I'm not going to say that if a local business decided it was a good idea to put a 100,000 gallon tank of sewage in my neighborhood I wouldn't be concerned, upset or even out-and-out outraged. I'm sure, at the very least, I'd want to know more about the operation, who would be doing what and how it would be regulated and all of the things Green Bank residents want to know about Jacob Meck's proposal at the Green Bank Industrial Park.

The hue and cry over the sewage tank is one thing. The attack on a person for building his businesses is another.

Industrial Parks were created so that businesses, sometimes start-ups, sometimes new ventures of older companies, could create jobs and economic development in their communities. The parks are often owned by counties, municipalities or economic development authorities, which offer incentives to businesses to locate there. Yes, those business models of the 1980s-90s-"if you build it they will come"-proposals are now passe in the business world. But, obviously, they aren't quite dead.

So it puzzles me, since these models have been around for a long time, why Meck is being so vilified for being industrious, making businesses out of things most people don't want to deal with and taking advantage of the industrial park business model.

That property sat empty ever since I can remember until he proposed to put his businesses there. He created several jobs on the three acres he has, so the argument that no more jobs will be created on the other nine isn't fair. He's already done more than his fair share in job creation.

For me, this latest "not here" movement is an indicator of something far more deeply rooted in our collective Pocahontas County psyche. Lots of folks come here for the pleasant mountain views and fresh air. Then, they'd like for us to close the gates and not allow anything to change. Somedays, I understand. People native to the county have always been somewhat wary of strangers coming in to do business. In West Virginia that has often meant that we had something of value, someone else recognized that, showed us a little bit of money for it, whisked it away, got richer and left us with the coal depleted, timber gone and the land a mess. I get that.

But Jacob Meck grew up here. He's raising a family here. He's got no incentive to rob us or destroy our land. He simply wants to find a way to stay here and make a living.

It really should be what we want for all our young families. Our census numbers are going to show a missing generation-the generation of young adults who were born here and have had to leave to find work. They are raising families and contributing to the growth of other communities. Lots of business owners tell me that the county needs more jobs. But the problem is that we're now missing a workforce.

Most county business owners would like to have more customers, but that base is dwindling and the people who live here generally shop somewhere else and do it proudly, somehow believing that Pocahontas County businesses are uniquely positioned to remain here just in case a customer shows up.

So here's a man engaging in a perfectly legal business practice not only condoned by the state and local government, but usually encouraged by it, hiring local people and raising a family in Pocahontas County and his neighbors are suddenly suspicious of him.

I'm concerned that not only do we not want so-called "outsiders" doing business here, we don't want even "our own" to try to prosper.

What do we want here?

It certainly begs the question.

As a postscript, I offer the suggestion that perhaps the energy put toward defeating Meck's proposal to bring the tank to Green Bank would have been better used to help him convince the Department of Environmental Protection that it should remain at East Fork Industrial Park, which is want he wanted to do in the first place. Maybe we could have supported his efforts instead of creating yet another controversy that will likely linger over our heads for another generation.