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.

There was an article in the newspaper this week claiming that Governor Manchin of West Virginia was considering the possibility of toll roads in the state. He was talking about toll roads in the Eastern Panhandle part of the state on Routes 9, 304 and 522. Local State Senator John Unger was discussing this issue with the newspaper and said that he opposed the plan. Someone suggested that it was time the Governor realized that the Eastern Panhandle was not an ATM for the rest of the state.

This is very true since Charleston has always taken a lot of money from this area and used it to improve other parts of the state. For years large amounts of money were taken from the Charles Town race track and used to help build roads in other parts of the state. Meanwhile, the source of this revue, the people attending horse races in Charles Town were forced to travel on dangerous single lane roads. This included race fans from West Virginia as well as visitors from Washington D.C. and Baltimore. Finally a two lane road was completed from Harper’s Ferry to Charles Town which helped considerably. However the people of Berkeley County are still forced to ride on a single lane road to Charles Town. This situation is finally improving with the building of a new Route 9.

The Governor has said the toll money would be used to build and improve roads in the Eastern Panhandle. He also said the money would be used in other parts of the state. That is the scary part, can we trust the Governor to be fair in distributing this money.  I think not.

On a recent trip to Charleston I traveled on Interstate 79 between Morgantown and Charleston and during that whole trip I didn’t see near as many cars as I would in a trip from just Martinsburg to Hagerstown, Maryland. We need to complete the project that was already started to make Interstate 81 a three lane highway. What I am saying is that we need the money here more than in Charleston; however tolls are not the way to do it.

Making our local roads pay roads would hurt the people of the Eastern Panhandle by forcing them to either pay to use good roads or force them back on dangerous secondary roads. There is money in the state to complete the Interstate 81 project; we just need to get the money back in the Eastern Panhandle.   The money it would take to build toll booths and widen the roads at the toll areas would be better utilized to improve existing roads.

If we can ever find out what happened to the money that was “lost” while Governor Manchin was Secretary of State, we could use that to improve our roads. Governor Manchin’s record with our money is not that good, so I don’t think we should give him anymore.

I can only hope that Senator Unger sticks by his guns and fights any suggestions of tolls in the Eastern Panhandle.   The citizens of the Eastern Panhandle need to keep an eye on Senator Unger because he has been known to back down to the Democratic powers of the state. In his book, “No Strings Attached”, current Republican Gubernatorial candidate Russell Weeks, discusses one such incident. Senator Unger had expressed to Senator Weeks that the Budget Bill which had been finalized and signed by the Finance Committee conferees had been changed. Once the conferees have signed the Budget Bill no changes are allowed to be made without the approval of a majority of both chambers. Two items had been changed adding nearly an additional $8.2 million dollars to the budget. Before the final vote was taken Senator Unger brought this issue to the attention of the full senate. The Senate President called a brief recess where he left the room to research the issue. When he returned the Senate President stated that Senator Unger’s point was not well taken and that they interpret the rules and they interpret the rules that they can make changes. No other explanation was mentioned. When the time for the vote came, Senator Unger voted for the budget. Let’s hope he fights the toll issue with stronger convictions than he did for the budget.