How About Some History……and Mystery
Hometown News hasn’t had a history column since my husband, Bill Kiefer, passed away two years ago. How he loved delving into the history of our area. He found history where I didn’t know history existed. I guess being born here, I just assumed everyone knew about Thomas Bambrick and C.A. Smith and the Wells family, but that’s not always the case. So, I’m going to start a column dealing with historical figures and places and I’m inviting you history buffs to author a column if there is a subject that catches your interest.
And mysteries. I’ve written some about the mysterious file I have from when Dad was coroner. Dad and I even named it the “Letter from a Dead Man” file cause that’s one of the key elements in this complicated mystery. (And, yes I have that letter in my possession.) Dad gave me the file before he died in hopes maybe I could put the pieces together, but it was like a puzzle with missing pieces. This time around, I have a few interested parties who are helping with the research and could maybe find those missing pieces.
The focus of the County budget cuts has been on the Sheriff’s office and the Volunteer Fire Departments. We haven’t really heard about how other offices will deal with their 3 to 5 % cuts. Does that translate to personnel? I think it was wise for the Commissioners to leave it to every department to decide how they will meet the reduction. I worked for WVNCC for eight years and every year during the Rockefeller administration colleges got between a 5 to 10% budget reduction. I always knew that with a 5% reduction I stayed and with a 10% I was laid off.
……..I am still an advocate for the County looking to replace that 1% with another piece of the Lottery pie. Tourism gets 3%….take ½ percent from Tourism and ½ from Mountaineer’s allocation. Not too late to try?
