For official county commission matters, please visit the Pocahontas County Commission website.
Pocahontas County Commissioner (D)
I am a life-long West Virginian who grew up on a small farm in Mercer County. I graduated from Spanishburg High School in 1987, and went on to earn college degrees in math and computer science from Concord College and then West Virginia University. Afterwards, I returned to Concord as a professor, where I enjoyed teaching many wonderful students for five years. In 2003, my family made the jump to Pocahontas County when I joined the NRAO in Green Bank as a software engineer. Today, I am self-employed and run a growing website design business which has brought several area businesses online in the last couple of years.
Getting Started in the Community.
When I heard of the plan to use eminent domain to take the land of a 9-generation Pocahontas County family for a sewer plant, I stepped up and started www.SaveTheSharpFarm.com. Over the past few years, I had learned a great deal about the specifics and motivations of this project. I attended PSD meetings and went to meetings in Charleston. Today, after much hard work by many people, we won this battle and saved the Sharp Farm from eminent domain.
Our Next Steps Together.
There is much more work ahead of us as we seek to improve Pocahontas County. Right now, there is much excitement about natural gas drilling. This presents a great economic opportunity for many of us, and it also tasks us with the responsibility to learn and understand all we can about this process. We are blessed with many irreplaceable natural gifts and a down-to-earth way of life, so we have to be diligent as we seek to prosper.
Our country’s economy is in peril. This hits us here in Pocahontas County especially hard. Most Americans cannot relate to the distances we must drive just to get a gallon of milk. With painful gasoline prices and a lower-than-average annual income, our families are truly fighting to stay afloat. We have to find ways to use our resources and talents right here at home to foster growth, to grow and produce locally and sell locally.
We have to create new business strategies so that our farmers can sell locally to our tourism-based businesses. Customers are increasingly looking for farm-raised alternatives to mass-produced offerings, and I want us to establish partnerships to realize this potential.
We have to help our local craftsmen and craftswomen make the next step by establishing partnerships with Snowshoe and area builders to provide wood, cabinetry and fine furnishings to new developments and remodelings. With our locally harvested timber and talent, there is great potential for this opportunity.
We have to invest in infrastructure to bring high-speed Internet connectivity to the entire county—and begin offering tax payment and other county government services online. An increasing number of our citizens are learning to make a living in the high-tech online markets commonplace throughout the world today. We must not allow ourselves to fall behind. Life in Pocahontas County is a haven for creative business individuals, many of whom absolutely depend on modern Internet capabilities to make their ideas flourish.
I am glad to help champion these ideas, but I didn’t come up with them. You did. I was just listening. And I look forward to hearing more from you in the days ahead as we work together to improve the future and the economy of Pocahontas County. We have a lot of work to do on our next steps together.
Substance Abuse.
There is much concern about the drug problem in Pocahontas County. Of course we know that our magistrates, sheriff, and prosecuting attorney bear the brunt of this dilemma as it affects our communities. But before that, it is fathers and mothers, siblings and friends that face the daily heartache of witnessing a loved one fall to substance abuse. I believe that the Pocahontas County Commission has a role to play in combating this crisis. The commission has the power, indeed the responsibility, to lead the community in our efforts to provide a quality and prosperous livelihood for our families. I believe that where there is opportunity and hope, there is a good foundation and outlook for each of us to have. And a positive outlook on your future is the cornerstone of a drug-free life.
Your Family.
Our optimism and hope live in our sons and daughters. My work over the past years has sent me to places such as Seattle, WA, San Francisco, CA, and Tucson, AZ. Yet all the while, we have called little old Green Bank, Pocahontas County, West Virginia our home. From such distant and different vantage points, it becomes clear how rare and special Pocahontas County is; that it is the best of homes. This is where it starts. Family. This is what life is, and this is what any public official must stand to protect. I think it’s time we had a County Commission that embodies this belief, a commission that works hard to promote and develop our economic future in ways we perhaps hadn’t thought doable before. But we have to. Our children need this from us, and I expect it of us.
Please get in touch with me so I can hear your ideas.