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740-472-0734 ■ P.O. Box 70, Woodsfield, OH 43793 ■ monroecountybeacon@sbcglobal.net
Below are links to portions of this week's news articles. For the full story, pick up a paper at your local newsstand or send $2 ($2.50 if the issue is over 3 months old) with date of paper requested, your name and address to P.O. Box 70, Woodsfield, OH 43793 and we will send you a paper.
March 31, 2011
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District 12 Hall of
Fame Inductee
Hannahs began playing ball at an early age. He is the son of
Connie Hannahs of
Former Skyvue sports standout Mitch Hannahs will be inducted
into the District 12 Hall of Fame April 1 at Buckeye Trail.
Hannahs, a 1985 graduate of
“I think a lot of times things come together, the people, the
team, the coach. I feel very blessed to have been in the right
place, the right time and with the right people. I have been
very fortunate that all the ingredients were there,” said
Hannahs. Speaking of academics, the honored inductee and college
president said, “It helped me a lot growing up in a little
school where you got a lot of attention. It helps a lot more
than some people would suggest.”
In basketball, Skyvue made the OHSAA state tournaments in
Hannahs’ junior and senior seasons, finishing as the Class A
runner-up in 1984-85. He was selected first team All-Ohio as a
senior and second team as a junior. He was a three-time
All-District 12 first team selection and was a two-time first
team All-Eastern District, All-OVAC and All-Pioneer Valley
Conference honoree. He also participated in the Ohio North-South
All-Star classic following a senior season where the 5’10” guard
averaged more than 22 points per game.
Hannahs scored 1,605 career points.
In baseball the consistent-hitting and sure-handed shortstop
helped the Golden Hawks to the
Hannahs also received All-Eastern District, All-OVAC and All-PVC
honors following his sophomore (1983) and junior (1984) seasons.
He was selected as a charter member of the Ohio Valley Athletic
Conference Hall of Fame in 2004.
After high school graduation Hannahs pulled off a rare double
when his college team,
Hannahs previously served as athletic director and head baseball
coach at
The college president and his wife Amy have three children:
Derek, 19, who is a freshman at OSU; Kylee, 16; and Kaleb, nine.
The family lives in the small community of
Hannahs will not be able to attend the induction ceremony but
his mother Connie and his uncle Frank Wise will accept the
award on his behalf.
Experience is what allows you to recognize a mistake the second
time you make it.
The secret of happy living is not doing what you love, but
loving what you do.
Well, spring has sprung so now you can quit complaining about
the cold hard winter we had. Of course, March weather is not the
most reliable, so be on the lookout for just about any type of
weather. Then again if you are complaining about the weather
then you are not complaining about something else you can do
nothing about. Such is life.
I’m not sure about you but it does make me feel good to learn
and see a person you have known since they were a little tike
and has become a leader and a success in life. As a teacher I’ve
seen many.
One such person is Mitch Hannahs. Mitch is being inducted into
the District 12 Hall of Fame of the 2011 class. Most of us
remember Mitch not only as an excellent athlete but a top
student and just a plain good person.
After graduation he went on to college and kept up what he
started in high school and his accomplishments just kept
developing. His activities and work have been outstanding. He is
now serving as the President at the
Have you ever gone to sleep and see little basketballs bouncing
around all over the place? It happened to me Sunday evening.
As long as you have an easy chair, a nice lady to bring you food
and a TV commercial to allow you time to visit the little room,
you were all set to watch basketball. Perfect for the basketball
nut.
I did take a break Sunday morning and attended Sunday School and
church. Then because of watching basketball I didn’t bother my
computer and had 160 e-mails waiting which included four
FaceBook friends that had birthdays last week. I told them why I
was late. I didn’t know so many good people were born in March.
Ha.
I even watched the
This weekend will be a bit different as it is time for our
yearly trip to the
I don’t know how many of you follow basketball; however, the
team Morgantown Trinity that gave our Bealls-ville team and
program such a problem in the OVAC playoff was defected in the
finals of the
I always like to read the news of 50 and 70 years ago. I guess
maybe it brings back some memories of how it was in the “good
old days”.
For example, if you lived in Macksburg 50 years ago and owned a
dog you had better kept it tied up. “The Mayor has issued a
warning that all dogs caught running loose in the
A mailbag letter - “Having been patient for the past two years
in giving the owner of the Caldwell TV Cable System time to
perfect and give us good service, I think it is time we are
justified in registering our disappointment if not disgust. We
are all paying for three channels, and in my opinion it is
seldom that we even have a good picture on one” and you think we
have TV problems.
The above bit of news was printed in the Caldwell Journal.
Children’s ears may be closed to advice, but their ears are open
to example.
Good discussion takes place during Sunday School with church
following. Try it sometime.
Dear Editor,
Do you know 20 percent of our children have some kind of
learning disability? The school helps five percent.
Check out the Ohio Department of Educations website:
www.ode.state.oh.us
The rest are throw-a-way.
Step one. Parents make a conference with the teacher. Ask what
the problem is. Yes, I said ask. How are they going to know if
you don’t speak out. Our teachers are good to help or can find
help for you.
Step two. Have them tested for learning disabilities. It helps
to know the kind you are working with.
Step three. Learn how to work with it. Check this website at
I have a learning disability it took me a week to write this
letter. I needed help for spelling, newspapers, books, library a
Franklin spelling and friends. I also have a new toy, a word
right program for my computer. I don’t know how to use it yet.
Help! I can read at about a third grade level. I have also
learned now that I won’t get past a third grade level, but I
love books. Thank God for the Monroe County Library and their
books on audio tapes. My spelling is unreadable, I haven’t
written in 20 years. So here I am trying to help kids to get
more kinds of communication skills for life. No one loves your
kids as much as you do. One-on-one may be the only way we can
help the schools want to bother.
School board, why aren’t you picking up cans?
Mary K. McIntire
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It’s once again time for the annual Know Show, which celebrates
its 20th year in 2011.
“It all began with a dream,” said organizer Jo Eddy at the
annual Monroe County Chamber of Commerce dinner March 24. The
late Pam Sloan and her sister-in-law Margie Yoss developed that
dream into a reality. “Pam loved her family more than anything;
second, she loved Monroe County,” said Eddy, adding, “Margie
continues to work hard to promote Monroe County with the Know
Show, Woodsfield Summer Fest and other activities.
Sloan and Yoss were in business together, By Design, which began
in Woodsfield. The idea was to organize a business expo
highlighting the goods and services available in
“Pam and I were excited
when the Chamber approached us to help showcase the businesses
of
In honor of the 20th anniversary of the Know Show, daffodils
were presented to Margie Yoss and to Kirt Sloan, in memory of
his mother, Pam during the Chamber dinner March 24.
The Know Show has continued with 60-90 exhibitors participating
each year. It promises to continue that tradition with an array
of businesses and services represented in 2011. The event is set
for this weekend, April 2 and 3. The Chamber will give away $300
in gift certificates. There will be lots of give-aways as well
as items for sale. There is no charge for the event, which will
be held at the
K. Lynn Studio dancers will be on hand to demonstrate their
talents. If you missed them at the annual Kiwanis Talent Show,
you’ll want to see them at the Know Show. There will be pictures
with the Easter Bunny for a small charge and the Easter egg hunt
is set for Sunday at 2 p.m. Bring your baskets, kids, and
prepare to have a great time! Weather permitting, Air Evac will
have a helicopter on site. There will be a country store, a
50/50 drawing and lots of door prizes.
This year’s Know Show is sponsored by the Monroe County Chamber
of Commerce and Bauer Turner Furniture Store and Funeral Home,
located on
It’s not too late to be an exhibitor. You can call Jo Eddy at
740-472-5846.
Chamber Dinner
Held March 24
The Monroe County Chamber of Commerce held its annual dinner
March 24 at the
“As I stand before you this evening to welcome you I wanted to
share just a couple thoughts,” said McGuire. “Three years ago my
life changed when we got the news that my nephew was killed on a
battlefield in
“It’s so easy to forget how good we have it here in America and
it is so easy to forget that we still have brave men and women
in foreign countries continuing to defend our freedoms in this
country, so for me to be able to stand here this evening and
welcome each of you to this event is a most wonderful blessing.
I hope you, too, feel blessed to be able to be here this evening
… Thank you for your continued support of our chamber and our
country. God bless
Guest speaker for the evening was David Blomquist, radio talk
show host of the ‘Bloomdaddy Experience.’
“I love
Blomquist related to the audience that his mother is responsible
for his getting a break into the radio/television scene. He was
right out of college when his mother had mistakenly heard on the
radio that a man had been fired from a local station. She urged
Blomquist to call which he did hesitantly and found the man
hadn’t been fired but had just signed a three-year contract.
Blomquist was asked to bring in his resume. So it began.
The talk show host said he made $6.10 an hour his first job. He
said it wasn’t about the money because unless the TV or radio
personality is in a high market area, the money is not big. The
big market jobs, he said, “consumes your life.” He added that he
decided he didn’t want that. He said he didn’t make big money
but “I’ve gotten to do some really cool stuff.”
He initiated the segment ‘Everybody’s Got a Story.’ “I would
introduce myself, sit down and in 10 minutes I could get a
story. I would start piecing it together in my mind.” He related
one such story. He went to a woman’s door. “The smell hit me in
the face and I decided I would not be going in.” Too late, the
door opened and the woman recognized him and was excited. He
thought a bat flew by his head but found out it was the woman’s
pet crow. He added there was a 250 pound pot bellied pig, a fox
and about 25 other animals, “some which could probably kill me.”
Another story he remembered well was on
Blomquist took the audience down memory lane as he enumerated
the sports heroes he had the privilege of meeting during his
career. He went on to say he addresses very hard questions on
his radio talk show adding he has lost friends over his topics.
“I don’t care if I’m liked. If I did I couldn’t do the job
properly.”
He related an occasion on WTRF when a local businessman had his
6th DUI. The man had a $40,000 account with the station and the
producers killed the story. “That made me sick,” said Blomquist.
“That’s the kind of stuff that has permeated the
Know Show coordinator Jo Eddy updated guests on the upcoming
event April 2 and 3. She noted that this is the 20th year for
the event and recognized Margie Yoss and Kirt Sloan. Kirt’s
mother, the late Pam Sloan, and Margie Yoss organized the first
Know Show, which lets people know the businesses and services
available in and around
Recognized during the dinner were Chamber executive officers
are: president Rusty Atkinson; vice president Robyn McGuire and
treasurer Frank Smithberger. Chamber board members include: Pat
Baker, Helen Carpenter,
Reprinted Courtesy of:
I met Marine Lance
Pettitt shook my hand and wheeled himself into the living room,
his left leg elevated and stationary, his right forearm in a
cast. In March he returns to a Navy hospital at
An improvised explosive device damaged the foot in December
while Pettitt served in
Pettitt is 21 years old. "I turned [21] in November over in
His
"Marjah is a city. We were just north of the city limits of
Marjah proper," he said. "It's kind of tough to call it a city.
It's not really a city. It's just a couple of dirt huts."
It remained important enough for the Taliban to pitch quite a
fight for the place. Pettitt's unit had trouble receiving
supplies because the area continued to be so "hot," so alive
with enemy presence and weapons fire, Pettitt explained. Supply
helicopters came under rocket, small-arms and machine gun fire,
he said. Their pilots took to dropping out water and moving on,
Pettitt said.
"We needed other stuff," he said. "Food, mail, ammo sometimes.
They dropped us water––lots and lots of water." So much water,
in fact, Pettitt's platoon took to lining their living quarters
with stacked bottles of the stuff. "It was ridiculous," he said.
When other supplies started to come through, those included care
packages mailed from Marine Corps League Detachment 1280 of
Jasper. I asked Pettitt if those made much of an impression.
What was in them, I wanted to know.
"Tuna salad and crackers and some seasonings," he recalled.
"Rice Krispie treats, magazines, stuff kind of like that."
"Any of it go wasted?" I asked.
"Nah. Not at all," he smiled.
Standard meals were MREs, Marine rations, pre-packaged Meals
Ready to Eat. Marines warmed three together with a
chemically-activated heater, Pettitt explained.
"We shot a cow once and ate it," he said. "We boiled it. It was
delicious." One of the sergeants knew how to slaughter the
animal, he said.
His unit worked six months in the same area, Pettitt said, his
Marine platoon divided into three squads that rotated duty. Each
squad patrolled every third day on a rotation that also included
post duty (guarding their house base) and assignment to the
quick-react force.
The quick-react force was a squad that stayed geared and armed,
ready to go out and give assistance if the squad on patrol came
under fire and needed backup.
Once in a while, the duty schedule was rehashed just to disrupt
the routine, Pettitt said. "As 'hot' as it was, just doing it
over and over, you get used to it and can get complacent," he
explained.
Was his unit under fire daily?
"Absolutely," Pettitt said. "Our assignment was contact patrols,
basically looking for a fight. That's all it was, finding the
enemy and pushing them out of their position. Push out to it.
Push through it. Pretty much guaranteed to get in a fight any
time you'd leave the little house we had."
"Probably the most rest you got was on post days [guarding the
house they were based from]," Pettitt said.
Marines counted enemy kills for morale purposes, he said, and to
feed the information to higher-ups. "We're definitely doing some
work," Pettitt said.
I asked if Afghans fought beside the Marines.
"Their national army fighting with us? They were," Pettitt said.
About 20 Afghans served with his platoon, standing post and on
patrol, he said. "We would try to train them and teach them,"
Pettitt said.
How did they communicate? "You get to
know the guys personality-wise," he said. "With body language
you could figure out what they were talking about. They learned
more English than we learned Push to [the Afghani language].
Some of 'em were really young: 18, 19. Some were older," he
said.
His patrol squad included about a dozen infantrymen led by a
sergeant and a lance corporal, Pettitt said. "Our squad was very
tight," he said. "A lot of 'em were from
"I was the designated marksman," he told me. Skill with a rifle
won Pettitt the use of a superior weapon, a Navy Mark 12. The
weapon resembles a Marine infantryman's M-16 rifle, Pettitt
said, but is different with some add-ons: a scope; folding prop
legs on the forward stock; a suppressor. "All the cool stuff,"
Pettitt said. "It's like a medium range sniper rifle."
"I wouldn't say I was any type of sniper," Pettitt clarified
when I asked. But he can off an enemy at 800 yards, he said.
"They nicknamed his job 'The Guardian Angel'," Cody's father,
Phillip Pettitt told me.
The day he was wounded, Pettitt had fired his rifle from a high
place. "I was on the roof," he said. "Usually on there I have my
suppressor." The suppressor is a silencer that attaches to the
rifle muzzle. Usually while on patrol Pettitt removed the
suppressor from the rifle so his weapon mimicked a standard
infantryman's rifle. But this day, working close to the patrol
base, he left the suppressor mounted, he said.
"With that on, you can easily tell it's a different type rifle,"
he said.
The explosive device that injured Pettitt was a radio-controlled
anti-personnel weapon planted in a ditch at the side of the
road. It was remotely detonated as his patrol came walking by.
"They planted it on the side of the road and saw us coming,"
Pettitt said.
His unit owned a radio signal jammer (worn like a back pack) for
preventing detonation of such radio-activated bombs, Pettitt
explained. But rough field use put the device out of commission,
he said. It was broken the day he needed its protection.
Called a Directed Fragments Charge, the roadside bomb threw a
lethal load of metal in one direction. "Like a shotgun," Pettitt
explained. He caught the biggest part of it. "I don't know if
they targeted me [because of the Mark 12 rifle he carried] or if
I just got lucky," he said. Pettitt received 20 shrapnel wounds
along his left side.
"Each squad has its own corpsman, pretty much," Pettitt said.
Navy Corpsman Doc Cataldo patched him up to get him ready for
the medevac chopper.
"The evac guys are extremely good," Pettitt said.
"Better than the guys flying those supply helicopters?" I asked.
"Way better," he emphasized. "They could land those birds
anywhere. They didn't waste any time either, getting there and
getting back as well."
Gaining medical attention each step of the journey, Pettitt made
his way to a Navy hospital at
"When bone breaks, it's very sharp," Cody explained. "You can't
leave it in there, 'cause it will cut stuff up."
For a while Cody went back to the operating room each Tuesday
and Friday, his dad said. Phillip showed me some of the metal
doctors removed, including a shiny ball bearing the size of a
marble.
Surgeons have pinned together bones in Cody's damaged left foot.
They are scheduled to begin reconstructive bone surgery in
March, Cody said.
"They say they can get me running by winter," he said. "They're
not for sure about going back––back to my job. That's absolutely
what I want to do," he said. "In the field, there's absolutely
no slacking, no slowing down––none at all," he explained. "So I
may not be able to go back."
Pettitt is halfway through a four-year enlistment. Will he stay
in?
"It depends. I don't know if I will or not," he said. "It's up
in the air. I love the infantry. The Marines is great. It's
awesome," he said. If he cannot return to serve with the
infantry, he wants assignment to a Marine job in close support
of the infantry, Pettitt said. "As close as I can get," he
emphasized.
The Thursday before I interviewed Cody Pettitt, he had been to
"I went. I saw my guys when they got back," he said. "That was
great."
"They were glad to see you, as well," I ventured.
"Yeah. They were," he said.
Phillip Pettitt witnessed that reunion. A Marine with tears on
his face hugged Cody's neck, Phillip told me. This was Lance
Corporal Robert Hamilton, another wounded Marine already
stateside. Cody had saved
Their squad was clearing a village when
“I looked down the street and seen Pettitt,” Phillip recounted
“He said, 'Pettitt never hesitated',” Phillip told me. “He cut
The street remained under enemy fire. Cody stayed with
Robert Hamilton was walking again at
"Anybody would have done it," Cody countered. "It's not just one
person. It's everybody together." Helicopter gun runs and a
Marine machine gunner on the ground supplied suppressing fire
that kept enemy bullets off him and Hamilton, Cody explained.
And when the medevac helicopter arrived, Cody carried his
wounded comrade––all 190 pounds of him––to the chopper, Phillip
said.
"Cody, he'd work out with 300 pounds, and he'll do it again,"
his father told me. "It'll just take him a while to get over
this. He said he was just doing his job––anybody would do it.
Well it wasn't crowded out there," Phillip Pettitt pointed out.
Just before the interview ended, Cody showed me a photograph
from
"You look older in cammies," I observed. He smiled––a frank,
open smile like a teenager's. He is not a teenager, I realized.
A few years, a daily dose of war, have put all that away.
Cody, who is a member of the local American Legion Post 60, was
awarded the Purple Heart.
According to Cody’s grandmother, the young Marine underwent a
six-hour surgery March 21 which was deemed successful. Cody’s
mother texted Shelby that Cody is doing well and will be in
therapy for two weeks then on 30 days leave to recuperate in
Georgia. His mother wrote, “It’s a miracle. I feel like I’ve won
the lottery!”
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Classifieds
ERMA J. TISHER
She was a former employee of Viking Glass; a retired custodian
from the Switzerland of Ohio School District; and attended
Surviving are two sons, Tom tisher, Tim (Cathy) Tisher, both of
Hannibal; a grandson, Casey Tisher; and a granddaughter, Kelsie
Tisher.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her
husband, Donald A. Tisher; a sister, Pauline Voelp; and four
brothers, Cecil Potts, Hollie Potts, Francis Potts and Roy
Potts.
Friends were received March 26 until time of the funeral
services at Grisell Funeral Home & Crematory, New Martinsville,
with Rev. Lee Ann Dunlap officiating. Burial followed in
Sympathy expressions at: grisellfuneralhomes.com
BENJAMIN L. HINES
He was a retired steel worker for McNeil Corp.,
Surviving are his wife, Barbara Cress Hines, whom he married
Oct. 12, 1957; two sons, Bruce Hines of
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a son,
Robert Hines and his grandparents, Ben and Freda Haga, and Mary
White.
Friends will be received March 31 at Watters Funeral Home,
Woodsfield, from 6 - 8 p.m., where funeral services will be held
April 1, at 1 p.m., with Pastor Brandon Ward officiating. Burial
will follow in the
SAMUEL C. STRAUB
He was a member of the Zion United Church of Christ in
Some of Sam’s favorite hobbies included working on his farm,
auctioneering, and doing dozer work.
Surviving are his wife of 55 years, Janet R. (Bauman) Straub;
his children, Gary (Pam) Straub, Cindy (Bob) Bolen, Dan (Kendra)
Straub and Greg (Michele) Straub, all of Sardis; eight
grandchildren, Christy Bolen, Austin (Leanne) Straub, Scott
(Cassandra) Bolen, Mandy (Ryan) Aberegg, Todd (Nicole) Bolen,
Cody Straub, Katelyn and Meighan Straub; three
great-grandchildren, Alinza Bolen, Griffin and Caiden Straub; a
sister, Anna Kernen of Clarington; and two brothers, Roy
(Winifred) Straub of Greenville, N.C. and Emerson (Florence)
Straub of Sardis.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a
brother, Wesley; a niece and nephew, Donna and Roger Straub; a
daughter-in-law, Denise Straub; and twin grandchildren, Dalton
Kirby and Victoria Grace Straub.
Friends were received March 29, at Grisell Funeral Home,
Clarington, where funeral services will be held March 30, at 11
a.m., with Pastor Terry Pringle officiating. Burial will be in
Memorial contributions may be made to Zion Memorial Garden
Cemetery Fund, c/o Neal Marty, 47266 SR 536,
Sympathy expressions at: grisellfuneralhomes.com
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TV
and radio personality David Blomquist was the guest speaker at
the Monroe County Chamber of Commerce annual dinner held March
24 at the 