Maryland's Mini Secession Movement: Freedom, Dollars, and Common Sense

Across the country, secession movements have served as the face of frustration for rural residents.  States dominated by urban and suburban elites continue to rile countryside conservatives.  In an increasing number of states, counties have considered secession as the answer.

Active movements have sprouted in Northern California, Colorado, Michigan, and now Maryland.

According to Fox News, many of the complaints are the same.  Residents chafe under onerous restrictions on land that hurt farmers.  They also oppose gun control laws backed by suburbanites.

Some Marylanders already made the decision to secede as individuals.  Most prominently, former Maryland state senator and Republican Party chair Alex Mooney crossed the Potomac from Frederick County to Charles Town, West Virginia.  His run for Congress puts a face on the long trend of Maryland counties losing opportunities to competition south of the Potomac.

A study of West Virginia and bordering Maryland counties using numbers from the US Census Bureau's County Business Patterns data shows Mountain State counties faring better even with poorer infrastructure.

For example, Maryland's Allegany County, centered around Cumberland, had 1,847 private sector business establishments employing 25,136 in 2000.  By 2011, 1,647 employed 24,485.  Neighboring Mineral County saw some jumps.  In 2000, 480 establishments employed exactly 5,000 workers.  Eleven years later, the number of businesses dropped to 452, but the number of workers shot up to 6,445.

The numbers from Mineral County are still stagnant in many ways.  That area however, unlike Allegany, does not benefit from an interstate or any other four lane highway bisecting it.

Differences also emerge between Washington County, Maryland (surrounding Hagerstown), and Berkeley County, West Virginia.  Between 2000 and 2011, Washington County lost almost 3,000 workers while Berkeley added over a thousand.  Between 1990 and 2010, Washington County's population increased by around 25 percent while Berkeley's shot up by a little over 40 percent.

Washington County should benefit from the intersection of Interstates 70 and 81, two of the most traveled in the Eastern United States.  While Berkeley County has an excellent transportation infrastructure as well as Interstate 81, it is more beneficial to local travel.

Speculation that Marylanders may be seeking better opportunities and a way of life across the border would be tough to prove without further study.  The Mercatus Center's Freedom In the Fifty States Study shows little difference between West Virginia's overall rank of 44 and Maryland's of 42.  The study applauds West Virginia's ranking of ninth on personal freedoms, while Maryland hovers near the bottom among the least free societies in the United States.

Individuals abandoning their native states in search of better economic and social opportunities has helped to define the history of the nation.  But the 21st century wrinkle of seeking out areas friendlier to beliefs about government and freedom are playing out in interesting and unpredictable ways.

At any rate the Potomac Valley counties of West Virginia, despite handicaps from inferior infrastructure and  a system unfriendly to business, outperform their Maryland counterparts.

Less freedom, fewer opportunities.  No wonder western Marylanders have given up on Annapolis.  Time for those in Charleston to wake up and take advantage.

Too Much Water! A Plea to the City of Keyser. Also, Region Inadvertantly Slammed By Marylander

Contrary to the expectations of some folks in leadership positions, many property owners in and around Keyser got more than their fill of water. Storms repeatedly slammed the area, dumping several inches of water in a short period. Many homeowners who have never seen this problem before were cleaning out their basements. Kudos to Eric Beeman who singlehandedly cleaned out the major mess in the basement of Calvary United Methodist Church.

How many homes were affected? Hundreds? We don't know. If a lot of them were like me, they foolishly left clothing, books, magazines, etc on the floor to soak up water. The humid and warm days that follow guarantee that unhealthy mold will develop.

Keyser is proposing a cleanup in August. I suggest that the health hazard created by so many flooded basements constitutes a reason to act sooner. If possible, bump up the clean up day to July and rent a truck to pick up from the elderly and destitute that would never be able to get their own vehicle. I wonder if the county health department could get an emergency grant to assist the entire county.

Next rally the churches. Calvary United Methodist has a working youth group in town now. Mobilize them and Habitat For Humanity to help the elderly, disabled, and otherwise unable to clean out their basements. I am telling you, if you have a basement full of papers, wood, cardboard, clothes, etc, it is almost an overwhelming chore for a healthy man in his prime. Imagine a single mother, an elderly man, or a person in a wheelchair, trying to lift eighty pound bags of wet material.

If we do not act, we definitely run the risk of having larger numbers of sick children and elderly.

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Speaking of water issues, Kolin Jan of the Allegany County Chamber of Commerce was quoted in the Cumberland Times News recently while discussing the subject. In the past some have speculated that the region might be running out of water even in the midst of floods. Jan made a comment that was definitely not meant as a vicious slam on the region, but demonstrated some level of misunderstanding.

Kolin Jan mentioned, "he discounts the notion that, as the area’s population as decreased from its peak over the past 20 years that there’s plenty of water. Lifestyles have changed, he said, and people often take two showers a day when “back then, a Friday night bath was a big deal.”"*

Amazing, simply amazing. I started spending a lot of time in this region about seventeen years ago. My wife's family bathed daily even way back in them there uncivilized days and I am sure they were not unusual even though they were living on the cusp of poverty.

He could have said that people wash their cars more often, or are more likely to baby and coddle their yards with regular watering. Both are true and both require more water than showers. But he "went there" and made a statement based upon stereotype, not truth. Like I said, it was not meant to be a slam based upon mythical perceptions of people in this region. But he did say it and he does seem to believe it. I wonder if he also believes that people around here just figured out that being photographed does not steal your soul?

* Cumberland Times News, "Marcellus Shale forum at Frostburg about water, not money" by Kevin Spradlin, June 21, 2009

A Little Competition Doesn't Hurt

In 1938 a lot of Austrians pined for the good ol' days. Until twenty years before, they were part of a huge empire that was respected on the world stage. World War I made them smaller and seemingly irrelevant. Austria identified a great deal with their much larger neighbor, Germany because of tradition and ties. They looked askance at their new neighbors, Poland, Czechoslovakia, etc. because they did not have the money or the power of Germany. Many Austrians wanted to form a partnership with Germany, whether or nor a position of equality was possible. We all know what happened. Germany absorbed Austria and took her with it to her utter ruin and shame.

Some of Mineral County's leaders seek to form a partnership with Maryland's Garrett and Allegheny Counties, claiming that it is the obvious move. Now no power mad dictator leads those governments to war, but they have a much stronger economic position than Mineral. In any regional cooperative gesture, the Maryland interest would absorb the Mineral every time.

Cooperation with Maryland counties would hurt Mineral County in the long run because any positives attracted to the region would end up in Maryland while Mineral received the scraps. Even worse, our leaders would be forced to trumpet such scraps as progress. It is not as if these counties will lower their competitive advantage to help us anyway. Will Maryland lower their teacher salaries and benefits so that Mineral can remain competitive for those experienced hands? Of course not, that would be ludicrous. Do not count on them to willingly send any economic development our way either unless it is something inconsequential or unwanted. Also, economic development in Maryland will increase their state and county tax base, enabling them to work on their schools and infrastructure. Will Maryland divert any road or school money to a West Virginia county in the interest of brotherhood and cooperation? Of course not, again that would be ludicrous.

Mineral County's natural partners are Hampshire, Hardy, Grant, and Pendleton. Our natural competitors are north of the Potomac. Mineral must abandon its infatuation with Maryland; sure that state is more wealthy and powerful. but that suitor will use Mineral up and throw her aside. Our sister counties in West Virginia have common goals to build up our road system, make our schools more competitive, and above all attract jobs to build up the West Virginia state and county tax base. Benefits accrued in Maryland will not cross the Potomac.

We should spend our time competing with Maryland for jobs and wealth creation, not helping that state improve its already predominant position. Cooperating with West Virginia counties confers benefits. The state of West Virginia will collect tax money and allocate it to where it is needed the most by our people. I promise that Maryland's legislature will not be using their tax money to do anything for our county.

One County's Frustration Could Be Another County's Opportunity

According to the Cumberland Times News the new shopping center once projected for a summer 2008 opening has hit more snags. Without going into specifics, the article indicated that the deal may be in trouble. At some point Target, Home Depot, and others must have determined that this region could support their business. The question is, has that changed or have other factors become obstacles?


The project was intended to resemble Morgantown's University Town Center which is an innovative way to develop rugged Appalachian terrain. A ridgetop supports the main anchor chains while terraces along the road to the top contain smaller stores and restaraunts. The businesses located there enjoy tremendous patronage, especially the restaraunt chains.



Whatever the problem is, Mineral County ought to aggressively investigate and determine if it can provide a less problematic option. If the anchor stores decided that this region cannot support them, fine. But if the problem lies in local government red tape, by all means go for the steal. Some argue that Mineral, Allegany, and Garrett Counties ought to cooperate to bring in business. However business located in Maryland does nothing to help Mineral County's tax base, meaning they continue to get more money for schools, police protection, and other services. If possible, our local leaders should at least investigate sweeping this development onto the correct side of the Potomac River.