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Thanking the doctor and the newspaper

The first Elkins history talk at Kump Center was an amazing success last Wednesday thanks to Dr. Van Gundy and The Inter-Mountain staff. We are so fortunate in Elkins to have retired faculty members from our local Davis & Elkins College and dedicated reporters for our local daily newspaper. No matter how good such events may be, they will not be well-attended unless the public is aware of what is happening. Newspapers are going out of business all over the world, but we still have one in Elkins that serves our city and seven local counties. People who like to read depend on people ...

Pausing: Leadership skill the world needs now

Have you typed a message and quickly hit send, even as your brain is saying, You may want to think about this one first! Most of us have been there. That’s why I wanted to write on restraint (pausing). It’s an important message and one that bears revisiting.  My columns often have repeated topics. Why? New readers. I have more than 30,000 subscribers to this column via LinkedIn. Reminders are helpful. Our brain can retain only so much. Back to pausing. I have seldom regretted pausing. I often wish I had paused. An action can cause damage, from a moment to a lifetime.  The ...

Rumblings from the White House

Certainly, some strange rumblings are coming out of the White House. President Donald Trump seems obsessed with both the petty and the grandiose. He renames lakes, ruminates over his buildings and innumerable projects. The White House and the country eagerly await, apparently, his ballroom. It is too bad that he seems to have little time to spend trying to figure out how to end the Iranian imbroglio and fix the economy. The inattention to the immediate business at hand seems to confuse his cabinet. Howard Lutnick practically explained his building plans as therapy for the ...

Three Elkins History Talks planned

Three Elkins History Talks will be given at Kump Education Center for the fall lecture series beginning next Wednesday, September 9 at 7pm in the Optimum Learning Lab beside the Kump house garage. On Sept. 9 Dr. Jim Van Gundy will speak on “Elkins Geology” and help us understand why this swampy location was suitable for the center of the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railroad 130 years ago. Dr. Van Gundy taught geology and other science courses at Davis and Elkins College for many years. Since he retired, he has traveled and served as a guide on ocean cruises in other ...

Don’t point a finger; hold out your hand

Instead of pointing a finger, hold out your hand. This statement combines two familiar “hand” metaphors. The first is that when we have one finger pointing out at someone else, three others are pointing back at us. The second is a reference to reaching out to another person to be of help. It is usually better to open the hand. It is easy to point a finger at what is wrong, who is at fault, what could be better, and so on. At times, pointing can be helpful. It may be that we’re pointing out danger, a person who needs recognition, or a place someone needs to go. The key is in how ...

Trump’s tariff troubles continue

Donald Trump’s tariff policies reflect outmoded 19th-century economic thought. Yet he has persistently pushed the notion that free trade represents “a rip-off” of American producers and workers. Despite the reality that neither consumers nor workers benefit from restrictive trade, and it is estimated that 86 to 96 percent of levies on imported goods are passed on to Americans in the form of higher prices. Everything from beef to automobiles is more expensive, and inefficient United States industries are favored. Thus, consumers are not free to choose, and Adam Smith’s Wealth of ...