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Spring in full bloom
On the first day of May, Kitty and I went to the Leonard Johnson Funeral Home in Marmet, WV, to pay our respects for a beautiful lady, Lahoma Quesinberry White. Lahoma was my age. We played together as children, went to school together, were in the same Sunday School, lived in the same small coal-mining community of Wevaco located near the head of Cabin Creek in West Virginia. While there, I talked with family members and friends I had know...
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GUEST VIEW: Placing a priority on safe teen driving
By Stephen Gray Wallace Prom and graduation season, the Fourth of July, and summer vacation give pause to parents of teenagers everywhere. Why? Because celebration paired with newfound freedom can trigger tragedy on our roads and highways. Indeed, young people themselves report that these times of year are the most dangerous when it comes to driving. And alcohol and other drugs are primary reasons. According to new research from SADD (S...
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Survey: Americans felt more secure in jobs in 2012
WASHINGTON (AP) — Confidence in the U.S. job market has rebounded to roughly a normal level from its record low after the Great Recession, a trend that could help boost the economy. Americans increasingly feel they could find a new job if necessary, according to the results of the 2012 General Social Survey, a long-standing poll of public opinion. And fear of being laid off dropped last year from its 2010 peak to roughly its average for the...
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Useless Baggage
With their big fuss over aviation punctuality, lawmakers make it clear that they’re not feeling the pain felt by the majority of Americans. They’ve hit a new low. Citing significant concerns about long lines at airports and flight delays caused by the furlough of air-traffic controllers, Congress let the Federal Aviation Administration override strict sequestration rules and redirect funds within its budget. And they did so with lightning...
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Column: Playing politics with crisis is inevitable
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hours after the Boston Marathon bombings, President Barack Obama gave the standard presidential line following a tragedy: “On days like this there are no Republicans or Democrats — we are Americans, united in concern for our fellow citizens.” And, as usual, Republicans and Democrats alike quickly ignored his don’t-politicize-this plea. This was inevitable. Our leaders always play politics after catastrophe, whether mad...
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Transportation
The sequester. If we were allowed to define it in an updated version of the dictionary it would read — “The latest in a series of blunders committed by our federal lawmakers and executive branch leadership in Washington, D.C.” Why such harsh criticism? Because once again, action, or should that be inaction on Capitol Hill has created yet another series of problems for America that were absolutely unnecessary and could have been avoided....
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Capito definitely packed them in
Unlike some statehouse reporters, we never vacation here. Instead, we are always on hand to spin our web. * * * * * * Judging by the enthusiasm and size of the crowd, it may be virtually impossible for anyone to slow down Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito in her move to the United States Senate. Capito definitely packed them in and got a rousing response from those gathered at the Logan Country Club in Chapmanville over the weekend. ...
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Resurgence of deadly heroin
The drug culture of the late 1960s and early 1970s popularized marijuana, cocaine, LSD and other street drugs. But with the accidental overdose of rock singer Janis Joplin in 1970 and other high-profile deaths, none was considered more dangerous or addictive than heroin. Over the next few years, the surge of heroin use began to subside. The development of methadone helped treat the addicted, and the end of the Vietnam War closed out some ...
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The Constitution Protects Students Too
Young people in this country are frequently treated as if they’re not old enough to have rights. They’re often forced to put up with unconstitutional censorship, invasions of privacy, over reaching discipline and many struggle to get a good education in unsafe, underfunded schools. Katelyn Campbell, a student at Kanawha County’s George Washington High School, spoke out against a controversial “abstinence until marriage” assembly, triggering...
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Cheating in schools
West Virginia public school students rank so low in standardized test scores — trailing most states in science, equaling Bulgaria in math — that the 2013 Legislature overcame howls from teacher unions and passed a major education reform demanded by Gov. Tomblin. Nobody knows whether the law changes will boost learning levels. But the demand for better test results begets a different problem: cheating by some teachers and administrators to i...
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Home Schooling may be the best of all
Being schooled at home may be the best education we ever receive. I attended for 13 years in the public school system of West Virginia. Those were unforgettable years and teachers. I liked every one of my 35 teachers I had before high school graduation and all 95 I had in the pursuit of college and graduate degrees. The most memorable teachers were in my home schooling years. They enabled me to go beyond what I was taught in public schools,...
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Taxes
After approval of an extended and expanded home rule program for West Virginia cities, the Legislature this month gave the state’s Tax Department a little more authority. The question now is whether the department was given too much leeway, to the potential detriment of the program. The home rule program, which allows participating cities more freedom to try new approaches to municipal problems, was set to expire July 1. Lawmakers this mont...
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Project 24
Not 50th, not 49th. First for a welcome change. Last week Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and former Gov. Bob Wise announced that the West Virginia Board of Education and the state will be partnering with the Alliance for Excellent Education to begin a statewide review of classroom technology use and digital learning capabilities. Project 24, which stands for the next 24 months, is a program developed by the Alliance which is now guided by Wise. Th...
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30 years after report, schools remain at risk
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. students are falling behind their international rivals. Young people aren’t adept at new technology. America’s economy will suffer if schools don’t step up their game. “A Nation at Risk,” the report issued 30 years ago this week by President Ronald Reagan’s Education Department, was meant as a wake-up call for the country. It spelled out where the United States was coming up short in education and what steps could be ...
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‘Enemy combatant’ tag
‘Enemy combatant’ tag could pay dividends for this country Boston returned to somewhat-normal on Monday, one week after the Boston Marathon bombings triggered a series of events that kept the area on edge until the second, surviving bomber was captured Friday night. The question facing authorities now is, how best to proceed legally? After 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was apprehended, some in the media questioned law enforcement about th...
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Great Gun Controversy of 2013
With emotions already running extremely high in the “Great Gun Controversy of 2013,” it was not unexpected that last week’s developments stirred the pot even more. Nobody here can feel anything but sorrow at what the people of Boston endured following the Boston Marathon bombing. Sane people everywhere joined in extending sadness and sympathy for the loss of lives and related injuries in that New England city. More than that, America lost...
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Praising first responders
The city of Boston and the town of West, Texas, could hardly be more dissimilar. One is a massive metropolitan center, with a combined residential population of more than 7 million, that also serves as the state’s capital, while the other is a rural crossroads of only 2,800 people that, until last week, was easily overlooked on a drive along I-35 between Austin and Dallas. However, these two communities share one thing in common — the brave...
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Poll: Public pessimism on economy is increasing
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the third year in a row, the nation’s economic recovery has hit a springtime soft spot. Reflecting that weakness, only 1 in 4 Americans now expects his or her own financial situation to improve over the next year, a new Associated Press-GfK poll shows. The sour mood is undermining support for President Barack Obama’s economic stewardship and for government in general. The poll shows that just 46 percent of Americans ...
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Felt like the world was coming apart
Weeks like the one we just lived through can make it seem like the world is coming apart. On Monday, a perfect day for distance running, two homemade bombs turned a day of celebration into a day of violence. On Tuesday, we learned about poison being sent through the mail to the president, a senator and a judge. On Wednesday, an explosion destroyed a small town in Texas. On Friday, we awoke to images of an overnight shootout and a manh...
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Jackie Robinson, America’s civil rights leader
Jack Roosevelt Robinson, (1919-72), was born January 31, in Cairo, GA. He attended Pasadena Junior College before enrolling at the University of California at Los Angeles. He excelled in football, basketball, baseball and track. During his junior year in 1941, he enlisted in the United States Army from which he was honorably discharged in early 1945 with the rank of first lieutenant. Later in 1945, Jackie Robinson signed with Branch Rickey ...
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Letters
Letters To The Editor, May 19, 2013
Memorial Day Celebration Editor, Greetings, my name is Rick Bradley. I am a retired-disabled U.S. Army veteran. I have enclosed an essay that I wrote in college that I wanted to share with m...
May 19, 2013 | 1 1 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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Letters To The Editor, May 12, 2013
Jared Marcum incident Editor, I am appalled at the number of letters submitted by retired military personnel on the issue of the Jared Marcum incident. I can only surmise from their comments...
May 12, 2013 | 5 5 comments | 0 0 recommendations | email to a friend
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Letters to the Editor, May 5, 2013
First Amendment Editor, A benefit of the First Amendment is that when all people can freely express themselves, normal people are regularly reminded of how warped some can be in their thinki...
May 05, 2013 | 2 2 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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Letters To The Editor, April 28, 2013
Looking for Donna Editor, Hello, I’m from Michigan and I have been looking for Donna Sue Browning Gardner for over 35 years. I was told she still lives in Harts? It is really important to ...
Apr 28, 2013 | 1 1 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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Letter to Editors, April 14, 2013
Cabell County DOH Editor, Although I am not the supervisor for Corridor G, I would like to take the time to express my thanks to the DOH employees from Cabell County working in Logan on Corr...
Apr 14, 2013 | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
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