Meth and Jesus in West Virginia

Vice magazine just published a grim but fascinating article featuring a woman whose business it is to clean up meth labs in West Virginia. The whole article is worth reading, but the last few paragraphs are particularly harrowing:

Beneath the surface in every case, there's evidence of hardcore drug use. It's almost a game when the three cleaners walk into a house to find the hidden syringes. They're under carpets or flood boards or sewn into mattresses. "We've found them in baby bottles," Jennifer says. "We found them in a hollowed-out Bible once."

"Where there are children involved, that's the worst part," offers Heath. "That affects me a little bit. Otherwise, it's just work." Kids live in 80 percent of the places they clean, he tells me.

Stories about meth often come with theories on why this particular drug has such a foothold in the boonies: Coke and heroin seem exotic and taboo. Meth helps with manual labor. Barns and remote, abandoned buildings provide cover for labs.

A lifelong West Virginian, Jennifer says she knows people who've used meth, "people I would have never expected until they told me. Contractors use it to stay up three days to finish a deadline." She's never had a bust in one of her rentals, though.

Jennifer notes the exploding popularity of some hard drugs in general, like heroin. She's seen enough pill bottles and dope paraphernalia in busted meth sites to think all these drugs are rising in popularity together, and she's seen enough Jesus tchotchkes and throw pillows to know they're all working their way into the banal fabric of normal life here.

Meth and Jesus, both providing false hope of relief from the agonies of living life mired in rural poverty in a bleak landscape where for all but a very few the American Dream has all but permanently disappeared. Rural America has become a place where one of the few decent livings to be had is cleaning up after the awful messes created by the downtrodden, desperate and destitute. Not that I begrudge the entrepreneurial spirit of the subjects of the article. Just that I find the whole thing profoundly sad.


Bonus: "Say my name." "Heisenberg." "You're goddamned right."

Lockheed Martin Plans To Lay Off 132 At FBI Site In West Virginia

Just another reminder that federal government "austerity" means increased unemployment. Here is the Charleston Daily Mail with the story:

Lockheed Martin Corp. plans to lay off 132 workers at the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services site in Harrison County.

Lockheed's Information Systems & Global Solutions provides operations and maintenance support for the FBI center.

Company spokeswoman Lindsay Wilson tells The Exponent Telegram that the company didn't win a follow-up contract to provide the services. The existing contract will be completed at the end of the month.

And so it goes.


Bonus: A little ditty about West Virginia

Alpha Natural Resources Idling Coal Mines; Laying Off Over 300

Looks like the people described in this morning's post might actually have a good reason to drink. Back on October 12th of last year, in my post, "Peak Coal Hits Appalachia," I cited the following quote from a Huffington Post story:

Coal here is getting harder and costlier to dig – and the region, which includes southern West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee, is headed for a huge collapse in coal production.

The U.S. Department of Energy projects that in a little more than three years, the amount of coal mined here will be just half of what it was in 2008. That's a significant loss of a signature Appalachian industry, and the jobs that come with it.

Well, as reported by the Columbus Republic on Tuesday, it looks like that prediction is coming true:

Alpha Natural Resources says its decision to scale back production and idle some coal mines will cost 152 West Virginians and 168 Kentuckians their jobs in the coming weeks.

Media outlets say the West Virginia mines being idled include the No. 2 Gas Mine in Kanawha County and the Randolph Mine in Boone County, both underground operations.

Hours are being cut at Boone's Black Castle surface mine and the Progress/Twilight surface mine, and at Logan County's Camp Branch surface mine.

The Alloy Powellton Mine in Fayette County is eliminating one underground section.

So tell me again what happened to the "two hundred years' supply of coal" America supposedly has?


Bonus: We are not men, we are...coal miners?

Greenbrier Resort (West Virginia) to Lay Off 100

For those who may not be familiar with it, West Virginia's Greenbrier Resort is a premier vacation destination in The Mountain State. But according to MSN Money, the swanky recreation spot is now experiencing financial hard times:

Faced with a $13 million deficit, the Greenbrier has laid off more than 100 of the resort's 1,800 workers.

The layoffs include hourly workers as well as top managerial positions, owner Jim Justice said. Workers were informed Friday, he said.

"You hate it like crazy," Justice said of the layoffs, the Charleston Gazette reported Saturday. "You wish to goodness you didn't have to lay anybody off, that's for sure."

Okay, that's a refreshingly candid attitude for a managerial type to have in one of these situations. But is he actually a part of the problem?

The former coal executive has been sinking his own personal fortune into renovating and revitalizing the National Historic Landmark since he bought the property from CSX Transportation for $20.1 million in 2009.

He's ordered extensive renovations, created new partnerships and launched new ventures, opening an $80 million casino and hosting a PGA golf tournament.

Last summer, he announced he was teaming up with several prominent physicians and a health care developer to build the $250 million Greenbrier Medical Institute, featuring a sports medicine and rehabilitation center, a cosmetic surgery center with a "lifestyle enhancement academy."

And this summer, he plans to offer luxury train service from Union Station in Washington, D.C., at a price of $650 round-trip.

A $15 million investment, The Greenbrier Presidential Express is aimed at bringing back the glamour of train travel. Its 15 cars will include a VIP suite car with private rooms, parlor cars, dining cars and an open-air car with safety railings.

Well, the dude is a visionary, I'll give him that. Too bad he is setting himself up for a MASSIVE failure. Mr. Justice may not have gotten the word, but budget austerity is all the rage in the Imperial Capital these days. That means that even in this area of relative economic prosperity, there are soon going to be fewer people who can afford to blow $650 for a train ride and then $450 a night (a typical room rate, according to the Greenbrier website) to stay at his resort. Demonstrating yet again that just because you're rich, it doesn't mean you have any clue about what's coming.


Bonus: Maybe Jim Justice would be better off just hiring a caretaker