Most of these obits are omitting another important transformation Byrd underwent; from a longtime supporter of all things coal to a man who recognized the importance of beginning a transition to a clean energy economy. Indeed, one of the last votes Byrd cast was against the infamous Murkowski Amendment, which would have stripped the EPA of the ability to regulate greenhouse gases.

To call West Virginia a coal-heavy state is a massive understatement — it provides 50% of the nation’s coal exports, and accounts for tens of thousands of our state’s jobs. Any politician publicly rebuking coal here is just asking for trouble, and Byrd was noted for being a champion of coal.

But in December 2009 Byrd wrote an op-ed that criticized modern-day mining practices and accused the coal industry of “having its head in the sand” on climate change. State pols were sure there must have been some mistake. Governor Joe Manchin chalked the whole thing up to a “misunderstanding.”

But it wasn’t a misunderstanding… after 50 years in the Senate, the 92-year-old statesman had apparently revised his views on both coal and global warming. Byrd found it increasingly difficult to argue that the interests of coal companies and the interests of his state are one and the same.

Between noting the clearly debilitating effects of mountaintop removal mining and noting the reality of climate change, Byrd found it increasingly hard to continue to support coal. Many other politicians in his position would likely have continued to support it anyway — that being the politically safe thing to do. But Byrd spoke up, despite a lifetime of backing coal.

This shift should give hope to all those who recognize that the environmental practices and energy policies we have now are not sustainable — even the most stalwart of fossil fuel supporters can see the light, if, as Byrd did, he has the conviction to keep the long term interests of his constituents at heart. His transformation would have been completed would he have been able to vote for comprehensive clean energy reform.

You can read Byrd’s op-ed here. Rest in peace, Senator.

Oh, boy, just what Mercer Mall needs…. another clothing store for the teen and young adult market. I predict a FAIL within a year’s time.

I visit the mall occasionally to shop Rose’s or to gawk at the new smartphones on display at AT&T. (I plan to dump my iPhone for an Android device *if* I even stay with them) Other than that, the place has nothing to interest me except a once-in-a-blue-moon sale at Penney’s that actually features something I want.

But, the entire Mercer Mall situation deserves a separate rant of its own, so watch for it!

In a January 5, 2010 letter to the Corps of Engineers Huntington office, the EPA declared that it would not object to issuance of a permit for Hobet Mining’s Surface Mine No. 45 in West Virginia, one of the projects had subjected to enhanced review. The review process produced a negotiated agreement in which Hobet agreed to cut the impacts to headwater streams in half (from burying six linear miles to only three).

A news article from 2009 was also seemingly missed by the Telegraph:

On August 10 of that year, the EPA gave the nod for the federal Army Corps of Engineers to issue a Clean Water Act permit for CONSOL Energy Inc.'s Peg Fork Surface Mine near Chattaroy in Mingo County.

So much for the myth the Obama Administration is anti-coal… and these are only two stories, found in about 60 seconds using Google.

Isn't it far better to submit these permits to careful scrutiny, then take action after working diligently with the coal companies to resolve environmental issues, rather than continue to let them indiscriminately befoul our state's drinking water, decimate hundreds of miles of streams, and turn our natural beauty into barren moonscapes?

I emailed this to the paper but doubt it will see publication, for the simple fact that it doesn't fit into the editorial staff's blatantly right-wing agenda. In its zeal to condemn anything and everything Obama, the Telegraph is doing its readers a disservice by missing, whether by accident or intentionally, coal-related news stories that prove the administration is willing to reach compromises with our state's coal operations.

Male residents of the local area will be participating in a “Mixed Up Male Beauty Pageant” in order to raise funds to help pay for the medical care of Bryson Fanning, age 2. Bryson is being treated for Histiocytosis at UVA Medical.

Documents and/or Photos available for this release:

Bryson Fanning, age 3

To view supporting documents and/or photos, go to www.enr-corp.com/pressroom and enter Release ID: 220529

I was a graphic artist and as such did not work with Tom on a daily basis. However, I also wrote an opinion column for many months back in 2006, and thus got to know Tom a lot better as he worked with me to hone my writing skills and get my message across in limited editorial space.

This was an exciting time for me and Tom really enjoyed the often heated public responses to my unashamedly biased approach to politics, religion and local issues. He sometimes joked to me that page A-4 of the Thursday edition, which was when my column ran, seemed to be the only page of the paper read on those days. This was when the BDT had an electronic message board tied to the online edition, and we would really get a kick out of the discussion my columns generated.

Tom even told me that he would sometimes receive extremely nasty emails or phone calls concerning something I had written. But to his credit, he would run what I wrote and let the chips fall where they may. He always said that feedback of any type meant people were genuinely interested in the topic at hand, even if they didn’t agree with the conclusions of the writer.

Thanks, Tom, for allowing me the opportunity to connect with our readers, and for your always steady hand at the wheel as we went through ownership and staff changes. Through it all, Tom never lost his vision of what the BDT should be, and of the responsibilities of the news and editorial staff.

More than anyone else, Tom WAS the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. The paper will continue, and no doubt someone will ably step into his position and carry onward. However, it simply won’t be the same newspaper without Tom sitting in his office on the third floor.

According to the State Journal, the state’s real estate market has been protected from predatory lending and foreclosures seen in larger states like California, Florida and Arizona. National trends have made getting a house loan here a little harder, but it is by no means impossible, or even that difficult. Lending guidelines have definitely changed, but if you have a good credit score it is still possible to buy a home with little to nothing down, and get a low interest rate on the loan.

As one example of the many positive sides of the issue, earlier this year Gov. Joe Manchin went to the West Virginia Housing Development Fund board of directors and asked them to come up with a plan that would keep West Virginia from suffering the same housing slump now plaguing the national economy.

The board responded by unanimously approving an economic stimulus package that not only should help keep the state’s affordable housing market on the right track, but put many deserving families in their own homes, and keep existing homeowners from losing theirs. The Housing Development Fund can provide 30-year mortgages at interest rates as low as 4.99 percent. They also increased the Closing Cost Assistance Program to provide loans for as much as $5,000 to cover the larger cash contributions needed from families buying a home.

Housing Predictor, a company that provides independent real estate market forecasts, states that “Home prices in most of West Virginia didn’t go through the roof during the real estate boom, and as a result the state is handling the national real estate recession strongly. West Virginia’s thriving economy also drives the housing markets with good employment growth.”

The West Virginia Association of Realtors reports that West Virginia’s housing market is bucking the national trend.

“While there is no question some areas in the country are being hit hard, the market in our state is still stable,” says Raymond I. Joseph, Chief Executive Officer. “While some national markets are declining by as much as 20 and 30 percent, the median sale price of a home in West Virginia has only fallen by $7000 or around 8 percent in the first quarter of 2008.”

The area public needn’t buy into the fear so rampant throughout much of the rest of the country. They should check with their local real estate companies for the complete facts about the housing market in West Virginia. Buyers and sellers should not be taken in by the endless horror stories foisted upon them by the national media, and recycled all too often by local media outlets.

It’s all too easy to focus on the negative. The truth is, there are many positive developments going on, of which those reported above are only a few. Unfortunately the public doesn’t know about them because they receive scant mention in print or television.

Note: this is an editorial I wrote which was published in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. Kudos to them for taking the initiative to help get the true facts about the local housing market out.

“It doesn’t come up,” said David Felinton, 5-foot-9 and 233 pounds, as he walked toward City Hall one recent morning. “We’ve got a lot of economic challenges here in Huntington. That’s usually the focus.”

Huntington’s economy has withered, its poverty rate is worse than the national average, and vagrants haunt a downtown riverfront park. But this city’s financial woes are not nearly as bad as its health.

Nearly half the adults in Huntington’s five-county metropolitan area are obese — an astounding percentage, far bigger than the national average in a country with a well-known weight problem.

Huntington leads in a half-dozen other illness measures, too, including heart disease and diabetes. It’s even tops in the percentage of elderly people who have lost all their teeth (half of them have).

It’s a sad situation, and a potential harbinger of what will happen to other U.S. communities, said Ken Thorpe, an Emory University health policy professor who is working with West Virginia officials on health reform legislation.

“They may be at the very top, but obesity and diabetes trends are very similar” in many other communities, particularly in the South, Thorpe said.

The Huntington area’s health problems, cited in a U.S. health report, are a terrible distinction for the city, but the locals barely talk about it. Many don’t even know how poorly the city ranks.