The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

It's come a long way from its humble beginnings in 1950s. The first commercial board was called the Roller Derby Skate Board and it has become a multi-billion-dollar sport.

I was sitting there, in a borrowed chair on the elementary school lawn listening to the excitement of the participants. As a man reached down to pick up a bottle of water he said hello and I asked him where he was from. He told me he was from Portland Oregon and I asked why he would come to Big Sandy. He told me he has come every year to support skateboarding. "It is a form of expression. It is something you can...