The solution: Just do it!

While Monongah’s politicians try to deal with the legal problems of getting absentee property owners to fix their eyesores, former Monongah Town council member Sanford Carr, Rick Sypult and Danny DeNoon took the bullshit by the horns.

Explains Tonia Carr Posten:

“I want to thank my dad (Sanford Carr), Rick Sypult and Danny DeNoon for volunteering several hours cleaning up a property on Camden Avenue. These men are always helping others! They have done more for this town than anyone knows! Our little town is very blessed to have them!”

Top of ForAbandoned homes and businesses are becoming a bigger and bigger problem in Monongah, Mannington and the rest of Marion County.

 

Monongah Mayor Greg Vandetta is conferring with the town’s code enforcement officer about what to do when people don't comply after a letter is sent to them about property maintenance violations.

 

With less than half the state’s civilian population having a job and coal mining being hammered toward extinction by dwindling use of coal and regulations, finding the property owners is a problem because they just up and leave to look for better prospects elsewhere.

 

You can buy a home in Monongah listed at $24,900, which is less than one-fourth the state’s mean price for homes, and about one-sixth the cost of an average home around the country. There’s one listed in Mannington for $19,900.

 

At 17.6%, West Virginia has the highest percentage of working-age people on disability benefits, far above the national average of 10.4%, which probably is a reflection, in part, on working in the coal mines, one of the most dangerous jobs in America for a century.

 

Plus a lifestyle that puts West Virginians near the top nationally in obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

 

At 41.9, West Virginia has the fourth-highest median age, because the younger residents are seeking employment and a better life elsewhere.

When Paula and I drove through East Monongah when we came to Marion County for the 2015 Monongah High Alumni Reunion, we saw abandoned businesses nearly all the way from the Monongah Fire Department to Ann DeMary Eates and Joe Eates' house on Bridge Street.

 

Monongah is not alone.

 

The 1868 Bowers Mansion in Mannington is owned by those who live in another state. That makes it difficult to contact them, or even if the town does, to get them to do something about their property. They just walk away from the problem.

 

Mannington Mayor Jim Taylor said “We have about a dozen or more properties in the city where the owners have abandoned their houses.”

 

That leads to tall grass in yards and shabby outside walls. And dangerous use of the inside by ne'er-do-wells.

 

Taylor said it’s tough to notify an owner who doesn’t live in the state any more.

 

Monongah residents have complained about the abandoned properties, through Facebook and directly to the Mayor’s Office. But it’s not an easy solution for towns strapped for cash anyway. Enter Sanford, Rick and Danny. Problem solved, at least for one property. But it is a Band-Air to stop a national hemmoraging. Sanford has been married to Linda Knobel-Carr, Class of 1967, for 46 years. Word of this Monongah High Alumni blog article got back to town officials.   By June 22 Town Recorder Patty Steele McCombs wrote: “The mayor and council would like to "THANK" Danny DeNoon, Rick Sypult and Sanford Carr for cleaning up the overgrown property on Camden Ave. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules for the betterment of our community!”