Letters to the Editor

Provide for Wheeling’s Homeless

Editor, News-Register: If the city of Wheeling wants to get rid of the homeless encampments, they need to have, free of charge, a 24-hour place for all homeless residents to live. The city has enough money to do it. Rent is so high that people don’t have many other options right now, and it’s not going to get better anytime soon. It makes no sense that the city and the state shut down homeless encampments and then don’t want to give those displaced people a place to go. Marsha Blum Wheeling

Managing High Energy Costs

Editor, News-Register: AEP has requested yet another rate increase from the Public Service Commission (PSC), this time for another $18/month. (This follows an increase of 150% in rate hikes we have been paying over the past 15 years.) One question for AEP is: Were all options considered before requesting the hike? For instance, along with coal, were other power and efficiency systems considered in the mix? If so, which combinations showed the best returns on investments? Were there options that did not necessitate this rate hike, and where can we access this comparative ...

Pursue Viable Energy Options

Editor, News-Register: The current spike in gasoline prices should serve as a reminder of the stranglehold oil markets have on our economy. This is not a simple problem that can be solved quickly, it’s farcical when people suggest we just “stop using oil.” Energy availability is critical to every economic concern from industrial production to air conditioning to travel. Why then the strange political opposition to developing every reasonable source of alternative energy that we can think of? Energy sources other than hydrocarbon fuels will be the future, we can be the ...

Hogwash of the Highest Order

Editor, News-Register: Racists are afraid of looking back, and at the same time afraid to look ahead. They cite Critical Race Theory (CRT) for their denying the history of Native-American genocide and African American slavery as not true, and must be denied or at least blurred, for CRT will have a negative impact on their children (and their political power). Replacement Theory is a tenacious fantasy (from whole cloth) that claims liberal Democrats want to “replace” and disempower white Americans. It has become the mechanism of racist terror, helping inspire a wave of ...

Ethics Report Has Many Issues

Editor, News-Register: The Office of Congressional Ethics review of me, described in the OCE Report and Findings released by the Committee on Ethics, was tainted from the outset by the OCE’s procedural irregularities and denial of due process. These procedural improprieties are compounded by the OCE’s rampant factual misrepresentations, evidentiary exaggerations, and plainly wrong legal conclusions in its report. For these reasons, I believe the only fair outcome in this matter would be the outright dismissal of the OCE’s report and referral. Nonetheless, as the ...

And the Band Played On, and On

Editor, News-Register: In a world with $5.00-plus a gallon gasoline and where little kids are finding there really are boogie men out there (they just are in their schools, not under their beds), I can’t help but think back to my youth about three popular protest songs at the time. First was “Eve of Destruction” by Barry McGuire. For those too young to remember, Lyndon Johnson was president at the time of “Eve of Destruction’s” popularity and the Vietnam War was in full swing in 1965. On a good note, the song was partially responsible for lowering the voting age to 18. ...