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Ever wonder what life would be like if you’d been born to a different mother?

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Most of us wouldn’t trade. We were born to parents who loved and nurtured us, gave us plenty of decent food, drove us to practices and rooted for us to excel. Along the way, you picked up some great memories of how your mom made Christmas special, or how those warm cookies tasted when you got off the school bus. Your mom might not have been perfect, but you won the mom lottery and you wouldn’t trade her for the world. Others, however, would trade in a heartbeat. A friend of mine despises the whole idea of Mother’s Day. Her mom abandoned her when she was just a small child, ...

Election Day, Nov. 5 is fast approaching. Are you ready?

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Have you checked to see if you are registered. The Secretary of State requires Boards of Election to purge voters each year. Go to the Washington County Board of Elections sight, boe.ohio.gov/Washington and click on “Am I registered?” Type in your name and submit. You should see information about yourself, your polling place, sample ballot and more. if you are registered. If not, get registered before Oct. 7 for the Nov. 5 election. To register, click on the box in the lower left corner “register on line”. “Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are ...

Regulate new nicotine products

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Tobacco use has long been the leading cause of preventable disability and death in the United States. Despite widespread awareness of its dangers, Washington County remains a place where smoking persists, with 23% of adults regularly lighting up. However, an even more troubling trend is emerging: our youth are becoming increasingly addicted to nicotine through new, innovative products designed to appeal to them. The tobacco industry, always on the lookout for ways to expand its reach, is now targeting the younger generation through vaping and e-cigarettes. According to the 2023 ...

Silver globes are a reflection on the area’s past

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If you plan to visit the Barlow Fair this weekend you would likely take Ohio 550 west of Marietta. Along the way you will pass the interestingly named Silver Globe Road. The road joins the highway near an ordinary concrete building a few yards from the highway. The building may be plain, but it was once home to the Marietta Silver Globe Company, where unique globes were once produced and shipped all over. Gazing balls, as they are called, are a glass decoration that you place in your yard. They were first produced in Venice, Italy in the 13th century. They have through history gone ...

Empathy vs Hate

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While sitting in a local restaurant, I was gratified to observe someone pushing another person in a wheelchair over unpaved grass to watch a small child’s soccer game. The ability to extend to another person the kind of help we would like to receive ourselves because we can is part of what it means to be human. To have the capacity to “imagine” what it must feel like to be a parent or grandparent and not be able to navigate the distance from the paved parking lot to the sidelines to watch a cherished child play soccer is the very essence of EMPATHY. Contrast that scenario with ...

The Night Visitor 2004

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Harmar resident Dave Moyers was fishing from his front porch in September of 2004. The rivers had come up to visit him during the night. Convenient, right? Except it meant disastrous flooding for the entire area. The remains of Hurricane Ivan had dumped 7 inches of rain on the upper Ohio ...