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Letters to the Editor

No problems seen at No Kings 2 rally

Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, stated last Friday that people who participated in the No Kings protests were Marxists, socialists, antifa advocates, anarchists, terrorists, and pro-Hamas. A member of the U.S. Congress should know better than to speak in such untruthful, divisive, inflammatory, and frankly ridiculous terms. I stood with hundreds of other protestors who were present at last Saturday’s No Kings rally in Elkins, and there were hundreds more passing motorists who honked in response to the “honk for democracy” sign at ...

Is the U.S. really a democracy?

This letter is in reference to the October 17, 2025 article by Brad Johnson about the “No Kings” rallies. In particular, I would like to point out a couple of things that perhaps the rally supporters have overlooked. First of all, I agree that there should be no kings in this country: we experienced the first “No Kings” rally in July of 1776 when we declared our independence from Great Britain and King George III. But I am puzzled as to why those who are against President Trump and his policies believe him to be a king. Each time that he tries to implement one of his ...

Harman resident reacts to BOE vote

I grew up in a small town in Zimbabwe called Chakari. I’d walk 10 minutes to school each morning for primary school (elementary). I remember conversations pertaining to my cousins in Gokwe, the more rural areas of Zimbabwe, who would have to walk 30 minutes to an hour, each way to school. Growing up I knew they were a disadvantaged bunch, simply because the main resource to lift them out of poverty, education, was so difficult for them to access. One really had to want to learn to continue going to school in those areas. Secondary education was a bit more expensive, so a few of my ...

Public education funding is needed

“I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.” — Whitney Houston I attended a lecture from WVpolicy.org at the Kump House on Sept. 5. I would like to thank Dr. Heather Biola for hosting the lecture and Seth for engaging dialogue. Unfortunately, there were only eight people in attendance. Where were all the folks who are interested and upset about education in Randolph County? Inadequate state K-12 education funding is having clear impacts, including community school closures and consolidations, vacant positions due to uncompetitive pay, ...

Call to action for legislators, officials

(The following was presented in the public comment section of the Tuesday, Sept. 16 Randolph County Board of Education meeting.) I will begin by thanking you, Dr. Dilly! Thank you for making some proposals regarding our school system that anger most everyone in the county — it may be the end of block scheduling or closure of certain schools. In one sense, the county is more unified than it has ever been—unified in its sense of anger about all the things being proposed as virtually everyone is negatively impacted though perhaps for different reasons. Though it took some time, I ...

How much would data center cost?

As Tucker County faces the prospect of hosting a massive gas-powered data center complex, one question remains unanswered: how much will this cost us? The Ridgeline facility, backed by out-of-state interests and fast-tracked under HB 2014, could reshape our economy and our landscape. Developers like Fundamental data LLC tout jobs and investment but refuse to guarantee even one local job. We don’t know what we are going to get. And the bigger question is what we stand to lose—especially in local tax revenue. Under HB 2014 rules, property taxes that would normally support Tucker ...