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To the Editor,
Put your bicycle on your vehicle rack, drive past Weirton Medical to Colliers, turn left at the bridge, pass the abandoned elementary school, and a mile further on the left is a narrow, inconspicuous lane that ends in a small parking lot that sits next to the West Virginia/Brooke County portion of the Panhandle Trail.
Negotiate the last half mile of the compacted, dusty and rutted West Virginia section and viola, you are on a wide, smooth paved pathway courtesy of Washington County, Pa.
In a couple of miles there is a bench to pull off and rest. In Burgettstown the railroad station is a popular rest stop. A mile further east sits a bench and picnic table set back, off the trail. I prefer to stop at and enjoy being alone, immersed in nature, communing with God, in gratitude for my many Blessings and a respite from the insanity of this world.
Sit there for a few hours on a Saturday or Sunday morning and a hundred or more will pass going in either direction. Old lovers and new lovers and some in between. Walkers, talkers, joggers (mostly in the cool of early morning) and doggers. All shapes and all sizes. Some meander on their bikes while others are speedsters. But most folks peddle what is comfortable for them, either alone, in pairs, small family units or in larger social packs.
At the county line (Washington/Brooke) most of those coming from the east turn around and go back to where they came from. We West Virginians traverse the last half mile of our narrow rutted path to our cars to drive home. Why? For the same reason one would not check out of a Marriott to go stay at Motel 6!
Park board chairman Ed Bowmen requested $10,000 from the city administration to help pave our four-mile section of the Panhandle Trail. Silence. The city thinks nothing of blowing ten grand for 45 minutes of fireworks, sometimes twice a year! But for something that benefits the quality-of-life for hundreds of enthusiasts for seven months out of the year, they do the old Jack Benny stick when he didn't want to part with his money – "I'm thinking, I'm thinking".
Chairman Ed, you should have asked for $25,000 so that when our section gets paved, you can build a gazebo at the end for all those folks to rest who no longer turn around, but go the extra four miles to enjoy also our nature's ambience.
Blaise Hogan
Weirton