When West Virginia's early voting begins on April 23, a total of 10 presidential candidates will be on the ballot, including Republican Jerry Curry, an opera singer and businessman from Haymarket, Va. But the list doesn't include Charleston actor Jesse Johnson, who's running on the Green Party ticket - nor former Green champion Ralph Nader, who Johnson helped keep off a previous West Virginia ballot.
When West Virginia's early voting begins on April 23, a total of 10 presidential candidates will be on the ballot, including Republican Jerry Curry, an opera singer and businessman from Haymarket, Va. But the list doesn't include Charleston actor Jesse Johnson, who's running on the Green Party ticket - nor former Green champion Ralph Nader, who Johnson helped keep off a previous West Virginia ballot. Incidentally, former Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska, who sought the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, has endorsed Johnson because he says the West Virginian opposes the "environmental plundering" of America.
During Barack Obama's Charleston visit, conservative commentator and former firefighter Jerry Waters sent his headquarters an e-mail requesting "tickets for Osama's visit." The headquarters replied: "If you see Osama, please alert the Secret Service." Waters says his computer's spell-check changed Obama to Osama.
The latest U.S. News & World Report has a large spread on heroine Jessica Lynch - this newspaper's 2003 West Virginian of the Year - outlining how she was horribly wounded in Iraq, then ballyhooed artificially to fan patriotic support for the war. Although still in pain and braces, she's now a young mother soon to graduate from college in Parkersburg and become a kindergarten teacher.
Charleston's Bible Center is booming so rapidly that it just opened a $20 million unit of its planned $60 million worship complex on Corridor G. Meanwhile, four once-thriving West Side United Methodist congregations have shrunk so badly that they voted to merge into a single church - just as four shrinking Charleston Episcopalian congregations did three months ago. Why are evangelical megachurches soaring while traditional "mainline" Protestant groups fade? Cultural tides are difficult to fathom.
An opera that begins in Kansas and ends in West Virginia will be staged soon. The Lyric Opera of Kansas City is rehearsing for the world premiere of "John Brown," about the pre-Civil War idealist who tried to lead a slave revolt, but was captured and executed at Charles Town.
Last week, a group called the Hampshire County Independent Network held a public forum titled "Was the World Trade Center destroyed by controlled demolition?" Sounds like the group has been listening to Charleston architect-photographer Ted Elden.
After West Virginian Robert "Doc" Foglesong quit as president of Mississippi State University, some Dixie newspapers said it was because the retired Air Force general gave military-style commands unsuited for independent-thinking professors. This recalls a story from the 1950s: When World War II hero Dwight Eisenhower was elected to the White House, departing President Harry Truman said of Ike's new civilian role: "The general is in for a surprise. He'll give an order, and nothing will happen."
When West Virginia's early voting begins on April 23, a total of 10 presidential candidates will be on the ballot, including Republican Jerry Curry, an opera singer and businessman from Haymarket, Va. But the list doesn't include Charleston actor Jesse Johnson, who's running on the Green Party ticket - nor former Green champion Ralph Nader, who Johnson helped keep off a previous West Virginia ballot. Incidentally, former Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska, who sought the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, has endorsed Johnson because he says the West Virginian opposes the "environmental plundering" of America.
During Barack Obama's Charleston visit, conservative commentator and former firefighter Jerry Waters sent his headquarters an e-mail requesting "tickets for Osama's visit." The headquarters replied: "If you see Osama, please alert the Secret Service." Waters says his computer's spell-check changed Obama to Osama.
The latest U.S. News & World Report has a large spread on heroine Jessica Lynch - this newspaper's 2003 West Virginian of the Year - outlining how she was horribly wounded in Iraq, then ballyhooed artificially to fan patriotic support for the war. Although still in pain and braces, she's now a young mother soon to graduate from college in Parkersburg and become a kindergarten teacher.
Charleston's Bible Center is booming so rapidly that it just opened a $20 million unit of its planned $60 million worship complex on Corridor G. Meanwhile, four once-thriving West Side United Methodist congregations have shrunk so badly that they voted to merge into a single church - just as four shrinking Charleston Episcopalian congregations did three months ago. Why are evangelical megachurches soaring while traditional "mainline" Protestant groups fade? Cultural tides are difficult to fathom.
An opera that begins in Kansas and ends in West Virginia will be staged soon. The Lyric Opera of Kansas City is rehearsing for the world premiere of "John Brown," about the pre-Civil War idealist who tried to lead a slave revolt, but was captured and executed at Charles Town.
Last week, a group called the Hampshire County Independent Network held a public forum titled "Was the World Trade Center destroyed by controlled demolition?" Sounds like the group has been listening to Charleston architect-photographer Ted Elden.
After West Virginian Robert "Doc" Foglesong quit as president of Mississippi State University, some Dixie newspapers said it was because the retired Air Force general gave military-style commands unsuited for independent-thinking professors. This recalls a story from the 1950s: When World War II hero Dwight Eisenhower was elected to the White House, departing President Harry Truman said of Ike's new civilian role: "The general is in for a surprise. He'll give an order, and nothing will happen."
