The case of the young black West Virginia woman who was held captive and tortured by six white captors is beyond belief.

What can be said about such monstrous behavior? It will undoubtedly be classified as a hate crime, and while this is not to delve into that subject, it is difficult to understand why the crime is considered even worse because the motive was racism, than if it was just pure sadism, or any other motive. In fact, the motive is entirely irrelevant -- if the accounts are true, the perpetrators are simply monsters, and monsters need no motive.

The case would be somewhat easier to comprehend if it involved just one depraved captor. But the fact that six people, including family members, acted in concert takes it to the realm of the truly grotesque and bizarre.

There is evil in the world, plain and simple.

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New for 2007-08

RepublicanGazette

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

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Charles Town track

boots John Doyle

(REPRINTED FROM BREAKING NEWS POSTED AT 1:30 P.M. TUESDAY) Del. John Doyle was kicked out of Charles Town Racetrack Monday night during a legislative tour.

Sources say Doyle was approached during the tour by Penn Gaming Vice President John Finamore, who said to Doyle, "You have a lot of nerve showing up here."

Doyle responded that he was invited as part of the legislative tour.

Lawmakers are holding interim meetings this month in Martinsburg.

Finamore responded that an individual was supposed to inform Doyle beforehand that he was not welcome. Doyle said he never received that message, and asked Finamore, "Do you want me to leave?" Finamore said he did, and Doyle exited the premises.

Doyle voted for the table games legislation, but then vigorously opposed the referendum in Jefferson County, which he represents, saying the bill did not provide enough revenue for the Eastern Panhandle area.

The issue went down in Jefferson, the only county to defeat the measure.

Ironically, while Doyle was given the boot, several lawmakers who voted against the legislation during the regular session were welcomed during the Monday evening tour.

GOP continues registration upswing

Since the 2000 election through July of this year, the Republican Party in West Virginia has added about 35,000 voters to its rolls, while the state Democrats have lost nearly 9,000.

Of course, Democrats still far outnumber GOP voters, but the margin is moving the right direction for Republicans, and trending badly for the Dems. As of July, the Democrats had 650,132 voters, compared to 344,881 for Republicans.

The biggest percentage gains have been made among voters registering as independents or with other parties. Those numbers have grown from

97,876 in 2000 to 152,554 now. While new voters are not all flooding into the GOP, at least they are breaking away from the stranglehold of the Democrats, signaling hope for a new directing in West Virginia. Since 2000, voters registered as independents or with parties besides the Democrats or Republicans have grown from 9.2% of all voters to 13.3% in 2007.

Just since the 2006 General Election, Democrats have dropped four-tenths of a percent in total voter share. Republicans stayed virtually unchanged, and "others" increased by five-tenths.

Quote of the Day

"My NRA friends know that I like things that make a noise, whether it is an engine or a gun."

--Gov. Joe Manchin, commenting to the Cumberland Times-News on Tuesday about a new clay pigeon shooting range.

Torture case cannot be explained away