Name of Author(s): Matt Burdette and Heather Goodwin Henline

Author’s Title (editor, columnist, etc.): Executive Editor and Publisher and GM

Newspaper: The Inter-Mountain

Address: 520 Railroad Ave.

City: Elkins

State: WV

ZIP: 26241

Phone: 304-636-2121

Fax: 304-636-2620

E-Mail: mburdette@theintermountain.com

Submitted by: Heather Goodwin Henline

Title of Person Submitting: Publisher and GM

Phone Number: 304-636-2121 520 Railroad Ave. Elkins, WV 26241

E-mail Address: hhenline@theintermountain.com

What is the subject/title of the entry? Uncommon Bravery Efforts of civilians, police deserve praise

Date(s) of publication? Aug. 27, 2015

Is your newspaper under 50,000 circulation or above 50,000 circulation? Under

Please give a brief explanation of issues discussed and the results achieved. (This space will expand as you type in your comments.)

Our community made national headlines on Aug. 26, when a young student carried a gun into his high school and held a classroom hostage. The situation resolved through successful negotiation, quick thinking and level heads prevailing. On Aug. 10, we had published an editorial in which we were critical of law enforcement for not handling a violent situation correctly. We felt it was imperative to highlight the extraordinary efforts that went into keeping our community, our students and even the gunman safe in what could have become a catastrophic situation.

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ALMANAC

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EEddiittoorriiaall PPaaggeePage A4 — Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015 www.theintermountain.com • The Inter-Mountain

SyndicatedColumnist

Froma Harrop

Biden’s best bet is to wait

AmericanheroismEvery country has its he-

roes, but something in Amer-ica’s cultural sauce makes fora unique and unusually effec-tive variety. The ingredientwould be improvisation — theability to perform withoutpreparation, using whatever isat hand to complete the task.As most of the world

knows, Spencer Stone, AlekSkarlatos and Anthony Sadler— three pals on a Europeanjaunt — were on a fancy trainhurtling toward Paris, when aterrorist bristling withweaponry started attackingpassengers.The Americans were un-

armed, but when Skarlatos said“Let’s go” to Stone, the off-duty U.S. airman ran down theaisle, grabbed the man by theneck and wouldn’t let go, evenas the attacker slashed him.Skarlatos grabbed his gun.Sadler and a British passenger,Chris Norman, held down var-ious limbs.Improvisation requires let-

ting gut instinct take the wheelfrom overthinking. As Skar-latos, a National Guardsmanwho spent time in Afghanistan,later told the media, his actionson the train weren’t “a con-scious decision.”Jazz, a truly American mu-

sical form, is all about improv-isation, making it up as you go.“Do not fear mistakes,” MilesDavis said. “There are none.”“Let’s go” reminded many

of “Let’s roll,” Todd Beamer’sfamous words on a doomedairliner hijacked on Sept. 11,2001. Beamer and other pas-sengers were trying to neutral-ize the terrorists and regaincontrol of the airliner.Before the Normandy D-

Day invasion, Gen. DwightEisenhower instructed his fieldcommanders to make quickdecisions on their own ratherthan wait for instructions fromabove. They did, and their im-provisation saved many Amer-ican lives on the battlefield.In 2009, pilot Chesley Sul-

lenberger landed his disabledairliner on the Hudson Riverwithout a single loss of life in aclassic example of on-the-spotimprovising. Air controllershad suggested one of twonearby airports for an emer-gency landing, but instinctsharpened by experience toldSullenberger to take that un-conventional — and success-ful — option.Perhaps because Stone,

Skarlatos and Sadler acted sosimply, they did not fullycomprehend the complex af-termath of what they had done— including the depth of theirheroism.Exercising calm control,

they beat the terrorist uncon-scious but not to death. Stoneattended to another woundedpassenger in the car, though hehimself was seriously hurt. Heis a trained medic. That’s whatmedics do.Once the assailant was out

cold, the Americans, withsome help, tied him up like apackage and handed him overto the French authorities. Intheir way of thinking, thedrama was over.“I thought they were going

to let us go after questioning,”Sadler later told assembledmedia.Did they imagine that after

saving a trainload of passen-gers, they’d just move on totheir next European adventure,say, waiting in line to see theLe Corbusier exhibit at thePompidou Center?There was nothing false

about these Americans’ mod-esty. They seemed surprisedto find themselves in the or-nate Elysees Palace, beinghanded the Legion of Honor,France’s highest award, alongwith Norman.

WASHINGTON — As spec-ulation grows that Vice PresidentJoe Biden may yet enter the 2016presidential race, a flawed as-sumption argues that he can’twait much longer to decide.It’s the notion that he has to

act soon to raise money and fieldorganization to give himself anychance to win his party’s nomi-nation against the huge advantagein both categories alreadyamassed by frontrunner HillaryClinton.The speculation goes on

mostly in light of the currentproblem Clinton has encountered:the federal investigations into herprivate email server and whetherby using it to conduct State De-partment business she violatedany security regulations.Panic may not have broken

out in the Clinton camp, butBiden supporters profess to see apath for their man to the nomina-tion in her slipping public-opin-ion poll numbers, particularlyregarding her trustworthiness andlikeability.But, realistically, a Biden

candidacy makes sense rightnow only under the expectationthat Hillary Clinton’s campaignwill become unglued or seri-ously wounded for these or otherreasons. Too much is at stake for Biden

in terms of his admired place inthe Democratic Party and in his-tory for him to plunge in nowrather than wait longer to seewhat happens with her campaign.Running now would severely

put Biden’s reputation at risk as aloyal party man who has servedas a willing and able helpmate toPresident Obama for more thansix years. Jumping in on Hillary

now would alienate millions ofDemocratic women geared up toput the first female president inthe Oval Office.In 1968, when President Lyn-

don Johnson was expected toseek re-election and Sen. EugeneMcCarthy demonstrated LBJ’svulnerability in the New Hamp-shire primary, Sen. RobertKennedy suddenly got into therace, earning the ire of Mc-Carthy’s supporters. Theybranded him as “ruthless” and re-fused to join him.Were Biden to bide his time a

while longer and the Clintoncampaign did somehow implodeover the email controversy orsome other development, hecould enter the race then as theobvious inheritor of the Clintonorganization and money, againstoutsider Sen. Bernie Sanders.The first nationally televised

Democratic candidates’ debate isnot until Oct. 13, hosted by CNNin Nevada, which holds the sec-ond 2016 primary on Feb. 20,2016. But Biden could easilyskip that and others late this yearand still meet the Democratic cal-endar of filing deadlines for thebulk of 2016 state primaries andcaucuses.The calendar provides plenty

of time for Biden to qualify, withor without Hillary Clinton in therace. As of now, only 13 states

require filing before the end ofthis year. These include NewHampshire, the first state pri-mary, whose filing deadline isNov. 27 for the election held Feb.7, 2016, and South Carolinawhose filing deadline is Dec.7 forits primary on Feb. 27, 2016.Consequently, Biden still has

four months or more to hold offand see how circumstances playout, rather than blindly rolling thedice and hoping a clearer path tothe Democratic nomination maymaterialize. This way, his placein the party and the countrywouldn’t be diminished, and hislifetime record and reputation inpolitics as a selfless public ser-vant who has endured personaland public knocks along the waywould remain intact.Meanwhile, Biden can con-

tinue on the path he has said allalong he would follow — being“the best vice president I can be”as the surest way to prepare forthe presidency itself. PresidentObama for his part is saved fornow from choosing between hisvice president and his former sec-retary of state.It should be noted, though,

that White House press secretaryJosh Earnest went out his way theother day to recall Obama’s ear-lier statement that “the smartestdecision that he had ever made inpolitics” was in choosing Bidenas his 2008 running mate.Whatever Biden decides, he

will remain among the most visi-ble and hard-working of the 47Americans who have occupiedthe office. It’s understandable,after that record and preparation,that he would ask himself the log-ical question about his future:Why not me?

SyndicatedColumnist

Jules Witcover

Networks make waves for TrumpThe fascination of the news media with Donald

Trump is ironic, to say the least. For people who havelong lamented the domination of Big Money in pol-itics, these reporters are presenting Mr. Big Moneyhimself with aticker tape paradeof free media.It could be con-

sidered hypocriti-cal, too. BigMoney is a badthing — unlessthey’re the onesmaking it. Fox’s 24million viewers for their debate proved Trump’smarket value; ever since that debate, it’s been allmedia, all the time for him. One might have assumed that other candidates

would have gotten more attention after the debate,but the Trump trend has only intensified. A newstudy of evening news by the Media Research Cen-ter reveals that in the two weeks leading up the de-bate, Trump drew 26 minutes and 40 seconds ofevening news coverage — compared to 22 minutesand 16 seconds for the entire rest of the GOP field. But in the two weeks following the debate, Trump

drew almost 70 minutes of coverage, which is al-most 2.5 times as much as the rest of the field (27minutes, 38 seconds) combined. You can’t say thisdoesn’t affect the polls. Voters relying on TV newswould think there was only one serious contender inthe race. Consider this anecdote: On August 17, the day

Trump went to jury duty, the evening newscasts gave

him almost five minutes of coverage, more than anyof his rivals not named Bush received in the twoweeks after the debate. And he was off the campaigntrail! Then reporters declare mischievously that Trump

is “dominating the national conversation” and de-priving the other Republicans of “oxygen,” as if theyhad absolutely nothing to do with that, which theyalone control. The coverage of Trump hasn’t been positive, and

it no doubt reflects a partisan glee within the liberalmedia, as explained by former Newsweek writerJonathan Alter on MSNBC. “They’re getting whatthey deserve. They have created ‘Trumpenstein.’ It’stheir own Frankenstein monster.” In the minds of liberal journalists, one can’t seri-

ously question the liberal tilt toward greater andgreater leniency on illegal immigration. To them, itis self-evidently racist and politically disastrous. Yetthe more they say this, the stronger he gets.This Trump trend has also led to the Republican

race getting far more TV attention. In the first sixmonths of 2015, the parties were close to even incoverage, despite the one-sided Democrat race —191 minutes for the GOP, 151 for the Democrats.But since July 1, Trump’s ascent has led to a muchgreater disparity: 222 minutes for the Republicans,just 70 for the Democrats. For the leftists pushing “campaign finance re-

form,” it looks really bleak. In these four weeks,while Trump drew almost 97 minutes of televisedattention, Bernie Sanders — that socialist dragon-slayer of Big Money Domination — drew lessthan four.

SyndicatedColumnist

L. Brent Bozell

UncommonBraveryEfforts of civilians,police deserve praise“Tragedy today was avoided because of

... the quick response of law enforcementand all the first responders, the educatorsand the parents, students and teachersalike.”Captain D.P. Reider of the West Vir-

ginia State Police made the above state-ment hours after a hostage situation wasresolved peacefully at Philip Barbour HighSchool Tuesday.Police responded to the school after re-

ports indicated a 14-year-old student, pos-sessing a pistol, was not allowingclassmates to leave a second-floor class-room. Following negotiations with police,the student allowed the other students toleave the room before later surrenderingwithout further incident.It was a tense situation that could have

become nightmarish. Parents waited out-side the school for more than an hour tolearn whether their children were safe. After it was all over, Barbour County

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Woofterexpressed gratitude for the heroic efforts— and positive attitudes — of everyone onthe scene during the incident.“We want to thank both of the teachers

involved and the students in the room fortheir heroic actions. We also want to thankthe entire administration, faculty, staff andstudent body at Philip Barbour HighSchool for their actions in a very trying sit-uation,” Woofter said in a press releaseTuesday evening.“We want to thank the quick response

of the Philippi Police Department, Beling-ton Police Department, Barbour CountySheriff’s Office, West Virginia State Po-lice, FBI, ATF and US Marshall’s Serv-ice,” Woofter said. “We also want to thankthe Office of Emergency Management, ourEMT’s and Paramedics, and all of the localfire companies for springing into action soquickly.“Last but certainly not least, we want to

thank the parents of Barbour County stu-dents,” he said. “They all acted profession-ally in a time where most people wouldn’t,and we cannot explain how much thishelped all of us work to keep all of the stu-dents safe.”We also feel it is necessary to publicly

praise the school staff and the law enforce-ment officials who oversaw the reaction toTuesday’s event as it developed. They keptorder and steered the incident toward apeaceful resolution. How often is a schoolhostage situation resolved without any vi-olence occurring? Thank goodness for theirprofessionalism.We also must praise the teacher and stu-

dents who were in the second-floor class-room — and the pastor, Harold Swick,who convinced the suspect to put down hisweapon. Their heroism in the face of po-tential tragedy is awe-inspiring. We must remember all the brave things

these people did on Tuesday — and wemust never forget how quickly the deadlysituation arose, in one of the schoolswhere we send our children to learn. Inthe days and weeks ahead, the reasonswhy the incident occurred must be ex-plored, and the safeguards to prevent an-other situation like it from ever happeningmust be implemented.

Today is Thursday, Aug. 27, the 239th dayof 2015. There are 126 days left in the year.Today’s Highlight in History:On August 27, 1975, Haile Selassie, the

last emperor of Ethiopia’s 3,000-year-oldmonarchy, died in Addis Ababa at age 83 al-most a year after being overthrown.On this date:In 1776, the Battle of Long Island began

during the Revolutionary War as Britishtroops attacked American forces, who endedup being forced to retreat two days later.In 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa

erupted with a series of cataclysmic explo-sions; the resulting tidal waves in Indonesia’sSunda Strait claimed some 36,000 lives inJava and Sumatra.In 1908, Lyndon Baines Johnson, the

36th president of the United States, was bornnear Stonewall, Texas.In 1928, the Kellogg-Briand Pact was

signed in Paris, outlawing war and providingfor the peaceful settlement of disputes.In 1949, a violent white mob prevented an

outdoor concert headlined by Paul Robesonfrom taking place near Peekskill, New York.(The concert was held eight days later.)In 1957, the USS Swordfish, the second

Skate Class nuclear submarine, was launchedfrom the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard inMaine.

Heather Goodwin HenlinePublisher/General Manager

hhenline@theintermountain.comMatthew A. Burdette

Executive Editormburdette@theintermountain.com

Brad JohnsonManaging EditorRoger Adkins

Upshur Bureau ChiefBen SimmonsSports Editor

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