Andy Kniceley

Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but the Christmas shopping season has been in full force for over a month now. The kids weren’t even done trick-or-treating, and the stores were already fully stocked with Christmas decorations and gifts. Some homes have already started putting up Christmas decorations for the holidays. A few overzealous souls have already put up their Christmas tree — or two or three.

It has been a sad week for all of us with Tuesday’s passing of John Miller, WV News and Exponent Telegram executive editor. A lot has been written about John in the past few days. He has left his mark during his 40 years as a sports reporter, sports editor, managing editor, editor and executive editor of WV News — West Virginia’s fastest growing, locally owned media company. John Miller was a legend. “Legends” are people who are considered to be extremely famous, especially in a particular field.

Perhaps there is not another time of the year that impacts more lives than the annual pilgrimage of “back to school” — from preschool to grade school to middle school to high school to college. For students, teachers, staff, school bus drivers, cooks, counselors, coaches, administrators and maintenance personnel, “back to school” is both the day that is the most looked forward to and, to some extent, the most dreaded day on the calendar.