ON THE MARK... Leadership Failures
Commentary                                                             By Mark Hallburn
Publisher
PutnamLIVE.com

It's been more than a year since this column addressed Putnam County leadership. Here at PutnamLIVE.com we called for improvement. Putnam County deserves improvement.

However, more than a year later, Putnam County's leadership ranges from bad to mediocre.

We'll start with the poster boys of bad leadership: Putnam County Commissioners Stephen "Amish" Andes and Raymond "Joe Yoder" whose anti-progress votes and political appointments are holding back Putnam County.

Under "Amish Andes" and "Joseph Yoder," the Ames storefront has been vacant for years while across the parking lot Big Bear has been vacant even longer.

Next to Home Depot, (one minor victory) prime Real Estate that should have a Wal-Mart or Target and a CompUSA and Circuit City or Best Buy, remains vacant.

The Crooked Creek interchange should be called the Scott Depot interchange for a more progressive name. But does it matter? Andes and Haynes haven't demanded that the state open the ramps to I-64 which could be serving Putnam County drivers now. Instead, while Andes and Haynes sit quietly, Putnam County commuters suffer.

Where's Marshall University? The Putnam County Development Authority's Board of Directors was mostly appointed by Andes and Haynes. The PCDA blew hundreds of thousands of dollars in loan interest on land that was designated for a Marshall University satellite campus and the West Virginia Lottery Headquarters. But the PCDA screwed up. No Marshall campus, no lottery headquarters. A new Wal-Mart bringing hundreds of low-paying jobs is months behind schedule. To build the Wally-World hundreds of trees were destroyed, a hillside and neighborhood was blasted, two homes were torn down, I was falsely arrested, and a pond was filled in.

The PCDA and its so-called Executive Director Gary Walton (who lived rent-free for months) are an abysmal failure!

Out at the PCDA's Fraziers Bottom business park, there are more vacant lots than businesses. Two of the three businesses, Schwan's and Tasty Blends, were relocated from elsewhere in Putnam County. Nippon Electric is the only new business at the location.

The Putnam County Library system as well as Parks and Recreation are woefully under-funded. Andes and Haynes political appointees on the Parks and Recreation Commission wrongfully gave away a $250,000 grant to build a kiddie pool at Valley Park. This summer was the hottest in years. The Kiddie Pool would have attracted enough extra visitors to pay for itself with extra admissions, food sales, and sales to nearby local businesses. However "Amish Andes" and "Joseph Yoder" blew that opportunity!

Across the parking lot, Museum in the Community continues to financially struggle while "Amish Andes" and "Joseph Yoder" bury their heads in the sand and ignore the problems.

Putnam County employees are lower-paid than their counterparts in Cabell and Kanawha Counties, despite the fact that housing costs are higher in Putnam County.

The recent public smoking ban reversal is a setback that is embarrassing and will cost Putnam County business and health-care dollars.

At County Park in Eleanor, we still don't have a 4-H Camp. Again, "Amish Andes" and Joseph Yoder" are to blame. They cut taxes that could have paid for all of the above problems.

About once a year there is major criticism of the conditions at the Putnam County Animal Relief Center. It ends up in television news, in the Charleston Newspapers, and is an embarrassment to Putnam County. Even worse, helpless animals are too often the victims. Workers have to "make due" in an aging, cramped facility that is also very under-funded. The Putnam County Commission has failed to properly deal with this for years. The private sector is now raising money for a new shelter which should be matched on a 2-1 ratio by the Putnam County Commission. Meanwhile the operating budget must be immediately increased. Some of those funds should pay for a veterinarian to spay or neuter every animal that passes through the center. It is less expensive in the long run.

Who can forget the Putnam General Hospital debacle? Our only hospital closed before selling to CAMC. Sick Putnam County citizens were forced to drive to Charleston or Huntington for acute health care. Andes and Haynes did little-to-nothing. Andes' comment about "training an associate" Goody's when asked about what he did to save the hospital and its high-paying jobs was a classic. 

Give Andes, Haynes, Walton, and the Board of Health an "F" as in failure! 

The Putnam County Circuit Court still hasn't decided the Hurricane Mayoral election despite a potentially fixed election in June. And the Hurricane Noise Ordinance issue has been stalled by both Judges, O.C. "Hobby" Spaulding and Norbert "Ed" Eagloski. Down the hall, Putnam County Prosecutor Mark A. Sorsaia still hasn't convicted anyone for murdering two-year-old Logan Shane Goodall. However, he wasted the time of two assistant prosecutors in a vain attempt to convict me on a trumped-up telephone harassment charge. Meanwhile, Sorsaia refuses to prosecute a vehicle noise ordinance on tractors because he doesn't like the law, and the man cited for blasting without a license at the Hurricane Wal-Mart site wasn't properly prosecuted.

Give Eagloski, Sorsaia, and Spaulding an "F" for failure!

In Hurricane, Recorder Linda Gibson failed to run a proper election, costing the town thousands in legal fees while putting the Recorder and Mayor's race in legal limbo. The tainted ballots? They were enough to put Gibson back in office as well as her political sidekick Scott Edwards into the Mayor's seat. Coincidence? We think not!

Give Linda Gibson an "F" as in failure!

Speaking of Scott Edwards, he was on the Board of Directors of the PCDA which screwed up the Marshall and Lottery projects. The same PCDA let Walton live rent-free in a PCDA home and extended Wal-Mart's deadlines so far out that this project is woefully behind schedule.

Meanwhile, as a non-elected councilman and as Hurricane's disputed Mayor, Edwards still fails to properly enforce Hurricane's Noise and Nuisance Ordinances. He DID, however, harass a very pregnant citizen about weeds on a hillside while he allowed weeds at his business and at City Hall to grow beyond Hurricane's 10-inch limit.

And, Edwards had the audacity to campaign in front of that pregnant woman's business in a blatant form of harassment while he told her husband to "F--k-Off" in front of a group of children.

Then there are Edwards' wives. All three of them. In less than 15 years.

Scott Edwards has earned an "F" for his political, ethical, and moral failures!

Let's not forget former Putnam County Senator Lisa D. Smith who bought her election "victory" over Oshel Craigo with tax money diverted from her employees. Smith is heading to a West Virginia prison after screwing Putnam County out of its Senate Finance Chair who took great care of Putnam County for decades.

Give Lisa Smith an "F" for both failure and fraud!

Smith didn't fail on her own. Her Campaign Manager, Greg Thomas, and the Putnam County Republican Party pushed a mentally ill candidate into a seat occupied by a powerful Senate Finance Chair. Common sense says you don't pull Hank Aaron out of the lineup during his prime for an untested rookie. You may not like Craigo's politics, but his access to state money greatly helped Putnam County. Craigo was "our Robert Byrd." Nevertheless, the selfish elephants of Putnam County shoved out Craigo, handed us Smith, who is now heading to prison. Had they left this one seat alone, we would have a Marshall satellite campus, we would have a lottery headquarters, and we would have needed funding for other projects. Instead, we do not, and though Mike Hall is a solid Senator, he does not have the clout of Oshel Craigo's Finance Chairmanship.

This is not a slam of West Virginia Republicans in general. Their anti-food-tax stance, tax reform, and tax reform stances have been a great thing for West Virginia. However, running candidates against Robert Byrd and Oshel Craigo is absurd. Pick the correct battles to fight. Don't win battles that hurt in the long run.

Give Greg Thomas and the Putnam County Republican Party an "F" as in failure to do the right thing for Putnam County!

The Putnam County state and federal delegation has failed to pass a state or federal noise ordinance to protect Putnam County citizens living next to construction zones. As a result, our lives are disrupted daily while projects are built next to our homes.

We still don't have a regional airport which should be built in Putnam County. This would stimulate the regional economy including Putnam, Cabell, Mason, Lincoln, Jackson, and Kanawha Counties. Build it alongside old U.S. 35 and the Kanawha River so that barges can bring freight in and out of the airport. Yeager and Tri-State airports are too small, too old, and will never properly meet the needs of our region.

Give Putnam County's state and federal delegation an "F" for failure to protect its citizens and for failure to build a regional airport! 

Overall, Putnam County's leaders have earned an "F" for failure to provide adequate and progressive leadership. They need to immediately change their ways or resign and get out of the way of people who can properly lead Putnam County into the future!