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Former Delegate Ron Thompson was spotted Tuesday by a TV crew in Beckley leaving the Raleigh County Court House with two sheriff's deputies.Television station WVNS 59 News aired a few seconds of their crew's accidental encounter with Thompson on its noon and 6 p.m. reports. The station offered no indication why Thompson was at the court 
In fact, according to sources, Thompson was first brought to magistrate court, where mental hygiene issues are usually heard, but when family members realized the media was there covering a different matter, Thompson's appearance was moved to family court in the Raleigh County Court House, where WVNS TV happened to be on hand and caught a few seconds of Thompson on video. The video showed Thompson wearing a white baseball cap, black hooded sweatshirt and black pants. His hair appeared bushy, and he appeared to have put on weight. The brief video showed two sheriff's deputies, one of whom was identified as Raleigh County Chief Deputy Steve Tanner, escorting Thompson into the back seat of a white Dodge Durango.Thompson was ousted from his House of Delegates post last week after failing to show up to take the oath of office, which followed several months of Thompson missing interim meetings and other official duties. WVNS said its footage was the first of Thompson in more than a year.Rumors have circulated for months that Thompson was involved in some kind of legal problems, but sources in Beckley on Tuesday said that Thompson's court appearance was in connection with a mental hygiene petition by family members.I consider the shrill grave concerns frequently expressed by liberal leadership; political and medical; over the tremendous afflictions caused by cigarette smoking to society in general and to children in particular as hypocrisy. If the issue were any other liberal concern for society's need to be protected by government, I would have used the word smokescreen to describe the current liberal's dribble discussed in your article.Now we also hear a renewed uproar over the need to punish movies with scenes showing actors smoking cigarettes because those movies encourage underage smoking. Such concerns for the welfare of youth would have a note of legitimacy if those persons complaining also voiced concerns over movies and TV shows with scenes glorifying underage sex, scenes that normalize perverted sex, glorify the use of illegal drugs, present gang and mob violence as society's fault and show parents, teachers and other authority figures as either idiots or barbaric tyrants.Maybe I have missed it, but I rarely hear a discouraging word from most liberals concerning pot. I often hear liberals explain that pot is a recreational drug no worse that legal alcoholic beverages. While many liberals openly advocate to legalize pot for persons suffering from a wide range of illnesses, I have yet to hear those advocating the virtues of pot express concerns for children or others being exposed to the smoke produced by using pot. Thus, I wonder if that means that the smoke from pot is not harmful to either the user or those non users exposed to the smoke produced from using pot, while the smoke from cigarettes is lethal to everyone within a country mile? The Republican Gazette's poll on table games clearly showed "Wild & Wonderful" as the overwhelming favorite, carrying more than 92 percent of the vote, which had not changed in several days.Today the R-G unveils a new poll on the table games issue, with a vote on the issue expected as early as Friday. Thanks for participating in our new web poll.