John Douglas

There's not much doubt that most Morgan County residents oppose a new U.S. 522 being a toll road. Jim Dupont told us last week that he had collected nearly 1,600 signatures against it – and his petitions aren't the only ones out there.

Do you think that's enough to show the Division of Highways what the community sentiment is?

Once again, attention is on U.S. 522 due to the notion that a new 4-lane highway might be funded by making it a toll road. People who have moved here in recent years often seem unaware, but a 4-lane U.S. 522 was a hot topic of debate through most of the 1990s and the first years of this century.

What often got lost in the debate, however, was the source of all those cars and trucks on U.S. 522. Except for some of those Friday afternoon traffic jams, most of the traffic is local. They are us.

The Morgan County Commissioners are to be commended for their efforts to win local representation on the board of Tri-State Community Health Center in Hancock. Across the river, the Hancock Town Council is also trying to get Tri-State to pay more attention to people there.

After all, board decisions affect the patients and how Tri-State's clinics are run in Hancock and Cumberland, Md. and McConnellsburg, Pa. Yet the board has a membership that's unrepresentative of the patient load and refuses to open their meetings to the public, though they receive millions of dollars in federal funding.

If you read our report last week about the state's toll road study for U.S. 522, you probably understood why the Division of Highways didn't want to give out copies. The proposal just doesn't seem very well thought out at this point.

Even the state's consultant pointed out that there would be local anger since the alternative to the new toll road would be to take Fairview Drive and River Road from Berkeley Springs to Hancock. It's hard to imagine lots of traffic on those roads. And, to upgrade those roads substantially would only raise more ire from property owners and add millions to the costs involved with a new, 4-lane U.S. 522.

One of the things we noticed when Joe Manchin became governor was that we began receiving press releases from the governor's office too late to print them in the newspaper. We understood that he was gearing his announcements to the daily press in Charleston, Huntington, Fairmont and other cities. But now the trend seems to have spread to other politicians.

We've been getting a bunch of news releases that came after we published on Wednesday, about events that will take place before our next issue. Among them were the governor's remarks about observing West Virginia Day and word of a State Public Service Commission training session for truckers, a program at Blackwater Falls State Park, and U.S. Senator Robert Byrd's dedication of the new Coast Guard Center in Martinsburg. The list could go on and on.

The new U.S. 522 through Morgan County – not the present highway – could be a toll road, according to a revised statement released Monday by the West Virginia Division of Highways.

Whenever talk turns to how to attract business and industry, the idea of financial incentives always comes up. But we've always felt that doing favors to attract companies is a highly questionable practice. Both Morgan County and Hancock have experienced the closing of industries that were originally led here with economic development carrots.

Though it took place in Pittsburgh last year, the story of Roomful Express Furniture is a good lesson. The company wanted a bigger headquarters and distribution center, so they put out the word that they might leave Pennsylvania. Soon West Virginia and Ohio economic development guys were offering millions of dollars worth of incentives and tax breaks. Pennsylvania ended up putting together a $4.5 million package to keep the business there.

Two weeks ago, we commented on the uproar over the firing of Dr. Matt Hahn from Tri-State Community Health Center. Everything we said has proven to be true, as far as we know.

The firing did seem to be over Hahn's willingness to present a staff grievance to the center's board of directors. And some of Hahn's loyal patients have been canceling their appointments.

Ever since last month's Primary Election, a few Charleston watchers and columnists have expressed disbelief that Spike Maynard couldn't get the Democratic nomination in his reelection bid to the State Supreme Court.

But the really amazing thing is that these political pros didn't see it coming. They must be pretty out of touch to think people wouldn't be upset about a Supreme Court justice hobnobbing on the Riviera with a coal boss whose company has cases before the court.

Finally, we now know Berkeley County voters turned down zoning and that there's no zoning plan in the foreseeable future for Morgan County.

So, forget all the high-fallootin' arguments pro or con and the scare stories from both camps.