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* Pieces of Mid-Ohio Valley history will be now be on display as part of an outdoor exhibit at the Capitol complex in Charleston -- West Virginia: Nature Designs a State That Fuels a Nation. "We're proud to donate the engine, along with a number of other items, including a yellow dog," Paul Hoblitzell III, president of Museums of the Mid-Ohio Valley, said. "The new exhibit will highlight the role of Parkersburg and the oil industry in the founding of the state and economic development. This is where it all began for the oil and gas industry, and the beginnings of our succession from Virginia." While it is nice to know museum-quality pieces from our region will help educate those who visit Charleston, local residents must not forget how much there is to learn about our history at our own Oil and Gas Museum (the former W.H. Smith Hardware at 119 Third St., Parkersburg). Learning where we've been can be fantastic inspiration for just how far we can go.
* Amid the holiday celebrations and jubilant activities of early December weekends was the solemn observance of a grim anniversary. Members of local veterans groups who gathered to mark the 83rd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor honored those who lost their lives Dec. 7, 1941. "Those people were surprised by the attack, and they defended our country to make her what she is today," said April Binkney, secretary and treasurer of the Veterans Museum of the Mid-Ohio Valley. "So we need to honor (them)." Harold Smith, a Marine Corps veteran and member of the local Marine Corps League Detachment 1087, whose uncle survived the attack at Pearl Harbor, spoke for many of us when he said "It means a lot to memorialize all those who came before me and sacrificed for this country." We could not have said it better ourselves.