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In the upcoming 2023 legislative session, an effort will be made to give married persons the same legal protection in a sexual abuse situation that unmarried people already have. While not a topic that is discussed often, it is shocking that being married gives a spouse less legal protection after being a victim of certain forced sexual contact to which they did not consent. Our criminal laws distinguish between sexual assault and sexual abuse. A spouse committing sexual assault against the other spouse can be prosecuted for that, but when a spouse commits sexual abuse against ...

Reader is against political pork

Happy Festivus! Thank God 2022 has come to an end. Many, many years ago my high school Civics teacher taught me that political leaders had the broad public interest in mind when they considered community issues. Unfortunately, that optimistic view does not square with the actual results of local policy making today. Elkins is about to kick off another $30,000 walking trail expansion. Elkins has jumped on the gravy train and acquired additional money from a particular group of individuals while harming taxpayers and damaging the overall economy. This letter explores the ...

Are we giving away money we don’t have?

The Biden administration in the last two weeks has given $55 billion and $22 billion dollars to Africa and Indonesia, respectively, for them to use to shut down coal fed power plants. A further $49 billion has been sent as aid to over 75 other countries for a grand total of $126 billion dollars that we have borrowed from banks to give away to foreign countries, because we do not have a surplus in our budget. If the United States Senate and Congress were serious about climate change that money could have been spent at home and used to provide solar panels and batteries to every ...

Which government do we really want?

The foundation of our Republic, a form of government where each citizen has an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives, is compromise. An outcome where no one gets exactly what they want, but everyone gets something. That is both a benefit and a shortcoming of the system under which Americans have lived for more than two centuries. Most would agree that our government, despite its flaws, has served the nation well. Be careful how you answer this question. Do you, as an American citizen, want more government or less? When you see a kid with a car wash, even if ...

Season is right for Christmas miracles

Looking for a Christmas miracle? Stay tuned. The year was 1954, just days before Christmas and the U.S. Coast Guard located alone the Alaskan coastline, got a distress call from a Russian fishing vessel. They had taken on water and the ship was slowly sinking. Quickly, a search plane and two Coast Guard Cutters were dispatched to the approximate location. The Coast Guard crew left in snowy conditions. What was worse yet, just a few minutes off the coast, a fog had set in and was slowly getting thicker. The plane got to the approximate location and circled at least three or four ...

Christmas season isn’t about lists and gifts

After my younger daughter came home from school with a Christmas wish list, I was fairly quick to tell her this wasn’t what Christmas was about. I was so moved by our conversation that I wrote “My Dear Child.” Some people saw this letter and were quite moved by this. These people believed it should be published. Here is the letter: My dear child, I’ll bet by now, you are really beginning to wonder what you will be getting for Christmas. Well, I am beginning to wonder also. I am glad you have a Christmas list. Everybody should have a dream! However, Christmas is about the ...