Thief needs to return
visitor’s photo albums
After a long drive from St. Charles, Mo., I selected Morgantown as my final stop of the day because I had heard of its beauty, and I wanted to see the campus.
I chose a hotel right in the heart of downtown. After an enjoyable evening strolling the streets, eating and conversing with some extremely friendly locals, I returned to my car, parked on an outside lot, to retrieve some items. Unfortunately, I had left it unlocked.
Although a victim of a theft should not be blamed for it, I certainly was a facilitator. I only hope the expendable items taken fell into the hands of those who really needed them, including an expensive camera.
One group of items, however, a set of three photo albums from the early 1900s, would be of no value to anyone but me and my family. I had been taking them to my 99-year-old uncle in Maryland so that he could see them again and help me identify the many people pictured I did not know.
A family treasure, whose safe-keeping was entrusted to me by my grandmother, is somewhere on the streets or in the Dumpsters of Morgantown. Hoping it’s the former, I am appealing to anyone who might, on a rare chance, come across any or all of these albums to please return them to the Clarion Hotel Morgan. So much of our family history is contained in them, and their loss is particularly devastating to me.
In closing, this incident does not jade my view of your fine city. The response of the police department, the parking authority and, particularly, the staff at the hotel was encouraging. In situations such as this, it seems that good overrides bad, and it is with this faith in the citizens of your town, that I am hopeful of the return of these precious memories.
Bob Utt
St. Charles, Mo.
Couple fighting cancer
and for veteran benefits
January 2016, was a sad month. My husband, James Michael Uphold, was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma. This is an aggressive cancer; the result of exposure to Agent Orange.
His doctor told me that I had to tell our family. I was in denial — I told her that I would after a biopsy. However, it didn’t turn out that way. In February 2016 he had a radical nephrectomy (his right kidney and his adrenal gland were removed).
In April 2016, a lobe of his right lung was removed — my husband never smoked. In July 2016, part of his thyroid was removed. He started chemotherapy in August 2016. We made 30 trips to the Pittsburgh VA Hospital in 2016. James has had great medical care. We go every six weeks for his chemotherapy.
On Feb. 4, 2019, I asked James’ oncologist, “So, it is Stage 3 as long as he takes the chemo?” She said, “It is terminal.” Little did we know that it was terminal from the onset.
In conversations with her, she also stated that at some point the chemotherapy will stop working and that she would have to rethink what to do next.
In March 2016, a claim was filed for benefits which was denied. It was appealed and now sits at the Board of Veterans Affairs (BVA). At one point there were 113,000 veterans ahead of him. In January 2019, we contacted Robert Villers, who works with Rep. David B. McKinley. Villers, is also a veteran, and has been instrumental in getting my husband advanced on the docket.
I go with my husband to every doctor appointment. I see how our veterans are suffering, what they have sacrificed for all. I see loss of limbs. I see that some still carry their burdens. They didn’t wait to serve their country, to fight on foreign ground, some to die.
We are fighting terminal cancer — now we have to fight the BVA. We have since reached out to Sen. Joe Manchin’s office. God is giving me the spirit to fight. Each day is a gift.
Helene M. Uphold
Reedsville
Time to restore men’s
cross country and track
As it stands, high school males from the Mountain State who wish to compete in cross- country and track and field at the NCAA Division I level find themselves totally bereft and left out in the cold. Women, however, are not.
With the enactment of Title IX in 1972, WVU, like many colleges and universities, was forced to add a host of women’s sports in order to be in compliance with the new federal law. But in 2003, WVU was further forced to drop five men’s sports due to what the university reported as a huge jump in the cost of tuition.
Besides men’s cross country and men’s indoor and outdoor track, men’s tennis and rifle also fell to the chopping block. To my knowledge, women’s sports suffered no such competitive loss.
But that was then and this is now. A chance to rewrite this travesty and to correct it once and for all still perhaps exists.
At the State Farm Friends of Track Showcase Meet scheduled for April 26-27 at the newly constructed outdoor track, an opportunity to be made whole once again is certainly in the cards. More than 150 WVU Varsity Club track and field attendees still hope for new life for their beloved sport.
I was given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to not only ply my distance running skills at WVU from 1967-1971, but also have a chance at a great education. I’d like to see other men have the chance that my fellow teammates and I once enjoyed not too long ago.
You, too, can help by getting in touch with the WVU director of athletics and asking why this wrong still has not been revisited. While you’re at it, write to the university’s president, too. And if that doesn’t reap any benefits, don’t fail to contact your elected politicians, too. After all, equal is equal, isn’t it?
John Welch
San Antonio, Texas
Kawecki has earned his
re-election to council
We are lucky to live in Morgantown. Our city has resources not available in many of America’s small towns — a vibrant economy, access to cultural events, a cornucopia of healthcare and educational opportunities and a safe environment for children and adults.
There are people who never see the positive side of our city, and dwell constantly on its shortcomings. And there are those who treasure and celebrate what is good about Morgantown and work tirelessly to improve what needs changed.
Mayor Bill Kawecki is a part of that optimistic second group. He’s got a track record of accomplishment as a city councilor and mayor — real improvements that citizens can see in the condition of city-maintained streets, the enlargement of our public safety workforce and the repair and rehabilitation of recreational facilities.
It’s not a perfect city. The council has heard from citizens loud and clear about what we’d like to make better. And, under his leadership, council members have developed a strategic plan based on what they’ve heard from us.
Bill Kawecki has earned re-election to the City Council, and he has my vote.
Bill Case
Morgantown
Nothing ever changes
at West Side Elementary
The Florida Legislature realized that its education system was failing its students so it passed a sweeping education reform bill in 2017. Schools that earned a D or F, according to its school grade formula, for three or more years must either be closed, converted to a charter school or handed over to a private management firm.
Because Florida was concerned about the lowest-performing students — those most likely not to receive a diploma — schools were rewarded for improving the performance of children in the bottom quartile and for learning gains regardless of whether these kids hit grade level.
I had dinner at a friend’s house in Bradenton, Fla., last month. An elementary school principal at the dinner told me that the Manatee County Board of Education had moved its most accomplished principals to the failing schools.
Rogers-Garden Elementary had three straight years of D’s as did Daughtrey Elementary. Because both of these schools were failing schools, the Manatee BOE had to decide in January what option they would choose if either Rogers-Garden or Daughtrey did not receive a C grade in May 2019. The board decided to hand over the schools to a private management firm at a cost of $776,500 next year.
Only 27 percent of Rogers-Garden students are proficient in reading — 37 percent in math. While 21 percent of Daughtrey students are proficient in reading and 41 percent in math.
Charleston’s (W.Va.) West End Elementary has been a failing school for decades. Only 22 percent of West End students are proficient in reading and 17 percent in math. Note that scores are below the scores of the two Manatee County schools which are facing new management.
Some in the West Virginia Legislature wanted to designate West End as a charter school. But that was opposed by the usual suspects. Ten years from now people will say that nothing ever changes on the west side of Charleston. They will only have to look back to this spring to understand why.
Dennis Poluga
Morgantown
Raising minimum wage
in state could help
I believe West Virginia needs to raise the minimum wage. Currently, the state’s minimum wage is $8.75 an hour. Other states have started to raise their minimum wage to $10 or even $15 an hour to aid low-income workers.
By raising the minimum wage, states aim to be able to improve the lives of low-income workers. This is a remediation effort because individuals and families living in poverty or at low-income status suffer from stress, health concerns, lack of nutrition and more.
A 2016 study published in the American Journal of Public Health found “between 2,800 and 5,500 premature deaths that occurred in New York City from 2008 to 2012 could have been prevented had the city’s minimum wage been $15 an hour.” This shows how low-income status influences health.
Children are some of the ones who are most impacted by changes to minimum wage. A 2017 study by the Georgia Institute of Technology, found raising minimum wage by just $1 reduced child-neglect reports by 10 percent. Making it possible for families to take care of their children.
In West Virginia, where many of its residents are leaving due to lack of resources, raising the minimum wage could encourage workers to stay in the state and even move here.
Increasing the minimum wage is a necessary act that West Virginia needs to do. With many of our residents working low-wage jobs, there needs to be a change to help alleviate the stress of poverty on families.
I urge everyone to reach out to their state representatives and legislators and to explain to them why raising the minimum wage would help our state.
Katrina Snyder
Morgantown
Wall will stop cartels,
gangs from entering U.S.
We the people are for the people of the United States. But right now it’s not that way. The people aren’t working because the people that we put in office aren’t looking out for us. They’re looking out for themselves.
What they want is letting the cartels and gangs bring drugs across our borders into the United States and take our women and children for use in human trafficking.
The wall will stop the drug dealers and gang members from operating in the U.S. The Democrats are allowing them into the country because people like Sen. Joe Manchin do not want the wall.
Roy Tichnell
Newburg
