Breaking News

Reader wants to keep Harman open

Harman and Pickens schools are not the Randolph County Board of Education’s problem. The problem has been mismanagement. Us outlying country people’s kids are becoming just a number, rather than growing up with the potential of being able to play sports, after-school curriculum and becoming a well-educated citizens, so they can be happy and able to keep themselves. Hurray for Mr. Daniels on the BOE. He makes more sense than anything I’ve heard so far. Your student numbers are down because parents are transferring their kids to other counties. I believe whatever county ...

TVHS grad asks that school not be closed

I keep seeing in the news where there is serious consideration to close Tygart Valley High School at Mill Creek and send all those students to Elkins High School. Please consider the following and these facts carefully before this serious action is undertaken. If this action is taken, then students from Mingo, Monterville, Valley Fork, Dry Fork of Elk and other outlying areas will have to travel 37-40 miles one way just reach a school in Elkins. Total travel will be 76 to 80 miles daily. This travel will take in the neighborhood of 2-2½ hours daily on a school bus that has to ...

Boos & Applause

Applause to the emergency crew workers who performed a water rescue, saving the lives of two individuals in Barbour County last week. The two individuals were rescued from the Tygart Valley River in the area of Cove Run late Thursday night, Barbour County officials said. A man and a woman were injured when they attempted to take a canoe over a section of the Tygart Valley River known as Wells Falls last week, said Dylan Harper, deputy director of the Barbour County Office of Emergency Management. The two were rescued from the Tygart Valley River in the area of Cove Run late in the ...

Education emergency in Randolph

In early August Randolph County Board of Education had a visit from state Board of Education efficiency experts explaining why our county has Emergency status now. Our BOE must create a plan to trim the RCS budget over the next five years or the State will take over the management of our schools. Alexandra Criner, Director of the WVDE Office of Accountability, suggested that the local board form a collaborative leadership team to work with Superintendent Dilly in order to create a plan for consolidation of county schools by December 2025. I believe this leadership team should include ...

Coercive tactics

In the category of oldies but goodies is the long-forgotten non-aggression pact. The most famous was the one agreed to by Germany and the Soviet Union in August 1939. Now it has been revived in a peculiar way in the form of tariff agreements. President Donald Trump imposed a 50% tariff on India simply because they purchased Russian oil. Add to that Brazil, which insisted on placing its former president, Jair Bolsonaro, on trial for an attempted coup. Trump, playing the role of a Republican Wilsonian, also hiked tariffs on a country with which the United States enjoys a trade ...

Were data center moves suspicious?

Thank you for the story clarifying that the proposed data center in Tucker County was introduced on the last day to introduce legislation in the chamber, a permit application was submitted hours later, the bill was approved within days with all tax revenue going to the state rather than local governments. Local governments, according to the bill, are prohibited from restricting noise, lighting, or land use on such projects. And local officials, such as the mayor of Davis, were never consulted. The number of combustion turbines wasn’t specified, types of air pollution control ...