| First Published May, 2003
A panel discussion on "The Future of Calhoun County" was held in 2003 at Calhoun Middle/High School. It was gazing
into the future, the barriers and the possibilities.
The panel included Ron Blankenship, Superintendent of Schools; Barbara Lay, CEO of Minnie Hamilton Health Care
Center; Tom McColley, Craftsman and small business developer; and Bob Weaver, President of the County Commission
and editor of The Hur Herald. Maggie Bennett was the moderator.
Much of the discussion was how to overcome the stagnant economy, declining population, jobs leaving the area, loss of
retail businesses, and little money to improve infrastructure.
Most of Calhoun's problems are shared with about 25 other rural West Virginia counties, they said.
Tens of thousands of production jobs have left the state, victims of "free trade" and the globalized economy. Hundreds of empty shell buildings stand empty, begging for use.
Not only have the higher paying union jobs left, but most of minimum wage production jobs are gone too.
County School superintendent Ron Blankenship said the county's greatest asset is the quality of life. He said the county
educational system will likely be in trouble in the next twenty years, with declining student population.
Blankenship said it is likely
county school systems will be consolidated, maintaining "We will still have some insulation from the problems of the outside world."
The control of education is rapidly being removed from parents, citizens and local school boards by the state and federal government.
Thomas Jefferson surely is rolling over in his grave.
"The State of West Virginia is yet to focus on small businesses as the primary method of economic development," said Tom
McColley. He said building shell buildings and industrial parks has not been the answer.
McColley said funding has been cut
to the West Virginia arts community. "Here in Calhoun we have been blessed with Heartwood in the Hills and many projects
funded by Lights On." he said, "It would be just as effective to have 25 small cottage-like businesses," as a small job-producing company," said
McColley.
McColley and his wife Connie came to Calhoun thirty years ago.
Minnie Hamilton Health Care CEO Barb Lay said "We have strength in the people who live here." While providing health
care has been a challenge, Minnie Hamilton has been able to use some of the problems to access better health care," to the
under-served area, she said.
Minnie Hamilton Health Care and the local school system are the largest employers. Lay
discussed trying to attract more retirees to the community.
Weaver spoke about Calhoun's natural resources of the future. It has one of the world's great deposits of deep natural gas,
the ability to store huge quantities of water without much investment in narrow hollows and the ever present forest, which still
covers most of the county.
"In West Virginia, communities have benefited little from such resources. McDowell County has
likely produced more coal than any area in America, but has remained the poorest," he said. "It would be a dynamic shift if
we could keep more of the money to help the community."
"The rules of commerce and government are still against us, to benefit from what is at our feet," Weaver said.
All the panelists said better access to the information superhighway and high-speed access to the Internet would help growth
and development. They expressed concerns about the local, independent phone company to adequately update their system.
If high-tech services would become available, more people would move to the area to operate their businesses.
Looking ahead 25 years, there seemed to be little optimism getting an improved access road through the county. The
Blue-Gray U. S. 33 upgrade has been on the board since the 1960's and the Little Kanawha Parkway since the 1970's.
Those projects are still pipe dreams, not on any pending list.
The county has been on the short-end of the stick in obtaining Appalachian Regional Commission funds during the past 40 years. Most of ARCs money went to highly developed urban areas that could easily meet the matching requirements.
While there has been success in lifting many areas from poverty, those ARC counties that lacked infrastructure and opportunity 40 years ago are still on the bottom of the list.
Weaver said social justice activists did change the mind of the ARC a little. They are giving those poorest counties a little more attention.
"The hungry must remove themselves from the desert," Weaver said.
The county's population, according to the US Census is predicted to decrease more in the next 25 years, or remain stagnant.
That could change with
urban dwellers wanting to live in a safer environment, particularly if terrorism continues.
All of the panelists felt "a sense of community" would still be maintained.
The topography was described as both a curse and a blessing.
Weaver said the county will have a diverse population in the next few years, with "outsiders" exceeding the families of origin.
"It is important to accept most 'outsiders' have become good citizens and made positive contributions," he said.
Small counties with a small population and a low tax base will likely be consolidated, a movement long-planned by some legislators.
Government has embraced corporate economic models that destroy community life - bigger is better, proclaiming that merger, centralization, consolidation and now globalization save money. There is virtually no evidence of that.
Members of the audience asked questions and expressed positive ideas, including listening to the "views of outside people"
who would like to help, better networking, and possibly creating assisted-living centers.
The round-table was one of the events in conjunction with "Yesterday's Tomorrow's," a Smithsonian exhibit which was on display locally.
A time capsule, which will be opened 50 years hence, will be buried at the Calhoun County Park on June 1.
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