Mount Hope grads add to strong legacy



Saturday marks the final graduation ceremony for Mount Hope High School. A special tribute goes to this year’s 36 graduates, the last of hundreds over 100 years who completed their education at MHHS and have gone on to contribute to their communities, whether in Fayette County or far away.

Numbers have varied from the initial class of four in 1911 to a bumper crop of 169 graduates in 1969, perhaps the largest class, which also happens to be my graduating class. Alumni of the 1969 class include three college professors, a physician, a veterinarian, numerous public school teachers, business owners and managers, as well as other career paths.

Guiding MHHS students over the 100-year history of the school have been countless able and caring teachers and administrators, some of whom have taught multiple generations of Mount Hope students. I am fortunate that I had so many very good teachers there. These teachers happened to include both my parents, John and Margaret Brady, and my aunt, Kitty Wender.

A big thanks to all those who worked at, and contributed greatly to, MHHS from the principals to the cooks and janitors to the teachers.

While the MHHS building will be used for other purposes in the future, may the Mustang spirit which has pervaded its halls and our lives for so long live on.



Mary Brady Greenawalt, Ph.D.

MHHS Class of 1969

Greensboro, N.C.



Mr. Rahall’s defense of Obama is in error



As a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I would like to respond to a headline article in The Register-Herald newspaper, Sunday, May 22, titled “Rahall defends Obama’s stand on Mideast conflict.” I like Mr. Rahall personally, but I believe him to be wrong in his defense of Obama’s recently stated position, that Israel must be willing to negotiate a land swap with the Palestinians for the sake of peace, by returning to the original borders prior to the 1967 War as a starting point for those negotiations.

Mr. Rahall’s first argument is that if there is to be movement toward the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, a negotiated land swap is the easiest, there being two even more difficult issues to be resolved. One wonders just how far American presidents will go to pressure Israel for the sake of maintaining good relations with our country? Have we forgotten that it was the Arab nations who provoked the 1967 War by attacking Israel? And have we forgotten that Israel has already, for the sake of peace, surrendered a lot of what she had gained by her victory in the 1967 War? I’m referring to her giving back the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. Yet instead of the peace she has desired, Israel now finds herself being bombed from the very location she surrendered.

Second, Mr. Rahall defends Obama on the grounds that the recent uprisings in the Arab states are largely pro-democracy, and that they could turn against both Israel and the United States, if we do not pressure Israel into yielding more territory for the establishment of a Palestinian state. Does anyone really think that the majority of the Arabs who are now revolting against their current dictators, have benevolent feelings toward either the nation of Israel or toward our own country because of our traditional support for Israel?

Third, Mr. Rahall defends Obama on the grounds that the European nations and the United Nations are anticipating a vote in favor of establishing a separate Palestinian state, and that the United States would lose the lead in this process unless we pressure Israel now. Should we be surprised that the United Nations would go in this direction, regardless of what either the United States or Israel wants?

My final comments are to Christians, regardless of political affiliation. Mr. Rahall says that this matter is too important to play politics with this dangerous matter of foreign policy. I would agree. It is too important for true believers in God’s Holy Word, the Bible. The only true God and Creator of both Jews and Gentiles has promised to do good to those who bless the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and has promised to judge those who do otherwise (Genesis 12:1-3). History has verified that God keeps His promises. We dare not contribute to our own country’s demise by supporting positions that might claim to seek peace for Israel, but are misguided in their proposed solution to this problem.

The Jews are not chosen by God because of their goodness, but because He promised to send one of Abraham’s descendants to be the Savior of us all, both Jew and Gentile. That person is God’s only begotten Son, who is both human and divine, the Lord Jesus Christ (Genesis 11:15-18 and Galatians 3:8-9, 16). God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for the salvation of us all from our sins. And it will be the Lord Jesus Christ who will again return to fight against Gentile nations seeking to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth. The truly patriotic thing for us to do is to demand that our politicians cease interfering with Israel’s right to protect herself, in return for her dependence upon unreliable promises of American presidents.



Dan Carfrey, D.Min.

Bradley