Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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August 23, 2011

District lines change again

By CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph

BLUEFIELD — The legislative boundaries of Mercer and McDowell counties are changing again.

The new House of Delegates redistricting maps now awaiting the approval of acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin would move a larger portion of Mercer County into a new McDowell County legislative district. Specifically, parts of Brushfork, Bluewell, Montcalm and Bramwell will be shifted into the 26th Delegate District, which also includes most of McDowell County. Those communities will now be served by Delegate Clif Moore, D-McDowell.

Parts of the Spanishburg, Pinoak and Gardener communities, including the PikeView school complex, will be shifted into the new 25th Delegate District, which also includes most of Wyoming County. Those communities will now be served by Delegate Linda Goode Phillips, D-Wyoming.

“PikeView is a growing area,” Phillips, who previously served parts of Montcalm and Matoaka in the old 22nd Delegate District, said. “I am looking forward to serving this new different district. There is obviously great opportunities in that area.”

While the legislative boundaries may be changing, Phillips said lawmakers from Mercer, Wyoming and McDowell counties will still work together for the betterment of the region as a whole.

“In the past, delegates from the Mercer County area and the Wyoming County area have worked together to get things for the county so that’s really not going to be any different,” Phillips said. “We are going to continue to work together. Most of the delegates in the South truly work together.”

However, telling voters in parts of Brushfork, Bluewell and Montcalm that they are now in a McDowell County legislative district will create additional confusion, according to Delegate Marty Gearhart, R-Mercer, who opposed the revised legislative boundaries adopted by the House Sunday.

“Mercer County didn’t have to be carved up to pieces where people don’t understand where they vote,” Gearhart, who will serve together with Delegate John Frazier, D-Mercer, and Delegate Joe Ellington, R-Mercer, in the new 27th Delegate District, said. “I think everyone will need to do a good job to help let people know where they are so they are well educated prior to the next vote. My colleague from the [old] 25th Delegate District, Delegate Ellington, may have said it best on the floor of the House during the first redistricting session. He said if you vote for this bill — ‘God forgive you because I’m not sure the voters will.”

Although his comment was disputed by Phillips, Gearhart said the new Wyoming County 25th Delegate District comes within 1,000 feet of the city limits of Princeton. Gearhart also estimated that the new McDowell County 26th Delegate District comes within 500 feet of the city limits of Bluefield.

“This is all what I consider to be a poorly drawn map,” Gearhart said.

Phillips said the new 25th Delegate District reaches the two schools at PikeView, but not the city limits of Princeton.

Gearhart said the new legislative boundaries also will make it more difficult for residents in communities such as Bluewell, Bramwell, Brushfork and Spanishburg to run against Moore and Phillips, who would have a larger voting bloc in McDowell and Wyoming counties.

“You pretty much marginalize those people and keep them from running a candidate,” Gearhart said.

Messages left Monday with Moore were not immediately returned.

 — Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

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