Published July 1997 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd West Virginia: A Special Place to Call Home
To those of us who call it home, West Virginia is the ideal place in which to live and rear a family. Breathtaking landscapes, a low cost-of-living coupled with a low crime rate, and the presence of strong family and religious values create a quality of life that few places can match and that few people would trade. As a matter of fact, Money magazine's recently published list of the best 300 places to live in the United States included four West Virginia cities -- Wheeling, Huntington, Parkersburg, and Charleston -- among the nation's top 200 most livable cities. To compile its list, the magazine polled its readers and collected data from government and private sector sources, including information about each community's performance in nine categories -- crime, economy, health, housing, education, weather, leisure, arts and culture, and transportation. I am delighted, but not surprised, that these four West Virginia cities made Money magazine's coveted list. In our state, far-flung relatives still gather for large family reunions, where they feast on "old family recipes," trade photographs, and tell stories about revered ancestors, passing along an oral family history that has been handed down through generations. In West Virginia, it is still considered polite in most homes to turn off the television set when entertaining a visiting friend. Families dressed in their "Sunday best" still walk together to church services, and the custom of delivering a homemade meal to an ailing neighbor continues to be practiced today, as in years gone by. In recent years, our state has made great strides in broadening its economy to ensure that job opportunities will abound for future generations, and I am glad to have helped in that endeavor. Those efforts are paying off with improved physical infrastructure and the expanded presence of federal offices and high-tech industries, as well as enhanced crime-fighting capabilities and greater accessibility to basic health care services. And while we in West Virginia have earned the right to boast of these accomplishments, we deserve to be equally proud of our ability to hold on to those old values and lifestyle qualities that make West Virginia such a special place to call home. July 30, 1997