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Regarding the Urban Mission

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: Surely, the Urban Mission was aware in advance of the lack of funds it needed to continue to keep the shelters open. Somebody, anybody and nobody. There was an important job to be done. Everybody was sure somebody would do it. Anybody could do it and nobody did. The bottom line is that everybody blamed somebody when nobody did what anybody could have. Well, somebody get busy. Open the church basement — take the beds from the shelter and Martha Manor and set them up in the basement. Memory serves there’s a kitchen there. You have that box truck — use it to move ...

History in the Hills: Some hard times

Local Columns

My dear wife is a great cook. She works hard to provide wonderful nutritious meals to us every day regardless of how tired she is, how much work she did that day or despite the natural fact that sometimes our kids are less than excited about finishing their peas and carrots. She has sometimes made our pantry stretch between trips to the grocery store. We try to make do with what we have and do our best not to waste anything. In the summer we have a garden and, as a result, can much of our produce; we make maple syrup from maple sap in the early spring; in the fall we make apple sauce ...

Sometimes miracles are found on a 12-lane Texas highway

Local Columns

I have a large canvas print on the living room wall that reads: “When life gets too hard to stand … kneel.” I believe in those words. More than you can imagine. Don’t tell me that God doesn’t exist, for I have seen too much, felt too much and lived too much to believe otherwise. I have seen miracles, the kind that show up in the middle of a Monday afternoon when you are knee-deep in housework and worry. The kind that whisper, “I am here,” when the world around you has completely fallen apart. We live in a world that is quick to explain things away. ...

A few election numbers

Local Columns

In the run-up to Tuesday’s election, Bob Gale, director of the Jefferson County Board of Elections, had predicted about 15 percent of the county’s 42,675 registered voters would cast a ballot, while adding that officials were hoping the actual turnout would surpass that number. Those hopes were realized — by the time each of the county’s 57 precincts had reported, the total was 12,838, which put it at 30.08 percent. That number’s not bad for an off-year election, and was pretty consistent with the numbers seen across our region. In Harrison County, for instance, 2,814 of ...

What side are you on

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: While 700,000 people of Arizona are without a duly elected representative, Adelita Grijalva, because the house speaker, Mike Johnson, refuses to swear her in, the entire nation suffers through a government lockdown. She will be the deciding vote that would bring the Epstein Files investigation to the forefront. Instead, Johnson has closed the House doors and given representatives a paid leave to keep them from their work. While the Republican representatives stay away, the Democrats are showing up each week. What many do not understand is that this Continuing Resolution ...

Compromise in Columbus

Editorials

Give credit where credit is due to Ohio lawmakers who worked together to come to a compromise on a redrawn Ohio congressional district map that has its critics, but came as a bit of a surprise to those who expected something much worse. According to the Statehouse News Bureau, Democrat lawmakers acknowledged the decision wasn’t easy — there is still anger and frustration on both sides — but Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, called it “the best of a worst-case scenario.” In fact, U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes, D-Akron, told the Akron Beacon Journal she was ...