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One of the key unexpected pieces of legislation that will be debated during the final week of the 2013 regular legislative session is whether to pass a bill that calls for removal of tolls on the West Virginia Turnpike in 2020, one year after the bond debt for the 88-mile highway from Charleston to Princeton [...]
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The issue of local gun control laws is one that refuses to go away. Last Thursday, the Jefferson County Commission considered a resolution “against gun violence” proposed by a Quaker group based in Shepherdstown. It included this quote from the Bible: “Thou shalt not kill.” I share the Quakers’ desire to end violence and I [...]
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Imagine making a poor decision that could change the course of your life. Now imagine having a second chance to correct your mistake and learning how to be a productive citizen. The Jefferson County Teen Court program in partnership with the United Way of the Eastern Panhandle is a community-based intervention/prevention program designed to provide [...]
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With forty-five days of the 60-day 2013 legislative session complete, a total of 72 bills originating in the House of Delegates have gained passage and are now under consideration in the state Senate. Among the bills approved by the House to date are HB 2434, which would provide pay raises to magistrates in less populous [...]
Continue reading …When I was in the third grade, I remember an incident where a classmate shot a spitball that stuck to the blackboard while the teacher had her back to the class. She was writing a lesson on the board. For those of you not familiar with what a spitball is, it is a little wad [...]
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SHEPHERDSTOWN — Every day, more than 10,000 baby boomers become eligible for Social Security benefits. New rules and regulations make it difficult to apply for benefits. In fact, the maze of laws makes applying for benefits a tedious and complicated affair. Did you know that: • the earliest age a person can receive benefits is [...]
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“If I was a rich man … ” We don’t hear Tevya mention any disease in that little ditty from Fiddler on the Roof do we? No, I thought not. If he had caught “rich man’s disease“ he wouldn’t be dancing around, either. Though I don’t know how I qualified for such a privilege, I [...]
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Before I moved to New Creek, which is near Keyser, I lived in the pristine little village known as Leetown in Jefferson County. There I had the privilege of being a member of the Leetown Homemakers Club, now known as the CEOS. When I joined the club many of its members were much older than [...]
Continue reading …I would like to make a correction regarding my previous column. References to the Food and Drug Administration should have been to the Environmental Protection Agency. That said in this missive I will be writing about the FDA. I was glad to see a story published in the Spirit several weeks back about the small [...]
Continue reading …Earlier this month, two bills were introduced in the West Virginia House and Senate —SB 436 and HB 2916 — that propose to eliminate the historic preservation residential tax credit, which allows a 20 percent tax credit on qualifying expenditures for properties listed in National Register historic districts and individually listed in the National Register. [...]
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