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The power found under the reading rainbow

I’ve been reading as long as I can remember. To the point that I didn’t sleep in the dark until my late teens because I had gotten used to falling asleep with the touch lamp on because I’d stay up late reading. I spent so much time of my youth at the Pleasants County Library checking out books about science, history, biographies, books about unexplained phenomena and science fiction. The knowledge I learned helped me co-captain my middle and high school quiz bowl teams. In my 20s, I spent much of my time at the Parkersburg and Wood County Public Library. I used to walk from ...

An early morning of council goal setting

I spent the early part of last Saturday morning at the Weirton Municipal Building for a council workshop. Covering one of these roundtable discussions is seldom an exciting experience, especially when it starts at 8 a.m.on a Saturday, but there I was, listening as most of council and the mayor discussed projects they would like to see addressed this year. I don’t know how realistic it will be to see many of the projects discussed actually completed before the end of this council’s term in December, and there is certain to be a different mix when the next administration takes over ...

Country Roads, Take Me Home

I turned on my car radio this morning and had to smile. John Denver’s song, “Country Roads” was playing, which always makes me happy. I am not an exception in loving this song; and hearing it lifts my spirit, which is true for all West Virginians. As I listened to the lyrics, my mind drifted to the many who use our highways every day as they travel through our mountains. We are a friendly bunch, not only offering hospitality, but caring about the safety of others. I have often watched a Mountaineer stop to change a flat or check on a stranded motorist. We care about people. At ...

Valentine’s Day is not celebrated by everyone

While driving down the street the other day, something made me slow down. As I came upon what had suddenly caught my attention, I immediately braked. Right there in the middle of the street. Before me was a house outlined in pink, red and white lights. These were certainly not remnants of the Christmas season. This was something altogether new. This was different. I took one last look and continued on my way so as not to cause a collision. But it wasn’t two blocks later that I noticed another home with a large pink tree in the front corner window. Again, I stopped. No one was ...

Will a whiteout change political history?

Independent and unaffiliated voters were saved by the snow last week after the West Virginia Republican Executive Committee postponed its winter meeting where they were to take up a resolution to close the May GOP primary to non-Republicans. That meeting was postponed until this Saturday, so the state Republican Executive Committee is set to consider the resolution again, with the possibility of amending it to postpone closing the primary until 2026. Limiting the Republican primary to just registered Republican voters has been discussed before. State Code gives political parties ...

Looking for competition this election

The filing period for West Virginia’s May primary election, as well as Weirton’s municipal election in November, will wrap up Jan. 27. A lot of the attention for this year’s election has been focused on the presidency, and, here in West Virginia, the race to be the state’s next U.S. senator, member of Congress and governor. Quite frankly, with only a couple of exceptions, that is probably going to be where all of the excitement happens this year, unless there are some major changes in the next week. As I’m writing this, the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office is ...