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"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.