John Douglas

U.S. Senator Benjamin Cardin of Maryland introduced a bill in March that he heralded as a way of saving newspapers, but something about it doesn't sit right with us.

Seems like not a week goes by that Americans don't hear about this or that big daily going down. The latest was the threat by The New York Times company to shut down The Boston Globe after the company failed to get the labor concessions it wanted. Papers in Baltimore, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Denver and other cities have either folded or filed for bankruptcy.

There's a feeling out there that the Morgan County Commissioners are adrift and spend much of their time on small details that don't matter much to citizens' lives.

We understand that with a new member and a new president, there's a desire to reshape county government to their liking, but a lot of what's going on seems needless and disruptive.

One of the decisions that the Morgan County Commissioners have been putting off is the future of the county's Land Use Committee. If you recall, that committee was started about a year ago at the urging of former Commissioner Glen Stotler.

We made fun of it at the time because members were told they could talk about planning and development, but not about zoning. Of course, they ended up talking about zoning and all sorts of things.

We recently saw a list of "Things About To Go Extinct in America," and it made us think about how life changes.

Many of the changes are surely signs of the times. For instance, take outhouses. Back in 1950, about a quarter of American households didn't have complete indoor plumbing. But by 2000, more than 99% of households did.

Not long ago, we said there seems to be some hypocrisy in Charleston, where officials continue to see the Eastern Panhandle as a cash cow. At the time we were discussing the big assessment hikes in our region, versus the property tax picture in the rest of the state.

Well, a private consultant working for the State Tax Department began a review of the property tax assessments in about a third of West Virginia's 55 counties earlier this month. Among them was Morgan. Let's hope they conclude lower assessments are in order.

Once again, it looked like another lackluster session of the West Virginia Legislature, at least from up here in the Eastern Panhandle.

Of course, state and national economic problems played a major role this session. Work on the state budget may not be completed for some time, because tax collection estimates keep dropping and it's hard to get a grip on it all.

Bob Hawvermale brought us one of those lists of ten "truths of life" a few months before he died in February. We've looked at it several times since and decided to share it with you.

Each of the ten ideas calls on people to do the right thing, even if they are criticized or in the minority. We can see Bob's spirit in many of them.

Early last month we told you about a YouTube internet hoax concerning Berkeley Springs. The story went that the military was about to conduct a training exercise here. Soldiers were to go door to door and confiscate guns from local people. Sheriff Vince Shambaugh and Mayor Susan Webster were supposed to know all about it, though they really didn't.

Here at The Morgan Messenger, we received a few emails from folks wondering if it was true. Of course, we told them it wasn't, but too many people were all too willing to believe the worst.

We quoted Will Rogers not long ago and later it dawned on us that many people today may not even know who he was.

Just about everyone has heard monologues with topical jokes by Jay Leno and David Letterman, and many follow the political satire of Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart, but what about Will Rogers?

All of the anger directed at the bonuses given to AIG executives has been entertaining to watch, but we don't understand why most people didn't pick up on the bonuses announced this winter for Postmaster General John E. Potter.

Last year, the U.S. Postal Service lost an estimated $2.3 billion. First class mail delivery is off. They want to cut back on delivery days and they're cutting employees, too. Soon, the cost of mailing a first class letter will go up two cents.