Letters to the Editor

Property Tax Fiasco

Editor, News-Register: Does everyone in the Belmont County courthouse and elected representatives in Columbus hate property owners? Over 300 upset property owners gathered at Undo’s (Wednesday) to plan self-defense measures concerning the highest property tax increases in Ohio history. Every Undo’s parking spot was full well before the meeting started. It was standing room only. Everyone knows if taxes are not paid the government can confiscate all property. People must pay taxes, regardless if they feed kids, pay mortgages, heat the house or buy clothes. The government takes ...

The Tough Man Hero

Editor, News-Register: I met Roger “Cookie” Wallace through his brother Richard “Dick" Wallace, a Brooke County school bus driver who listened with encouragement about my aspiration to be in the fight racket. When I was working in Wellsburg back in the late ’70s his brother would come from a long day’s work at Eagle Manufacturing to do his banking when I was a teller. But Cookie enjoyed unclaimed fame in the glove game having been the wheels in 1980 for the Ohio Valley Tough Man contest at what was then Wheeling Civic Center. In what was a rather tense drive Cookie provided ...

Please Give Both Sides of the Story

Editor, News-Register: I just read the front page article in the Wednesday, Jan. 29th edition of The Intelligencer titled “Potential federal aid freeze causes concern, confusion.” I read everyone’s concerns about the freeze on the federal grants and loans that the government provides to every state, county and city. But in this whole article I did not read as to why the grants and loans were put on freeze? Why doesn’t this newspaper tell both sides of this story? There are many concerns about the freezes for sure but one thing has been made clear by the Trump ...

Common Sense Has Been Sent Packing

Editor, News-Register: Water pipes broke in the major cities of the Upper Ohio River Valley during the extended cold spell, which saw record breaking lows. Moreover, frozen iguanas are falling out of trees in Florida, and New Orleans had a blizzard. Greta, Al and the Davos attendees weren’t at my house to offer to mop up the mud. Why aren’t we hearing about the existential threat of global warming? Do we only hear about global warming during the summer? Or is the name changed for the winter months? So when we hear predictions about temperatures are going to rise globally a ...

Washington Elites Not Working for Us

Editor, News-Register: President Joe Biden took executive action to block the $14.3 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel, a Japanese firm. The American steelmaker can trace its roots to the third wealth wave, which occurred in the 19th century and formed from Andrew Carnegie’s steel empire, in which Pittsburgh industrialist Henry Clay Frick played such a key role at a time that included John D. Rockefeller Sr. of the 1890s Standard Oil of Ohio. The USW praised the Biden decision — one that President-elect Donald Trump had also planned to take. “We do not doubt ...

Good Taxpayers Deserve Better

Editor, News-Register: I’ve lived in Wheeling for almost 45 years. I’ve not only paid all of my taxes on my property but also on all of my vehicles, owning anywhere from four to six (currently five). In 2016 we purchased the lot next to our home where a duplex burned and was demolished. As all taxpayers know, you get your tax statement every year. I pay them every year in person. The morning of Sept. 14, my wife got a call from her brother, he told her our name was in the paper for delinquent taxes. My wife and I knew that was not possible. On Monday, Sept. 17, my wife went to ...