Letters to the Editor

Rudy Giuliani’s Fall From Grace

Editor, News-Register: Is it not quite sad to witness the professional degeneration of Rudy Giuliani, who served quite admirably in the position of mayor of New York City, earning him the moniker of “America’s mayor” as a result of his laudatory leadership on response to the horrific terrorist attack on New York City and our great nation nearly 20 years ago, on Sept. 11, 2001? Mr. Giuliani, who served as mayor of New York City from 1993-2001, had a very successful career as an attorney at law, including serving admirably as a federal prosecutor for the Southern District of the ...

Have We Learned Anything?

Editor, News-Register: “The price of Liberty, and even common humanity, is Eternal Vigilance.” This is Aldous Huxley’s adaption of the Eternal Vigilance quote, 1956. Unfortunately, we are witnessing exactly the opposite of this truly American guiding principle today. On this 20th anniversary of the darkest day in modern American history, I have to wonder if we’ve learned anything, remember anything, feel anything. Vigilance means to keep careful watch for possible dangers, NOT to arm our adversaries while disarming ourselves. “They took all the footage off my ...

Putting Children First in School

Editor, News-Register: There has been lots of disagreement over the question of whether our students (and our staff) are at greater risk of contracting and spreading the coronavirus given the Ohio County school board’s recent decision to reject their superintendent’s recommendation for mandating masks for all. Even though most if not all of our local pediatricians and emergency medicine physicians and nurses have advocated for universal masking, and the national association of Children’s Hospitals published an open letter to all school systems asking them to please require ...

Teaching 9/11 to America

Editor, News-Register: Many years ago, in 2011, my students asked me about the terrorist attacks of September 11th. The class had a lot of questions about Al-Qaeda and Afghanistan. After I recommended reading “Reaping the Whirlwind” by Michael Griffen, the superintendent stopped by to tell me that several parents had called. They had never heard about the Tengiz oil field, nor the BP, Unocal, and Chevron pipeline project in Afghanistan, which had started during the 1990’s, prior to the Taliban takeover. That one book opened the eyes of several students’ families in a single ...

Restore Public Library Funding

Editor, News-Register: The Ohio County Board of Education confirmed a disastrous decision in the late spring to cripple the Ohio County Public Library with an immense cut to funding, going against a proud history of public support for this most honored of Wheeling’s public institutions. President (David) Croft showed absolutely no interest in evaluating the numerous articulate and cogent testimonies given by the public regarding why such cuts should not go forward. A strong leader would have, at the very least, made a show of having a more considered analysis. It was quite clear his ...

New Historical Markers in City

Editor, News-Register: You might have noticed a greater number of historical highway markers around Wheeling recently. Mark Musilli and his crew from the West Virginia Division of Highways have been busy setting posts and affixing signs at the site of the old North Wheeling Hospital (two signs), one near Rebecca Harding Davis’ home in Center Wheeling and five near the Madonna of the Trail on National Road. Placing all these signs is a lot of work and we are grateful to Mark and his men for their efforts to help emphasize Wheeling’s rich history. Margaret Brennan Wheeling