No doubt that blaze orange saves lives

December 2, 2017

No person in their right mind can dispute the fact that the “blaze orange” hunting regulation has dramatically reduced the number of hunting shooting accidents during the deer firearms season. When I was a teenager and learning how to hunt, the buck gun season (then only one week or six days) was considered to be the most dangerous hunting season for the entire year. This year, there have only been four fatalities involving sport hunting, as of Nov. 30. Two of them have been heart attacks. On the opening day of the buck-gun season, there was a fatal hunting accident in Wetzel ...

NASCAR mourns loss of two great ones

November 30, 2017

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and remember, Christmas is just a few weeks away. I keep hoping Santa will bring that shiny new Modified for next season, or actually I’d settle for a slightly used newer model. I think that is the type of wish each racer has this time of year. I’m just truly thankful to be able to still participate in this awesome sport after 40-plus years. This is NASCAR Championship week in Las Vegas and on tonight at 9 p.m. on NBCSN you can watch as Martin Truex Jr. takes home the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup trophy and the huge check that goes ...

The gold and blue’s golden arm goes down

November 29, 2017

There is no doubt that the Mountaineer fan base will still care about, and take part in festive duties to root for WVU to get a win no matter what bowl game we end up in. Our spirits are down, however, as frustration has reared its ugly head once more over the course of the past two weeks in Division I football for us. Successful recruiting efforts landed Will Grier, with a whole offseason to prep and get ready to back up the hype about his potential. The Mounties lost a close one while opening the season with a real game against Virginia Tech. Grier gave the Hokies a battle in his ...

Treat it right and it may last

November 25, 2017

People who have several guns often wonder about all of the ammunition they have had on their shelves for years. From my own experience, I have learned that ammunition that has been kept in a cool, dry environment is almost non-perishable. It was back in the 1990s when I fired some 30/40 Krag ammunition that was manufactured prior to World War II. I had just got an old Krag-Jorgensen rifle restored that my uncle (mother’s brother) gave me about five years before his death. Naturally, I wanted to try it out. All of the half-dozen factory-loaded rounds performed perfectly. It was in ...

NASCAR season’s end offered thrills, spills

November 22, 2017

The 2017 NASCAR season has come to a close and I’m sure the teams are already preparing for Speedweeks in Daytona. Drivers get a much-deserved few weeks off to enjoy families and the holidays and reflect on this past year. A few of the teams give crews some time off also before action ramps up in preparation for action at Daytona. This year’s Daytona 500 will be the first race in which only one driver will have started the 2001 500 and raced against Dale Earnhardt Sr. Kurt Busch is that driver and he still is yet to confirm his ride for 2018. Danica Patrick has announced ...

Opening day is Monday

November 18, 2017

For some people, this is the best day of the entire year. This whole thing reminds me of a picture I saw in an outdoors magazine about 40 years ago. The photograph showed five grown men, who were old enough to be World War II veterans, in what looked like a hunting cabin. The caption at the bottom of the picture read something like this: “It’s 12 after four in the morning, under-cooked eggs, over-cooked bacon, and coffee that will most likely get more attention than respect. It really didn’t matter because everything tasted great on what is the greatest of all days, opening ...