Editorial

COLUMN: Isolation Increases Risk of Suicide

BY Tracy Renee Lee

Last night I was surfing social media when I came upon a friend’s post stating that upon reflection, he was taking a break from social media.  He stated that since the passing of his wife six months ago, his opinion posting had become offensive to his son.  He was confused and hurt by his son’s chastisements, and to discontinue causing his son discomfort or embarrassment, he had concluded that his withdrawal was in order.  His post was filled with sadness, despair, pain, and anguish.  Regret was apparent that he had not foreseen that his posts might wedge a wound in his father/son relationship, and he was solemnly announcing his intention to bend to his son’s harsh rebuke. Read more

OP ED: Protecting our children from predators

As a father, it’s devastating to hear of children who have been victimized by predators, whether they be strangers or trusted coaches or mentors. My colleagues and I in the U.S. House of Representatives are taking action to protect our children and give law enforcement the tools they need to keep our children safe and stop sex offenders. Read more

Column: Painkiller Alternatives May Reduce Risk of Prescription Opioid Abuse

LETTER TO EDITOR: Consider OD Toll on First Responders

Does anyone actually know what our EMS, Firemen and police officers go through physically, emotionally and mentally every time they are called out to an over dose? Have you experienced their shortness of temperament?

Think about it. If you come to an over dose, the person is blue, no response, maybe a heart beat, maybe not; definitely not breathing. If you were susceptible to this more than once a day, knowing they done this to their selves, how do you think you would react? Read more

Just a Little Tolerance

CARTOON: Created by Mike Adams

To  begin this hilarious tour of society's delusional contradictions, here's  a poster called "tolerance." Read more

OPINION: Hope Springs in Huntington on new Facebook Page

It's a beautiful morning in Downtown Huntington. AJ Dawg and I are sitting on the corner of Fourth Avenue and Tenth Street literally watching Huntington slide out of the shadows and into the sun.

The shadows have all but engulfed our city in the last few months and even weeks. On Easter Sunday, a day that signifies rebirth.... There were around twenty overdoses. Read more

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Let's Round Up the "Johns" Too

Dear Editor,

Spring has sprung and the flowers, birds, and prostitutes are everywhere. Well, at least the prostitutes are sprouting on the West End. Sweeps last week and this week have netted eight prostitutes. Before I ask why there haven't been any johns arrested... Let me first share  my grievances against prostitution.

Prostitution spreads diseases, brings sexual predators into our neighborhoods, provides customers to the local drug dealers, and is an eyesore in general. Read more

OPINION: Addiction Counselor Favors Networking with Addicts to build Hope & Trust

"Everyone who overdoses needs followup,"  said Huntington councilwoman Joyce Clark.

I agree with Clark. Those words in my opinion are the key to solving the drug epidemic. Read more

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Southwest WV a Sacrifice Zone; Pipeline Comment Period Ends Today

The Mountaineer Express, Gulf Xpress, and Leach Xpress pipelines proposed by  Columbia Pipeline Group apparently  interconnect from northern points in West Virginia (Ohio and Pennsylvania), heading to the Ceredo compressor station to Marathon’s Catlettsburg refinery and from there southward to the Gulf  Coast for export. In all there will be nine high pressure pipelines in this area with two dangerously under the Ohio River.   As the USA already exports gas products,  will this not just free up more for export?  Read more

Op-Ed: Legislature Addresses Elections, Business Filings and Efficiencies for Secretary of State’s Office

AN EASTER PRAYER: Help in the Season of Rebirth and Hope

Editor's Note: Unofficial reporting suggests an Easter of heavy overdose sorrow. The payer, though, applies, no matter what the official final calculations.

DEAR EDITOR,

Double figures in overdose [estimates]  today... [several] deaths.

Not today... Not Easter... I really cannot deal with this anymore. Read more

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Pipeline Could Destroy Underground WV Rivers

Have you ever seen Pickaway Falls or Taggard Falls in West Virginia? -

probably not as they are respectively 120 feet [equals 8 stories] and 190 feet [12.6 stories] below Dry Branch Road in Randolph County, West Virginia. Read more

OP ED: West Virginia has Strong Connection to Youth and Voting

W.Va. AG Urges Legislature To Strengthen State’s Fight Against Medicaid Fraud

OP-ED: Refinancing state pension debt would cost taxpayers an additional $3 billion

By Dave Hardy, Secretary of Revenue

In these days of turmoil over how best to solve West Virginia’s budget crisis, I hear a disturbing idea echoing throughout the marble halls of the State Capitol. The message is coming from one of our legislative Finance Committees: Refinance the state’s pension fund debt to save money. Read more

LETTER TO EDITOR: Tell State Senators to not Support Greater Water Toxicity

Dear Editor,

A bill currently under consideration by the WV Senate will cause water companies to use expensive filters, for which you pay, to filter more out heavier concentrations of toxins, chemicals, and carcinogens.  Who pays for this and changing expensive filters? The customers of the water company. All of us. Read more

LETTER TO EDITOR: West Virginia Members of Congress Constituents to Hold Citizens’ Town Hall to Make Their Voices Heard

Dear Editor:

Something strange has been happening in the last month or so: Members of Congress (MoCs) from West Virginia have gone missing. They’re still turning up for votes on Capitol Hill, and they’re still meeting with lobbyists and friendly audiences back home and in Washington-but their public event schedules are blank. Odd. Read more

OPINION: Davis Asserts Huntington More than Broke

We use a working budget and we spend all of that and never adjust to pay old debt. Read more

Shelly’s World: Another Modest Proposal

In 1729, forty-seven years before the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, Jonathan Swift – the same Swift who penned Gulliver’s Travels – wrote a satirical essay called “A Modest Proposal.” Read more

FROM TENNESSEE: Sometimes City Employee Comment to Press Policies Violate First Amendment; Restraint on Press

By Carol Chumney, Special to HNN (reprinted)

City leaders walked back part of the new media relations policy requiring reporters to be personally escorted through City Hall. Yet, the policy still requires interviews to be cleared with the communications director, and employees to notify their director of any contacts with a reporter. Read more

OPINION: Adjust Sewer Rate Increase; Fund Police, Fire like Sewers

We seem to have a vision of grandeur when it comes to sewers. Just like we do with everything else we look at from the corner window of city hall.

Council. Hear me and hear me clear.
Fix this. Read more

LETTER: Repeal Sewer Rate Increase

Huntington is taking a huge hit with the 57% Sewer Rate Increase City Council approved. Layoffs and cut backs have begun.

This City Council MUST review this rate increase and adjust it according to the "immediate needs" and not "future desires" of the Huntington Sanitary Board. Read more

LETTER TO EDITOR: Chalotte Pritt Condemns Blocking of Sen. Sanders Welch Rally

by Charlotte Pritt, former WV Candidate for Governor:

I have to confess that I am really steaming today! And it is not from a yummy cup of hot chocolate! Read more

LETTER: Gov. Justice budget plan cuts all state funding for WVPB, including Mountain Stage

Release from Friends of West Virginia Public Broadcasting:

LETTER: Has Tsubasacon Outgrown Huntington Hotel Occupancy?

Due to the ever growing size of Tsubasacon's attendance, expanding over into the Big Sandy arena gave us more space. More space means more attendees. Unfortunately that means less hotel space. Holiday Inn and the Pullman Plaza hotels being prime choice due to location has, in turn, caused them to be all booked up, forcing people to have to drive to Hal Greer exit to stay in the 4 or 5 choices of hotel/motels there. Read more

LETTER: Cutting Police, Fire Wrong Options

The time has come to look for a different way to operate. Cutting police and fire is not an option. I will soon be putting into motion a committee to explore the options. We are circling the drain. There is no reason to allow the fiscal nightmare at city hall to continue. Read more

OP ED OPINION: Rooting Out Medicaid Fraud Demands New Leadership

LETTER TO EDITOR: Hold Elected Officials Accountable for what we Cannot Afford

To all the citizens of Huntington.  Let us remember some very basic facts.

All of our elected officials are simply that.

We elect these people to represent us at the various levels of our government.
If someone decides to place themselves on the ballot for any office we have the belief that they like us want what is the best for us and themselves. Read more

Commute Chelsea Manning's Sentence to Time Served

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqkSdbJMZy8

Chelsea Manning has been incarcerated since May 2010, including in unlawful, unusually harsh solitary confinement for 11 months before her trial. She has spent the past six years helping others. Read more

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Fee will Crush Some Huntington Residents

A lady sent this to me .....this sewer tax will crush some folks in our city. If they truly care for the folks they will look for other avenues for the money instead of breaking the citizens back.

Mayor Williams, I am a 67 year old woman living on nothing but SS. Income of $732 a month. How am I suppose to pay for all the increases that you are asking for? Read more

COLUMN: Turning a Long Triage Wait into a Concert Ticket Camp In ... Well Sorta

While nearly everyone sings "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas," it's stress out time for other with memory baggage: Good and Bad.

For me, Dec. 22 marks the anniversary of a truck hitting my Dodge Dart from behind near Grayson, Ky. My vehicle caught fire and would eventually explode. I had enough of a head to see flames licking out of the gas tank, and, think, movie: All of those action scenes where one or more characters jump from a moving car.

So, I pushed my dazed then fiance out the passenger side and then jumped with the car still in motion. Getting up from the roadway, Everything appeared like a scraped knee until I saw her faint. The car exploded. I screamed, "My car...." thinking of the exhaustive search to find a used one that had gas efficiency. Read more

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Former Mayoral Candidate Opposes Sanitary Increase, Pledges to Create an Oversight Forum

Citizens of Huntington.

Regarding our City and the Sanitation increase and all other actions regarding our tax and fee funds. Read more

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Mayor Steve, decline raise , please

I do want to clarify that I am not angry at City workers. I walk my dog very early downtown on Sunday mornings and I see workers out then. I see them in the cold and in the heat. Read more