"2. What do you see as the county commission's role in economic development?"

Note: The Pocahontas Times asked all county commission candidates to answer 6 questions, to be published one each week. Below is my response to this week's question.

Pocahontas County really is different from most any other county in West Virginia. Geographically, her mountains and streams are second to none. We are the origin of eight amazing rivers and the lofts of some of the highest and most beautiful vistas in the Allegheny Mountains. Also geographically, we sure can be hard to get to.

A principal part of our economy is due to precisely these qualities. People the world over come here annually, to escape their relatively crowded and concreted existence for the wilds only available here. And they return again and again. Each time they visit us, they give their dollars to our businesses and help us pay our bills and put food on the table.

The county commission is our chief fiscal guardian, in large part deciding which parts of our community receive financial assistance and when, under what circumstances, etc. Given that a lot of our county's revenue comes from tourism and hotel/motel tax, one role of the county commission is to encourage and support tourism in Pocahontas County. This also implies that the county commission must safeguard the long-term investment of our tourism industry by protecting Pocahontas County's unique natural assets from short-sighted, narrow-minded and risky endeavors.

In addition to tourism, we also operate a sustainable timber industry and a proud farming community. These are important contributors to our economy and our way of life.

However, just doing things the way we always have will not take us into a future of positive economic growth; at least not for those of us who live and work here every day. We obviously can't clear-cut the forests any longer, and our farms, slowly and sadly, continue to be divided and conquered.

But we shouldn't overreact. Taking advantage of short-term opportunities mustn't undermine our long-term efforts. We can't just sell off all our land to second home development. This is surely not a sustainable endeavor, and doing so prices our very selves and our children right out of the county. Consequently, of all the possible roles of the Pocahontas County Commission in economic development, I strongly feel that the senseless pursuit of ever-increasing property taxes is not one of them.

Thus I feel that a chief role of a modern-day Pocahontas County Commission in economic development is to utilize fresher, newer thinking in finding ways to empower our younger generation with the ability to dream, to hope, that they can actually carve out a living right here at home.

Part of this vision entails bringing in technology-driven small businesses and infrastructure. This would be complemented by bringing in educational opportunities and facilities to help prepare students for these careers. I think that to do this will require a fresh vision within the county commission; a proactive, educated and technologically proficient set of credentials will be required to make this possible.

If you recall Governor Manchin's recent State Of The State address, he issued a call for West Virginia's "sons and daughters" to "come home" and invest themselves in the future of our state. I am one of those sons and I'm glad to be home again to be sure. As such, I think we can do our part right here in Pocahontas County to invest in that vision. As always, tourism, timber and farming are part of that. But we need to do more by thinking outside the usual Pocahontas County box for the benefit of those who want to stay here and those who would return here if there was but some way to do so.

So I think the ultimate role of the Pocahontas County Commission concerning economic development is to work with a fresher, more modern outlook in finding ways to make our home still our home for those who would stay if they could.