Dear Logan County Cousins, You may not want to read this note from a home sick West Virginian. If so just delete this email. I left West Virginia because I could not find a way to adequately provide for my family. I kept going in debt in West Virginia. I did not want to leave but felt that I had no choice. When I left Arizona I was transferred to Arizona. Met my wife here who really is a native. My wife loved West Virginia - we lived in West Virginia for about eight years. We moved to Arizona on June 1, 1978. It was 105 degrees. My furniture was so hot I could barely touch it as I moved my few earthly possessions in to the storage unit. I had more job offers than I could count. Taught school for 3 years. Had several job offers - started my own business April 15, 1979. Have been moderately successful. At that time no one in Arizona knew anyone else. Jobs and opportunities were every where. Phoenix was the 14 largest city in the United States. Today Phoenix just past Philidelphia as the fifth largest city. No one knowns anyone else. We all have brick walls around our yards. We pull our cars into our garages and never speak to our neighbors. I live close to a huge Intel plant. My neighbors are from Korea, Malaysia, India, Philippines and who knows where else. Our family history society is huge - about 10 societies probably 1500 active participants. It is rare to find people from West Virginia except for Sun City which is full of West Virginians who play golf, swim and party all the time. Stan Browning stopped by a few months ago - he was the first real West Virginian I had met in years. We had a great visit. In 1994 I paid $130,000 for my home. Today it is worth $380,000. When I left West Virginia I sold my house at Guyan Esates for $45,000 - When I was there in 2005 they said it was worth $90,000. Fact is my family has roots in Arizona. I have seven grand children that are my life. I would love to return to West Virginia but cannot leave those little people. We have some friends and cousins who live at Pecks Mill. We are planning to have them live with us in Arizona in the Winter and go to West Virginia in the summer. Snow birds I think Sandi and I are constantly trying to figure out how we can retire. We are tyed to the business we have had since 1979. When you come to Arizona give us a call Jim Burgess -----Original Message----- From: Beulah McLemore [mailto:mclemoreb@comcast.net] Sent: Friday, June 30, 2006 9:42 AM To: WVLOGAN-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [WVLOGAN] FW: New York Times Article on West Virginia This was sent to me by a former Logan County W.Va. friend. I thought it needed to be shared. Good Article. > By IAN URBINA > Published: May 21, 2006 > WILLLIAMSTOWN, W. Va. * For three decades, Donna Briggs has worked at the > West Virginia Welcome Center here not far from the Ohio border, eagerly > greeting visitors entering her proud state but wistfully watching as much > of > the traffic flows the opposite way. > > "People leave because they have to, not because they want to," Ms. Briggs > said. "Looking over your shoulder and missing home is something West > Virginians know a lot about." > > Ranked behind South Dakota as having the second smallest population growth > of any state, according to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, West Virginia has > struggled to hold on to residents since the early 1950's, when layoffs in > the coal industry sent people elsewhere looking for work. > > For West Virginians, the tension between the economic push to leave and > the > emotional pull to return plays a central role in the state's cultural > identity. > > Just ask a West Virginian about these pressures and they will probably > tell > you a joke. Like the one that asks why the governor of West Virginia has > decided to resign. Answer: because Ford has called its workers back. Or > the > one about the capital of West Virginia being Akron because of all the West > Virginians who moved to Ohio in the 1950's to work in the tire plants. > > But the joke they are most likely to tell is the one in which St. Peter is > escorting a soul through heaven and is asked why there is a section that > is > walled-off. He replies: "Oh, that's where we put the West Virginians. > Otherwise they try to go back home on the weekend." > > The novelist Denise Giardina, a native West Virginian, said the obituary > page of The Charleston Gazette, the state's largest newspaper, was the > best > indicator of the ebb and flow. > > "I've lived a lot of places," Ms. Giardina said. "And I don't think I've > ever seen an obit page like the Gazette's with as many people who have > lived > outside their state their entire life but in death have come back home to > be > buried." > > For added perspective, listen to traditional West Virginia music. > > In July, Scott Hill, a music historian, will release the second volume of > "The Road Home," a compilation of songs about West Virginians longing to > return. > > "You see it in 'The West Virginia Hills,' which talks about leaving and > longing and is the official state song," Mr. Hill said. "You see it in > 'Take > Me Home, Country Roads,' which is our unofficial state song and is what we > sing after major football games." > > He added, "Coal and people have been our two biggest exports for a long > time, which has definitely shaped how we think of ourselves." > > Officials have tried to convince natives to stay and to attract newcomers > and investment. In 2001, the state set aside some $30 million to guarantee > full in-state tuition to students who met grade-point standards and other > testing requirements. > > Last year, Gov. Joe Manchin III began changing a slogan on some state > highway signs from "Wild and Wonderful" to "Open for Business." > > The state has attracted some retirees, but it has had less success in > holding on to its young people. > > West Virginia has the oldest median population of any state, and from 1990 > to 2000 it had a net loss of about 18,000 people in the 18 to 22 age > group. > > In every year since 1997, resident deaths have outnumbered births, > although > the population has stabilized around 1.8 million, down from a peak of 2 > million in 1950. > > Students in the state often joke that in West Virginia the three R's stand > for reading, 'riting and Route 77. The road is nicknamed Hillbilly Highway > because over the years it has delivered so many people to surrounding > states. > > "They say that brown-haired people cross the border going one way and > white-haired people cross it the other," said Bob Henry Baber, the mayor > of > Richwood. "But the truth is that most West Virginians of all ages come > back > continually because they don't feel right anywhere else." > > Richwood, a tiny town about 60 miles east of Charleston in south-central > West Virginia, is famous for its Ramp Feed, a traditional feast > celebrating > the arrival of spring and featuring dishes made with pungent leeks called > ramps that grow wild in the state. > > Each year, the festival draws nearly 1,000 visitors, mostly native West > Virginians returning from out of state, Mr. Baber said. > > After living in Pittsburgh for more than 35 years, Sylvia Ghaznavi, who > sells used books, returned to her hometown Buckhannon two years ago, > taking > her bookstore with her. > > With more than 200,000 books, her store * called Books Books Books * > almost > seems out of place in Buckhannon, a town of about 5,800. Her sales are a > quarter of what they were before the move, but Ms. Ghaznavi stands by her > decision. > > "I know this will sound odd to outsiders, but the air and the hills here > make me feel like I'm where I belong," she said, unfazed as a lone > customer > drifted toward the exit without buying anything. "I finally reached the > point where I was willing to pay whatever price that cost." > > A deeply rooted loyalty to West Virginia remains with those who move > outside > the state's boundaries. > > A couple of years ago, Abercrombie & Fitch came out with a shirt depicting > West Virginia as a haven for incest. The Charleston Gazette published an > op-ed article denouncing the company and defending the state. It was > written > by a native West Virginian living in Massachusetts. > > "It's like the rest of the country fell asleep during geography class," > said > Lionel Jordan, also known as 6'6 240, a popular rapper from Morgantown who > now lives in Atlanta. West Virginian pride is one of his themes. > > "I say I'm from West Virginia, and they all tell me they have a cousin in > Richmond," Mr. Jordan said. "No disrespect to Richmond, but I'm trying to > put my state back on the map." > > Cynthia Olson, who has lived in Vienna, Va., for 11 years, said she and > her > husband, Steve, were going to put their house up for sale. With jobs that > allow them to work from home, she and her husband plan to move to > Hillsboro, > W. Va., where they own a house on the Greenbrier River. > > Mrs. Olson is a native of Richwood. Of her home in Virginia, she said, > "You > take hiking trips here, and within an hour you are hitting cities and > pavement. In West Virginia you enter the wilderness and it goes on and on > for hundreds of miles." > > As for the jokes and negative images, Irene McKinney, West Virginia's poet > laureate, said the stereotypes led natives both to leave and to return. > > Many writers, she said, feel that to be taken seriously by publishers they > need to live outside the state. "But at the same time," she said, "these > stereotypes lead many West Virginians to be defensive about their state, > which contributes to an us-against-the-world sense of identity." > > "We're like hound dogs," she said. "We want to roam, but we feel guilty > and > lost if we stray." > > > Stephen L. Douglas > President > WVU Alumni Association > > Get connected to your Mountaineer > family! Join the WVU Alumni Association > today at http://alumni.wvu.edu. > > ============================== Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. 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