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Politics is controlled by money....it has been that way since the begining of time.
The Senator has done a very good job protecting the 'family interests and the government has paid his bills for the past 40 years...sort of a 'high class welfare for the rich.
Again a waste of money by the state. For decades the government have been wasting tens of millions trying to preserve southern wv, which has totally failed while ignoring areas of the state that are actually growing. The state government has proven itself incompetent time after time. You cannot create artificial demand.
It is far more difficult to create demand than it is to meet existing demand, and far more cost efficient to serve demand that is already in place. Unfortunately, our beautiful state is a political cesspool of sorts and the waste of which you speak is considered normal by many folks here. That's why we are always battling it out for last place with Mississippi and often winning the battle.
We know that isn't the case in the northern part of the state, but it is the norm in much of the southern part.
Actually strip mining is part of the reason there is a lack of jobs. It requires less workers and destroys the area for thousands, if not millions of years. Strip mining is a win-win situation for the owners and management who are out of state but a loss for wv and it's people. When Obama increased regulation on strip mining the number of mining jobs dramatically increased because the companies had to hire more workers, but boy are they pissed that they have to pay more to hard working west virginians instead of being able to buy a new mansion in Loudon Virginia this year.
The jobs you mentioned are the reason the economy sucks. The state government let these industries loot wv like it was a third world country. The citizens of southern wv deserve blame to. They didnt care, or didnt have the foresight, to make sure they received benefits too, were taken care, used the wealth to improve the area, or protected themselves. They only saw the present and failed to see the obvious future so no one was held accountable.
Tremendous wealth was taken from wv, but none of it was kept here. Instead states with better governments and citizens who cared about their situation reaped the benefits of wv, while wv got nothing but the mess. As soon as an area of WV was used up the companies packed their bags and left to find somewhere else they can use, and completely forgot about WV. What you saw in the video is the result.
Quite possibly your best post yet on this site. Well said.
Again a waste of money by the state. For decades the government have been wasting tens of millions trying to preserve southern wv, which has totally failed while ignoring areas of the state that are actually growing. The state government has proven itself incompetent time after time. You cannot create artificial demand.
You are saying that the state should stop trying to fix the terrible problems of "southern WV" because there are better places to give that money too??? That makes No sence. This is an area in our state that needs the most help. In fact, it makes some third world countries look good, and you are saying that an area like Morgantown should get the money because its doing better???
Yeah, sure lets just give all the money to the rich, and keep the poor under the house in the craw space. This money is going to help educate the people in one of the worst places in the nation on how to make a better life for themselves and you can only say that its a waste of time and one of the more wealthy areas should get it?Think, think, think,
You are saying that the state should stop trying to fix the terrible problems of "southern WV" because there are better places to give that money too??? That makes No sence. This is an area in our state that needs the most help. In fact, it makes some third world countries look good, and you are saying that an area like Morgantown should get the money because its doing better???
Yeah, sure lets just give all the money to the rich, and keep the poor under the house in the craw space. This money is going to help educate the people in one of the worst places in the nation on how to make a better life for themselves and you can only say that its a waste of time and one of the more wealthy areas should get it?Think, think, think,
I dont see a problem with improving education there, but with no jobs those that do get an education are just going to move out. The reason the infrastructure is crumbling is again there is no industry to tax, and people dont have money to pay taxes so improving infrastructure wont create any new jobs, except temporary construction jobs. It will let people out of the county faster. How do you use government money to, "fight poverty?" You could increase welfare in the county, but again that wont help the town regain industry or help the economy. How is the government going to create jobs there? It could move government jobs out of Charleston, but I doubt the people there could work most of them so people from Charleston would need to relocate there. Really wasteful. Instead of creating government jobs in Charleston the state could make them in that country, but again the people that work them would need to come from elsewhere, and it might slow the decline of the county, but it wont save it.
Morgantown does not need state money. It is doing fine on its own. What Morgantown does need is the roads the state is obligated to build and should build. By building the roads the economy in Morgantown will further improve and the money will flow back to Charleston from taxes. The politicians than can waste the money as they see fit.
The problem with Mcdowell is lack of economic development. The state let all the money from coal leave. Now that most of the coal is gone so is the local economy. The county is in an isolated area, where people dont want to live. They need to find some activity that can lead to growth. State handouts are not going to improve the local economy there. Maybe the state could help them relocate to somewhere with better prospects.
Ha! I'm sitting here reading all of these posts and I've came to a conclusion that most of you all are so ignorant about this topic. I am from McDowell County and before you want to call us "third world", maybe you should come talk to us. Yeah, we may have it rough here, however that will soon be changing. You think Morgantown should get the money that McDowell is getting? That makes no sense. Why would you need help to build up something that's already doing so well? Yes, we all do care. Those people on that video are not what we all are about. The house they were tearing down is actually beside a large well-established gas station. Too bad they didn't show the positive. You can go anywhere in the world, including Morgantown, and you'll find places with people that abuse drugs and alcohol. We do have some problems, but we don't have a lot of criminal activity or gangs. I also forgot to mention that we are not all dumb, uneducated people. We CAN and do work jobs. There are many good Christian people here too. We do not need Charleston people to come work for us. We might need them to come train some of our people. Maybe before you get too caught up in this, you should come check us out. We could use the tourist dollars! Come talk to us about this. Come see the situation for yourself. No, we may not have the best, but I'd rather be from McDowell than to walk around with my nose so far up in the air like some of you sound like you do. It is obvious that the people posting the negative comments are not very compassionate or empathetic. We do have big hearts in southern WV. We help our family and neighbors when they fall on bad times or get sick. We are tired of all the WV stereotyping too. So why are you adding to it? I stumbled across this site doing research for a class. Surprise, there are some educated people in McDowell County. Actually, if you researched the area we have many success stories and a rich history. However, the Australian reporters wanted to focus on the negative to attract more attention. Although I don't agree with their methods, it worked. People are talking about McDowell County instead of ignoring us. Sounds like many of the post are from heartless people. It should warm your heart that our state is in the spotlight for trying to overcome all the obstacles we face. We are trying to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps. It is ashame people from our own state don't support the effort. We have made many mistakes in our county, but I won't hang my head. I love our beautiful mountains and the fact we are still Wild & Wonderful. I choose to live here because I have family here. I could leave, but I love the extraordinary colors of fall trees, snowcap mountains, and lush summer floral life. I enjoy hiking and smelling the sweet honeysuckle in the spring and summer. It is awesome to see squirrels and chipmunks run in the woods. I love counting the numerous deer on a fall afternoon walk. No, we don't have stores on every corner, but we have gorgeous trees and stunning sunsets. Yes, we do have problems but there are problems everywhere. I appreciate that there are people with true compassion that are willing to come to our area and offer to help. We are not too proud to admit we can't do it alone. So before you judge our county on these slanted reports, look around in some of your communities and be thankful that the Australian reporters didn't come to your town. I am sure we all have places and things we aren't so proud of. I like Morgantown. I have been there many times for medical and recreational reasons. I saw some places that wouldn't look so good on film either. After all, your town's notority came from a report that WVU was the #1 "party" school a few years ago. So apparently drugs and alcohol was an issue there too. You should be happy that you all have a good economy. But please stop adding to the negative press. We should stand together as a state. Our mountains have divided our state but our citizens should always stand together.
Ha! I'm sitting here reading all of these posts and I've came to a conclusion that most of you all are so ignorant about this topic. I am from McDowell County and before you want to call us "third world", maybe you should come talk to us. Yeah, we may have it rough here, however that will soon be changing. You think Morgantown should get the money that McDowell is getting? That makes no sense. Why would you need help to build up something that's already doing so well? Yes, we all do care. Those people on that video are not what we all are about. The house they were tearing down is actually beside a large well-established gas station. Too bad they didn't show the positive. You can go anywhere in the world, including Morgantown, and you'll find places with people that abuse drugs and alcohol. We do have some problems, but we don't have a lot of criminal activity or gangs. I also forgot to mention that we are not all dumb, uneducated people. We CAN and do work jobs. There are many good Christian people here too. We do not need Charleston people to come work for us. We might need them to come train some of our people. Maybe before you get too caught up in this, you should come check us out. We could use the tourist dollars! Come talk to us about this. Come see the situation for yourself. No, we may not have the best, but I'd rather be from McDowell than to walk around with my nose so far up in the air like some of you sound like you do. It is obvious that the people posting the negative comments are not very compassionate or empathetic. We do have big hearts in southern WV. We help our family and neighbors when they fall on bad times or get sick. We are tired of all the WV stereotyping too. So why are you adding to it? I stumbled across this site doing research for a class. Surprise, there are some educated people in McDowell County. Actually, if you researched the area we have many success stories and a rich history. However, the Australian reporters wanted to focus on the negative to attract more attention. Although I don't agree with their methods, it worked. People are talking about McDowell County instead of ignoring us. Sounds like many of the post are from heartless people. It should warm your heart that our state is in the spotlight for trying to overcome all the obstacles we face. We are trying to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps. It is ashame people from our own state don't support the effort. We have made many mistakes in our county, but I won't hang my head. I love our beautiful mountains and the fact we are still Wild & Wonderful. I choose to live here because I have family here. I could leave, but I love the extraordinary colors of fall trees, snowcap mountains, and lush summer floral life. I enjoy hiking and smelling the sweet honeysuckle in the spring and summer. It is awesome to see squirrels and chipmunks run in the woods. I love counting the numerous deer on a fall afternoon walk. No, we don't have stores on every corner, but we have gorgeous trees and stunning sunsets. Yes, we do have problems but there are problems everywhere. I appreciate that there are people with true compassion that are willing to come to our area and offer to help. We are not too proud to admit we can't do it alone. So before you judge our county on these slanted reports, look around in some of your communities and be thankful that the Australian reporters didn't come to your town. I am sure we all have places and things we aren't so proud of. I like Morgantown. I have been there many times for medical and recreational reasons. I saw some places that wouldn't look so good on film either. After all, your town's notority came from a report that WVU was the #1 "party" school a few years ago. So apparently drugs and alcohol was an issue there too. You should be happy that you all have a good economy. But please stop adding to the negative press. We should stand together as a state. Our mountains have divided our state but our citizens should always stand together.
Actually Morgantown is now nationally known for this. McDowell county doesnt screw over Morgantown, but Charleston does. Morgantown pays more than its fair share of taxes to the state, and gets nothing back in return. We should stand together, but a big portion of WV has a chip on its shoulder when it comes to Morgantown.
If you want to blame someone look at the politicians in Charleston who sold McDowell out to coal companies, and other big interest groups. Lots of wealth was extracted from your county, but it was all taken away and nobody looked out for you. Things are only going to get worse until you start making the state government accountable.
I think that part of wv should get assistance of some kind for sure. The reason a place like wheeling is doing better after loss of population is simple, it is still close to pittsburgh. There are no major population centers close to mcdowell county so it is taking a bigger hit. Even if they had a resort of some kind it is just to far away from population centers. The only way to help them would be to build a nice community college, new hospital with more staff and maybe add a couple state buildings. Even if they send 500 jobs there overall it would help tremendously it really isnt rocket science. And whoever said that they couldn't work certain jobs is just plain ignorant. Most jobs in america require half a brain unless you are an engineer or some other highly skilled worker. Most jobs just take practice and persistence.
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That makes No sence. This is an area in our state that needs the most help. In fact, it makes some third world countries look good, and you are saying that an area like Morgantown should get the money because its doing better??? 
