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Recognizing hard work

It can be tough to operate a small business. In fact, the statistics can paint a pretty bleak picture. The consensus seems to be the average business will last just about 8.5 years, with about 67 percent of new businesses lasting through two. Just about half will not make it past five years, only 33 percent will make it past 10 years and 25 percent will last 15 years or beyond. That’s why it’s important to recognize those companies that have served their communities for many decades, something the Weirton Area Chamber of Commerce again did during Tuesday’s membership meeting ...

Guest column/State help needed to fight hunger

As our elected lawmakers work out Ohio’s next two-year budget, they are considering cutting funding to pantries and food banks helping our hungry neighbors. Real Ohioans are struggling and now is not the time to cut state support for food banks and take meals off people’s tables. The need for food assistance in Mid-Ohio Food Collective’s 20-county service area — including Jefferson — rose by 38 percent from 2022 to 2024. Last year was the busiest ever in our 45-year history. How can that be? Simply put, we are still living with the economy of the past few years. Wages ...

Guest column/Diocese taking us on a rollercoaster ride

I was born in the early years of the formation of the Diocese of Steubenville and lived my entire Catholic life in this Diocese. Like many others, I am having a difficult time understanding the facts vs. the lies of the proposed merger. Bishop Jeffrey Monforton announced the merger in October 2022 and it’s been a rollercoaster ride ever since. First, it was his idea and then it was the idea of many people? Then it was the idea of the bishops. Whose idea was it? He presented it as a done deal (which was not the case.) According to the priests of the diocese, the basic ...

Guest column/Where is the anger over diocese, cathedral?

The apostolic administrator, Bishop Edward Lohse, announced results from a study of the Diocese of Steubenville that involved not only himself, but members of the diocese consultors, finance council, administrator and priests. In a story published in the Herald-Star March 12 (“Report highlights challenges of diocese,”) the bishop stated: “Some of the Steubenville diocese’s difficulties are rooted in its establishment in 1944 as a mission diocese, Lohse said, meaning it has struggled with resources since its inception.” A mission diocese, according to the United States ...

Tell your friends you care this Easter holiday

It’s hard to believe it is almost Easter. We blinked. And that new year we were all celebrating just yesterday? Well, that year is already a fourth of the way over. If you made a New Year’s Eve resolution, did you stick to it, or did you abandon it weeks ago because it was harder than you realized? Maybe it was a resolution you wish you wouldn’t have made. But don’t worry. You can always make another one in only a matter of blinks. It’s rather frightening how quickly life passes us by –– especially the older we get. I heard this saying plenty of times ...

History in the Hills: Local history on film

Many years ago, when I was in Boy Scouts with Troop 65 out of Memorial Baptist Church in Weirton, we had a great local history presentation by the late Chuck Cronin. Cronin gave a wonderful talk on Weirton Steel during World War II. In addition to the presentation, he brought in a 16 mm reel-to-reel projector and played a film called “Assignment Accomplished,” which showed the production of the 8-inch howitzer shells produced by Weirton Steel in 1944 and 1945. Little did I know at that time this event would spark a love for Weirton Steel history and World War II history that ...