Captain Samuel Brady: Part 1 Earl Nicodemus April 14, 2015 2 Captain Samuel Brady – Hero of the Revolution Part 1 During the Revolutionary War, the most well-known and respected individual in the Upper Ohio Valley was not named McCullough or Zane or Wetz...
The Mabel Files: Centre Market Gerry Griffith April 13, 2015 3 The Mabel Files: Part 11 Learning the Colorful History of a Keystone Wheeling Neighborhood It was a sweltering July Saturday in 1938, when Mabel spotted the “for rent” sign in the window of the little sto...
Student Reflections from a Trip to a Solar Farm Vishakha Maskey April 6, 2015 I teach a special topics course titled “Introduction to Sustainability” at West Liberty University. Sustainability is defined as “the capacity of the earth’s natural systems and human cultural systems to surviv...
The Secret Sisterhood of the Ohio Valley Roller Girls Angela Rehbein April 5, 2015 1 I’m lying on the concrete floor of the James E. Carnes Center in Belmont County, Ohio. My feet are laced in roller skates and protective gear (elbow and knee pads, wrist guards, and helmet) is strapped to my li...
Ullom’s First Guitar Put Him In Tune For Life Steve Novotney April 4, 2015 He was a good boy in 1997, so his parents purchased him a Christmas present. Little did Tim Ullom’s mother and father realize at the time how the gift would alter the course of their son’s life. Wrapped with...
The Mabel Files: WWVA Jamboree and “It’s Wheeling Steel” Gerry Griffith April 3, 2015 Mabel Files 11—Tom’s Radio Part 2 Lizzie Minns had a restless night that Saturday in January 1933. She tossed and turned and couldn’t seem to get herself to go unconscious. There was no reason in particular ...
Geocaching: ‘Easter Egg’ Hunting, Year-Round Jesse Mestrovic April 1, 2015 Spring is finally here, and after our long, snowy winter, I know we are all eager to get outside. Geocaching is a great family activity or solo sport that uses technology that nearly everyone nowadays already o...
The Tools Of The Trade Bill Hogan March 30, 2015 1 The biggest day of my life was the morning I put on my new knickers with the brand new leather lace-up knee boots with the pen knife in a special holster. It was attached to the outside of the right boot halfwa...
Blast Off Apps Focusing on Local Businesses Steve Novotney March 27, 2015 “Greed.” That is Adam Paul’s one-word answer to why the small-business sector of the American economy has yet to tap into using mobile phone apps to help grow their respective operations. But Paul and co-fou...
Valley Be Quirky Rich Knoblich March 21, 2015 The mainstream labels it a revitalization of the Ohio Valley with Wheeling as the epicenter. But there’s a subtle underlying current that may have always been there, but it is just now evolving into an open emb...
DiCarlo’s Pizza: A Family Affair Steve Novotney March 21, 2015 10 She can’t answer the question. She can tell you the story about how the business was started 70 years ago, and she can recite the long listing of tasks she tackles on a daily basis, but Toni DiCarlo cannot e...
The Mabel Files: Fireside Chats and the Flood of ’36 Gerry Griffith March 19, 2015 1 Mabel Files 10—Tom’s Radio Part 1 “He’s coming Mama and he’s got it,” 13-year-old Mabel called out to her mother, Lizzie, on a Saturday morning in April 1932. Mabel had been gazing up the sidewalk of Jacob S...
On Being Irish Bill Hogan March 16, 2015 I am Irish, I guess, because I don’t know what else to be. I am half German, but being German never came easy to me. We are a melancholy lot; I am. That is why we sing and laugh so much beca...
Vegetarian Group Defines Its Own Valley Cuisine Lindsay Spaar March 11, 2015 Over the past decade, grocery store chains have expanded their organic food sections from a few shelves into entire departments. Farmers’ markets filled with fresh local produce have become a must-have resource...
Mabel Files: Wheeling’s Bonnie and Clyde Gerry Griffith March 9, 2015 By Gerry Griffith Weelunk Contibutor Wheeling Couple’s Bloody Crime Spree Keeps the Minns Confectionary Crew Buzzing When Tom Minns walked into his little store in South Wheeling on a rainy aft...
Little Ships and Big Ships Bill Hogan March 8, 2015 I started in the securities brokerage business in 1957 with a Cincinnati firm named Westheimer & Co. It was a regional firm as most were in those days. The president of the firm was a venerable old gentlema...
Disaster of the Steamboat Scioto Rich Knoblich March 7, 2015 3 Note: This is a fictional tale. Rich Knoblich, WV storyteller and a regular winner of the Liar Contest at the annual Vandalia Gathering hosted by the WV Dept. of Arts and Culture, likes to add some dr...
Hospitality The Key For Hitchman’s Hampton Steve Novotney March 7, 2015 By Steve Novotney Weelunk.com He knows every employee by name even without peering at their ever-present name tags, and he greets each and every guest, often asking them if they are having fun during thei...
Through the Generations, a Legacy of Success Derrick McKee March 6, 2015 By Derrick McKee Weelunk Contributor As you sit at one of the high-top tables circling the bar with your burger and beer-battered fries or walk across the new causeway to the outdoor patio overl...
Snow Day, a Poem Lauren Cuff March 5, 2015 By Lauren Cuff Weelunk Contributor Snow Day I have coffee I keep my pajamas on I play music I listen to my dog snore I begin to write a story for my nephew...
Pleasing Its Customers Drives Neely’s Grocery Steve Novotney March 4, 2015 4 By Steve Novotney Weelunk.com Two brothers are working the counter, another one is stocking the shelves, and another is manning the deli counter. That persistent “Ding!” means yet another vehicle has pull...
The “Mabel Files” 8: When George Met Mabel Gerry Griffith March 2, 2015 1 By Gerry Griffith Weelunk Contributor Mabel, 15, and George, 18, in 1934 Nineteen-year-old George Griffith’s shovel dug into the hard Colorado soil and created a stone-on-metal scraping noise. So did th...
Only in Wheeling: “Home Invasion” Steve Criniti March 1, 2015 2 By Steve Criniti Ed. Note: This is the second installment of an occasional column titled “Only in Wheeling.” The stories featured here will be stories of the quaint, quirky, weirdly alluring things that happen...
26003 Is IN Again, With Help From Magazine Steve Novotney February 27, 2015 1 By Steve Novotney Weelunk.com It’s Wheeling, a city with, surprisingly, only one zip code. 26003. That’s it, and these days, no matter the size of the city, it’s very rare. So why not use it? ...
Maroon Knight Pride Preps for Future Steve Novotney February 20, 2015 By Steve Novotney Weelunk.com On the inside, the hallway walls remain green, and the doors are still thick, the windows continue to glow, many lockers are decorated in celebration of athletic achievements...
Defy The Cold; Fish For Trout! Jesse Mestrovic February 18, 2015 by Jesse Mestrovic West Virginia trout-stocking is getting into full swing. It may be cold, snowing, and threatening hypothermia outside, but the diligent, passion-driven sportsmen and women are gearing up f...
Recycling Issue Comes Back Anew Steve Novotney February 17, 2015 By Steve Novotney Weelunk.com Paper. Plastics. Metals. Textiles. Electronics. Composting. And glass – clear, brown, green, whatever. Almost everything can be recycled. But even though methods of rec...
Miklas: More than Just Meat Sarah Cuff Koegler February 15, 2015 2 By Sarah Koegler Weelunk Contributor My Weekly Stop I tie the dog’s leash to the railing on the stoop, help my boys prop their bikes against the wall, and walk into Miklas Meat Market. I’m usually greeted by...
An Echo Point Romance Bill Hogan February 14, 2015 5 By Bill Hogan Weelunk Contributor Doodad and Bebe I met Mary Ann’s grandparents when I first dated her. She lived way out in the country, and at that time the roads were a lane and a half and very bump...
Avenue Eats Celebrates Second Anniversary Steve Novotney February 14, 2015 By Steve Novotney Weelunk.com They had no idea if it would work. The “build-it-and-they-will-come” phrase was truly a question for Phillip Kendall and Lara Graves. “If we build it, will they come?” ...
Local Marketing Firm Brings California Ideas Home Derrick McKee February 11, 2015 By Derrick McKee Weelunk Contributor The clock was inching ever so slowly toward quitting time on a beautiful Friday in July as my very-British co-worker and I heard the first band at the Upper Ohio Valle...
The “Mabel Files”: The Loss of a Jazz Giant – Wheeling’s Chu Berry Gerry Griffith February 8, 2015 By Gerry Griffith Weelunk Contributor The Minns Confectionary Feels the Loss of a Jazz Giant – Wheeling’s Chu Berry Chris Cerone, the blind, balding 41-year-old musical genius who kept the patron “loaf...
Only in Wheeling: “Take My Truck” Steve Criniti February 7, 2015 2 By Steve Criniti Weelunk Contributor (Note: This is the first installment of an occasional column titled “Only in Wheeling.” The backstory is this: When my family first moved here from Pittsburgh in 1990...
Oliver’s Life-Changing Decision Easy As Pie Steve Novotney February 5, 2015 1 By Steve Novotney Weelunk.com Adam Oliver was nearly 16 years old when he won a national Taekwondo tournament and qualified for the next level of competition. The only problem was that the event was sched...
The “Mabel Files”: Part 5 Gerry Griffith February 2, 2015 By Gerry Griffith Weelunk Contributor The Mabel Files Part 5: Stogies, Sandwiches, and Crocheted Lace The 1920s and 1930s were tough times for Tom and Lizzie Minns, the blind proprietors of a...
Coleman’s Still Fresh After 100 Years Steve Novotney January 31, 2015 By Steve Novotney Weelunk.com He still blushes when his customers offer him the usual rave reviews. His face literally turns red with appreciation, and he can utter only four words in return – “Thank you ...
A Fond Reminiscence of a Life at Linsly Bill Hanna January 30, 2015 15 By Bill Hanna Weelunk Contributor I am a 1959 graduate of Linsly Military Institute (now The Linsly School), and during the past year as the school celebrated its 200th anniversary, I often found myself r...
The Mostly True Story of Simon Girty Earl Nicodemus January 29, 2015 1 By Earl Nicodemus Weelunk Contributor Even though I am a storyteller rather than a historian, I have attempted to find out the real story of Simon Girty. Other than Benedict Arnold, no other individual as...
Project Transforms East Wheeling Neighborhood Steve Novotney January 27, 2015 By Steve Novotney Weelunk.com The idea to construct an athletic facility in East Wheeling was a daring one for three primary reasons: While playgrounds replaced schools in the past, razing a two-block...
The “Mabel Files”: Part 4 Gerry Griffith January 26, 2015 By Gerry Griffith Weelunk Contributor The Mabel Files Part 4: Music, talk, and danger inside the Minns’ Confectionary A safe warm gathering place for friendship, but for thieves ... not so much Even...
Fitness 101: Get Moving…Naturally Justin Kiger January 25, 2015 By Justin Kiger Weelunk Contributor Diary of an Unresolved Fitness Quest: Day One January 2015 came in with all the resolutions every other year has in store: Get fit. Eat right. Join the gym. It’s nearly Fe...
The Flair In The Fabric Of Wheeling Bill Hogan January 24, 2015 4 by Bill Hogan I think of the Wheeling of my young years as a time when the city was booming. City streets were full of pedestrian and vehicular traffic competing with streetcars for a place in the flow. Down...
Storytelling: Court Day in West Liberty Earl Nicodemus January 23, 2015 2 by Earl Nicodemus To the reader: I must preface this document by informing the reader that I am a storyteller rather than a historian. Until radio took over the storytelling role about 100 years ago, Americans...
‘The Sportsical’ – A Dream Come True Steve Novotney January 18, 2015 3 By Steve Novotney Weelunk.com Jakob Bedway enjoys sports – even hockey, despite his father’s objections. “Watching hockey can be tough in the Bedway house,” the 11-year-old fifth grader honestly admitt...
The “Mabel Files”: Part 3 Gerry Griffith January 17, 2015 2 T.J. Minns and his “Pal” By Gerry Griffith Weelunk Contributor When my grandfather, Thomas J. Minns, had a full head of steam on the sidewalks of South Wheeling in the second two decades of t...
Preservation with Elmer and Harry Steve Novotney January 16, 2015 1 By Steve Novotney Weelunk.com They collect old photographs of couples because the subjects usually appear unhappy, and they think that it’s funny. For the same reason “Carlton the Butler” – a creepy, z...
Plans Unleashed for Dog Park Steve Novotney January 14, 2015 By Steve Novotney Weelunk.com When the ribbon is cut this summer to officially open Wheeling’s new dog park, it will represent the culmination of conversations that began more than two years ago. Resid...
Base Camp Series: A Whirlwind Tour of Northeast Ohio Derrick McKee January 13, 2015 1 By Derrick McKee Weelunk Contributor As I mentioned in my original post on why we moved back, I consider Wheeling to be a base camp for adventure because of its proximity to so much. Whether you want to g...
The “Mabel Files”, Part 2: Lindy Visits Wheeling Gerry Griffith January 11, 2015 By Gerry Griffith The young people who loitered around Tom and Lizzie Minns’ little confectionary in South Wheeling on an early summer afternoon in 1927 were excited about the newspaper story that one young ...
Park Teacher Opens Minds About Wheeling Steve Novotney January 8, 2015 12 By Steve Novotney Weelunk.com They get interested, and then they get angry. The best part is that they learn without even realizing it. Ryan Stanton, a history teacher at Wheeling Park High School, ins...
