The Charleston Gazette - News Columnists -

SUMMER is beginning to fade, as autumn begins peeping around the corners of the day. There is a cool note threaded through the night air and misty mornings herald the gradual changing of the seasons.

Rain brings everyday blessings to satisfy deepest needs

A SLOW, steady rain is dripping from the eaves of the house this morning, washing the leaves to a brilliant green and liberally watering the lawn and garden.

Homemade playhouse brings joy to children and adults

THE Rose of Sharon bush has burst into a mass of deep pink blossoms to welcome the coming of August. In the shade of this shrub there is an odd assortment of items.

Karin Fuller

Smell the Coffee: Where did we go wrong?

I was the kind of kid that summer reading programs were made for. It took nothing more than a little competition (a challenge to see who could read the most) to turn me into a library regular.

Easily entertained at the beach

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - While typing these words, my toes are scrunching in sand. A single optimistic gull is lingering at the rail, although my crusts are long gone. A band has started warming up at the beach bar on the other side of the wall. And if Dustin Michael touches his sister's toast one more time, he's going shopping with Meemaw tomorrow instead of to the beach.

Phil Kabler

Job fairs bring state worker complaints

Suffice to say last week's announcement that Gov. Joe Manchin will be hosting a series of job fairs across the state to recruit new state employees drew howls of complaints from current state workers.

Capitol feels loss of model reporter

The press room, and the whole Capitol for that matter, will be an emptier place without Tom Searls.

Slots drop does not match bar claims

Sometimes West Virginians have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, and so it was last week when about 50 Kanawha County bar owners and patrons protested the county health department's ban on public smoking.

700 grants approved; must be election

More proof that this is an election year: Gov. Joe Manchin is opening the spigot up a bit on releasing funds for Community Partnership Project grants. Since Jan. 1, the governor has approved funding for nearly 700 grants - totaling $6,299,145 - according to figures complied by the state Development Office.

Agencies to leave old DMV building

Building 3, the art deco-looking office tower on the state Capitol Complex, has always been informally known as the DMV building, since Division of Motor Vehicles offices - and up to 1998, its customer services windows - were housed on the first floor.

Rick Steelhammer

A really cheesy idea

Some random thoughts from a scattered brain: While the value of the dollar may be plummeting almost as rapidly as the price of gasoline soars, I have always depended on the kindness of McDonald's Dollar Menu to provide me with a cheap and comforting meal to see me through in these troubled times.

Still laughing after 25 years

Today marks the passing of a milestone in my career in bush-league journalism - my 25th anniversary as a humor-attempting Sunday columnist. The credit - some would say blame - for giving me this space goes entirely to the Gazette's late, legendary publisher, W.E. "Ned" Chilton III.

Tuning into state songs

If my state's official song was an aging Rodgers and Hammerstein show tune, I would probably be interested in adopting an official state rock anthem, too.

Sandy Wells

Innerviews: Commercial diver has river water in his blood

Something about the river tugs at him. The mystique captivated Eric Gardner even as a small boy living along the Kanawha on Campbells Creek. At 43, he bleeds river water. The river is his life, and his living. He works on water - and under it.

Innerviews: 89-year-old business pilot finally leaving company cockpit

In a no-frills building on Chesterfield Avenue, home of a vast workshop filled with machinery for making things, Lawrence Yeardley still oversees the engineering business he started more than a half-century ago. But he's on borrowed time. Yeardley Engineering has a buyer. Finally, at 89, the founder must face retirement.

Essays on Faith

Elsie J. Ours

My miniature pinscher prides himself with being the protector of our household. When vehicles are driven by our home, he barks furiously until they round the corner and go out of sight.