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Barbour GOP Ponders ‘Simple’ Pleasures
by Ben Simmons
REPUBLICAN RALLY – West Virginia Attorney General candidate Hiram Lewis speaks at the Barbour County Lincoln
Day Dinner Saturday in Philippi.
The Barbour County Republican Executive Committee sponsored the event.
Several Republican candidates were in attendance along with West Virginia GOP chairman Dr. Douglas McKinney.
Barbour County Republican Executive Committee Chairwoman Annette Santilli welcomed the guests with opening
comments. Lily Williams, an A-B student from Herkimer, N.Y., provided musical entertainment.
Lewis shared an emotional speech titled “Simple Gifts,” referring to a West Virginia University marching band song with
the same name.
During his speech, he told the audience he once wrote a paper about what the American flag meant to him. Although he
completed the assignment, he said he spent many years contemplating the issue. He said he finally realized what it
meant to him while watching WVU come from behind to beat Boston College in a football game in 1984 with four
generations of his family.
“My grandfather reached over and grabbed me and said ‘you have just witnessed the greatest football game you will
ever see in your lifetime,’” Lewis said. “I thought back on this and I was like ‘that is what the flag means to me,’ because
it is those moments, those simple gifts, that the song was talking about. Those moments with friends and family
enjoying something as insignificant as a football game — that is what you will take when your time is up and you are
laying on your last bed. That is what you are going to think back about, it’s going to be those precious moments and
those simple gifts that you are going to think about. And as long as that flag files, and there are people out there willing
to sacrifice to make sure that flag flies, those simple moments and those simple gifts will always be allowed to rise.”
Lewis is graduated from WVU Law School and also served in the U.S. Army and re-enlisted in the National Guard. He
was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and 2004. He also helped with Hurricane Katrina relief in New Orleans in 2005.
McKinney also spoke briefly. According to him, Republicans need to be in control of West Virginia before it will return to
prosperity.
“We are Republicans for a reason,” McKinney said. “We need a strong national defense, less government, lower taxes
and more individual responsibility.”
Several Republican candidates were in attendance. Each was given two minutes to introduce themselves to the crowd.
Those speaking were: Supreme Court candidate Beth Walker; commissioner of agriculture candidate Michael Teets;
senatorial candidate Gary Howell; House of Delegates candidate Lonnie Moore; board of education candidate David
Everson; incumbent County Commission candidate Tim McDaniel; assessor candidates Jeff Allen and John Cutright;
sheriff candidates Leonard “Beaver” Stewart and Betty Miller; and Philippi City Council candidate Christie Allen.
For more information about the Barbour County Republican Executive Committee visit http://www.barbourgop.com.
by Ben Simmons
REPUBLICAN RALLY – West Virginia Attorney General candidate Hiram Lewis speaks at the Barbour County Lincoln
Day Dinner Saturday in Philippi.
The Barbour County Republican Executive Committee sponsored the event.
Several Republican candidates were in attendance along with West Virginia GOP chairman Dr. Douglas McKinney.
Barbour County Republican Executive Committee Chairwoman Annette Santilli welcomed the guests with opening
comments. Lily Williams, an A-B student from Herkimer, N.Y., provided musical entertainment.
Lewis shared an emotional speech titled “Simple Gifts,” referring to a West Virginia University marching band song with
the same name.
During his speech, he told the audience he once wrote a paper about what the American flag meant to him. Although he
completed the assignment, he said he spent many years contemplating the issue. He said he finally realized what it
meant to him while watching WVU come from behind to beat Boston College in a football game in 1984 with four
generations of his family.
“My grandfather reached over and grabbed me and said ‘you have just witnessed the greatest football game you will
ever see in your lifetime,’” Lewis said. “I thought back on this and I was like ‘that is what the flag means to me,’ because
it is those moments, those simple gifts, that the song was talking about. Those moments with friends and family
enjoying something as insignificant as a football game — that is what you will take when your time is up and you are
laying on your last bed. That is what you are going to think back about, it’s going to be those precious moments and
those simple gifts that you are going to think about. And as long as that flag files, and there are people out there willing
to sacrifice to make sure that flag flies, those simple moments and those simple gifts will always be allowed to rise.”
Lewis is graduated from WVU Law School and also served in the U.S. Army and re-enlisted in the National Guard. He
was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and 2004. He also helped with Hurricane Katrina relief in New Orleans in 2005.
McKinney also spoke briefly. According to him, Republicans need to be in control of West Virginia before it will return to
prosperity.
“We are Republicans for a reason,” McKinney said. “We need a strong national defense, less government, lower taxes
and more individual responsibility.”
Several Republican candidates were in attendance. Each was given two minutes to introduce themselves to the crowd.
Those speaking were: Supreme Court candidate Beth Walker; commissioner of agriculture candidate Michael Teets;
senatorial candidate Gary Howell; House of Delegates candidate Lonnie Moore; board of education candidate David
Everson; incumbent County Commission candidate Tim McDaniel; assessor candidates Jeff Allen and John Cutright;
sheriff candidates Leonard “Beaver” Stewart and Betty Miller; and Philippi City Council candidate Christie Allen.
For more information about the Barbour County Republican Executive Committee visit http://www.barbourgop.com.
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