Feedakitty.com was designed and built to try and help find homes for fur babies who have been abused, abandoned, or rescued from various unhealthy conditions. Gilda is a sweet lady who has been taking in kittens and cats to try and find them forever homes since December of 2003. Gilda has turned the downstairs of her home into a feline rescue and has it set up as a wonderful place for all of these fur babies to live until someone comes along who will love them forever.

Every single cat or kitten who comes to live at Gilda's gets medical care, vaccinations, worming, and if they stay until they are old enough, they also get spayed or neutered. (AT HER EXPENSE!) These cats and kittens are all up for adoption at a price of $60 for babies and $85 for those who have already been spayed/neutered. Those who pay for a baby, also get $50 back once the baby has been fixed! That means you are only in reality paying $10 for a forever companion!! (keep in mind that it costs FAR more than this to feed and maintain the health and safety of each baby, so Gilda is not making money, she is losing money...but her love for every single one of these cats and kittens keeps her going and continuing to take in ANY furry feline who is in need. To date, Gilda has placed nearly 900 cats and kittens with forever families!!

Gilda and her husband, Don, also spend their weekends with the cats and kittens at Treasure Island Flea Market in Wintersville, Ohio where on Saturdays and Sundays you can stop out and visit with some of the kittens and cats that they have for adoption!

Our mission here is to try and help Gilda find forever homes for all of these cats and kittens who want and need someone to love them and give them a good, safe place to live. Some people can't have pets, or maybe just don't have the time to care for one...but for those people, we are reaching out and asking that just maybe you can find it in your heart, to help FEED A KITTY!

Any donation that you make will go directly to the care of these babies, the webiste is not for anyone's profit. It is to help keep these cats and kittens safe and healthy and to make certain that Gilda can continue to pay for any medical care that is needed. Keep in mind that NO cat or kitten is put to sleep in Gilda's world...she loves each and every one of them far too much to EVER consider that option!!

As you look through the gallery, keep in mind that these are only a TINY sample of the kittens and cats that are available and in need. In actuality, Gilda has over 100 right now, and I will be adding pictures weekly to share with you!

Oct. 18th, 2008 First Step to Jesus in the Hills II This is a non-denominational event that will include all "Ohio Valley" Christian Churches. The group is planning a kickoff event for Oct. 18th 2008 at Heritage Port, Wheeling WV from 12:00p.m.until 6:00p.m.featuring Bethany Dillon. This event will also have local groups including "The Chrisagis Brothers", "Risen Witness" and other local favorites. There will be some kid activities included since we are working to have all events very family oriented. We are also planning an event every Saturday during the "Festival of Lights" featuring different Christian groups or local Christian Church choirs to provide family entertainment with the Christmas theme. These events will most likely be held at Vance Memorial Presbyterian Church late afternoon or early evening. Our goal is to build awareness to the future event that will be held at the Jamboree in the Hills site. We are hoping for the third week of August 2009 to be the date for this event

"Jesus in the Hills II". With God, all things are possible. Without God, look what we have. Jim Kinney: "Good News Productions" 150 Woodrow Ave Saint Clairsville OH 43950 740-695-4639

Wheeling's Centre Market will be ghoulish with activity for Spooktacular 2008! This year's event is produced by Centre Market and the Friends of Centre Market.

Centre Market Spooktacular 2008 will be held on Saturday, October 18, 2008 from 11AM – 1PM. The event is mostly for children aged 12 and under and all attendees are encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes.

Anyone dressed up for the event is invited to participate in the parade at 11:15 AM. The parade will begin at the corner of 22nd and Market Streets near Centre Cup Coffee.

Along with getting a free photo with Mini Horses in costume, each child will receive a treat bag. The WLSC Smart Center will be conducting hands-on science experiments and the Ohio County Library will exhibit either story time or an activity.

The event is Free and open to the public. For more information call Paula at 234-3878 or visit www.centremarket.net

The valley has a new TV Show dedicated to Extreme Sports and Lifestyles. Eastern Extreme began airing on Ohio Valley ABC on Sunday September 21st at NOON. Show producer Bryan Murray wanted to share his love and passion for Action Sports with the area, "I have been actively shooting footage and participating in Extreme Sports forever and it was about time to put it all on TV!" Murray's show will air every Sunday at Noon and a special late night edition will run on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays after 2am. The show features a wide range of Action Sports like Snowboarding, Skateboarding, Surfing, Wakeboarding, Motorcycles, and More! Check out http://surfdogmedia.com for more information.

Article by Jean Israel

Joe Roxby is running for Ohio County Magistrate and I have had the opportunity to meet and talk with him recently. I thought that I would share a little bit about him and his reasons for running and let you decide what YOU think.

Mr. Roxby has been a Wheeling resident his entire life. He graduated from Wheeling Central in 1971 and from West Liberty State College in 1975 with a degree in History. Mr. Roxby also attended the West Virginia State Police Academy and was on the Wheeling Police force for 25 years. As far as being a magistrate, Mr. Roxby has much knowledge of dealing with crimes from the side of being a police officer on the scene and has dealt with probably any type of crime scene you can imagine in his 25 years of service, which would certainly give him an edge in the reality of what he would be dealing with in a courtroom.

Joe Roxby is also a staff writer for Precision Shooting magazine, and a noted local frontier historian. He has written pieces for many other magazines and also is the co-author of the book The Heroic Age, Tales of Wheeling's Frontier Era and author of a book of short stories entitled Lost Legends of Fort Henry. 

Mr. Roxby has made many accomplishments in his life and is now wanting a chance to be Ohio County's Magistrate with much knowledge and success to be brought with him into that position. You can read more about him on his website at: http://joeroxby.com/index.html

Article by Jean Israel

I had the opportunity to meet Belmont County Prosecuting Attorney, Chris Berhalter a few weeks ago at a luncheon for the Bellaire Chamber of Commerce, and since then have also been able to speak with him on the telephone and would like to share my thoughts with you.

Mr. Berhalter struck me as someone that most of us can relate to, in that one of his biggest issues in the world and most especially in our own communities, are crimes against children. In the less than four years that he has been the Prosecuting Attorney for Belmont County, the way with which he has swiftly and harshly dealt with these cases shows how strongly he feels about anyone who takes away the innocence that every child should be entitled to. Crimes against children haven't "risen" in these years, but what HAS risen, is the COURAGE for victims to come forward, not only right after an incident has occurred, but even years later, some have finally found a voice to fight for them.

Chris Berhalter has even more plans for the future of helping children in the area, and I hope that you will consider checking out his website ( www.chrisberhalter.com ) and reading more about him. I feel that he is someone who is a great asset to Belmont County and a wonderful advocate for children, which I hope is as near and dear to your heart as it is to mine!

WHEELING, WV-- The Wheeling Jamboree will produce a summer series of shows beginning June 28th at Brush Run Park. The announcement was made during intermission at last Saturday's show at WesBanco Arena featuring the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Cherryholmes. "Brush Run Park, the site of Jamboree In The Hills from 1977 – 1989, offers The Wheeling Jamboree a venue for outdoor, family oriented shows for this summer," said Jeff McCamic, President of Wheeling Jamboree, Inc. "We will produce the first show of this series on the original stage at Brush Run Park on Saturday, June 28th, 2008," McCamic continued. The show schedule at Brush Run Park will include June 28th , August 2nd, August 16th and 30th, and September 13th and 27th. Ticket prices will be $15.00 per person for each show and all kids and students age 17 and under will be admitted free with adults for the Summer Series. Wheeling Jamboree, Inc.'s non-profit purpose is to support music education. "Exposure to great music provides young people with an appreciation and fosters inquiry and interest in traditional music for which this area is recognized the world over," commented Bud Forte, Operation's Manager for the Wheeling Jamboree. "Patrons are encouraged to bring their blankets, coolers, and lawn chairs to enjoy the show. Food and drinks will also be available at Brush Run Park," added Forte. "This is a family oriented show featuring traditional country and bluegrass music by familiar artists who are loved by many Jamboree fans. There will be some new and future Jamboree stars that will be on the stage this summer too."

Page 2 Kicking off the Summer Series season will be JoAnn Jones, JoAnn Thomas along with the Bluegrass Express. Local up-and-coming artist, Derrick McKee and the featured performer will be singer, songwriter, and guitarist--Roger Hoard. Prior to each show at Brush Run Park, the Wheeling Jamboree will resurrect the StarQuest Talent Search Contest. Local performers who would like to participate in the contest should be prepared to perform live for fifteen minutes at the venue. Contestants will be judged on voice and/or instrumental talent, stage presentation, originality, suitability for the Wheeling Jamboree show and audience appeal. Five contestants will be featured each week, with the winner selected to perform on a future Wheeling Jamboree show. For an application and additional instructions to enter, please go to www.wheelingjamboree.org. Wheeling Jamboree, Inc. has revived the show that has been part of the rich history of this area for seventy-five years. Thanks to a strategic alliance with Clear Channel Communications, WWVA-1170 Radio is broadcasting the shows live again on AM 1170. Jeff McCamic added, "We are very pleased to announce our affiliation with Virginia Alderman and the Alderman family at Brush Run Park. The Wheeling Jamboree is honored to be presenting our shows at this wonderful and historic facility." For more information about upcoming shows, StarQuest and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Bud Forte at 304-830-3479. Tickets for the shows will be available online at www.wheelingjamboree.org or can be purchased the day of the show at the gate.

Andy McKenzie is Wheeling's new Mayor! Even though Sparchane's term expired it is still great to see someone new come in that might actually make a difference. Even if Nick Sparchane's term did not expire I would almost guarantee McKenzie would still have won. The City of Wheeling needed a new mayor more than ever, someone who really cares about the city and wants to make it a better place.

Although Sparchane did make some improvements, the development of the Highlands has essentially rendered the city of Wheeling dead and that will be the legacy Sparchane leaves behind, not to mention a lot of "speculation" as to just how beneficial some of his "deals" were. You can read more about that in my post Senator McKenzie Versus the Sparchane "Family". With the election of McKenzie into the Mayor's office I am hoping to see many improvements to the City. One of the first things on his agenda has got to be the Wheeling Tunnels, followed closely by keeping businesses in Wheeling.

With the exodus of businesses to the Highlands a plan has got to be put in place to keep them here in Wheeling. The Mayor and City Council need to look hard into incentives and tax breaks for area business to stay as well as to attract new businesses. Wheeling can be a great place, but a lot of work will need to be done to make it attractive. Wheeling is in a great location as far as the Ohio River and major highways are concerned. The city needs to leverage the City's location as a benefit especially to companies that do any kind of import/export. Tourism certainly needs to be looked at in much more detail as well.

The City of Wheeling along with The Wheeling Island Race Track should be attracting thousands more visitors alone. In my opinion the traffic to the Track should be much higher. The City needs to attract more tourists that spend more time here. The track is great but it does not bring in visitors who stay for more than a day. We need tourist and Gamblers to come in to town for several days at a time, stay at hotels in Wheeling, including the Hotel at the track. We need these visitors to stay 2 or 3 days and spend their money at local restaurants and gift shops, most importantly we need to convince the people coming to Wheeling that it is a GREAT place to live and work. Use the tourism traffic to increase our population. It's a two pronged attack, convince business on one front and convince people on another. While the tourist attractions are great, that alone will certainly not sway someone to want live here. The jobs have to be here as well.

Wheeling is dying a slow painful death and if someone does not bandage the wounds soon, there will not be much left to salvage. What McKenzie really needs to do is create a committee that will look into how to draw traffic from the Highlands. I am not saying steal the traffic, but use the Highlands to gain more traffic to Wheeling. The Highlands is growing in leaps and bounds and it is no wonder why Wheeling businesses want to move there, they want to go where the traffic is; not to mention the cost of dong business outside the city limits is just good business sense. Good business sense is what Wheeling needs and I hope McKenzie brings that to the Mayor's Office.

Congratulation Mr. McKenzie and good luck.

Personally the news of Hillary Clinton taking West Virginia is exciting, but honestly the news is not about Hillary, it is about the complete lack of focus on Obama's part. I have read several news articles and most of them have the same undertone; Obama conceded defeat in the Mountain State and was clearly focused elsewhere, meaning Oregon, while campaigning in West Virginia.

Why would he not at least focus on the issues that are important to the people of West Virginia? He knew he lost the state, but does that condone shunning the people and their issues? What kind of President would Obama be if he cherry picks who is important and who is not as far as issues go from state to state? Maybe he did not like the fact that 51 percent of the voters believe Obama shares pastor Rev. Wright's views? Then again 61 percent of West Virginian's also sent a clear message to Obama by stating they would be dissatisfied if Clinton did not become the nominee.

As far as statistics are concerned, I could care less in this particular case. The bottom line here is that Obama, for all intense purposes, practically ignored West Virginia simply because he saw he was going to loose and that REGISTERED voters in the state of West Virginia do NOT want to see him as the Democratic Nominee.

Fine, be a sore looser, but what we have to worry about is if Obama does get the nomination and by some twist of fate becomes the first black President (and MUSLIM President) of the United State, you can bet your bottom dollar West Virginia will certainly be one of the States looked over for just about EVERYTHING, especially if Senator Byrd moves on to greener pastures (let's face the facts here the man is older than dirt). Any federal help, grants and subsidiaries will be severely impacted during the Obama Presidency If he makes it. The only hope we have is if Obama does get the nomination and Hillary runs as the Vice President on the ticket and .... well never mind, that opinion should be best kept to myself but for interesting info regarding this "thought" read here: http://www.tidbitsnews.com/Background_of_Pres_Candidates.cfm.

If Hillary does not get the nomination and refuses to accept the VP position alongside Barack HUSSEIN Obama, then my suggestion would be to ALL loyal democrats – WRITE HILLARY IN and that does not just go for the Voters of West Virginia – that goes for ALL loyal democratic registered voters across the country.

The economy can be considered in a recession, gas prices are completely out of control and the high price of gas is translating into high prices on just about everything from groceries to general necessities. The price of gas here in the Ohio Valley is approaching $4.00 a gallon and we are all feeling the pain in our wallet at the pumps and in the checkout lanes of our favorite shopping center. The worst part to all this is there does not appear to be any end to this in sight. The oil prices continue to sky rocket, the oil companies are getting RIDICULOUSLY rich and little communities like the Ohio Valley gets screwed. What can we do?

For those that work away from home (just about all of us) there is little that can be done. If you live close enough to your place of employment, consider walking to work if you feel up to it. If you live a little farther away maybe car pooling is the way to go or maybe even ride a bike. Some may even consider taking a public bus or using a taxi service and the pain of gas prices is felt there as well. Both taxi fares and bus fares, including passes are on the rise and will just continue to get worse and worse. Unfortunately there is a group of citizens that are really feeling this latest round of gasoline price increases and that is the elderly or those that are on fixed incomes for various reasons. My Grandmother is on a fixed income and her budget is down to juggling between getting to the grocery store for food or making sure her electricity stays on so she can keep cool this summer. I think here in the Ohio Valley as well as across the entire county we are going to see a serious issue develop in the elderly communities.

This summer is predicted to be a scorcher. With the cost of gas prices continuing to increase more and more senior citizens may be without electricity or opt to not turn on their air conditioning just to save a few dollars so they can get to the store to buy food. Maybe this is a little far fetched to think, but from my point of view it is very realistic.

The reality is simple. As gas prices increase and unemployment increases, more and more people are going to choose one necessity over another. This will hold true in the Ohio Valley and in other similar communities across the country. With unemployment on the rise in the Ohio Valley, especially due to Steel Mill buyouts and mergers you can easily see that hardship is well on its way, the likes that have not been seen in many years. The gas spike in the 70's will look like easy street compared to what we are headed for and if our federal government is not careful this recession could turn into something far worse. Let's all hope that does not happen now. A recession is bad enough but to consider the possibilities of a depression similar if not worse than the collapse in 1929 is not out of the question. Any generation that grew up after the great depression would certainly be in for a lifestyle that would be well beyond most hardships they have ever faced. The gas price here in the Ohio valley along with the rest of the country is the tip of the iceberg. The writing is on the wall and harder times are certainly ahead for the Ohio Valley if we do not see any relief soon.