Help us all: Please get your COVID vaccine
The COVID-19 pandemic will not end without people getting the vaccine! This public health crisis will continue unless we all do our part.
This letter is an appeal for all Morgantown area residents to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine when it is available. We need everyone to participate! At 78 years of age, this virus is deadly to me and my younger wife (who is also in her 70s). Please, for the sake of yourself, your parents, your children, your friends and the community at large, receive the vaccine when available.
I make this request particularly to the many heroic front line workers, health care workers, educators and first responders. We never needed you to do anything more than obtain the vaccine. We need you healthy, well and protected in order for the rest of us to be healthy, well and virus-free.
Some question the safety of these vaccines. The United States medical care system can do almost anything that is a priority. Enormous amounts of money have been invested in developing and testing these products to make sure these vaccines are safe and effective. If you are concerned about placing something unknown into your body, a wonderful Dominion Post editorial (DP- 01-10-21) reminded us that we do not know what is in chicken nuggets or hot dogs, yet we often eat them.
This may be the most important action you take in your lifetime. Get the vaccine. Make a contribution to society and to yourself.
Dr. Bill Reger-Nash
Morgantown
Getting vaccine was easy, mostly painless
A week ago, my wife and I, both in our 80s, signed up to participate in the COVID-19 vaccination program through the Monongalia County Health Department.
We called in and left our names with our telephone number on the designated line, received a call back a couple days later from an employee on a non-health department number and went to the specified public location, where there was ample parking and impressive facilities.
Our whole experience there could not have been better. The service was well organized. The people were very friendly and helpful, and the information we received was informative. They used the Moderna vaccine and scheduled our appointments in one month for the second shot. Everyone wore masks, and there were socially distanced chairs available for people “on deck.”
We had only minor soreness in our arms in the evening after the vaccination. The next day, we did a multi-mile walk, and two days later, I enjoyed a nice neighborhood and trail bicycle ride with one of our daughters.
We hope that by participating, we will be better able to protect each other and become less restricted in our contact with others. As far as the bigger picture is concerned, we hope we are also making contributions toward helping us all be safer and our economy and our institutions a little bit stronger.
Don Spencer
Morgantown
A WWII vet about Jan. 6: ‘I thought we settled that’
Last year I visited a man from my hometown: WWII veteran Jack Hird. I was eager to show him the powerful book, Perseverance: One Holocaust Survivor’s Journey from Poland to America, produced by my friend Lee Kikel.
It’s the remarkable story of how Lee’s father, Melvin Goldman, survived imprisonment and torture in Nazi concentration camps. I shared the book with Mr. Hird because I knew he’d been part of U.S. Army liberation efforts. I wanted to thank him for his courage in helping to rescue people like Mr. Goldman.
Mr. Hird was with the 101st Airborne Screaming Eagle Paratroopers. He served during the Battle of the Bulge, in Bastogne, Belgium, and in England, France, Germany, Austria and Holland. He received the Purple Heart and a Unit Citation for Valor. According to the Army, the 101st Airborne Screaming Eagles liberated prisoners from a network of 11 Nazi sub-camps of Dachau, situated around Landsberg, Germany. He died at age 100 on Christmas day due to COVID-19.
Last week, the eyes of the world focused on the U.S. Capitol as it was attacked by domestic terrorists. They included anti-Semites and other white supremacists, some simultaneously bearing the U.S. flag and Nazi insignia. They hung nooses on the National Mall and threatened to execute the vice president and speaker of the house, spitting on the very democratic electoral process our Constitution prescribes. Their delusion-fed insurrection rendered bloodshed and death.
They call themselves patriots.
In following media coverage of these attacks, my conversation with Mr. Hird came to mind. He’d indicated he was repulsed by hate crimes such as the mass shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where 11 innocent people were murdered and six others injured, where the Goldman family used to gather. He seemed astounded by today’s routine, overt acts of hate and intolerance. Glancing at photos in Lee Kikel’s book, he shook his head, clearly hurting because such senseless violence continues in the 21st century: “I don’t understand it. I just don’t understand it. I thought we settled that.”
Bonnie Brown
Morgantown
Pyles’ work benefitted seniors in community
The article about John Pyles in the Senior Post (DP-12-27-20) was one of the best published.
John Pyles has worked for Mon County and our seniors for many years. I knew of most of his accomplishments, but had no idea of how many he had started and finished in his years of service to our county. Mr. Pyles has spent countless hours and days on the great things that he completed for all of us in Mon County.
I remember one time, several years ago, we had one of our main street lights out and everyone in our neighborhood was a senior citizen. I called Mr. Pyles and asked for his help in getting our street light fixed. After an hour, I looked out my window and the city workers were replacing the light. This was something small, however, thanks to Mr. Pyles’ caring ways, he immediately had our light fixed.
There was one important accomplishment that wasn’t mentioned in the Senior Post. When they were going to close the Met Theater, Mr. Pyles helped get the $1 million to purchase the theater and another $1 million to do all of the renovations to restore the Met. I have enjoyed many performances at the Met.
Thanks so much, Mr. Pyles, for all of your years of service.
May God always bless you and your family and bring you peace, happiness and good health. You are a very special man to all of our county and to everyone who knows you.
Carol Ann Miller
Morgantown
Prosecute Capitol rioters — and President Trump
Would you stand by and not prosecute the person who was responsible for a group of neighbors who broke in and trashed your house and threatened the lives of your family?
How much more important is the apex of our national shrines, the Capital Building of the United States and its inhabitants, the U.S. Congress? We cannot let the desecrators or the perpetrator, our president, walk away scot-free. What would also be a travesty: If we punish the invaders and let the perpetuator depart unpunished to continue his dirty work.
What a terrible thing to have to say! How did we allow our government to get to this point? That is a question all of us should ask ourselves individually, and it is a question the Congress must eventually answer, or America’s “noble experiment” will die, and we — you, I and the Congress — will be responsible.
Robert Shumaker
Morgantown
A new year, but the same old awful roads
It is a new year, but the same old situation with the rural roads. Moccasin Rocks Road off Glades Farm Road near Hazelton in Preston County is in the usual annual deteriorated state once again in 2021. The numerous potholes create a challenging obstacle course for the most experienced driver.
It is difficult to fathom why the supervisors from the DOH do not monitor the condition of the roads weekly, or at least monthly, to determine if they need minimal maintenance. We have contacted the officials at the Albright DOH several times and still no action. One individual we contacted at the DOH stated that if the road was graded or gravel was applied in the spring, we were fortunate. A very cerebral answer. I am reluctant to waste my time contacting the Charleston office. I assume I would get the same response by listening to all the prompts and dialing numbers to infinity and then circle back to where I started.
Moccasin Rocks Road is the access road to M & M Bakery, which is very busy at times. It is also the access road to Meadow Lark subdivision, where there are several lots remaining to be sold and a newer house for sale. The pathetic condition of the access road will deter prospective buyers whose tax dollars could enhance the county’s coffers as well as the state’s. Housing developments spring up with exorbitant prices for the homes and land but with horse and buggy access roads. West Run Road is a prime example.
What happened to all the excitement from Gov. Justice and the politicians who were adamant about improving the condition of the roads in West Virginia? Comparing our roads to the internet, I would say we are still in dial-up mode, 30-50 kbps, while other states are closer to 25Mb speed. As usual, from my experience, all fluff and no substance. All talk and no action.
Gene Lemley
Bruceton Mills
