[EODGUY]

"Some of my best friends were Appalachian Snake Handlers. "

Do you mean WERE in the context that they have gone to that big Appalachian Snake Handler convention in the sky OR do you mean they have taken up alternative methods of expressing their religious fervor, such as fire-walking and/or drinking arsenic?

[Arkinsaw]

Do you mean WERE in the context that they have gone to that big Appalachian Snake Handler convention in the sky OR do you mean they have taken up alternative methods of expressing their religious fervor, such as fire-walking and/or drinking arsenic?

YES.