Special request from a Va. third grader
Dear people of the great state of West Virginia,
Hello! I am a third grade student in northern Virginia. Our class is learning about the United States, and I will be teaching our school about the state of West Virginia. In the month of May, I will create a display for our State Fair that I hope will make you proud.
Although I have gathered facts about your state from books and websites, I think that I can receive the best information from the people who live there. This is why I am writing to you.
I am hoping that you would be willing to send me some items to help me learn more about the best things in your state. You might consider sending items such as postcards, pictures, souvenirs, this newspaper article or any other unique items that would be useful or show your state pride. Here are a few questions:
- Why do you live in your state?/What first brought your family there?
- How do you make money? /What is your job?
- What does your state look like?
- What do people do for fun?
- What animals live there?
- What traditional food/recipes does your state have?
- What type of music is native to your state?
- Do you have a state athletic team?
- What geographic features are unique to your state?
I will need to gather all of my information by the second week of May. You can mail items to:
Levi
c/o Mr. Gilchrist’s class
The Langley School
1411 Balls Hill Road
McLean, VA 22101
I really appreciate your help!
Sincerely,
Levi
Church needs to stand aside on abortion laws
Separation of church and state. The Founders decided that a fledgling republic should never choose among religious doctrines. That hasn’t always been easy to uphold.
Now, our Legislature is considering new restrictions on abortion access in West Virginia and the debate often focuses on religious principles. The Dominion Post saw fit to give equal essay space to two faith leaders regarding abortion policy. Both opined on abortion from the perspectives of their differing religious philosophies.
Of course, anyone may believe whatever they choose. With a couple of caveats. Belief does not make religious doctrine “science,” as one writer boldly asserted. Nor, most importantly, does it make any of those religious values the legitimate basis for public policy.
Many of us believe abortion is health care. Nothing more or less. Just necessary, safe, effective health care. Some of us remember the time when abortion was necessary but neither legal nor safe.
Some of us are baffled when religious institutions cannot offer others the respect they demand for themselves. Disrespect takes many forms: Trying to impose religious beliefs — whatever those are — on others’ lives, or trying to intervene in a private, constitutionally protected (for now) health care decision between a pregnant woman or girl and her health care provider.
When abortion became the focus of public policy (it wasn’t always), that marked the time for religious institutions and their purveyors to respectfully step aside. The Founders’ wise choice demands nothing less.
Judy K. Ball
Morgantown
Manchin only listening to big money donors
As a Fairmont native, I grew up hearing the Manchin name.
A. James Manchin showed up at my grandfather’s funeral. I attended school with Joe Manchin’s son. I voted for Sen. Manchin. I have been really disappointed with him for stalling relief for working families with inside Senate politics.
Like many others, I often call his office to express concern. We feel that our messages are being reduced to lines of text in some spreadsheets. Joe says he talks with all sides while brokering a deal. Disadvantaged citizens of West Virginia feel that we represent a side the senator needs to hear from.
Hoping to amplify our concerns by delivering them as a group, I started trying to get a meeting with Sen. Manchin. With no constituent events upcoming, I requested a virtual visit.
“Is there a specific topic you want to talk to the senator about?”
The child tax credit.
“He’s very busy and has no immediate availability.”
Can we meet with a staffer?
“While I am happy to meet with you, it may be more efficient to pass on your thoughts in writing for me to share with the senator.”
And we’re back to the spreadsheets. Why do you think I can’t get even 30 minutes of a staff member’s time?
The Citizen’s United ruling decided that money is political speech. Manchin heard from $4.8 million in 2021. That’s more money than most Mountaineers will earn in their entire lives. That money isn’t coming from West Virginia.
When even the UMWA can’t get through to him, Manchin’s totally given up on West Virginia. He’s working for someone else.
Jennifer Kendzior
Fairmont
Resolution acknowledges ERA deadline has passed
The legislative report from Feb. 13 incorrectly states that the State Senate “rescinded” the 1972 ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.
What the legislators did was to pass a measure informally known as the “Count Us Out!” resolution that says that West Virginia’s April 22, 1972, ratification of the ERA “officially lapsed” on March 22, 1979, when the ERA expired without receiving the Constitutionally-required number of votes and that West Virginia “should not be counted by Congress, the Archivist of the United States, lawmakers in any other state, any court of law or any other person, as still having on record a live ratification” of the ERA. The resolution implicitly recognizes the fact that once the ERA expired, it ceased to exist.
Leading pro-abortion and pro-ERA organizations, and their champions in Congress, now openly proclaim that, if they are able to get the ERA into the Constitution, they intend to use it to establish a new federal “abortion right” that would be even more sweeping than current law. It would invalidate virtually any limit on abortion and require government funding of elective abortion. It would invalidate all of the pro-life legislation ever passed in West Virginia.
West Virginia legislators are standing with all the courts, the Archivist of the United States and newspaper factcheckers in rejecting efforts by Democratic attorneys general and Democrats in Congress to hijack long-expired actions by state legislatures as part of their unconstitutional scheme to jam the pro-abortion ERA into the Constitution.
Instead, they are following the legal and constitutional means of responding to their constituencies, who overwhelmingly favor the protective pro-life legislation that has passed over the years. They do not want to see our pro-life laws invalidated by a political stunt that makes use of the West Virginia vote on an ERA that expired decades ago.
Wanda Franz
Morgantown
Restore Native American place names in W.Va.
What’s in a name? Apparently not much anymore.
How many of you remember 70 or more years ago when we were in grade school and had to learn in West Virginia history class the names of our 55 counties and their county seats and our major rivers? How beautiful some of the Native American names are of these places.
As an adult years ago, I started hearing on our local TV news the newscasters talking about Mon County. West Virginia doesn’t have a Mon County. Then I realized they meant Monongalia County, so they were either not native of West Virginia or just plain lazy.
Later, I realized everyone was calling Monongalia County “Mon County” (even now, typing this, the computer tells me Monongalia is misspelled).
I took offense to it, even though I have never lived in that county. I’ve mostly lived in Harrison and Marion counties. I still am offended by it. The Monongahela River is now being called the Mon River, and Morgantown is often called Motown. How have we let this happen?
Are children not taught the proper names in grade school, high school and colleges/universities? I’ve been told by a WVU professor that students don’t know the difference between the county Monongalia and the river Monongahela. Why have they not been taught the difference? Do we not have pride in our historical background and where we come from? Am I the only one offended by this laziness or ignorance?
I am proud of my given name, because I was named after my great-grandmother. Shouldn’t we be proud of the given names our forefathers gave to our counties, rivers and towns? Or should we change them all to their first three letters, so it doesn’t inconvenience us?
What’s in a name?
I would love to see an awareness campaign started to give the county and river back their names.
Joann M. Dawson
Fairmont
