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FORMER HINTON RESIDENT wINs
WRITING CONTEST
', i~ My true tale, titled Bluestone, could read the lips and the eyes of
L:.~ documents an incident which the rejects. They were saying "---you
happened to me when I worl~ed pink-faced college punk---goddam
/:~ as a construction laborer on the rich brat---teachers pet---you ain't
g::,J Bluestone Dam in the Summer of starvin' like my kids---" and some
~:,j 1950. X-rated remarks. I quickly forgot
i:!~.~ Bio: the welcoming committee and fell
Mason graduated from Hinton in love with my job.
• ~High School in 1948, and later from On one memorable day, I was
.~:West Virginia University. walking along the damtop catwalk,.
~. He spent thirty-three years as carrying a load of reinforcing rods
a jet engine mechanical design to be used by a welder. On the way,
• ,~,-- engineer at GE in Cincinnati, I passedthe man whose job it was
,.~-: where he acquired, either as holder to spray new concrete with acuring
I recognized the helpless man as the
curing worker I had passed earlier.
He had lost his balance, but had
somehow managed to grab onto
the floodgate flange as he fell. His
face was the face of a man looking
into the hollow eyes of Death. As
I directed him, Tom put both his
arms around the man's left arm,
and I did the same with his right
arm. The curing agent in the tank
sloshed back and forth, causing
the man to tend to move with
it. He and his equipment were a
~ ~: or co-holder, five U.S. patents, agen~:~*He:waswalking on a steel heavy and unstable load. Tom was
..~,~ His avocation, since retiring floodgate 0nlyflfteen inches wide, about twenty-five years old and,
twenty-three years ago, is writing, with a' thirty-pound tank of curing fortunately, we both were muscled
~,,,. The Bluestone article won first compound strapped tohis back ai,d andstrongfromweeksofhardwork.
~: prize in the Appalachain Writing a t~-foot applicator wand in one With a great coordinated heave, we
Division of the annual West hand. ItWas fifty feet from the gate hoisted the man to the top of the
top to the concrete spillway apron gate and drooped him, like a sack
below. Not a job for me, I thought, of feed, across the gate top. Tom
,. Virginia Writers contest.
Mason lives in Sun City,
Arizona. Mason's winning article
can be read below:
Bluestone
Summer breezes swept across
the hills and tumbled into the river
valley, making the flag atop the
Bluestone Dam turret snap like
a bullwhip. Cotton candy clouds
floated in an incredibly blue sky.
Turbine discharge water in the
spillways roared with authority
and threw spray high into the
air, producing a sheet of rainbows
across the base of the dam.
Blooming honey locust trees filled
the air with fragrance. I inhaled
deeply and admired the wind-
whipped whitecaps on Bluestone
Lake, thinking how great it was to
be young and alive and working on
>
the dam that summer.
The depression of the thirties
was not over in 1950 in West
"- Virginia---it still isn't---so summer
~ job prospects were slim for an
unskilled student like me. But Luck
took a liking to me. My mother ran
a neighborhood convenience store,
and it happened that the engineer
~... in charge of installing floodgates
• on the Bluestone Dam bought
I unload d the , bars near my opened his pocket knife and cut the
weld r,:=a:n then stood watching straps holding the tank and the
the star,rat of sparks and smoke
and '~m~:tl~e~eraekle of the
welders ~'eiectric arc. When he
finished welding tke joint, we made
small ~ia~d~d' the need for
work on such a perfect fishing day.
~ter, on myway for another
load ofrebars, some sound caused
me to.stop and listen. Above the
roar of the spillway, I though I
heard a Cry for help. I scanned the
floodgate tops and discovered two
hands clinging to the top flange of a
floodgate. I spied a fellow laborer
on the catwalk and yelled to him,
'~om! Tom! Come here quick!"
Driven by the desperation in my
voice, Tom dropped the rope he was
tying and ran to me. The hanging
man's body was on the floodgate
side away from us so that he was as
yet unseen.
wand to the man's shoulders. It
smashed on the concrete spillway
apron fifty feet below, throwing
thick yellow curing, syrup in all
directions. The ashen-faced man
was shaking violently and ~ould
not even get to his knees. After
dragging him to the end of the gate,
Tom and I, using rebars imbedded
in the concrete, helped him to his
feet.
The three of us staggered
fearfully, on hands and knees,
across the damtop to the foreman's
shack. The curer was unable to
talk, so Tom and I, in voices quaking
with emotion, reported what had
happened. The foreman told Tom
and I to take the rest of the day off,
and he ordered the curing man to
take off the rest of the week.
I sat on a lumber pile for a
"Hold on! Hold on! We're coming! long while and chain-smoked. Two
Hold on! We'll pull you up." men, tethered to life by precarious
Time slowed to a crawl. My mind toeholds on two-inch flanges,
cleared itself of everything except had lifted two hundred and fifty
the task at hand. My adrenalin- pounds of man and equipment. If
driven heart beat with powerful we had fallen, would our guts have
strokes against my ribs. Without splattered in all directions, like the
.~e-~ his groceries there. My mother wondering why, I knew I must curing syrup?
;~ mentioned to him that I needed direct this show. I told Tom to go
~, a summer job. He told her to tell to the other side of the gate so the
me to show up at the dam on the man would be between us. When
"~" following Monday. . Tom got to the man's other side, I
,;, Monday, from a gaggle of twenty- told him to make sure that both his
.:.~ five men seeking laborers' jobs, feet were hooked under the angle-
.~: another man and I were selected for iron flange, and to make sure he
The curer showed up for work
the following Monday. He strapped
on a new tank and sat down on a
lumber pile. He stared at the dam
for a long time, and then he took
off his tank and walked to the
foreman's shack. He emerged a
Tues. June 28, 2016 Hinton News - 7
Supplies arrive at the Alderson Volunteer Fire Department.
L
SUNNY DAY--EXCELLENT HELPERS
The Alderson Volunteer Fire
Department is a busy place with
much going on in the aftermath
of the flooding of June 23/24. It
serves as the command center
for the Alderson Volunteer Fire
Department and the Town of
Alderson as they coordinate the
response to the disaster.
One of the safety issues was
propane tanks. They were secured
if leaking and moved to a central
location if they had been displaced.
Electricity could not be turned on
if there was a danger of an explosion.
Pump crews were pumping out
basements and that was especially
important if electrical service was
located in the basement.
Many calls were received offering
assistance and some people just
came with donations.
Just a few of the people who
brought supplies were Justin Hodges
and Cory Jackson representing
Melissa Hodges, Director of the
Monroe County Resources Network
who brought cases of water.
Kathy and Jeremiah Michalsky,
who have a camp nearby and lost
their camper to the high water,
came with water and cleaning
supplies.
The Westside High School
Football team from Clearfork, WV
sent water and John Joines showed
up with water and bleach.
Many others provided food,
cash and clothing. All were
appreciated.
Chief Bennett said, "I am just
overwhelmed by the sheer amount
of people from out of town who are
willing to lend a helping hand to
complete strangers. People they
don't even know."
Other special helpers includecan be used for up-front expenses
Timothy Luce who, from the onset and would be greatly appreciated."
of the storm, worked hand in hand Mayor Travis Copenhaver said,
with the Police Department to"A lot of the hard work is still ahead •
rescue people and document the but we made a great start toward
unique work at hand. Dr. Bridgette getting back to normal today."
Morrison volunteered her services
in case they were needed.
A crew of volunteers worked
diligently at the Green Grocer
and they have hopes of getting the
approval of the Health Department
to open on Monday.
A friend of Alderson who now
lives away, set up a GoFundMe
account for people who would like
to contribute to the expenses of
this horrible event. It is located at
gofundme.com/2b9usrmk.
AVFD President Frankie Jones "
said, '%Vhen a disaster like this
happens, the fire department
still has to pay its bills and it
may be months before we get any
reimbursement from FEMA.
Funds donated to this account
the only two openings. As I walked squatted as low as possible. I didn't few minutes later with a check in
*** • *** : .... : .~,~ ~.~
, to the foreman's shack to sign on, I want Tom and/or I to fall with him. his hand, got into his pickup truck, ~: I ~ve stepped out upon this platform that I may see you Rn,4 thA~}~i !Gra~4n~, ,,hi ~ ..... :~.....~*-~Z~
j,' . ~ ~,~j,, ,,-:~;: :' ~::;:4 ~:- :~ ~ :~! and drove away. '~A~~q:::c~ oiima ~ . :,~,.~.:, -~::, ~ ,.-~-,----~!;.%.%~v .~v~***~~
............ : !, .... . y see me, and m the arrangement I have the best of the
: (1 t .... Sig' *W": r : V: g ' whichabusym m-
"-10bam ' " " " "
: Presl en a ns es lr lnla oarga,n, no time to form. '
~Abraham Lincoln ---Andr~ Maurois
*** ~ ***
Disaster Declaration
' The President today declared a
~hajor disaster exists in the State
df West Virginia and ordered
] ederal aid to supplement state
~nd local recovery efforts in the
~rea affected by severe storms,
flooding, landslides, and mudslides
the effects of the disaster.
Federal funding also is
available to state and eligible
local governments and certain
private nonprofit organizations on
a cost-sharing basis for emergency
protective measures in the counties
lJeginning on June 22, 2016, and of Greenbrier, Kanawha, and
ntmumg. Nicholas.
The President's action makes Federal funding is also available
federal funding available to on a cost-sharing basis for hazard
{ ffected individuals in the counties mitigation measures statewide.
~f Greenbrier, Kanawhs, and W. Craig Fugate, Administrator,
Nicholas. Federal Emergency Management
!:: Assistance can include grants Agency (FEMA), Department of
~or temporary housing and home Homeland Security, named Albert
~epairs, low-cost loans to cover " Lewis as the Federal Coordinating
t~ninsured property losses, and Officer for federal recovery
6ther programs to help individuals operations in the affected area.
.and business owners recover from FEMA said that damage surveys
i:
:•4
::: According to WV Division of
are continuing in other areas, and
more counties and additional forms
of assistance may be designated
after the assessments are fully
completed.
FEMA said that residents and
business owners who sustained
losses in the designated counties
can begin applying for assistance
tomorrow by registering online at
http://www'DisasterAssistance'g°v
orbycalling 1-800-621-FEMA(3362)
or 1-800-462-7585 (TTY) for the
hearing and speech impaired.
The toll-free telephone numbers
will operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
(local time) seven days a week until
further notice.
Flood Update from W DHSEM,
Monday Morning 06/27/16
~omeland Security and Emergency
Management Director Jimmy
ianato, these are the latest facts
figures from the flooding in
WV:
':~ The WV State Medical
~xaminer's Office has revised
i~ number of deaths due to the
floods DOWN to 23 (twenty-three).
~hat total includes 20 confirmed
fatalities and 3 people missing and
,1~ esumed dead.
,: This revision came after two
~ple.thought to have been swept
away m a camper in Greenbrier
C~ounty and had been presumed
d~ad were found alive.
::~ Fatality totals by county
ificlude:
-15 Greenbrier (12 confirmed, 3
~ssing and presumed dead)
":-6 Kanawha
Ohio
°.
• ~-1 Jackson
:i FEMA
i At this time, individual
]~EMA assistance is available in
***
',Democracy is the recurrent sus-
~pieion that more than half of
~the people are right more than
,half th me.
i ' --E. B. White
Greenbrier, Kanawha and Nicholas
counties. Work continues today
on adding more counties, and an
application for additional areas is
expected to be filed this week.
Individuals and business
owners who sustained losses in the
designated areas can begin applying
for assistance today by registering
online at www.DisasterAssistance.
gov or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA
(3362).
o Disaster assistance
applicants, who have a speech
disability or hearing loss and use
TTY, should call 1-800-462-7585
directly; for those who use 711 or
Video Relay Service (VRS), call
1-800-621-3362.
o The toll-free telephone
numbers will operate from 7 a.m.
to 10 p.m. (local time) seven days a
week until further notice.
FEMA is working with WV to
supplement distribution of food
and water in the local affected
communities.
Traffic
The Department of
Transportation and local law
enforcement officers are reporting
a great deal of unnecessary traffic
in affected areas. People .who do not
NEED to be in a particular area
are asked to avoid the area to allow
cleanup efforts to continue as easily
as possible.
Power
9,294 residents still without
power.
WV National Guard
Guard has had 10 teams
deployed in Kanawha, Greenbrier,
Nicholas and Clay counties and
had 470 troops on the ground over
the weekend. Red Cross
Reporting 413 people in 17
shelters, 8 of these shelters were
run by American Red Cross.
Counties
Clay County reporting shortage
of donations and seeking all items
to be donated (cleaning supplies,
water, pet supplies etc).
WVDHSEM and other help are
on the ground there. Donation
station is set up at Clay Health
Department.
There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers
exactly what the universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly
disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and
inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has
already happened.
--Douglas Adams
Robyn Adkins, APRN, FNP-BC
FAMILY MEDICINE
FRONT, INTERNAL MEDICINE: Andy Chhabra, M.D.
BACK LEFT TO RIGHT, FAMILY MEDICINE: Tanya Dot'try, PA-C,
Mal ew J. Haag, D.O. & Sara Ca , PA-C
.ARH
IC
First Floor [ 115 Summers Hospital Road I Hinton, WV 25951
Call 304-466-2918 today to schedule an appointment
®
Please bring signed physicakform
Wear your eyeglasses/contacts
Summers County
If unable to keep an appointment,
kindly give 24 hours notice.