Breaking News

Local Columns

MOV Climate Corner: No more time to waste

At a recent meeting I attended with a representative from Congressman Riley Moore’s office at the Resiliency Center in Parkersburg, another meeting attendee referred to the anthropogenic (human-caused) global climate crisis as, to paraphrase, a hoax or a farce. I was floored that someone who seemed otherwise competent, rational and data-driven could hold such a willfully ignorant view. There is more evidence for human-driven global climate change than for the scientific theory of gravity. The greenhouse effect has been well-understood since at least the 18th Century. As I’ve shared ...

Marietta was once an industrial center

100 years ago, a walk around Marietta would have brought you the sounds of a city building things from a wide variety of businesses that were producing a wide variety of goods within walking distance of where people live. The city was buzzing with the sound of giant saws and hammer ...

The Twelfth Amendment

The Twelfth Amendment tweaked how the Electoral College functioned to select the president and vice president. There still would be no direct popular election, and electors would still meet in each state to do the voting. Each state would still get one elector for each representative and senator they had in Congress. In the first election (1789) four of the eleven states had a popular election to choose their electors. In the remaining states, the state legislatures chose the electors. By 1832 the voters in all states except South Carolina elected their electors. You may ...

It’s God’s will for you to grow up

By Mark Wilmoth Would you like to know God’s plan for your life? About 40 years ago a respected Bible scholar, Knofel Staton, wrote How To Know The Will of God. In his book, Staton taught that God’s will for your life is revealed in Scripture. Here’s what God wants for you: First, you are to exercise dominion over the creation. In Genesis 1:28 (NIV), God instructs humanity to “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Thought must be ...

The Dawes one hit wonder

I welcome ideas for these history articles. This one came from my wife Suzanne when she saw an article from interestingfacts.com. Thank you, dear! Readers may have a vague recollection that a Marietta native was Vice President of the United States. It’s true. Charles Gates Dawes of the ...

MOV Climate Corner: “The Last American”

“To the American who is more than satisfied with himself and his country this volume is affectionately dedicated.” So reads the opening dedication to J.A. Mitchell’s 1889 novel “The Last American.” An early example of post-apocalyptic literature, this brief tale describes a crew of explorers in the year 2951, who happen upon the ancient ruins of a devastated America. Of particular note is how the book describes the downfall of our once powerful nation: “Climatic changes, the like of which no other land ever experienced, began at that period, and finished in less than ten ...