MERRY CHRISTMAS, ONE & ALL!

This Christmas, let's all strive for peace on Earth

& let it begin right here at home.

Let's set aside our petty differences, let's zip our lips against gossip & let us all be thankful for the blessings life has tossed our way.

Or, if we can't do all that, let's at least wish one another

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

yes, I said merry CHRISTMAS because really, isn't "holiday" just HOLY DAY with a typo??

Christmas In Clay County ...

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me ...

An illegal bonus, a ride around town in the company truck & an alibi ...

THANK A VET

If you are one, THANK YOU. If you're going to be one someday, THANK YOU. If you sacrificed a loved one to war before s/he had a chance to become one, THANK YOU.

I hopped up on my soapbox here & after some thought, deleted it all. Let me just say, Veterans Day is in honor of ALL veterans. We had veterans long before we had this war in Iraq.

Thank you. Thank you ALL.

The Court of Public Opinion ...

Whaddaya think?

Happy October!

Ah, life is good ...

That's the beautiful & talented

Bev Kearns on The King's other side.

& FUN WAS HAD BY ALL ...

Did you go to the Apple Festival? Always a great opportunity to see folks you haven't seen in a year!

For those of us who choose to live here in Clay (as opposed to those who can't seem to find a way out), it's also a measure of our roots. We started out as cranky little kids, then became the crazy, giggling, oh-so-cool teenagers ... now we bring out chairs to sit in front of the courthouse & listen to music that hasn't been popular for 25 years & talk about how good the band is, while watching the cycle continue. What's funny is that the oh-so-cool teenagers today have no idea how much cooler the generations before them were. ;)

Remembrance - Commemorate or Instigate?

Tomorrow, Americans are asked to fly their flags in honor of those who died at the hands of terrorists 6 years ago. Businesses are asked to fly their flags at half staff. A moment of silence will be observed at 8:46 a.m., when the first plane slammed into the Twin Towers.

Personally, I think flying your flag only on patriotic holidays and "days of remembrance" is the equivalent of going to church only on Christmas and Easter. You either mean it or you don't.

What do you think? Do you think that our need to honor & remember helps us heal & honor our dead or do you think it just gives future terrorists more options to choose from when picking the perfect date to attack us again?

Do You Give A Rip?

that ...

... Jerry Lewis introduced a "family member" as "the illiterate faggot" on live, national TV during his annual telethon?

... a "prominent" business man in Clay is an alleged cradle-robbing pervert?

... it's been almost 6 years since terrorists slammed into the Pentagon, the Twin Towers & a field in Pennsylvania & we STILL don't know where Osama bin Laden might be?

... it's almost time for the Apple Festival?

Did You Hear About ..

HAMLIN, WV -- The Hamlin City Council voted unanimously Monday to fire J.D. Scites, 20, after State Police arrested him on Friday and charged him with two counts of third-degree sexual assault. He is accused of having sex with two girls ages 14 and 15. Scites was a Hamlin police officer. State Police are still investigating whether Scites was in a personal vehicle or a city-owned cruiser and whether he was on duty at the time of either alleged incident.

HUNTINGTON CANYON, UT -- Dangerous conditions that forced rescuers to halt attempts to reach six trapped miners will prevent crews from reaching the men for at least a week, a mining executive said.

BROOKLYN, NY -- The National Weather Service confirmed at 5:12 p.m. that a tornado touched down in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn this morning. The tornado was classified as a 2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which goes from 0 to 5. An EF2 tornado consists of winds of 111 to 135 miles per hour.

CHARLESTON, WV -- A Kanawha County prosecutor filed a motion today asking that four charges of sexual abuse against former Capital High School teacher, Tyrone Keith Persinger, be dismissed. A jury found Tyrone Keith Persinger not guilty in March on two charges of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian. But the jury was deadlocked on the remaining four charges, and a mistrial was declared. Assistant Prosecutor Don Morris said he spoke with the teenage victims -- all former Capital High students -- and their families, and none wanted to proceed with another emotional trial.

Priorities, Anyone?

• Federal Highway Administration data from 2006 shows that 24.5 percent of the nation's bridges longer than 20 feet were categorized as "structurally deficient" or "functionally obsolete." According to the Department of Transportation, West Virginia has 6,343 bridges; 32% of those are over 100 feet long.
• In its most recent report card on the nation's infrastructure, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation's bridges a grade of "C" and said that in 2003 27.1 percent of them were deficient. The report also said bringing all the nation's bridges up to snuff would cost $188 billion over the next two decades.
• The Iraq war and reconstruction effort has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $300 billion.
• The State Department paid $43.8 million to contractor DynCorp International for the residential camp for police training personnel outside of Baghdad's Adnan Palace grounds that has stood empty for months. About $4.2 million of the money was improperly spent on 20 VIP trailers and an Olympic-size pool, all ordered by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior but never authorized by the U.S. U.S. officials spent another $36.4 million for weapons such as armored vehicles, body armor and communications equipment that can't be accounted for.