For high school students, the education process at times is a matter of having someone nearby who cares. It’s having someone to help students through their struggles and to applaud when they succeed.

It’s a pathetic — but predictable — part of every political campaign season. Some small-minded people who disagree with a candidate’s yard sign deface it — or worse, steal it altogether.

Presidential elections have always been times when partisans’ emotions run high. Throughout American history, there are examples of supporters of one party or another, of one candidate or another spouting that the world will come to a sudden and abrupt end if “the other guy” is elected.

The meltdown on Wall Street and the ongoing news of hundreds of billions of dollars bailout of a number of troubled financial institutions clearly illustrate that our nation’s economy is going through very turbulent and uncertain times. It is times like these that demand some measure of stability for consumers and businesses alike. Unfortunately, there are efforts being made on the federal level by organized labor that could bring anything but certainty into work places here in Lynchburg, around the commonwealth, and throughout the country.

For three decades, John Warner has served the commonwealth of Virginia and America with distinction in the U.S. Senate. For Virginians and his colleagues, he is the epitome of grace, charm and dignity, the very picture of a public servant.

The race to succeed Virginia’s retiring senior senator pits two former governors — Democrat Mark Warner and Republican Jim Gilmore — against each other. Mark Warner is far and away the better candidate to follow in John Warner’s footsteps, and The News & Advance editorial board is enthusiastic in its support of his candidacy.

With as many challenges as the nation faces at home and abroad and with the gravity of the question voters will have Nov. 4, we had hopes the debates between Barack Obama and John McCain would consist of serious discussions that would give would-be voters insights into the men who would be president.

Do students at Liberty University really need to carry concealed weapons with them to classes and elsewhere on campus? Do they consider life on the growing campus so unsafe that they need a pistol to protect themselves as they make their daily rounds?

The water war on the Staunton River is a classic. It pits the rural few who have lived and farmed along the river for generations against the increasing numbers of urbane homeowners at Smith Mountain and Leesville lakes. Those folks have been there for one generation, at least, and for many of them the homes provide a vacation retreat.

When it comes to idiotic utterances while out on the stump, it seems as though the Republicans just couldn’t resist jumping into the same mudhole as Democrats have been wallowing in the last few days.

Republican Senate candidate Jim Gilmore e-mailed a news release Sunday evening, claiming his Democratic rival, Mark Warner, had finally ’fessed up to remarks “attacking” Christians, pro-lifers, home schoolers and the NRA.

What typical Gilmore blather.

With Election Day just four weeks and a day away, the presidential campaign, just below the surface, is getting nasty.

Make that, careening toward the gutter.

In a week of daily gut-wrenching bad news from Wall Street, you would be forgiven if you missed a little bit of good news originating from Court Street in Lynchburg.

Masters of the Universe, indeed.

Earlier this week, as stock exchanges across the globe were plunging in the midst of the subprime mortgage crisis, Wall Street moguls were called before Congress for a roasting, and what a grilling it was.

For those who have been working for years on improvements to the Fifth Street corridor, there’s welcome news. Construction will soon begin on a roundabout at the intersection of Fifth and Federal streets.

Some Lynchburg residents may be wondering if the city has finally gone to the dogs. The proposal for a dog park could have pushed them in that direction.