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Foootball and the economy


GHS89
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As someone who as been impacted by the dying local economy (this season I'll be a Franklin County Eagle), I just wanted to open discussion on where the condition of our favorite sport is headed. The entire staff of my office was shipped off to Roanoke this spring. I feel blessed in that I had a job to ride out of here on where many of the jobless will have launch out on faith. Point is coal will never return like we knew it, if ever. The gas industry has shrunk tremendously as well. Consol, the grand old employer, gone. The railroad, downsizing quickly with no end in sight to the cuts being made. All this is bound to have impacts on our schools. In my opinion, I see the success of the local programs depending on how consolidation falls in place. Read, "The Bluestone, Home of the G-Dogs". I can see the schools along the I-81 corridor avoiding much of the slide, with those deeper in coal country slipping in competitiveness regardless of consolidation. The question mark for me is schools such as Gate City and Union. Will the effect of the Tri Cities keep them up, and drive them well past others on the region? Bluefield I think stays competitive as it continues to fall in classification. The question is who else in the Mountain State falls with them. It's a simple fact folks, we are on the ropes and it ain't looking good. Discuss.

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Abingdon is on the rise atm, it's economy is in a state of flux.

 

Development is pushing on however Ive heard a lot of people are selling out and leaving.

 

Lee county is split if you ask me, anything in TW region is stabilizing while lee's and union's region will be hit by this decline.

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Abingdon is on the rise atm, it's economy is in a state of flux.

 

Development is pushing on however Ive heard a lot of people are seeing out and leaving.

 

Lee county is split if you ask me, anything in TW region is stabilizing while lee's and union's region will be hit by this decline.

Lee County is the 2nd poorest county in Virginia in terms of per capita income, beating only Dickenson, and not by very much. It is also bottom 5 (of 95) in terms of household income.

 

I know you take pride in your territory, as should we all. But please, it's a bit obtuse when you talk about the TW area "stabilizing" when that area is little more than a vacant 25-mile expanse before you hit the Cumberland Gap and the next town of respectable size, Middlesboro. Of course it's "stabilized". Short of a meteor blasting the area into oblivion, or President Trump putting an interstate through Ewing, it's going to be "stable" for a long time to come.

 

Nothing against the folks from Lee County, many of whom I have met are wonderful people. But there's not a whole lot there. Not that there's really a whole lot anywhere except for Washington County and Bristol, but it's pretty remarkable there.

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I agree and even in Roanoke the economy has been affected by railroad job losses although the Roanoke Valley economy has become much more diverse and is constantly changing . Coal I think will not get any better . The world is changing.

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Lee County is the 2nd poorest county in Virginia in terms of per capita income, beating only Dickenson, and not by very much. It is also bottom 5 (of 95) in terms of household income.

 

I know you take pride in your territory, as should we all. But please, it's a bit obtuse when you talk about the TW area "stabilizing" when that area is little more than a vacant 25-mile expanse before you hit the Cumberland Gap and the next town of respectable size, Middlesboro. Of course it's "stabilized". Short of a meteor blasting the area into oblivion, or President Trump putting an interstate through Ewing, it's going to be "stable" for a long time to come.

 

Nothing against the folks from Lee County, many of whom I have met are wonderful people. But there's not a whole lot there. Not that there's really a whole lot anywhere except for Washington County and Bristol, but it's pretty remarkable there.

The lower Lee has not been graced with the coal land or funds shoved sideways up a county's ass-ets (tidewater area). However soon Flat land will be available once debusk inheritance sells off. It could pose a decent location for businesses.

 

Wise county I believe will feel the full effect, if it hasn't already.

 

TW has only one way to go and that's up, economy wise that is.

I am rather bitter toward anyone east of or in Roanoke.

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Lee County is the 2nd poorest county in Virginia in terms of per capita income, beating only Dickenson, and not by very much. It is also bottom 5 (of 95) in terms of household income.

 

I know you take pride in your territory, as should we all. But please, it's a bit obtuse when you talk about the TW area "stabilizing" when that area is little more than a vacant 25-mile expanse before you hit the Cumberland Gap and the next town of respectable size, Middlesboro. Of course it's "stabilized". Short of a meteor blasting the area into oblivion, or President Trump putting an interstate through Ewing, it's going to be "stable" for a long time to come.

 

Nothing against the folks from Lee County, many of whom I have met are wonderful people. But there's not a whole lot there. Not that there's really a whole lot anywhere except for Washington County and Bristol, but it's pretty remarkable there.

 

And 4 locales within the county sit in the bottom 10, 2 of which are in the western half.  We aren't attracting much.  The county population was holding nicely until the hospital closure.  Wellmont's choke hold and our county's poor job of not seeing it coming (when they were warned well before) really hurts in many ways and the process to get it back has been a long, drawn out, painful process.  Wal-mart I guess had some benefits but it has hurt some too.  That land around it has not developed well.  Shoe show has hung around somehow and that's about it as far other business, with an occasional smaller clothing store trying to tough it out.  A KFC/Taco Bell combo didn't last long and now there's a Mexican restaurant trying to move in now.  Taco Bell seems to be surviving in Pennington though.  O'Reilly's jumped in right across from Advanced Auto in Pennington to make things interesting there.  They had that experiment with trying to bring in those ill-fated call centers.  The Lee Theater restoration project I think was an actually good idea and good for the area.  The ATV trails were probably the most recent attraction but I don't how much that's doing now and most every other county has the same thing going on.  We could probably do more with tourism.  Not much in the way coal mining like elsewhere in the region and losing those Tobacco warehouse days in Pennington I think negatively impacted us.  Still remember them lined up all the way through Pennington waiting to get in.  We need some good leadership and good ideas coming forward.  We have several projects that are just not well organized and slow moving, if they even survive the trials.  Too many of our people want nice restaurants, and business like Bristol, but we aren't Bristol and we need to focus on industry like what Duffield is doing.  So many turn away from coming here, maybe it's lack of pay or political squabbles and rumors, or whatever, but the reputation isn't good.  Much like everywhere else in SWVA, kids are ready to get away quickly.  Thankfully we still have the Federal prison, lose it and we lose a big employment base.

 

And lets not we forget the Mt. Racemore pitch....

http://www.foxsports.com/nascar/video/which-nascar-drivers-would-you-carve-into-mt-racemore-120715

 

https://trademarks.justia.com/854/36/mt-racemore-85436148.html

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I don't see it affecting Gate City or Scott County. Most people work in the Tri-Cities

Aren't there new jobs coming to Gate City? The call center Teletech being an example.

 

Wise County is having a rough time and it's not getting any better. I know firsthand with schools. As bad as it is now, if we didn't consolidate, we'd be in worse shape.

 

Coal mines are dying. All we have for work if you're not lucky enough to land a teaching job here is Sykes (the most horribly run place of employment here), prisons (seems to be growing due to lost coal jobs), and nursing (the world could always use them).

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Wise took one of hardest hits in population % drop in the past few years.  Buchanan had the highest drop, with Alleghany next, Wise and some Southside counties in there at the top.

 

Floyd and Grayson Counties the only this side of the Montgomery/Pulaski/Roanoke line to see a gain in numbers.  Grayson in just the past couple of years and Floyd steadily overall.

 

For the Southwest VA area...

 

Source:

http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk

 

    April 1, 2010    Population Estimate (as of July 1)
Census    Estimates Base    2010    2011    2012    2013    2014    2015
 
Alleghany County, Virginia    16,250    16,261    16,211    16,340    16,233    16,195    15,884    15,677

Bath County, Virginia    4,731    4,727    4,712    4,660    4,639    4,597    4,549    4,470

Bland County, Virginia    6,824    6,824    6,810    6,765    6,698    6,682    6,606    6,561

 

Botetourt County, Virginia    33,148    33,148    33,182    33,066    33,196    33,053    33,115    33,347

 

Buchanan County, Virginia    24,098    24,095    24,040    23,929    23,902    23,647    23,177    22,776

Carroll County, Virginia    30,042    30,087    30,086    30,096    29,938    29,880    29,641    29,724

Craig County, Virginia    5,190    5,173    5,176    5,226    5,198    5,185    5,240    5,211

Dickenson County, Virginia    15,903    15,892    15,870    15,763    15,670    15,459    15,306    15,115

Floyd County, Virginia    15,279    15,293    15,355    15,416    15,442    15,527    15,581    15,651

 

Franklin County, Virginia    56,159    56,155    56,202    56,410    56,343    56,324    56,233    56,264

 

Giles County, Virginia    17,286    17,286    17,317    17,119    16,979    16,942    16,786    16,708

Grayson County, Virginia    15,533    15,551    15,496    15,406    15,225    15,221    15,999    16,012

 

Henry County, Virginia    54,151    54,143    54,116    53,330    52,907    52,631    52,153    51,881

Highland County, Virginia    2,321    2,319    2,294    2,281    2,252    2,223    2,251    2,214

Lee County, Virginia    25,587    25,586    25,532    25,657    25,533    25,187    24,913    24,742

 

Montgomery County, Virginia    94,392    94,412    94,597    94,842    95,691    96,782    97,369    97,653

 

Patrick County, Virginia    18,490    18,487    18,470    18,363    18,394    18,292    18,224    18,045

Pulaski County, Virginia    34,872    34,859    34,806    34,743    34,744    34,510    34,312    34,332

Roanoke County, Virginia    92,376    92,439    92,405    92,968    93,047    93,761    93,979    94,409

Russell County, Virginia    28,897    28,896    28,856    28,652    28,415    28,253    28,012    27,891

Scott County, Virginia    23,177    23,172    23,133    22,960    22,790    22,612    22,360    22,126

Smyth County, Virginia    32,208    32,208    32,187    32,027    31,873    31,728    31,572    31,470

Tazewell County, Virginia    45,078    45,078    45,147    44,677    44,247    44,091    43,436    42,899

Washington County, Virginia    54,876    54,870    54,893    54,744    55,055    54,744    54,663    54,591

Wise County, Virginia    41,452    41,476    41,616    41,427    40,889    40,664    39,952    39,718

Wythe County, Virginia    29,235    29,232    29,226    29,185    29,297    29,290    29,060    29,119

Bristol city, Virginia    17,835    17,841    17,853    17,815    17,812    17,515    17,339    17,141

Galax city, Virginia    7,042    6,989    7,009    6,803    6,838    6,914    6,912    6,914

 

Martinsville city, Virginia    13,821    13,821    13,729    13,710    13,630    13,583    13,552    13,645

Norton city, Virginia    3,958    3,951    3,969    4,015    4,046    4,014    4,023    3,939

Radford city, Virginia    16,408    16,408    16,450    16,770    16,646    17,075    17,390    17,403

Roanoke city, Virginia    97,032    96,919    96,778    96,874    98,087    99,047    99,774    99,897

Salem city, Virginia    24,802    24,848    24,916    24,847    25,009    25,187    25,350    25,432
 

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Possibly.  Im not very familiar with the company to be honest.  There looks to be a major company opening a call center in Wise within the year that I dont expect to fall into those "doomed call center" groups.  

 

Hopefully SVAM will lead to more manufacturing jobs coming to Duffield and surrounding areas soon. 

 

Speaking of Lees economy is the western end of the county possibly pulling more weight than the heart of the county? Having traveled to Rose Hill the last two Mondays for LL softball games it seems to me that end of the county has picked up a little steam as 58 was improved in connecting VA and KY, and hopefully it grows more.  Not to say its booming by any stretch of the imagination but Lawsons seems to do a good amount of business and the barn place  which I think also builds trusses and ships out maybe?  I do need to get back to the Dutch Treat sometime.

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Possibly. Im not very familiar with the company to be honest. There looks to be a major company opening a call center in Wise within the year that I dont expect to fall into those "doomed call center" groups.

 

Hopefully SVAM will lead to more manufacturing jobs coming to Duffield and surrounding areas soon.

 

Speaking of Lees economy is the western end of the county possibly pulling more weight than the heart of the county? Having traveled to Rose Hill the last two Mondays for LL softball games it seems to me that end of the county has picked up a little steam as 58 was improved in connecting VA and KY, and hopefully it grows more. Not to say its booming by any stretch of the imagination but Lawsons seems to do a good amount of business and the barn place which I think also builds trusses and ships out maybe? I do need to get back to the Dutch Treat sometime.

The lmu vet school off site near tw could be harnessed a little better.
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Lawson's is right in the middle of farm country down there and don't have other comp. that I know of.  And as west mentioned, the vet school probably helps.

 

Continuing on the subject, for those that don't know, if you ever get a chance read up some on the history of St. Charles and Lee with the decline of coal, it's an interesting story.  At one time there was a lot of promise in St. Charles and Lee was one of the nations top coal producer.  Benedict, which is coal camp ghost town near St. Charles now, at one time boasted near 1500 people. The rise of St. Charles was quick and the fall was just as quick.  As of the 2010, only Rose Hill in Lee Co., had a lower per capita income.  Ewing and Keokee of Lee County also near the bottom of that list.  In the 1950s, the town grew to over 500, by the 80s they lost over 300 just in the town, and as of the 2015 estimated numbers has around 120.  The town council is known for being compromised of one family last name serving with 50-100 maybe voting.  The town still has a health clinic and a school, but much everything else has disappeared.  Even back then though, it was noted that even with coal and farming at it's height, the economical standing of Lee County and the people was never really good.

 

 

Article in 1979...
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1798&dat=19790912&id=zGIeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eI4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6636,1211954&hl=en

Another good page...
http://wilnet.name/history.htm

 

 

Federal prison, Lee info. (*interesting stuff, pg. D-16 starts with historical background, with some info on growth and the St.Charles/Lee coal boom days on a little way down):
https://books.google.com/books?id=vw4zAQAAMAAJ&pg=SL4-PA21&lpg=SL4-PA21&dq=st.+charles+va+1950+boom&source=bl&ots=-SRa8TRyyh&sig=I4R0Ikt0DZtVML7BD1ixzpmGUoA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwizhrvw8uzMAhVkE1IKHQrqBeAQ6AEIRTAH#v=onepage&q=st.%20charles%20va%201950%20boom&f=false

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Are these more of the same soon to be doomed call center attempts we've seen in the past?

Hopefully it's better than Sykes. I get a stomachache thinking about them.

 

For what it's worth, I have heard Teletech is supposed to be a pretty good company.

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The situation is very dire in the counties especially bordering WV and KY, Wise (the city) will have a slight advantage over the rest of the county and area because of the college, but when the thousands of people are gone they won't be back. It seems that we are seeing the last great days of our area and way of life, if you won't to see the aftermath of total nothingness (no offense to the people who live there) go to Bluefield and drive Rt. 52 from Bluefield to IIaeger  you can see what will become of our beloved S.W. Va. My Question is how can teams in any sport continue to even find enough players to play football. I had a conversation with some Russell Co folks about this very thing a few months ago. Enjoy what we have left and pray for all of us for the future.

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The situation is very dire in the counties especially bordering WV and KY, Wise (the city) will have a slight advantage over the rest of the county and area because of the college, but when the thousands of people are gone they won't be back. It seems that we are seeing the last great days of our area and way of life, if you won't to see the aftermath of total nothingness (no offense to the people who live there) go to Bluefield and drive Rt. 52 from Bluefield to IIaeger you can see what will become of our beloved S.W. Va. My Question is how can teams in any sport continue to even find enough players to play football. I had a conversation with some Russell Co folks about this very thing a few months ago. Enjoy what we have left and pray for all of us for the future.

You are absolutely right about that area. Especially Northfork driving through there and seeing that sign with all those basketball state championships! It's crazy to see what that town has become.

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The growth in Grayson County will stabilize and begin to drop again in my opinion.  The growth is exclusively due to River North Correctional Facility opening in 2014.  The regional partnership between Galax, Grayson and Carroll that helped the area recover from the loss of all furniture and textile plants in the late 90's appears to be dissolving.  In my opinion, if it does indeed dissolve, it will be to the detriment of everything this area has accomplished as strategic partners over the past two decades.

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The situation is very dire in the counties especially bordering WV and KY, Wise (the city) will have a slight advantage over the rest of the county and area because of the college, but when the thousands of people are gone they won't be back. It seems that we are seeing the last great days of our area and way of life, if you won't to see the aftermath of total nothingness (no offense to the people who live there) go to Bluefield and drive Rt. 52 from Bluefield to IIaeger you can see what will become of our beloved S.W. Va. My Question is how can teams in any sport continue to even find enough players to play football. I had a conversation with some Russell Co folks about this very thing a few months ago. Enjoy what we have left and pray for all of us for the future.

If you have at least a couple hundred it shouldn't be that hard to get enough to fill a football team. And speaking of KY and WV, there's a few southeastern KY and probably some southern WV counties that are even worse off than most here. I can't imagine some NE TN counties like Hancock and Claiborne are doing too well.

 

One thing that has helped Lee over the previous years in sustaining people is the number of retirees coming back to live here. Now whether or not that trend continues with future generations is a good question. Most will always see a good number of kids leaving, as that's where the better opportunities are, but it's always nice when you have some who are able to come back at some point in their careers to serve and seek to improve their communities. It would be nice to see more of that.

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Our son is struggling with this right now, he has a job lined up next May and he has to relocate to west Tennessee, and he loves the NE Tennessee SW Va. area and after he goes out West he plans on coming back. He has an opportunity of a lifetime but has to leave a place he loves to fulfill it. We who have lived here should be thankful that we had the opportunity to fulfill our dreams and not have to leave.

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Looks like Claiborne has dropped a little over the past few years but come up just a little in the past 2. Hancock continues to lose some in numbers.

http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk\

 

Claiborne in the lower half based on income (basically the same as Lee County), Hancock near the very bottom.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_settlements_in_Tennessee_by_per_capita_income

 

TN pop.:

http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk

 

KY counties per capita income:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_locations_by_per_capita_income

 

*very few Eastern KY counties in the upper half of that list....only a few counties west of Lexington are close to bottom and all of those are in the south central portion.

 

KY population:

http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk

 

West Virginia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia_locations_by_per_capita_income

 

WV pop.:

http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk

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Hancock is definitely at rock bottom, Claiborne has a lot going it's way, along with a "somewhat" prideful upper class that focuses on their counties status more than their own ie. Lee co elite.

 

My time in hazard and pikeville showed me that anything south of Ashland and east of i75 is doomed unless coal hits again.

 

One good thing about ky is how they divide state money, it's extremely fair accross the board unlike VA where those that give the most get the most and to hell with everyone else.

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