WEST VIRGINIA DEATH SPIRAL
Before I get into this post a bit of my background. I was born in Huntington West Virginia in 1952 and have lived in the state most of my entire life. As a youth my father was an insurance salesman and my mother worked at Owens Illinois Glass Plant. I remember that out family was close net and our neighbors watched out after each other. It was a time of the nuclear family. A Peyton Place type of community where Sundays was time to attend church and then the strong sent of charcoal burring in the air as everyone seemed to be grilling out at the same time. A time when families set down to dinner together at a set time and then retired to the living room to watch the Wonderful World of Disney on TV. A typical middle working class family. Somewhere along the way things started to change. I remember Owens Illinois closing. Then ACF "American Car and Foundry" closed. Then the C&O shops closed. The jobs were leaving and there was not a lot coming along to replace them