Obama lost WV because of racism?

That's what an Obama supporter asked me today, if I thought Clinton won big because West Virginians won't vote for a black man. I replied that may have been part of it, but not all of it.

From what I have seen of West Virginians, which is mainly in the southern part of the state, people want to vote for the candidates who are most like them. West Virginians see a better reflection of their own identity in Hillary Clinton than in Barack Obama, so they preferred her. Plus, a lot of people have good memories of the Clinton years in the White House, so her candidacy gave them hope of reliving those times.

What happens in November? I think McCain carries West Virginia. I've already run the numbers. If you want to review them again while our online tech people try to get our archive access running, you can go here.

Beyond the numbers, I think more West Virginians will identify with McCain than with Obama.

So I turned the tables on the person who asked me about racism among West Virginia voters. I asked him if West Virginians would rather have a third term of George W. Bush, which is how Democrats will paint a possible McCain administration, or a second term of Jimmy Carter, as some Republicans are already painting an Obama administration.

I tend to think people will choose Bush over Carter, but I have been wrong before.

Negative ads

A few weeks ago, I heard a candidate for office say he did not want to run any negative ads against his opponent, but he had some ready to go in case one of his opponents did. About a week later, I got some junk mail attacking this candidate. I don't want to tell his name, but I can say he likes ketchup.

So Tuesday morning I turn on the tv while I get my kids up and out the door for school, and I see a negative ad from Mr. Ketchup against one of opponents.

I have no idea who fired first. All I know is I saw the negative ads. People say they don't like them, but they work. And you do have to have them in reserve.

Back in the 1980s when I was covering Lawrence County, the day before Election Day one candidate unleashed a barrage of negative ads against his opponent. The guy on the receiving end didn't have anything to counter with, and it was too late to reserve air time and produce a commercial, so he was sunk. And he sank.

Negative ads -- don't go out campaigning without at least one in your back pocket.

P.S. Mr. Ketchup's primary strategy with his political ads was to build name recognition elsewhere in the state where people had not heard of him. Apparently it worked.

The road to $4, 5/13/08

$3.959

McDowell exodus

A few years ago, someone in Welch, W.Va., gave me what for over the phone. He resented the fact that when The Herald-Dispatch writes about population shifts in West Virginia, we always mentioned how bad things were in McDowell County.

Well, he's not going to like this next part, either.

I was looking at how the population has changed in the incorporated towns and cities in WV vs. how it has changed in the unincorporated areas. I took a peek at McDowell County. That county had close to 100,000 people in 1950. In 2006, the last year for which the Census Bureau has released estimates of places, the county's population was down to 23,882. The county had lost 12.6 percent of its people from 2000 to 2006.

The loss was spread fairly evenly throughout the county. The town of Davy had seen its population drop by 5.4 percent, but everywhere else -- including the unincorporated areas, was down 10.0 percent to 14.2 percent.

Jefferson County, on the other hand, saw its population increase 19.6 percent. Berkeley County went up 28.5 percent.

It's been a while since I was in McDowell County, but now I need to go back and see the town of Iaeger again. The last time I was there, you could tell it was a place that has seen better times.

Where do McDowell County people go when they leave? Based on recent county-to-county stats from the IRS, about half move to other counties in WV, especially nearby counties, and half move out of state. Iredell County NC appears to be a popular moving destination. That's the Statesville area.

NY smart, WV stupid... according to a New Yorker

My boss doesn't like me answering some letters to the editor, even if I really want to. Here, for example, is a letter that came today from someone in New York. At first, I was inclined to not run it, but on second thought, I will. Think of the responses it will get.

Hello, what I'm hearing is that a state that carried George Bush in both elections is now, according to all polls, favoring John McCain. Yours is a state that finds itself in the same, if not worse, economic position as you were seven years ago yet your citizens would still vote for what amounts to the status quo. West Virginia has been ranked 48th in the nation in income however I suspect you rate even lower when it comes to voter intelligence.

My first thought was to reply with, "You New Yorkers can clean up messes that are far worse than anything we have in West Virginia, and then we will compare the intelligence of our respective voters." But our readers will come up with stuff a lot better than that, I bet.

Speaking of which, I remember way back in 1972 during the campaign for governor. Arch Moore was running for a second term against the man who at the time was secretary of state -- Jay Rockefeller. A commercial showed busy street scenes from New York City. An announced asked people what they thought about a West Virginian running for governor of New York. There was a mix of astonishment and laughter, with the last line being a person saying something like, "That's as ridiculous as a New Yorker running for governor of West Virginia."

Arch won, by the way.

John McCain on global warming

From the New York Times:

PORTLAND, Ore. — Senator John McCain sought to distance himself from President Bush on Monday as he called for a mandatory limit on greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.

Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, also pledged to work with the European Union to diplomatically engage China and India, two of the world’s biggest polluters, if those nations refused to participate in an international agreement to slow global warming.

In what his campaign promoted as a major speech on climate change, the Arizona senator renewed his support for a “cap-and-trade” system in which power plants and other polluters could meet limits on greenhouse gases by either reducing emissions on their own or buying credits from more efficient producers.

I can see limits on emissions of "greenhouse gases," but not because of global warming. It makes sense to reduce the amount of bad stuff that we put into the atmosphere. At the same time, I have to ask how McCain proposes we generate the electricity we demand if we don't build any new plants that use fossil fuel. Yeah, GE is all for nuclear power. I wonder why. What I need to know more about is what McCain wants us to cut back on as we limit the pollution we put into the air.

I do give him credit for trying to engage China and India in this process, though. Whether it's global warming or just plain common sense, we can't clean the environment on a global scale if these two countries are not involved.

Having said that, we should note that pollution control is a fuction of affluence. Rich nations can afford to be picky about how they generate electricity or how they power their motor vehicles. Poorer nations can't be so picky.

League of Women Voters vs. global warming

Today's mail had a newsletter from the League of Women Voters of the Huntington Area.

The newsletter had this item:

Take Action Against Global Climate Change

Global climate change is one of the most serious threats to the environment, health, and economy of our nation and the world. With the U.S. Senate expected to take up legislation in June, now is the time to let our U.S. Senators know that they should support strong action to control global warming. Recent scientific studies show that global warming is already causing environmental changes that will have significant global economic and social impacts.

American's Climate Security Act, S. 2191, sponsored by Senators Lieberman and Warner, will establish the basic framework that is necessary to curtail the pollution that is causing climate change.

S. 2191 is a good first step. The bill establishes a "cap and trade" system that will, if properly carried out, achieve two essential goal: cutting green-house gas emissions enough to prevent the worst impacts of global climate change, and doings so in an economically significant manner. ...

Tell Senators Byrd and Rockefeller to oppose weakening amendments, particularly loopholes that undermine the missions cap through such mechanisms as a so-called "safety valve" that would allow sources topurchase unlimited emission allowances."

This item is strictly boilerplate that can be found at the national League of Women Voters Web site here.

I always thought the League focused on election issues and such. But looking at the Web site, I now know that the League takes stands on issues such as climate change, health care and tax policy.

In other words, the League is not policy-neutral.

Large schools?

A lot of complaints about schools in West Virginia have to do with consolidation. Every time someone proposes consolidating two schools, someone else complains about how schools are getting to be too large.

So let's ask, how large -- really -- are some of the schools in Cabell County? I decided to compare high school sizes in West Virginia and in Ohio.

For the 2006-07 school year -- the last for which comparable data are available -- Cabell Midland and Huntington high schools would not rank high on the Ohio enrollment list. In those years, Midland's official enrollment was 1,841. HHS's was 1,633. The largest high school in Ohio those years was Oak Hills High, with 2,907 students. All in all, Ohio had 31 high schools larger than Midland and 56 larger than HHS.

What about middle schools?

The largest middle school in Cabell County in 2006-07 was Barboursville, at 773. The largest in Ohio was Mason Middle School, with 1,532 students. Ohio had 75 middle school larger than Barboursville.

And elementaries? Village of Barboursville, 644. Largest in Ohio: Mason Intermediate Elementary, 3,408. Number of Ohio elementaries larger than Village of Barboursville, 121.

For the record, I don't think it's wise to put 1,532 middle school kids in one place at one time. And I'm not sure about putting 2,907 high school students together, either.

I myself do not find Huntington High to be such an intimidating place. I've visited it several times, and my daughter appears to do well there. She's not at the top of her class, but she's doing okay. I don't know how my eighth-grade son will do at HHS. He's a different kid altogether from his sister, and a smaller school environment would probably work better for him.

That to me is the weakness of the consolidation movement in West Virginia. It benefits one group of kids while cutting options for a group that needs them.

Coyotes

It appears that coyotes are attacking people in the Los Angeles area.

I know we've had coyotes around here for a decade or more. A few weeks ago, I might have seen a dead coyote along four-lane U.S. 35 near Gallipolis. I couldn't tell for sure because I was moving too fast, but it sure didn't look like a dog, and it was too big for a fox.

A few years ago, I read a story in another newspaper where a wildlife expert said coyotes could be living down the hill from you and you would never know it. I don't know about that. I'm suspicious about several pets that have gone missing in my area in recent years. While I'm not ruling out the possibility that some other predator or a mean neighbor with a gun might have gotten them, I can't help shake the feeling that coyotes were responsible.

(Before animal welfare people tell me that all pets should remain indoors 24/7, I will say that I live in deep country. People allow animals to run free. As long as they don't bite or do any damage, people don't mind. They would rather see a dog run free than see it confined to a fenced-in yard. This item is about coyotes, not about pet welfare.).

I don't know if coyotes are about to become a menace in this area. If they do start to become a problem, I'm sure some of my neighbors who need new targets will be glad to do their parts, legally or not.

Delta Queen, 5/9/08

Best line I've read on why the Delta Queen's days on the Ohio may be numbered. This comes the Business Courier of Cincinnati.

Some of the opposition to the exemption comes from a labor dispute involving the company that bought the Delta Queen in 2006. Majestic America Line, a subsidiary of the publicly traded Ambassadors International Inc., did not renew a collective bargaining agreement after taking over management of the Delta Queen.

Primary election season nears its end

... and I am so relieved.

I'm not a political junkie. I follow elections out of self-interest. It's not a sport.

But I am so glad the primary season is almost over and most of us can give it a rest for a while.

Memorial Day 2008

This is largely a repeat from a post from a year ago, but with some updates.


When I was a child, I had a hard time understanding my mother's dedication to Decoration Day. We always went to the cemetery as a family that day while she placed flowers on the graves of her parents, brother and others. It wasn't until I lost my own parents, friends and siblings that I understood why she made sure they were all taken care of that day.

I don't spend the day at the cemetery placing flowers on everyone's grave, though. The best gesture I saw of something like that was few years ago, when my wife and her sisters visited their father's grave. He was a southern West Virginia mountain man, and he spent as much time as he could outdoors. One of my sisters-in-law picked some wild flowers along the road and laid on his grave.

That to me was more fitting to the man than buying an arrangement from a florist. A man who spent his life in the woods probably wouldn't appreciate greenhouse-grown flowers, but he would appreciate something from the woods themselves.

Too many people I know are in cemeteries now, including two of my best friends from high school.

My wife might tell me that some of these people aren't really gone. My daughter has a lot in common with my mother, even though they knew each other for only 15 months. My older son is a lot like his maternal grandfather and his maternal grandmother's father, both of whom are gone.

Nowadays I visit cemeteries where my relatives are buried, although I admit I don't know why. I do know there are many questions I want to ask. I go to my great-grandfather's grave and yearn to ask about the ferry he once operated on the Ohio River at Glenwood, W.Va. I want to ask my parents why they made some of the decisions they did, the ones that I was so angry at when I was younger but which I think I understand now.

And I wonder what happens when the flowers stop coming, when the deceased are pretty much forgotten or ignored, when no one cares to leave anything on their graves anymore.

Memorial Day is coming. I plan to do a couple of things differently this year. Mainly, it will be reminding my own family of the people who came before us so they know more about who they are and how they came to be.

Maritime Days scheduled

This year's Maritime Days, when the public gets to see some of the Ohio River's largest commercial craft up close, is at Harris Riverfront Park May 16-18, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. all three days.

I'll be there with my camera.

I want to get aboard the Coast Guard cutter Obion. The boat is used to maintain navigation aids along the river such as buoys and the lights on the river banks.

Bill Clinton is coming

In a tour of small towns in West Virginia, former President Bill Clinton will make a public appearance at Wayne High School at 3 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, May 9.

It will be the third of five stops Clinton is making tomorrow, the others being:

Madison, 10 a.m.
Williamson, 12:15 p.m.
Saint Albans, 5:30 p.m.
Ripley, 7:30 p.m.

Clinton is in the middle of a three-town tour today: Fayetteville, Fairlea and Athens.

It looks like Hillary is keeping the big cities, such as Charleston, to herself while dispatching her husband to the smaller communities. The only reason I can come up with now hearkens back to what little I know about auto advertising.

You see, car ads on tv have two purposes. One is to convince people who do not own your brand to switch. The other is to convince people who do own your brand to buy another one. I would say Hillary is doing the first while leaving Bill to do the second.

She probably has the harder job in this state, as I dare say there are very few undecided primary voters. Now that Rush Limbaugh has called off Operation Chaos before it could have an effect in West Virginia, we'll have to see how the turnout goes on Tuesday.

P.S. No, I'm not going to Wayne to see Bill Clinton. I've seen him once. That was enough. And I only did it because I was on the clock.

I've seen George W. Bush three times, all on the clock. Those were enough, too, unless I get an exclusive.

Alcon expanding

There should be some good economic news coming soon. According to two different sources, Alcon has told its employees that it is expanding with a new facility in northern Cabell County. That is all my sources -- note the plural -- have told me. My guess is that Alcon will move into the building now going up in the HADCO Industrial Park up at Greenbottom, but that is just a guess.

If anyone knows anything, I would love to hear it.

The road to $4, 5/7/05

Speedway hit $3.899 a gallon in Huntington today.

$4 is coming.

The difference between $3.899 and $4 with a 14-gallon tank?

$1.31.

It's $50.69 vs. $52.

UPDATE, 5/8

So I compared the price of gasoline on Aug. 3, 2006, the last local record price recorded before the elections when Democrats took over Congress, and compared it to today's price. In both cases, I subtracted about 50 cents for taxes. The result is that gasoline today costs about 28 percent more than it did then.

Blame who you want. Make your own cause-effect correlations.

I only wonder if the "Road to $4" will morph into a much shorter "Road to $5."

Hillary, Obama write off Huntington

Maybe not, but here it is with less than a week before the West Virginia primary. I have not gotten word of any Barack Obama appearances scheduled for this area. I have the Hillary Clinton schedule for the state, and West Virginia's second-largest city is conspicuously absent from the list. There are three possibilities: (1) The Clinton campaign does not know we exist, which is not likely, as the state coordinator used to be an intern in this newsroom; (2) the campaign has done its polling and has determined this area is so far into Obama's or John McCain's pocket that it's not worth fooling with; or (3) something is in the works but it has not been announced yet. There's a fourth possibility: Huntington is close enough to Charleston that Huntington people will drive to Charleston to see a Clinton, but Charleston people will not drive to Huntington to see a Clinton. That one I can believe.

We'll have to see. Anyway, look at the large metro areas where Hillary, Bill and Chelsea Clinton are scheduled to be and notice which cities (Huntington, Parkersburg, Morgantown) are not listed.

Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton in West Virginia Today – Hillary Clinton will join Chelsea Clinton at an event at 11:45 a.m. at Shepherd University Today. Hillary will also campaign in Charleston tomorrow, with a “Solutions for America” Event at the West Virginia State Capitol.

President Bill Clinton Returns to Mountain State – President Bill Clinton will return to West Virginia on Thursday, May 8, 2008 with campaign stops in Philippi, Sutton, Fayetteville, Lewisburg, and Mercer County.

Wheeling for Hillary Holds Open House – Wheeling for Hillary will hold an open house at its headquarters today at 6 p.m. today.

WV Women for Hillary – The campaign will announce the support of West Virginia Women for Hillary today and hold a Women for Hillary sign-making party at 6:30 p.m. at the Charleston Headquarters and a phone bank at 6 p.m. in Fairmont Headquarters.

4 to 3

So here's a question. Say my son wants to become an accountant. Or a journalist. Does he really need eight semesters of college? How many classes would he have to take that really have nothing to do with what he wants to do in life?

Some genius will figure out how to provide what is now a four-year degree in three, cutting the cost of going to college and getting people into the work force more quickly.

Of course, college presidents and professors will object because it will cost them money and bodies on campus. And accrediting agencies won't go for it either. It will take some sort of legislative mandate.

The extra year benefits the college far more than it benefits the student.

Someone tell my why my idea is so wrongheaded.

Japan's demographic problem

An article in the Washington Post today suggests Japan is committing slow-motion demographic suicide because the number of children has been shrinking for years.

The number of children has declined for 27 consecutive years, a government report said over the weekend. Japan now has fewer children who are 14 or younger than at any time since 1908.

In fact, Japan is now in a phase where its population actually is decreasing, and at the present rate its population could be only one-third its present size within the lifetime of people who are children now.

I note this because I looked at some recent Census Bureau estimates for West Virginia's population. I wanted to know which states had the lowest percentage of people age 17 and younger. I figured West Virginia had to rank high on that list. As it turns out, West Virginia ranks third, behind Vermont and Maine. The numbers:

Vermont: 21.1
Maine: 21.2
West Virginia: 21.4

US AVERAGE: 24.5

Kentucky: 23.7
Ohio: 24.0
Utah: 30.9.

Japan used age 14. I used age 17 because it is easier to figure from the Census Bureau numbers.

I'm not saying West Virginia's demographic problem is anywhere near that of Japan, but it's something that has to be addressed somehow. In our case, we need to make drastic changes to our economy so young families can prosper here. But that would take too much change.

No

No. No. No. No. No.

My mother and Joe Manchin

From a news release we received today:

West Virginia University will announce the five winners of WVU’s top scholarship during a special ceremony. The students, who have demonstrated exceptional academic achievements and leadership potential, will receive the WVU Foundation Scholarship, valued at over $65,000.

WHO: Gov. Joe Manchin, WVU President Mike Garrison, WVU Foundation President and Chief Executive Officer R. Wayne King, Foundation Scholars and their families

WHEN: 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, May 6

WHERE: Governor’s Reception Room, State Capitol, Charleston

So Manchin is not distancing himself from Garrison. He's embracing him. It doesn't look or sound like Garrison's job is in any danger.

Am I the only person to think Manchin had so much promise when he came into office, and he is bound and determined to burn a lot of it off to save Garrison?

I understand the part about being his daughter's friend and the part about being the former lobbying for his biggest financial backer, but sometime Manchin is going to have to look out for his own interests and throw Garrison under the bus.

Yes, Manchin wants to cast his daughter as the victim in this, but I keep remembering two things my mother said.

First was when one of my brothers made his monthly call from the county jail after being arrested in a bar fight. She told him he could stay in jail because she wasn't going to bail him out anymore.

Second was when I was about 12 years old and running for my life. She asked me why. I said this big guy was chasing me so he could beat me up. She asked me why and I told her. She said I should keep on running, because if I had pulled that trick on her, she would beat me up, too.

After remembering those incidents, I wonder what my mother would have said to me if I had been caught with a fake MBA.

Spring flowers

This is at the junction of Green Valley Road and Route 10. Some signs are almost covered over by vines now. And a couple of candidates have two signs at this spot.

Alvie Qualls even has a sign here. Has anyone told his campaign that the Supreme Court is trying to remove him from office?

Sunset over Ohio

This attempt at a picture does not do justice to the scene I saw this weekend.

Back when I relied on film cameras, I really enjoyed low-light photos. After I learn how to use a digital camera for such photos, and after I get a new tripod to replace the 20-year-old one that fell apart on me, I'll go back to it. I know of one place in a neighboring county where I should be able to get some good low-light pics if the pickups don't run over me.

Harris Riverfront Park, 5/5/05

Harris Riverfront Park is looking better now that community volunteers are taking care of it. I was down there yesterday around noon. The grass needs to be cut, but the flowers are wonderful.

The parts down by the river still look rough. . .

. . . but now that we've had the last high water of late winter/early spring, things should look good, assuming someone hoses the mud off the concrete.

The volunteers are doing a good job, but they shouldn't have to. The city should have been doing this all along. Sooner or later the volunteers will burn out. Here's hoping the city will have stepped in and started doing its job at the park by then.

Cleaning coal before it is burned?

Here's one I need to follow up on.

A British company is building a plant in Cincinnati that will remove 99 percent of the sulfur and mercury from coal.

It's getting late. I'll try to update this later today, and if not, maybe Monday.

WVU mess, 5/2/08

Try this one, courtesy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Amid more demands yesterday for the resignation of West Virginia University President Michael Garrison, the search for documents in the case of Heather Bresch's defunct M.B.A. degree took an unusual twist.

The university can provide no records of phone calls Mr. Garrison made during the critical five-day period when WVU decided to award the governor's daughter a degree she did not earn.

The university does not have landline records for Mr. Garrison, assistant general counsel Shea Browning said. According to Mr. Browning, records of local landline calls are maintained for only 30 days and no long-distance calls were made using the identification number assigned to Mr. Garrison by the university.

The university's cell phone provider has been unable to produce a copy of Mr. Garrison's cellular records, Mr. Browning said.

When I read that yesterday, the first thing that came to my mind was Lenny Briscoe, the cranky detective on "Law & Order" played by the late great Jerry Orbach. Can you imaging Briscoe wanting a perp's phone records from less than nine months earlier and the phone company telling him it does not keep such records?

I hope the WVU folks are not using a ploy that folks in Ohio state government used until they were caught last year. They used personal cell phones and personal Yahoo e-mail accounts to conduct state business, figuring that would put their communications beyond the reach of Freedom of Information Act requests. But when people caught on to this, the attorney general told them they had better not do it anymore. Do they? I don't know.

###

Following up on an item from yesterday,

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Elliott “Spike” Maynard “probably” will turn over e-mails requested by The Associated Press in a recent court case, the chief justice told the Daily Telegraph editorial board Thursday.

The AP filed a lawsuit in circuit court Wednesday to obtain e-mails, visitor logs and other records of Maynard. In the wake of the lawsuit, the chief justice, as well as four other candidates currently running for a seat on the high court, were asked by the Telegraph’s Editorial Board if these correspondence were under the public’s purview through the state’s Freedom of Information Act.

The overall consensus by the candidates: Yes, the e-mails do fall under the state’s Freedom of Information Act, except for those that would fall within the realm of normal statutory exceptions.

The Associated Press lawsuit claims the court was wrong when it decided that records maintained by Maynard were not subject to FOIA. The AP sought the records earlier this year as part of its coverage of a European rendezvous between Maynard and Massey Energy chief Don Blankenship in July of 2006. ...

Maybe there is hope for some people.

Odds and ends, 5/1/08

If you live in Boulder, Colo., you are not allowed to dye your dog.

A Boulder salon owner ticketed in March for dyeing her poodle pink has made a deal with the city attorney's office that could dismiss the charge against her in six months if she doesn't commit a similar violation in that time.

The ordinance was enacted decades ago to stop the sale of dyed chicks at Easter. It was not intended to keep people from dyeing their poodles.

I'll let our animal welfare blogger take it from here.

I don't know about pink poodles, but my wife tells the story of when she was a girl, she put an old sweater on her family's German shepherd. The poor dog hid in the bushes from the embarrassment.

###

From a story at CNBC:

Major automakers reported lower April sales across the board as record-setting gas prices stemmed vehicle purchases, with truck and SUV sales seeing especially steep falls. ...

GM's Hummer brand was hit especially hard, with a 49.8 percent plunge year-over-year. ...

My wife and I have been talking about how we need a second vehicle. She has been hoping for a van, but with van prices and gasoline prices, we may have to rely on something the size of a Honda Civic.

###

Some figures today from Marathon Oil's first-quarter earnings report, specifically on the Speedway convenience store chain.

Speedway reported profits of 11.47 cents a gallon on 792 million gallons of gasoline and other petroleum-based fuels, for a total profit of about $90.842 million, in the first quarter. In the first quarter of last year, Speedway had a profit of 12.17 cents per gallon on 800 million gallons sold, or a total profit of about $97.36 million.

But gasoline is not the big profit center at Speedway. General merchandise -- candy, beer, soft drinks and the other stuff that's inside the store -- is where the money is. In the first quarter of this year, Speedway stores reported profits of $163 million on sales of $647 million. Last year, the numbers were $160 million profits on $644 million in sales.

So in the first quarter of this year, Speedway's profits were down about $3 million when you combine gasoline and general merchandise. Another way to look at it: Gasoline sales account for about 36 percent of the profits at Speedway.

As I noted above, the real profit comes inside the store, not outside.

Quote of the month

Here is Gov. Joe Manchin talking about public and media reaction to the mess at WVU, specifically about his daughter's role:

"How many people would believe this would have happened to her if she had not been the daughter of a governor?" he said. "This whole thing has been unbelievably bizarre." (AP)

I will have my say in tomorrow's paper, if the boss approves what I have written. Otherwise, I'll just tee this one up for tanstaafl, michelle, anonymous and anyone else who wants to add their 2 cents worth. If they don't, fine. But I couldn't let this opportunity slip by.

Chutzpah at the Capitol

First, this from dictionary.com:

chutzpa:
1. unmitigated effrontery or impudence; gall.
2. audacity; nerve.

For the record, it can also be spelled "chutzpah" or "hutzpah."

Now this from The Associated Press:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The Associated Press asked a circuit judge Wednesday to require West Virginia’s Supreme Court to comply with the state’s Freedom of Information Act by releasing e-mails, visitor logs and other records of its chief justice.

The AP alleges the court erred when it concluded earlier this year that records maintained by Chief Justice Elliott “Spike” Maynard were not subject to FOIA. The court did release other information pertaining to other court employees.

The AP filed FOIA requests in January seeking any communication between Maynard and Massey Energy chief Don Blankenship. The information was sought as part of the AP’s coverage of Maynard’s July 2006 European vacation rendezvous with Blankenship. The coal company had several cases pending or headed toward West Virginia’s sole appeals court at the time.

“While it is abundantly clear what is at the heart of this particular request, any demand for the disclosure of communications or information of West Virginia Supreme Court Justices has effects well beyond any singular request,” court administrator Steve Canterbury said in a statement released by the court. “The disclosure of the requested information sets a bad precedent, is likely unconstitutional, and has long-range ramifications.”

The AP’s complaint, filed in Kanawha County Circuit Court, argues that the FOIA law allows residents to inspect records held by a public body and the definition of public body includes state officers and West Virginia’s “judicial departments.” In West Virginia, justices are elected to the court.

Canterbury said court orders, pleadings and budget documents are made public, but making the private communications of judicial officers and court employees subject to FOIA is contrary to the sound administration of West Virginia’s court system.

“The legislative branch, through the enactment of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) statute, cannot require the judicial branch of government to disclose the communications of its members,” Canterbury said. ...

In other words, the Legislature cannot enact laws the Supreme Court does not want to be subject to.

Chutzpah.