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The wonderful people of our region

No matter how tough the going gets, I have found that there are countless people here in our region who find a way to persevere and make the best of things. On Wednesday night, I received word that a structure fire had broken out in a remote part of Belmont County, not far from Jacobsburg and Key. That is familiar territory for me, since I used to travel through there each day when I worked as Marshall County bureau chief for the Wheeling Newspapers. Heading out that way from Belmont and taking Pipe Creek Road down to Ohio 7 just south of Shadyside made my commute to Moundsville much ...

Martin Luther King Jr. and two Americas

On Thursday, March 14, 1968, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at Grosse Pointe South High School in an affluent Detroit, Michigan suburb. The title of his talk was “The Other America.” It also said he gave the same title on April 14, 1967, at Stanford University. It is interesting that he was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. One was about a year before he died, and the other less than a month. Unfortunately, if Dr. King were still alive, he could very well give the same speech again today. Some things are better, some are worse, and some are ...

The beginning of job creation in the area’s Shale Crescent

Last week Lynnda and I traveled to Florida for a short winter getaway. The weather forecaster on TV said, “Tomorrow will be a cold night. Our low will be 47 degrees.” That’s warmer than our high temperature in Charleston. This trip is primarily pleasure with some business mixed in. Shale Crescent USA is working with a Florida-based company, Semplastics, who has a small presence in West Virginia with potential to expand and create jobs. I talked about them last year in a column. They treat their employees as partners and encourage creativity. A year after our first visit, ...

‘The Final Kraut Down’ to some fun at home

There’s nothing quite like a good hamburger when you’re in the mood for one. My husband, Mike, and I know this. We don’t often go out for a burger at a restaurant, but we do really enjoy grilling fresh, locally raised meat during the warmer months, and burgers are no exception. Knowing how much we enjoy that type of meal on occasion, we made what we considered a frivolous purchase for ourselves while we were out shopping for Christmas gifts for our family and friends — we bought a cookbook dedicated exclusively to hamburgers. Now, this is not just a standard cookbook. It ...

We all have something to offer. What’s your purpose?

We visited our kids and grandkids last weekend in Maryland. On the way home Lynnda read me excerpts of a memoir, “Doctor Miriam” written by Miriam Daly, MD. Dr. Daly was a mentor for Lynnda beginning when she was a candy striper (hospital volunteer) at age 15 in Albion, Michigan. Lynnda wanted to become a nurse. Dr. Miriam’s husband, Hal, was Lynnda’s family’s doctor. Dr. Hal became our family doctor after Lynnda and I were married. Dr. Miriam was our oldest son’s doctor when he was an infant until we moved to Ohio. Doctor Hal died years ago. Dr. Miriam still lives in ...

Tourism is big business for our area

Travel and tourism in Ohio and across the country are significant economic development engines, employing hundreds of thousands of people and generating hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue. Locally, tourism is a strong component of our economy, and we work to continuously increase its significant impact in Belmont County. According to Oxford Economics, tourism generated a total economic impact of $255 million in Belmont County during 2021 – an increase from $246 million in 2019. Tourism resulted in $147 millin of direct visitor spending, $35 million in total tax ...