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The 2026 election has already arrived

I know we’re only seven months into the terms for most of our elected officials, and a lot of us probably would still like a breather after the 2024 election, but the campaigns for 2026 already are beginning – for better or worse. Personally, I’d like to not have to think too much about political campaigns for another four or five months, but we received a press release this week from Toby Heaney, a Republican from Fairview, West Virginia, announcing his plans to seek a seat in the West Virginia Senate representing the Second District. The seat currently is held by Charles ...

West Virginia must finalize NIL for high school athletes

On August 8, 2025, West Virginia will finally step into the present when the Board of Education approves Item I (WVSSAC, Series 2), allowing high school athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness. This change isn’t just overdue, it’s essential. For years I’ve spoken publicly and privately about the need to give our student-athletes the same opportunities already available to their peers across the country. When my colleague and I started lobbying for this shift in February, only 30 states and the District of Columbia had NIL policies in place for high school students. ...

Coping with obsessive-compulsive disorder

I have had obsessive-compulsive disorder all my life. Even as a child, my devoted mother, Dorothy Irene Welker, would say to me, “Billy, you dwell on things too much.” I still do, but it wasn’t until my late 20s that I was finally diagnosed with OCD by Dr. Dorothy Jones, a clinical psychologist. In the United States, approximately 2.5 million people have been diagnosed with OCD. And those are only the reported cases. Millions of other Americans just try to cope with it. They are embarrassed to tell their friends about their condition. But keep in mind, OCD is an emotional ...

I really thought that it would be easier …

So, I was putting together the Valley Life section of the paper this week, adding in sermon topics when they became available. On Wednesday, I received the sermon title for the Cadiz Presbyterian Church. It is entitled, “I Thought it Would Be Easier.” Well, I instantly fell in love with what they would be speaking about. For some reason, it just resonated with me. Now, I have absolutely no idea what the church will be discussing in its message to the congregation. That is, unless I go and listen to their preacher and hear his meaning behind why he chose this particular ...

History in the Hills: Measuring our past

When someone comes to Historic Fort Steuben, they will have a lot to see. Their first stop will be the Visitor Center where one could visit our display area to see many historical collections, in addition to a model of the fort. Visitors also can stop at our museum shop as well, to browse local books, gifts and souvenirs. When entering the fort, one can visit nine buildings that are set up to show what life was like for the soldiers and surveyors who occupied it in the 1780s. Some of the buildings historically were used for the same use, such as the fact that there were two buildings ...

A government about laws, not men

I have no blood connection with John Adams, one of our nation’s founding fathers and the second president of the United States. But I’ve read enough of his letters to find a real kinship with the underappreciated man. One of his famous quotes is often paraphrased, but below is a direct quote from an Adams letter to fellow Continental Congress delegate John Penn. “…The true Idea of a Republic, is ‘An Empire of Laws and not of Men’: and therefore as a Republic is the best of Governments so, that particular Combination of Power, which is best contrived for a faithfull ...