There's "no time" for church. If you want them influenced away from sexual activity, have the condom companies and pharmaceutical companies that produce birth-control pills sponsor halftime shows and give demos! That's where the young people can be reached.
Seriously, though, Bible-preaching churches are still teaching the truth -- that the best birth control is the word "no," and that to want to save yourself for your future spouse is not an "impractical" but entirely viable stand. That's all they have any business teaching if they want to remain true to the Bible. Parents are not concerned enough about their kid's spiritual development to bring them to church where they will hear that message.
Mark McComas
Ripley
Racist insults come from the darkness
Editor:
After considering a destination wedding, my niece and her fiancé chose Oglebay Park's Wilson Lodge for their fall nuptials and the Artisan Center in downtown Wheeling for their reception.
Family and friends traveled to Wheeling from 11 states. Our party easily pumped thousands of dollars into the local economy.
The staff at Wilson Lodge and the Artisan Center could not have been more accommodating in attending to our needs.
However, after what could only be characterized as a perfect day, some in our party left the Artisan Center only to be "greeted" by at least two ignorant, cowardly and racist men yelling "niggers" as they swiftly passed by in a vehicle under cover of darkness.
While this word was clearly used to denigrate us as African-Americans, we unequivocally reject the notion that the comment made by the passing ignoramuses was anything other than a commentary on them.
I am compelled to share this experience because some say that racism no longer exists in America. However it does. Words and acts of hatred and ignorance are heard and seen every day. Too many people abide these words and acts by remaining silent in the face of this ignorance and intolerance.
A quote attributed to Edmund Burke remains true today: "All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Doing nothing is not an option. Either you stand on the side of justice and equality, or you stand on the side of evil with those ignorant, cowardly men who under cover of darkness hurled an insult into the night at people of whom they knew nothing except the color of their skin.
Kitty Dooley
Charleston
Independent voters personify apathy
Editor:
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- How is it that the appellation "Independent" has come to be applied to a person who has no convictions, no philosophy, no political acumen, no opinion, no knowledge, no information, no wisdom? Can this person even name the candidates of the major parties? Has this person read the platforms of the major parties? Has this person watched any speeches or debates? Has this person read any books or columnists about economics? On Election Day, will he toss a nickel as he walks into the voting booth? My mother called such an independent a mugwump, which she described as sitting on a fence with its mug hanging over one side and its wump hanging over the other.
Of course, those who register as Independents, or "No Party," (as in West Virginia), may be smarter than we think. They do not have to worry about being called to be pollworkers, to staff political headquarters, do phone banks, display yard signs, bumper stickers, and buttons, campaign for any candidate, contribute to candidates or a political party, help with candidate events, or write letters to the editor. The personification of apathy.
Juanita M. Cutler
Three Churches
Without the EPA, water would be dirty
Editor:
I get the idea that conservatives like "teach a man to fish," and it certainly sounds like a good idea. But what if there was no EPA, the water was polluted, and all the fish were dead? Maybe we should have taught him to eat "Clean Coal."
I was going to vote for the Republican nominee for secretary of agriculture until he started in on the EPA.
It's amazing how many Republicans believe in trickle down economics.
I understand that there are some people who are trying to control how much and what kind of food we eat. All I can say is, "They'll pry this chocolate eclair from my cold, dead fingers! Um, probably."
Two thousand dead troops in Afghanistan and that's no joke.
Bruce Greene
Elkview
The best birth control is the word 'no'
Editor:
Regarding Ed Rabel's column on Oct. 8, he says that churches in Lincoln County should push the idea of birth control to help lower the number of teenage pregnancies.
He gave statistics about the number of churches in the county compared to the population. Without repeating the stats, they came out to 166 or so people per church. I am an ordained Baptist minister and assist in a church in Ravenswood. If the conditions here in Jackson County are the same as they are in Lincoln, people are not going to church in numbers as in the past, so their influence on the young is much less because their parents aren't bringing them.
My Sunday School class has diminished by 60 percent in seven years. Churches built to hold hundreds are seeing more like 80 to 150 people. Little country churches are holding on with 30 or fewer on a good Sunday. Where are the people? At sporting events, playing video games and watching the big game previews on TV. Kids are over-scheduled with activities from karate to piano lessons to doing too much homework and studying for the SAT.
There's "no time" for church. If you want them influenced away from sexual activity, have the condom companies and pharmaceutical companies that produce birth-control pills sponsor halftime shows and give demos! That's where the young people can be reached.
Seriously, though, Bible-preaching churches are still teaching the truth -- that the best birth control is the word "no," and that to want to save yourself for your future spouse is not an "impractical" but entirely viable stand. That's all they have any business teaching if they want to remain true to the Bible. Parents are not concerned enough about their kid's spiritual development to bring them to church where they will hear that message.
Mark McComas
Ripley
Racist insults come from the darkness
Editor:
After considering a destination wedding, my niece and her fiancé chose Oglebay Park's Wilson Lodge for their fall nuptials and the Artisan Center in downtown Wheeling for their reception.
Family and friends traveled to Wheeling from 11 states. Our party easily pumped thousands of dollars into the local economy.
The staff at Wilson Lodge and the Artisan Center could not have been more accommodating in attending to our needs.
However, after what could only be characterized as a perfect day, some in our party left the Artisan Center only to be "greeted" by at least two ignorant, cowardly and racist men yelling "niggers" as they swiftly passed by in a vehicle under cover of darkness.
While this word was clearly used to denigrate us as African-Americans, we unequivocally reject the notion that the comment made by the passing ignoramuses was anything other than a commentary on them.
I am compelled to share this experience because some say that racism no longer exists in America. However it does. Words and acts of hatred and ignorance are heard and seen every day. Too many people abide these words and acts by remaining silent in the face of this ignorance and intolerance.
A quote attributed to Edmund Burke remains true today: "All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Doing nothing is not an option. Either you stand on the side of justice and equality, or you stand on the side of evil with those ignorant, cowardly men who under cover of darkness hurled an insult into the night at people of whom they knew nothing except the color of their skin.
Kitty Dooley
Charleston
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