Save a life. Be an organ donor
Every day, more people join the national organ transplant waiting list. By the end of this week, more than 140 Americans will die because not enough organs are available for transplant.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Each day, on average, 100 Americans receive life-saving organ transplants, and thousands more benefit from cornea and tissue transplants.
These extraordinary gifts have been selflessly donated by ordinary people who took just a few minutes in a busy day to register as organ, eye and tissue donors.
If you have not already done so, I urge you to register. Your generous decision to be an organ, eye and tissue donor can make a difference and save lives for the more than 100,000 people waiting for a lifesaving transplant, 500 of whom are West Virginians.
To learn more about donation and to register your decision to be a donor, please visit donatelifewv.org.
By taking a few minutes to register, you ensure that your desire to give this gift is honored, as you are declaring your legal intent to donate your organs, eyes and tissues for all purposes authorized by law. You may someday be able to give the priceless gifts of life, sight and mobility to another.
Please join me now in supporting our involvement and in spreading this message to help us save lives. Thank you for caring and for your support.
Mark Gilliam
Mon Health Medical Center
Writer witnessed issues at Bartlett House
I’m a longtime Morgantown resident and retired health care professional. Recently, I’ve been volunteering to help the many people who haven’t had permanent shelter this winter.
In doing this, I’ve talked to many who’ve stayed at Bartlett House shelter and others who work with them and have seen and heard firsthand reports of some very serious problems with how they treat clients.
Just getting in can be hard — I waited with someone for over 30 minutes in the cold and dark before anyone even answered the door.
A disabled client who could barely walk needed a wheelchair, but Bartlett had none and, in the days he stayed there, did nothing at all to help him find one. He couldn’t walk to the other end of the building for meals. Other clients were kind enough to bring him food; otherwise he might have gone without.
In pain, this disabled person was forced to stand in lines and sit on a hard chair for 12 hours a day, even though cots were available. Because things were so bad, community volunteers had to find another place for him to stay and someone to pay for it.
This is just one incident I was involved in; there are many more just as bad. Even worse than the lack of services and arbitrary rules, clients say, is how they are talked to — unkindly, as if they were criminals. It’s not just one incident — it’s a pattern of treating people as if they were less than.
I spoke about this at a recent city council meeting and have spoken to the federal funding agency. They are taking this seriously and stressed that our civic leaders also have a responsibility to make sure that the only emergency shelter we have is providing safe and humane services.
This is on us as a community to fix. We can’t claim to be a caring community if that doesn’t apply to everyone. Bartlett House needs leadership change — and needs it now.
Becky Rodd
Morgantown
Morgantown’s no-good ‘potiful’ roads
One has just to drive around town to get a sense of how bad our roads are — maybe the worst I have ever seen in this town. Potholes abound.
And who is responsible for fixing them? Oh, I’ll bet the city will say it’s the state’s job, and I’ll also bet the state will say it’s the city’s or county’s job — each pointing to the other.
Frankly, I couldn’t care less whose job it is. Just fix the darn roads.
The city council members and county commissioners should be ashamed of themselves. If they can’t even take care of this most basic public service, they should all be voted out of office or recalled.
It is disgraceful the shape the roads are in. Just drive down North Willey Street sometime if you want a bent rim or ruined tire as a reward for their neglect. You might even think the city and county elders are invested heavily in the local tire businesses.
Come on, man! You all can do much better than this.
Dallas Branch
Morgantown
Actions speak louder than words
Taking care of our neighbors is a deep-rooted Appalachian tradition — a tradition based in acceptance and understanding.
I recently became a homeowner in Morgantown, and I’m deeply appreciative of the people who accepted and supported me when, not too long ago, I was without reliable shelter — one of the people who are so casually dismissed by many as “the homeless.”
I volunteer with other Morgantown residents to address the needs of our local unsheltered population. I have spent nights wandering the streets making sure none of our unsheltered individuals are freezing to death along the creek. I have heard and witnessed first-hand the abuse and harm that is inflicted by both our city and the Bartlett House.
Actions speak louder than words. When a bulldozer sweeps away the few possessions someone has stored in a tent, that is a message that our city does not value that person’s life.
When a person is left standing in the cold outside the locked door of a shelter, that is a message that our community has turned its back.
When a shelter worker yells at and berates an individual who clearly is developmentally disabled, that is a message that Bartlett House considers that person unworthy of respect and dignity.
There are those who believe criminalizing poverty and shoving our unsheltered community members out of sight are solutions to our issues. They are not. We must do better to protect and serve our unsheltered communities.
I am pleading for our elected officials and community leaders to be compassionate and bold. We cannot be afraid to admit we’ve made mistakes and to take a new path. That’s what real leaders do.
Ash Orr
Morgantown
Let people choose DST or Standard Time
A bill passed the Senate to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, so we don’t have to continue switching back and forth between Daylight Saving Time and Standard Time.
The bill will now proceed to the House of Representatives and then to the president for signing.
However, we, the American people, should have a say in which we prefer — Standard Time or Daylight Saving Time — if one or the other is to be made permanent.
A good time to get everyone’s preference would be by putting the issue on the ballot in the election coming up this fall.
Elizabeth Merriam
Bruceton Mills
Bartlett House is mismanaged, inhumane
While volunteering to help the houseless community in Morgantown, I’ve met many great people — some who are staying at Bartlett House and some who will never go there because of the treatment.
People who do stay there have told me appalling stories of mistreatment by Bartlett House staff.
Our most vulnerable, including those with disabilities, are not receiving the most basic level of care at Bartlett House. One man who depends on insulin was offered no refrigeration for it. A man’s wound care helper was refused admittance. The staff elevator is locked, so people with disabilities wait for a long time inside the entrance or somehow struggle up the steps if they can.
Rules are not posted, but change constantly on the whim of staff, and are then enforced maliciously. One man was expelled for wearing his mask under his nose by a Bartlett House employee who wasn’t wearing one.
Personal belongings are thrown away without warning. One client had a seizure and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. He came back the next day and everything he owned had been thrown in the dumpster.
Worse than arbitrary rules and lack of help provided at Bartlett House, according to the residents, is the outright cruelty with which they are treated. They are insulted and have orders barked at them, rather than being treated like human beings who deserve dignity and respect.
Many houseless neighbors told me they would rather freeze to death than stay at Bartlett House. Is that really what our tax dollars and donations are paying for? Is this kind of treatment really acceptable to the people of Morgantown? The leaders of our city and of this agency need to put a stop to this now.
Jennifer Powell
Westover
We must take a stand against evil
Once again, it’s happening in our world, and it must be stopped.
Evil — driven by heartless dictators and self-serving ruthless leaders who seek to control, to rule over the peoples of our world, and who must be made to pay for their actions.
If we must once again stand for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — to be the leaders of the free world — let us stand tall and proudly face this new adversity.
When the sheep are led by a lion-hearted shepherd, the world is a safer place; however, when a sheep leads the lion-hearted, World War III will surely happen, and Armageddon will follow.
Riley Thomas
Morgantown
Make new White Park section pedestrian-only
Inspired by the piece in The Dominion Post the other day, my husband and I visited White Park, where we walk frequently, both on the gravel trails and the formal and informal bike trails. We really appreciate having this wooded space so close to home.
We have been following the concerns folks have raised about the ever-increasing network of bike trails in the park. While they offer more “off-road” exploration for bikers and hikers, the effect of the wear and tear on the area is increasing, with erosion becoming a problem.
With this in mind, we were thinking about the plans for opening the other side of the reservoir for trails. We support the idea of having that area be for pedestrians only. That would cause less disruption to the vegetation and wildlife there and provide a more restful area for walkers.
There has been little success curtailing bikers from creating many “informal” trails in the existing area, beyond the blue diamond trails, so it is likely that the same would happen if bikes were allowed in the new area. Hopefully, posting a restriction at the entrance to the other side would prevent this.
I am a bicyclist so I’m not anti-bikers, but I believe we need to protect our natural areas and treat them with respect.
Please encourage BOPARC to make the new area of White Park a foot-traffic-only area.
Cindy O’Brien
Morgantown
