Odds and ends, 3/11/08

I forget to mention that yesterday was my father's birthday. If were alive, he would be 116 now. I'm probably the only person at The Herald-Dispatch with a parent born during the Benjamin Harrison administration.

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From today's news update:

A Mason County man faces up to 20 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to a marijuana charge this week.

Keith Nelson of Southside, W.Va., was indicted by a federal grand jury in September 2007. He was 24-years-old at the time of the indictment, which had charged him with manufacturing marijuana by growing and cultivating at least 100 plants in the Chief Cornstalk Wildlife Management Area.

If you're going to grow a big crop, don't do it on public land.

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WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) — The Division of Highways is getting ready to chronicle the history of more than 3,000 of the state’s bridges.

Highways senior historian Mike Wilson says the agency wants to survey and identify spans that might be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

Wilson says more than 3,000 bridges were built prior to 1965 and it’s hoped each will be rated based on its design, workmanship and materials used. A bridge might also be considered based on its association with a historical event or person.The survey should take about three years to complete.

Not trying to be a smart-aleck here (for once), but I don't know if we have any truly historic bridges in this part of West Virginia. We have a lot of old ones, but none that I can think of that would be called historic.

None of the Ohio River bridges in this region of WV were built before 1965. The only bridge around here that I can remember people claiming to be historic is the old one at Martha, but I know of no reason why it should be considered so other than its age. Its piers block the Guyandotte River, and sooner or later it will become more of a safety menace than it is now.

I have yet to hear of anyone claiming the old highway bridges over the Guyandotte as being historic.

Does anyone else know of any "historic" local bridges around here, other than the Milton covered bridge?