Save the Sharp Farm of Pocahontas County
History and heritage in Slatyfork, West Virginia.
Author Message
Oct 14, 2006
12:24 am
Check this out, an attempt of national recognition.
Check this out, an attempt of national recognition in this matter.
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?p=2342358#post2342358
this is a new forum in an huge forum. I believe it will create quite a buzz.
To save you some time , let me post it as the rest of the WWW see's it...
Cyclists unite to help a friend of fat tire riders
As many of you know who are avid fat tire enthusiests, you have heard of or participated in the annual Fat Tire Festival at Elk River Touring Center in Slatyfork, West Virginia.

Thousands of us have visited the Sharp's General Store in Slaytyfork over the years. The 6th generation family farm,general store and B&B unfortunately has been targeted by big business and politics. Now get this, The owners of Snowshoe ski resort believe they need to have a SEWAGE PLANT built 1000 ft away from Sharps family business.If thats not bad enough , can you imagine using eminent domain to do it? Hmmm Snowshoe needs a sewage plant and they want it on the Sharp's property. For those of you who have seen this historic homestead in this scenic valley setting, you know that it's one of the last few pristine examples of Pure Americana left unspoiled in West Virginia.Not to mention the irreversible damage it will do to the native eco-system.
If you are like me ,you travel to places you love to ride for a reason.The views ,terrain and the serenity comes to mind. This area of West Virginia offers it all. It is as close to sanctuary as a rider can get.If you have ridden the Scenic Highway you know what I mean and if you haven't ,you don't know what you are missing.
Want to help stop big business and idiot politicians from screwing the little guy to get what they want? Want to help save a family's farm,way of life and business that has always welcomed, fed and accomodated us year after year? The Govenor of West Virginia even offered an alternative site for $1.00 .But NOOOOOO Snowshoe has set their eyes on this site for some reason. We all have heard the old cliche "you know what rolls downhill" Well this time it should either stay at the top of the hill or roll down the other side.: literally.....
I'm Asking all of you who believe this is unfair and would like to help by making your voice heard. Please sign an online petition and get letters to send to the idiot agencies responsible for this bogus charade. What we need is a response from all over America to sign this online petition to make it obvious just how much of an injustice this is.

http://www.savethesharpfarm.com/main/index.php


Thanks and keep the rubber side down
Brit_Rider
Nov 12, 2006
7:40 pm
Re: Check this out, an attempt of national recognition.
Hey out there fellow cyclists,

I've been personally involved with this one. I was an assistant to the WVDEP karst expert who gave them his professional opinion on why this was a bad location and the agency who asked for his opinion then totally disregarded it because the permitting decision had already really been made. A problem is that WVDEP is an agency with an internal conflict in that they are charged with protecting ground and surface water quality, however they're also the agency that permits the plant design and doles out the federal money to pay for it! So guess where the developers go first. The reason they want the farm is because county and or state politician/business interests want to build condos and other real estate developments in the area right around Snowshoe and they want to have close access to public sewage of course. If you want to see this in action already, go look at the Davis/Canaan Valley area.

Anyway, after visiting the Sharp Farm and Big Spring Fork, I believe this is one of the truly special places in West Virginia and should be kept as it is. The caving community has a great interest in preserving the cave system there, the Civil War history is great, there are really cool fossils there in the stream bed near the store, the spring pools are amazing, and the valley itself is the kind of place that West Virginia tourism wants to sell - clean air, clean water, in a beautiful place. We don't really need it replaced by more condo developments around a mediocre ski resort. I want to bring my children to visit the Sharp Farm and Big Spring Fork, not a sewage treatment plant that was put in the wrong place!

Don't give up the fight!. Rick