All.....I have sat back and watched countless comments directed towards myself concerning “MY” decision to endorse Congressman Rahall. I have been called a liar, a cheat, a crook, and many other things. People have even had the nerve to say that the Purple Heart award that was submitted by my final unit was the reason I have decided to support Congressman Rahall. There can be nothing further than the truth. Over the past six months I have thought long and hard what would be the best route to help the communities in which I live in and work with. As far as the Congressional race goes, I have actually given it very little thought because politically, I have spent most of my time looking at the local House of Delegate race. I spend far more time than most thinking about ways to help the kids who I teach, the people I work with and the communities in which we all reside. When it comes to these topics, I had to look at both candidates and ask myself which one of those two would have the best chances to help the people of our areas. Since the Primary, there has been very little movement towards Logan County concerning Evan Jenkins. Where has he been? What has he done to convince the people of Logan County that he is worthy of their vote other than commercials? Congressman Rahall on the other hand received a message 6 months ago that showed him that unless he is ready to jump back into these areas like Logan, Lincoln, Mingo, Wyoming and McDowell he will lose them for good. Congressman Rahall extended his hand out to me to finally hear from someone who is not going to tell him “All is well” but rather someone who will tell him exactly the way I feel when it comes to the issues that we really have in Logan County. Yesterday Congressman Rahall took the time to come down here to get a first hand look at the areas that I see that are as poverty stricken as any area that I saw in Iraq and Afghanistan. I took Congressman Rahall inside of an abandoned and dilapidated structure where you could tell people hang out in and even children play in. It was a dangerous structure and I made sure that he stepped inside to see that not all is well in Logan County when it comes to these structures that are scattered throughout every neighborhood. While we were there, I showed him the neighborhood that has dirty needles sharing the same locations with children that use those areas to play. The look on Congressman Rahall’s face was of shock because he had no idea that it was really that bad. He knows now! I drove Congressman Rahall to the New Beginnings Recovery Center where he spoke to a man who has 7 children. The man recently received his first paycheck and roughly 90% of it was taken to go to his children but he was happy because for the first time, he is finally able to give to his children. The Congressman could tell that the recovery center IS making a difference and he stated that he understands that we need MORE of these scattered throughout. These people that are addicted are still GOD’s children and deserve the chance to get back on their feet. Congressman Rahall heard from them directly and I felt that he understood the need in helping organizations such as this one and I felt he was sincere in his promise. Our next stop was to the LEAD Community Organization’s new headquarters in the Cora area where he was able to see first-hand the shortage of food that we have on hand to assist the citizens that come through our doors on a daily basis to let us know that they have children yet no food to feed them (We average 8 people a day). If it were not for the few local churches and other small groups that are committed to helping with these programs, we would surely go under. Our last stop was all the way up into Bradshaw Holler where Congressman Rahall was able to meet with Cathy Frankum to speak about the constant fight with finding the food and clothing needed to take care of so many across this area. With winter bearing down upon us, it is even more critical. Congressman Rahall came to Logan County and agreed to be taken throughout Logan to see areas that I really believe he was kept from in the past. I don’t think he has ever been to Draper or Bradshaw Holler because maybe in the past he was led to believe that Logan was “All OK”. He knows that is not the case now. I could remain on an island by myself with countless people just waiting and agitating me to try and watch the aftermath or I could try and build a bridge to assistance so that maybe we can actually work with our representative to get things done. I choose the latter. If we get nothing out of it......well, I guess I will just take that one on the chin. If we actually get someone who is willing to right the wrongs that he has recently been shown then it is a win for us all. Lastly.....for those who are screaming the loudest, What have you done to support a recovery center in your area? What have you done to help make sure children have adequate shoes? What have you done to shed light on the injustices that go on in our communities (and Topix doesn’t count), and what have you done to make sure a child goes to bed at night without an empty stomach? In the end, I make my decisions on how I feel I can best be a problem solver in those areas. It was MY decision to do what I did and nobody else’s. I STAND BY MY DECISION! Sappers Clear The Way! Airborne All The Way! MAJ (RET) Richard Ojeda
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 17:00:50 +0000
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