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Honesty

Editorials

If Gov. Patrick Morrisey is looking for a West Virginia comeback, it’s a good indication he understands the struggle has been overwhelming for far too long and hope is still hard to come by for too many Mountain State residents. But during his State of the State address Wednesday, Morrisey was determined to focus on “a West Virginia we can be proud of,” for our children and grandchildren. As he rightly pointed out, that means being honest about the fact that many in our state are still struggling to make ends meet. They are dealing with “sky-rocketing grocery bills, crushing ...

What’s the matter with Minnesota?

Columnists

Minnesota? Somalis? Nine billion dollars in alleged welfare fraud? To understand what’s going on from a distance, it helps to understand basic culture. Minnesota was settled largely by people of Scandinavian and German ancestry. In survey after survey, Minnesota has ranked No. 1 or No. 2 among states, often just behind neighboring and much smaller North Dakota, in social connectedness, civic participation, workforce participation and voter turnout. It has traditionally led the nation in levels of trust and conscientiousness. This has been coupled with political behavior that ...

Is a red line still a red line?

Columnists

One of the most embarrassing moments of the extremely embarrassing Barack Obama presidency came in the context of the Syrian civil war. In August 2012, Obama vowed that “a red line for us,” which would thereby necessitate some sort of American intervention, “is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized.” The 44th president continued: “That would change my calculus.” Except it didn’t. A year later, former Iran- and Russia-backed Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad crossed Obama’s “red line,” launching a lethal sarin gas on his ...

Hard promises

Columnists

Overhauling Venezuela promises to be a chore. The Trump administration has had bad timing. Perhaps the President should be guided by Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, written in 1516. He observed that “the king, being distracted with the charge of two Kingdoms, could not properly attend to either.” Given the affair in Minneapolis, this seems to be what Donald Trump is facing. Having an explosive situation incited by the killing of Renee Nicole Good and the subsequent distortion of that action by the White House, it seems the President is “distracted” to say the very least. Even his ...

Elkins native lost his life in Vietnam

Letters to the Editor

I knew Dennis “Denny” Baxter as I had gone to school with him and played ball with him in the city park numerous times. His parents got divorced so he lived with his grandparents Jessie and Dennis Baxter on River Street in Elkins. His dad moved back to Summit, N.J., and his mother remarried and moved to Bridgeport. He enlisted in the Marine Corps where his mother lived and he signed up. He wanted to see his dad in New Jersey before shipping out to Parris Island. After I received orders to Vietnam, I was home on leave and stopped in Glen Edwards’ store on Diamond Street to get ...

Working on the business or in the business?

Columnists

A book I have found helpful is The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber. It was first published in 1995. When small business owners or individuals considering starting a business ask me what book I would recommend, this is my go-to suggested read. It is where I learned the concept of working on the business rather than only in the business. I became aware of The E-Myth Revisited as part of a roundtable of small business owners. An attendee suggested that we all read a book. As I waited for one of my own books to be suggested, The E-Myth Revisited was recommended. I bought ...