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Matoaka is a small town (pop. ~300) in Mercer County, roughly midway between Mullins and Princeton. To be honest, until you asked, I had never heard of it, I had to use Google Maps to find it.
Given its location and population, I'd say you'll be lucky to find much more than a convenience store - gas station combo there. The best description (remember, this is sight-unseen, just a guess) perhaps is "coal patch" town.
i used to live there and thinking of moving back. very small town.two stores. and a V.F.W. real country stores.wooden floors. one has a bar in half of it.at night the store is closed and bar is open. honestly just a bunch of broke people there.thats why i work in florida to build cash. people are very nice but just nothing there. the whole place seems to be falling apart. but even as it seems i down matoaka i will go back so my 7 year old daughter lives in low crime.and isnt in schools like jacksonville florida. at least she will have a good upbringing and i will pay the small town price for her happiness. if you have any more questions you can email at duke_herzog@yahoo.com. i also can give you mayors phone number he is a very nice person willing to help in many ways. good luck,mike.
Hello my father is acctualy the current Mayor of Matoaka WV. Most people are fairly friendly however I must admit ther has been problems with drugs and minior crime nothing tobad though. Lately the police have made a good dent in the drug problem but i will not lie Motoaka will take a little time to clean the drugs out of the town. The town over all is a very plesant town.
If you have any questions I can help with please feel free to email me, I dont check e-mail all the time but I promise I will get back to you.
Hope this like might help you Moderator cut: link removed
Last edited by Yac; 11-02-2007 at 07:25 AM..
Reason: Found a link that might be helpful
In reply to the post made by chadradatz (my dad is currently mayor of Motoaka), my family and i were coming through Matoaka WV one Tuesday afternoon around 3:30 in the afternoon, there was a road block set up by the police, we go through the normal ritual of a road block and are told to go on. We get about a block up the road my husband blinks his lights to oncoming traffic (note, the road block is set up around and in the middle of a curve, oncoming traffic can not see the cars in the middle of the road), then this old beat up black pick up (does not look road legal) pulls out of a side road and pulls into middle of street, blocks both lanes, our vehicle (missing our front bumpber by five feet) this haggard looking man (grey hair to his shoulders, uncombed, belly hanging out of the bottom of his tattered shirt, old grey work pants hanging below belly) with a gun strapped on his side, runs around the front of his truck up to my husbands window and says, "MY NAME IS RANDY RADATZ, I AM THE MAYOR OF MOTOAKA, YOU HAVE JUST COMMITED A CRIME AND I AM DETAINING YOUR VEHICLE! PULL OVER INTO THAT PARKING LOT!".
My husband and i are in complete shock, he pulls our car over and the man approaches our window again and takes the keys from my husband, gets in his pick up and leaves! At this point we are really shaken, our son is in the back seat and is visibly shaken. We realize this is not legal for this person to do this, had no idea where he went or if he was coming back, i get the cell phone out to call 911, NO SIGNAL! Five minutes or so has passed and the man pulls back up with the officers that had motioned us through the road check. We approach the officer (he immediately hands our keys back over) and tell him what happened. He is in shock himself (shaking his head in disbelief the entire time). We inform him we know that this so called "MAYOR" has no legal right to do this, he is in agreement with us. He tells us that although we are not supposed to warn other vehicles of a road check, that this man was completely out of order by doing what he did to us. The officer calls two more officers in, they also agree that the "MAYOR" was in the wrong, and let us go on. I have been advised to contact an agency in Charleston WV about this incident.
So i guess what i am trying to do with this post, #1 is answer the persons question "What is Motoaka WV like?", and #2, warn of the way the "MAYOR" conducts himself. You have a "MAYOR" that thinks he is Marshall Dillion (BEWARE IF YOU ARE JUST PASSING THROUGH), there is no longer ANY stores located there, well with the exception of a hardware store (not sure if it is even open for business) the town much resembles a ghost town. The old school there (i did see a soda machine) is sometimes used for town functions. As far as a SMALL drug problem there, i think the local news archives should be checked for arrests and drug busts as well as deaths there that are due to the use of alcohol and drugs.
So if you are considering moving to Motoaka WV, BE PREPARED!
Thanks!! This sounds like a typical situation in a small outback town, At least the police did there job and really thats a plus in my opinion. And also it looks like the Mayor and Police are taking measurements to combat crime and that also is a plus. Perhaps the Mayors actions were out of line a bit. But all ended well and a lesson was learned from your experience!!!!!!.
The Town Council of Matoaka asked Randy Radatz to resign as Mayor on October 31, 2007 and he was recently arrested for extortion. He will not be threatening anyone anymore.
I'm sorry you had to go through that. I hope you don't feel that everyone in the town is like he is, because we're not like that at all.
Matoaka is a very friendly town. Most people would give you the shirt off their backs.
Please don't let one bad apple keep you from visiting our town again in the future.
I have driven through Matoka on Route 10 several times. I can't believe that anyone would want to live there. Western Mercer County is squalid and run down now that the coal reserves there have been exhausted. The ancient storefronts are empty dusty windows. Hardly any businesses. What would you do for a living with no businesses? No economy, no commerce, no tax base, no future, no hope. And it isn't even attractive. If you want to move to Mercer County, WV then for God's sake move to Princeton or Athens.
Look, it's people like this (italianbluesboy) who cause small towns to become "run down". No one wants to help, no one wants to put any effort into it, to you it may be ancient and dusty but to others, the ones who live there, it's their home, their life, so many memories, so much time and family, thats all they know, and the funny thing is that thats okay.
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