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Santa Claus Will Come

And finally it’s Christmas. A time for remembrance of happy Christmas past; for enjoying happy Christmas present; for anticipation of happy Christmas future. Many years ago, Francis Church of the New York Sun wrote a famous editorial in reply to a letter from an 8-year-old girl, Virginia O’Hanlon, who asked whether there was a Santa Claus, since some of her friends had told her there was none. The editorial was one of those pieces which attracted instant attention and has become one of the classics of Christmas lore, reprinted annually in thousands of newspapers across the ...

The Other Wise Man Who Found the King

As a child, my favorite Christmas story was a little volume, a gift from my mother, Henry Van Dyke’s “The Story of the Other Wise Man.” As Van Dyke related the story there were four Magi, not three, who set out to find the newborn King of the Jews — Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar and Artaban. Each was bearing rich gifts. Artaban’s were three jewels — a sapphire, a ruby and a pearl. Scholars all, specializing in astrology, their studies and observations had indicated the approximate time and place of the birth. By prearrangement they started out separately from their homes ...

Let the Spirit of Christmas Guide You at All Times

Newspapers carried the joyous news of the birth of “Prince of a Baby” on Sept. 16, 1984. Princess Diana, with Prince Charles at her side, gave birth after nine hours of labor to her second child—a boy weighing 6 pounds, 14 ounces, Buckingham Palace announced. “He’s a lovely baby,” said Prince Charles, who rushed from his wife’s side to a phone to call his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, at BalmoralCastle in Scotland and Diana’s father, Earl Spencer. A crowd of hundreds of well-wishers outside St. Mary’s Hospital broke into cheers as a town crier from the Mayfair ...

Marshall Memo: Happenings in Cameron; the CVB; and Rosbys Rock

Cameron Elementary PT4 Kids recently sponsored a “Penny War” at which children at the grade school took pennies to their class to raise money for a local organization. This year’s recipient was the Blue and Gold Christian Center. PT4 Kids President Amy Stern and her sons, Dexdon and Zaiden, brought several hundred dollars in pennies with some silver and paper to the Center. This was exciting for the kids attending “Kidz Kamp.” This money will be used for food and supplies for the various ministries operating at the Blue and Gold Christian Center. THE BGCC expressed a big ...

Progress Leading the Way for Changes in Power Sources

I want to invite you to a fireside chat and join the Ghost of FDR as I explain in the simplest terms why the electric bill is so costly to wage workers. You know the two big companies’ names right off I am sure you will recognize them! American Electric Power and FirstEnergy which operate here in Baby Dog’s West Virginia had merchant coal plants. Speaking in just folks’ terms these are plants that sell power into the wholesale markets. The risks of profit or loss are borne by the shareholders, not by the ratepayer’s simple-term customers. The big corporations realized, at the ...

W.Va. Governor’s Office Must Truly Embrace Transparency

The Governor’s Office owes West Virginia Watch Reporter Caity Coyne an apology for her treatment last week on Gov. Jim Justice’s weekly administration briefing. Coyne tried to ask Justice about whether administration officials and cabinet secretaries were under any type of gag order where they were required to seek permission from the Governor’s Office before speaking with the press. The question stemmed from an incident at the end of the meeting last Tuesday for the Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority, where Department of ...