Quick refresher: Back over the winter, most of the Civil War experts on the panel resigned in a dispute with state officials on the commission -- namely Culture and History Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith and Education and the Arts Secretary Kay Goodwin -- over the group's mission.

The academics wanted to emphasize efforts to educate the public about the war and its causes; Reid-Smith and Goodwin thought it should be a grant-awarding agency to fund re-enactments, festivals and parades.

For those who resigned, like Shepherd University's Mark Snell, the concern was not only that it is improper to treat the 150th anniversary of the nation's bloodiest conflict as a celebration, but those events misinform the public. For example, he noted that battle re-enactments give the false impression that overweight middle-aged men fought the war.

Their concerns came to fruition back in May, when the organizers of the Guyandotte Civil War Days sought a grant to underwrite this fall's event. Commission members took issue with one of the planned speakers, H.K. Edgerton, a pro-Confederate author and lecturer who contends that a large number of slaves "went to war with their masters" to fight against the Union Army.

At the time, the commission tabled the request because of the controversial nature of Edgerton. (Never mind that the overall theme of the event each year is pro-Confederate, this year with other featured performances being a Robert E. Lee portrayer, and a play titled, "Soldiers in Gray.")

Their concern was because events that receive commission funding are required to feature the state sesquicentennial logo in advertising and promotional materials, it would appear to be an implicit state endorsement of Edgerton's views.

In August, the organizers of the Guyandotte event resubmitted the funding request with Edgerton's appearance omitted.

The commission approved awarding $1,715 of taxpayer funds for the event, with Goodwin noting at the time, "That speaker is no longer part of the application."

Edgerton may not have been on the application, but he's on the schedule of events for this year's Guyandotte Civil War Days, Nov. 4-6 -- a schedule that on the organization's website now bears the state sesquicentennial logo -- and the state's implicit blessing.

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Speaking of Reid-Smith, while acting as governor, Earl Ray Tomblin has not made any widespread personnel changes, but observers believe that could change, starting Oct. 5, including a list of Manchin appointees who serve primarily because of their ties to former Gov. Joe Manchin.

That list includes: Mark Anthony Manchin, executive director of the School Building Authority (and Joe Manchin's cousin); Mark Julian, deputy director of the West Virginia Development Office and Manchin family friend; Chris Jarrett, executive director of Water Development Authority and close Manchin friend; Jim Pitrolo, executive director of Health Care and Manchin family friend; Frank Jezioro, Division of Natural Resources director and friend of Manchin; Reid-Smith, commissioner of Culture and History and close friend of Joe's wife, Gayle Manchin; Mary Jo Thompson, director of Community Development for the state Development Office and Manchin's niece; Joe Manchin IV, member of the West Virginia Tourism Commission, and Manchin's son -- as well as Gayle Manchin on the state Board of Education.

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I was gratified by the many positive responses on last week's column regarding academics at West Virginia University, like this email from George Mosko a DHHR family support specialist in Princeton: "Why don't you send a copy of this article on WVU academics to the president of the SEC and ACC? It says it all -- My son just recently graduated from the WVU College of Law and, yes, passed the Bar exam on his first attempt ..."

Likewise, Charleston City Councilman Andy Richardson forwarded a copy of a column he had written on the topic.

"WVU is the beacon of hope for many, many high school graduates in West Virginia (as well, of course, enrollment each year from all 50 states)," he wrote. "Because our land-grant mission of service to our state ... there are students accepted who would probably not be accepted in some other major universities. We do not apologize for giving these young people an opportunity to succeed."

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Finally, one last question about the special gubernatorial election: Did the folks at Public Policy Polling forget the election is Tuesday?

In these days of limited resources for media outlets, the Raleigh, N.C.-based automated polling firm has been the closest thing to a nonpartisan pollster this campaign.

PPP last conducted a poll of the special election over the Labor Day weekend, and released the results Sept. 6.

On Thursday, PPP announced it would do another poll of the West Virginia election over the weekend, and sought suggestions for poll questions on its website.

Normally, PPP releases poll results Tuesdays -- which would be smack in the middle of Election Day. Even if it comes out later Monday, many voters may end up seeing the actual results of the election before they ever run across the poll results.