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Living Democracy: A history of US student rights

Local Columns

In early American history, children were widely viewed as the property of their fathers. Over the past two centuries, the U.S. has evolved to recognize children as legal persons with their own independent rights; however, Supreme Court decisions concerning children’s rights over the years have frequently contradicted prior decisions. It wasn’t until the 19th Century that the need to protect children was acknowledged. The establishment of the first laws to prevent cruelty to children began in 1875 and in 1881 to ban employment of any children under 14. The Equal Protection Clause ...

MOV Climate Corner: Greed (not need) behind ridiculous data center expansions

Local Columns

I recently did a presentation at the Dover Public Library about the environmental issues associated with data centers. These issues include: noise, water usage, hundreds of acres of land transformed into industrial developments, exposure to air pollution from power generation, light pollution from the facilities, high voltage transmission lines cutting through communities and farmlands, probable increases in utility bills due to the increases in power consumption, surface water contamination from plant cooling systems, and high-volume gas pipelines for onsite megawatt power ...

Cracking the Code: More Scotland impressions and wisdom

Business

When Lynnda and I returned from Scotland we learned there had been an accident in our neighborhood over July 4th weekend. "According to Kanawha County Dispatchers, the Pinch VFD, Kanawha County Sheriff's Office and ambulance crews responded to an ATV rollover. Two people were reportedly injured. Neither were wearing helmets.” Our next door neighbor told us, the grandson of another neighbor, a good kid and his friend — both 12-years-old — were on the ATV. The grandson comes over with friends to play basketball with me in my driveway. The media reported they had “minor injuries." ...

Early Marietta: Ephraim Cutler and the One Vote Story

Local Columns

“One Vote! The Musical” is a play written about Marietta's founding and its place in Ohio and American history. It's being performed this weekend and next as part of the America 250 celebration. The title comes from the story of Ephraim's Cutler's iconic effort which kept slavery out of ...

The Way I See It: Fire has reshaped downtown Marietta

Local Columns

As Marietta grew, so did the risk of fire. By 1900 downtown Marietta was a dense collection of buildings that share walls with their neighbors. The arrangement was perfect for the shoppers that mainly used the sidewalks, not the roads, to go from merchant to merchant. The problem with a ...

Case shows importance of those who watch out for kids

Editorials

A Vinton County case in which 16 children were rescued from horrifying conditions and four adults now face child endangerment charges has raised a host of questions. One that repeatedly surfaces is how in the world no one noticed what was happening to those children, inside that house. The answer highlights the crucial role of public school truancy officers and the safeguard we take away from kids when we allow them to be removed from the public school setting without proper monitoring and assessment. NBC 4 requested records from Gallia County, where it reports the local school ...