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Guest column/October presentation will remember witch’s Halloween

Local Columns

I am not sure how many families in the Upper Ohio Valley can claim documented proof of a witch’s spell being cast. This Halloween Thursday, Oct. 30, between astronomical twilight and midnight, the veils between the spirit world are thin in the darkness. The apparitions that make their way into your home can be found in stories told in front of ancestors’ hearths that date back centuries. I will be presenting a program at 5 p.m. in the Vincent Room of the Brooke County Library in Wellsburg. I am under a generational witch’s spell cast under the celestial clock of the late ...

Guest column/Here’s why companies should start from the inside out

Local Columns

I recently received a call from the vice president of sales at a publicly traded, multi-billion-dollar corporation headquartered in Houston. He was calling on behalf of the CEO requesting advice on their current public relations strategy and business development efforts. Before the discovery call, I was given a quick rundown: Contracts were slipping, customers were pulling back and the company’s reputation was beginning to erode. It didn’t take long before I knew exactly what was going on. This wasn’t a surface-level messaging issue. It was a full-blown culture crisis and what ...

Unfair maps illegal in Ohio

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: When it comes to redistricting in Ohio, the issue is not about Democrats versus Republicans. It is about something much bigger: The health of our democracy. When political maps are unfair, it is the voters who lose, regardless of their party. Right now, the way Ohio’s legislative and congressional districts are drawn do not reflect the actual balance of our state. In 2024, Donald Trump won 55 percent of Ohio’s vote and Senate candidate Bernie Moreno won barely over 50 percent. Yet Ohio’s congressional delegation is 67 percent Republican as is the General ...

Guest column/The Fred Abdalla I knew was a stalwart member of our community

Local Columns

Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla was many things to many people — a lawman, a community figure, sometimes a controversial one. But to me, he was something simpler: A guardian. There’s a painting of him in the Jefferson County Courthouse, standing beside a child, and I can’t think of a more honest picture of who he truly was. The nation once saw headlines and chose to turn the sheriff into a caricature, a villain to fit an outsider’s narrative. But those of us who lived here saw the truth. We saw the man who came into classrooms for D.A.R.E., who fingerprinted children ...

A reminder of what you don’t hear enough of

Local Columns

This week, I would like to tell you something you do not hear enough of. Something that perhaps no one ever bothered to ever tell you. Or, something some of you may already know. Today, I want to tell you … the world is a good place. Yes, you can go back and reread that sentence again, if you’d like. The world is a good place. You see, we always talk about, think about and hear about the negatives. And there are a lot of negatives. But, for the most part, the world is a good place. Think about what is our source in discovering what is going on in this world? For the ...

Break the silence

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: In 1991, I lost a school friend; in 2005, I lost another school friend; and in 2023, an acquaintance who was a military veteran passed away. All three of these have one common denominator: They all lost their lives due to suicide. Each September is recognized as Suicide Prevention Month, a time to raise awareness, spread hope and spark meaningful action around one of the most urgent mental health issues of our time. It’s a time to focus on listening, reaching out and building a culture of care. Help is available, hope is real and no one must face ...