By Frank Young

100 Days, Please

For me, becoming President of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy is a little like my early romantic experiences -- I'm pretty sure I can do it, but I'm a little concerned about what others will think of my performance.

Cindy Rank was President when I joined the WVHC. The issues we were working on included: Canaan Valley, mining, solid waste sanity, water quality and public lands policies, among others.

Parts of Canaan Valley are now eligible for Wildlife Refuge designation. Now the "hot button" issue in Tucker County, sometimes considered the best seat in "Almost Heaven," is the serious potential for devastating timbering and non-recreational development of Blackwater Canyon.

Some solid waste issues have been temporarily resolved. Most of that resolving legislation is now tied up in pending court decisions. The public outcry of the late 1980's was "Stop Out Of State Garbage!". In the late 1990's, the outcry is "Control Mountaintop Removal Mining!". We didn’t get much rest in between.

But then, we never will. The pressures relating to the quest for corporate profits necessitate that corporations work to externalize their costs away from the products or services they produce. After all, isn’t profit the unearned dividend left over from someone else’s labor, from someone else’s raw materials and from the ecological capitol sacrificed in the production of a product or service?

So we still have a full plate. But as long as we don’t all get a belly full of it all, we will continue to pick at the full plate of fare.

Where does a new WVHC President fit into our continuing work? Does it really matter who is President? Maybe. Maybe not. Cindy Rank and John McFerrin as presidents were two totally different, lovable individuals. The Conservancy’s work under both was about the same. As I read older VOICE issues, it appears that the Conservancy’s work has been about the same for 30 years. I am totally different from either Cindy or John. Yet I predict that the work of WVHC will continue about the same.

That’s because, over time, we realize we are effective. We plod onward fueled mostly by a lot of determination and spirit. Our financial resources to "buy" the people and other resources to effect our purposes are almost nonexistent. So we do it by our own labor – the most effective and efficient labor there is.

Why, then, do we need new presidents from time to time? Because they get tired. But I don’t think they get tired from "hard work." They get tired of doing the same things month after month, year after year. So we let them have some relief after a spell or so. Then they go on to be even better at what they were doing before.

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Speaking of relief, it's traditional that when a new United States president takes office, the opposite political party gives him (it’s always been a "him"so far) about 100 days to move in, to get use to the idea of being President and to actually make a few gaffs. Then it begins a nearly four year political prosecution of the chief executive. I hope to get an equal 100 days to move in, get use to the idea of being the WVHC president and to actually make a few mistakes. Then I'll try to accept your suggestions, offers of help, and even criticisms in the same spirit as offered.

100 days. Hmmmmm. That just barely gets us past the next board of directors meeting. Goody!