Carter Glover | journalism

7-11 in Buckhannon closing

The 7-Eleven in Buckhannon, located near Jawbone Park, will be closing on September 14, 2016. Debra Pancake, the store’s manager, made the announcement recently but did not provide many details about the store’s closing.

Ethan Cole is one of the many citizens of Buckhannon who are upset about the closing down of 7-Eleven. He believed that the store provided a means to obtain inexpensive food on the go, and to fill up a gas tank on the way to school. Cole shared his feelings about the situation, “It’s a good store, and it shouldn’t close.”

In addition, many former customers of 7-Eleven are upset because it was the closest gas station to their house. Mr. Boso, a math teacher at Buckhannon-Upshur High School, expressed that he did not wish the shop to close, “I want it to stay. If I need it, it’s right there by my house.”

Overall, the community of Buckhannon is saddened over the sudden announcement of the closing of 7-Eleven. Customers went there because the employees were friendly, goods were cheap, and the store’s location was convenient.

B-UHS homecoming

The falling of autumn leaves marks the most important week of school for students: homecoming. Homecoming has always been a tradition in high schools across America. The week is dedicated to welcoming students back to school, pumping up school spirit with a friendly yet completive game of football, and the enchanting dance at the end of the week.

No one celebrates Homecoming week better than our very own Buckhannon-Upshur High School. Students always take the event to its maximum, pulling all the stops for everything they can. The student body enjoys this year’s theme, “We’re All Mad Here,” from Alice in Wonderland.

One big attraction is the all-important football game. This year, the Bucs will face Fairmont’s Polar Bears on the field. It is sure to be a great game, as Fairmont is a challenging team. It is sure to be a night of epic proportions, so come on out and support our school. Rolo Davis, an avid football fan exclaims, “We have to win.”

Another big event will be the coronation ceremony, where the King and Queen will be crowned. Haley Gompers, 2016 Homecoming Queen, is enthusiastic for this year’s homecoming, “I’m excited for it all, all the enthusiasm, the activities, and I hope the team wins the game. I just want coronation to go smoothly.”

Although the football game is a big deal for many students, the dance is the main event for much of the student body. The gym will be unrecognizable for it will be elegantly decorated to fit the Alice in Wonderland theme, and all students will waltz into the school in their finest apparel and dance until the clock hits eleven. The dance is something that all students should attend during their school years, because it is there that they have the opportunity to make their best memories.

Homecoming this year will be extra special, because it will shine with student spirit. Come on out to homecoming at BUHS, join our school in the homecoming adventure!

Electoral College

The race for the white house has finally ended. The yearlong clash between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton concluded with the Donald Trump miraculously winning the Presidency. According to statistics, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, totaling around 59,796,284 votes. Trump, on the other hand, received less, gaining 59,589,694 votes. Although this difference is minimal, it appears America favors Clinton over Trump. This leaves many people pondering one question: why did Trump win?

Ever since the early stages of our government, we’ve had a system called the Electoral College. The Electoral College is a method of simplifying the election process by dividing electoral votes between states, mostly based upon population and demographics. Electorates, state-elected officials who cast their vote, meet in December and decide our President. Our vote in November just shows them how the people of their state feel, that way, they can vote accordingly.

In our election this year, Trump obtained the majority of electoral votes, meaning most states favored him. This means that when the College meets in December, they’ll know their states support Trump.

During the formation of the U.S. government, the founding fathers created the College because they believed Americans lacked the proper education and understanding to appropriately vote for their President. They founded the College to decide for us our President. Many Americans, such as Mr. Roy -the Vice Principal of B-UHS- believes that the Electoral College is outdated and unnecessary, “Originally, it [Electoral College] was the way to go. The population is more educated today than they were at that time, so we should determine our President by popular vote now.”

Mr. Casto firmly agreed with Mr. Roy by asserting, “The system is not right; more people should be involved. It makes people think voting doesn’t matter.

In regards to rare occasions where one candidate wins the popular vote and the other wins the electoral vote, Casto said, “The biggest thing it shows is that it’s corrupt. It has only happened four times [now five with Trump/Hillary] in the past, but the Electoral College makes votes not matter.”

Mr. Stoeckle, another History teacher at B-UHS, argued in favor of the electoral College stating, “I think the Electoral College is a good thing because it makes the smaller states worth something. It gives the little guys a voice. The problem with popular is that it leaves the little guys out. If we did it popular, and since, for example, West Virginia has a low population, why would Trump or anyone else even want to come here and gain our support when they could be hitting California and the other bigger states?”

Mr. Stoeckle did not claim that the Electoral College was perfect. He believes that the Electoral College could be improved by “changing it so that each state acted like Nebraska and Maine during an election, that being where electoral votes were given in proportion to the percentage of the state’s support for each candidate.”

Both Mr. Stoeckle and Mr. Casto agree that the Electoral College is still practiced because the only way to get rid of the College would be to amend the Constitution. Considering that there have only been twenty-seven amendments made during the entire time the U.S. Government has been functioning, the likelihood of an amendment being made to displace the Electoral College is slim.

The Electoral College is an outdated model of how our President should be determined. We do not live in a time where we need to rely on the government to decide for us. We now live in the age of social media, online news, and many other resources to have the knowledge we need to make good judgements. We are not an ignorant people, but the Electoral College treats us that way. It is time to fix the system and decide our President the fair way. How can we justify a selected few picking the future of this country? We need to wake up and change it, because this is our country, and we should decide who our President is!