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Long Live The Letter Carriers

Sometimes I ran. Other times, I skipped. More often than not, I had to walk slowly as I pushed a younger sibling in a stroller. Where was I headed you ask? It was just a short walk down the block to complete an errand for our mom. She was a big believer in the written word and was diligent about writing letters to family and friends. Mom also taught us the importance of taking time to write letters or thank-you notes. So my short walk was to the neighborhood mailbox. Remember those? The one on our tree-lined street was at the corner of Hamilton and Homestead avenues, in front of the ...

You Can Handle This

There was a period of my newspaper career that I covered Wheeling city government. Every morning, I would leave the news building, step out into the alley known as 15th Street Place, and walk east toward the City-County Building on Chapline Street. Once I reached the building, I would begin making my way through the various offices to search out the day’s news stories. During the years of this routine, I saw a serious number of elected council members come and go. I called more than a half dozen officials by their title as mayor. I knocked on the office doors of at least four ...

Scared Beyond Words

Horrific. Mind-Numbing. Bloody. With Halloween right around the corner, you might think I am describing the latest scary costumes or those over-sized, life-like monsters gracing the front yards of homes near and wide. How I wish that were the case. But it’s not. Last Saturday morning, as we were driving north toward Cranberry, Pa., we had the most awful misfortune of seeing the results of a devastating, tragic vehicle crash. We were traveling in the lane parallel to the parkway where the road splits toward Pittsburgh or Erie, when we noticed traffic had slammed to a halt on that ...

Standing Tall In The Face Of Hate

He’s a big man with an even broader smile. His voice, while strong, often carries quiet but resounding messages. Rabbi Joshua Lief leads the congregation at Temple Shalom in Wheeling. This small, tight-knit Jewish community has been a part of the Northern Panhandle for 175 years. Growing up in Wheeling, Lief returned years later with his family to re-invigorate the Jewish faithful with some wonderful programs that invite people of all faiths or no faith to share with his congregation. To date, it’s been a most welcoming part of the greater Wheeling community. Locally, Christians ...

Where Memories Are Made

There are many reasons to celebrate the fall season. Autumn festivals are spread near and wide. This weekend you can enjoy the Wellsburg Applefest or take in the ever-popular Oglebayfest. Last weekend’s Barnesville Pumpkin Festival brought in an enthusiastic crowd as usual. While the warmer temperatures don’t lend themselves to the fall feeling, the thermometer doesn’t deter the huge crowd that traverses the hills of Oglebay Park this weekend. There is no denying that Oglebayfest is one of the festivals that serves many purposes. First there are the skilled artists and ...

Are You A Scaredy Cat?

“Be Not Afraid” is the title of a moving Catholic hymn. Yes, it is sung at funerals, but it’s more than that. Its words encourage us to put faith in God, who goes before us always. It is not easy to put aside our fears and follow what is right. After all, we are only humans with real fears. As children we are taught to be afraid of certain things. From the time we are old enough to understand, we learn what to fear. Some of us fear the dark no matter how old we grow to be. Others, like myself, have the irrational fear of spiders. The older we get, our fears may change, some ...