Local Columns

Let the Spirit of Christmas Guide You at All Times

Newspapers carried the joyous news of the birth of “Prince of a Baby” on Sept. 16, 1984. Princess Diana, with Prince Charles at her side, gave birth after nine hours of labor to her second child—a boy weighing 6 pounds, 14 ounces, Buckingham Palace announced. “He’s a lovely baby,” said Prince Charles, who rushed from his wife’s side to a phone to call his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, at BalmoralCastle in Scotland and Diana’s father, Earl Spencer. A crowd of hundreds of well-wishers outside St. Mary’s Hospital broke into cheers as a town crier from the Mayfair ...

Marshall Memo: Happenings in Cameron; the CVB; and Rosbys Rock

Cameron Elementary PT4 Kids recently sponsored a “Penny War” at which children at the grade school took pennies to their class to raise money for a local organization. This year’s recipient was the Blue and Gold Christian Center. PT4 Kids President Amy Stern and her sons, Dexdon and Zaiden, brought several hundred dollars in pennies with some silver and paper to the Center. This was exciting for the kids attending “Kidz Kamp.” This money will be used for food and supplies for the various ministries operating at the Blue and Gold Christian Center. THE BGCC expressed a big ...

Progress Leading the Way for Changes in Power Sources

I want to invite you to a fireside chat and join the Ghost of FDR as I explain in the simplest terms why the electric bill is so costly to wage workers. You know the two big companies’ names right off I am sure you will recognize them! American Electric Power and FirstEnergy which operate here in Baby Dog’s West Virginia had merchant coal plants. Speaking in just folks’ terms these are plants that sell power into the wholesale markets. The risks of profit or loss are borne by the shareholders, not by the ratepayer’s simple-term customers. The big corporations realized, at the ...

W.Va. Governor’s Office Must Truly Embrace Transparency

The Governor’s Office owes West Virginia Watch Reporter Caity Coyne an apology for her treatment last week on Gov. Jim Justice’s weekly administration briefing. Coyne tried to ask Justice about whether administration officials and cabinet secretaries were under any type of gag order where they were required to seek permission from the Governor’s Office before speaking with the press. The question stemmed from an incident at the end of the meeting last Tuesday for the Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority, where Department of ...

Standing Strong Against President’s War on Coal

In 2009, President Barack Obama began his infamous War on Coal after promising to “bankrupt” the industry. He weaponized federal bureaucrats and regulations to go after mines and coal communities across the country. According to the Daily Caller, Obama forced 400 coal mines to close and 83,000 coal miners out of work by the time he left office. For more than a century, coal has been an irreplaceable part of the Mountain State’s culture and economy, but Obama decimated West Virginia’s coal country. We cannot afford to lose more jobs to Obama’s radical climate agenda, yet the ...

God, Family and Country Should Guide Our Actions

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” This Christmas, as we prepare our hearts for the celebration of Jesus, I find myself reflecting on these words which proclaim the birth of our Savior over 2,000 years ago. Truer words were never spoken, remain applicable in modern day, and should guide our daily lives. Just imagine what peace and goodwill could be accomplished worldwide if each of us performed just one act of random kindness to another each day. Christmas is a time to reflect on the past year and as we approach the New Year, an opportunity ...