Don’t discriminate to
adopt, foster children
Fostering and adopting children should be accessible to all people regardless of sexual orientation.
A waiver issued by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, states that a federally funded South Carolina foster care service was given permission from the federal government and Trump administration to discriminate against same-sex couples by denying them to receive children in their homes.
There is no evidence stating that homosexual couples are not fit to be parents or that children raised in these households have any sort of disadvantages, according to a 2005 summary of gay and lesbian parenting created by the American Physiological Association.
Selecting foster parents should be based on the ability to care for the child and provide a safe environment. New Hampshire reversed the law rejecting gay and lesbian households from fostering children in 1999. Upon this repeal then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, said that foster parents should be chosen based on the ability to serve the child which should stand true today.
In fact, based on a Live Science article, gay and lesbian couples are shown to be the most compassionate, accepting, tolerance and nurturing group of parents because they chose to have children. This shows that gay and lesbian parents can create safe and loving environments to the same degree or better than heterosexual parents.
Based on the evidence, being raised by gay or lesbian parents will not have a negative effect on a child and may even improve their upbringing. I urge voters to think about these forms of discrimination during the 2020 presidential election.
Laura Rabel
Huntington
Look for sponsored flags during holiday week
Honoring heroes, community pride and patriotism. That’s what Cheat Lake Rotary’s “Flags For Heroes” is all about.
There will be hundreds of large American flags displayed around Morgantown the week of Memorial Day. The purpose is to honor your heroes; servicemen and women, first responders, parents, siblings, relatives, teachers, ministers, doctors, friends … you honor those who played a pivotal role in your life or in the life of a family member by sponsoring a flag.
We’ve all got heroes in our lives, and when you sponsor a hero, 100 percent of the proceeds will benefit charitable activities in our community. In future years our end goal is to eventually have 1,000 flags in visible locations around town.
This year you’ll find your sponsored flag at one of three locations: Along Don Knotts Boulevard, at the intersection of the WVU Creative Arts Center and in front of Clear Mountain Bank and United Bank at the entrance to Pierpont Center.
Names of all our “heroes” and their sponsors will be listed in Morgantown’s The Dominion Post, and Cheat Lake’s Life Above the Ordinary magazine. Hero sponsors will also receive a certificate, suitable for display, listing their heroes and details of the donation.
For information on how you can sponsor a flag for your hero, go to cheatlakerotary.org and click on Flags For Heroes, or email Dan Nagowski at dan@wingsole.com or Molly Nagowski at m.m.nagowski@gmail.com.
Dan Nagowski
Cheat Lake Rotary
Morgantown
Someone needs to take
a look at mine runoff
Why hasn’t anybody come out to W.Va. 100 and inspected the little stream that runs down through Maidsville to the Monongahela River?
It is being polluted by sulfur water mine drainage coming out of the hill about midway down W.Va. 100. The EPA has been called along with other state agencies and nobody has been out to see what can be done to correct the problem.
This sulfur water is going into the river polluting it and soon it will start killing off the fish and will affect other wildlife. There are two old abandoned coal mines under the hill where the water is coming out, and it looks like a small waterfall right along the road.
What do the people in the area have to do to get someone to do something about this ugly, smelly mess? I suggest that the people in the area keep calling the EPA and other agencies until someone comes out to see for themselves what a mess the people in the area are experiencing.
Ralph Correll
Morgantown
Elect write-in candidate Cruze for City Council
If the citizens of Morgantown want to elect a great City Council representative they will elect Zackary Cruze. (Cruze is a write-in candidate in the 3rd Ward.)
Even though I’m not a resident of Morgantown, I spent time in Morgantown during my bid for senator of the 2nd Senatorial District campaigning and talking issues with citizens. Zack Cruze was one of many.
Cruze stands out, to me, because he comes across as genuine, not the normal politician. He comes across as someone who knows the legitimate definition of being a public servant.
I know that my opinion doesn’t matter because I can’t vote in your election. But your opinion does count, if you use it at the ballot box. So don’t pay any attention to my opinion about Cruze; do the leg work, find him and talk with him, form your own opinion about him and then make your vote count by going to the polls and voting for Zack Cruze.
If you want your city to continue down the road of providing a better city for all, progressing into the future as a city you love and can share your immense pride about, vote Cruze.
Denny Longwell
New Martinsville
Everyone can help
pick up roadside litter
The Laurel Mountain/Fellowsville Area Clean Watershed Association picked up the litter along its adopted highway between the Marquess Road and Birchroot Road in the southern part of Preston County. Its adopted highway, the Stevenburg Road, runs some four miles and is litter- free for now. Hopefully, area residents and travelers will appreciate the Watershed’s efforts and try to keep it litter-free.
The Division of Highways cleaned the ditches on a portion of the roadway and residents north of Stevenburg are anxiously awaiting ditching of the remainder of this tarred- and-chipped roadway.
On down the road perhaps the DOH will address the out-of-control canopy and tar-and-chip this much-traveled residential road and return it to the safe drive that it once was years ago.
Everyone wants a safe and clean environment for our children to inherit. We can all ensure that future generations enjoy the earth by cleaning the litter along our highways and neighborhood roads. The more people involved with this effort, the more beautiful our state can become.
Watershed members and friends helping with the latest cleanup were myself, David Colebank, Ettie Hershman, David and Rosemary Houser, Jack Hershman, Mary Burke and Patsie Hershman.
Elizabeth King
Tunnelton
Time to spay and neuter
Mon County cats, dogs
We all should be disturbed that hundreds of homeless dogs and cats are euthanized at the Monongalia County Canine Adoption Center (MCCAC) every year. However, neither the county nor the animal control staff that work at this shelter created pet overpopulation, yet they are left to deal with the aftermath. The sad fact is that there are too many animals being born and not enough people adopting animals from this shelter. Healthy, spayed and neutered dogs and cats are available for adoption at MCCAC, located off the River Road.
With every spring comes “kitten season,” when cats begin their natural urge to procreate. Cats young as 4 months can have kittens and may produce 2-3 litters per year, weather permitting. Dogs are not as prolific, but they can mate as young as 7 months and may produce litters twice a year. Sadly, many of the puppies and kittens born this year may end up at the county shelter or abandoned along a county road.
Mountaineer Spay Neuter Assistance Program (M-SNAP) has received a $7,000 matching grant from the West Virginia Spay Neuter Program, administered by the state Department of Agriculture. Our 2019 grant will be dedicated to reducing the number of unwanted or homeless cats delivered to the county shelter every day or heartlessly abandoned.
If you have unspayed or unneutered pets, make an appointment with your veterinarian and urge everyone to do the same. Together, we can fix Mon County — one pet at a time. If you cannot afford the cost of the surgery, please contact M-SNAP at 304-985-0123, and leave your name and phone number in Mailbox #1. M-SNAP volunteers issue over 100 vouchers monthly so the mailbox may be full when you call — keep trying.
Nancy Young
Morgantown
Congress must stand
up to new ‘gag rule’
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget recently released a “gag rule” that will negatively impact health care for millions of people around the country and thousands of people right here in the Mountain State.
This rule would threaten health care provided at Title X facilities by forcing health care professionals to withhold information from their patients. This would mean that patients at Title X facilities would receive limited information about health care options they can access and the information they do receive would be dictated by the government. Those facilities that do not abide by this rule will be defunded.
How can we allow officials to restrict what doctors and nurses can and cannot tell their patients? This violates the basic premise of the doctor-patient relationship.
Title X was created by Congress to make sure that everyone has access to basic reproductive health care, including birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment and exams. Every year, about 4 million people receive health care at Title X facilities around the nation.
Two-thirds of these individuals live below the federal poverty level and half do not have insurance. This is important for us here in West Virginia where about 18 percent of our state’s population lives in poverty and around 144,000 do not have health insurance. Censoring and threatening to defund these facilities will impact their health care.
I ask Sen. Joe Manchin to oppose implementation of this rule and stand up for and protect our access to health care.
Nimrod Riley
Preston County
Democratic Party chair
Arthurdale
