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Editorials

Concerning

There is a new “chapter” in the saga of alcohol-consumption health consequences. Actually, the chapter itself is not new, but there’s a new recognition that hasn’t been front-and-center in a widespread way up to now. Now that recognition is becoming more visible and, with that, more troubling. Women and their spouses — or significant others — need to pay attention and, perhaps, have some heart-to-heart discussions about what’s at stake and what needs to be done to avert a tragic outcome. No right-thinking person should consider the issue one to be pooh-poohed. Those ...

Local Sports History

Are you a devoted sports fan? Do you enjoy taking sports photos? Do you love documenting local sports history? Do you have photos showing local high school teams or athletes from the past? Have you held onto pictures of local sports achievers from yesteryear? If your answer to any of those questions is yes, then we have a terrific opportunity for you. The Inter-Mountain is accepting submitted photographs to be considered for inclusion in an upcoming high school sports photo book. The book will be hardbound, and devoted to the sports achievements of high schools in Randolph, Barbour, ...

Loading Up

Getting ready to load up the family vehicle for a long trip? Maybe spring cleaning got a little out of control and now you’ve got a lot of stuff to haul away. Maybe you’re gearing up to take a child to college. There are any number of reasons our vehicles can get loaded down, but earlier this month, the Governor’s Highway Safety Program took a day to remind drivers to “Drive Safe: Secure Your Load.” How many of us have driven past debris on the road that makes it clear someone did not do just that? For that matter, how many have glanced in the rearview mirror to notice a ...

Enhanced 911

It was a headline-grabber indeed for those who chose to present a change by the West Virginia Public Service Commission as meaning cell phone BILLS increasing 10% in the state. But the reality is significantly less frightening. Beginning July 1, cell phone users in the Mountain State will notice a 10.2% increase in the wireless enhanced 911 fee (WE911) on their bills. There will also be an 8-cent wireless tower fee and a 29-cent public safety wireless fee. The total amount of the fee will go from $3.64 to $4.38. That’s 74 cents a month; $8.88 over an entire year. Breathing a little ...

Ups and Downs

Mirroring the landscape of the state itself, monthly tax collection figures can be a matter of ups and downs in West Virginia. The trick is for state officials not to go overboard when there are ups and not to be surprised when there are downs. Last month, we got an “April surprise” in the form of tax collections 26.8% above estimates. May’s numbers, however, came in shy of projections — $154,000 below what revenue officials had expected. (While some segments continued to be up, May personal income tax collections were 6.5% below the estimate for the month). An overall ...

Bureaucrats Bickering

There’s nothing quite like listening to bureaucrats and corporate representatives bicker while something of vital importance to ordinary citizens hangs in the balance. But that’s just what happened Tuesday when West Virginia Public Service Chairwoman Charlotte Lane had to call out electric utilities, internet service providers and state officials for dragging their feet on establishing rules for expanding fiber broadband on existing power poles. Though a group of representatives for Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power, MonPower and Potomac Edison, several internet service ...