moon spell plea to restore my faith in clay and dust
To amputate what had rotted and been absolved of use But the stars colluded against me in a jealous coup PHOTO BY MELINDA SCHMITT A wild dog muzzle holding back the severity Left me shattered with lead shoes and a blood thirst Tucker Riggleman was born Of our actions, and the reality of our dreams To rival a starved shark in the deep end and raised in the countryside that The desire to control is unnatural and violent Somewhere along the way, our lineage was preserved surrounds the small factory town So I made myself deciduous so I could die after each frost By flight at the hands of torture and repetition of Moorefield, West Virginia. An And try to feel nurtured long after There is nothing noble in avoidable slaughter alumnus of Shepherd University, I’ve lost my milk teeth Listen: there has never been a better time to run Tucker has spent the better part of his post-college years as a travel- Pay no mind if the mountains mock you ing musician. Possessing an equal They simply wish they had your speed respect of both words and music, Dream of all that nameless water that you would never see Focus your iris and draw your own maps Riggleman’s poetry unfolds like memoirs of a young man who couldn’t wait to leave small town Appalachia but has grown to love and try and understand the place that he calls home.
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 15 EARTHBEAT The Conservation Curmudgeon Mark Madison
The idea of wilderness needs no defense. protections so that extinction is now the rarest of and making the nation a better place for all of us to live. It only needs more defenders. things, not the norm. The Environmental Protection “Bureaucrat bashing” is cheap and simplistic criticism —Edward Abbey, 1977 Agency makes the world a healthier place. Before the that in no way speaks to the real work of a park ranger, EPA was established in 1970, rivers caught on fire, a NASA scientist, or a national wildlife refuge manager. am writing this on Edward Abbey’s birthday lakes were polluted with phosphates and toxins, and Everyone agrees that the government could be improved, (January 29), and it occurs to me that we need DDT threatened to make the bald eagle extinct. We but that requires an end to uninformed bashing and Imore conservation curmudgeons. Born in 1927, live in a cleaner, safer world thanks to the EPA, and instead once again attracting the “best and brightest” to Abbey was a longtime National Park no sane person would want to go federal service. Service seasonal ranger and a gifted back to the toxic environment prior Sixth, our kids need to be outside more in natural writer whose most famous works to 1970. If you don’t care whether areas! Yes, I know parents and children are busier than were Desert Solitaire (1968) and children and future generations ever with sports, academics, and work. But this sixth The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975). can enjoy a cleaner environment truth may be the most important determinant of whether Abbey was also a curmudgeon who and the same wild experiences we even have an environmental future. We know in spoke truth to power and wrote you enjoy, then we have nothing to our hearts and from scientific field studies that youths about the natural world with a clear- discuss. You are wrong. who experience the outdoors, appreciate it, and engage eyed honesty we find all too rare Third, the with it throughout their lifetime since his death in 1989. environmental are happier and healthier and are So in the spirit of Abbey movement was better citizens of the world. So what (albeit with considerable less writ- created by peo- exactly is more important right now ing talent), let me take the role ple who worked than taking your child camping, of conservation curmudgeon and Conservation curmudgeon Edward Abbey and enjoyed the hiking, fishing, canoeing, hunting, share six environmental truths that (1927–1989) land in many or birding? we are normally too timid or too polite to voice. In the ways! Theodore Roosevelt was an Lest I seem too negative in the words once again of Abbey: “Better a cruel truth than a avid hunter, a published ornitholo- above harsh truths, let me end with comfortable delusion.” So now some cruel truths we too gist, and a Dakota rancher from a 1976 speech Edward Abbey gave rarely express these days. 1884 to 1898. He also created the to environmentalists in Missoula, First, America’s public lands are a great asset for all National Wildlife Refuge System, Montana, showing that even the American people! In light of a recent occupation of one the U.S. Forest Service, and many most dedicated curmudgeon can of our national wildlife refuges by a group of half-wits, of our early national parks. His have an optimistic side: it is worth remembering that public lands are owned by conservation adviser, Gifford It is not enough to fight for the American public for the benefit of all Americans. To Pinchot, was a trained forester and the land; it is even more important claim to return them to the people is ludicrous, and to an avid fisherman who helped coin to enjoy it. While you can. While attempt to return them to a small group of opportunists the new term “conservation” and it’s still here. So get out there and is criminal. Public lands are a great gift the American later served as the first chief of the hunt and fish and mess around with people have given themselves. The public is not regu- Forest Service and as a Republican your friends, ramble out yonder and larly invited to hunt in people’s backyards, to camp on governor of Pennsylvania. The great explore the forests, climb the moun- private farms, to fish on private beaches, or to birdwatch divide in the environmental move- tains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, on the wooded estates of millionaires. Yet the American ment lay not between hunters and breathe deep of that yet sweet and public is given access to all these activities and many birders or ranchers and rangers, but lucid air, sit quietly for a while and more in our national forests, national parks, Bureau of rather between those who appreci- contemplate the precious stillness, PHOTOS SUPPLIED BY MARK MADISON Land Management lands, and national wildlife refuges. ate wild places in a variety of ways Child enjoying outdoors—and the lovely, mysterious, and awesome These federal public lands are economic drivers for their and those who would despoil those marshmallows! space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your local communities and important ecological repositories places for private profit or through brain in your head and your head for our nation’s plants and animals. The recreational, indifference or malevolence. firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, economic, and ecological values of these lands are Fourth, global climate change is real! Deal with it and I promise you this much; I promise you this one immense and that is why they were set aside; that is why or get out of the way of those scientists who are trying sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound the vast majority of Americans value them. to deal with it. men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, Second, federal environmental laws are a good Fifth, federal service is a noble duty! (See points and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise thing! Before the Lacey Act (1900) and the Migratory one through four above.) Twice I have taken the oath to you this; You will outlive the bastards. Bird Treaty (1916), we regularly made species extinct “support and defend the Constitution,” as a Peace Corps through overhunting, commercial markets in game volunteer and a federal employee. The vast majority of meat and bird feathers, and general indifference. federal employees are dedicated and hard-working peo- Mark Madison is usually very genial and rarely this The Endangered Species Act (1973) expanded these ple who are idealistic about upholding the Constitution much of a curmudgeon.
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 16 Ralph Scorza Discovery in the Other Direction
Eleanor Johnson Hanold
ou may recall that Ralph Scorza, who was fea- his team were able to spearhead a fast-track breeding tured in the GNP Winter 2013 edition, is an system that dramatically reduced the generation time Yaward-winning artist who creates jewelry that he for stone fruit. The first fruit tree genetically engineered hopes will serve as enduring symbols of memories and to be highly resistant to plum pox virus approved for relationships. Scorza, the scientist, who for 35 years has cultivation by the USDA was also a result of his and his been the research horticulturist and lead scientist for the team’s hard work. Genetic Improvement of Fruit Crops Research Unit at Impressive accomplishments, I suggest—signifi- the Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, cantly contributing to the world’s food supply, increasing merits attention, too. In September 2015 he was the variety of fruit, ensuring disease-free trees to plant, PHOTOS BY ELEANOR JOHNSON HANOLD inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Agricultural using the latest science and technology to create safer Scorza with several of his Fruit Improvement team Research Service, a scientific research agency of the food, and contributing to better use and preservation of members—Doug Raines, Mark Demuth, Courtney Hollender, U.S. Department of Agriculture. the land. Yet Ralph Scorza is an unassuming man who, Chinnathambi Srinivasan. The ARS Hall of Fame induction is recognition that when pressed to compare himself to pioneers in his Scorza, through his leadership and innovative work, has field, insists he is unable to do so. A quote attributed to Confucius comes to Scorza’s made a major impact on agricultural research affecting Scorza does acknowledge admiration for Charles mind: “Find a job you love, and you’ll never work a day how people live their lives, feed the world, and interact Darwin, whom he describes as “someone who gener- in your life.” with their environment. His leadership and work were ously shared what he observed in nature, was innovative, He feels fortunate to interact regularly with intel- perceived by the agricultural research community as and inspired others to think differently about the world.” ligent people who inspire and question; and to have outstanding, original, and beneficial over time, both Darwin, Scorza says, was “a tremendous experimenter, work that varies from reviewing data, writing a research nationally and internationally. Additionally, he was seen worked hard, had great insight, and brought a fresh publication or a report, collaborating with a team, com- to have demonstrated a record of achievement worthy of vision to science.” municating with people around the world, and traveling emulation by younger agricultural scientists. Won’t others remember Scorza in a similar light? to distant places. His job affords him variety in even Scorza says he prefers to be remembered by the impact a routine day, at times working in the office, labora- he has had on his wife and children. He hopes that his tory, greenhouse, or fields. He senses that agricultural children and future descendants will be motivated by his research will be ever more crucial to feeding the hungry, example to think creatively and to work toward making making the world safer by preserving and enhancing the a positive impact on the world. land and its use, and contributing to new ways of think- Throughout his life, Scorza has been interested ing about our food supply. in how things work and curious about nature, always Asked, “With your love of both science and art, asking questions and wondering. He is a persistent man which comes first?” Scorza responds instantly: “Ah, the right up to implementing a vision, building understand- chicken or the egg? They are, to me, inseparable. There ing, and creating a product. is no first.” He states: “I enjoy seeing things in different ways, He goes on to say that a scientist and an artist science in general and, specifically understanding plants. use different methodologies and the work may fall at What makes a plant tick? How does a plant respond to opposite ends of the spectrum. The mind and spirit are the environment? What is the best use of the plant?” often taken to different places. Still, Scorza believes, Scorza inspects a group of peach seedlings from the 2015 An important part of Scorza’s work is promoting science and art have much in common. Both are time- breeding season that will fruit in 2019 or 2020. agricultural research nationally and internationally. He consuming, exacting, and technically challenging. values the opportunity to broaden the view of policy- “Scientists and artists,” he says, “need to be able The pioneering work Scorza and his team con- makers about agricultural research. He also values being to view the world differently, create their own rules, ducted involved original science discovery in several able to educate them on how farmers might use the land and search for what goes on in the other direction. areas. Among them was the determination of what genes so as to preserve it in its natural state as much as pos- Discovering new possibilities and approaches that lead cause different tree structures (architectures) and the sible, citing rainforests as one example. Collaborating to a product that is shared with others is what both sci- use of that information to genetically enhance fruit trees with other areas of scientific exploration to advance entists and artists do.” He pauses a moment and reflects, so that they do well in varied geographical areas. The knowledge, such as work he and his team did with “Isn’t the essence of the human spirit the ability to see discovery and implementation of specific biotechnology NASA, is also rewarding. Another aspect of his work is beauty and possibility in the world, in nature, and in techniques to improve the quality of long-living woody fostering young people’s interest in agricultural research. people?” It certainly seems so for Ralph Scorza. perennial fruit species was another. And new stone fruit He believes scientists of tomorrow must do more than (fruit with pits) were developed leading to the release build on current knowledge. They must be able to iden- of 12 varieties of peaches, nectarines, and plums, tify possibilities and find solutions to new problems. He Eleanor Johnson Hanold agrees with John Dewey’s including those with disease resistance and improved stresses the need to appropriately use innovative tools statement: “Every great advance in science has issued flavors. Scorza expresses special satisfaction that he and like computerization and nanotechnology. from a new audacity of imagination.”
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 17 New and Familiar Faces at WSHC, Shepherd University Radio John Case PHOTOS SUPPLIED BY JOHN CASE Cory Rieck with friend Jason McKahan John Case and Carol Robbins Zakee McGill
ike Pandora, the first human woman created by encyclopedic knowledge and memory of all things rock community base and tone through broad participation the gods in Greek mythology, WSHC has jeal- ’n’ roll is legendary, as is his dedication to principles in discussions. Eliot Simon’s Common Sense program, Lously kept hope in a secret box amid the diverse simply summarized as “Fight Fascism and Remember 9 to11 a.m. Saturdays, takes on political, musical, and currents of cultural and intellectual expression the radio the Station ID.” economic policy questions with lively interviews from the station has loosed upon the world since its birth in 1949. Rick Ford and Bill Simmons combine to make Republican and libertarian perspectives. WSHC has had many incarnations over the years WSHC the premier blues station for 500 miles in any Dr. Zakee McGill hosts the Are You Crazy? health but has broadcast 24-7 ever since former Sen. Robert direction. From 5 to 7 p.m. on Fridays and 1 to 3 p.m. and wellness show from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Wednesdays. The Byrd got our original license converted to a 1,000-Watt on Sundays you will hear blues only as folks who have show brings to light wide-ranging public health concerns, station in the 1970s, when FM radio took off as an alter- lived them can. Rick’s experience with some of the through in-depth interviews with experts in the fields native to the dominant AM radio environment. biggest names in blues (the Allman Brothers) and Bill’s of addiction, mental health, epidemics, international Despite today’s constraints and the erosion of mind-boggling collections will hook you and not let you pandemics, and health policy at the national, state, and state budgeting support for higher education, Shepherd go. They will be your comfort in every misfortune from local levels. Labor Beat, 7:30 to 9 a.m. Thursdays, gives University and its Communications Department are the day you tune in until the graveyard. It’s not clear lively special attention to workplace and work-life issues. investing in a serious update of WSHC transmitting if the choir in heaven sings the blues, but B.B. King is Show host John Christensen gives closer coverage of capacity. They are reinvigorating its live, recorded, and there now, and what else would he sing? Charleston legislative sessions than any other radio outlet. Internet-based programming among students, faculty, Scott Schmied hosts Happy Hour, 5 to 7 p.m. Joe Gray hosts 7 Generations, 11 a.m. to noon Saturdays, and the Shepherdstown community. A new transmitter Wednesdays, and the phone lines are crammed start showcasing the Shepherdstown area’s abundant experi- and other instrumentation, as well as a reinvestment to finish with queries and requests for Scott’s rich ments in sustainable local economies, agriculture, and in management of the station by the Communications collections and astute picks from Americana music. enterprise. He also hosts the music show Watchtower, Department, highlight their commitment. Scott is the recognizable front man for The Speakeasy 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesdays, where Joe Battles with Rooster, Dr. Kevin Williams, longtime past Communications Boys, an acoustic band famous in town for its musical host of the show Barnyard, 9 to 11 a.m. Tuesday, over Department chair and former manager of WSHC; Dr. diversity and Shepherdstown soul. He packs a lot of that who can play the most revolutionary music! Jason McKahan, current department chair; and Mike energy—and cool—into his radio program. Not least is The Good News Paper Radio Hour, McGough, a retired broadcasting industry veteran and Two very classy music shows: Cory Rieck’s Rieck hosted every other Saturday at noon by Michael instructor, have engaged to give the station a technical and Roll, 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays, and Colin McGuire’s Zagarella and Tony Russo. Tony has been in Flint, and spiritual reboot. Engineers Mike Hurst and Fran Local Playlist, 1 to 3 p.m. Fridays, focus on the diverse Michigan, personally bringing water and other supplies Little have donated hours of their time to keep the sta- and rich menu of live and local music in the Eastern desperately needed in that poisoned city. More reports tion on the air and in compliance. Panhandle but with different tastes. on the scene are coming. This show features interviews New student and community shows will soon There’s talk too! The Poetry Show, 7:30 to 9 about community and faith-based works to promote blossom on WSHC: Listen for Bent Nails, a “Click and a.m. Mondays, has featured over 200 poets. The list values binding our community together. Clack” style home improvement program. Or, focus on keeps growing. Listening to local poet and host Janet I have only scratched the surface. There is much, Underground Radio, Entertainment Talk. Comedy, theater, Harrison’s vast and rich selections of (mostly) modern much more. And room for even more! Yes, there is still art, the local and campus music scene—and more—com- poetry equates to a master’s in fine arts education. room for new live shows. Bring your idea and we will ing on board on WSHC. Check out our Google calendar Occupy WSHC, 7:30 to 9 a.m. Tuesdays, features hosts enthusiastically, and joyfully, as the Quakers say, wel- for WSHC at http://tinyurl.com/josama4. Gayle Becker, Patience Wait, and the inimitable Mike come every proposal for perfecting WSHC, our almost With new programming, veteran WSHC DJs are Diesel. They present a treasure house of interviews with divine, by-God, West Virginia jewel of community and picking up the pace of professionalism and connection local and community leaders, ordinary citizens and activ- student radio programming. to our listeners. Some headliners include: ists, and organizations, mostly, but not exclusively, left Ralph Petrie and his nearly decade-long WSHC of center. Issues of income inequality, climate change, John Case is a retired software engineer and union show, The Extended Porch, broadcasts rock ’n’ roll alternatives to coal industrial policy for West Virginia, representative. He hosts the Winners and Losers radio and deep Americana music 3 to 5 p.m. on Fridays. His and diverse public justice and peace concerns get a strong program on WSHC.
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 18 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Museum and Archives: From Mounted Beasts to Old Books
Claire Stuart
hat do an elephant’s foot, a printing press, a discovered a population of the last 13 wild whooping In the subsequent captive breeding program, crane box of old books, and a bird costume have cranes and initiated a breeding program by hatching costumes were worn by people who raised crane chicks, Win common? They are just a few of the var- their eggs in captivity. bringing the birds back from the brink of extinction. ied and often surprising items found in the collection of “He got his Silkie chickens to sit on crane eggs White coveralls resembling spacesuits completely the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Museum and Archives and hatch them,” Harold explained. covered the humans, and one costumed hand was made located at the National Conservation Training Center in into a puppet that looked like an adult crane’s head. The Shepherdstown. hatchlings were fed by the puppet so that they would not About half a million objects and documents repre- bond with humans and would learn to be birds. These senting the history of the USFWS and wildlife conserva- are the birds that were returned to the wild and taught to tion have become part of the collection of the Museum migrate by following ultralight airplanes. and Archives since it opened in 1997. Many have been Harold related the story behind Lucille the ferret. transferred from wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries Black-footed ferrets were believed to be extinct until around the nation or were donated by individuals, retir- a September day in 1981, on a Meeteetse, Wyoming, ees, or their families. ranch, when a dog named Shep killed an animal that Museum curator Jeanne Harold receives the had been raiding his food dish. He left the animal’s objects, catalogs them, and, being a conservator, main- body on the porch, where it was found by his owners, tains their physical condition and environment. Harold John and Lucille Hogg. They did not know what the explained that all of the museum’s objects are stored animal was, but Lucille thought it would be attractive under environmental and temperature control, and the mounted, so she took it to a local taxidermist. He lights have filters to bar damaging wavelengths. “The recognized it as an animal thought to be extinct and most important thing for the objects is to stabilize the called the Wyoming Game & Fish authorities. This led storage conditions,” she says. to the discovery of a small local population of black- As a “generalist” conservator, Harold worked on footed ferrets and the successful recovery program that many different types of objects before her tenure at the followed. Black-footed ferret celebrations are held not museum, including leather, archeological, and ethno- only in Meeteetse but in various zoos and museums graphic objects. In addition, she writes periodic articles around the nation to commemorate the animal’s return. about interesting items in the collection for the USFWS An old printing press stands in one corner of the magazine, Fish & Wildlife News. storeroom. Harold identified it as the printing press Mark Madison is the chief historian for USFWS, of J.N. “Ding” Darling, early 20th-century Pulitzer and he is tasked with getting information out to the Prize–winning political cartoonist for the Des Moines public. He maintains the historical social media on the Register. He was an avid conservationist and featured web, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. He also teaches conservation themes in many of his cartoons. President courses at NCTC and helps with the archives and designing of museum displays. He does much of the Continued on page 19 interpretation of objects in the museum. Some displays are located around the NCTC cam- pus in classrooms, lodges, and common areas. The main Conservation Museum features permanent displays trac- ing the history of conservation in America from earliest times to the modern day. Temporary displays are rotated in. At this visit, they included a model of conservation- ists Olaus and Margaret “Mardie” Murie’s log cabin; a mounted gray wolf; a huge mounted bear; a whooping crane costume; and Lucille, a mounted black-footed fer- ret, named for her finder. Harold was full of stories about the displays, objects in the storage area, and accomplishments of USFWS people. She explained that a Service biolo- gist named John Lynch was the first person to save an endangered species—the whooping crane. He Curator Jeanne Harold J.N. “Ding” Darling’s printing press
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 19
Continued from page 18
primary author of the Wilderness Act of 1964, which actually not an antique, and it was made from the skin permanently protects over a million acres of federal of a Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra. They are endangered, public land for the benefit of both people and wildlife. so it was confiscated.” He was the father of Ed Zahniser, Shepherdstown’s own Rhinos have been brought to the edge of extinction popular humorist and poet. for their horns that are used in Asian folk medicine The museum’s storage room is full of trophy and as handles for traditional Middle Eastern daggers. mounted heads and whole-body mounts of all sorts However, someone had a different purpose in mind for of animals and birds, domestic and foreign. The most a rhino head in the museum’s collection. It was meant impressive mounted animal is a huge, open-mouthed for display in someone’s home and it was confiscated tiger in lifelike attack position. Harold explained that a from an interior decorator who obtained it by bribing a wealthy Texas oil man paid $76,000 for it, planning to zoo employee. pair it in battle with a mounted lion in a display in his The most bizarre story concerned a wastebasket home. Never mind that lions and tigers don’t live on made out of an elephant’s foot. The Oprah Winfrey the same continent! Unfortunately for the tycoon, his Show purchased a shipping container from an Boats in storage room knowledge of regulations was as bad as his knowledge unclaimed freight auction, and it was opened live on Franklin Roosevelt appointed him chief of the Bureau of of geography. He brought the tiger into the country the program. Oprah pulled out the elephant foot and Biological Survey, forerunner of USFWS. without the proper permit, and it was confiscated. displayed it to viewers, telling them that they could Darling started the Federal Duck Stamp program Many of the mounted animals in the storage area have had this foot if they had bought the container. and designed the first Duck Stamp in 1934. Duck were confiscated for various reasons. Some were taken Someone alerted USFWS inspectors, who arrived and Stamps are required in order to hunt migratory water- without permits or were endangered species. Some confiscated the wastebasket. fowl and must be attached to the hunting license. were stopped at the Duck Stamp designs are chosen via an annual con- borders when people test that is open to the general public. This is the United tried to bring them States’ only federally-legislated art competition. There into the country is also a Junior Duck Stamp contest associated with a illegally, and inspec- school curriculum on wetland and waterfowl conserva- tors and agents in tion. Proceeds from the sale of Duck Stamps go toward ports brought them wetland conservation. Duck Stamps can be purchased by in. Refuge officers nonhunters and have become popular collectables. catch people, and Harold pointed out some boxes of books in the taxidermists often process of being cataloged. “We recently got Rachel report them. Carson’s book collection from her basement,” she According to reported. “These were her personal books. Most people Harold, animals that don’t know that she was a ‘cat lady.’ She collected cat are illegally killed books and cat postcards and old children’s books.” within the United There is a pirogue boat that was used by law States are usually enforcement and refuge biologists for surveys. When a frozen, to be used Mounted bear in storage room Mounted tiger in storage room USFW agent caught some duck hunters with too many as evidence in court ducks, he confiscated the ducks and loaded them into cases. If they are already mounted, they can become Harold says that they do not solicit artifacts for his boat, but there were so many that they sank the boat! displays in wildlife refuges. the museum. She says that they do talk about the Harold recounted the story of a U.S. Biological A briefcase-like box opened to display a row museum when they give talks and classes, and this Survey field naturalist by the name of Clarence Birdseye of male duck decoys on one side and females on may inspire people to donate. But they do not accept who was studying the culture of fur-trading Native the other. Harold noted that these cases of decoys everything that is offered and will decline to take Americans (Inuit) in Labrador in about 1912. He is were once available from the well-known retailer items that have nothing to do with the USFWS or the considered the father of the frozen food industry, invent- Abercrombie and Fitch. They were legal at one time scope of their collections. ing the modern food-freezing process. Previous to his but became illegal with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act Outside the museum is the Fallen Comrades discoveries, frozen food was not of very good quality of 1918. Memorial, a courtyard and memory garden watched because it contained ice crystals. “Someone tried to sell them on eBay,” said Harold. over by a statue representing the spirit of the Fish & Birdseye observed the Inuit’s fishing methods—ice “When people try to sell old things that they don’t know Wildlife Service. A stone wall holds a plaque for each fishing under very thick ice in minus 40 C (minus 40 F) are illegal, the things are confiscated but the people of the employees who lost their lives in the line of temperatures. These fish froze almost immediately and aren’t fined.” duty, the oldest dating back to 1917. There were those tasted very fresh when they were thawed. Commercial She explained that people often have illegal items who died in accidents and plane crashes (including one frozen food had been frozen at higher temperatures that they inherited and have no use for. In these cases, who died on Flight 93 on 9/11) and those who were and took longer to freeze, and ice crystals had time to it is legal to keep them, but it becomes illegal when murdered by poachers. form. He learned that when food was frozen rapidly, ice they try to sell them. A lot of these items are discovered Although the museum formerly held an annual open crystals did not form. when people post them on eBay and other sale sites. house for the public, it is now only open to students. Birdseye later founded his own frozen-food There was a confiscated ivory sculpture of a company and developed another method for fast delicate dancing lady that someone bought at Sotheby’s freezing which involved freezing under pressure. and tried to bring into the United States without the Claire Stuart enjoys writing about animals, wild or Birdseye became the most well-known name in the proper permits. domestic. She salutes the employees of USFWS and their frozen food business. There was an ottoman covered with zebra skin that work to preserve animals and the wild world. The museum has a series of plaques honoring someone tried to bring into the country. “They said “conservation heroes.” They include Howard Zahniser, it was just an antique ottoman,” said Harold. “It was
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 20 ARCHIVE Reprinted From Spring 2005
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 C C LINKS TO NAVIGATE TO WEB SITES. 21 Religious Worship and Education Schedules
Asbury United Methodist Church Christ Reformed, Christian Science Society Religious Society of Friends 4257 Kearneysville Pike United Church of Christ Entler Hotel—German & Princess Streets (Quakers) Dr. Rudolph Monsio Bropleh, Pastor 304 East German Street Sunday Worship & Sunday School: 10 a.m. Shepherdstown Monthly Meeting Thanksgiving Day service: 10:00 a.m. Telephone: (304) 876-3112 Rev. Gayle Bach-Watson for Worship and First Day School Reading Room is in Entler Rm. 210, Sunday Worship: 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m. [email protected] Sundays at 10:00 a.m. open before and after the service and and 11 a.m. Shepherdstown Railroad Station, Sunday Worship: 11:00 a.m. by appointment. Call to confirm Sunday Mid-Week Mingle: Wednesday, 6:30–8:00 p.m. Audrey Egle Drive www.christreformedshepherdstown.org school and child care: (304) 261-9024 Real Recognized Real Teen: All are welcome. Contact Clerk, Elizabeth Hostler, (304) 582-8090, 1st & 3rd Sundays, 1:15–2:30 p.m. [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] http://shepherdstownfriends.org www.4pillarchurch.org
New Street United Methodist St. Agnes Catholic Parish St. John’s Baptist St. Peter’s Lutheran Church & New Streets 106 South Duke Street West German Street King & High Streets Dee-Ann Dixon, Pastor Father Mathew Rowgh Rev. Cornell Herbert, Pastor-Elect Karen Erskine-Valentine, Vacancy Pastor Telephone: (304) 876-2362 Telephone: (304) 876-6436 Telephone: (304) 876-3856 Telephone: (304) 876-6771 Sunday Worship: 10:00 a.m. Sunday Eucharist: 8:00 a.m. & 10:30 a.m. Sunday Worship: 11:00 a.m. & 7:00 p.m. Sunday Worship: 11:00 a.m. Sunday School: 10:00 a.m. Saturday Eucharist: 5:30 p.m. Sunday School: 9:30 a.m. Children/Adult Sunday School: 9:45 a.m. Youth Faith Class: 10:00 a.m. Sunday School: 9:15 a.m. (located in grey house adjacent church) [email protected] www.StAgnesShepherdstown.org www.Shepherdstownlutheranparish.org www.newstreetumc.com
Shepherdstown Presbyterian Trinity Episcopal St. James’ Lutheran Church, Uvilla 100 W. Washington Street Corner of Church & German Streets Rt. 230 Uvilla Randall W. Tremba, Pastor The Rev. G. T. Schramm, Rector Karen Erskine-Valentine, Vacancy Pastor Telephone: (304) 876-6466 The Rev. Frank Coe, Priest Associate Telephone: (304) 876-6771 Sunday Worship: 8:15 a.m. & 10:45 a.m. Telephone: (304) 876-6990 Sunday Worship: 9:00 a.m. Sunday School: 10:45 a.m. Sunday Worship: 8:00 a.m. & 10:00 a.m. Children’s Sunday School 1st Sunday of month Nursery year-round Sunday School: 10:00 a.m. www.shepherdstownpresbyterian.org www.trinityshepherdstown.org
GOOD NEWS PAPER • SPRING 2016 22
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Ashley & John on their wedding day at the Barn at York Hill.
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