'In Appalachia, People Watch Covid-19, Race Issues From Afar'

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Fri Oct 2, 2020, 12:19 PM - Edit history (1)

'In Appalachia, People Watch Covid-19, Race Issues From Afar.' By Tim Sullivan, AP News, Sept. 30, 2020.

- This story is part of the 'Looking For America' project, produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.-



- People wait to go on a revolving ride, Perry State Fair, Lexington, Ohio.




- Shawnee, Ohio, cars parked in front of building with a banner, 'hotel.'

BUCHTEL, Ohio (AP) — The water, so cold that it nearly hurts, spills relentlessly into a concrete trough from three pipes driven into a hillside near the edge of town.

People have been coming to the trough for at least a century, since horses were watered here and coal miners stopped by to wash off the grime. People still come - because they think the water is healthier, or makes better coffee, or because their utilities were turned off when they couldn’t pay the bills. Or maybe just because it’s what they’ve always done.

For years, Tarah Nogrady has filled plastic jugs here and lugged them back to a town so small it rarely appears on maps. As she collects water for her four Pekinese dogs waiting in the car, she doesn’t wear a mask, like so many around here. Nogrady doubts that the coronavirus is a real threat - it’s “maybe a flu-type deal,” she says.

It’s a common view in the little towns that speckle the Appalachian foothills of southeast Ohio, where the pandemic has barely been felt. Coronavirus deaths and protests for racial justice — events that have defined 2020 nationwide — are mostly just images on TV from a distant America.

For many here, it’s an increasingly foreign America that they explain with suspicion, anger and occasionally conspiracy theories. The result: At a time when the country is bitterly torn and crises are piling up faster than ever, the feeling of isolation in this corner of Ohio is more profound than ever...

More, https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-race-and-ethnicity-financial-markets-ohio-99c9310e7a43c4a4a77d5a9ea1465f63

- In Appalachian Ohio, war on poverty rages on. It's been 56 years since President Lyndon Johnson unveiled his plan for a "Great Society" in Ohio to combat rural poverty and racial injustice across the U.S. But much of Appalachian Ohio still has child poverty rates higher than 30%. (Oct. 1) https://apnews.com/

[doc03]

1. The hotel is up to 2020 standards it has solar panels nt

[Hoyt]

2. Is that a Prius parked in front? I used to spend a lot of

time in NC and TN Appalachian mountains hiking.

The last few times I was there, the meth heads and unashamed racists were annoying. I’ll still go back, but I hope someone breaks the pattern of poverty and poor education besides the better off moving in for their mountain cabins.

I do enjoy Asheville, but it’s an oasis.