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Editorial

A tribute to Dave Raese upon his retirement

As you may have seen in the news pages, Dave Raese is stepping down as The Dominion Post’s publisher and his son, Adam Raese, will be taking over.   As a final farewell, some of the newspaper’s staff agreed to share memories of working with Dave.  Pam Queen, editor: Before I knew Dave, I knew of him. When I was in high school, he was a sports writer covering high school sports — including area girls’ basketball games. Fast-forward several years and I joined the newsroom staff and met Dave, who was then publisher. That was nearly 34 years ago, and I’ve seen a ...

Editorial encore: Ways we honor Memorial Day

EDITOR'S NOTE: This editorial has been adapted from one that ran May 26, 2020. Memorial Day is coming up on Monday.    Some people will hold somber remembrances, while others will gather for cook-outs and fun.  In recent years, we’ve seen a lot of pushback against the commercialization of Memorial Day and joyful celebrations on a national day of mourning. Which is certainly fair. For those who lost a loved one to war, Memorial Day has a special poignancy and pain. It can be hard to watch people laugh and play when your own heart hurts.   But there can ...

The DSF Stop saga

Originally meant to be told in three parts, the DSF Stop saga ended up being a seven-installment series examining how the outreach organization may or may not have misspent federal COVID grants in its quest to get north-central West Virginia’s Black population vaccinated against COVID-19.   In short: The Dunbar School Foundation created the STOP (Stop the Outbreak of the Pandemic) program to combat the spread of COVID among Black communities in Fairmont, Morgantown, Clarksburg and surrounding areas by facilitating testing and vaccinations. The president of Dunbar School ...

State’s unfulfilled promises don’t bode well for future business

As hard as it may be to imagine, the sprawling 330,000-square-foot Mountaintop Beverage facility is a fraction of the size it could be.  The business specializing in shelf-stable milk, coffee products, protein shakes and plant-based beverages has already started production, but its CEO, Jeffrey Sokal, says it could be doing so much more. After all, they designed a 750,000-square-foot facility — but the promised infrastructure that would allow the bottling center to expand to full capacity hasn’t been delivered.   As an incentive to bring Mountaintop Beverage to ...

Charges of abuse at North show changes must be made

When charges were leveled against the North Elementary School vice principal for allegedly striking a special needs child in the head, the community was horrified. Little did any of us know that this particular incident would be the least disturbing of the revelations to come out of the school’s special needs classroom.  Last week, felony charges were filed against the substitute teacher — who was certified, though not in special education — for assaulting two 6-year-olds. In a January incident just three days before the one involving the vice principal, the teacher is ...

Editorial encore: Words of wisdom for graduates

EDITOR'S NOTE: Today’s editorial has been adapted from one that originally ran May 28, 2022. West Virginia University sent off its graduates last weekend, and next weekend, area high schools will be sending off theirs with much pomp and circumstance. So we have some words for them:  Life is a journey with many destinations. Each milestone is a steppingstone to the next phase. Some phases last longer than others. Some are more pleasant than others. Some phases end with a bang, while others transition so seamlessly you don’t even realize you’re onto the next part of your ...