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Cheers & Jeers

CHEERS to all of the new and returning elected officeholders who were successful in the general election. Now that the campaigning is over, it’s time to get down to business. JEERS to the fact that some needed property tax levies and bond issues were defeated on Tuesday at the polls. Local government requires financial support. CHEERS to the Martins Ferry Elks for offering a free turkey dinner for military veterans to enjoy from 4-7 p.m. this Saturday at the Elks lodge on North Fourth Street in the Purple City. JEERS to word that bomb threats were made at polling locations in ...

Affordable housing in Ohio

“This is in every community, far and wide.” Amy Riegel, executive director of the Coalition on Housing and Homelessness in Ohio, was speaking Monday about homelessness, poverty and the shortage of affordable housing in the Buckeye State. The number of good paying jobs has not kept up with the soaring cost of housing here. So, “for every 100 extremely low income individuals looking for housing, there’s 40 units available,” according to Riegel. Extremely low income is $27,485 or less for a family of four. In Ohio, 28% of renter households are extremely low income, and there ...

Dangers of social media

Leading up to Tuesday’s general election, some law enforcement officers in Ohio proved themselves to be taking a problematic approach to politics — and therefore their ability to properly serve and protect. Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski made a poor decision when he posted on social media suggesting those with Kamala Harris yard signs should have their addresses written down. That appears to have inspired U.S. Justice Department election monitoring efforts in the county. But after that, Clark County Sheriff’s Department Lt. John Rodgers made several social media posts ...

Cast your vote today

Much has been said, written and talked about during the past several months — make that the past several years — about how important this year’s general election will be. There have been rallies, debates, forums, motorcades and discussions — most civil, many, sadly, not — about the candidates and issues voters are being asked to decide on. We’ve seen voter registration drives and get-out-the-vote campaigns that have made appeals to many different segments of our society, and savage campaigns — to the point of generating disgust, not talk — spread across traditional ...

A beacon of hope

“They have so little, and we have so much.” “They are so happy, and yet we are so sad.” Those observations come from one of West Virginia’s most interesting and genuinely kind residents, the Bishop Darrell Cummings of Wheeling. Cummings, a Pentecostal bishop who now oversees Port Elizabeth in South Africa along with his ministries in Bethlehem and Weirton, recently returned from a visit across the ocean with his parishioners. He said even though the residents there have little, they always are so happy. That is despite the fact that South Africans must deal with ...

Making a difference

Leaders of both major political parties agree on one thing: The election scheduled for Tuesday is among the most important in American history. Its outcome will shape our government, economy, even our society for many years to come, and may even come to truly define just who we are. Your life and the lives of your children and grandchildren will be affected profoundly no matter who is elected. Don’t you want to have a say in the matter? To judge by voter turnouts in previous elections, many of your friends, family members, co-workers and neighbors simply don’t care about how ...