(Letter to the Editor - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

I saw the WTAP segment on the new Wood County Resiliency Center tonight. I listened to Blair Couch’s description for the use of the building, saying it was for emergency shelters, vaccine distribution, food distribution and a space for events. Couch also said they would require a building manager position created for daily management purposes. There was also an article in the Parkersburg News and Sentinel in December 2023 that went into further details quoting Couch as stating, “It is an amazing building. It is a generational game changer. It truly is.” Couch also said the building could be used for weddings as well. Really?

The Resiliency Center sounds a lot like a building looking for justifiable purpose(s). Well, it only cost a little over $13 million, all paid for by President Biden and the Democrats through the American Rescue Act (ARA). But I don’t recall hearing Couch or any of the other commissioners thanking President Biden and the Democrats for this “generational game changer of a building.” I’m very glad that heavily Republican Wood County was able to use some of the monies that NOT ONE Republican in Congress voted for. Only Democrats supported this much needed $13 million building. Republican Couch’s “game changer” center was a gift from the Democrats.

Oh yes, I’m also glad Couch was able to provide Sheriff Rick Woodyard a couple of extra jail cells in the building in case of emergency since the jail was torn down to build this generational game changer. You would think the Resiliency Center would have plenty of space to accommodate the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department as well. But maybe with all the other uses for it, there isn’t room, particularly in June and October — the choice months for weddings.

The only thing that hasn’t been made public is the information as to who came up with the name for the building: Resiliency. It must have taken quite a few of the Wood County officials to come up with that name. If they must use “resiliency” it should more appropriately be called The Joseph R. Biden Jr. Resiliency Center.

Maybe Couch, Fazio, Tebay and Woodyard might consider voting for the Democratic National ticket in November since President Biden and the Congressional Democrats were so good to them and the Wood County Citizenry in providing American Rescue Act money. Since the Wood County Democratic Party doesn’t have a permanent location, with all the available space in the Resiliency Center, the very least Couch and the other commissioners could do would be to offer an office or two to them!

Seriously, the voters of Wood County should think about what party best represents the citizens and what that party has done for them lately!

John D. Gainer

Parkersburg