Huntington West Virginia Blog

Annual Hilltop Festival in Huntington WV

The Huntington Museum of Art on McCoy Road held its annual Hilltop Festival this weekend at its facility in Huntington West Virginia. There were over one hundred displays of the work of local craft artisans, merchants, and several very talented local portrait and landscape artists. Several local bands performed and provided entertainment. The annual book sale continues to be a big attraction, and someone brought a very friendly Llama so that the children could have a petting zoo experience.

The Huntington Museum of Art is to be complimented carrying out a very well planned family event that included many adult supervised recreational opportunities for the children to have a good time. This is n annualevent held every september in the tri state area.

I am very happy to report to my readers that this blog has been picked up for syndication by www.newsburst.com and featured on a mirrored site on their server. Newsburst.com is a division of c-net that owns news.com

http://www.newsburst.com/8051-10631-0.html?channelId=115554

Made my day!

Stephanie Heck Huntington WV

NATO has offered aid. The UN has offered aid. Canada has offered to bring disaster relief supplies via naval convoy. Venezuala has offered a free tanker of gasoline for our emergency vehicles. Poland has offered food and medical supplies and medical doctors. Britian has offered to send relief by Naval Convoy. France has offered money and food supplies and medicine. Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria have offered money. Russia has offered oil to ease shortages caused by the hurricane. Belgium and Sweeden have offered money. Even that S.O.B. Fidel Castro has offered to send a hundred doctors for the sick and injured. The best wishes of the world are going out to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Why is our government too stuck up to accept help? Are we expected to believe that FEMA can do it all? We spend billions for rebuilding Iraq. I see American children dehydrated and the elderly die in the flooded streets of New Orleans waiting for their government to help them. I fondly remember the America that heard the pleas of the children and the old ones, and responded with kindness, and it grieves the hell out of me to know my country has gone this far down the tubes. This is unacceptable.

Stephanie Heck

Huntngton West Virginia

September 1, 2005 A day that shall live in economic infamy.

Gasoline hit three dollars a gallon on this date in Huntington West Virginia. We are paying the prices of the Bush policies. The policies of the U.S. Government are putting the United States that we once knew as a fond memory.

I am worried for the old people who will freeze to death this winter because they cannot afford heating oil.

Please do what you can to help the victims of Katrina. If you can do nothing else send a check to the State of Louisiana. They need the money for disaster relief. Sovereign States can legally accept gifts from non residents. I was going to donate to a charity, however I decided to send the money directly to the state government of Louisiana, and make a note on the check for disaster relief.

Global Politics and Political Commentary:

Venezuela has a controversial president whom is detested by Pat Robertson and certain right wing officials of the Bush Administration. Chavez is the name of the President of Venezuela. Pat Robertson has recently made a nationally televised call for the political assassination of the President of Venezuela on his CBN Christian Broadcasting Network.

The government sponsored political assassination of a foreign leader is a provocative act of war under the Geneva Convention. I do not desire that this country engage in any more wars.

The United States Supreme Court has ruled that free speech does NOT include the right to advocate on incite the commission of a felony. Freedom of religion does not include the right to advocate an assassination of leaders in Venezuela

The difference between a cult leader and a legitimate clergyman is a matter of respect for the law of the land. Cult Leaders customarily believe themselves to be above or beyond the reach of the law. Pat Robertson has issued a public apology for his conduct.

However that does not change the fact that Pat Robertson advocated cold blooded murder on national TV in violation of FCC standards. I want the FCC to revoke his broadcasting license. Political assassination is the tactic of a terrorist and I see no difference between fanatical christian terrorists and fanatical muslim terrorists, when both advocate murder and assassination to advance a political agenda.

Pat Robertson lied to the FCC when he applied for a broadcasting license for the Christian Broadcasting Network when it is a matter of common knowledge that Christians believe "Thou shalt not kill'.

Commandments and laws are not applicable to cult leaders and the brainwashed fools that follow them. I am opposed to all forms of violence as a political means to resolve disputes.

Stephanie Heck

Huntington West Virginia

Many of the citizens of Huntington WV are a bit behind the times when it comes to detecting Internet fraud and banking scams that comes in the form of an e mail pretending to be from one bank or another. The best defense is common sense. Beware, this is a common type of Internet banking fraud known as phishing or fishing, they are setting you up for identity theft and this can cause you a huge amount of financial grief with your bank and card accounts.

If in doubt of the legitimacy of any e mail from any bank, pick up the phone and call the bank to verify. No legitimate bank will refuse to verify correspondence.

These e mails that claim to be from a familiar bank that we have been doing business with for years almost always ask us to confirm our credit card or account information to a website allegedly owned by a bank or banking institution in our Huntington WV area. The e mail provides you with a link to log in to your alleged online account and it looks very official and frequently contains the bank logo or the logo of a familiar banking institution. The link leads to a website owned by criminals who will abuse the sensitive information by draining money from your bank account.

If you receive any type of e mail from your bank or banking institution that you have not solicited. Call your bank at once. Your bank would much rather hear from a confused bank customer, than hear from a bank account and or a banking customer who has been the victim of identity theft. A good relationship with your local bank is your best defence against bank account scams, identity theft, and banking fraud.

If you have several credit cards, use the one with the lowest credit limit, for Internet purchases, and your bank will thank you in the event of fraud. A lower limit sets off security alerts at the bank when the card is abused by a thief, because the bank or financial institution will notice suspicious activity sooner when the limit is reached. Time is important when catching thieves.

Stephanie Heck

Huntington West Virginia

Saudi Arabia, Friend or Foe?

I have wondered for the longest time if Saudi Arabia was our friend or foe? One only has to look at the gas prices in Huntington WV to know the answer. It is a matter of global politics that gas prices are so high. Saudi Arabia is the worlds biggest oil exporter and a key player in OPEC so it is possible for Saudi Arabia to reduce prices to ease the strain on the economy.

Osama Bin Ladin is a Saudi citizen by birth, and the majority of the 911 hijackers were citizens of Saudi Arabia. We have spent billions because of the religious fanaticism that is centered in Saudi Arabia.

Many have criticized the nation of Saudi Arabia for failing to do enough to slow down terrorism and one has only to take a hard look at the gas prices to see the brazen manner of economic warfare that the nation of Saudi Arabia are using to make it hard on the United States.

This is a form of economic extortion. I am convinced that the nation of Saudi Arabia hates America. No doubt that the maniac terrorist Bin Ladin is enjoying all this. The Terrorist Bin Ladin is seeking to destroy the prestige and global credibility of the United States with terror. His fellow Citizens of Saudi Arabia seek to destroy the American Economy by bilking the United States for every dime they can extort via high gas prices.

Feel free to disagree with me. America is sandwiched between fanatical Arab terrorists, and the petroleum extortionists of Saudi Arabia.

Outrageous record prices for oil are merely a political retaliation for standing up to the bigotry of Bin Ladin's extremism. We need to get it through our head that the Saudi's are doing far more than charging a reasonable price for oil. They are taxing our economy for punitive reasons.

It is indeed fortunate that the local gas station is just up the road from a fine hospital, in case you have a massive heart attack when you see the prices, and then see red from patriotic anger simultaneously.

Stephanie Heck stephanie@sheck.com

Huntington Cabell County West Virginia

Political Commentary:

It is my understanding that U.S. Taxpayers are paying for the construction of new schools , airports, bridges, roads, power plants, Military Bases, and training police, and numerous other programs to rehabilitate the Iraqi economy and infrastructure of the Iraq nation. It is further understood that the U.S. Taxpayers are paying for the installation of an honest government in Iraq according to the White House. 200 Bil. have been spent.

I am wondering if the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution gives the citizens of West Virginia and the Citizens of Iraq an equal right to benefit from the U.S. Treasury on the basis of a per capita allotment.

When the U.S. Army is done with the occupation, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of Iraq, they are cordially invited to invade West Virginia. We could use all that Iraq reconstruction money here in West Virginia.

Stephanie Heck

Huntington

Cabell County West Virginia

It seems nine Ashland Kentucky Police officers have been suspended with pay for sleeping with the same promiscuous woman. Is that the way community values are upheld in Ashland? I am not upset, but just disappointed. Municipal scandal is not conducive to economic growth. In this day and time, promiscuity can be lethal.

Some women are attracted to uniforms to the point that if you put a uniform on a stop sign, some floozy would be flirting with the stop sign in short order. In short, some women like to see a uniform on a man, much in the same manner that some men like to see women in miniskirts. I am shaking my head in Huntington. Most police are smarter than that.

Six Marines were killed by snipers and 14 more were killed by an explosion in Iraq in the last two days. This pushes the total of U.S. Military killed in action to over 1800 since the war began. I do not know if any of those recently departed military men were from West Virginia. I made a web page to honor the sacrifice of men who died in combat from this state of West Virginia. It is my hope that I never have to update that page again, and that there are no further casualty reports. A link to the page is below.

http://sheck.com/westvirginiacasualtyreport/

I acknowledge that the terrorists are a threat, however I am growing weary of seeing America's finest coming home in body bags. I am looking forward to the troops coming home.

Stephanie Heck

There was an Air France Airliner that crashed in Toronto Canada yesterday, the plane burst into flames and incinerated itself. What is a profound miracle is that all 309 people on board survived. This is a note to the personal blogs: I feel a kinship and profound empathy for those people, I am a survivor too. Sometimes I feel like the unsinkable Molly Brown. Best wishes to all the plane crash survivors. Being from Huntington West Virginia , I remember all too well the night of the Marshall University Plane Crash in 1970 where there were no survivors. I admire and have great empathy for anyone who survives the horror of a plane crash.

Stephanie

We have added polling software to sheck.com and this means that this interactive West Virginia blog can be used to take online polling of our visitors.

The server side polling software will measure polls of visitors to this site. Polls will be on a variety of controversial topics in the beginning and will become more specific as time goes by and as issues come up. I am trying to add more interactive features to the blog and the polling software is a plus.

Polling will be a hit I hope. Take a look and see what you think! Hopefully this will be a great way to meter public opinion in the Huntington West Virginia area. This blog is doing right at a thousand visitors a day.

POLLS

Stephanie

I have just read in the Huntington Paper that Bob Bailey has announced that he engaged in much prayer and thought about going public with the alleged reasons for the incomprehensible firing of Glenn White and arrogantly refusing to give a rational reason for his actions. It makes me wonder if Glenn White would still be on the public payroll if Bob Bailey had prayed and thought BEFORE subjecting Glen White to public humiliation.

Bob Bailey claims that Glenn White was fired for Micro Managing the county finances. Glenn White was fired because he did his job excessively well. He was hired to manage the county accounts on a day to day basis. If Bob Bailey wants people to believe it is legal for the county commission to fire someone for probable cause because they did their job too well....that argument does not have a prayer, and it pegs the BS meter.

Why has prayer even been mentioned in this situation? Bob Bailey is well aware that the state human rights act makes religion irrelevant to the employment rights of County Employees. It appears Bob Bailey is going to do his best to provoke a lawsuit against the Cabell County Commission at the expense to the Cabell County taxpayers.

What happens if Glenn White's lawyer claims that religion played a role in the firing, now that Bob bailey has publicly admitted to the newspaper that prayer played a role in making Bob Bailey reveal the mysterious alleged reason for the firing that Glen White had a right to in the first place ?

I am Amused that Bob Bailey thinks a reference to prayer in the newspaper will get him out of hot water with some of the local clergy who supported Glenn White as character witnesses at the Cabell County Commission Meeting where Glenn White was summarily fired in a publicly degrading manner. The Cabell County Commission should just admit they made a gross error and reinstate Mr. Glenn White with full back pay and compensate him for the profound anguish they have caused him by dragging his name through the mud. That is the moral thing to do. I am convinced that the citizens of Cabell County will grow very old and haggard waiting for the Cabell County Commission to do the right thing and atone for political sins aganst common decency.

It seems the Cabell County Health Department has banned Smoking in restaurants in Cabell County as a public health regulation.

Approximately 30% of the adults in Cabell County smoke. While there may well be a medical benefit to a smoke free environment in Cabell County, the economic impact was never contemplated by the uncompromising medical bureaucrats in the health department. Nobody denies that smoke free environments are healthy for the individual. What is healthy for the individual may not be healthy for the economy. Citizens cannot legally smoke tobacco in Cabell County Restaurants according to the heath departments edict. The same is true in Wayne County West Virginia.

Boyd County Kentucky tolerates and caters to smokers. Boyd County Kentucky allows restaurant owners to establish policy for customer behavior on the premises. If only West Virginia business owners had that much freedom? That is exactly my point.....business owners have a right to control customer behavior in their place of business in Kentucky, but not in West Virginia. "Economic Freedom" means the RIGHT to run ones business as one sees fit with minimum government intervention.

In economic terms, tolerance is a value added adjunctive "commodity" that enhances the value of other goods and services rendered. People are willing to pay for tolerance. This is why the City of Las Vegas Nevada tolerates darn near anything and everything... and generates massive tax revenue in the process.

The governments of Ohio and West Virginia place intolerant and punitive "sin taxes" on tobacco and subject smokers to nicotine prohibition in public places in return for paying these taxes. History teaches us that punitive taxes don't work....History teaches us that the "Boston Tea Party" was a rebellion against punitive taxes on tea. The City of Las Vegas Nevada has very little "sin taxes" because the sinners have lots of spendable money and the city wants to keep the high roller sinners happy and the city coffers full.

The merchants in Boyd County Kentucky are smart enough to see smokers as just another segment of the market to be served. West Virginia and Ohio sees smokers as being a public heath hazard to be punitively taxed and sternly regulated. "Smoke Free" is merely a nice term for "nicotine prohibition." Nicotine and alcohol abuse are bad habits and this is admitted. However prohibition as a legal concept has been historically prone to failure when enforced by government edict. It was once unlawful to drink alcohol in a restaurant during the 1920's. Al Capone made a huge bundle when people evaded the law. In this case, the WV law against smokers in public places can be simply evaded with a 20 minute ride in a car. It is human nature to cross borders to do what you please. Every day hundreds of West Virginia people cross the river to go to Boyd County just to buy cigarettes at much cheaper prices than the going rate in West Virginia.

There are numerous tobacco stores in Catlettsburg and Ashland Kentucky that primarily cater to West Virginia and Ohio Customers. Smokers can save about 5-8 dollars per carton of cigarettes in Kentucky because cigarettes are much cheaper in Kentucky than West Virginia. So if a West Virginia Smoker buys three cartons of cigarettes in Boyd County and saves twenty five dollars by not buying cigarettes in West Virginia. That twenty five dollars will buy a very nice meal in the smoking section of a Boyd County restaurant and pay for the gasoline to get there. That twenty five dollars would have gone to the West Virginia treasury if the smoker had stayed in West Virginia to buy the cigarettes. There are many smokers in West Virginia who have not bought cigarettes in West Virginia for twenty years. If a smoker buys 3 cartons of cigarettes in Kentucky, he saves so much money that he can go out to eat in a Boyd County restaurant on the savings. Of course a trip to Boyd County to buy cigarettes is a great time to fill up the car with gas because gasoline prices are cheaper in Kentucky than in West Virginia due to the presence of a huge oil refinery there. You will save about 3 dollars on a tank of gas. Smokers may be addicted to nicotine, but they are not dumb in matters of economics.

By imposing a blanket ban on smoking in restaurants and other public places, the Cabell County Health Department has made the restaurant owners in Boyd County Kentucky 15 miles away enormously happy with all those new customers. Boyd County Kentucky still allows smoking in restaurants in segregated areas. As a result about thirty percent of the people in Huntington and Cabell County would rather go to Ashland to eat out, than stay in Cabell County to patronize the smoker intolerant eating establishments in Cabell County. As a direct result.. the cash registers are "smoking" in Boyd County restaurants.

The smokers in Cabell County West Virginia have been driving to Catlettsburg Kentucky to buy cheaper cigarettes for many years. It is a stupid person who thinks they will not drive fifteen or twenty miles to legally smoke where they want to. Much in the same fashion that makes people drive to the Huntington Mall to get away from the blasted parking meters in downtown Huntington.

If the Cabell County Heath Department does not want smokers in Cabell County restaurants, Boyd County welcomes the business with open arms. The smoking section of every restaurant in Boyd County is full of West Virginia residents that merely want to have a cigarette with their coffee after eating a big meal without the fear of getting fined or jailed by some tyrannical heath inspector who wants to treat them like criminals.

West Virginians and Ohio Residents have traditionally resisted government regulation of their BAD habits, as well as their good ones. People are willing to go all the way to Las Vegas to drink and gamble in a casino because Las Vegas tolerates their bad habits. It is a blooming fool who thinks people will not take a twenty minute drive to a jurisdiction that tolerates their nicotine habit. The only people who are being harmed by this are West Virginia restaurant owners who are forced to play the role of "nicotine cops". It would not surprise me if the Cabell County Heath Department gets a letter of profound gratitude from the Boyd County Chamber of Commerce to thank them for keeping the cash registers "smoking" in Boyd County. It seems Boyd County has made a cottage industry of profiteering from the regulatory stupidity of government entities in West Virginia. At least someone is making money. I regret that West Virginia seems to be very determined to tax, prohibit, and regulate itself to death. Perhaps the Cabell Health Department can provide transportation for local business owners to go visit their former customers in Ashland.

All this smoking business has generated enough tax revenue to provide Ashland with some new police cruisers for their well equipped, well paid police department. The City of Huntington cannot afford that. Wonder Why? If a government promotes commerce and lots of it, taxes will take care of themselves. The Cabell County Heath Department is very popular among Ashland restaurant owners who have benefited from their anti smoking action. I have never witnessed any economic endeavor so profoundly successful that a determined bureaucrat could not undermine it.

You would think that some Boyd County residents who do not smoke would come to Cabell County to eat out, but this is not the case because there are a number of smoke free establishments in Kentucky to meet their needs.

History teaches us that the prudish United States prohibition on alcohol in the 1920's made billions for Canadian breweries and distilleries and the Canadians were profoundly pleased and grateful for this economic blessing. Billions went across the border to Canada during the alcohol prohibition era. We are seeing now is the same thing happening on a smaller scale in Cabell and Wayne County losing business to Boyd County because West Virginia and Ohio have a hostile attitude toward smokers and passive-aggressive defiance of government regulation is an integral aspect of the sociology of appalachian culture.

The Cabell County Heath department is giving smokers hell, knowing fully well that paradise for nicotine addicts is only fifteen miles up the road. Not real smart. Government regulatory authority is best used to enhance the local business climate, not chase business off to the next county over the state line. The arrogant Cabell County Heath Department set out to allegedly protect the public heath and harmed the local business climate by assuming local smokers were too dumb to take their business and money elsewhere. The Cabell County Heath Department assumes that smokers are too dumb to drive a car to Ashland. The Cabell County Heath department cannot comprehend that economics is all about consumer choices, not prohibitive government mandates. Economics and public health issues are divorced from each other. The fact is Smokers are free to smoke in one county and not in the other. If you were a smoker, where would you go? Would you spend your money in a county that treated you badly?

There are some that say let the smokers go to Boyd County.....good riddance. None of them are Cabell County restaurant owners.

Stephanie Heck

Huntington Cabell County West Virginia

It seems the Cabell County Commission is at it again. I wish I lived in a county where leaders cooperated with each other instead of wasting enormous amounts of energy and tax dollars on obnoxious hillbilly political feuds and viperous vendetta's against each other. The perpetual and perennial political mess known as the Cabell County Courthouse, seems to be practicing the habitual political factional egotism as the status quo. The Cabell County Courthouse is analogous to a "political animal" in its own right. The Cabell County Commission has bi-monthly political upheavals/meetings where political ego's run amok to the point that it constitutes the latest chapter of a pathological political soap opera called "As your Stomach Turns".

It is my understanding that the " County Manager " Glenn White has been fired by the Cabell County Commission from his position by the Cabell County Commission... without even being offered a credible ruse or reason for the summary termination. I do not know Glenn White and have absolutely no idea if he was a good or bad employee. I am in no position to judge Glenn White's merits or demerits and therefore I have no position on his work performance.

What I do know is that the Cabell County Commission can legally fire an employee for any lawful or legally valid reason. There are some firings that are not legal such as those motivated by racism or sexism or political affiliation. This is precisely why ethical government entities ALWAYS document (as a customary practice) a rational and legal reason for a summary termination of a public employees job. This is intended to prevent the public from perceiving that people are arbitrarily fired for illegal and irrational reasons. Documentation upholds the integrity of the office, not just the holder of the office. Documentation of sound reasons for employment termination undermines the appearance of malicious political shenanigans.

In light of the fact that absolutely no reason was given or offered, there is no rational reason to think that any credible legal reason existed to justify the public humiliation and termination that Glenn White was subjected to. There is no reason to believe the termination was anything but arbitrary, and the Cabell County Commission could have very well offered a credible reason or an incredible ruse for its conduct but refused to do so either to Mr. White or the voting public.

It would have been perfectly legal for the Cabell County Commission to claim that the position held by Glenn White was being eliminated and money did not exist to continue paying Glenn White to continue. This would have in effect terminated Mr. White's employment, without harming his potential to find another job to support his family. That is a civilized and ethical way to fire someone. Nobody has ever accused the Cabell County Commission of being civilized or ethical.

Glenn White may well be a good or bad employee, I do not know. I do know Glen White is a human being and a provider for his family who has been subjected to public humiliation by being publicly fired for no particular reason on what appears to be an arbitrary political whim.

The reason I am concerned is very simple: Arbitrary and or capricious firings can result in serious lawsuits against the Cabell County Commission that will be very costly to the Cabell County taxpayers budget. What happens if Glenn White's lawyer claims he was arbitrarily fired because of his political beliefs or actions? What happens if Glen Whites lawyer claims his clients civil rights were violated? The Cabell County Commission failed to document any credible reason to the contrary. How much money is that potential federal lawsuit going to cost the Cabell County VOTERS?

The Cabell County Commission needs to justify its actions not only to the employees that it fires on a political whim, but it needs to document its actions to the VOTERS of Cabell County. Remember the voters have a right to a well documented record as to the conduct of elected public officials. The voting citizens of Cabell County have a right to know WHY Glenn White was fired and that public right exceeds the rights of any individual. Nobody ever accused the County Commission of being sensitive to the needs of the voters. If Glenn White were possibly guilty of some conduct that made him worthy of termination, it was grossly negligent of the Cabell County Commission to fail to document the alleged misconduct to edify the voting public as to just what sort of reasoning motivated the conduct of the Cabell County Commission. It is a matter of cause and effect logic, citizens have a right to know the cause and the reasons for government action as a means of effecting good government at the ballot box. Citizens need government actions well documented so that they can make informed decisions as to who to vote for... or vote against.

Due to the fact that no reason was given for the termination, I see no reason why Glenn White will not sue the Cabell County Commission. I regret that the taxpayer money that went to pay Glenn White will most probably go to a bunch of litigation lawyers now. For the Cabell County Commission to summarily fire someone, and deny a reason for the action is not only mean spirited, but it is despotic and pretty cowardly as well.

If a 16 year old fry cook at McDonald's has a right to a written reason for termination, I feel that mature County Employee's should have the same right. State employees have a right to a written reason for termination, are County employees to be denied the same protection? It is not so much a matter of law as it is a matter of human decency. There seems to be a factional political blowup in the Cabell County Courthouse about once a month and somebody gets crucified by the Cabell County "Sanhedrin" every time it happens.

http://sheck.com/forums/

Political Commentary:

President Bush has nominated U.S. Court of Appeals Judge John G. Roberts Jr. for the Supreme Court, passing over several well qualified female candidates to replace the retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in favor of a Harvard educated male litigator with very conservative political credentials.

Females have always been a minority on the Supreme Court and many American Women are justifiably proud of the contributions of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to American Jurisprudence and legal history. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is a positive role model for ones young daughter. Both liberal and conservative women admire the contribution of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in regard to her judicial scholarship.

For President Bush to replace a moderate woman like Justice Sandra Day O'Connor with a good 'ole' boy conservative male with Ivy league legal credentials, is to roll back the progress that female lawyers have made in the Federal judiciary. President Bush has a moral obligation to America's women to replace a female Justice with a female replacement.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has been a positive role model to every little girl in America, and every female law student. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has PROVEN that women do belong on the Supreme Court. This is her contribution to History.

The Bush white house has ignored the polls that show a large majority of Americans feel that Justice Sandra Day O'Connor should be replaced with another female candidate. Not only is this a crass attempt to alter the conservative - liberal political balance of the Supreme Court, but it is also a ploy to keep women off the court in any appreciable numbers. The gender balance of the court is just as important as the political balance to the women of America. I am certain that U.S. Court of Appeals Judge John G. Roberts Jr. is an excellent attorney, he is merely the wrong woman for the job.

Stephanie Heck
Huntington West Virginia

It is high time for Karl Rove to resign. He has become a liability to the credibility of the U.S. Government.

It is irrelevant if Karl Rove's reputation as a mean spirited blabber of secrets is warranted or not. The fact is that other allied governments may well withhold intelligence information from the U.S. Government to make certain that the identity of their own agents remains safe and super secret. Allied foreign governments are leery of dealing with those who leak information for any political purpose. For exactly this reason, Karl Rove has become a millstone around the Presidents neck.

How can we possibly ask foreign intelligence agencies to share critical intelligence data with us if they believe that the Bush White House cannot be trusted to keep the identity of our own agents secret, much less the identity of the agents of allied governments.

The current situation is enough to make "James Bond" profoundly paranoid. Karl Rove should step aside for the sake of his country. Karl Rove needs to understand that this nation needs to gather intelligence from nations that may well not cooperate if Rove stays in his current position. For those of you who are students of history, The Czar of Russia had Rasputin, and George W. Bush has Karl Rove. Both have been historically problematic.

The West Virginia State Police have made a search able website available to the general public at: http://www.wvstatepolice.com/sexoff

This allows the public to search the database of the more than 1700 convicted sex offenders living in West Virginia. You can search by county or by the convicted sex offenders last name. State law requires convicted sex offenders to register. Pictures of the offenders are on the "free web pages" given to individual sex offenders. I have never seen such an ugly bunch of mugshots in my life. Advice to single women: Run you new boyfriends name through the database to make sure he has no history of sex crimes. Hopefully he comes up clean and no reference to him is found. If you do find him in the database, call your attorney or the state police for advice on how to handle the situation. Do not attempt to handle it yourself. Some of these characters are quite dangerous.

Stephanie

I am still surprised that the City of Huntington West Virginia wants to raise municipal user fees.  A $ 500.00 license to own a pit bull canine within the city limits would raise quite a bit of money. It may be a good idea or a bad idea... but at least I am thinking.

Stephanie Heck

Huntington Cabell County West Virginia