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Remembering where the buck stops

I was very pleased last Monday to hear Gov. Patrick Morrisey say that the decision to leave behind a volunteer contingent of West Virginia National Guard members was his. “I made the decision to have the word come down that we would ask the people if they wanted to volunteer,” Morrisey said during his first press conference with West Virginia media since the shooting on Nov. 26 of two Guard members during their Washington, D.C., deployment by an Afghan national, one of whom died. I was pleased because the weekend after the shooting, a number of social media posts were made on the ...

Journalism can also be like a box of chocolates

I had an entirely different thought for this column leading in the end of the week, and then Friday happened. That’s not to say that Friday was a disaster of a day necessarily, but it was a reminder of just how a typical day in this business can be anything but typical by most standards. Sure, there are some routine meetings. I know when school board and council meetings are, and can put them on my schedule, but, most of the time, we never really know what’s going to happen at any given point. I got into the office at around my usual time, having taken a few extra minutes to ...

I remember a time, not so long ago …

I remember a time, not so long ago , when the church pews didn’t just hold people — they overflowed with them. It was a specific kind of closeness unique to Christmas Eve. Families were pressed shoulder-to-shoulder with coats piled high. Voices rose in unison to the holiday favorites we all knew by heart. I remember a time, not so long ago … The way the candlelight flickered across the faces throughout the congregation. The profound hush that fell across the church just before the first notes of “Silent Night” were sung without hymnals. Those lyrics carried a ...

History in the Hills: Snow day at home

This past Tuesday was a snow day for my kids. It was fun for them to be home on a regular day when we didn’t have to run out for a game, doctor appointment or meeting. In a day and age where one is constantly running from thing to thing, a quiet day is a wonderful thing. And what better way to make a kid happy than a snow day. Today, kids find out about a snow day because we get a recorded call from the school. Ours came at 6 a.m. Tuesday. When I was in school, I would wait in front of the TV with the WTOV-TV morning news hoping that Hancock County schools would flash canceled on the ...

Bookends of this year’s reading list

I enjoy reading. I guess I wouldn’t be in this profession if I didn’t. When I was 5 years old, I told my dad he no longer had to read to me. From that point on, I slept with numerous books under my bed for convenience. I slept with a touch lamp on and didn’t sleep in the dark until I was nearly out of high school, not because I was afraid of the dark but because I’d often fall asleep reading. Growing up, I mostly read nonfiction, such as books about history. I recall borrowing the Time Life series on the American Civil War from then-Pleasants County Sheriff David Kelly (now ...

Remember the giving part of the season

You’ve, no doubt, been hearing the ringing of bells when going out into the community in the last week or so. No, it’s not Clarence giving you a sign he’s gotten his wings, but volunteers helping the Salvation Army as part of its annual kettle campaign. The Salvation Army’s efforts to raise money, purchase food and toys, and collect donations of the same, has become so interwoven with the holiday season that we typically anticipate hearing those bells ringing as we venture out to do our shopping beginning in mid November and lasting well into December. No matter the year, and ...