WV News is Depressing

[i am herdman]

Gosh almighty. Read news from back home. Always depressing. Always the drug problem. Lack of jobs. Now flooding and teachers issues with their insurance and such.

WV is a depressing place. Always proud to be from WV and I think I made the right move getting out.

 

[extragreen]

Good riddance.

 

[i am herdman]

Good riddance.

To me and two generations of people. Good luck with your attitude

 

[HerdBuckeye]

Agree herdman. Anytime I read the paper online it’s a mess.

 

[i am herdman]

Agree herdman. Anytime I read the paper online it’s a mess.

That was my point. It was like every time you read the newspaper or watch the news. It is depressing. One event right after the other.

 

[herdfan429]

That was my point. It was like every time you read the newspaper or watch the news. It is depressing. One event right after the other.

To be fair that's pretty much every newspaper/newscast in the country

 

[i am herdman]

To be fair that's pretty much every newspaper/newscast in the country

Fair point, but WV seems to have its fair share of bad news. Even on personal social media.

 

[GK4Herd]

I've also noticed that people who move away have a tendency to see only the bad stuff. It validates their own decision to have moved and elevates their own perception of their personal experience. I'm a WV lifer, and although I'm not blind to the issues here, I wouldn't trade my life and experience with many.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

I agree with GK. I understand why people move away and have encouraged my kids to the same in order to have better job opportunities and a move to a more modern area/quality lifestyle. We've faced that head on as well with the transfer to High Point. That said, I am glad we were able to stay in Huntington. We had a good quality of life and the kids had great childhoods. It is sad that the whole state seems wrapped in gloom more often than not. I attribute that to the political climate, lack of vision and many in our population just being lazy and wanting to suckle at the government teet. But I do know for a fact there are a ton of places I would never live and consider Huntington a better place. jmho.

 

[wvkeeper(HN)]

I've been trying to move back ever since I graduated High School. Life never lets me though...

 

[Raoul Duke MU]

It is sad that the whole state seems wrapped in gloom more often than not.

It's not just an economic/political gloom. Appalachian fatalism is real, and hope is often in short supply.

 

[i am herdman]

I've also noticed that people who move away have a tendency to see only the bad stuff. It validates their own decision to have moved and elevates their own perception of their personal experience. I'm a WV lifer, and although I'm not blind to the issues here, I wouldn't trade my life and experience with many.

I agree. There is some validity to what you say. Moving away is a hard thing to do.

 

[i am herdman]

It's not just an economic/political gloom. Appalachian fatalism is real, and hope is often in short supply.

Some truth there as well.

 

[sistersville]

That was my point. It was like every time you read the newspaper or watch the news. It is depressing. One event right after the other.

All news is like that .They don't report good news

 

[ggmike1992]

I’ve seen a lot of progress/improvements in Huntington the last half decade or so. Just spent the last 5 days up there working on my retirement home. I should be a full time resident by the end of the year and welcome the change.

 

[HerdBuckeye]

All news is like that .They don't report good news

What’s an example? I am looking forward to some good news coming out if wv.

 

[raleighherdfan]

I was visiting Huntington this weekend. It’s always good to see family. But....having grown up there, seeing and knowing what it was compared to now....it’s incredibly sad. Multiple decades of terrible (greedy fear based) decisions set the table for what the area (and state) has become.

The neighborhood I grew up in has become a ghetto. As a kid, it was a diverse socioeconomic demographic...but the diversity is gone. Straight up ghetto now.

It doesn’t matter where you drive in Htgn, an abandoned boarded up or rotting property isn’t far away.

My wife ran into an old acquaintance we hadn’t seen in over 12 years. She reiterated our thoughts on how far the area has fallen and commended our decision to leave when we did.

I feel blessed to have grown up there. And just as blessed for taking the opportunity to leave years ago. It’s given me unimaginable appreciation for what my family has been able to accomplish.

 

[HerdFan76]

I travel a lot with my job. Any time I spend a few weeks out of town I come back to Huntington and I'm instantly depressed. To me it's the infrastructure. Small things like clean sidewalks make such a difference. Ours are crumbling, weeds growing through or non-existent. It's a small thing but very visual.

Huntington is trying, the blocks between the MU hall of fame and Highway 55 are great, but that's about it. There's nothing inviting about this area, especially when you're used to a higher standard of living. Why move a business here if your employees won't follow?

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

I travel a lot with my job. Any time I spend a few weeks out of town I come back to Huntington and I'm instantly depressed. To me it's the infrastructure. Small things like clean sidewalks make such a difference. Ours are crumbling, weeds growing through or non-existent. It's a small thing but very visual.

Huntington is trying, the blocks between the MU hall of fame and Highway 55 are great, but that's about it. There's nothing inviting about this area, especially when you're used to a higher standard of living. Why move a business here if your employees won't follow?

Oh I agree. Just the little things like keeping yards cut, picked up, no clutter on the front porches and around houses would help. We have so many absentee land owners its hard. Then you have the slum lords who don't give a rats ass and let their properties deteriorate but yet gouge tenants.I will say though, having been to places like Memphis, St. Louis, Detroit, Dayton, and several other bigger cities, those places are crap holes, at least the inner city areas. jmo. Every town has warts, we just have more than our fair share it seems. The citizens have no pride and are mostly lazy.