Tech Park seeing big improvements, big plans! (Charleston, Wheeling: loans, home)

[Chriscross309]

Originally Posted by CTMountaineer

Chris, please. So you are suggesting that because we have some green space between our towns and your little villages are cramed along the Kanawha that makes them some kind of metropolis (we won't mention the green space between Dupont and Montgomery)? And, that you have everything right there in little 50,000 resident Charleston while we somehow have less? Right. I find that absolutely amazing. In fact, I know you just can't really mean that. Name one thing you have there that isn't readily available here, or available at a far better level an hour from here.
Remember, I have spent substantial time in both towns and was married to one of your fellow Kanawhans (we have two kids too), so I am anxiously awaiting your answer.

If you are going to come back with "we have more bank offices", I'll simply say that's nice, we have more pharmaceutical offices. And, if you are going to say "more energy companies have offices here", I'll agree with that, but point out they have a lot more activity in this area. Our entertainment industry is at least as good as yours and probably better, our sports offerings are far superior, our restaurants are comparable, we have closer proximity to outstanding outdoor venues, and the quality of our core jobs is at least on a par with yours. The medical establishments of the two communities are comparable, but ours has the advantage of being co-located with the state's primary medical teaching facilities.

We have many times better educational opportunities available here, but our biggest advantage is LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. We are, in fact, actually located near major population centers, and major wet gas producing areas while Charleston is basically an island unto itself. Yes, you have a better airport, but that is only because there isn't a real one located within 4 hours of the place.

My ex actually got over her feeling that Charleston was some kind of metropolis when she got out and spent some time in the rest of the country, but for some strange reason residents there in general are afflicted with that idology that says they are at least a major part of the country's universe, if not a focal point, and the rest of the state (which encompasses 85% of the state's population) somehow revolves around the place. Since I'm not from there, I hope you will forgive me for feeling that is more than a just a little far fetched.

First off, you bring up a post I made weeks ago and expect me to answer your questions as if I said them recently? Wow you are bold.

I'll answer your questions because It is a joy in my soul to inform the uninformed on matters that are near and dear to my heart. With that being said, I never said anything about a metropolis, that's putting words in my mouth. But I do feel that a city is represented by a connection of urban neighborhoods and business areas that don't have gaps that are filled with farmland and miles of undeveloped woodland. I think it is very important to note that Charleston meets this requirement that I have made in my own experience, but by no stretch of the imagination is it the center of any universe. Don't know why its so hard to grasp that Charleston is much more than its city proper population. There is over 200k that live in urban areas alone, and another 100k that live in surrounding commuities. Its kind of like when tyou brag that Spittsburgh has 2 million people, but yet most of them don't live in city limits.

Name one thing that Morgantown doesn't have or that isn't atleast in Pittsburgh??? For one, you can't use Pittsburgh in a Mtown arguement because I specifically said that Charleston had more than any city in WV. It would be obvious that a metro area bigger than WV would have more than anything in WV. And second, anyday of the week Charleston would out to Morgantown on "things had" vs. "things not had". Lets start with airports. Yeager has turned itself into the best small airport around, offering dozens of daily flights that connect to almost all of the major hubs, whil Morgantown/Bridgeport's lame excuses for airports are hardley runways let alone gateways into your "city". Sure Pittsburgh is an hour away, but Yeager can get you anywhere in the country and its only a few miles outside of town. Of course it doesn't fly everywhere, but it is a very fast growing airport and no airport in the state can measure up in anyway. Next we'll go with the beautiful Clay Center. There is not a single place in the state that offers the services that the Clay Center offers Charleston. In one builing you can watch a Broadway play, Imax film, view world famous art and history collections, and let your children run loose in the science and WV adventure areas. There are performances every week, including the masterful WV Symphony which calls it home. Morgantown has a university owned auditorium, and a smal art museum that doesn't even come close and are not in the same location. you constantly like to brag about the Pittsburgh symphony that comes, but that is just it (its Pittsburgh's not Mtown's)! there is no science museum anywhere else, and there certainly isn't a beautiful Imax venue like ours anywhere else that shows the best quality productions and views everyday of the week. Next we have our national award winning Capital Market. No place in WV has the collection of vendors, restaurants, and stores that the capital market has. The unique blend of local and cultural vendors makes it unlike anything in the state. It is right in downtown, and its been a staple of the historic village district for years now. Wheeling has a market that isn't that impressive and doesn't have the same vibe, and Morgantown has an old ugly warehouse with a few things, but certainly not anything worth bragging about. The Capital Market is truly unique to Charleston. Another great thing that really isn't anywhere else in WV is Power Park. The ballpark is state of the art, hosts alot more than baseball games, and is also right in downtown and is easily a major place to socialize during the summer. Huntington is building a park, and so might Morgantown, but for now Charleston is the only place to find the ultimate social networking site that also has live baseball.

There are tons of things that Charleston just simply has more or better of, one being people. Charleston has the best public school district in WV. Has more choices of dining and shopping, but local and non-local. More services such as medical, financial, mechanical, federal, ect... Has better roads, better parks, and better entertainment venues. There is more indusrty here, and the economy here is more diversified were as in Morgantown and other towns in WV you are limited. There is also a much better planned cityscape here. We have more hotel rooms, more restaurants, and more stores.

Face it, there isn't anything that you can't find here in some shape or form, and you can't say that Morgantown is equal because stats would prove you wrong. If I went and counted every restaurant and shopping venue, and bank, and post office, and 7-eleven then it would be hard to argue against it. But note that numbers aren't always important when a city like Charleston has quality. Nowhere can you find the amenities that we offer here in such quality and abundance. Sure Morgantown has some good stuff that is well above other cities its size, but it doesn't compare to the sure numbers we have here.

I imagine that you might have spent some time 30 years ago here, back when you still had somewhat of youth about you, but times have changed. I bet I've spent more time in my young life in Morgantown, than you have in Charleston in the past 10 years. I know Morgantown very well in fact because my sister lives near by, and I've grown up around the university. Morgantown is nice, but it doesn't have half of what you make it out to be, plus it is one big slummy mess of college students that aren't rich or smart enough to go to a real state school like Penn State or Rutgers. Love WVU to death, but in my honest opinion it is a terrible place for college students. All of my fellow high school grads that went there all either are drunks, druggies, hateful, or hate it to death and have come transferred to another school since going up there. It turns good WV teenagers into low life drunks with very low morals and problems adapting back into the real world. The University itself is great, but the atmospher which is the student life is a terrible scar on the face of our state.

Back to topic though, Charleston is not the greatest place on earth, but its more than you give it credit for and Morgantown isn't somehow better.

[cry_havoc]

Charleston is nice, but it is isolated, boring, and feels empty.

The Clay Center is ok, but it isnt that great. Charleston needs a better local art/music/culture scene instead of the 3rd class commercialized stuff that tours small cities.

This whole better argument needs to stop. Neither Morgantown nor CHarleston are better than each other. They are different, and given someone's preferences an individual may find one better than the other.

If you want a small, quiet, consistent, cheap, a city that feels like a town and want more of a country setting Charleston is great. It would also look beautiful if it didnt have those terrible generic box looking mid rises. Charleston is also home to a big hive of scum and villainy, the state government, but that is not Charleston's fault. They would be just as corrupt and incompetent in any area of WV.

If you want a thriving, youthful, exciting, culture, and a city that is more typical of the NE but still in WV with all its beauty and friendly attitude of WV Morgantown is a great choice.

People need to start appreciating Morgantown and Charleston for their strengths.

[CTMountaineer]

Originally Posted by Chriscross309

First off, you bring up a post I made weeks ago and expect me to answer your questions as if I said them recently? Wow you are bold.

I'll answer your questions because It is a joy in my soul to inform the uninformed on matters that are near and dear to my heart. With that being said, I never said anything about a metropolis, that's putting words in my mouth. But I do feel that a city is represented by a connection of urban neighborhoods and business areas that don't have gaps that are filled with farmland and miles of undeveloped woodland. I think it is very important to note that Charleston meets this requirement that I have made in my own experience, but by no stretch of the imagination is it the center of any universe. Don't know why its so hard to grasp that Charleston is much more than its city proper population. There is over 200k that live in urban areas alone, and another 100k that live in surrounding commuities. Its kind of like when tyou brag that Spittsburgh has 2 million people, but yet most of them don't live in city limits.

Name one thing that Morgantown doesn't have or that isn't atleast in Pittsburgh??? For one, you can't use Pittsburgh in a Mtown arguement because I specifically said that Charleston had more than any city in WV. It would be obvious that a metro area bigger than WV would have more than anything in WV. And second, anyday of the week Charleston would out to Morgantown on "things had" vs. "things not had". Lets start with airports. Yeager has turned itself into the best small airport around, offering dozens of daily flights that connect to almost all of the major hubs, whil Morgantown/Bridgeport's lame excuses for airports are hardley runways let alone gateways into your "city". Sure Pittsburgh is an hour away, but Yeager can get you anywhere in the country and its only a few miles outside of town. Of course it doesn't fly everywhere, but it is a very fast growing airport and no airport in the state can measure up in anyway. Next we'll go with the beautiful Clay Center. There is not a single place in the state that offers the services that the Clay Center offers Charleston. In one builing you can watch a Broadway play, Imax film, view world famous art and history collections, and let your children run loose in the science and WV adventure areas. There are performances every week, including the masterful WV Symphony which calls it home. Morgantown has a university owned auditorium, and a smal art museum that doesn't even come close and are not in the same location. you constantly like to brag about the Pittsburgh symphony that comes, but that is just it (its Pittsburgh's not Mtown's)! there is no science museum anywhere else, and there certainly isn't a beautiful Imax venue like ours anywhere else that shows the best quality productions and views everyday of the week. Next we have our national award winning Capital Market. No place in WV has the collection of vendors, restaurants, and stores that the capital market has. The unique blend of local and cultural vendors makes it unlike anything in the state. It is right in downtown, and its been a staple of the historic village district for years now. Wheeling has a market that isn't that impressive and doesn't have the same vibe, and Morgantown has an old ugly warehouse with a few things, but certainly not anything worth bragging about. The Capital Market is truly unique to Charleston. Another great thing that really isn't anywhere else in WV is Power Park. The ballpark is state of the art, hosts alot more than baseball games, and is also right in downtown and is easily a major place to socialize during the summer. Huntington is building a park, and so might Morgantown, but for now Charleston is the only place to find the ultimate social networking site that also has live baseball.

There are tons of things that Charleston just simply has more or better of, one being people. Charleston has the best public school district in WV. Has more choices of dining and shopping, but local and non-local. More services such as medical, financial, mechanical, federal, ect... Has better roads, better parks, and better entertainment venues. There is more indusrty here, and the economy here is more diversified were as in Morgantown and other towns in WV you are limited. There is also a much better planned cityscape here. We have more hotel rooms, more restaurants, and more stores.

Face it, there isn't anything that you can't find here in some shape or form, and you can't say that Morgantown is equal because stats would prove you wrong. If I went and counted every restaurant and shopping venue, and bank, and post office, and 7-eleven then it would be hard to argue against it. But note that numbers aren't always important when a city like Charleston has quality. Nowhere can you find the amenities that we offer here in such quality and abundance. Sure Morgantown has some good stuff that is well above other cities its size, but it doesn't compare to the sure numbers we have here.

I imagine that you might have spent some time 30 years ago here, back when you still had somewhat of youth about you, but times have changed. I bet I've spent more time in my young life in Morgantown, than you have in Charleston in the past 10 years. I know Morgantown very well in fact because my sister lives near by, and I've grown up around the university. Morgantown is nice, but it doesn't have half of what you make it out to be, plus it is one big slummy mess of college students that aren't rich or smart enough to go to a real state school like Penn State or Rutgers. Love WVU to death, but in my honest opinion it is a terrible place for college students. All of my fellow high school grads that went there all either are drunks, druggies, hateful, or hate it to death and have come transferred to another school since going up there. It turns good WV teenagers into low life drunks with very low morals and problems adapting back into the real world. The University itself is great, but the atmospher which is the student life is a terrible scar on the face of our state.

Back to topic though, Charleston is not the greatest place on earth, but its more than you give it credit for and Morgantown isn't somehow better.

Chris, you are way off base. We have Chestnut Ridge Park and Coopers Rock right out the back door here. There is nothing within 50 miles of Charleston that compares with that. We are 40 minutes away from Class 6 white water. It is easily double that from Charleston. Coonskin is nice, maybe nicer than Marilla, but it is below the waste when compared with Wheeling's Oglebay. And, when you say our students aren't rich enough or smart enough (we've had 25 Rhodes Scholars here) what in the world are you thinking? I simply can't believe you would say something like that. We have great students from all over the world here. I have no idea where you went to school, but that is simply naive. And, since you've been hanging around so much in Charleston, perhaps you've been on the East Side there but you want to say we have slums? We have an award winning city, recognized by some of the best magazines in the country. Charleston isn't even an afterthought. In fact, go to NYC and say Charleston and you'll get "I've never been to South Carolina but I want to go someday".

You seem filled with the illogical jealousy we see from your neck of the woods in recent years, so I really don't care what you think of WVU, but a whole lot of folks must agree with me that it is a great place to go to school since we have twice the students and more than any other school in our state and more students from West Virginia alone than any other school has for total student headcount.

Morgantown High School is a Top 100 school nationally (based on national test scores) so it would surprise me if you are doing better than that in Charleston. Feel free to offer supporting information that Kanawha is somehow better but I really do not see that. In fact, national rankings put Mon County schools at #7 in the state and Kanawha County schools at #17 http://www.schooldigger.com/go/WV/districtrank.aspx

I worked for years for the state of WV. I have been to Charleston recently and my opinion is it was actually more of a town 10 years ago than it is today. Just a couple of years ago they had a movement there to try to annex the entire county because they thought they would drop below 50,000 in population. That didn't happen, but they certainly have lost people in the last decade. We have restaurants of virtually every stripe here, plays and concerts on a regular basis (my wife and I attended a concert
by the Pittsburgh Symphony here just yesterday... they perform here too) and we have The University Symphony as well as the Wheeling Symphony performing here. It is home to the state's only doctoral level creative arts programs. The demographics are different here, so you get more Trace Adkins and Pam Tillis types while we get regular
Broadway plays (two this month), a mix of concerts, and well choreographed University productions. http://events.wvu.edu/index.shtml http://www.wvpublictheatre.org/
http://www.ccarts.wvu.edu/themes/cca...eatre_over.gif And, for athletics it isn't even remotely close.


We have better than an 85% retention rate for students here, the best in the state, so I don't know who you went to school with. Perhaps they left because they couldn't cut it here academically, or perhaps you simply hung out with drunks who could only make it someplace else? I didn't want to rag on Charleston, but your comments are over the top so you are making me change my mind there. We are proud of our young people here, and since the educational attainment level here is eons above what you have in Charleston maybe you have a thing or two to learn about them. Why don't you enlighten us with where you went to school and I will be happy to find some comparisons for you to rant about. And, you want to say your people are somehow better than ours? If that were so, they why is the crime index there double what it is here. You sir, are full of bunk.

Demographics are changing in our state. There is a lot of pent up resentment felt in many parts of the state toward Charleston for various reasons. I'm not going to say they are all valid, but enough of them are that folks have taken notice. And, the times are a changin'. Expect other parts of the state to start demanding a more equitable share of all sorts of things in the coming years.

Now that we have that out of the way, I will say that for some people Charleston might be just the thing. We don't make any claim to being the be all here (you folks have the monopoly on that) but we easily have what you have there and more. Now, does that mean you can't find a chain store there that we don't have here? Of course not. But if you consider overall quality of life and opportunity, we are the best the state has to offer these days. I would expect you to disagree with that as is your right, but the experts seem to be lining up with me. We're still growing in a significant way here, and have been for some time and our unemployment rate is easily the lowest in the state.

[Chriscross309]

Originally Posted by CTMountaineer

Chris, you are way off base. We have Chestnut Ridge Park and Coopers Rock right out the back door here. There is nothing within 50 miles of Charleston that compares with that. We are 40 minutes away from Class 6 white water. It is easily double that from Charleston. Coonskin is nice, maybe nicer than Marilla, but it is below the waste when compared with Wheeling's Oglebay. And, when you say our students aren't rich enough or smart enough (we've had 25 Rhodes Scholars here) what in the world are you thinking? I simply can't believe you would say something like that. We have great students from all over the world here. I have no idea where you went to school, but that is simply naive. And, since you've been hanging around so much in Charleston, perhaps you've been on the East Side there but you want to say we have slums? We have an award winning city, recognized by some of the best magazines in the country. Charleston isn't even an afterthought. In fact, go to NYC and say Charleston and you'll get "I've never been to South Carolina but I want to go someday".

You seem filled with the illogical jealousy we see from your neck of the woods in recent years, so I really don't care what you think of WVU, but a whole lot of folks must agree with me that it is a great place to go to school since we have twice the students and more than any other school in our state and more students from West Virginia alone than any other school has for total student headcount.

Morgantown High School is a Top 100 school nationally (based on national test scores) so it would surprise me if you are doing better than that in Charleston. Feel free to offer supporting information that Kanawha is somehow better but I really do not see that. In fact, national rankings put Mon County schools at #7 in the state and Kanawha County schools at #17 West Virginia State Districts - WV School District Rankings

I worked for years for the state of WV. I have been to Charleston recently and my opinion is it was actually more of a town 10 years ago than it is today. Just a couple of years ago they had a movement there to try to annex the entire county because they thought they would drop below 50,000 in population. That didn't happen, but they certainly have lost people in the last decade. We have restaurants of virtually every stripe here, plays and concerts on a regular basis (my wife and I attended a concert
by the Pittsburgh Symphony here just yesterday... they perform here too) and we have The University Symphony as well as the Wheeling Symphony performing here. It is home to the state's only doctoral level creative arts programs. The demographics are different here, so you get more Trace Adkins and Pam Tillis types while we get regular
Broadway plays (two this month), a mix of concerts, and well choreographed University productions. Arts&Entertainment - West Virginia University West Virginia Public Theatre | Presenting the Best of Broadway
http://www.ccarts.wvu.edu/themes/cca...eatre_over.gif And, for athletics it isn't even remotely close.


We have better than an 85% retention rate for students here, the best in the state, so I don't know who you went to school with. Perhaps they left because they couldn't cut it here academically, or perhaps you simply hung out with drunks who could only make it someplace else? I didn't want to rag on Charleston, but your comments are over the top so you are making me change my mind there. We are proud of our young people here, and since the educational attainment level here is eons above what you have in Charleston maybe you have a thing or two to learn about them. Why don't you enlighten us with where you went to school and I will be happy to find some comparisons for you to rant about. And, you want to say your people are somehow better than ours? If that were so, they why is the crime index there double what it is here. You sir, are full of bunk.

Demographics are changing in our state. There is a lot of pent up resentment felt in many parts of the state toward Charleston for various reasons. I'm not going to say they are all valid, but enough of them are that folks have taken notice. And, the times are a changin'. Expect other parts of the state to start demanding a more equitable share of all sorts of things in the coming years.

Now that we have that out of the way, I will say that for some people Charleston might be just the thing. We don't make any claim to being the be all here (you folks have the monopoly on that) but we easily have what you have there and more. Now, does that mean you can't find a chain store there that we don't have here? Of course not. But if you consider overall quality of life and opportunity, we are the best the state has to offer these days. I would expect you to disagree with that as is your right, but the experts seem to be lining up with me. We're still growing in a significant way here, and have been for some time and our unemployment rate is easily the lowest in the state.

Seeing how it was you that brought this topic up last night, and it it you that alwayd wants to put a bad label on Charleston, I'm starting to think it is you that is jealous. I have never said anything negative about the city of Mtown expect that it has teerible roads, the students are bellow average in morals, and it is an ugly place. I don't know why you point fingures, when you do the exacy same thing on this forum. You don't even comment on all of my post.

You like to rant on about the same things in every post that you have, but honestly half of that stuff Charleston gets better of, especially in entertainment and cultural related activities. I don't know why you have it out for our capital, but quite frankley you are well misinformed and need to spend real time here. My sister is moving to Morgantown, so I actually spend time there. I know it very well, and to be honest I wouldn't even consider it the second best city in the state of WV. Students make it terrible, and inmature. Everybody knows that every college student in town isn't a bad egg, but there are about 20k that give our state a bad reputation for throwing crap on the court, burning furniture, riots, sex, drugs, drinking, and any other sin that is down right an embarassement to the state of WV. I can't stand the thought that you'd hide the facts about what kind of place Mtown has become. It is important to the reputation of the school to try and end the bad rap with better education on how to get a degree while staying out of the crap. I feel terrible for the 10k who go to WVU are try to live normal lives.

GW is a top 100 school, Saint Albans is becoming a top school, and there are countless award winning middle and elementary schools here. Restaurants again are generally better, and again art galleries, entertainment, and big names are better here FACT!!!

You can't throw rocks very well, and thats all I have to say about that.

[CTMountaineer]

Originally Posted by Chriscross309

Seeing how it was you that brought this topic up last night, and it it you that alwayd wants to put a bad label on Charleston, I'm starting to think it is you that is jealous. I have never said anything negative about the city of Mtown expect that it has teerible roads, the students are bellow average in morals, and it is an ugly place. I don't know why you point fingures, when you do the exacy same thing on this forum. You don't even comment on all of my post.

You like to rant on about the same things in every post that you have, but honestly half of that stuff Charleston gets better of, especially in entertainment and cultural related activities. I don't know why you have it out for our capital, but quite frankley you are well misinformed and need to spend real time here. My sister is moving to Morgantown, so I actually spend time there. I know it very well, and to be honest I wouldn't even consider it the second best city in the state of WV. Students make it terrible, and inmature. Everybody knows that every college student in town isn't a bad egg, but there are about 20k that give our state a bad reputation for throwing crap on the court, burning furniture, riots, sex, drugs, drinking, and any other sin that is down right an embarassement to the state of WV. I can't stand the thought that you'd hide the facts about what kind of place Mtown has become. It is important to the reputation of the school to try and end the bad rap with better education on how to get a degree while staying out of the crap. I feel terrible for the 10k who go to WVU are try to live normal lives.

GW is a top 100 school, Saint Albans is becoming a top school, and there are countless award winning middle and elementary schools here. Restaurants again are generally better, and again art galleries, entertainment, and big names are better here FACT!!!

You can't throw rocks very well, and thats all I have to say about that.

Tim, I didn't resurrect this thread, you did. Restaurants are nice in Charleston, and just as nice here (where do you come up with that crap?).
There are not 20 thousand bad egg students here. Are there a few of them... yep, there are a few of them at any school. Most of our 30,000 students are well behaved and are receiving an outstanding education. One that when they graduate will earn higher starting salaries than their counterparts at Pitt or any other school in the state. You failed to mention where you went to school, but if some of the students there didn't have sex I'd want to nominate it for seminary status. Almost all college students drink. They did at every one of the 20 or so schools I attended over the years. And, I see you are joining the chorus of those critical of some kids burning a few old counches. They really don't do that any more, but if that floats your boat so be it.

I am more than puzzled at your calling our state's flagship educational institution embarrassing. It is virtually the only bright spot on an otherwise horrible public relations agenda we find in the state. We have highly successful athletic programs (the program is Top 30 nationally) that compete and win on a national level, nationally ranked educational offerings, and excellent learning opportunities at a bargain price here. West Virginia University is ranked among the Top 30 in the country for its graduates by business recruiters.

You are the one who said Kanawha has better schools. It does NOT have better schools. Does it have some good schools? Of course it does. It also has the #400 something ranked school in the state. Both counties have good schools, but you made your statement without doing your homework so if you got your education in Kanawha they dropped the ball somehow.

[CTMountaineer]

Originally Posted by cry_havoc

Charleston is nice, but it is isolated, boring, and feels empty.

The Clay Center is ok, but it isnt that great. Charleston needs a better local art/music/culture scene instead of the 3rd class commercialized stuff that tours small cities.

This whole better argument needs to stop. Neither Morgantown nor CHarleston are better than each other. They are different, and given someone's preferences an individual may find one better than the other.

If you want a small, quiet, consistent, cheap, a city that feels like a town and want more of a country setting Charleston is great. It would also look beautiful if it didnt have those terrible generic box looking mid rises. Charleston is also home to a big hive of scum and villainy, the state government, but that is not Charleston's fault. They would be just as corrupt and incompetent in any area of WV.

If you want a thriving, youthful, exciting, culture, and a city that is more typical of the NE but still in WV with all its beauty and friendly attitude of WV Morgantown is a great choice.

People need to start appreciating Morgantown and Charleston for their strengths.

Well said, especially the part about state government. It really isn't Charleston's fault those bozos congregate there. The only thing that irritates me about the place is the incessant need they seem to have there to try to one up everyone else. Even though it is a small town of 50 thousand, they were petrified of going below that because it would somehow mean they were no longer the "largest" city in the state, whatever in the he&& that means. Our state doesn't have any largest cities, and I for one am glad for that.

In our own way, we are probably guilty of rubbing salt in the wounds at times. I am reminded of the country song that says "Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way". We have gotten so much positive national attention here we probably do let it get to our heads sometimes. It might be a good idea to tone that down a bit and let the accolades speak for themselves.

[cry_havoc]

Originally Posted by CTMountaineer

Tim, I didn't resurrect this thread, you did. Restaurants are nice in Charleston, and just as nice here (where do you come up with that crap?).
There are not 20 thousand bad egg students here. Are there a few of them... yep, there are a few of them at any school. Most of our 30,000 students are well behaved and are receiving an outstanding education. One that when they graduate will earn higher starting salaries than their counterparts at Pitt or any other school in the state. You failed to mention where you went to school, but if some of the students there didn't have sex I'd want to nominate it for seminary status. Almost all college students drink. They did at every one of the 20 or so schools I attended over the years. And, I see you are joining the chorus of those critical of some kids burning a few old counches. They really don't do that any more, but if that floats your boat so be it.

I am more than puzzled at your calling our state's flagship educational institution embarrassing. It is virtually the only bright spot on an otherwise horrible public relations agenda we find in the state. We have highly successful athletic programs (the program is Top 30 nationally) that compete and win on a national level, nationally ranked educational offerings, and excellent learning opportunities at a bargain price here. West Virginia University is ranked among the Top 30 in the country for its graduates by business recruiters.

You are the one who said Kanawha has better schools. It does NOT have better schools. Does it have some good schools? Of course it does. It also has the #400 something ranked school in the state. Both counties have good schools, but you made your statement without doing your homework so if you got your education in Kanawha they dropped the ball somehow.

Chris just because they don't live up to YOUR strict Christian morals doesnt mean they are immoral. The behavior of WVU students is not any different from people their age. Charleston may be old fashioned, but that is how 17-25 year olds act.

I admit they can be kinda irritating, but that is because our society shelters them, and seeks to prevent that from experiencing life, which leads to them becoming douchebags. In Europe where sex ed is openly taught in middle schools and the drinking age is MUCH lower they dont have nearly as many social problems. Portugual decriminalized all drugs a few years ago, and drug use has dramatically dropped. The nanny state, and puritan inspired laws, are leading to amoral behavior.

I know you dont want to hear this, but America is getting more secular. This is a good thing. You have every right to practice your religion, but it is annoying when people try to impose their personal moral view on the country and end up finding it amoral because the vast majority of the country doesnt follow it.

[tbailey1138]

Originally Posted by CTMountaineer

Tim, I didn't resurrect this thread, you did.

I assume you meant Chris here. I haven't even responded in this thread up to this point.

Originally Posted by CTMountaineer

The only thing that irritates me about the place is the incessant need they seem to have there to try to one up everyone else.

Oh the irony in this statement.

[CTMountaineer]

Indeed, I did mean Chris. Sorry about that.

[CTMountaineer]

Originally Posted by cry_havoc

Chris just because they don't live up to YOUR strict Christian morals doesnt mean they are immoral. The behavior of WVU students is not any different from people their age. Charleston may be old fashioned, but that is how 17-25 year olds act.

I admit they can be kinda irritating, but that is because our society shelters them, and seeks to prevent that from experiencing life, which leads to them becoming douchebags. In Europe where sex ed is openly taught in middle schools and the drinking age is MUCH lower they dont have nearly as many social problems. Portugual decriminalized all drugs a few years ago, and drug use has dramatically dropped. The nanny state, and puritan inspired laws, are leading to amoral behavior.

I know you dont want to hear this, but America is getting more secular. This is a good thing. You have every right to practice your religion, but it is annoying when people try to impose their personal moral view on the country and end up finding it amoral because the vast majority of the country doesnt follow it.

I respect everyone's religious beliefs (although I am none too fond of the Muslims or the Jehovahs), but what I do resent is the tendency of some to try to impose their own worldview on others. It's fine to be a fundamentalist and all, but just because some preacher someplace says it is a sin to drink a beer does not make it so. These guys make up their own rules as they go along (the bible even refers to folks drinking alcohol as a normal thing) but behind closed doors or as soon as they go out of town they are the first ones to cut loose.

My own opinion is the young folks taught to drink responsibily have a much better chance of avoiding problems than those who grew up in homes where it was officially repressed, and who had to resort to secretive binge drinking for social releases. We had some problems with that at football games before this year but starting making beer available in the stadium. That reduced binge drinking, which resulted in a major drop in incidents. It is not that more is better. It is that measured and reasoned use is better. But we're all getting away from the topic Chris posted here. The Tech Park is a good idea that should be replicated in every city of the state at state expense. The Biaforas rehabed all the old buildings in the Wharf District in Morgantown, but I'm sure if we look hard enough we can find some old buildings for the state to come in and pour money into. Heck, I might even buy some if they will buy them back from me to do that.