• Mountain Messenger Op/Ed Page - 05/10/08
• President Bill still a crowd-pleaser
• More mud bogging in Monroe County?
• Ado list for Rupert
• Resort expects downturn in business
• Ronceverte council again tables burn ordinance
• Ronceverte takes spring clean up very seriously
• Kelli Bostic Volunteer of the Year

During the month of May, the Mountain Messenger online edition will be published from Athens, Greece.  Please pardon any delays  - The Webmaster

Two hundred locals braved the rain Thursday to hear former president Bill Clinton campaign for Hillary at the Fairgrounds. His caravan, negotiating some pretty bad storms, arrived nearly two hours after his scheduled 5:30 p.m. appearance.

The master-orator did not disappoint. The crowd was vocal in its enthusiasm for his off-the-cuff discourse in support of his wife’s candidacy.

"She’s the best I ever saw at making changes," he enthused. "She’s better than I was."

He talked of her plan for improving public education. "No Child Left Behind doesn’t work," he insisted. "We should spend that money on recruiting and training good teachers and pay them better. We should find out what’s working in the best schools and put it in all the schools."

He said she will crack down on student loan sharks and make sure students can repay loans at a low, fixed interest rate, and that students who go into service professions (nurse, law officer, firefighter, etc.) would have their obligations cancelled.

Hers is the only health care plan, he asserted, that would cover everyone. Her plan, he said, would get administrative overhead down to the Medicare level, three percent.

"We have to get around to using less oil," he pointed out. He said Detroit hasn’t made economy cars because Americans haven’t been willing to buy them. Senator Clinton advocates a $20 million bond sale to help domestic automakers build high-mileage cars that Americans at last seem ready to acquire.

She also favors more solar energy development and a clean coal initiative, along with putting carbon emissions into the ground, and research to remove carbon from emissions.

The candidate wants to put people back to work on infrastructure upgrades and clean energy projects, he said, and she wants to repeal tax breaks for oil companies. She has a plan for jobs that can’t be out-sourced.

President Bill said his wife wants to pay down the national debt, balance the budget, and enforce the trade laws. He explained that as long as we’re borrowing massively from Asian countries, their governments know that we’re going to be lax in enforcing trade laws that are already on the books.

The former president encouraged the crowd to get to the polls and to take their neighbors with them.

Mud bogging, or the sport of racing motor vehicles through mud covered courses, is already familiar to Monroe Countians in Lindside and Gap Mills. Anita Simmons aims to introduce mud bogging to Waiteville, with plans to open a track on her parents’ property, and not everyone is happy about that.

"There are a lot of people who live in that valley because it’s a quiet valley," protested Kelly Shreve, a resident of Potts Valley. "This is just the opposite: It’s noisy, it’s congested traffic."

Richard Ettelson, also of Potts Valley, amplified Shreve’s sentiments.

"[Potts Valley] is a diminishing resource, an island," Ettelson explained. "A power line was prevented because of our 'high degree of cultural attachment.’ Because of that special quality, it deserves special protection."

Simmons, and several mud bogging enthusiasts, argued that the track would have a minimal impact on the community.

"We’ve planned for all the [environmental] clearances," Simmons said. "Everything we do is geared toward safety. The racers’ families are watching." And, addressing concerns about unruly spectators, Simmons responded, "I’ve never been to a mud race where we’ve had to call the law for any reason."

In the end, Commissioner Joyce Pritt noted that, legally, there was very little the commission could do either way, though Commission President Oliver Porterfield emphatically stated that they are not opposed to mud bogging in any way.

Citizens from Red Sulphur Springs, led by Tom and Betty Bumgardner, sought information regarding their standing for a community water system.

"We keep hearing over the years that we’re going to be next, and then someone else is next. We’re lost," said Tom Bumgardner. "I’m not convinced the people at Moncove Lake are West Virginians," he said, referring to the fact that many people vacation at Moncove Lake but do not live there full time.

"I would like to say, we’ve got to take care of our citizens first," County Clerk Donnie Evans said.

"I’m in favor of that," Porterfield said. "It’s a commission decision."

The commission’s decisions was unanimously in favor of moving the Red Sulphur project up, to be next in line among Monroe County projects.

Porterfield signed a grant application for the second phase of the Wikle/Greenville water project, which will implement many upgrades to the current system. $200,000 is currently available for engineering and architectural fees, while the county anticipates the balance of the project costs once these preliminary services have been rendered.

Stephanie Ferrell Stover addressed the Rupert Town Council with requests, suggestions, and concerns.

"I’m asking municipalities to support West Virginia PBS when the change to digital television occurs," Stover said, citing documents which detailed what a town official could do. "Our area of Greenbrier County may become part of the Roanoke network and would not get West Virginia PBS."

Stover said one of her chief observations since moving to Rupert two years ago is a lack of communication, which she hopes to address with a community bulletin board outside the community building.

"I will post on-line and on the bulletin board anything you think the community needs to know," she said.

In anticipation of the Rupert Fall Fling, Stover asked that tickets for the craft raffle be sold in Town Hall, with a sign indicating their sale on the door. Council felt this would be acceptable.

Concerning the Rupert Fling, Stover lamented the seeming absence of the town council members at last year’s event, and suggested that they "meet and greet and be more visible at the town’s festival." Later, when Stover had left, council members noted that most of them had been at the festival, a few in various floats, while others were attending to family matters.

Council took up the matter of a trailer being used as an office for West Virginia Mine Power, noting that the business owner did not wish to install a permanent foundation. Council approved the plan to install a non-permanent underpinning since the business leases the land and the trailer will be removed if the business leaves.

"Over the next several months, we anticipate a shortfall in occupancy," The Greenbrier’s public relations officer Lynn Swann said Thursday.

Asked how the downslide might affect employees and operations, she added, "We are constantly adjusting staffing and inventory levels according to seasonal and business demands." No information on potential layoffs was available, she noted.

Ronceverte council members Monday could not agree on the particulars of a proposed ordinance concerning the private burning of leaves and similar debris. The measure had been tabled at the council’s April meeting.

Debate turned on a permit fee and the time frame for burning that the permit would grant. Member David Smith said, "The purpose of the ordinance is that the city know when citizens are burning and that citizens know whom to notify."

Some members wanted no fee; others wanted all rules and policies under the ordinance to pass before council for approval. City Administrator Blaine Oborn suggested a "burn permit review board" consisting of three council members along with the fire chief and the chief of police.

Council agreed to hear the board’s recommendations at its June meeting.

On another issue, council approved on second reading an ordinance that lifts the 20,000 square foot cap on the city’s Municipal Service Fee. The action affects a few businesses, noted Oborn, but no home-owners. He reminded that the need for the change was the fire department’s pressing need for additional funding.

Oborn reported hopeful negotiations with CSX in the city’s efforts to acquire the old depot for a tourist attraction, a history museum-visitors’ center. If negotiations are ultimately successful, he intimated, CSX employees would be housed in the armory while the city takes over the depot.

Negotiations are also ongoing to exchange the city’s permission to take down the old bridge for the railroad’s approval of an at-grade crossing at the foot of Frankford Road.

During comment time, member Barbara Morgan said the city needs a policy that regulates bucket drives on Main Street. She cited a recent drive where she felt the young participants were at considerable risk from passing traffic.

On a couple of recent Saturdays, volunteers flocked to the downtown for Ronceverte’s annual spring clean up. They trimmed trees, weeded flower-beds, mowed the depot and tree islands, swept sidewalks and gutters.

The effort was headed by the Main Street Design Committee, and included the Women’s Club, Friends of the Library, First National Bank, the Sk8 PARC Committee, Lions Club, local businesses, and the Development Corporation.

Several youngsters from the Sk8 PARC Committee helped out. "We appreciate the support of the town with our skateboard park equipment," explained Sean Reynolds. "This is our way of giving a little back to the town."

Volunteers are one of the most valuable assets in a community," effused Governor Joe Manchin at the Main Street West Virginia Awards Banquet Apr. 23 in Charleston.

Honored on the occasion as Volunteer of the Year for Ronceverte was Kelli Bostic. Bostic was coordinator for the Ronceverte River Festival, worked on Main Street’s Annual Auction, and helped with the Community Christmas Dinner. She’s also a member of the Women’s Club and Main Street’s Organization Committee.

"Kelli is a remarkable worker," enthused Main Street’s Barbara Sweetwood. "It’s volunteers like Kelli who help us achieve our goals as a revitalized city."