Rahall: Community is the cornerstone

by: Carnacki

Fri Oct 24, 2008 at 14:38:20 PM EDT

Involvement in our communities fulfills an important role in America's infrastructure. Everyday citizens in towns all across the Nation and West Virginia come together to build-up broken communities and work together to inspire future generations to answer this same call for public service.

This type of local involvement betters our communities from within by working side by side with law enforcement and government officials on pressing issues currently facing our communities such as addiction, crime and the need for more economic growth.

One way to get involved in your neighborhood is through community crime prevention, one of the most effective ways to help our local law enforcement officials combat crime here in West Virginia. Whether you teach your kids to "just say no," watch your neighbors' children, or form neighborhood watch groups, local law enforcement officials depend on your support through community-led initiatives to succeed. Your active involvement and the presence of local law enforcement in communities is a winning combination that has proven to help keep our streets and families safe.

In southern West Virginia, we take great pride in our community spirit, which shines through best when we focus on one of our most valuable resources, our children. This past year, I was so proud to learn that two counties in southern West Virginia, Mercer and Monroe, were again honored as two of the nation's "100 Best Communities for Youth" by America's Promise Alliance. These counties have dedicated themselves to fostering a healthy, safe and caring environment for our young leaders.

These two communities are just two examples of how southern West Virginians can work together to instill a sense of civic responsibility in our youth and generate economic opportunity for our communities. When we actively involve our young people, we show them the limitless possibilities their futures can hold, by playing a role in the development of their communities today.

I pledge to support the hard work and dedication of my fellow West Virginians, by continuing my work to make the communities in the Third District healthy and nurturing environments in which families can live and raise their children. I will continue to support programs such as the Drug Free Communities grant program and the Safe and Drug Free Schools program that are invaluable tools when it comes to preventing and reducing substance abuse, particularly in our teenagers and young adults.

West Virginia native, and renowned author, Pearl S. Buck once said, "If our American way of life fails the child, it fails us all." When teachers, civic leaders, parents, children, the young and the old come together to better their communities, we pick up that mantle and choose to create environments where children and families have boundless opportunities.

Blogging with the Obama Campaign in Mercer County (Updated)

by: wvblueguy

Sat Apr 26, 2008 at 13:20:25 PM EDT

There is no way you could convince me that we don't have Barack Obama supporters in our state. Elena Bailey came in from Hinton to conduct the first Barack Obama field meeting in our county. We had what I consider to be an outstanding turnout with over 30 folks turning out to not only support Senator Obama, but to actually volunteer to work on his behalf in Mercer and McDowell counties. Four folks from McDowell County  who are all educators and one from Tazewell County in VA were at the meeting. Inspiring group of folks... the message comes out loud and clear. This group is willing to work their butts off to get Barack Obama in the White House. As they introduced themselves I picked up a true feeling that this is an inspired group that honestly believes in Barack as a candidate.

By the way one of the other organizers Roger Lowe from Charleston who has worked with the campaign throughout the country was in awe of the number of folks who took time on their weekend to help get Barack Obama elected at this meeting. 

The first goal for the group was to set up volunteer Precinct Captains, and to actually start canvassing TODAY.  Target areas for the first canvass include Welch in McDowell County, and Bluefield in Mercer County.  There were several walk packs prepared, and plans are in place to make canvassing or phone banking happen literally every day between now and the primary.

It looks like the main goal of the Obama campaign is to get as much face to face contact with volunteers and voters as possible. Many of those attending are actually getting involved in the process for the first time in their lives. A lot of time was spent demonstrating to everybody what is involved in actually getting the message across to potential voters.  In the years I have been involved in this area I find that there are very few of us that have actually participated in canvassing and phone banking.  I think that the Obama organization is on the right track in working and training folks in the field to get Obama as many votes as possible in the state.

Updated with pictures.  I am posting this from the meeting.

The United States is A Divided Country; and West Virginia is a Divided State

by: bluemcdowell

Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 11:47:38 AM EDT

His gubernatorial record in Texas indicated that maybe perhaps he was 100 percent correct....

but as fellow Texan and 1992 and 1996 presidential candidate Ross Perot so adequately put it:

"The devil is in the details."

It was back then and sadly much much more so today.

In Texas the legislature there was once one of the most non-partisan in the country at the time Bush was governor there.  And the Democrats down there are some of the most conservative Democrats that America had back then.

So it really is not that surprising that Bush and the Democratic legislature there were "chummy."  Yet the Main Stream Media was successful in 2000 in conveying that very image.  They said it possibly could work as President too.

What they failed to say is that the Democrats in Congress are much more liberal the Democrats in the Texas legislature and that the atmosphere in Washington is much more partisan and less willing to compromise unlike the Democrats in Texas.

It seems that Bush thought that he could get away with governing Washington the same way he did in Austin....

and the results have been a complete and total failure to say the least.

Bush missed several very important opportunites to unify the country as one.

The first test was the 9/11 tragedy of course.

For a little while it seemed that he was passing the test with flying covers, until Ross Perot's famous words came calling again....

"The devil is in the details."

When all the details came out we all knew then for the very 1st time that Bush was not placing his money where his mouth was.  Little tidbits came out even on Sept. 11, 2001 how Bush actually seemed to "downplay" this national tragedy and seem sort of "uncaring" about it.  For the very 1st time it seemed that "born-again Christian" George W. Bush might not be the real deal that the MSM portrayed them to be.

Instead of placing Al-Queda as his number 1 priority instead he placed Saddam Hussein who now we all know - except for the "25 percenters" of course - that Saddam had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11 or Osama bin Laden.

In fact Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden hated each other's guts.  They couldn't stand to be around each other even one second.

While Saddam was indeed a ruthless dictator he posed absolutely no national security threat to the United States.  None at all!

Now the Iraq War has claimed even more Iraqi deaths than Saddam Hussein's "reign of terror."

Instead of making 9/11 an "American issue" Bush decided to make 9/11 a "political issue" by lying and making the case for a bogus charge saying something about uranium - have forgotten the exact speech but do remember at least 90 percent of it if not even higher were lies to make his case for a war we shouldn't have even fought in the 1st place for two causes we shouldn't fight for period:

Iraq's oil supply and defense contractor profits.

Those are the reasons are now why we are in Iraq, not to remove Saddam.

And then came Hurricane Katrina.

This time it was much more evident that Bush wasn't being Christ-like in his response.  From the very beginning he gave us the impression of a man who really didn't care about human pain,  suffering, and death of poor innocent African-American mostly Democratic voters in New Orleans.

Instead he and his Religious Right buddies said that God had "cleansed" New Orleans of "voodoo worship" and actually seemed to gloat over their deaths.

Again Bush had another chance to unify the country.  But once again he chose "politics" over "people" pandering to the Old Guard Southern white racists who cared less than even he did about New Orleans' people.

Instead more Republican Mississippi and Alabama got the lion's share of help instead of Democratic city New Orleans.  But even in Mississippi a stauch Bush supporter in the US Senate named Trent Lott blasted the Bush Administration for giving out no-bid contracts to out-of-state companies.

More than 10000 innocent New Orleans residents passed away.  It's been over 2 years now and the majority of Katrina victims are still homeless and displaced.  Most of the FEMA trailers down there are empty and the others who do live them have air so toxic that's it's a legitimate health threat.

To me those two tragic events have defined Bush more than no other.  In both instances he chose "politics and profits" over people. 

And in both cases he chose "division" over "unity."

Just look at the 2008 electoral map and you'll see what I'm talking about.  The red Republican states are redder than ever.  The blue Democratic states are bluer than ever.

And it's even the case down here in the West Virginia, Kentucky, and Virginia coalfields.

There is even a huge division between Democratic McDowell County and much more Republican Mercer County.  McDowell Countians except for my fellow evangelicals and Pentecostals for the most part hate Bush and Republican-supporting Mercer County loves or is indifferent about him.

The same is true for Virginia between Democratic-supporting Buchanan County and Republican-supporting Tazewell County.

And yet again in Kentucky, with Democratic-supporting Floyd County and Republican-supporting Johnson County.

One of the most lasting negative parts of Bush's legacy is how he chose division over unity and politics over people.  He had two defining moments to bring the country together, and instead he chose to further divide us instead.

Bush is not a "uniter and not a divider."

Instead the exact opposite is true.

Bush is a "divider and not a uniter."

Sad but true.

Mercer County, West Virginia Political Season Opener

by: wvblueguy

Sun Aug 26, 2007 at 23:30:01 PM EDT

Late summer is a great time for picnics.  In Mercer County its also a good time to kick off the political season as well.  Today the Mercer County Democrat Club hosted its annual picnic at Glenwood Park near Princeton.  As always the picnic proved to be a great time to visit with old friends, talk politics, and enjoy a lot of really good southern West Virginia Food.  What made it really interesting was the presence of virtually all of our local elected Democratic party officials, and a few state wide candidates who took the opportunity to introduce themselves to a great group of Mercer County Democrats.

Hard to believe that the action is already under way with nearly eight and a half months to go until the West Virginia Democratic primary on Tuesday May 13, 2008.  We got to meet and hear from two candidates for Secretary of State plus a candidate for the West Virginia Supreme Court. We also got a chance to visit with both the Majority Leader of our State Senate, Truman Chafin (D- Logan) and the Majority Leader of the House of Delegates Joe DeLong (D-Hancock) as well as two Local Delegates Dr Marshall Long (D-Mercer), and Mike Burdiss (D-Wyoming).  Other elected officials in attendance included our local Sheriff, our County Commissioners, two Circuit Court Judges, our County Prosecutor, Tax Assessor, Magistrates, and Family Court Judges, and others.  Not a bad turnout for a non-election year gathering.  More below the fold...

                                                                                                                       Truman Chafin and Joe Delong 

The 6th year anniversary of the destructive floods that hit McDowell County and all of southern WV

by: bluemcdowell

Sun Jul 08, 2007 at 03:38:39 AM EDT

July 8, 2001 was by far the saddest day in the life of yours truly bluemcdowell.  The house that I had lived in for over 31 years destroyed in really under an hours' time.

The night before the flood I went to bed about midnight.  At that time I tended to sleep very late in the day up until about 11am.  But this time I had actually gotten up a little earlier at about 9am in the morning.  I slept in the floor that night in a bed bad which really I did pretty commonly at that time with the air conditioner running full blast which really comforted me and made me sleep more easily,

I turned on the TV to watch WWE wrestling,  The very second I did so I saw that the very first flash flood warning had been issued I think for Raleigh County, WV.  I then peaked out the window for the very first time and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  It was raining the hardest I had ever seen it rain before in my whole entire life.  My house was really lower than my neighbors at the time, so my yard was normally wetter then them most of the time.  I kept excepting, hoping, and praying the rain would either let up and stop.  It didn't.  In fact it even seemed to rain heavier and heavier.

For the first time in my life however I could not even see one blade of grass sticking above the water.  All of my yard was under water.  100 percent of it.  Even my neighbors' yards were 90 percent covered.

Usually they say that all you can do is stay inside in a situation like that.  But I firmly believe that if I had done so I wouldn't be here writing this diary today.

Actually my next door neighbor at the time, a guy that my family really especially me whose family really hated me and my grandparents with a passion told me that the creek almost had come out of its banks in April of 2001.  And that was the absolutely first time I had heard of it. 

Sadly I'm the talk of that community even today 6 years later.  I never did anything to those people.  I'm the "joke' up there.

Remember the negative stereotypes of West Virginians?  It's people like them who give us our bad name.  I better leave it at that at the present time.

But the church I went to there was by the far the best church I have ever been to.  And I still visit it from time to time.  They hated the way that family and their friends treated me.  I love that church to death.  To me it's really like home.

Back to the main story at hand:

 While I was watching wrestling flash flood warning after flash flood warning was issued:  Fayette County, Raleigh County, Mercer County, Wyoming County, heck even Bland County VA had flash flood warnings issued to them.  But absolutely nothing about McDowell County.

Then I checked the outside window.  And it was the 2nd saddest sight that I had ever seen in my entire life.  The creek was flowing out of its banks, something I never dreamed I would see in my entire life.  My beloved grandparent's car was flooded in a matter of seconds.

Then the 1st saddest sight came.  Water had actually entered into the bottom door of my house.  I actually had to get out of there and ask my arch enemies for help.  That guy did so but did so very reluctantly. The only reason that he did it in my honest opinion is because God told him he had to or else.  Believe me you do a lot of praying to Jesus and God when your life is in your worst enemy's hands.

 He and I slowly climbed up the hill to the road on the hillside.  I actually thought climbing it would be much easier than what it was.  I never dreamed climbing it would be so difficult even when wet.  I almost fell twice.  My enemy threatened both times to leave me and only very reluctantly stuck out his hand.  Thank God we finally made to the road.  I was huffing and puffing and exhausted.  He wasn't.  And that guy was laughing his butt off and me and then left saying he had to help his family.

I was literally forced to stand for 2 hours in the heaviest rain I had ever seen in my life.  I was scared, crying, wondering if that would be the end.  All the roads into and out of that hollow were under water.

Then an ATV showed up.  Again a member of my enemy's family.  For some reason this time he was nicer to me than his cousin.  He took me to his parents who let me stay there for the evening. 

While I stayed at his parents I actually thought that my house had been spared.  I guess I just wanted to believe positively that my house could withstand it.  This husband and wife chain-smoked the whole time I was there.  They had just heard their son too was flooded out and were crying profusely.  I then asked them if I could check my house.  They agreed to do it.  I really should have stayed there but I wanted to go back so badly I wasn't rational at the time.

Everything was under water.  And I mean everything.  But I still thought that my house had escaped because the water was still below my floor. Then I had to wait another 2 hours standing outside crying my heart out.  I then went to my local Methodist church and prayed like I never did before.  Then two more people came and let me stay with them as they lived on the hillside above.  They were also of my enemy's family but they were the best people of that family.

I actually had a good stay with them overnight.  I just cannot sleep at a stranger's house.  I was tossing and turning for close to 10 hours because they got up late too.  Again though sadly my stay was short-lived because they told me that they had to help their flooded out daughter.

I couldn't understand why they didn't trust me.  I had never even done one bad thing to them.  Now I realize that a main reason thwy wouldn't let me stay with them another night was because they wanted me to do my business outside instead of the camode which was not working because the city water was off but wouldn't because of two very mean biting dogs that they loved to death.  Why did they love their dogs over me I wondered?

I finally then got to go back to my house.  But I was dead wrong in thinking that my house was spared.  My grandad's "pride and joy" his riding mower flipped upside down.  Mud and debris everywhere.  I was forced to sleep that night in my muddy house because no one would let me stay with them.  The next night another one of my enemy's family let me stay with him. 

Finally my family had been able to come and get me after the water receded and the roads were halfway dry.  I was scared and frightened and crying myself to death inside.  Finally after spending that whole time with my enemies I finally got to stay with my family and friends.  I moved two houses away from my mom and step-dad.  I was finally free as a bird.

But May 2, 2002 the second 100 year flood in a matter of 10 months struck.  My mom and step-dad were flooded out.  But thank God he did spare my house this time, as it was just trickling outside my door.  One more inch and my house would have been destroyed for a 2nd time. 

I still live in the same house today.  People sort of cringe when I say this but I know it's just a matter of time before I'm flooded out, this time for good.  I probably will have to leave McDowell County and relocate to the Bluewell-Brushfork-Bluefield area or to the Glenwood-Princeton area when that happens.  There is a young lady in my hometown that I like a lot.  Sadly when I do get flooded out I will be forced to leave her probably for good because God has blessed her and her mom with a house outside the flood plain, and even they said the May 2 flood got them with logs and coal debris.

Mullens destroyed.  Most of Welch destroyed.  Landgraff wiped completely off the map.  Kimball now with just one business in downtown even though it now has Wal-Mart.  Sadly at least 8 people lost their lives because of the July 8, 2001 flood and the May 2, 2002 flood just 10 months later.

Actually since it's way past my bedtime I will have to close this diary out.  If you do a Google search do a McDowell County Muddy Waters Song.  There will be a 5 minute song chronicling both floods. 

STOP MOUNTAIN TOP REMOVAL NOW! 

AND IF YOU'RE GOING TO LOG DO IT IN A RESPONSIBLE MANNER AND RECLAIM THE LAND!

I send my heartfelt condolences to those families of lost loved ones lost durning those destructive floods.  May God bless you all.