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Letters to the Editor

Project allows students to count their blessings

Students in Mrs. DeMotto’s and Mrs. Isner’s fourth-grade classrooms at North Elementary recently completed a Reading unit about heroes. As a result, it sparked the idea of a community service project where students would supply items to fill the Highland Park Blessing Box, located within walking distance from the school. In lieu of purchasing Christmas gifts for each other, students donated items such as canned goods, snacks, gloves, hygiene products, etc. to help those in need. To culminate the project, students and teachers walked to the Blessing Box with their donations and ...

‘Critical race theory’ being used to divide

At the risk of taking bait dangled by local State Senator Robert Karnes and his misguided colleagues, I write to express my opposition to two bills which Karnes coauthors. SB 45 and SB 182 are fear-mongering proposals that seek to ban the teaching of so-called “divisive acts” and “critical race theory.” The latter of which was developed as a framework by legal scholars such as Derrick Bell in the 1980s and is not explicitly included in any of the West Virginia College- and Career-Readiness Standards that guide K-12 instruction. Utterly unfamiliar with the education ...

Upshur official urges voters to support bond

As the new Executive Director of the Upshur County Development Authority, I’ve been on a listening tour over the past several months to learn more about Upshur County and what we have to offer new people and businesses. I have heard over and over what a great place Upshur County is to call home, and as a new resident, I’m enchanted with this place. I feel so much peace and tranquility in my new home. It’s obvious to me that the people of Upshur County have been committed to building this county with an eye towards its neighborly values, treasuring its small town feel, ...

Reader unimpressed by Biden’s first year

One year down — three to go. It’s been 12 excruciating months and somehow I get a notion we’ve only just begun. Is there anyone reading this who has any remorse for voting for Biden? Come on now, raise your hand. You know it is written “confession is good for the soul.” It might be good therapy to take a close look at the damage Biden’s caused in the year just past and add up the lies he’s told and promises he’s broken. Take a look at how many failed decisions he’s made and wounds he’s inflicted on our nation, especially his moronic executive orders that will ...

Reader relates effects incarceration can have

A thing happens when you have been taken by the collar and handed a blanket and a pillow and placed in a cell or holding cell. Much is made, and rightly so, of the effects of post traumatic stress disorder on people who have been in combat, and perhaps there is some of that in the effect that living in this place called Tygart Valley has on a person. Such a thing can be bad and not good, for when a person has once been possessed by his incarceration it is not possible for him or her to be truly normal again. Missing my brother that has PTSD. Thank you for your service! Douglas K. ...

Bringing happiness to others without knowing

Today I met an angel in the Elkins Walmart. A young mother with a small child in one arm was pushing a cart with the other arm. She was singing. It brought a smile to my heart. Her child was completely focused on Mommy, smiling and looking up into her face. As she turned to put something in her cart, I said, “Thank you.” She looked confused. I said, “Thank you for singing. It does a heart good to hear someone singing nowadays.” As I spoke, tears came to my eyes. She said she was just trying to bring some joy to the world. And she did. Then she noticed my tears, and ...