Thank health care workers; skip tailgating
I was a sport science professor at WVU for 35 years before retiring in 2008. I certainly understand the role that college athletics play in the vitality of our university and community. But I am also the husband of an ICU nurse, and I am the father of a daughter who is an ER physician.
The conditions under which many of our health care professionals operate during this pandemic have been horrific because too many people have chosen not to get vaccinated. We have asked the health care profession to bear the enormous burden of caring for those who have placed a higher value on their personal freedom than on their collective responsibility to each other.
Having said this, I feel it is a travesty for thousands of people to tailgate at a football game in front of health care workers at Ruby Memorial Hospital. These professionals are working under extremely stressful conditions, are burning out and, as such, are unwillingly but inevitably jeopardizing the future of health care for all of us. We all want to return to the lives and fun-filled events we had before the pandemic. But if there is anything that the greatest generation taught us more than 75 years ago, it is that we all must sacrifice and support each other for the greater good. That has always been what has made America great.
How much money would it cost WVU to cancel home-game tailgates until hospitalizations have been reduced and are under better control? When health care workers at Ruby hear silence the next home-game Saturday morning and look out on an empty tailgate parking lot, they will understand that this is one small-but-symbolic way we have tried to say thank you. Let us continue to find ways to honor those who are our health care professionals and first responders and thank them for a job well done.
Andrew Ostrow
Morgantown
Levy not fair to property owners without kids
Once again the Monongalia County BOE requests property owners continue paying 60-75% of annual property taxes to subsidize schools. Personally, I consider this to be unfair.
Why should senior citizens (retired or still working) help pay for county schools’ upkeep and subsidize teachers and school staff when we have no children in school?
This school bond and other taxes are one reason this county is losing population. We have the BOPARC levy, which property owners are required to pay even though they do not use BOPARC facilities. Then you have the county bus levy, but WVU students get to ride free.
Next is the county fire fee — and if you live in the city, you are taxed double on the fire fee. (This may be the only fee that actually should be kept.) Next is the library levy. With today’s technology, most homes have internet and computers where they can get all of the information they need right at their fingertips. Finally, you have the city fee you’re required to pay to work in any business located in the city boundaries. These taxes are being assessed to supposedly help repair city streets and help subsidize the Morgantown city police force. This is a $3 fee that has repaired a lot of the streets around WVU, and a few surrounding streets. But what has the city done since 2020? How many streets has it repaired or how many new police officers have been hired?
It seems to me, over the last few years, the city councilors and county commissioners have done nothing but come up with new ways to have property owners help pay for county services that non-property owners are not required to pay. Come election time, the great citizens of this county need to replace current councilors and commissioners with citizens working for the good of every citizen, not just special-interest groups.
Property owners shouldn’t be taxed or levied for services we don’t use. That’s why I say vote “no” on the school levy and other levies you don’t use.
Paul Hevner
Morgantown
