Odds and ends, 10/12/07

One of the big differences between driving in West Virginia and in Ohio is the fear of being caught speeding. When I'm in Ohio, I'm always on the lookout for the Ohio State Highway Patrol. In West Virginia, there's no such fear. That's why so many people consider the speed limit on roads such as I-64 and Route 2 to be polite suggestions.

A few years ago, I was in a heavy downpour on I-64 near Milton. My wipers were running at their highest speed. I could barely see in front of me. And still people zoomed by at 70 mph or more.

I wouldn't complain if the West Virginia State Police paid some troopers overtime so they could spend an extra shift per week on the highways enforcing speed limits. Let them recover the overtime from speeding tickets. I don't care.

I hate driving the interstates in West Virginia, mainly because there is so little law enforcement that stupid and dangerous drivers make me fear for my life.

Give us some enforcement, please.

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Speaking of which, I don't travel to Buffalo, W.Va., in Putnam County much anymore. When I do, I take the back roads. I'm tired of I-64 and the crazy drivers (see above note). A much more pleasant route is to go up the Ohio River on Route 2, into Mason County, then right on Jerry's Run Road. About 10 to 12 miles later, you're on U.S. 35. From there, you turn right and head toward the new bridge over the Kanawha River. It takes about the same time, and the drive is much more pleasant.

I've always enjoyed back roads. I enjoy looking for small towns that barely exist anymore.

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Conservative types who look at Hillary Clinton as the devil incarnate might want to read Charles Krauthammer's column today in the Washington Post. The main point:

I could never vote for her, but I (and others of my ideological ilk) could live with her -- precisely because she is so liberated from principle. Her liberalism, like her husband's -- flexible, disciplined, calculated, triangulated -- always leaves open the possibility that she would do the right thing for the blessedly wrong (i.e., self-interested, ambition-serving, politically expedient) reason.

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A reader asks why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pursuing a nonbinding resolution equating the Turkish slaughter of Armenians before World War I with genocide. This was my response:

I have just received your letter. Other than the face Speaker Pelosi's district has a large Armenian population, let's look at this possibility:

The Armenian genocide resolution insults Turkey. The United States uses Turkish air space as a supply route into Iraq and Afghanistan. If we cannot supply the troops in Iraq, we will have to pull them out. Insult Turkey, lose supply route, leave Iraq.

Or am I wrong?

Am I? I cannot verify the part about the air space. I have read it somewhere, but I cannot remember where, so I am willing to stand corrected.

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A recent front-page article on vandalism got me thinking about a story I heard while attending a Fairland Local School District Board of Education meeting in Lawrence County, Ohio, back in the 1980s.

There was an executive session, meaning we regular people had to wait and chat while the board was behind locked doors discussing a sensitive matter. A woman attending the meeting began telling of what happened to her neighbor in recent days.

It seems the man heard someone driving in his front yard one night. The next morning, he found tracks where someone had done doughnuts in his lawn. Later that day, a middle-aged man and a teenage boy came to the neighbor's front door. The man apologized for what his son had done and promised the son would be there the next Saturday to repair the damage. The next Saturday came, and so did the man and the boy. The man stood and watched while the son did all the work to repair the lawn.

True story? I hope so.