In September, Mountain State Spotlight spoke with people around the 29th District – which encompasses Wayne and Mingo counties – to find out what issues they’re facing.
In a district hard hit by the decline of the coal industry, jobs are on top of people’s minds.
Up for election this year is Republican incumbent Henry “Corby” Dillon, who has served one term in the House of Delegates. Dillon works for the Mingo County school system. Democratic challenger Wayne “Bug” Williamson is the assistant fire chief at the Kermit Fire Department in Mingo County.
Here are their responses to the questions, edited for length and clarity:
Lack of gainful employment was an issue I heard during my travels in the 29th District. If elected, what will you do to try to get good paying jobs in that part of the state?
Dillon: We can be friendly and attractive to larger businesses while growing our own family-based community businesses. Those in government should be working to make the state’s tax environment as favorable as possible to attract all businesses without picking favorites, and that has been my focus.
If we establish a welcoming tax environment similar to Tennessee, large-scale businesses will identify opportunities to build on the foundations we already have. Forestry, agriculture and energy all have tremendous potential for value-added manufacturing processes if the climate and culture in the state are welcoming. We have abundant materials, but we have trouble competing with other areas for skilled labor, efficient transportation, and end markets.
Creating the right atmosphere for business also includes ensuring that our technical education and trade-based training programs provide young people with a wide base of skills from which to market themselves for available jobs. All career or technical education should be focused on maximizing the freedom of choice for individuals to pursue opportunities of their choosing.
If we create the right business atmosphere and help people acquire a broad base of skills, some people will decide to open the type of small, family businesses that anchor communities. This is the holy grail of community well-being. A truly diverse economy requires a patchwork of locally owned businesses in order to thrive in a sustainable fashion. This can prevent or soften the catastrophic consequences that communities often face when a steel mill or other large anchor closes down a facility. The percentage of locally-owned businesses in a community is a key barometer of the health of that community. A job cannot be passed down from one to another, but small family businesses can create financial stability for generations to come.
As a delegate, I have advocated for the types of economic policies outlined above, and I look forward to continuing that effort.
Context: According to Forbes, Tennessee currently has one of the lowest tax burdens in the United States. The state currently has no personal income tax and in 2023, the state government approved a further reduction in business taxes and establishing a 3-month sales tax holiday. That same year, the West Virginia Legislature passed its law that would phase out the state personal income tax, which Del. Dillon voted in favor of.
Williamson: I’ve worked out of state, North Carolina, Georgia. I’ve worked for some big companies. I’m willing to reach across the aisle to get help on getting some big industries into our 29th district. The 29th district has been hit hard with coal jobs. We’ve got strip jobs everywhere that are just sitting idle. There’s places that factories would love to come but the problem we have is our infrastructure, our roadways. If we can get the King Coal Highway up and running, I think that would be our best bet on getting some industries in here with us to bring some big plant jobs in.
Widening U.S. Route 52 to four lanes on the whole stretch was cited by the director of the Wayne County Economic Development Authority as a way to pave the way for more industry in southern Wayne. What will you do to support the efforts to widen that road?
Dillon: I have sponsored a resolution specifically to complete the King Coal Highway from Kenova to Williamson. I have sponsored bills to establish a regular paving schedule rather than the hodge-podge of projects we see currently. Roads that work for our people are a critical part of retaining and growing our population. If we take care of these basics, we will see families grow here rather than moving to other states such as Tennessee or North Carolina.
Williamson: We need to sit down with the governor and sit down with everybody – Republican, Democrat – doesn’t matter. We need to come up with a plan to get that King Coal Highway up and started. They’re working a little bit over toward the Gilbert area, but we need to get that road up and running in order to make the 29th district grow. That King Coal Highway is running right through the 29th district and without that highway, we’re at a loss.
Context: The King Coal Highway has been on the books since the 1990s and is planned to run from I-77 in Mercer County over to I-64 in Wayne County, cutting through coal country along the present U.S. Route 52. Portions of the southern end have been opening, but little work has been done in the area of the 29th District, which encompasses areas in Wayne County south of the county seat into northern Mingo county.
A good portion of the population in your district are senior citizens and people who live below the poverty line. From what I understand, 500 people show up at the food distribution in Dunlow every month. If elected, what will you do to ensure these folks in your district do not go hungry?
Dillon: Our community has faced the consequences of a long and targeted war on our chief native industry, coal mining, which has decimated many families. Those jobs often supported many more people than the immediate family. Those jobs represented the best type of social program possible, but too many have been lost. I appreciate the efforts of local churches and our community to pull together to help each other through these challenging times. However, as wonderful as charity is, it is a poor substitute for economic vitality.
For the long term, we have to rebuild the social and economic fabric which will sustain these communities. We need to break the monopoly that electrical utilities have over our people, resulting in soaring monthly electricity bills. We need to encourage local food production in a way that makes our people more self-sufficient and resilient. No one wants to wait in a line for basic necessities.
We also have too many needs at home to be sending trillions of taxpayer dollars to Ukraine or any other country at this time. Our government must represent America and West Virginia, not other countries.
Context: Experts point to a variety of factors for the coal industry’s decline. While air pollution rules put pressure on outdated power plants, skyrocketing production of cheap natural gas and the declining costs of renewable sources of energy like wind and solar have played larger roles. Much of West Virginia’s best coal has also already been mined.
Williamson: Everybody talks about our welfare programs and our food banks and things like that.
There are some people out there that abuse our welfare and our WIC. I’m not blind to that.
We need to come up with a way that ensures that our youth in our community don’t go hungry, whether it be supporting the food bank, supporting the schools to run school buses through the summer months to make sure that these kids get fed. . . It’s not their fault.
A lot of adults have been laid off from the coal mines. They get depressed, and they get started on drugs. They stick their heads in a hole. Their children are suffering from it.
We need to sit down and get a bipartisan bill together to help our welfare programs or WIC programs.
If a man gets laid off from the coal mine, sure, he made a lot of money. But if he comes up on hard times and needs assistance, why not let him draw welfare for a couple months. But there’s a lot of trash on the side of the road. There’s a lot of nonprofit organizations that need help. Why not set him up with people in the community and let him pick up trash on the side of the road. Let him work for his benefits.
Context: State law already provides work requirements for certain recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Under the law, able bodied adults without dependent children must work, volunteer or undergo some kind of job skills training to receive their benefits.
The Hatfield-McCoy Trails, the two large Wildlife Management Areas and the Cabwaylingo State Forest were all cited as potential draws for tourism into southern Wayne and northern Mingo. However, other areas of the state that leaned into tourism – like Tucker and Fayette Counties – have encountered issues with housing scarcity due to people renting out houses for Air BnBs. If elected delegate, how would address the development of tourism in the area while also balancing the needs of people already living there?
Dillon: Any effort toward encouraging tourism must take into account the impact on local residents. If the impact is not overwhelmingly positive to their daily lives, then the initiative must be reevaluated. Government establishing and promoting a specific industry like HM Trails can come with undesirable consequences, such as more expensive housing, more neighborhood noise, and loss of access to previously enjoyed areas.
Part of the problem is that riding activity is concentrated in areas near HMT trailheads, which can radically alter life for local citizens. By focusing exclusively on promoting HMT we are reducing and restricting the total riding activity to certain areas instead of utilizing the broader land base of the state. West Virginia is full of existing trails which could be utilized aside from HMT if certain conditions were met. These include “ride at your own risk” liability laws which release landowners from worry about lawsuits and good mapping and signage so local citizens and visitors alike can access and enjoy the thousands of miles of dirt and gravel backroads and trails which crisscross our area. Such trails could be promoted as the “WV Wilderness Trails.” Trail guide and outfitting businesses will spring up in many more areas with this approach.
Hatfield-McCoy also has a long way to go with regard to serving families. Due to the HMT rules it is currently impossible for families with young children to enjoy these trails, many of which intersect with state parks where families are already visiting. A smart approach would be to identify certain trails which are safe enough to open to all ages with certain precautions in place. This would be beneficial to both our parks and our families. In addition, families from out of state would be more likely to vacation here. Common sense suggests that a family of seven such as mine will spend more in our state than a bachelor with his buddy.
Williamson: You’ve got a situation with the Hatfield McCoy Trails.
Now, Hatfield McCoy trail does bring tourism into our area, and I’m not totally against that. But again, we need to sit down, because the Hatfield McCoy Trails take people’s hunting spots that they’ve hunted for years and years. With the Hatfield McCoy trail, we need to sit down and come up with a plan with deer hunters and deer season.
You know, housing was a problem before the Hatfield McCoy Trail came in. We’ve had a problem with housing for years now. I don’t see why we can’t, as a state, come up with a way to build, especially in McDowell County and the poor counties in the state, some kind of low income apartments.
More low income apartments – build an apartment complex that can house some of the people that are struggling.
MSS: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Dillon: Over the last two years I have been blessed and amazed at the examples of citizen activism and leadership in our community. From the racers pushing for the opening of Twin Branch race track to the formation of the Crum Swap and the efforts of the Cabwaylingo Forest Foundation, the citizens have taken the lead in transforming our community. I have been fortunate to be able to support these and other efforts, and I only hope that this trend continues well into the future. I am proud of our community and all the hard work that our people put into making it a better place.
Williamson: We live in the 29th district. I’m going to call it (the two ends of the district) the Tulsa high school end of the district, and then the Tug Valley end of the district. It kind of seems, like that district gets left out a lot. Some of the poorest places in the state have turf football fields, and Tug Valley and Tulsa are being left behind.
I’m not saying that sports is everything. Academics is where our mind is.
But if you’ve got a young kid that could care less whether he made good grades or not, but he likes football or baseball or basketball – He stays in that sport and he makes good grades so that he can play. Sports is more than just people getting out on the field and playing it. So therefore, academic wise, it helps those kids.
In our district, you take somebody, you take somebody from Kermit or Crum or Prichard or wherever, they’ve got to drive for hours to take their kids to do anything. There’s no skating rinks, no movie theaters, nothing close enough that they can go spend the day right here in their backyard. We need places for our youth to spend time instead of spending time out on the top of one of these strip jobs getting into trouble.
I am a Democrat. I’m on the Democrat ticket, but I’m as conservative as any Republican that you’ve ever met.
We need to come up with a plan about abortion. Abortion is not right.
We also have to come up with a plan for our unions. This right to work bill that’s in right now, it’s just not working for our unions.
Our vocational schools need more than just auto mechanics and building construction.
Some kids are made for college. Some kids aren’t. Why not have it like a paramedic class or an EMT class in high schools where they’re certified. When they come out, they go to work. Why
not have heavy equipment where they can be certified and do something with heavy equipment when they come out of high school. Every kid’s not made for college.
I think we have some money saved up in the capital to where we can start helping some people. We need a voice to argue that, and we need somebody that truly loves this area to be there to fight for this area.
