I have watched with dismay the intense, unfairly negative attention given to the State of West Virginia over the past week.  The Poligazette team knows I prefer research to ranting, so I thought I would look up a few interesting facts that go against the prevailing “narrative.”

Make of this information what you will:

• Despite its menacing, Deliverance-style gun-toting reputation, West Virginia abolished the death penalty in 1965.  It also has one of the lowest murder rates in the nation.
•  Despite the prevailing little-white-Protestant-church-snake-handling stereotype,West Virginia’s religious culture is both thriving and diverse: it supports 10 synagogues, 10 Greek Orthodox churches, dozens of Catholic churches, 4 mosques- and the nation’s largest Hari Krishna temple.
• The state’s largest mosque is located in Morgantown, WV, which is the home of feminist Muslim writer Asra Q. Nomani, author of Standing Alone in Mecca.  Her campaign for the Muslim women’s rights actually began in Morgantown, where she agitated against sexually segregated prayer at the mosque.
• Morgantown, by the way, was 9th on Forbes magazine’s 2007 list of “Best Places for Business and Careers.”
• Morgantown also came up 9th on Inc.com’s “Boomtowns 2007 Top Overall Cities.”
• Morgantown is the home of West Virginia University, just one of 31 institutions of higher education located in the Mountain State.  They range from community and private colleges to University-size schools.
• The first-ever remote measurements of the ion temperature in the Earth’s magnetosphere were made by WVU’s plasma physics group.
• WVU was the second academic institution in the world to require electronic submission of theses and dissertations.
• WVU has the largest crime scene training complex in the world (3 crime scene houses and a forensic garage)
• WVU, Carnegie Mellon University, the FBI, and the National White Collar Crime Center formed the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance to investigate and study online crime.
• WVU offers the largest forensic and biometrics internship program in the US.
• Among the many other colleges and universities in the Mountain State is West Virginia State University, a historically black college founded in 1890.  It currently serves 2,418 full-time students and 1,073 part-time students.
• Booker T. Washington was raised in Malden, WV, and later appeared as a guest lecturer at West Virginia State.
• The Booker T. Washington Park  is the site of his sister’s house and is now administered by West Virginia State University.
• No coal companies appear in the top ten of the largest employers in West Virginia, as of 2007.  The top ten are:

 1. Wal-Mart Associates

2. West Virginia University Hospitals/United Hospitals

3. Charleston Area Medical Center, Inc.

4. Kroger

5. American Electric Power

6. Eldercare Resources Corporation

7. Lowe’s Home Centers, Inc.

8. CSX/CSX Hotels, Inc.

9. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation of WV.

10. St. Mary’s Hospital

• Just an odd little Did-you-know fact: one of West Virginia’s biggest cash crops is wild Ginseng, which is exported to Asia.
• Few public universities have produced more Rhodes Scholars than WVU: 25.
• In 2000, the rate of home ownership in WV was over 75%- nationwide it was 66.2%
• In it’s ongoing efforts to improve public schools, West Virginia has provided 1 computer for every 8.7 students, the 8th highest computer-to-student ratio in the nation.
• West Virginia is home to the Greenbrier, a Mobil four star and AAA five diamond award luxury resort.  Every U.S. President since Eisenhower has stayed there, and many foreign dignitaries as well.
• Interest fact about the Greenbrier: it was selected as the site of a massive underground complex meant to serve as a shelter for the U.S. Congress in the event of nuclear war.  The secret existence of this bunker was “outed” in 1992; it is now open as a museum.
• One of the Mountain State’s prime business sectors is tourism: the Snowshoe Mountain ski resort, rock climbing at Seneca Rocks, whitewater rafting- and the annual Base Jump from the New River Gorge Bridge.
• “Bridge Day” is the largest base-jumping event in the world, held every 3rd Saturday in October in Fayetteville, WV.  Over 450 base jumpers and 200,000 spectators are expected to attend this year’s Bridge Day on October 18.
• Clarksburg, WV is the home of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division.  The FBI refers to the Division as one of its “crown jewels” and it sets the standard for criminal databases.
• Fairmont, WV is the site of the FBI’s Internet Fraud Complaint Center, handling vital information on economic espionage, identity theft, and child pornography rings.
• Another little Did-you-know fact: Parkersburg High School in Parkersburg, WV, was named the #9 sports high school of all time by Sports Illustrated for it’s long history of championsip wins in multiple sports.
• Usually identified as a “swing state” WV gave its electoral vote to Michael Dukakis and supported Bill Clinton by very large margins in 1992 and 1996. (This goes far to explaining Hillary’s recent win; the Clinton “brand” is popular there.)
• The United States Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of Public Debt is located in Parkersburg, WV.
• The PRT (Personal Rapid Transit)system in Morgantown, WV is a single-rail public transit system developed by Boeing and the WVU School of Engineering.  Among the first of its kind, it later served as the model for the transit system at Disney World.
• Surprise, surprise: West Virginians love ballet.  Charleston is the home of the Charleston Ballet, the official ballet company of West Virginia.  It was formed in 1956 by Andre Van Damme, previously a star with the Royal Opera in Belgium.  Its official school, American Academy Ballet, trains students for both professional and teaching careers.
• WV ballet danseurs Peter and Paul Frame performed with the New York City ballet in the 70’s; Peter Frame is now on the faculty of City Ballet’s official school.
• WV has been selected by numerous directors as the location for major motion picture locales; the variety of mountain, river valley and town views, as well as the economical cost of shooting there has made it popular.  Recent films include Mothman, Stephen Soderberg’s experimental film Bubble, and-
• A film celebrating the state itself.  On November 14, 1970, a plane carrying all but 4 members of the Marshall football team, several local boosters, and all but one coach, crashed and burned while returning to Huntington.  All aboard were killed.  It was the greatest sports tragedy in history at the time, and was reported by news services as far away as the BBC.  We Are Marshall, released released in 2006, isn’t the story of that tragedy, but of the will of West Virginians to rebuild. 

The Mountain State has always been seen in light of its many tragedies: Buffalo Creek, the Silver Bridge Collapse, the Marshall Football team crash.  It’s looked down upon as a bastion of ignorance or pitied as a hopeless sinkhole.

But it’s still there.  Despite the low opinion of other states, despite repeated disasters.  It’s not about losing.  It’s about never giving up.  It’s about living for the possible instead of despairing at the actual.

To borrow a tag line from We Are Marshall:

We are West Virginia- wild, resilient, wonderful, unpredictable.

And we’re gonna play ’till the whistle blows.