(Letter to the Editor - Graphic Illustration/MetroCreativeConnection)

The Nov. 6 News and Sentinel printed a letter to the editor from Shannon Kimes. Mr. Kimes is a member of the West Virginia House Of Delegates from the 9th District, which includes Wirt County and part of Wood County. He has a degree in engineering, but the tone and content of his letter certainly didn’t reveal any engineering smarts. That letter was a ridiculous rant about poor highway design in West Virginia and he challenged the honesty and integrity of state employees responsible for the state’s highways.

According to Mr. Kimes, any new highways we build must be 4-lane and many old 2-lane roads should be upgraded. These upgrades should happen immediately, if not sooner, to avoid more population loss.

He proposed that West Virginia start a new grass-roots facility to design and build a completely new line of “bigger” and better highway construction equipment. He failed to explain why “bigger” equipment will better facilitate road construction or exactly what design form this new miracle equipment should take. He also neglected to tell us who was going to pay for this very expensive and speculative investment fantasy.

He whined about our “expensive and broken court system” which contributes to our road problems. He neglected to explain just how our supposedly failed highways and supposedly “broken court system” were joined together to create his imaginary highway problem.

Face the truth folks! Building highways in West Virginia is [problematic]. Wouldn’t it be nice if it was as easy to build highways here as it is in flat states like Kansas? But it isn’t. We’re stuck with these beautiful hills and valleys, which make road construction more expensive. If Mr. Kimes finds that unacceptable he should move to Kansas.

It should be perfectly obvious that Mr. Kimes is making noise like a politician running for re-election. He got his name in the News and Sentinel using what was essentially a political ad … but as a letter to the editor, it was free of charge. He turned a West Virginia truism about expensive road construction into an imaginary crisis and then proposed absurd solutions to his own imaginary crisis. That’s called, politics!

And how many bills has Mr. Kimes sponsored in the legislature to solve his troublesome highway problems? I found no reference to any such legislative action.

Hopefully, our local voters are smart enough to see through Mr. Kimes’ political gamesmanship.

Ralph Chambers

Parkersburg