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The relationship with the flag and my grandfather

Every time there’s a holiday in which we honor our nation’s flag, I think of my grandfather, Cal Carnahan. I don’t know why my mind always turns to him. Perhaps it’s because every Sunday when my family gathered around the dinner table after church, he would begin by saying, “Did I ever tell you about the time I was in the Navy?” Always the same stories, done intentionally. He was an amazing story teller. If only I could remember those stories.  He joined at 17. Served for four years, four months, four days. He made it seem as if being in the Navy during World War II was ...

History in the Hills: Honoring Memorial Day

This weekend, we celebrate Memorial Day. It is a day off for many of us and most will celebrate with picnics, time with family, community concerts and the opening of our area pools. But more than those things, it is a holiday to remember those who have given their lives to our nation. It seems that every year since I started writing these columns, I write about the importance of Memorial Day, but I believe it is a topic that is worth a revisit. Since the very beginning of our history in this community we, as a people, have always participated in our nation’s conflicts. From the very ...

Getting ready for summer

With the extended periods of rain we experienced earlier this month past us, for now, and the long stretch of pleasant weather we have experienced during the past week or so, it’s natural to start to look ahead to the summer months. Monday is Memorial Day, which has become one of the markers for the start of the season. But whether that’s when summer starts for you, or you wait until Thursday (which will be the beginning of meteorological summer) or hold off until 10:58 a.m. on June 21 (that’s the start of astrological summer), you already have started to wonder just what the ...

Guest column/Thanks to everyone who helped with OVHC gala

On behalf of our board of directors, 2023 gala committee, volunteer health care providers, staff and patients, we would like to thank all of our dedicated supporters for the tremendous success of our 17th-annual Ohio Valley Health Center Gala that was held April 30. Our health center is a nonprofit health care facility that relies on the generosity of our donors and dedication of our health care providers, staff and volunteers to enable us to continue to meet the needs of the medically uninsured and underinsured residents of the Ohio Valley. We would like to offer our heartfelt ...

Guest column/Counterfeit pills are an attack on our children

We hear it all the time, how perilous are these times in which we live. Everyone needs to be alert, aware, and prepared in the event that a threat becomes a crisis. Today we are going to talk about something that started to appear in our fair state last summer: Rainbow fentanyl, the deadliest drug threat in the United States right now. Children are the targets. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost recently took to media like YouTube to reach out to the families and educators in the state about a dire advisory: Rainbow fentanyl is made to look like candy (SweeTarts.) It has been found in ...

We should continue to care about special days

So yesterday was National Armed Forces Day. Did anyone even know? Did anyone bother to care? I hope so. I’m sure some proud Americans remembered the day (the third Saturday of May during Armed Forces Week.) And they hung their flag outdoors for all to see. To display their patriotism. As an expression of their “thanks” to those who are enlisted in our Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Space Force. Good for them. But for most of us, the day went by … unnoticed. How sad. How sad that we know of the day when a groundhog is supposed to dictate our ...