President Donald Trump visited our town last week for a rally. I had only seen a president in person once before, going to Denver’s old Stapleton Airport to see Ronald Reagan during his second term. (In copies of photos I sent to friends, I joked that the small speck in several pictures was indeed the…
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We West Virginians can be excused for puffing out our chests a little bit over the recent news that Eric Eyre, a reporter for the Charleston Gazette-Mail won a Pulitzer Prize recently for investigative reporting. Especially since such awards routinely go to staffers from the New York Times, Washington Post and other major newspapers with…
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Until I read about the pending opening of a Clean Eatz franchise in Huntington over the summer, I had never heard of the North Carolina-based restaurant chain. I was impressed with their proclamation that menu items are a maximum 500 calories, and that the owners’ goal is to help people adjust to a healthy lifestyle.…
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Last year I wrote a blog about the impressive public art project in Huntington, West Virginia known as the Artisans Express. A fund raiser for the Hoops Family Children’s Hospital, it was sponsored by the Cabell Huntington Hospital Foundation. The organization invited artists to submit their interpretations for train engine models (trains being a key…
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It’s been more than five years since Jamie Oliver’s Emmy-Award-winning Food Revolution aired on ABC, thrusting Huntington, West Virginia into the national spotlight. The series also prompted Winning the Food Fight, the book I helped Pastor Steve Willis (featured in two episodes) write. Although progress in the obesity battle is slow and often frustrating, this…
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Although I wrote a story earlier this year about evangelist Billy Graham, I had forgotten he turned 97 on Nov. 7. That is, until I saw his grandson that evening. Will Graham was in Huntington, West Virginia, for a three-day celebration. After coming on stage, the younger Graham mentioned he wanted to film the audience…
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Public displays of sculpture or art aren’t a new idea, having been done in such places as Chicago with pigs. And, horses in Lexington, Ky., and Newnan, Ga. Yet the display of 42 fiberglass, small train engine models that recently went up in Huntington, W. Va., is every bit as impressive as the online photos…
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My wife and I recently attended two community forums organized by a woman concerned over the calamity in our city wrought by heroin and other drugs. We were shocked to learn that heroin overdose deaths in 2015 in our city are projected to be six times the national average. Nor does it matter where you…
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March marked the fifth anniversary of the premiere of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. The six-week ABC mini-series won an Emmy Award for “Best Reality Series” and catapulted Huntington, West Virginia into the national spotlight. Not only did the lush, colorful scenes that opened each installment put an attractive face on the area, it brought permanent…
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Sometimes the most significant events take place in relative anonymity, outside of TV cameras, cell phone videos, or news reporters chronicling it as “something important.” Such was the case at a recent city-wide prayer meeting at the Huntington High School auditorium. The gathering of several hundred individuals followed the Sept. 7 “One Prayer” observance sparked…
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