Braxton Citizens' News

In this weeks edition:

A great weekend…
It was great 4th celebration at the Given household. This particular one didn’t include much time with the grandchildren, which is unusual. We headed to the lake after work on Wednesday. Thursday was very relaxing and certainly a good time to remember what a great nation we live in, regardless of the nightly news. Allison and family visited Wednesday evening, Jamie’s family came to the lake on Thursday and headed to the beach on vacation Friday.
I worked a little on Friday… long enough to cover the County Commission meeting. I must say I was impressed that the Commission didn’t cancel that meeting after the Governor declared Friday a holiday. The late notice was very short sighted on the Governor’s part. It may well have been a positive political move, but it certainly didn’t allow any time for agencies to plan or in this case change plans. I’m glad our Commission followed through with their meeting after they made the proper public notification.
It was a very positive meeting. The Commission and the WV State Fire Marshal’s office recognized the heroic efforts of three local men whose bravery undoubted saved a lady’s life.
I closed our office and told my staff they knew what was necessary for us to meet our deadline on Monday. If they needed they could come in at their leisure… or if they could get everything done on Monday that was Okay too. So, after the Commission meeting, I headed back to the lake.
Jeanine and I left mid-day Saturday to go home and get ready for the Gassaway High School Reunion. It was fun visiting with old friends. Jeanine was a good sport. She never complained but I’m sure she would have preferred to stay at the lake.
I had the privilege of presenting the GHS Alumni Association’s first GHS Alumni Service Awards. We recognized two very deserving individuals. One went Craig Gerwig who could not be with us due to health issues. Robert Jack accepted the award on Craig’s behalf. Our association has increased its award of scholarships thanks to Mr. Gerwig’s generosity. We have even bigger plans for next year.
The second award went to the family of Jim Lambert. Jim was such an avid supporter of GHS our Association felt we needed to recognize his contributions and the huge void that we felt by not having him with us in person at the banquet.
As is usually the case, I was nervous about my role. When I made the presentation, I mentioned that a scholarship had been established in Jim’s memory. I mistakenly stated that it originated from his beloved Class of 1967. Only two weeks ago we had a front page story about the creation of that scholarship. I was told after the banquet that the endeavor was the brainchild of the group of retired educators in the county. It wasn’t reflected in the story we published but I do sincerely apologize for not getting it right. I do hope that many of Jim’s classmates, colleagues and friends will join me in contributing to that fund.
We went back to the lake after the banquet and had a relaxing evening, mostly listening to the rain. By Sunday morning we were both ready to come home... but only after several hours of cleaning.