By Janelle PattersonThe Marietta Times

jpatterson@mariettatimes.comFunding for road repairs

and other major infrastruc-ture is a challenge inAppalachia with low pop-ulations and a small taxbase.

But that doesn’t meanthere aren’t resourcesavailable and avenuesthrough which local gov-ernment entities anddevelopment organiza-tions acquire the cashneeded.

Washington CountyEngineer Roger Wright isoften leveraging localmatches for projects withmultiple grant and loanoptions to cover the cost topave and repair parts ofthe 340 miles of countyroads each year.

“In an urban settingthere are different organi-zations to help bear thatcost burden, you have aclose group of municipali-ties, say in the Columbusarea, that can join togetheron a project financiallythat will benefit the area asa whole,” explainedWright.

But that’s difficult forcounties like Washingtonbecause there are only twoorganized cities and ahandful of villages.Wright explained that heoften has to find more thanone funding source totackle a project, utilizingfederal funds plus severalstate and local sources likethe Wood-Washington-Wirt Interstate PlanningCommission funds, OhioPublic Works Commissiongrants and loans, Ohio

Department of Transporta-tion alternative transporta-tion grants for historicstructures and the CountyEngineer’s Association ofOhio grants.

“We’re always lookingfor other sources of fund-ing and try to take anyopportunity that comesaround which we canmatch with local dollars,”he said. “The townshipshave even utilized fundsfrom the Muskingum

Watershed District for abank stabilization projectby the Edgewater (Cafe) tonot only stabilize theriverbank but the roadabove it. And we havepartnered with the WayneNational Forest before forsome fish passage moneyto remove an obstructionmade by multiple culvertsunder a bridge... the littlefish were happy and wegot a new bridge.”

He said in rural countiesthere are only so manymiles of road that qualify

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Storytelling inAppalachia is as old as themountains-well, not quite.But before newspapers,radio, television, Internet,and other forms of socialmedia, rural folks gatheredtogether around woodstoves, front porches,hunting campfires, churchsteps, garden fences, barndances, quilting circles,general stores, and any-where country people con-gregated to hear stories;both fiction and nonfictiontales.

Spoken stories servedthe purpose of informing,entertaining, educating,sharing, and passing downbeliefs, values, and ideasto younger generations.Children learned to listenby listening to storytellers

and the stories. Childrenlearned to communicateby retelling stories andcreating their own narra-tives.

According to Ohio ArtsCouncil, “Traditionally,storytelling has been themechanism for maintain-ing a culture’s collectivememory. Major eventswere held in memory byan oral historian whoretold the highlights overand over, keeping theevent alive generationafter generation. Otherstories taught propersocial interaction orexplained spiritual princi-ples and creation.”www.oac.ohio.gov/.

Despite technologicaldevices, oral storytellingin Appalachia is experi-

encing a revival of the tra-ditional mixed with themodern. Storytelling festi-vals and competitions canbe found in manyAppalachian areas.

The Appalachian OhioStorytelling Project is outof Athens, Ohio. Kentuckyis home to the Cave RunStorytelling Festival nearthe town of Morehead.The West Virginia Story-telling Guild teaches sto-rytelling and “grows newstorytellers and story lis-

teners.” Jonesborough,Tennessee, is home to theInternational StorytellingCenter. The Stone SoupStorytelling Institute inSouth Carolina hosts theStone Soup StorytellingFestival. Georgia hosts theAzalea Storytelling Festi-val. Virginia is home tothe Culpeper Tells Story-telling Festival.

However, manyAppalachians incorporatethe art of storytelling intoeveryday conversations-and they’re not aware it.Many times I’ve heardindividuals preface whatfactual and nonfictioninformation they want toshare as, “I have a story totell you” or “Let me tellyou a story” or “Oh! Lis-ten to my story.” My own

relatives preface dialoguethis way and so do I. I’velived outside ofAppalachia, and this dis-cussion introduction isdistinct to the Appalachianregion. I find it to be cul-tural as well as delightful.

“In Appalachia, we tellour stories not only onfront porches and aroundkitchen tables but also inthe aisles of the local Wal-mart and the waitingrooms of hospitals. We telltales in our gardens whilewe hoe beans or far backin the deepest coal mines.Often they are stories ofnostalgia, for we are apeople always mourningthe past. Always holdingtight to the old ways,grieving because we knowhow easily things can slip

away forever. But just asoften our stories are rootedin the modern world andtold in increasingly mod-ern ways: on laptops,blogs, social media, digitalcameras, in texts andvideos.” That’s whatwriter Roger May com-posed in his online maga-zine entitled The BitterSoutherner.

This is your homework.Listen to your Appalachi-an family, relatives,friends, and coworkers tosee if they introduce con-versations with a phrase totalk about daily happen-ings and events.Melissa Martin, Ph.D, isan author, columnist, edu-cator, and therapist. Sheresides in southern Ohio.www.melissamartinchil-drensauthor.com.

Government by the people, up close and personalBy Janelle Patterson

The Marietta Timesjpatterson@mariettatimes.comSmall cities, villages

and townships, whileorganized under similarstructure to larger munici-palities, function moreintimately.

“You just have moreaccess,” said Marietta CityCouncilman MikeMcCauley, who is not onlythe most senior member ofcouncil, but is a retiredschool teacher and aretired police officer.“Shoot, I started walkingthe beat in 1968 so peopleknow me, they knowwhere I live and see meout walking the dog. Ifthey have a concern theygive me a call or stop me.”

The same holds true inLowell, where MayorSteve Weber does morebusiness for the villagefrom his front porch thanin a formal office.

“How Lowell works ispeople just know where Ilive,” he said. “Most justcome to the door or callme and that’s fine. Thebanging on the door hap-pens once or twice a weekwhether they want a build-ing permit for a newgarage or information...There’s not the formalityof a bigger city, even ofmanaging the number of

employees Marietta has.I’m just here if you needme.”

Both Marietta and Low-ell, as well as other organ-ized villages and commu-nities in the county, face

blight in the old homes,left to deteriorate as backtaxes aren’t pursued bycounty agencies.

But Richard Best, Bar-low Township Trustee,said that’s more of a sys-

temic problem with a lackof local government fund-ing coming from the stateto address services andissues at the local level.

“But it is easier for us towork with individuals and

address those smallerneeds because we prettywell know the biggest partof our people,” he said.“We know house namesand we’re more connectedwith what’s going on in

our 37 miles of townshiproads.”

All three said at eachlevel of small government,it’s easier to get an answerand find a solution,because of the approacha-bility that comes withfewer people.

“We don’t have a lot ofmeetings where people areangry and attend, I just getcalls because a lot of peo-ple just know me or stopon the road to talk,” saidBest.

Appalachians are best at telling their own storiesViewpointMelissaMartin

JANELLE PATTERSON The Marietta Times

Mike McCauley, right, Mike Scales, center, and Geoff Schenkel, left, discuss city issues during a Marietta City Council meeting.

Challengesfor localgovernmentofficials inAppalachia:¯ Funding a large

enough workforce toprovide services likepolice, fire, water,sewer and streets.¯ Combating

blight.¯ Finding funding

for services in pre-dominately retiredcommunities.Source: Times

research.

Finding resources forprojects a challenge forthe Appalachian region

The 13-state region ofthe Appalachian RegionalCommission is defined bylegislation as a 205,000-square-mile area that fol-lows the spine of theAppalachian Mountainsfrom the southern tier ofNew York to northernMississippi.

With 420 counties, thearea includes all of WestVirginia and parts of 12other states including:Alabama, Georgia, Ken-tucky, Maryland, Missis-sippi, New York, NorthCarolina, Ohio, Pennsyl-vania, South Carolina,Tennessee and Virginia.Appalachia is home tomore than 25 million peo-ple.

Map courtesy of the AppalachianRegional Commission and Buck-eye Hills Regional DevelopmentCenter

What is Appalachia?

Challenges offunding inAppalachia:¯ Low population

equals a low taxbase to draw from.¯ Isolation from

major cities makesthe distribution ofmaterials and infra-structure more cost-ly.¯ Stagnant budg-

ets do not keep upwith inflation costsin materials.Source: Times

research.

See RESOURCES, Page 3

for federal aid. Here it’s60 of the 340 county roadmiles.“But if you can get

those federal aid-eligibleroads funded throughgrants, then I can put moremoney towards other proj-ects that aren’t eligible forassistance,” he said.But it’s not just roads

that are federally encour-aged and funded.Buckeye Hills Develop-

ment Director Bret All-phin explained that infra-structure development andupkeep, one of the mainfunctions of local govern-ment, is a focus for federaldollars from theAppalachian RegionalCommission.“Even though the popu-

lation numbers in this areaare low we still have thesocietal needs and thosechallenges are exacerbatedby being in small commu-nities,” said Allphin.“For example, when you

have a drug problem in asmall community theimpact is worse becauseyou are more likely tohave some connection tothose people than in a bigcity. So even though thesizes are small, the need isstill great.”But how does that trans-

late when the region iscompeting for majorfunds?Both Wright and All-

phin mentioned the scor-ing systems that both stateand federal funding bodiesuse to determine whichproject and how much ofsaid project will be fund-ed.“That’s where the ARC

is crucial because it’s adedicated source that we

for the most part decidewhat gets funded andWashington, D.C., just hasto ratify it... we’ve built apretty good track recordover the last 50 years thatway and so we still retainthat,” Allphin said. “Butother federal funds we stillcompete with less of anadvantage, like the (Eco-nomic DevelopmentAdministration) wherewe’re in the Chicagoregion, running our proj-ects against all others inOhio, Indiana, Illinois,Michigan, Wisconsin andMinnesota.”Recently Southeastern

Ohio Port AuthorityDirector Andy Kuhn spokewith Marietta City Councilabout the challenge of sell-ing the region to biggerinvestors for businessdevelopment.“Everyday I sit and I’m

faced with the infrastruc-ture paradox,” he said.“Infrastructure is way

more expensive than Ieven fathomed aroundhere. The data that wehave from when we triedto attempt the Route 7sewer project that gleanedit was an on average $1.6million per mile for sewer.It was $1.1 million forwater. A lift station was$226,000 which meantthat when we tried to putthe project forward and wetried to get stakeholders topay in, the sums that wereasked of the stakeholderseven on a rebated (OhioWater DevelopmentAuthority) loan for 30years was in the hundredsof thousands of dollars.”He stressed instead to

look for ways to reutilizealready existing infra-structure and suggestedthat the legislative bodyencourage restoration andredevelopment of build-ings and areas in townrather than building out.

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By Michael KellyThe Marietta Times

mkelly@mariettatimes.comTo assure the growth

and health of the manufac-turing industry in Wash-ington County, the areaneeds to come to termswith what manufacturerswant, and it isn’t whatthey wanted 20 years ago.Offering a ready labor

force and governmentswilling to offer incentivesremains important, butnow corporations are look-ing for more, and the com-petition for their invest-ment is stiff.“The future is tied to

providing what the marketis looking for, and whatit’s looking for is pre-existing buildings with allutilities in place, andincentives,” said AndyKuhn, executive directorof the Southeastern OhioPort Authority. The portauthority is the economicdevelopment agency forWashington County.

“When people look atour region and requestinformation about it, theaverage size buildingrequest is 92,000 squarefeet, and the average landrequest is 50 acres,” Kuhnsaid. “And that’s with util-ities present, not just aproperty.These companies are

looking to get into themarket as soon as possi-ble, and the burden is onthe communities to supplywhat they’re looking for.”Kuhn said Washington

County and the region arecompeting against areasthat might already havespeculative growth sys-tems in place, a targetedsort of build-it-and-they-will-come concept.In addition to trying to

attract new business, Kuhnsaid, the area has to beattentive to the growth andexpansion needs of itsexisting companies andfacilities.“Many are looking for

additional room to grow,and they’re applying totheir corporate ownershipgroups to justify reasonsfor expansion,” he said.“They already have faithin our area, but we don’thave those sites ready fordevelopment. It’s a chal-lenge for every communi-ty in the U.S. that doesn’thave speculative growth inplace.”Kuhn offered as an

example of the value ofspeculative growth therecent expansion of theHino truck manufacturing

plant in Williamstown.Wood County EconomicDevelopment had heldonto the disused, 1 millionsquare foot ColdwaterCreek distribution plant inPettyville, which alongwith about 115 acresaround the facility metHino’s needs. The compa-ny committed to an invest-ment of $100 million andthe creation of 250 newjobs.“The state, the county,

the municipalities all gotinvolved in that,” Kuhnsaid. “It’s a monument to

collective effort in thelong-term development ofa property.”If other communities are

offering incentives plusdeveloped properties,that’s the competitionWashington County is upagainst.“It’s going well above

what was considered bestpractices 15 years ago,”Kuhn said.Kraton Polymers, which

manufactures syntheticmaterials used as replace-ments in applications forrubber, has worldwideoperations, and one of itssix facilities is in Belpreon the Ohio River.In the past decade,

according to GlobalProcess Technology Man-ager Matt Smith, the com-pany has invested about$120 million in expansionand modernization on theplant, including convert-ing its boilers from coal togas, which both decreasedthe operation’s carbon

footprint and allows it togenerate approximately 25percent of its electricityon-site.The plant receives most

of its raw material bybarge, shipped up the Mis-sissippi and Ohio frompetrochemical operationson the Gulf Coast, and asmaller amount by rail,Smith said. Finished prod-ucts are shipped out bytruck, he said.“This is an excellent

location with the river,train and the interstatehighway,” he said.Kraton employs about

424 people, humanresources business partnerKim Stewart said. TheMid-Ohio Valley has theadded advantage of beinghome to a well-trained andreliable pool of skilledlabor, she said.“We’re very satisfied

with our location,” shesaid.

Photo submitted

Kraton Polymers in Belpre, takes full advantage of its location with access to river barge, rail and interstate highway for receiving raw materials and shipping out finished products.

Challenges of manufacturing inAppalachia

¯ Available pre-developed sites.¯ Coordinating government and agency

efforts.¯ Competing with other areas for develop-

ment.¯ Meeting needs of existing facilities for

growth and expansion.

Needs of local manufacturers are changing

JANELLE PATTERSON The Marietta Times

Darlene Lukshin, Community Development Specialist with the OSU Extension Office in Washing-ton County, looks over a map of marked landslips.

ResourcesFROM PAGE 2 “That’s where the ARC is crucial because

it’s a dedicated source that we for themost part decide what gets funded andWashington, D.C., just has to ratify it...we’ve built a pretty good track record overthe last 50 years that way and so we stillretain that.”—Bret AllphinBuckeye Hills Development

Why it matters