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Bidding farewell to a community friend

Following weeks of certificates, plaques, awards and other recognitions in honor of his contributions, the Weirton area is saying its goodbyes, this weekend, to Capt. Gene Hunt. For those who ever had the opportunity to meet Hunt during his five years heading up the local Salvation Army corps, they knew immediately he was not original to our region, as, despite moving around through his career, he has maintained his native North Carolina drawl. Despite that, he found a way to integrate himself into our communities in a way many of those who are born here never do. Not content just ...

Some can only remember on this Father’s Day

Today is Father’s Day. For many of us, it is an extremely difficult 24 hours to get through. When I think of my dad and grandfather who have been gone from this world for too long, I am filled with regrets of things I didn’t say and sadness for some of the things I did. For whatever reasons, my father and I didn’t share that closeness that some fathers and daughters share. Coming from divorced parents, there were times growing up when he was too busy to see my brother and me. Then, as an adult, I became too busy. Busy with work. Busy with my children. Busy with my own life. ...

Grateful for another year in journalism

We are now in June, which means I’m beginning my seventh year as your state government reporter in Charleston. And it continues to be a fun, wild ride. I remain thankful to Ogden Newspapers and its many daily and weekly newspapers here in West Virginia and bordering states that run my news stories and this weekly column. I’m also thankful for other newspapers in the state that run my articles, including the Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram/The State Journal and the Beckley Register-Herald. The newspaper industry has encountered many challenges over the last 25 years. The internet has ...

Government budgets are getting smaller, too

As the state and various other governmental entities approach the end of their 2023-24 fiscal year on June 30, there has been much attention paid toward their budgets. As our statewide reporter, Steven Allen Adams, noted in a recent article, West Virginia is on track to have a “surplus” of approximately $800 million (a sizable decrease from previous years) to start the next fiscal year on July 1. I put surplus in quotation marks because, as anyone who has paid attention to our reporting in the last few years would know, the Legislature has made a habit of setting aside a series of ...

History in the Hills: Remembering D-Day

This past week marks the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasions in Europe during World War II. On that day in June 1944, the world changed. The allies began the operation to take back Nazi-held Europe and liberate the many under their rule. My grandfathers were in the Army then, too, although they did not take part in the invasion. My grandfather, Joseph Carpini, was in England in June 1944 training and serving as a military policeman. He landed at Omaha Beach about a month or so after D-Day and saw firsthand the destruction and evidence of the great battles that took place in the ...

Father’s Day should have been more important

Next Sunday is Father’s Day. To be painfully honest, it has never been a day I thought too much about until, say, a week prior to its arrival. (Kind of like this column.) It is nothing like Mother’s Day. We know it is coming and always order our gifts and flowers well in advance. We actually buy her a card as soon as they become available in the aisles. Why is that? What makes Mother’s Day more meaningful than Father’s Day? I truly have no idea. But I will speculate that mothers usually don’t leave. Some do. But most stay for the duration. Now, in no way am I ...