Babydog dons the Barboursville PiratesÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ cap after receiving the hat as a gift from the students at Barboursville Middle School while celebrating her 5th birthday on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Barboursville.
Babydog dons the Barboursville PiratesÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ cap after receiving the hat as a gift from the students at Barboursville Middle School while celebrating her 5th birthday on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Barboursville.
GUNS: College students are returning to campus in West Virginia for their second year of legal carry of firearms. TheyÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™re probably fearful for their lives because of all the terrible incidents in the news last year when concealed-carry people went berserk in class or in the dorm.
Oh, wait, that didnÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t happen.
If there were gun-related incidents on West Virginia college campuses last year, school administrators did a pretty good job keeping them out of public knowledge. The fact is that most gun owners in West Virginia ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” concealed-carry owners included ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” are responsible people. At Marshall University, students are more likely to suffer serious injury crossing the street than they are from being shot.
There probably were guns on campus before possession became legal. Owners kept them hidden.
WeÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ve not had to worry here about Second Amendment auditors who sling rifles over their shoulders and walk around in public to make a point or maybe create a video that will get a few million hits. Sooner or later, we will. As long as the public and law enforcement keep their cool and handle these situations carefully, no harm should be done,
As for the worst-case scenarios, where mass shooters take over a building, campus gun laws didnÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t prevent them before. If there are solutions to prevent these situations, people in charge are keeping awfully quiet about them so the world-be mass murder celebrities donÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t catch on.
CHANGE: The old ACF machine shop looks a lot different now that itÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s been stripped down in preparation for its remodeling into teaching space for the Marshall Advanced Manufacturing Center.
Meanwhile, in the downtown area the Prichard building is nearing completion of its conversion from an empty hotel into a senior living facility. Applications are being taken for apartments, and developers say they expect to have a ribboncutting ceremony in December.
Erecting new buildings is good. Demolishing old buildings that can no longer be salvaged is necessary. Keeping old buildings alive by repurposing them is important in that it connects a community with its past. The former Hotel Prichard provided a valuable service in its day. Demolishing it would have left an open space in a downtown that has too many open spaces.
BABYDOG: When Jim Justice left the GovernorÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Mansion (in his case, a figure of speech with little basis in reality) for a seat in the U.S. Senate, he pretty much disappeared from public view. Freshman senators usually have little visibility. They gain power as they climb the seniority ladder.
When Justice disappeared, so did his constant companion Babydog. She provided star power for a politician who needed a sidekick to share the spotlight. Justice brought her to his State of the State speeches when he could, including one unfortunate time when he showed her backside to make a point. She often stole the show, which wasnÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t too bad when you think about it.
Dogs who arenÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t service dogs arenÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t allowed on the floor of the U.S. Senate, and JusticeÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s appearances in West Virginia have been minimal since he assumed his new role, so BabydogÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s public appearances have been few.
Justice will celebrate BabydogÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s 6th birthday in October. May she have many more.
