Dear Editor:
I read the article about the barking dog in Durbin, and I sympathize with Mike Vance.
Where I live, most people have more than one dog. I hear barking - morning, noon and night. I don’t understand why people want to have dogs to put outside on a chain 24/7.
How do the owners not hear the constant barking?
Their neighbors sure do.
I wonder what would happen if the roles were reversed and the people were put outside on a chain and ignored the way they treat the dog?
Something to think about.
Brenda Dean
Buckeye

Dear Editor:
The other day a woman brought me an injured raven that she found at the landfill. The bird had been shot through the wing. I have treated it and hope that it will survive.
Ravens are among the most intelligent animals on earth. Volumes have been written about their abilities. If upon recovery this bird can fly I will release it. If not I will provide it with a permanent home.
Should this happen and I continually care for this raven I will establish many tasks for it to solve to keep its mind active.
Naturally, I feel that the person who shot this raven is somewhat depraved. The bird had to be flying and the gunner probably walking around with his high powered rifle quickly shouldered his gun and brought down this bird. The shooter’s negligence and lack of empathy continued when he decided to not even find the bird and inspect its injuries. Just another shooting by a person with a gun. Perhaps he/she feels that all critters are to be hunted by humans, perhaps he/she feels that God put all such critters on the earth for him/her to kill.
It is not as though ravens are hunted for their meat, hides or feathers. Perhaps a raven might eat an ear or two of corn over the summer, but the cost of a rifle shell is more valuable than an ear of corn. Besides the landfill is not a cornfield. This was nothing but a wanton shooting.
Now if indeed the bird remains under my care I want to extend an invitation to the shooter to pit his/her mental capacities against this bird. I will set up a series of tasks which require each to be able to think and respond appropriately.
Because I doubt the intelligence of the shooter I will place five to one odds that the bird can out-think this humanoid. And should this shooter overcome his/her cowardice and accept the challenge I will publish the results to include the name of this person.
Joel Rosenthal
Hillsboro

Dear Editor:
I would like to take a moment to say how much I appreciate the staff at Marlinton Elementary School.
They have done a great job with the kids during the first quarter and I have no doubt that thier professionalism and hard work will keep things going well throughout the rest of the school year.
I would also like to urge other parents out there to get involved with their kids’ education. Your support and love is needed more than ever, not only for your kids, but all the kids in the school.
Please go talk to the school officials and your child’s teacher and ask to get involved.
I promise you that you will not regret it.
Sincerely,
Sam Gibson
Slaty Fork

Dear Editor:
The Pocahontas Times
October 30, 2012

Despite reports in The Times and on WVMR I remain unenlightened about what the beef is over the Pocahontas School lunch (and breakfast?) program.
What does the adjective “subpar” in The Times lead point to?
Food tastes Bad? Unhealthy? Not unhealthy enough? Makes kids fat? Or just foisted on the system by pointy-headed bureaucrats?
I have to agree with Emery Grimes that the Department of Education and its army of regulations writers is not —and probably never has been — much of a factor in improving education in the USA. That’s what you get when ideological politicians fight over and enact one-size fits all “solutions” to problems they either know next to nothing about or which are the result of things they can’t really affect.
The Federal education money talks and we in the poorer states have to listen to its drivel. The Federal courts, on the other hand, have certainly been a key cause of increased justice and fairness in State education programs. It certainly does nothing for the students or for the reputation of the Board of Education to have its chairperson carry on about communist bureaucrats in Washington attempting to write school lunch menus.
It sure would please me to read or hear a clear presentation of what’s going on with food in the schools and why that matters at all.
Laurie Cameron
Hillsboro