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Letters to the Editor

Group requests time on school closure decisions

To the residents of Randolph County: Members of the community have respectfully requested of Dr. Shawn Dilly, Randolph County Superintendent of Schools, more time to develop alternatives to his recommendation to close Harman and Pickens Schools. As a resident in a rural community, I am happy for the good things happening in Elkins schools. However, if they come at the expense of rural communities such as Harman, Pickens and particularly, the well-being of our children, I am saddened and disappointed in the leadership forcing those changes with no effort to engage the communities ...

Seeking accountability

As the time of the faux Biden Legacy draws nearer there are those of us who long for some path to accountability for those disgusting people who actually ran the White House and the country for the past four years. Tens of millions of U.S. citizens were duped because they didn’t pay attention to what was happening before they went to vote in 2020 and we all paid the price. It seemed it was going to happen again with Kamala Harris but after about six weeks of campaigning, we were beginning to see truth leaking from the speeches that were uttered by a college graduated lawyer who ...

Closing schools can not be done lightly

Shuttering community schools has painful consequences for children and neighborhoods. Voters are more dissatisfied with their local school boards than their local schools,  The governing of public schools in many local communities is nearing total collapse. Recently, local school boards have fought over matters ranging from allowing protest signs to deciding whether to follow government mandates on COVID-19 or  yield to the loudest voices. Many of these matters are tearing communities apart and dividing communities. Meanwhile, problems such as student performance, working ...

Pardons by Biden show his true colors

Joe Biden got caught in a proverbial rainstorm and his true colors are now fully exposed. He lied his hip pockets off about pardoning Hunter and exposed something else. At the risk of people saying “No you didn’t,” I want to make it clear that I knew as far back as the late ‘70s, early ‘80s that this man was a descendant of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. There literally are hundreds of incidents on video where he told monster whoppers and defied anyone to challenge him. It’s possible some did but I don’t remember it. I remember saying I would never be gladder of ...

Reader demanding answers from officials

An open letter to Superintendent Dilly and the Randolph County Board of Education: Dr. Dilly, you have made a recommendation to the Board of Education that if approved, would forever change the communities of Harman and Pickens. Your assessment of the impact of the school closures describes these communities devoid of basic services and amenities. Your misrepresentation of the facts is deceitful in efforts to support your recommendation. You have been given an opportunity to lead an educational system. Your recommendation, in essence, destroys a significant portion of the system ...

Community asked to pull together for schools

After reading the numerous articles, interviews, editorials and letters to the editors in The Inter-Mountain regarding the proposed closing of Pickens and Harman schools I decided to weigh in with some observations, questions and suggestions. I have over my adult life had a most pleasant interaction with present and former members of the Pickens area, as I have attended the ramp dinners, hunted the ridges and fished the streams therein. Not so much in the Harman area but I have fished Laurel, Gandy, Dry Fork and eaten at the local restaurants. Just over the hill, Hacker Valley School, ...