Huge Explosion in Ghent

I am having a hard time procesing the gas station explosion in Ghent, WV. I have driven by that place hundreds of times and stopped there for gas, cash and soda at least 50. My cousin used to work a couple of miles from there and stopped there almost everyday after work.

More importantly, I can't fathom the cosmic "justice" of people who were just stopping for gas or a sandwich at the little Subway shop that was in the building, or people working there at jobs that must have been less than satisfying, becoming vaporised becuase they were in the wrong place, or in the case of the fire fighter and EMT who died, just doing their best to serve the people. Not in a war zone, not near an oil well, or a refinery or some other dangerous place. Just a gas station near a ski resort.

There are also rumors in the local community, that the call to the local fire department about a gas leak was made the day previous to the explosion, but that is just a rumor at the moment.

It is late and this is bothering me, so sorry if I am rambling, but just looking at the pictures is overwhelming, having a personal knowledge of the place. (see Article)

I suppose if I am drawing any personal insights from this it would be:

1. I have not for some time been a believer in a deterministic, paternalistic god, as it would require me to have faith in something who would be by definition cruel in my estimation. Events such as this simply reinforce those internal views. But then again, I am sure that the same is true for people of that type of faith, who just believe all the more blindly in the face of random death. In adulthood I believe that most often traumatic events tend to reinforce who we are, not change us. And so, our greater efforts should rest on not trying to change people, but working on living with each other as they decide whether or not to change themselves, or when necessary, helping them to survive a world that is ultimately cruel without the milk of human kindness.

2. Try as we might to live safe, insured insulated lives, we all live under the despotism of chaos. Therefore, if you do not like your life, and have the means to alter it, you are a fool not to do so. Now. AS far as we know for sure, you only have this chance and you have no real idea when that chance will be over. It might be on your way home from work this very day.

3. For the untold billions who do not have the power to alter their life course, it remains the moral obligation of those of us who can, to empower those whom we can.

2007's First Mining Deaths in WV

On the morning of Saturday, January 13, 2007 James D. Thomas, 48, North Tazewell, Va. and Pete Poindexter, 33, of Rock WV became West Virginia's first mining deaths of 2007 when a roof collapsed at the Brooks Run mine in McDowell County, where safety violations were issued as recently as December 6. The mine had been cited 57 times in 2006.

I would offer my sympathies in any such event, but even more so in this case as the event took place near both my wife's hometown and mine.

It is hard to know which would be preferable from the victim's family point of view. If this were but an "act of God" would the randomness of the event enrage you and add to your grief or act as a salve? If it turns of to be a case of operator negligence, an all too familiar case in West Virginia history, would knowledge that death was preventable result in destructive dreams of vengeance or would the cause of justice for a fallen family member in the long run sustain you?

Economic Development? Not for Everybody

In an editorial in today’s Charleston Daily Mail the massive upgrades to AEP facilities in Putnam and Mason County and the Toyoda plant expansion in Putnam County are emblematic of economic progress in the State of West Virginia. Indeed, the article likens news of the investment to “cool water in the desert.”

This is a classic misunderstanding of how West Virginal really works.

You see, the Charleston / Huntington corridor and Mason County are not the economic deserts of West Virginia. Are they the hot development areas of Northern Virginia or Atlanta? Of course not, but most WV communities would sacrifice the residents of the local animal shelter to have the economies of these areas.

If you want to see real economic deserts, come take a look at Williamson, or Bluefield, or Welch.

This editorial just reinforces the notion that most people in our state think that WV’s southern border ends at Beckley. In fact, I have heard public officals in Southern WV claim that the Economic Development office in Charleston has actively discourage small business owners from opening business in places such as Bluefield. (Of course, many northern West Virginians think Charleston is in Southern WV. Puleeze.)

I have suggested, tongue only half way in cheek, that southern WV should auction itself off to another state. Surely, some state out there needs a slightly larger population for an additional Congressional seat, in exchange for real economic investment? Or maybe, as a protest, it should secede from the U.S., declare war on the U.S., and immediately surrender and apply for economic aid as a “defeated” country.(Much like the Conch Republic tried some years ago.) I am sure we could do more with the tens (hundreds?) of billions wasted in Iraq than the likes of Halliburton have.