I think that our administration needs a complete overhaul and we don’t know what to do about it, These damn politicians do nothing but lie, Kinda the mushroom affect (kept in the dark and feed s**t) Between the price of gas and heating gas for my house, I’v became a whore to the petroleum Co.If we could get the Big oil Co. to stay at bay long enough, Maybe we could come up with a alternative fuel of some sort or maybe look to another country to do the research, (since we don’t do this kinda stuff here no more) maybe china, since that is were everything we work with is made.

But the voters in working-class enclaves such as this still are a sought-after prize in presidential politics, and many are belatedly backing Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

In the Democratic primaries, working-class whites consistently supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Later polls showed them overwhelmingly favoring Republican nominee John McCain.

Now, driven by fears that their personal finances could further deteriorate, many see Obama as the better choice — their thinking in some cases driven more by concern about how McCain would handle the economy than any growing admiration for his rival.

Hello.
Okay. So, a few things bother me about Morgan County. I’ve lived here my entire life and there is NOTHING to do. I read in the Licking Valley Courier that soon the county will begin construction on a $16 million Courthouse. Is it going to be made out of gold or what? Besides that fact that we don’t need a new courthouse, or a golden one, much better things could be done with that money. Have you ever driven up Bays Bend? It’s insane, the road is so small. It’s barely big enough to be a two-way street; why hasn’t it been widened for the safety of our citizens? The same thing goes for many roads in Morgan County. It would also be a wonderful idea to invest in the construction of a skating rink or bigger (better) movie theatre; perhaps a nice resturant. Here is what the youth of Morgan County have to choose from: Pool (only open in summer), skate park (I don’t know many skaters), Town Cinema (hardly have any good movies), McDonalds (hardly has good food), Arby’s (same as McDonalds), Long John Silvers (same as Arby’s), A&W (same as Long John’s), Giovanni’s (can’t afford to eat there every night), Patty’s Place (what?), the baseball field on Liberty Road (which is always locked up), and about 15 churches (not always open or interesting). So, what do they do instead? Beside drivng 30 miles to get somewhere to do something, teens pretty much just drive around in circles, park at the bank or car wash and talk. Not a great thing to do, really, with gas being so expensive and all. I think the political “leaders” of Morgan County should attempt to do something WORTHWHILE for the citizens of this small town for a change.

Chandra, you have a simple choice to make. If you think we are going in the right direction as a Country, then return to power those who have been in charge the last eight years.

But you say Bush is not on the ballot, no he is not. But the person who voted with Bush 90% of the time is.

I HATE CBers!!!!!! FILTHY TALKING SMUT MOUTH PERVIES!!EVERYONE I’VE HEARD ON THOSE TRASHY THINGS ARE PERVERTED ,FILTHY LANGUAGE,SEXUALY SUGGESTIVE,HOW CAN THE CITEZENS OF THIS COUNTY PUT UP WITH THEM?WHY NOT DRIVE HOME A MESSAGE TO THE SLEEZY SECRET FETISHERS THAT THEY’RE NOT WELCOME IN OUR COMMUNITY! I URGE ALL THE WOMEN OF THIS COUNTY TO TAKE THEM AWAY FROM YOUR HUSBANDS !THERE ARE TRASHY THINGS ON THERE THAT YOU WOULDN’T WANT NOR FEEL COMFORTABLE TO YOUR MAN LISTENING TO OR CONVERSING WITH.IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE ME,JUST LISTEN FOR YOURSSELF TRASHY SKANKS WHO WANT TO SHOW YOUR MAN A GOOD TIME-TREAT THEM RIGHT-OR WORSE,,I HAVE STARTED HERE @ HOME AND IF MINE EVER TRIES TO GET ANOTHER I’LL DIVORCE HIM! NO ONE (MALE OR FEMALE) SHOULD EVER HAVE TO BE EXPOSED TO SUCH FILTH!

Let’s see where to start, there’s a lot that “bugs” me, yet one of the biggest bugs I’ve ever came across is when people make assumptions to where in reality they know nothing of the situation at hand. An example could be the post a few above this one involving the CB, are you serious we are involved in 2 separate wars, in the middle of an economic crisis and we have people venting about divorce and how it started at home over trash talk on a CB radio…who cares? Life is too short to worry about how others speak or choose to live their lives. I can see how the woman felt intimidated by the trash talk on the CB and her husband taking part in it does not necessarily mean he’s a cheater it just means he found humor and laughed. I have been married for 18 years and I live by the analogy that I am my husband’s lady in the streets and his whore between the sheets. My husband is very happy and I am not jealous, as to I have no reason to be I am comfortable within my marriage as well as myself. Instead of throwing rocks when someone vents about something bothering them perhaps you could simply ask “How can I help? I know I don’t know you, yet you are my sister/brother. Possibly we can get through this together”. Not hard at all. We are all the same, different lifestyles, different careers and different cultures, but we are still human beings with the ability to empathize, the ability to understand and offer a shoulder or a lending hand. We are no better than the next. The sooner we all realize that, the better we all will be.

Kat wrote:
“An example could be the post a few above this one involving the CB, are you serious we are involved in 2 separate wars, in the middle of an economic crisis and we have people venting about divorce and how it started at home over trash talk on a CB radio…who cares?”

It’s comments like this that bug me. Obviously this person cares or they wouldn’t have felt the need to vent about it. Just because that is what they wanted to post doesn’t mean they worry of nothing else.
Another thing that “bugs” me is when people will enter the exit door and exit the enter door at the WalMart in the city I live in. This doesn’t mean I’m not worried about the economy, it’s just something that bugs me.

Being new to Morgan County I was surprised to see that One had to pay a fee to dispose of bags of trash. I would think that it would be better to recycle glass.plastic,paper, etc. The county could make more money by having customers sort stuff for recycling. Everybody wins,customers don’t have to pay to get rid of trash, and the county makes money on scrapmetal, glass, paper, etc. Gives people somewhere to take old ,washers,dryers,furniture.etc, instead of dumping the stuff along side the road or in the river.

I am spam everywhere?

The one thing that bothers me is our small (not so much anymore) community needs some major adjusting I moved here thinking more safety than a larger city from crime, drugs, etc. Well NOT I might as well be in the big city now. JOBS most people that are working absolutely hate there jobs but stay in them because there is no place else to work. Our youth will leave because there is nothing for them here. Crime rate has gone up they just slap them on the hand and go, but I hear the new judge has been strict GO JUDGE, but what about the innocent that shouldn’t be in court to begin with just someone getting revenge about something. I just wish our county wouldn’t make up rules or change them as they go!! If you know someone that stays in trouble DON’T TRY TO HELP THEM they’ll drag you with them it’s sad. GOOD LUCK MORGAN WE’LL NEED IT LOOKS LIKE. Someone PLEASE build us some jobs. Good Day!!!!!!!!!

l left Morgancounnty sixty three years ago to goto Dayton Ohio and saw Bill Bailey leave for
Chicago when MOrgan offered so little. Now I see a blurb about a multi million dollar
Court House. Bill was very successful ahd I live confortable.

Musr be a lot of money there now.
I am 80 now and looking for flood info. Still remember a few floods in the narrow valleys.

Gas is 3.69 in Winchester as of 4-18-2011. Why so high here… The gas Station where I got gas was suprised it was so much more expensive here…. Can you say price gouging…..

To the people of Kentucky who were
affected by the tornadoes:

First of all, you are not victims;
you are survivors.  You encountered
one of the most ferocious, most merciless forces of nature, pulled yourselves
from the rubble, lost and disoriented, and are now beginning to reassemble the
pieces of your lives, both literally and figuratively.  Although it may seem a monumental task
to accomplish, your homes, your businesses, your towns, your lives, will return to normal – a “new normal” –
soon.

For the first few weeks, you will
function in a dreamlike state. 
Everything you are doing will seem foreign to you.  Are these your own hands that are
pulling off bits of pulverized wood and shards of glass that are stuck to the
brightly-colored toys that your daughter happily played with days before?  Are these your own arms wrapped around
boxes of things, your own things,
that you are hastily removing from your home because you’ve suddenly been
evicted?

Thankfully, there will be friends and
family members  and strangers who
will appear, seemingly out of nowhere, to help you get through this.  Let them help you.  Their willingness to assist is their
gift to you.  Accept it with
grace.   You are witnessing
the compassion of the human spirit.

Focus on that.

You may have lost your home, most of
your possessions, your place of work, your church, your favorite
restaurant.  While all of these are
just material things, they have all been a part of your life, your
identity.  You will feel lost as
you pass by once-familiar places. 
In fact, you might even drive past the turn for the street that your
children’s school is on because all of the trees, all of the homes, all of the
street signs that previously offered you clues to its whereabouts no longer
exist.  Your mind will flash back
to the images that your eyes once saw, mentally recreating images that you will
never see again exactly how they were. 
But, in the months ahead, trees will be planted, homes will be built,
street signs will be replaced, and there will be a chance to begin anew.

Focus on that.

You may have experienced the death of
a loved one.  You may be replaying
the circumstances surrounding the loss in your head and wondering, “What
if?”  What if he hadn’t decided to drive
to the store right then?  What if
she hadn’t been taking a nap and slept through the warnings?  What if you had just held on to them more
tightly…

Know that the situation was out of
your hands.  Talk to your friends
and family about your feelings and let them comfort you in your grief.  Understand that they are there to wrap
their arms around you and carry you through this time, and that they will do
all they can to help you remember and honor your loved one.

Focus on that.

You may find yourself warily looking
at the calendar and realizing that at this time, on this day, just one week
ago, your life changed forever. 
Then the next week, you’ll realize that at this time, on this day, just
two weeks ago, your life changed forever. 
Know that a time will come when several weeks, even months, will pass
and you will realize that you forgot to mark that dreaded anniversary.  There is freedom in letting go, and the
passage of time will help heal the pain.

Focus on that.

You may find yourself feeling a sense
of dread whenever you see the possibility of storms in the forecast, and you’ll
probably be checking the forecast often. 
Be grateful that your experience has heightened your awareness of, and
respect for, the weather.  You will
now be able to better formulate a weather emergency action plan for your family
and, hopefully, feel prepared for whatever storms may come your way.

Focus on that.

You may be feeling overwhelmed by the
amount of paperwork that occupies your daily life now.  You may find yourself in a line at the
post office, staring at the form for forwarding mail, paralyzed by the notion
that you don’t know if this move is temporary or permanent (which is defined as
more than six months, according to the form).

Your insurance company may be requesting
that you list all of your house contents that were damaged.  You feel like this is some sick
joke.  How could you possibly know
all of the items in your house? 
You begin to chastise yourself for not videotaping the contents in all
of the rooms in your house once a year.

Give yourself a break and realize
that there is no formal training for this.  This is a learn-as-you-go process.  After you’ve been through it, you will become somewhat of an
expert at post-catastrophe procedures. 
What a unique skill set to have.

Focus on that.

You may be branded one of the “lucky
ones,” whose home was damaged, but considered repairable.  You may visit your home as its being
repaired and search for a sense of connection to it, as it’s barely
recognizable with its exposed concrete floors and see-through studded walls
that fail to offer any familiarity.

After several months, you may move
back into your “new old” home, and the joy of being back in your own home is overshadowed
by the feeling of profound loneliness you experience when you realize that your
once close-knit neighborhood is occupied by only one family – yours. 

The squeals of children playing
outside are noticeably absent.  At
night, the darkness is so pervasive, you feel like you are living in the middle
of the countryside, even though you are in the middle of a city.  You realize that the only lights on
your street are the ones coming from your own home.   You question whether things would almost be better had
your home been totally destroyed so that you move elsewhere, somewhere
inhabited.

You think about the randomness of it
all.  Why is my house standing when
the house across the street is a total loss?  True, those people whose homes were destroyed beyond repair will
stand by and watch painfully while man-made equipment razes the remainder of
their homes.  But, then they will
move into new homes.  In unaffected
neighborhoods.  Neighborhoods, perhaps,
with trees. Neighborhoods with children frolicking in lush green yards.

You may begin to feel jealous of
these people when you move back into your “new old” home, unpacking your boxes
and finding bits of glass or insulation in items that you thought had been
untouched.  Or when you stand in
your house at sunset and are blinded by the sunlight simultaneously entering
windows from both the west and the
east because there are no trees to stop it from reflecting off of the newly
constructed homes across the valley. 
Or when you can’t let your children play out in the yard because the
earth is still churning up chunks of roof shingles, nails, glass, and other
debris, even though months have passed and several inches of new dirt have been
brought in.  Or when your toddler
darts away from you and runs over to the next yard, and your heart squeezes in
fear because you believe her little legs might possibly reach the precipice of
the open foundation of your former neighbor’s demolished home before you can catch
her.

You may flinch when you overhear
people talking about how they purposely take different routes through town
because it is too painful for them to see the tornado damage zone, knowing that,
each morning when you open your curtains, that is exactly what you see.  That is what you are forced to
confront.

Allow yourself to feel these
emotions, as raw and ugly as they are. But, do not let them consume you. With
the passage of time, they, too, will go away.  Let them.

When you do, you will begin to
appreciate and celebrate little things, such as finally seeing another house light
in the sea of darkness across the valley – a connection to another soul.   Or realizing that the old stone
house with the ragged tarps on its roof was finally knocked down; another painful
visual reminder erased.  Or feeling
immense gratitude when you spot neon-vest-clad government workers moving like
an army of ants to clean up a sidewalk – a sidewalk that your family used to
take walks on before the tornado, but which had been impassible for months
because of debris.  Yes, you will
begin to appreciate the simple things.

Focus on that.

While surviving a tornado is a
traumatic and life-altering event, there is comfort in knowing that you aren’t
alone.  Many people in your town
experienced the same thing that you did, and all of the people in your town are
forever affected by it.

My heart swells with pride when I
think of how the people of Joplin handled their fate with grace, dignity, and
compassion.  We are grateful to all
of the volunteers who came to help. 
As a community, we have come together to rebuild our city.  We are honored to have the chance to
collaborate with our leaders to make our city the best it can be.  If the tornado had never happened, I
don’t think our community would be this united, or this hopeful.  I hope the people of your town will
have the same experience.

Hope.

Focus on that.

 

Sincerely,

 

Christine Smith

Survivor, Joplin EF-5 Tornado

 

P.S.  Please feel
free to contact me if you have any questions or comments, one survivor to
another.  My email address is:  c.sempetrean@gmail.com