Posted on 05/18/2002 11:00:59 AM PDT by sauropod
Letter to the Editor,
Mr. Fred Long, The Hinton Times
I am writing this letter in regards to the proposed New River "Parkway" project for the I-64 to Hinton, W.Va area. As you probably know, there is a legal document circulating called the "Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement" with a public comment period that is open now and closes on June 7th.
As part of the process, a "public workshop" meeting was held May 7th at the Summers County High School. Representatives from the Federal Highway Administration (of the U.S. Dept. of Transportation), the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the New River Parkway Authority, and the West Virginia Department of Highways were in attendance. The other major federal entities involved in the project, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Forest Service were NOT in attendance. Consequently, a full discussion of all the issues concerned with this project was not possible.
At the start of the meeting, a number of local folks asked that the meeting format be changed to a dialogue/question and answer format instead of a managed "workshop" one. This was to ensure that the information given out to the public was consistent from agency to agency and so the public would not be confused by widely differing estimates and policy positions. This request was refused.
I personally asked the head facilitator of the meeting, a Mr. Tom Smith, if all the promises being made in the meeting would be honored by the NPS when they took control over the operation and maintenance of the completed parkway. Mr. Smith could not give me a clear answer about this and stated that his concern was the parkway and the parkway alone - not the weapons of eminent domain and conservation easements being swung like an ax in the air by the various federal and state agencies against the landowners of the New River Road.
I also had the misfortune to talk to the mayor of Hinton, a Ms. Cleo Mathews. She did not wish to hear anything about the impending danger to the economy of the area, or examples of similar devastation occurring to other towns, holding fast to an erroneous belief that the Parkway would bring tourists and businesses to Hinton. She would not examine a number of regulatory rules that do apply to the project, and belie what the local townsfolk were being promised by the alphabet soup of agencies represented at the May 7th meeting. She personally asked me if I paid taxes in Hinton, and if I purchased items or visited restaraunts in Hinton. I replied that I had done both, given that my federal taxes help to support (against my will) the large and increasing number of Federal Agencies now infesting, like a cancer, the Hinton area, and having to buy a number of small items in my numerous visits to the area.
Because I am not a local resident of Hinton, Ms. Mathews did not believe that I had a right to speak and personally insulted me, stating that I did not care about the area.
I fail to see how a Mayor that purports to be so concerned about Hinton, believes that the solution to the local economic woes is tourism, can be promoting tourism by insulting visitors to the area.
This fatuous woman also mocked the good patriotic folks that are opposed to the Parkway project as it now exists by saying that they "pulled down information" off the internet as if that made it immediately suspect. I replied that the internet is like a vast library with all the regulations, etc. that the project must adhere to being available to the general public.
Ms. Mathews would have none of this, however, and stomped off noisily.
I also had the misfortune to meet a Hinton restaraunt owner that said her husband was a County Councilman and that I did not care about the people in Hinton, that I should just shut up, etc. etc. I looked her dead in the eye and told her not to insult me. She then wished that I have a good day, as if that were possible.
Rest assured that on my next visit to the New River Gorge area, I will not spend one thin red dime in Hinton. I will purchase what I need in Bluestone, or perhaps Sandstone or other local towns. I will tell everyone that I know locally to do the same.
I am also posting this letter on a national forum, freerepublic.com, so that the entire country can see what an utter failure this Mayor is, and how, apparently, some of the local business owners treat "outsiders."
If Ms. Mathews took an oath of office to defend and protect the citizens of Hinton in accordance with either the West Virginia or U.S. Constitutions, she has violated the same, by refusing to look at all the evidence affecting the local economy and the townsfolk that elected her.
Ms. Mathews should resign for gross malfeasance of office, and failing that, be recalled or impeached.
Sauropod
Member, DC Chapter of Freerepublic.com
I guess she can't ( or doesn't want to ) see the tentacles that always go along with these deals...
Don't have time to get into it now, but close to 30 years back I had an interest in "Brunswisk's Oldest & Largest Furniture Company" that lost its 100-year old historic building to the Urban Renewal monster...
Explain why i shouldn't be concerned about people losing their homes because the NPS has decided they spoil a "view-shed?"
Explain why it is that only Hintonites are allowed to comment in Henk's world.
Explain, finally, why it is that Henk insists on being ruled by silly people, that don't even care about local residents outside the outskirts of town, and are too dense to learn.
Hey, Henk! I've been to Hinton. Several times. Have you?
No? Then why are you commenting?
It might be you next.
If you have read all the other posts concerning this issue ( and the fact this type of issue is indeed happening all over this country) then you should know that it is all of our business to stop this madness and protect our soverign rights! Private landownership is the fountain head of all other freedoms!
The 65 year old rah rah boom bah cheerleading new Hinton Mayor is using the sacrifice of our homes and lands in a hope to revitalize Hinton. She feels this can be done IF tourists make a sharp left turn off the parkway, cross the bridge into Hinton to see the one red light in the center of town.
Hopefully, tourists do that before 5 as nothing is open and the streets are ghost-like but on with her cheer "Take their land, who gives a d*mn, just as long as I look good in la la land"
I agree that "outsiders" should consider themselves guests and not attempt to overlay their agenda on a town like Hinton. Having worked in coal mining in "West By God" for a number of years (and my roots in WV go back 5 generations), I understand how "outsiders" can muck up things for silly reasons.
Agree. Way past Socialism. This is not from each according to his ability to each according to his need. This is bureaucrats afraid that they will lose their federal $$.
His Royal Podness
And it is a very pretty area. 'Pod
With that said, these folks are trying to help us, the ones that live outside of Hinton, yet are crucial to the economy of Hinton, because that is were we do our shopping, eating, etc. to help us save the town of Hinton form having the lights turned off from false propaganda and rhetoric spewed by the NPS! The NPS has a huge agenda and that is to get as much land under federal control as they themselves can possibly do! Take for example the following statement made by them, and remember this is their words not mine:
"During the next decade, the National Park Service hopes to continue providing facilities that make it possible for people to enjoy park areas without harming the very resources that make them special. And, perhaps most importantly, the lack of NO TRESPASSING signs throughout the gorge is something that our great-grandchildren will appreciate in 2100 more than we can ever imagine today."
What this statement means is that hundreds of families, homes, business', heritages, lives and a way of life will be gone forever! This is all being done supposedly for the growth of the area and economic benefit for OUR children and our Children's Children! How is that possible when WE will all be "displaced"? Where will all the people have gone?
No Glenn, these "outsiders" are banded together to help us save our communities from Hinton, to below Fayette Station! The New River Communities!
Sincerely,
Sheila Davis
Sisters of The River
You're welcome to your own opinion, of course, but I, for one, would like to see towns like Hinton prosper by leveraging new infrastructure instead of relying on whatever scheme Bob Byrd and that waste of a governor come up with next to keep the WV economy afloat at the cost to the rest of the taxpayers. You can't have it both ways.
We love Hinton! It is our closest town! We know what is happening here! Every day for 3 years we know! Believe me, we want to save Hinton!
The NPS has managed to gain control/ownership of 47,000 acres of the 70,000 acres in this project area! I am not sure how many acres the 10 mile stretch of road itself will control once owned, but this goes all the way down! If they get all of it, think of all the familes that will be forever gone with their lands, homes and business! Only the NPS will be able to "develop and financially gain"!
I hope I am making sense to you! Not only the land, but they have a "General Management Plan" that will stop motorized boating, restrict access, they have already taken out several camping areas, and on and on!
When the State of WV owned the Sandstone Falls State Park, it was well maintained, clean, safe, now you should see it! I have seen trash dumps that look better and it is only a few hundred feet from my home!
Yes Hinton needs new infrastructures, but with the feds gobbling up all the lands and stopping any development, how is the town of Hinton going to grow with out land mass??? Taking away the very citizens that have been here since day one is not going to help!
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