Vet Cemetery
Editor,
Veterans who live in the Charleston area and south need a cemetery for southern veterans.
Donald R Workman
Martinsville, Ind.
The way it was
Editor,
I have been out of the area for the last 12 years and can tell you that I love the area I grew up in. The memories of playing with true friends and running around in the hills will always be my fondest thoughts.
I now live in Killeen, Texas. I bought a home here while still in the Army and we, as a family, decided that this would be our home. I have been retired from the military just over six years now. I was injured in Iraq and medically retired. After many surgeries, I still remain in a great deal of pain.
I grew up with Major Richard Ojeda. I can remember when he came home on leave and told us about the Army and was very proud of what he had accomplished. I was working at the time at a mining repair shop and felt that I was at a dead end. I enjoyed the thought of seeing other places and fighting for the freedoms our country is known for. Even though I was injured in combat and have the problems I have and share now with my family, I wouldn’t take back any of it.
The military is not for everyone. It doesn’t mean that you are better than others because you joined and served, it simply means that you are following your beliefs. I was able to get an education while in the military. My family didn’t have the money to send me to school at the time. I am now working in the field that I got my degree in. I was able to buy a nice home, save up enough for both of my sons to further their schooling and with the profession I have now, I am able to provide even more for my family. Long story short, I owe a small amount of this to a simple conversation I had with a friend over a beer at the end of the road up Whitman Creek.
Was the military good for me? Yes. Is it good for everyone? No. Do I try to promote the lifestyle on others? No. I made the decision to join based on my own beliefs in support of my Country and to better my life. Do I miss Whitman and my friends there? Of course I do. If I could, I would love to move back and stand beside my friends and try to get my hometown back to the way it was when I was young. But I know that it will never be that way again.
Don’t misunderstand me, when I am able to come home I jump at the chance. Logan county is my home, no matter where I may live. But all reading this must accept that it has changed a lot. Perhaps it’s because I don’t see it everyday that I can tell the problems that is evident. I love Logan. I have seen how good places can go bad and regrettably, Logan is one of them. The actions of a few have ran down what was a wonderful place to raise a family.
This is the part where you reading this will get upset at what I am saying. Believe me when I say this, it hurts me to write it. Logan needs to have people that can recognize the problems and try to come up with a solution. I’m not putting the people of Logan down by saying this. I have the greatest respect for most who live there. I am just saying that there are problems that could be handled easily by pro-active means.
I have read many letters on here and many of them oppose what my friend has to say. That is your right. But can you fault the man for trying to make Logan better? If you think that drugs, prostitution among other issues aren’t a problem, then perhaps you don’t look out of your windows of your cars while you drive through certain areas. I stand beside my friends beliefs that he, along with the citizens concerned, can make Logan better. How can you fault him for that?
Who cares what he did when he was young. I was one of the kids who fought with him constantly. Now, we are close friends. Again, I am not trying to make enemies by what I’ve wrote. If that is how you choose to make it this way, so be it.
Chris Booth
Killeen, Texas
Fair Tax Plan
Editor,
The unemployment report at 7.8 percent with 32 days left before the election gives a false impression. Not counted were those who have stopped looking for a job, unemployment is closer to 14 percent with over 23,000,000 Americans unemployed or underemployed.
More people are looking to the Fair Tax Plan to solve this nation’s economic woes. It would
(1) give every worker their full paycheck
(2) permit businesses to compete in the world market without having to pay high taxes
(3) Require all the current tax dodgers to pay their fair share.
Any doubters this would work need only think what would happen if everyone has their full paycheck to put back into the economy and if every business and individual did not have to pay federal income taxes or report anything to the IRS ever again.
For more information: www.fairtax.org
Roy T. Newsom
Granbury, Texas
The citizens are ignorant. Have any been to a real museum ? No, not the one at the park, a real one with say paintings or collections of fossils ? Have they been to a zoo ? Culture is lacking. Take them out of the coal mines and a Loganite will act like a frightened rabbit. No one will move to that area and bring their children to die a slow cultural death.
Lack of nice homes. For the life of me, I cannot understand why someone who earns $20 an hour in the mines lives in their GREAT grandfather's tar paper shack, with rusted cars in the side yard and mud for the lawn. Do the citizens even understand about home loans ? How about at least prettying up the place with a new coat of paint and junk the cars that will never run again, ever.
MERCHANTS: Rude, uneducated..can a bit of kindness be fitted into a cashier's routine. or do you always have to mumble with downcast eyes as you ring up orders ?
LACK of variety: Is everyone in Logan either a preacher, coal miner, or disabled ? Is there NO variety at all ? Can anyone please wear a different shirt besides WV or WVU ? Could someone think of a college besides SWVCC, Marshall, or WVU ? How about an ivy league ?
CHILDREN: what an example they look towards..overweight, Moutain Dew mouth, hot dogs are one of the 4 basic food groups up there. You can only be recognized in school if you play basketball . Girls have babies by 10th grade, and live a life of Groundhog day..same thing, over and over, generation after generation.
There is more to fix than an old trail in Logan.
There a numerous problems in Logan. More than any one man can take over and change . I do not believe Logan will ever become the crown jewel it once way. Now it is taken over by pill heads, drunks, lazy folks and moochers. Ojeda came back from his stint, and now he suddenly wants his hometown to be as it was before he left.
Yes, there are prostitutes. Yes there is trash. I feel sorry for Chris Booth because his beloved Whitman is a joke. Substandard housing, burnt out structures, rusted trailers in mud holes with barefoot kids, hungry hounds, and engine-less vehicles dot the landscape.
Logan lacks not only the common sense to keep your community clean in body as well as spirit, but it also does not have the tax base to build infrastructure and attract families to start a nice family there.
It is a lost cause. The sooner Maj ojeda realizes this, the better.
Logan may seem like a lost cause to you but giving up on it is not an option. If we clean up Logan positive things will come. Watch the documentary "Appalachain Dawn" and see how a community similiar to Logan in Kentucky cleaned up their act and now is a model community for the state. We have mountains that are just as beautiful as anywhere else. If we clean up our areas then even more people will come to ride their 4-wheelers on them. If we clean them up those who do come will return. You can sit and claim I stand on a soap box all day but I am not the kind of person that will just shut up and accept mediocracy. I won't do it! I want positive things for my children. If I have to stand on the corner and point out the obvious to get people to realize it then so be it. Apathy may be the worst thing a person can have and when I read your comments I can tell you are deep in it. Turn your outlook around. rather than cast stones at me come and join me. I will not come and pick up your trash but if you are willing to get involved I will HELP YOU clean up your trash. Do you think it is right for certain politicians to keep getting re-elected because of the good ole boy system where they gather a check and don't even visit their own office? Do you think it is right that we have people who become prisoners of their community because they cannot sell their homes due to all of the abandoned structures? Do you think it is right that we have a massive amount of people out there that drain from the system and do absolutely nothing in return to deserve what they get? I don't! And I am not scared to stand behind MY NAME and say I do not agree with it. If you think abandoned structures will never go away then look at Huntington. They just tore down over 50 structures. If they can do it, why can't we? I do not think the people of Logan should have to put up with it! As far as prostitutes go, we have a new sheriff that is taking over in the very near future. I hope to God that she thinks outside of the box and targets the "Johns" that are picking these females up and starts putting their names and pictures in the paper. I bet prostitution grinds to a screaching halt once that occurs. I hope that every house and car that is used in the illegal sale of drugs can be confiscated and sold at auction. I would love the chance to buy a nice luxury car cheap because some crack dealer got caught with bricks of drugs in the trunk. Giving up is never an option. I can tell that you are educated. rather than throw stones, sit down with me and let's see what we can do together to help Logan. I do understand where you are coming from but I also think that if we get enough people involved, we can and will make a difference. Sappers Clear The Way! Airborne All The Way! MAJ Richard Ojeda