July 2010
Tyrrell County’s Country Magazine
A Happy 4th of July! With Special IBXarts Event Edition
Issue # 32
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Cover Photo: Neli Lemme
Business of the Month
Issue # 32
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July 2010
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PUBLISHERS: INGRID AND NELI LEMME
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Quote of the Month
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“Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.” - Author unknown
DEAR READER
Created in North Carolina Wildwood Lamps
& Accents, Rocky Mounty, NC we love the SAILBOATS CHANDELIER Handmade and Finished Iron www.wildwoodlamps.com
“Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.” - I found this on Tom Kilian’s facebook page and wanted to share it with you. Tom presented the Scuppernong Gazette with a mounted picture of his ‘red barn door with a heart’ at the inaugural IBX Arts show. His photo graced the
Blue Crabs from Tyrrell & Hyde County are the Best Issue # 32
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Valentines cover 2008. Thank you Tom. - Congratulations to Shelby Bartley of Tyrrell County for earning the Mathematics Award for two consecutive years in a row and Casey & Megan Voliva on their recent wedding! Please CLICK also on the Special IBX arts feature edition! A Happy 4th of July - Ingrid & Neli
by July pretty much any where to catch in our Albemarle & Pamlico Sounds, rivers, creeks and canals.
water, one part cider vinegar, and one part In a large steamer pot, layer Crabs Favorite Beer. and sprinkle each layer with Old Bay Seasoning. Steam in one part
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July 2010
The Columbia Band Boostersare “Going Green� by sponsoring a Recycling Day on Friday, July 30, 2010 - Pick up or drop off is available for your metal recyclable materials (this includes aluminum cans, old refrigerators, pipe, wire, etc..). If you need your items picked up, contact Beverly Swain at 394-5217 or Richard Edwards at 796-7713. A pick up will be scheduled between now and July 30. Drop off will be July 30 at Columbia High School from 8 am until 12 noon. Collected materials will be turned in for cash, with the proceeds going to purchase Wind Suits for the award winning Columbia High School Marching Wildcats!
Man of the Month Officer Gene Maready
Photo: Neli Lemme Issue # 32
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July 2010
...On the Board Walk... Pet of the Month Neli’s monster kitten CHESTER
Man of the Month
Lady of the Month
Officer Gene Maready Mrs. Jan Bishop, here on he is the father of her daily walk with her Gabriel Gene and Zoe dogs at the Scuppernong Corin & married to River water front. Christy Maready.
Teen of the Month
Miss Savannah Westover, a beautiful, talented and athletic young woman
Website of the Month The Scuppernong Gazette on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Columbia-NC/ Scuppernong-Gazette/252872302330
Organization of the Month
Couple of the Month
Tyrrell County’s Relay for Life
That group rocks! They raised over $ 21 000!
Kid of the Month Miss Zoe Corin Maready, this pretty young lady sold Lemonade at the IBX arts show
Casey & Megan Voliva, this Tyrrell County couple got married June 19th, 2010. We wish them all the best!
Business of the Month Bull’s Bay Inshore Charters with Capt. Andy Jones
www.bullsbayinshorecharters.com
Issue # 32
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July 2010
Lady of the Month Ms. Jan Bishop
Kid of the Month Miss Zoe Corin Maready
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July 2010
Couple of the Month Casey & Megan Voliva June 19th, 2010
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July 2010
THE BEARS LITTLE BROTHER The mother raccoon and her pups were feeling among the moss growing at the waterline of a gum tree in the River Neck swamp adjacent to Norman Smith Legion Beach. I observed them for some time as they worked methodically with one of them stopping now and then to eat a snail or worm that it had found with its sensitive fingers. The raccoon (Procyon lotor) spends much of its time near water searching for food with its five-fingered “hands.” Lotor, its species name, means “washer” in Latin. The animal is partial to worms, snails, crayfish, frogs, mussels, and just about anything else that is edible. As guests at the home of Neal and Pat Moore in Buxton, my wife and I watched several raccoons literally line up to accept cookies offered to them by Neal. Every night the raccoons visit the Moore’s upper deck to eat pelletized dog food and the cookie treats that they accept from Neal’s hand. Like its larger cousin, the black bear, the raccoon is an omnivore and its ability to find food in just about any habitat has allowed it to greatly expand its territory. Today it is firmly established in New York’s Central Park and in cities Issue # 32
all along the East Coast. Adaptability is only part of its current success, however, for lack of demand for its fur precludes raccoon hunting and trapping. The raccoon has always been a serious pest for the corn grower, especially the Tyrrell or Hyde County farmer who grows sweet corn. Some years ago an agronomist at North Carolina State University told me that raccoons consistently devastated his sweet corn test plots just at the roasting ear stage. He stated that they began with the sweetest corn and that they could locate a 25foot square plot surrounded by dozens of similar-sized plots of less sweet corn. They also know when the grapes begin ripening in my backyard vineyard, and each year I have to erect an electric fence to keep them at bay. Another and even more serious problem for the raccoon is that it is a major vector of rabies, and the fact that the animal is so widespread assures its increasing contact with humans and their pets. Never try to pet or approach a raccoon or any other wild animal, for to do so risks a bite or scratch that could transmit rabies, a disease that is deadly unless treated in time. My first ‘coon, as we called it when I was growing up in Tyrrell
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County, was one that my father caught in a leg-hold trap that he had set, baited with rabbit. We patrolled the trap line regularly lest a trapped raccoon chew off its leg and escape. A good raccoon hide could fetch $5.00 or more, a welcomed sum in those lean times. Three-legged raccoons were often killed by hunters so such physically impaired animals routinely survive. As we walked the then dusty, dirt road from our little farm to Cross Landing, my father and I often encountered ‘coon tracks in the dust. The animal’s forefoot left a print that resembled a tiny, long, five-fingered, human hand print. Its hind foot print was more like that of a bear, flat on the ground or plantigrade. The ‘coon’s hands are wonderfully sensitive and manipulative, and I have observed the animals “fishing” on a stream bank and looking everywhere except where they were feeling. Cup your hand, create a “hole” with your fingers and thumb, and a pet raccoon will carefully and fully investigate it with its hand. We had a pet ‘coon we called Sparky for several years and were constantly amazed at its apparent intelligence. It was always entertaining to watch Sparky “fish” for the tadpoles and
July 2010
minnows that I caught for him. Watermelon presented a problem for him--he “washed” it to mush! The often repeated myth that a raccoon always washes its food before eating because it has no saliva glands is just that, a myth. True, the animal will wash its food, or rather, manipulate it in water where it is feeding, but it usually eats its food as it is found. Incidentally, the raccoon does possess saliva glands. The myth probably originated from observations of the animal, often seen near water, feeling for its prey and then feeding. Stories about the ‘coon’s intelligence or problemsolving are based in truth. Many farmers will tell you how a raccoon learned to open a chicken coop or similar closure. John Lawson, in his account of his exploratory trek into the wilds of North Carolina in the first decade of the eighteenth century, recorded a raccoon myth probably told to him by Native Americans. The story states that a raccoon that wants a crab or crayfish for lunch will drop its tail into the water of a stream as bait. When a crustacean clamps onto the “bait,” the raccoon withdraws Issue # 32
its tail with the attached seafood. Lawson also stated that the ‘coon is particularly fond of fermented or “rotted” fruit, and that account is true.
watch what he was doing, I poured out a saucer full of wine for him. Have you ever seen a ‘coon with a buzz? We laughed at his antics until we hurt.
Sparky, our pet “coon, proved his taste for alcohol when he climbed onto the shelf created by two, side-by-side, five-gallons of my fermenting grape wine. He was running free in the kitchen while
I often saw ‘coons pelts drying on Mr. Henry Cooper’s front porch as I rode the school bus on the River Neck Route. Mr. Cooper and his sons, Alvin and Asa, hunted the animals regularly with dogs. I heard about another Tyrrell County ‘coon hunter who shot a raccoon that lodged in a large gum tree. The hunter then cut down the tree with an axe, but when the tree fell the man’s leg was broken. The injured man crawled out of the swamp on his hands and knees but although he made his way home his leg soon became gangrenous and he died as a result.
my mother cooked dinner, and he had become quiet. Sparky’s becoming quiet was like a child in the “terrible-twos” becoming quiet--time to investigate. Mother found Sparky perched on the jugs, dipping one hand down as far as he could reach into a jug from which he had removed the cheesecloth cover. His fingers extended about halfway into the foaming brew and he would withdraw his hand, lick off the wine, and then reach ACfor more. When Mother called me to www.ScuppernongGazette.com
Raccoons are common in Tyrrell, Hyde, Dare, Washington and surrounding counties so make use of any chance you have to watch the “washer” fishing for his dinner.
BY
WILLIAM WEST A NATIVE OF TYRRELL COUNTY July 2010
TIGHT TIMES BY WILLIAM WEST
Times were tight! Tyrrell County was in depths of a great depression. It was a time when you could buy a big Pepsi or a Baby Ruth candy bar for a nickel, that is, if you had a nickel. Jobs had been scarce to almost nonexistent for years. When I was about three years old, my father had a public works job in Columbia with the Works Progress Administration, W.P.A. (We Poke Along), an F.D.R. New Deal program. I was five years old when my family bought the small Anne Liverman place, which was about a mile from Newlands. My father wasn’t a gifted farmer and the farm was too small anyway to make a decent living. So, in 1938 he found a job at a small dairy on Virginia Avenue in Portlock, Virginia. The rest of the family moved there for a year and I attended school there. In December, 1937, the Japanese bombed and sank the U.S. gunboat, “Panay,” in China’s Yangtse River and Hitler was becoming more belligerent in Germany. We were allowed to go out to the schoolyard fence one day to watch a long line of light tanks with rubber treads and .30 Issue # 32
machine guns, going to the Norfolk Naval Base. We soon moved back to Tyrrell County where my father farmed and worked in the log woods with Mr. Jim Davis and at other jobs. Our world changed on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked our naval facilities at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, killing over 2,000 people and destroying or heavily damaging almost our entire Pacific Fleet. War was declared the next day and we were officially at war although we had been supplying food, arms and equipment to Britain and Russia since 1939, when Hitler’s conquest of Europe began. War-related jobs had become available and many men from Tyrrell County went to Norfolk and other cities to work in the defense industry. Many of them and their families didn’t return to Tyrrell. Many young men joined the Navy, Army or other branches of service. Soon, many more young men were drafted into service and fought in North Africa, Italy, France and Germany. Others fought from island to island in the Pacific and many of those young men lost their lives. Their families kept the home fires burning, suffered the losses of
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their sons, fathers or husbands, and neighbors offered support. Conditions became more and more stressful in Tyrrell County as the war continued. Gasoline, tires, sugar, alcohol, meat and many other items were rationed. Each family received books of stamps with which to obtain meat, sugar, gasoline, etc. People drove their old cars and repaired them because new cars were unavailable. Tires worn down to the fabric were patched and repatched. Most Tyrrell County farm people, as well as many who lived in Columbia, grew vegetable (Victory) gardens to have food for the table. My mother and other ladies canned corn, beans, tomatoes, and many other vegetables and fruits as well as home-grown beef and pork. Mother used a pressure cooker to can whole, cleaned herrings and small striped bass. On one occasion, Mr. Willy Parrisher killed a bear that had been raiding his corn field at the Little Florida farm, and he gave us the carcass. Mother cut the steak into cubes, canned them, and boiled the bones and scrap meat to make soup stock, which she also canned. Later, she combined the canned stock with vegetables to make soup.
July 2010
World War II Savings Stamps Booklet
World War II Ration Stamps Booklet
Issue # 32
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July 2010
At school, we received small, square, gray boxes of packets of vegetable seeds for the garden. If we sold an entire box we earned a mechanical pencil as a prize. The ladies made dresses, sun suits and other items of clothing from feed sacks. Some of the cotton sacks were plain white but many were printed in colorful patterns. There was a lively trade between the ladies who had too many sacks of one pattern but not enough of another. Many ladies made the dresses that they wore to church and a great many of the young girls wore feed sack dresses to school. Folks made do with what was available. Mother needed more than our quota of sugar for canning and she didn’t need our alcohol stamps, so she traded them to Mr. Cohoon at the drug store for his sugar stamps. He was a diabetic who liked a nip now and then. Everyone bought War Bonds and the young’uns bought Savings Stamps. We bought the stamps for ten cents each and pasted them in a small book that, when full, could be traded in for a Savings or War Bond that would be worth $25 dollars at maturity. Ammunition was almost unobtainable but I had both shotgun shells and .22 cartridges Issue # 32
all through the war. Mr. W. S. Carrawan owned or rented considerable land near the home of my grandfather Beasley, with whom we lived after my grandmother died. Mr. Carrawan had connections, and he told me that he would furnish me with ammunition if I would walk around his soybean fields two or three times per week and shoot the rabbits that ate his bean plants. We ate the rabbits and squirrels that I killed. Mother fried the young rabbits and parboiled the tougher, older ones. She used the resultant stock, rice and elbow macaroni to make soup flavored with salt, pepper and fresh thyme for dinner. The next day she fried the chopped rabbit meat that she had saved, with boiled, cubed potatoes, and chopped onions to make rabbit hash, one of my favorite dishes. On Saturday, October 21, 1943, I had the hunting accident that cost me the use of my right hand. At the hospital, Dr. Chaplin couldn’t find a pulse in the mangled arm and he told my mother and grandfather that unless he could find a pulse he would have to amputate. My father had died of lung cancer just two months and a day earlier. My grandfather West didn’t own a car and Pappy www.ScuppernongGazette.com
Beasley’s 1926 model-T Ford couldn’t be depended upon to drive me to King Daughter’s Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia, where Dr. Chaplin thought the doctors might be able to save my arm. Mr. Lem Ainsley, our former neighbor from Newlands, told folks that he met on Columbia’s Main Street that afternoon about my predicament and asked for their help. People donated precious gasoline in the small amounts they could spare and loaned several worn tires. He drove to Portsmouth that night with my mother, my Uncle Loftin and me. On the way we had two flat tires. At the hospital, the doctors found a pulse and my arm was saved though not the use of my hand. That incident, to me, epitomizes how the people of my home county coped in difficult times and how they rallied around those who needed help.
BY
WILLIAM WEST A NATIVE OF TYRRELL COUNTY
July 2010
Teen of the Month Miss Savannah Westover
Issue # 32
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July 2010
IBX arts 2010 a show to remember
To view the SPECIAL ART EDITION CLICK HERE!
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July 2010
IBX BANKS ON ART “IBX ArtsFest was a success ! Over $4,000 of art sold - proceeds went directly to the Artist who sold. - truly we are realizing an artistic economy in art sales itself.” wrote Tom Kilian on his website and since we attended the show, we have to agree!
Molly Harrison in her “Our State” Story. And many artists from the Eastern North Carolina costal region or Inner Banks followed, including several of
THANKS TO ALL WHO MADE THE FIRST INNER BANKS ARTS FEST A SUCCESS! 18 ARTISTS SHOWED AND THE SWEET SPIRIT OF CAMARADERIE FILLED THE GROUNDS! TRULY AN ARTISTIC ECONOMY IN Issue # 32 THE INNER BANKS IS
MINISTER TOM KILIAN AND HIS FAMILY, HIS WIFE SANDIE AND THEIR TWINS HELEN & THOMAS HAD WORKED ON THIS EVENT
for months. The Tyrrell County art family that was recently featured in “Our State” Magazine (photo top right) created a new successful art event, where artists get to take home all their earnings. “Tyrrell County Artist Tom Kilian has a simple vision: For Inner Banks artists to make a living where they live.” wrote
the visitors to stay cool and really enjoy the “One of a Kind” show featuring an interesting selection of handcrafted items created by talented IBX artists and craftspeople of all ages. Young Thomas Kilian showed his pottery as well. Southern Dreams Gallery owners Ken and Terrie Cherry presented photos of Ken and other artists of SDG www.southerndreamsgallery.com
Tyrrell’s very own. - We adored the protected open airy hall of Travis Wood Works that allowed the artists, their SPECIAL EDITION families and friends and CLICK HERE!
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July 2010
WE'RE ONLY DAYS AWAY FROM 4-H SUMMER CAMP WEEKS!
The Summer is finally here and your camper's adventure is waiting at the Eastern 4-H Center, near Columbia, North Carolina. Register now for weekly 4-H camp sessions. There is no better way for a child to spend the summer than kayaking, canoeing, rock climbing, learning about nature, performing in skits, perfecting archery skills, and building new friendships! The Eastern 4-H Center does all of this and more…our Team Challenge Course is a great way for campers to improve communication and teamwork skills. Couple this with welltrained counselors and instructors and you have the recipe for a memorable summer. 4-H Summer Camp is designed for 8-12 year olds and is available June 27-July 2 and July 4-9, 2010. The Eastern 4-H Center is owned and operated by North Carolina State
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University and administered through the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service and the Department of 4-H Youth Development, Family & Consumer Sciences. The Summer is finally here and your camper's adventure is waiting at the Eastern 4-H Center, near
Columbia, North Carolina. Register now for weekly 4-H camp sessions. There is no better way for a child to spend the summer than kayaking, canoeing, rock climbing, learning about nature, performing in skits, perfecting archery skills, and building new friendships! The Eastern 4-
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H Center does all of this and more…our Team Challenge Course is a great way for campers to improve communication and teamwork skills. Couple this with welltrained counselors and instructors and you have the recipe for a memorable summer. 4-H Summer Camp is designed for 8-12 year olds and is available June 27-July 2 and July 4-9, 2010. The Eastern 4-H Center is owned and operated by North Carolina State University and administered through the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service and the Department of 4-H Youth Development, Family & Consumer Sciences. For online registration and forms visit: www.eastern4hcenter.org
July 2010
Tyrrell County’s Relay for Life raised over $21,000! Relay for Life of Tyrrell County, North Carolina: “THANK YOU!!!!!! Your generosity & support helped TC Relay for Life raise over $21,000! The Cancer Survivor team was the highest fund raising team, and Charlene Reynolds Pate was the highest individual fund raiser! Because of you, someone, somewhere, will celebrate more birthdays!” 1st place Campsite Theme: Jericho Trumpeteers - 2nd Place Campsite: YECA Brigade - Spirit Award: Slumber Party Animals - Heart of Relay Award: Charlene Pate.
Everyone was invited to the Luminary Ceremony--it was a moving celebration of life. Tyrrell County honored and remembered loved ones through music, poetry, and personal stories. Thank you BB Vo Hopkins, who handled the luminary devision.
Your 2010 RfL Committee
In the photo above: Charlene Reynolds Pate, Penny Rhodes Jones, Regina Etheridge, Brian Jones, Vicki Ormsby Waters, Angie Etheridge Sexton
Official Opening
Photo to the right: Gordon Deaver, Tyrrell County Commissioner, welcoming all to the 2010 Relay of Life. Issue # 32
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July 2010
Mathematics Award for Tyrrell Student "Congratulations to Shelby Bartley of Tyrrell County, an eighth grader at Lawrence Academy, for receiving the Mathematics Award two consecutive years in a row. Shelby's art work was also selected to be in the Bertie County Art Show. Way to go Shelby!"
Flip through the Special IBX Arts Feature Edition
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July 2010
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www.AmericanDreamShow.com with Ingrid Lemme
SCUPPERNONG gazette 436 Bridgepath Road Columbia, NC 27925 Tyrrell County 252.796.4513 nelip@mac.com www.ScuppernongGazette.com www.ColumbiaNC.com
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