By Doug Humphreys
There are few things as peaceful as paddling a canoe. Simply looking at the long, subtle lines of the craft will ease the tension in a tight chest. A solo float down a quiet creek will suck the stress out of the most frazzled soul. Listening to water droplets as they fall from a paddle can induce a trance that will make the realities of life nothing more than a fuzzy dream.
Of course if you fill that same boat with a three-year-old girl, a five-year-old boy, and a …

By Emily Suranno
 
Delegate Nancy Peoples Guthrie told the Observer that the West Virginia legislature would enact a ban on texting-while-driving only after a delegate or senator lost a loved in a fatal crash. For many West Virginia families, that won’t help.
Richard and Susan Steadman of Bridgeport, West Virginia, lost their lost their son Talon in a single-car crash in August 2009. Police determined the 16-year-old local high school football star had been texting while driving. The Steadmans told the Observer that they were not aware of bills that had been …

By Dominic Valentine
Despite several attempts, legislation banning texting while driving has yet to be enacted in West Virginia. According to Delegate Nancy Peoples Guthrie the first bill concerning banning cell phones while driving, House Bill 4047 introduced in 2008, was the closest we have come thus far. “We had enough support in the House and Senate, but at the last minute Senator Browning from Kanawha County included a provision to provide funding for cell phone towers in his county. It was one of the most absurd amendments I had heard …

If national surveys are any indication, about half of the licensed drivers reading this editorial have either dialed a cell-phone call or sent a text message while driving. This, despite a mountain of research showing that texting, calling, and other forms of distracted driving now account for more traffic fatalities than drunken driving.
 It’s a pity to waste public energy to legislate common sense, and public money to uphold laws to enforce common sense, but when widespread failure to practice sensible driving is killing innocent people–including the children of adults who …

A Day with Governor Joe Manchin
By Thomas Harding
 
9.45 am, Wellness Center, Romney.
We were all waiting for the Governor of West Virginia. There were maybe 20 of us – fitness center staff in blue polo shirts, executives in neatly pressed grey suits, a state senator in bright skirt and jacket – waiting in the concrete and steel lobby of the newly built wellness center in Romney. We were all standing, except six-term mayor William Hicks who sat in the corner, cane in hand, muttering that it was about time the governor …

By David Lillard
Each July in Jefferson County, the curtain rises on a growing variety of arts, entertainment, and cultural offerings. From the Contemporary American Theater Festival’s five-play repertory to Shepherd University’s quiet historical walks featuring characters in historic dress, from the 10th annual Goose Route Dance Festival to the Over the Mountain summer art show, there’s a lot to see and hear. Plus, there’s a new art gallery in Charles Town, one celebrating its three-year anniversary in Shepherdstown, and a new art school in Shepherdstown. The month ends with an …

 
The Observer’s Thomas Harding was awarded the 2010 Outstanding Journalist Award from the West Virginia Association for Justice on June 3, 2010 at the WVAJ 52nd Annual Convention and Seminar in Charleston, W.Va. Beth White, WVAJ executive director and Timothy C. Bailey, WVAJ past president, presented the award in recognition of The Observer’s efforts to shed light on the democratic process, in particular, the Freedom Of Information aAt request for petition names gathered for the November 2009 zoning referendum in Jefferson County.
In presenting the award White said, “The media play …

 
On June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an 8–1 decision in a First Amendment case that could impact the outcome of a case now before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. The high court ruled that disclosure of information on petitions for ballot referenda does not violate the First Amendment.
The Doe v. Reed case centers on the release of petition names gathered for the referendum on same-sex marriage in the state of Washington. According to Washington state law, petition names can be disclosed to the public as part …

JAY AND SHARON ROCKEFELLER MOURN THE LOSS OF SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD
Washington, D.C. – Senator Jay Rockefeller and his wife, Sharon, today joined West Virginians and people across the country in remembering the life and legacy of Senator Robert C. Byrd.
“It has been my greatest privilege to serve with Robert C. Byrd in the United States Senate. I looked up to him, I fought next to him, and I am deeply saddened that he is gone,” Senator Rockefeller said. “He leaves a void that simply can never be filled. But …

Manchin says he will not Appoint himself to Byrd’s Senate Seat
In an interview with the Observer in 2008 Governor Joe Manchin made it clear that he would not appoint himself if Robert Byrd died during the senate term.
On June 28 2010, the longest serving senator in Congress, Robert Byrd, died in a Washington area hospital. While the state mourns his loss and remembers thankfully all that he brought to the mountain state, politicians are already positioning themselves on who will take this key seat held by a democrat for decades.
Here is …