WVU students don’t wear masks on campus
While reading the paper online (DP-08-21-20), I saw a picture of five WVU students playing spike ball at the Mountainlair Green not wearing masks or face coverings.
On the WVU website (return to campus), listed as a absolute must, I read students are required to wear masks or face coverings when on campus, whether inside or out.
Just wondering what the real requirements are.
James Roberts
Morgantown
Editorial on Diamond Village was naive
The editorial regarding the Diamond Village encampment (DP-08-23-20) was one of the more credulous write-ups I have seen on the matter.
The argument that the encampment is contained is a false narrative. The Diamond Village population may “reside” there, but they still quite often move about the community via the rail-trail and are still loitering downtown, especially on High Street and the newly renovated Ruby McQuain Amphitheater.
The data regarding a high number of overdoses was simply passed aside in the editorial based on the justification that at least they weren’t “in the morgue.” Placating these individuals by giving them a designated place to use drugs freely only incentivizes such reckless behavior. Simply ignoring the drug usage of this group is intolerable. People intoxicated do not act rationally and are prone to reckless behavior that creates a dangerous environment for the community at large.
I applaud the Mon County Health Department for taking action to mitigate this issue. Those in support of a solution that allows the Diamond Village residents to make property demands while providing zero positive contributions to the community are part of the problem.
The editorial argued that the campground statute violation cited by the MCHD isn’t applicable because the residents haven’t “paid to be there.” That argument is laughable. Allowing this group to entrench itself in Morgantown will encourage more of that culture to migrate here. This will increase the severity of the problem. We’ll see more overdoses and a greater burden placed on our public servants and health care workers who already have a heavy load to bare.
Kenneth Smith
Morgantown
Don’t assume West Virginians are uneducated
I was visiting Oregon in early June and found myself confronted with the arrogance of some of the residents. When they discovered that I was from red state West Virginia, they just knew that I must be under-educated, a redneck or a hayseed. They went on about Oregon’s progressive social policies and its superior education system.
The next day I presented those from Portland data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Center data suggests that the national four-year graduation rate for all races was 85% with 89% of whites and 79% of Blacks graduating in four years. Only four states — West Virginia, Alabama, Texas and Arkansas — had Black graduation rates above the (85%) all race graduation rate. By contrast, Oregon had one of the lowest Black graduation rates— 68%.
Red state West Virginia tied Alabama for the smallest differential between Black and white graduation rates. Surprisingly, the following states had significant differential rates — Wisconsin (24%), Minnesota (21%), Pennsylvania (18%), New York (17%) and Oregon (12%).
West Virginia was one of only seven states with an all-person graduation rate above 90%. Oregon was one of only five states below 80%.
I was also surprised to find that West Virginia was rated first in the country with 92% of its Hispanic students graduating in four years.
I also pointed out to the Portland delegation that West Virginia passed pre-K education in 2002 with statewide implementation by 2012-13. By contrast, only 20% of Oregon pre-K students qualify for free pre-K — the other students are on their own.
I have always found that people believe in science and data unless it doesn’t fit their narrative. Those in Oregon were no different concerning their knowledge of West Virginia. I wasn’t surprised by their ignorance. They really do believe in what they don’t know.
Dennis Poluga
Morgantown
