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Some gave all. Can we give a little?

December 1967, our family was watching TV when the phone rang. It was Uncle Joe, Dad’s older brother. Mom handed Dad the phone. Dad’s eyes got wet. Looking down, in a whisper he announced, “Austin (our cousin, Dad’s nephew) was killed in Vietnam.” I was in high school; death was no stranger. Austin’s mother (our Aunt Caty) passed two years prior. I went to my grandparents' funerals. A close childhood friend died in a gun accident when he snuck out of school before the end of the day to go bird hunting. We all boarded the school bus that morning. It was surreal. My parents ...

MOV Climate Corner: Out-of-state interests win, real issues lose

With the primaries now behind us, I can’t say I’m entirely surprised by the outcomes. If West Virginia has taught us anything about politics in the last decade or more, it’s that culture war and social issues are exceedingly potent, even in the shadow of actual problems in dire need of a fix. Then when you factor in out-of-state money and PACs, the real issues don’t stand a chance of reaching the people. According to the most recent financial reports, the Sugar Maple PAC alone spent close to a million dollars on primary elections, much of which in our area. Of the listed ...

The Way I See It: Cabooses met their end in the 1980s

I have always been intrigued by the sight of a train engine pulling a long string of freight cars bound for one of the many industrial customers in our area. There was a time when the trains traveling along Ohio 7, or up through Vienna and through Williamstown would be trailed by a caboose, ...

Cracking the Code: Are you weak enough?

The hardest person to teach is the one who knows everything, or thinks they do. One of the most important lunches of my life was at the WVU Towers cafeteria in the second semester of my freshman year. It was an unusually late lunch for me. The cafeteria was almost empty. I sat at a random table with only one other student, who turned out to be an engineering senior. I asked lots of questions. His experience was extremely helpful. He left me with this wisdom, “After four years of engineering, the most important thing you will learn is how to learn.” With an engineering degree, I ...

MOV Climate Corner: Grateful for community support

Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action (MOVCA) was proud to take part for the first time this year in the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation’s Give Local MOV annual day of giving. Our organization received $8,655 from 22 donors to whom we express our deepest and most sincere gratitude and appreciation. Our climate and environmental nonprofit organization got its start in October 2015 when a group of local citizens in Wood and Washington counties, led by a few deeply concerned and enterprising individuals, decided to come together to form what was initially a chapter of the national ...

Backyard Gardener: Mexican sunflower for pollinators

Hello Mid-Ohio Valley gardeners and farmers! I am thankful we received some much-needed rain here in the valley. It is hard to believe Memorial Day is this Monday. A big thank you to all our veterans and active military service men and women keeping us safe and free. Each week I want to share a little American history as part of the upcoming America 250 celebration. On May 10, 1775, the United Colonies captured Fort Ticonderoga, at the confluence of Lake Champlain and Lake George in northeastern New York. Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, together with Benedict Arnold, ...