The beginning of a brand new year puts most folks in a reflective mood - pondering over the past year and wondering what the new year has in store for us. After the bright festivities of the Christmas season, the year of 2016 seems to be off to a dismal start. Gray skies and spattering rain greet us, and lowering clouds give the promise of more wet weather on the way.

Shreds of tattered gray fog are hanging on the side of Pilot Knob, and the top is obscured by a nimbus of mist. After our unusually mild December, it is hard to believe that is January already. A few spring flowers have become confused and are trying to bloom. I saw a tiny pink azalea blossom peeping through my window, as if to ask if spring is here yet.

The old year is over, almost history, and a new calendar page is fresh and waiting. It is human nature to reflect on the life lived this past year, its mistakes and failures, and the successes and victories. It is pointless and vain to mourn over things that cannot be undone. The only profit in our failures is to learn from them, and use the knowledge in our future attempts.

Neither do we want to "rest on our laurels" in things accomplished, but strive in this coming year to be our very best in all that we attempt to do. My greatest desire is to fulfill the mission that Christ has left for us, "That ye love one another, as I have loved you." The love that Christ has for us is a forgiving, unselfish love that reaches out to those in need. I pray that my love for others will be the same quality - a selfless love that is sensitive to the needs of others.

The beginning of a new year is a traditional time for resolutions, many of them made and broken the first week. Some are vows to break bad habits, but many of them have to do with losing weight. I have a feeling that more diets are embarked upon after the Christmas holiday season than at any other time of the year. The word "diet" has always caused a ravening hunger to fall upon me, and I find myself rummaging through the refrigerator, searching for a scrap of food to ward off starvation.

Food experts shy away from diets now, and emphasize the theory of learning a new lifestyle of eating habits - and to stick with the rest of your life. I pine for the good old days when fat grams were unheard of. We would come in the house after a full morning of sledding, snowball fighting and wallowing in the snow, cold and famished. Mom's potato soup would be simmering on the stove, and the mouth-watering aroma of onions and garlic would waft past our noses. It was a robust soup, full of whole fresh milk and cream, liberally laced with real cow butter. No one would have noticed a fat gram if it slid off his chin.

Full to the brim, it was back outside for an afternoon of more sledding, running and sliding, and vigorous play. Sometimes we had a store-bought sleigh with steel runners; more often we toiled uphill with a homemade wooden sled that was heavy and cumbersome. (Remember "Preach" Bullard's sled that he made big enough for all of us? It would have made a perfect bomb shelter! Never mind that we couldn't push it up the hill!)

The most thrilling ride was to slide down on a piece of linoleum - a carefully hoarded scrap left over from the infrequent times that the kitchen floor received a new covering. The only problem with it was, it couldn't be steered and we would sometimes end up splattered against a tree or speared on a barbed wire fence.

All too soon it would be time for the evening chores, water buckets to be filled from the pitcher pump and livestock fed and watered. Milking had to be done, and the chickens shut up for the night. No wonder we didn't have to watch our diets, or count fat grams. Our active lifestyle took care of that. We worked hard, and played hard, and needed the type of food that stuck to our ribs. Since I don't feel up to a day of sleigh riding or snowball fighting, (anyway, where's the snow?) I guess I'll count a few fat grams and push myself away from the table a little sooner.

The first week of our new year is slipping away, and the weatherman is predicting some snowflakes shortly. Whether fair or snow, we need to make full use of every day, and not squander the time. My late friend, Ted Kyle of Summersville, once sent me a little poem which said, "When the hourglass lies shattered at our feet, Its sands forever mingled with the earth, Too late we see it was not sand, but gold, Pure gold! And more than any ransom's worth."

n n n

I wish that there was some wonderful place

Called the Land of Beginning Again,

Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches

And all of our poor selfish grief

Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door,

And never be put on again.

I wish we could come on it all unaware,

Like the hunter who finds a lost trail;

And I wish that the one whom our blindness had done

The greatest injustice of all

Could be at the gates like an old friend that waits

For the comrade he's gladdest to hail.

We would find all the things we intended to do

But forgot, and remembered too late,

Little praises unspoken, little promises broken,

And all of the thousand and one

Little duties neglected that might have perfected

The day for one less fortunate.

It wouldn't be possible not to be kind

In the Land of Beginning Again;

And the ones we misjudged and the ones whom we grudged

Their moments of victory here

Would find in the grasp of our loving handclasp

More than penitent lips could explain.

For what had been hardest we'd know had been best.

And what had seemed loss would be gain;

For there isn't a sting that will not take wing

When we've faced it and laughed it away;

And I think that the laughter is most what we're after

In the Land of Beginning Again.

So I wish that there were some wonderful place

Called the Land of Beginning Again,

Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches

And all of our poor selfish grief

Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door,

And never be put on again.

- Louisa Fletcher

n n n

Contact Alyce Faye Bragg at alycefaye@citlink.net or write to 2556 Ovapa Road, Ovapa, WV 25164.

On Dec. 19, the Teamsters Local 175 donated $20,000 worth of food, clothing and toys to the Children's Home Society in Charleston.

By Dec. 23, it was gone.

In those four days, 167 people came through the doors of the Davis Center in Charleston and picked up items. One of them was a grandmother of four who was brought to tears, knowing that she could give something to the grandkids she was raising.

"It's those kinds of people where you know you made Christmas and the week after so much better," said Mary White, from the Children's Home Society.

Donations, like the Teamsters' tend to increase during the holidays while people are thinking about giving.

"A lot of people are just very conscious over the holidays," said Erin Turner, who manages both Second Seating and Past & Present for the YWCA Charleston. "I think people dig a little deeper and give a little more."

But one of the biggest donation days of the year comes after Christmas - on Dec. 31.

"It's a last-minute tax-reduction thing," said Kathy McKinley, the director of community relations for Goodwill of the Kanawha Valley.

Dec. 31 marks the last day that people can receive a tax break on their yearly taxes for donating to a charity, so Goodwill leaves its doors open until 9 p.m. to allow people to get their unwanted, but not unloved, items in before the deadline.

The final day of the calendar year caps the biggest month in donations for a lot of charities, according to Turner.

"I think generally our community is very giving," Turner said of the December peak. "But it is a sort of pragmatic altruism" around the holidays.

Often, people are either making space for new clothing and getting rid of items that they don't use and taking advantage of the tax deals all with the intention helping others.

"People want to give this time of year." Turner said. "They want to help."

That means a lot of clothing for Past and Present, as well as toys, dishes and other small items, according to Turner.

As for the bigger furniture items that they get at Second Seating, those come during peak renovation times and spring cleanings.

At Goodwill, McKinley says the policy of what they don't accept is simple. They take pretty much everything except "used mattresses, things that are wet, food, and things that are alive."

Things generally slow down in January, especially the first couple of days, but that gives organizations time to get the large stacks of items sorted before people who are following through with their New Year's resolutions to declutter their lives, start bringing items in.

While donations reach their peak from October to December, Children's Home Society and other nonprofit groups aren't just handing out used items during the holidays, they're doing it all year. When people lose their homes to fires, when some students don't have winter coats that fit, those used donations make a difference in people's lives.

"When you have nothing," White said, "something means a whole lot."

Reach Daniel Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow @drdesrochers on Twitter.

Two people were shot in an incident on Charleston's West Side on Friday night, according to a Kanawha County Metro 911 dispatcher.

The shooting was reported shortly before 11 p.m. in the 800 block of Matthews Avenue.

Charleston police are investigating.

The extent of the victims' injuries and further details were not known late Friday.

Soup and silence

West Virginia Institute for Spirituality's Soup and Silence event will be held from noon to 12:50 p.m. on the first Friday of each month through May at 1601 Virginia St. E. A suggested offering is $7. For information, call 304-345-0926.

KCPL committees

The Kanawha County Public Library's Ad Hoc Building Projects Committee of the Board of Directors will meet at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the board room on the fourth floor of the Main Library, 123 Capitol St. The library's Finance Committee of the Board of Directors will meet at 4 p.m. Thursday at the same location. Call 304-343-4646 for more information.

Kanawha PSD

The next regular meeting of the Kanawha Public Service District Board of Commissioners will be held at 9 a.m. Thursday at the district's business office.

Items for Bulletin Board may be submitted by mail to the Charleston Gazette-Mail, 1001 Virginia St. E., Charleston, WV 25301; faxed to 304-348-1233; or emailed to gazette@wvgazettemail.com. Notices will be run one time free. Please include a contact person's name and a daytime phone number.

DANIELLE AND STEVE: 7:30 p.m. Free. Bridge Road Bistro, 915 Bridge Road. Call 304-720-3500.

BOOGIE BROTHERS: 7 to 10 p.m. Admission is $8. Marmet Recreation Center, 8500 MacCorkle Ave. Call 304-949-9692.

KENTUCKY CONNECTION: 7:30 p.m. Adults $15. Seniors $12. Children 12 and under $5. Mountaineer Opry House, Exit I-64, Milton. Call 304-743-5749.

WINTER JAM 2015: 5 p.m. Tickets $10. King and Country, Matthew West, Red, Sidewalk Prophets, Newsong, Trip Lee, KB, Lauren Daigle. Pre-Jam artists include Stars Go Dim and We Are Messenger. With evangelist Tony Nolan. Charleston Civic Center. www.jamtour.com

"NO PANTS PLAYERS": 8 p.m. Cover $10. Adults only show. Capitol Theater, 123 Summers St. Call 1-877-467-7689

WASHINGTON (AP) - This will be the year when Republicans finally put legislation on President Barack Obama's desk repealing his health care law.

It's the first order of business when the House reconvenes this coming week. And it's a sharply partisan start on Capitol Hill to an election year in which legislating may take a back seat to politics.

Obama will veto the health law repeal, which also would cut money for Planned Parenthood.

But Republicans say that will highlight the clear choice voters face in the presidential election.

In the Senate, early action will be a vote on Sen. Rand Paul's proposal for an "audit" of the Federal Reserve. That's likely to get blocked by Democrats.

But as with the House's health bill, it will answer conservative demands in an election year.

FLAT TOP, W.Va. (AP) - Somewhere above the clouds in Mercer County, a farmer was surprised when he learned that the Southern Conservation District had recognized him as the "Conservation Farmer of the Year."

"It was a surprise," Richard "Dick" Barnes said from the kitchen table of his mountain top farm surrounded by beautiful textured pastures bordered by wooden fences, seven ponds and sturdy out-buildings.

"I quit school, when I was in 10th grade," Barnes, 75, said. He grew up in Michigan, and moved to Raleigh County in 1959. Four years later in 1963, he started a business -- Forest Home Builders and Contractors -- and in 1970, he and his dad bought a farm on Dud Lilly Road. "Me and dad did it for a hobby," he said.

Barnes noted that it would be nearly impossible for an individual or a family to survive off of the earnings from a farm.

While he was clearing his farm, he ran the contracting business and developed a machine and fabrication business that Walker Caterpillar acquired in 1992. He also ran a bar near the Raleigh County Airport.

"When I was in school, I probably would have been considered the least likely person to be successful," Barnes said. "We did a lot of improvements to the farm through the years. We fixed up the old farm house, worked on the barn and replaced the wooden fences.

"I just enjoy doing it, and my dad did too," he said of his father, Ray A. Barnes, who passed away several years ago.

Barnes said Len Alvis put in a pond on the property near the farm house in 1975, and helped with some of the others. Alvis is with the Natural Resource Conservation Service office based in Princeton.

"Len, Bill Harris and representatives from several districts came out here to look at the farm in July," Barnes said. "I just run a small operation, but I work hard on it."

Virgel Caldwell, local conservation supervisor, said that the six-county region of the Southern Conservation District bestows the Conservation Farmer award annually.

Barnes has about 250 to 260 acres. On a tour of the farm, he showed the strategic location of the ponds on the property as well as the impact of using a natural fertilizer, Amsoil, in his pastures and hay fields.

While he was surprised by the award, Barnes said he is proud of the award.

"We had Angus triplets up here," he said. "That's pretty rare." He has a small herd of registered Angus cattle on his farm, and enjoys the beauty of his home on Flat Top Mountain.

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (AP) - Like it or not, shoppers will likely be paying 7 percent in sales taxes on their purchases no matter where they go in West Virginia.

Eighteen municipalities in the state's home rule pilot program have either enacted a 1 percent sales tax or plan to do so, according to a report from the West Virginia Municipal Home Rule Board.

"I would say that as we proceed forward, we will eventually see more municipalities having the availability to enact the 1 percent sales tax," Clarksburg City Manager Martin Howe said.

That's because it would be more beneficial to the municipalities in terms of revenues and to merchants in terms of cuts in business and occupation taxes, Howe added.

Bridgeport Mayor Bob Greer echoed Howe's sentiments.

"The current financial structure for most, if not all, municipalities is rather antiquated with the B&O tax mechanism," Greer said.

"The sales tax option, even though limited as it is, provides opportunities for different municipalities to address a wide range of issues, and I'm not surprised that municipalities have taken advantage of it," Greer said.

Clarksburg and Bridgeport are among four cities planning to impose a 1 percent sales tax on July 1 -- the start of the next fiscal year.

South Charleston and Weirton are the other two, according to the Home Rule Board's progress report on participating municipalities.

Twelve cities have already enacted a sales tax, according to the report.

They are Fairmont, Charles Town, Charleston, Harpers Ferry, Huntington, Martinsburg, Milton, Nitro, Parkersburg, Ranson, Vienna and Wheeling.

Grafton and Dunbar are in the progress of enacting a sales tax, according to the report.

Five cities that included sales tax proposals in their home rule plans have not imposed them, according to the report.

They are Shinnston, Morgantown, Beckley, Bluefield and Princeton.

A municipal sales tax is in addition to the 6 percent state sales tax.

Items not taxed by the state are also exempt from municipal sales taxes. They include groceries, prescription medications, motor fuel and vehicles.

Home rule gives cities more say in how they govern by allowing them to implement ordinances, acts, resolutions, rules and regulations without regard to state laws.

Cities in the program can impose a 1 percent sales tax provided they repeal or reduce some of their B&O taxes.

Municipalities not in the home rule program can impose a sales tax. However, they must eliminate their B&O tax, which would be economic suicide.

Clarksburg is reducing its B&O tax on retail sales and manufacturing.

Between the sales tax revenues and B&O tax cuts, Clarksburg expects to raise an additional $2.2 million a year, according to financial projects included in the city's home rule plan.

Those additional revenues will go to police and firefighter pensions, infrastructure improvements and economic development activities, according to the home rule plan.

Bridgeport is imposing a 1 percent sales tax in exchange for repealing its B&O tax on manufacturing.

Between the sales tax revenues and B&O cut, Bridgeport expects to raise an additional $3.13 million a year, according to the city's financial projections.

The additional revenues will go toward the construction, operation and maintenance of a proposed indoor recreation facility.

Economists generally regard sales taxes as regressive, said John Deskins, director of West Virginia University's Bureau of Business and Economic Research.

Sales taxes affect low-wage earners who spend more of their income on goods and services, Deskins said.

"Sales taxes tend to be less progressive because they don't tax savings," Deskins said. "Consumption rates are higher among low-income people.

"High-income people save more than low-income people," he added. "People with higher incomes tend to spend more on services that aren't taxed."

But Howe said B&O taxes are also regressive because they are assessed on businesses' gross receipts.

"The B&O tax is an antiquated tax," Howe said. "Technically, a business could be in the red and still be paying the B&O tax.

"You'd rather be in a position to reduce taxes on the business to foster their growth as well as developing new business," he added. "Ultimately the consumer is still paying the tax under B&O" because it's passed on.

A man has been arrested and charged with murder in connection to the death of J'Shaad Jones, who was shot earlier this week outside a Charleston bar.

Marlon Rush is charged with murder, said Lt. Steve Cooper, chief of detectives for the Charleston Police Department.

Jones, 18, of Charleston, was killed in the early morning hours of Dec.31 outside of Artie's Kickback Lounge, at 935 Central Ave.

He was shot in the "upper body" somewhere outside of the bar, which was open, then collapsed in a field behind the bar, Cooper said previously. Jones was pronounced dead at Charleston Area Medical Center's General Hospital.

Jones was wanted in connection to the shooting of 18-year-old Malik Hawke on Dec. 13 in the 200 block of Bream Street. Hawke survived but suffered wounds to the arm and leg.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) - Seventy people in Cabell County died in 2015 of drug overdoses.

WSAZ-TV reports that the numbers were tallied by the city of Huntington's Office of Drug Control Policy. The office found that there were more than 900 drug overdoses last year in Huntington and Cabell County.

The number of reported drug overdoses in 2015 was greater than the total number of ODs from 2012 to 2014.

In recent years, West Virginia has ranked near the top or at the top among states in terms of overdose deaths in the U.S.

FAYETTEVILLE -- A man robbed a shell station at the corner of U.S. 19 and Hinkle Road in Fayetteville Saturday, police say.

The suspect brandished a small, silver-colored handgun as he took money from the store and then fled on foot, according to a release from the Fayette County Sheriff's Office.

Police responded to a silent alarm in the store and tried to track the suspect with bloodhounds, but the dogs lost the scent.

Deputies suspect the man fled on an ATV that was parked in the woods after he left the store.

The suspect was wearing a black ski mask, Carhartt coveralls and muddy work boots. He is described as white, around 6 foot 2 inches tall, 150-160 pounds and has blond facial hair.

The sheriff's office suspects he lives in the area because he was familiar with the workings of the Shell Station.

The sheriff's office received a call Friday that a suspect matching the description had attempted to break into the Fayetteville airport, which is across from the Shell station on Hinkle Road.

A Charleston attorney has given the state official notice that he will challenge "emergency guidelines" that would cut the amount lawyers taking court-appointed cases are paid for their time.

On behalf of a handful of attorneys and law firms who take court-appointed cases - also known as "panel attorneys" - Anthony Majestro said he will file a petition for a writ of mandamus with the West Virginia Supreme Court against the state's Public Defender Services. The petition will ask the court to stop the guidelines from taking effect next month and also argue that the current rate of pay is unconstitutionally low.

The amount court-appointed attorneys are paid for their time hasn't been raised in 25 years.

Public Defender Services fails "to adequately and timely compensate panel attorneys for their time and expenses," Majestro wrote in the notice, which was sent Dec. 23.

Dana Eddy, executive director of Public Defender Services, sent an email last month to attorneys who take court-appointed cases, in which he introduced the emergency guidelines. The email stated there isn't enough money to reimburse lawyers who submitted vouchers after Sept. 16.

Public Defender Services will ask for an appropriation to cover the rest of the fiscal year (which ends June 30, 2016), but Eddy said he doesn't expect that amount to be sufficient.

Under the new guidelines, which are set to take effect Jan. 18, attorneys no longer will be reimbursed for mileage and will be compensated $20 an hour for travel time. Previously, lawyers received $45 an hour for travel time, and 57 cents a mile in mileage reimbursement. Time spent "waiting in court" also has been more narrowly defined, among other cuts.

In addition to people charged with crimes, court-appointed lawyers often also represent children involved in abuse and neglect cases in circuit court and those involved in mental hygiene proceedings. The rate cut doesn't affect county public defender offices or court-appointed lawyers in family court, where rates are set by the state Supreme Court.

The move by Eddy infuriated many lawyers across the state who take court-appointed cases. The attorneys are often required to drive long distances to court, jails and to the homes of their clients, Majestro said.

This week, about 50 lawyers met in Flatwoods to discuss how to challenge the guidelines. Many more attorneys took part in the meeting by phone, Majestro said.

Some attorneys may file separate lawsuits but Majestro, who concentrates in appellate litigation, was asked to file the petition on behalf of attorneys Michael Sharley, Christopher Watson Cooper, the Ciliberti Law Office and Hewitt & Salvatore, and the clients they represent. Majestro doesn't take court-appointed cases. He said more plaintiffs may be added to the petition before its filed with the Supreme Court.

Majestro will ask the state Supreme Court to do what it did in a 1989 case, Jewell v Maynard, in which an attorney filed a lawsuit arguing that he had a conflict of interest in representing his client because he wasn't being adequately compensated for his time. In that case, the rates for court-appointed attorneys hadn't been increased in 12 years.

The Supreme Court ruled in the attorneys' favor and raised the rates in 1990. The pay has remained the same ever since: $45 per hour for out-of-court work and $65 an hour for in-court work.

Justices at the time determined the rate of pay based on the federal court system, which currently pays court appointed attorneys $127 an hour for both in and out of court work, according to the notice.

Meanwhile, attorneys in West Virginia who handle family court case appointments are paid $80 an hour for out of court work and $100 an hour for work done in a courtroom. The Supreme Court sets the rates for those cases.

The Supreme Court "has recognized that low compensation to panel attorneys appointed to represent indigent criminal defendants constitutes a potential constitutional violation for both the attorney and the client," Majestro wrote in the notice.

The notice also points out how often Public Defender Services is months behind in paying attorneys for their work.

"Second, the time has come to recognize and remedy the inordinate delays in payment of PDS panel attorneys," Majestro wrote. "Unfortunately, the promise of prompt payment has been largely illusory."

The delay often results in attorneys selling their reimbursement request vouchers to companies who take a percentage of their money so that they can get paid sooner.

Those who cover family court appointments get paid within 30 days, Majestro noted.

Eddy, who could not immediately be reached for comment last week, said last month that the guidelines were being implemented to ensure everyone gets paid at a time when state agencies have been asked to cut expenses.

He previously acknowledged that he was cutting money from attorneys overdue for a raise.

"Court-appointed counsel are due for a raise and here we are talking about paying them even less," Eddy said last month.

State law requires notice be given to state agencies before a lawsuit is filed. Majestro sent the notice to state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, Secretary of Administration Jason Pizatella and Eddy.

Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1724 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.

More than two dozen West Virginia hospitals saved more than $265 million last year through reductions in uncompensated care from 2013 to 2014, according to data from the West Virginia Health Care Authority compiled by West Virginians for Affordable Health Care.

More than 200,000 West Virginians have gained health insurance since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act expanded coverage in 2013, including more than 165,000 new Medicaid recipients and more than 34,000 newly insured in the individual market. Because the state's uninsured rate has dropped markedly - from 17.6 percent in 2013 to an 8.3 percent in the first half of 2015, according to Gallup - hospitals have had to provide less charity care to the uninsured, and have seen more reimbursement from those now covered by expanded Medicaid.

Charleston Area Medical Center, the state's largest hospital, saw a $64.5 million drop from 2013, when they provided $137 million in free care, to 2014, when their charity care and bad debt dropped to $72.6 million - a 47 percent reduction in uncompensated care, according to Perry Bryant, founder and former director of West Virginians for Affordable Health Care.

West Virginia University Hospitals' uncompensated care was cut by more than half - 54 percent - from 2013 to 2014, from $94 million in free care in 2013, to $43 million in 2014, saving the system $51 million.

Many of West Virginia's larger hospitals have indicated that losses in Medicare reimbursement, which was cut to help fund the Medicaid expansion, have cut into those estimated savings, but Bryant said each hospital is still saving millions more than prior to the ACA.

"While accountants can debate the exact amount of savings to hospitals in West Virginia, it is clear that they saved tens of millions of dollars on uncompensated care," Bryant said. "They should be using this new source of funding to make real improvements in the health of communities throughout the state."

Six other hospitals saved more than $10 million in uncompensated care. United Hospital Center saved $22.3 million, Cabell Huntington Hospital saved $16.6 million, Berkeley Medical Center saved $15.5 million, Raleigh General saved $12.9 million, Mon General saved $11.5 million, and St. Mary's Medical Center saved $11.5 million. Statewide, the cost of uncompensated care was reduced by nearly 40 percent.

"This windfall of savings is an once-in-a-lifetime moment for hospitals to make meaningful changes in the health outcomes of West Virginians," Bryant said. "If hospitals would direct a fraction of this windfall to fund community efforts, West Virginia could make major strides in reducing obesity, smoking and drug abuse."

Thomas Health System saw a decline in uncompensated care for both Thomas Memorial Hospital and Saint Francis Hospital totaling $12 million, and the total write-offs for Medicaid adjustments more than doubled during the same time period for a total $26 million increase, according to Renee Cross, the vice president of finance for Thomas.

"We have seen more than a one-to-one shift from uninsured to Medicaid since the expanded program began on January 1 of 2014," Cross said. "Historically, patients without insurance coverage were less likely to seek medical care until their medical condition was at an advanced, and sometimes critical, state. Now with access to Medicaid coverage, the patient is more likely to seek preventive care and medical care at an earlier stage of illness if they have access to a primary care physician."

Cross added that the problem is that in many rural areas of West Virginia, primary care is not easily accessible, and so many new Medicaid patients are turning up in hospital emergency rooms seeking treatment.

"These patients are more frequently presenting to hospital emergency departments not only for emergent care, but also for their primary care needs," she said. "This has contributed to increased ER volumes, and increased volumes typically lead to increased wait times. It costs more to provide care for these patients than Medicaid reimburses."

Cross said that although Medicaid reimburses for care, unlike charity care and bad debts, it still costs more to care for patients than the program reimburses.

"In fiscal year 2014, Thomas Health System lost almost $10 million on taking care of Medicaid patients," she said. "Annually, going forward, we estimate that we will continue to lose more than $8 million taking care of our Medicaid population. Thomas Health System has seen about a 30 percent decline in bad debt and charity care combined, but has seen more than a corresponding increase in Medicaid volume and write-offs. We have to continue focusing on providing quality, compassionate and cost-effective healthcare to all of our patients to ensure the continuation of our mission and ministry by excelling at providing the human touch in healthcare."

According to the West Virginia Hospital Association, more than 70 percent of patients that West Virginia hospitals treat are covered by either Medicaid, Medicare, or some other government-funded program. Joe Letnaunchyn, president and CEO of the hospital association, said in a release that government payors pay below the cost of treating patients, and any benefits from the Medicaid expansion have been offset by cuts to Medicare.

"Being one year removed from Medicaid expansion and new marketplace options, along with other payment changes, not to mention economic, demographic, and regulatory challenges throughout the healthcare industry, the landscape still remains undefined," he said.

But for Bryant, the real savings created by the shift away from charity care and bad debt mean that the ACA is working, and hospitals should look toward creating more momentum by investing in more preventive health measures.

"They're not getting paid at cost, but they're better off than they were. Should we look at bringing government payors up? Absolutely, and we're looking at how to do that, because it would be incredibly expensive to do," he said. "Hospitals need to broaden their horizons and do more for the community than they've been doing, because they have more money to work with."

Reach Lydia Nuzum at lydia.nuzum@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5189 or follow @lydianuzum on Twitter.

Three Ohio County school board members aren't specifying why they want to change the leader of a school system that had the best English language arts standardized test proficiency rate in the state last school year and the second-best rate in math.

Board President Shane Mallett, Vice President Gary Kestner and Tim Birch voted Tuesday to not renew Superintendent Dianna Vargo's contract. School system spokesman Gabe Wells said she's served the northern panhandle district for 32 years, the last four as superintendent, and she previously was assistant and deputy superintendent and a principal and teacher at Wheeling Park High.

Wells said Vargo intends to remain in the position until her current contract, which grants her a $150,000 annual salary, ends in June. Vargo declined to comment beyond a short prepared statement thanking other school system staff she's worked with.

"Our parents should know that your children's futures are very bright," she said. "We're gratified to have worked tirelessly on behalf of our students and we will continue to do so for the remainder of my tenure. Thank you."

Alongside the county's relatively high test scores compared with the rest of West Virginia, last month, Wheeling Park High won its first state football championship since it opened in 1976. It also won a state cheerleading championship.

School board member Sarah Koegler, who voted alongside Christine Carder to renew Vargo's contract, cited the county's test scores, athletic successes, Advanced Placement offerings and fine arts programs in explaining that she doesn't know why her fellow board members did what they did. She said Vargo was a strong leader, and the motion to not renew "shocked" her.

"From almost every aspect we are strong and we continue to get stronger," Koegler said. "And that's not all due to Dr. Vargo ... but it's not a situation where you say, 'hmm, that clearly needs a leadership change.'"

She said the three who voted not to renew Vargo's contract owe the public an explanation, even if they're not legally required to. She said there's no way the members made the decision with kids' best interests in mind.

"There's gotta be some other agenda," Koegler said. "I just don't know what it is."

Mallett told media after the vote that the board wanted to move in a "new direction." But he declined to tell the Gazette-Mail Thursday what that phrase meant.

"That borders on the employee matters," he said.

He also said he couldn't speak about Vargo's evaluations for the same reason. Koegler and Carder said the board consistently found Vargo met or exceeded all goals in those evaluations, even after they worked with the superintendent to make them more measurable and specific.

"When we interview the potential candidates, you'll see the direction, at least from my point of view, that I'd like the county to go in," Mallett said.

Birch said he could be sued for fully discussing the reasoning, but said it was one of the hardest votes he's ever had to make. He said Vargo has been a "wonderful administrator."

"I consider her a friend, and it killed me to have to vote against the contract - matter of fact, I had pains in my chest from the stress of it," he said. "... I just think we need a stronger leader to go to the next step."

When pressed on what this new direction or next step entailed, he first said he was uncomfortable discussing it but then said he wants to make Ohio schools more competitive nationally. He said he wants them to be as good as a local private school, the Linsly School, where he went to junior high. But he didn't offer more specifics on the exact national measures where he sees the system lagging.

He noted that while the county ranked high compared to the rest of West Virginia, the state has overall poor national rankings in education. Though it took the top spot on English standardized tests in West Virginia, still, only about six out of every 10 Ohio County students met proficiency in the subject. Its No. 2 ranking in math came despite a 38 percent proficiency rate.

"That's my problem, I want to get out of that bubble, that so-called bottom of the pile, and I think we deserve that; we need to get out of the bottom of the pile," he said.

He and Mallett said they have no idea about who they want to be the next superintendent, though Carder said she doesn't think that's the case. Kestner did not return calls for comment last week. Wells, the Ohio schools spokesman, said the new superintendent position will be posted this week.

Koegler and Carder said there was no discussion among the full board about not renewing the contract before Tuesday's meeting, at which the board quickly entered closed session. They said the other members didn't indicate during the roughly half-hour session that they weren't going to renew the contract.

Birch said board members didn't discuss the non-renewal outside of meetings before Tuesday's vote. State law requires publicly noticed meetings if a majority of members of a board want to discuss a issue requiring official action. Koegler said, "it's hard to imagine that those guys would sit by themselves and come to that decision," and Carder said a non-renewal motion was rumored beforehand.

"It was pretty much on the grapevine last week," she said. "Usually the custodians know first, and that was the case."

Carder said she worked as a teacher and administrator in the county for almost four decades, and said the county has never had a superintendent who worked harder or devoted more time than Vargo. Carder alleged the three male members of being involved in "back-room deals."

"They're sleazy, they're very sleazy and they're very sneaky," she said. "Short of breaking the law, very short of breaking the law."

Reach Ryan Quinn at ryan.quinn@wvgazettemail.com, facebook.com/ryanedwinquinn, 304-348-1254 or follow @RyanEQuinn on Twitter.

With temperatures in the mid-70s, thunderstorms and even a small tornado in the Parkersburg area on Christmas Eve, Santa was probably glad to put West Virginia in his sleigh's rear-view following his most recent gift-giving run to the Mountain State.

But instead of being able to chill out for a long winter's rest in his familiar arctic climate, the jolly, bearded one is dealing with home-place temperatures that are warmer than places like Chicago and Oklahoma City. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it was more than 50 degrees warmer than normal at the North Pole Wednesday morning, with the temperature rising to a balmy, above-freezing 33 degrees.

Maybe next year, those on his "naughty" list will be getting lithium ion batteries in their stockings instead of coal.

nnn

The Thanksgiving to Christmas season is the peak time for donating items of nonperishable foods to food banks and community pantries. Most of those who take part in food drives to restock food bank shelves donate thoughtfully and generously, but a few donors tend to overlook things like expirations dates, major dents or rust spots on donated cans of food, or the appropriateness of foods being given to the needy.

"We must check every can, box, or bag of food for rust, dents and expiration dates," wrote one Kanawha Valley food pantry volunteer. "This can take a large amount of time, and much is thrown away due to the fact that it is not fit for human consumption."

Food bank donations should not be used "as a time to clean out the fridge and pantry at your house. People don't need a can of food that looks like it was in the flood and expired in the year 2000," according to the volunteer. "Do you really think you are helping someone by giving them something you won't even eat yourself? It always amazes me as to what people donate, but this year took the cake."

Better make that English-style pudding, rather than cake.

To illustrate the point, the volunteer included a photo of a can of a Heinz product received at the food pantry bearing the unsavory name of - and I'm not making this up - Spotted Dick. A little yellow tag to the right of the product's label lets consumers know that the Heinz version of Spotted Dick is microwavable.

I learned from Wikipedia that the product "is a popular British pudding made with suet and dried fruit, usually currants and raisins." The cake-like pudding gets the "spotted" part of its name from the raisins and currants suspended in the loaf, while "the origin of the second part of the name is more obscure," although the word "was widely used as a term for pudding (in Britain) in the 19th Century."

Now that the Thanksgiving-Christmas season is over and donations have tapered off, food banks and pantries need nonperishable food items more than ever. Most needed are cans of high-protein foods, like canned chicken, tuna, salmon and beans, or plastic jars of peanut butter, along with canned soups, fruits and vegetables.

If you feel like giving something spotted, make it pinto beans.

nnn

The good news is that former Turing Pharmaceuticals chief Martin Shkreli was arrested two weeks ago for securities fraud. The bad news is that his $5 million bond, unlike the prices he charged for vital yet relatively inexpensively produced drugs, hasn't yet gone up 5,000 percent.

A young woman who lives in one of the West Virginia cities considering a new nondiscrimination ordinance is so fearful of being harassed or attacked that she wouldn't agree to an interview or her name being used for a story.

Yet an ongoing campaign in the town where she lives is meant to instill fear of people like her.

Her mom, who also didn't want to be named because doing so would identify her daughter, said her daughter recently had a panic attack after she heard other members of the community saying they needed to start carrying concealed weapons, if people like her daughter were going to be allowed in women's restrooms.

Her daughter is a transgender woman.

The ordinance, currently being considered in Lewisburg, Martinsburg, and Charles Town, would make it illegal to discriminate against her, other transgender people, lesbians, gays and bisexuals in housing, employment or public accommodations. Six cities in West Virginia currently have similar ordinances.

Opponents are fighting passage of the ordinances by saying the ordinances would allow men to put on dresses, sneak into women's restrooms, and assault women and children.

The woman's mother said she believes that because her daughter was unable to control her biology, she has turned to trying to control everything else, and developed an anxiety disorder as a result - obsessive compulsive disorder. As a child, she had to be pulled out of public school because of bullying, and she still is regularly harassed.

"Every time we're out, we're worried about her safety," her mother said.

The Family Policy Council of West Virginia, a conservative advocacy group, has been using its website and social media to drum up opposition to the ordinances. On Dec. 27, the group posted a photo on Facebook of a stick man peering over a wall, presumably a bathroom stall divider, at a stick woman, with the warning "no men in ladies bathrooms or girls locker rooms."

It's unclear when the Family Policy Council developed an interest in advocating for preventing violence against women. In an interview this week, Allen Whitt, president of the organization, couldn't give one example of another time the organization waged a campaign to prevent violence against women, saying only that the organization had been interested in women's safety since its inception.

"It's a public safety issue," he said. "This isn't a civil rights issue."

Research has shown that transgender men and women are at heightened risk of being attacked or harassed. While it is difficult to pinpoint the precise number, because police and the media often don't report that a murder victim was transgender and did not identify with the gender assigned at birth, transgender people are more likely to be murdered. The Human Rights Campaign, a civil rights group, estimates that transgender women are 4.3 times more likely than other women to be killed.

The National Transgender Discrimination Survey found that 61 percent of transgender respondents reported being the victim of physical assault and 64 percent reported being the victim of sexual assault.

A 2008 survey of transgender and gender non-conforming respondents in Washington, D.C. found that 68 percent had experienced verbal harassment about using the gender-appropriate restroom, and 9 percent had experienced physical assault because of it. One transgender woman reported being sexually assaulted while using the men's restroom.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration also advises letting transgender people use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity.

"Restricting employees to using only restrooms that are not consistent with their gender identity, or segregating them from other workers by requiring them to use gender-neutral or other specific restrooms, singles those employees out and may make them fear for their physical safety," an OSHA guide of best practices reads.

Meanwhile, violence against women is much less likely to be committed by a stranger in a bathroom. It's most commonly committed by someone known to the victim. According to a study cited by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, in eight out of ten cases of rape, the victim knew the person who assaulted them.

And despite the fact that about 400 cities in the United States have implemented similar nondiscrimination ordinances, there have been no documented reports of transgender people using their new access to gender-appropriate bathrooms to assault people.

But LGBT rights advocates say the campaign against the ordinances isn't about logic. It's a distraction and an attempt to use fear-mongering to halt civil rights progress, according to Andrew Schneider, executive director of LGBT-rights group Fairness West Virginia.

"This claim is known as the bathroom predator myth and is meant to scare the general public into believing transgender people are predators," Schneider said. "It distracts from the real discrimination the LGBT community faces every day in employment, housing and public accommodations."

Cynthia Deville, a transgender woman, knows about discrimination in employment.

Deville owned a beauty salon when she lived in Lewisburg. She didn't have much of a choice if she wanted to work as a beautician, because no one else would hire her.

"They had chairs to rent, and they wouldn't even rent a chair to me," she said.

She experienced discrimination from potential clients, too. One woman canceled a pedicure when she found out Deville was transgender.

"I thought, I'm just going to rub your feet," Deville remembers.

She is well aware of the dangers of being a transgender woman, although she tries to push the thought to the back of her mind to keep her sanity.

"I don't go looking for trouble because I knew I could find it," she said.

She's also experienced her share of belittlement. She's been called "he-she" or "it" before.

"You don't choose to give up privilege as a white Anglo Saxon protestant male and take an immediate 25-27 percent pay cut or more," she said.

She also believes the campaign is not based on real desire to prevent women from violence.

"Men that intend to injure or do harm to women or children - they don't need an ordinance to protect them, and they're not going to put a dress on," she said.

Suzanne Carter knows about discrimination in housing. She and her wife moved to Lewisburg about two years ago. They thought they had found a house, until the couple renting it found out their sexual orientations.

"You could hear her audibly gasp on the phone," Carter said.

Carter said the landlords made up an excuse about why they couldn't rent the house. The day after telling Carter it was no longer available, they put it up on Craigslist for rent.

"I was sick," Carter said. "I still am angry about it and it's been almost two years. I was physically ill."

Carter and her wife had to continue taking care of their 1-year-old in a hotel room until they found another place.

Carter grew up Catholic, so she's used to a sense of disapproval, but being refused housing was a new type of rejection.

She had heard that Lewisburg was such a friendly, progressive place. That experience made her want to move.

"When people do things like that, they make you feel like you're second class," she said.

LGBT members of the Lewisburg community and their allies just hope stories like Deville's and Carter's are heard over all the buzz about bathrooms.

Second reading of Lewisburg's ordinance is planned for Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m., although city officials haven't yet decided on a new, larger venue.

Mayor John Manchester said about 150-200 people, mostly opposed, attended the meeting, while Family Policy Council president Allen Whitt, who attended, estimates it was more like 500.

Manchester said that most of those opposed were not from Lewisburg.

"I didn't recognize many of the individuals," he said.

He supports the ordinance, although as mayor, he does not vote.
"I think we're known as an inclusive community," he said. "I think consideration of an ordinance like this would be a real manifestation of that inclusive nature."

Whitt took issue with the fact that public comment is not permitted until second reading.

He also took issue with the ordinance giving LGBT community members the ability to sue over discrimination.

"I'm not sure this group of people needs protection to begin with," he said.

Betsy Walker, a lesbian and LGBT-rights advocate, has seen the signs go up around Lewisburg and the big crowd at the meeting.

"I chose to leave so that the opposition could have a seat," she said.

She just hopes the controversy doesn't fracture the "coolest small town."

"This is about discrimination," Walker said. "It's not about bathrooms."

Reach Erin Beck at erin.beck@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5163, Facebook.com/erinbeckwv, or follow @erinbeckwv on Twitter.

A Portsmouth, Ohio-based franchise has purchased nearly 20 Wendy's restaurants in and around Charleston and Huntington.

Schmidt Family Restaurant Group recently acquired 25 Wendy's locations from the chain's corporate system, including three in Ohio and four in Kentucky. Schmidt Marketing Director Stacie Staker said the purchase is the largest single acquisition the company has made - more than doubling the number of restaurants it owns.

The purchase came shortly after Wendy's corporate system closed two locations it owned in Charleston - at 6303 MacCorkle Ave. and 100 Patrick Street Plaza.

"They were under-performing," said Bob Bertini, senior director of communications at the Wendy's Company. "Those two locations were not meeting our sales expectations."

Bertini added that all the managers and crew members at the closed restaurants were "given an opportunity to work at other Wendy's locations in the area."

Prior to Schmidt's purchase, the franchise owned 14 restaurants across West Virginia and Ohio, including four Buffalo Wild Wings locations, according to Staker.

Its founder, Scott Schmidt, has worked with Wendy's for more than 40 years. In 2013, he was given a Wendy's Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award. His son, Justin, is now president of the franchise.

Staker said the restaurant group is strongly committed to capital investment, with plans to remodel several of the recently purchased locations in upcoming years.

The bulk purchase comes after an announcement the Wendy's Company made earlier this year of its plans to sell about 540 company-owned restaurants in different U.S. markets.

"Our intention is to decrease our company restaurant ownership position to 5 percent of our system, or approximately 315 restaurants," Bertini said.

It's believed those efforts will help the company drive growth by putting more locations in the hands of successful franchise operators.

With support from its franchise partners, "we plan to re-image more than 60 percent of Wendy's North America restaurant system by 2020, and open, excluding closures, up to 1,000 new builds," Bertini said.

Reach Elaina Sauber at

elaina.sauber@wvgazettemail.com,

304-348-3051 or follow

@ElainaSauber on Twitter.

An impressive run on the Upper Gauley River landed a pair of West Virginians on the women's U.S. Whitewater Raft Team, where they can expect more thrilling races.

In September, after posting a come-from-behind win in the rafting division during the annual The Animal Upper Gauley River Race - a 9-mile, experts-only downriver sprint through some of the most challenging whitewater in America - Jo-Beth Stamm and Koreen Padjen were invited to take on another challenge - to become members of the women's U.S. Whitewater Raft Team during the World Whitewater Rafting Championship, on the Citarik River in Indonesia, less than three months later.

"I was absolutely thrilled to be invited," said Stamm, 33, who has worked as a guide on the New and Gauley rivers for the past 10 years when not on the job as an emergency room nurse. "It was a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the sport and see how big it has become around the rest of the world."

Stamm and Padjen, both of Fayetteville, were part of an Adventures on the Gorge raft team during the September race. The captain of the U.S. Whitewater Raft Team, which also had a boat on the river during the Upper Gauley Race, was impressed with their performance in the event, and asked them to join the national team.

"We trained with [Colorado resident] Julie Sutton, the head of the women's team, who guides on the Gauley River in the fall," Stamm said. "After the rest of the team left, Koreen and I trained together, to get ready for the Worlds. More than anything, you're training to learn the intricacies of the race stroke, which is different from a whitewater paddling stroke. You have to develop a powerful stroke and maintain it for long periods of time."

Members of the women's team raised funds from private sponsors, which helped make the trip to the international competition possible.

"But it didn't cover everything," Stamm said. "We had to do some out-of-pocket self-funding to make the trip happen."

After flying to the Indonesian capital of Jakarta in late November and traveling to the Citarik River, the team resumed practice, took part in pre-race events and an opening ceremony, spent some time socializing with contestants from the 22 countries taking part in the championships, and prepared for a series of races: sprint, slalom, downriver and head-to-head events that took place during the first week in December.

Between events and practice sessions, U.S. team members paddled the subtropical river for fun.

"I packed a little shredder [inflatable whitewater catamaran] in my suitcase, and when not training with the team, Koreen and I had a lot of fun with that."

"We had seven people on the team and used the six best suited for a particular event to be the crew," said Stamm, who competed in the head-to-head downriver race. "Head-to-head racing is very exciting. The Citarik is a shallow river, with very technical whitewater, kind of like the Youghiogheny River, in Maryland. It has mostly Class III rapids, with one Class IV with a good-sized drop that was a lot of fun. When you're racing head-to-head, sometimes both rafts are heading to spots that are only one raft wide, and a lot of times, the rafts would collide as they got to the same place."

Competitors use identical rafts inflated to identical pressures to help level the playing field. The teams must supply their own paddles, personal flotation devices and helmets.

While competition was intense, when competitors gathered off the river, the spirit was collegial.

"People there were competitive, but so friendly. They were happy to share training tips and give paddling advice," said Stamm. "In some countries, whitewater raft racing is a very big deal, while it's kind of a fringe sport in the U.S. Some of the other teams train year-round, and some teams are paid."

The U.S. women's team ended up finishing eighth in overall standings, just behind Russia and just ahead of Australia. The top three finishers were the Czech Republic, New Zealand and Japan.

The U.S. men's team finished 16th.

Stamm and Padgen hope their first taste of international competition won't be their last.

Five Adventures on the Gorge guides, including Stamm, Padgen and two other guides who were aboard the company's raft during September's Upper Gauley Animal race, already are training for the 2016 national whitewater championship, to be held in April on Oregon's section of the Klamath River. The winner of that event will represent the United States at next year's World Rafting Championship, to be held on an artificial whitewater stream in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates' capital city.

"We all know each other and have all guided together," said Stamm. In addition to Stamm and Padgen, members of the Sweets of the East team, as it is now known, include Margaret Cadmus, Sherry Spiker and Hannah Vogt.

While six-person teams competed during the world championships in Indonesia, next year's international competition will involve four-person crews, with a fifth alternate paddler.

"Right now, we're meeting once a week for paddle practice, and doing individual training for upper body and core strength," Stamm said. "By February, we should be paddling together two or three times a week, sometimes at a pool."

Stamm said she is anxious to make a repeat visit to the world championship race.

"It's very competitive, but it's definitely a fun scene, too," she said.

West Virginia's Gauley River was the site of the World Whitewater Rafting Championship in 2001.

Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelhammer@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5169, or follow @rsteelhammer on Twitter.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) - Eight years have passed since Leah Hickman was last seen alive, and there are still few answers about who killed the 21-year-old Marshall University student.

Although nearly a decade has passed, Huntington Police Chief Joe Ciccarelli believes the case is anything but cold. He could not elaborate due to the ongoing investigation, but said the case recently splintered off into smaller investigations.

"It's still an active investigation. There have been investigations ongoing relative to that case in the last few months," he said.

Hickman, from Leon in Mason County, was last seen alive Dec. 14, 2007. The disappearance was initially treated as a missing person case, garnering national media attention.

After a week of grueling searching, her body was discovered in the crawl space of her apartment building located in the 400 block of 8th Avenue in Huntington. Police said she had been strangled.

Investigators previously said they had a working theory about the killer's identity, but lacked evidence needed to prosecute. The theory indicated her death was not a random act, but was carried out by someone who knew the layout of her apartment.

The police department regularly meets to discuss unsolved cases, the Hickman case being one of the most important because of the mystery, Ciccarelli said.

"We will pursue any lead that comes to us," he said. "We meet regularly and discuss a number of unsolved cases to look for ways to bring unsolved cases to conclusions."

DNA evidence was taken from the scene and police hoped mitochondrial DNA testing at a state-of-the-art crime laboratory in Phoenix would identify the student's killer.

They had no such luck when the results came back in 2009.

Now the detectives' hopes lie with the development of forensic science and the small sample of mitochondrial DNA left.

Ciccarelli believes one day a combination of police work and forensic development will bring Leah Hickman and her family justice.

"[Forensic development] is certainly one aspect we will continue to monitor and see if there are advancements in forensics in that case," he said. "The other side of that case is police work, and we are pursuing that type of investigation as well."

Like many unsolved homicide cases in the area, Hickman's death remains very recognizable in the community due to public outcry and memorial services held yearly.

In April 2014, Hickman's case was thrust back into the public eye when vandals defaced a wall of the apartment building where her body was found.

In large, painted letters, "Who killed Leah Hickman" was scrawled on the lower part of the building facing 4th Street.

Police and Ron Hickman, Leah's father, were left puzzled by who wrote the message and why they did it on a date that did not appear to be significant to the case.

Anyone with information about Leah Hickman's death should contact the Huntington Police Department's tip line at 304-696-4444 or its Detective Bureau at 304-696-4420. All information can be provided anonymously.

Say "hello" to the New Year. Summer and fall have retreated; winter is with us. God likes a bit of change, and so do we.

As we celebrate a New Year, say "hello" to those who need warmth and kindness, just as we do. May our good intentions be able to get out of our driveways!

Say "hello" to God and His Son, who have richly endowed us with opportunity and saving love.

We have enjoyed so much in this life. We are richly endowed. The new year is a time when we should reconsider our hopes and desires. They are meant to bless us - and others through us.

We have experienced wonderful freedoms in our country. While we are not without problems, we also are not without opportunities to do the work of peace. It is good to consider one's life's journey in response to God and for the sake of others, as well as ourselves.

Say "hello" to needful people, kindling the warmth of hope in their hearts. In one way or another, we are all needful. And we are our brother's and sister's keeper.

Say "hello" again to careful driving!! We've all witnessed poor and dangerous driving. Some people just have to reach their destination yesterday! So say "hello" again to maturity and good manners!

Say "hello" again to our God who stands at the door and knocks. Quite surprising, isn't it, that He who has all power doesn't force His way into our lives? His gentle counseling of the heart and mind surprises us. Like a sower, He plants His wishes and encourages our peace.

Of course, we have to say "goodbye" to some things. Everyone changes and our interests change, we all know that. But there is One who changes not, whose love does not grow dim. Say "hello" and, yes, more than "hello" to the God who loves you.

Peace to you!

Rev. Dr. Lamb is parish associate at First Presbyterian Church, Charleston.