Charleston Gazette-Mail. March 26, 2024.

Editorial: Will everything ‘work out’ as Justice claims?

Cataloguing the list of serious problems confronting the state of West Virginia is an arduous and gloomy task. The same goes for compiling and examining Gov. Jim Justice’s ever-mounting financial problems, personal and business-related, which total in the hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, unpaid taxes, unpaid court settlements, fines and fees.

All of these issues seem to be racing to a head of sorts, as Justice enters the home stretch of his second term and also pursues the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.

Standing in the eye of a tornado, Justice said during a virtual briefing last week that everything is going to be just fine.

The governor claimed his businesses are paying their bills and are in strong shape, despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary that has been building for the better part of 10 years. He also said he didn’t know anything about the latest deposit on the top of that heap: seven liens filed against his Greenbrier Hotel Corp. concerning $3.5 million in unpaid sales tax, interest and penalties. But he didn’t seem concerned.

On the same day of last week’s briefing, Justice was fighting the courts in his role as governor, filing a motion to get out of a deposition in a new class-action lawsuit over inhumane conditions in the state’s regional jail system. The state recently settled a similar lawsuit for $4 million. Justice got out of testifying in that case.

Dysfunction in state operations that wind up hurting West Virginians existed before Jim Justice became governor, and they’ll exist after he’s gone. But just how little he’s done to try to address the problems of the state has certainly made those issues worse.

It might not be Justice’s fault that people are dying in regional jails, that public education is in peril, that thousands of children are in a foster care system that is overrun or that a systemic rot was discovered within the West Virginia State Police. But he’s the governor, so it’s his duty — his responsibility — to know what’s going on in these state agencies and to try and fix those problems.

He’s tried, to some extent, but those efforts have typified the sort of can-kicking that Justice often accuses others of committing.

Too often, the governor seems to be blindsided when these problems result in an incident that could have been prevented. Indeed, the common theme in those situations is Justice’s response of shock and anger or sadness, typically followed by distancing himself from any blame and a promise of a hastily arranged solution that goes dark after a few months.

It bears repeating that Justice doesn’t grasp the weight of his elected position and how his action or inaction affects real people. The same seems to be true in his business dealings.

“At the end of the day, it all seems to work out, doesn’t it?” Justice said during his virtual briefing last week.

Maybe it does if you’re Jim Justice. Whatever rules he’s playing by don’t seem to apply to most everyone else.

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The Intelligencer. March 25, 2024.

Editorial: Wildfires Ravaging Parts of Our State

Eastern West Virginia is on fire.

Days of dry, windy weather supported wildfires that have burned thousands of acres, particularly in Berkeley, Hardy, Hampshire, Morgan and Pendleton counties.

According to Assistant State Forester Linda Carnell, who spoke with West Virginia Public Broadcasting, there are local fire departments in all affected counties and some neighboring counties fighting the blazes. Of course, Division of Forestry employees are there, too.

Carnell described significant structural damage, in addition to the damaged forest land.

“It’s been pretty devastating just within these few days, especially once you start losing structures,” she told WVPB.

Though it should go without saying, as there is a statewide ban on outdoor fires between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., March 1 to May 31, Carnell said “Refrain from any type of burning outside till we get significant precipitation.”

That means all day long while the weather is making it so easy for fires to spark and spread. Carnell said springtime and its potentially rough, windy weather can bring two common causes: intentionally set fires that get out of control and spread, and tree branches falling onto power lines.

So, while not all the potential causes of these fires are within human control, many of them are. We must follow the rules and use common courtesy and sense to avoid damage to the landscape, loss of structures, and the risk to the firefighters who are working hard to save it all.

Smokey is right: Only you can prevent wildfires.

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Parkersburg News and Sentinel. March 22, 2024.

Editorial: Safety: Exercise caution in work zones

While West Virginians complain about the state of our roads, we also do a terrible job of being patient and following safety rules when we encounter all the orange barrels and Division of Highways workers and equipment that come along with tackling that enormous problem. We’re even worse about giving DOH workers the space to do their jobs when they are not working on a long-term project.

Last week, a worker was struck on U.S. 50 eastbound in Clarksburg. He was working on cleanup at the site of a previous wreck there. According to a report by WVNews, the worker remained in critical condition but was “making positive progress” Wednesday.

To be clear, the driver who first struck a roadway directional sign and then struck the DOH worker has since pleaded not guilty to felony driving under the influence with serious injury. But even without the potential added danger to DOH workers, there is still a great deal of risk in the job they do to make the roads better and safer for the rest of us.

Every driver should — always — be driving free of distraction, and never under the influence. Pay attention and keep your eyes on the road, particularly when approaching work zones. SLOW DOWN. While you’re watching for lane closures, traffic pattern shifts and the humans and equipment that accompany that work, follow the posted speed limit.

Move safely into the open lane when directed. Don’t be that driver — the one who zooms to the front of the line and tries to quickly sneak in.

And keep your distance: from other vehicles; from barriers, barrels and cones; and from those doing the work or directing the traffic.

Remember, those doing their jobs for the rest of us deserve the right to do that work without added worry for their own safety. It’s a tough enough task without that.

Slow down, pay attention, and let them do their jobs AND make it home.

END