Posted by
WV Rube on Thursday, March 06, 2008 3:28:04 PM
Today’s Martinsburg Journal contains an article about a bill passed in the West Virginia House of Delegates which calls for toll roads in the Eastern Panhandle. The article goes on to say that the Senate Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is now considering the bill. This is just another example of Charleston attempting to use the Eastern Panhandle to fill the state treasury with our money which is then spent in the rest of the state. Just last week Governor Manchin was claiming that the idea for toll roads in the Eastern Panhandle was only in the talking stage. Well, as usual the governor can’t be trusted and the legislators have gone beyond the talking stage.
It is now time for the people of the Eastern Panhandle to stand up and be counted. We should all contact our local legislators and tell them how we feel about this bill. So far it seems that our local representatives are opposed to the bill but do they have the strength to stand by their convictions. I hope so but I am not so sure that they will. I have seen evidence in the past where these representatives say one thing and then vote the other way.
The Journal quotes Berkeley Delegate Locke Wysong as saying he could understand why the Eastern Panhandle was selected because of the high traffic count. Delegate Wysong voted against the bill but it appears that he could be persuaded to vote the other way. Of course it really doesn’t matter what the representatives of Berkeley County want since the rest of the state will blindly follow the governor.
The current bill does not specify the roads which could be turned into toll roads but they have listed some possibilities, as W.Va 9, W.Va 35, U.S. 522, and U.S. 340. These are local roads and the tolls will punish the folks who live in this area. I am opposed to toll roads on any highway. In an earlier blog I opposed putting tolls on the Interstate and I am still opposed to it but I would rather see the money come from outsiders than our own citizens.
Some government officials will probably tell us that toll booths will provide jobs, but do we really need more government jobs? I say no. Maybe we should take the governor’s salary and the raises our legislators just gave themselves away and use that money to pay for the new jobs.
We need to propose a state bill to change the legislative session to one every five or ten years, because it seems all they accomplish is raising taxes. If not raising taxes they are finding some way to put liens on the homes of senior citizens.
I truly believe that the people of the Eastern Panhandle need to find a way to secede from West Virginia. There have always been questions about how the Eastern Panhandle ended up in West Virginia during the Civil War. There are stories that blame crooked politics in Charleston for taking the Eastern Panhandle from Virginia. It would seem that things haven’t changed today; Berkeley County and the other counties of the panhandle are still being cheated by the politicians in Charleston.
Maybe if we could find the money that went missing when the current governor was the Secretary of State we wouldn’t need toll booths in the Eastern Panhandle.
Remember to contact your representatives and say no to toll roads.