Thanks for all of the excellent suggestions. After having systematically gone through every thing suggested, because of the newness of the machine I just don't see a high probability of most of the components causing problems at this time. My #1 hunch is that a piece of trash somehow got into the fuel system (albeit the fuel was purchased last week).

I fooled around with that & believe fuel is getting to the carb and now my best guess is that it is electrical... specifically something to do with one of three switches related to the machine supposedly cutting off if operator lets go of bar across the horizontal handle which op is suppose to grip when the machine is operated. So far I've been able to locate 2 of the 3, but from their appearance they appear to be cheaply made and are good candidates for early failure.

My next problem is to isolate the assumed bad one. This bothers me because the furnished Snapper owners guide is a copied version and the extremely fine print is almost impossible to the decipher on the wiring diagrams. One of the issues is that neither of the guides (Snapper machine made here in GA and the Briggs & Stratton Vanguard engine made in Japan or China) treat the issue in a comprehensive manner... both claiming to not address specific models. Neither is accurate in their presentation of the cut-off switches.