Published: September 23, 2009 11:07 am      

Vision Shared: Governor, citizens share ideas, concerns

Speakers focus on education, coal, gas prices, Tamarack

Tamarack’s future, steep natural gas prices, health care for seniors, education problems, drug tests for those on the dole and foraging deer — southern West Virginians shared that and much more Tuesday night with Gov. Joe Manchin in a town hall-style gathering in Beckley.

Manchin applauded the questions — some vocal, others simply penned on response cards — and the spirit of a willing attitude to work together, rather than lean on government to cure all of society’s hardships.

“I’m not supposed to be your provider,” Manchin declared at the end of a two-hour session at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center, prompting applause from some 200 people attracted to “Take a Seat at the Table,” jointly sponsored by Vision Shared and The Register-Herald.

“I’m supposed to be your partner.”

Manchin invited attendees to pour out their hearts and maintain a sense of participation in public affairs, long after the meeting.

“I don’t want you to leave anything, any thought, and any constructive criticism, any new idea behind,” he intoned.

“I don’t want anyone to leave this room and say, ‘I wish I had said that.”

Close to 25 people did just that — either venting on an issue that bothers them or offering advice for making things better.

Education inspired a number of ideas.

Jim White, a teacher at Concord University, called on the Manchin administration to improve education, telling the governor, “We need to do a lot better than we’re doing.”

Agreeing with that, Manchin said of today’s students, “They’ve got the whole world open to them, but they’ve got to compete with the rest of the world.”

A woman identified as Sam Evans blamed both parents and students alike, saying the former need to act more responsibly, while the latter need to abandon a philosophy that “the world is going to hand it to them.” She said parents should get more involved because students average studying a mere 10 minutes a week.

“I think we need to make parents accountable for the kids,” she said.

Evans then called for random drug testing of anyone getting unemployment benefits, welfare checks or food stamps — an idea offered in the 2009 legislative session by Delegate Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, without success.

“We pay for them,” she told the governor. “If we’re giving them a check, then we’re paying them. They are employed by us. Shouldn’t they be accountable like we are?”

That marked one of the rare moments Manchin didn’t respond.

A 16-year-old transfer student, Heather Griffin, told the governor she was stunned to learn of the absence of a Future Farmers of America chapter at her school in Iaeger, such as the one in her native Bedford County, Va.

“It shocked me there is no FFA ...” she said.

Manchin promised her Agriculture Commissioner Gus Douglass would personally contact her to see about resolving that shortcoming.

Delegate Sally Susman, D-Raleigh, was assured that no one in state or federal government has any personal interest in some 80 acres of land surrounding Tamarack, envisioned as a potential land-lease pact with a developer as a means of luring more tourists into the artisans showplace in Beckley.

“The state is going to keep Tamarack,” Manchin told the veteran lawmaker.

“Tamarack is going to be the catalyst of what we do. We’re not abandoning that mission to be our artisan center, to be basically the showplace of West Virginia.”

Manchin’s chief of staff, Larry Puccio, said any useable acreage at Tamarack is owned by the state.

The governor said his administration is seeking “a world-class development” as an effort to turn Tamarack into an improved business model.

“Tamarack will have its mission and Tamarack will be owned by the state,” he said.

Joe Carter provoked a lengthy response from Manchin after telling him the coal industry accounts for 53 percent of the nation’s energy needs, yet the fossil fuel is “getting a bad name.”

Manchin called for a balance between energy needs and environmental concerns, pointing to ongoing research by Dow Chemical and development firms in Charleston that would remove CO2 effectively.

Moreover, he encouraged his audience to do its part by practicing conservation, saying everyone could get by using 10 percent less energy.

Another Beckleyan, Mel Hancock, called for an overhaul of the unemployment compensation system, saying it is unfair to hold back the first two weeks of payment, even though a worker might have spent nearly a lifetime paying into the system. Hancock especially suggested that direct deposit replace written checks, which he termed “a waste of money.” And Manchin indicated his idea was a sound one.

Others called for a public transit system serving Raleigh and Fayette counties as another means of helping people with transportation in getting to and from work.

Military Affairs and Public Safety Secretary Jim Spears agreed more cell phone towers would be beneficial to tourists and business concerns and said he is working with wireless firms now in tandem with his agency’s inter-operable system that allows all law enforcement agencies in the state to communicate with one another.

Just don’t expect to see towers spring up everywhere, he cautioned.

“That’s not going to hit every nook and cranny in West Virginia,” he said.

Manchin assured Beckley Fire Capt. Billie Trump that a potential solution is coming to the fiscal morass of some municipal police and fire pensions, likely in a special legislative session in November, one that basically calls for the amortization of existing funds by closing them and creating other accounts for new hires.

Trump informed the governor that Beckley’s fund has been solvent despite paying out some $10 million in recent years.

“If we can be successful, why can’t they (other cities) be successful?” asked.

Manchin told the veteran firefighter that any plan the Legislature produces — and he signs — will not repeat mistakes that caused the hardships that are putting cities such as Huntington on the brink of bankruptcy.

“We’re basically looking at stopping the hemorrhaging,” the governor said. “We’re not going to repeat the sins of the past.”

A farmer, Jack Honaker, told Manchin many people in this region could help supplement diets with healthier food by producing vegetables at home but are frustrated in such efforts by foraging deer — an issue that has caught the attention of a legislative interims panel.

One deer can wipe out a 300-foot row of beans unseen at 3 o’clock in the morning, he told the governor.

“We’ll do anything we can,” Manchin replied, noting he would take the matter before both the Division of Natural Resources and Department of Agriculture.