Let’s call this what it is: the Exponent Telegram doesn’t report on Clarksburg anymore—it heckles it.

Let’s call this what it is: the Exponent Telegram doesn’t report on Clarksburg anymore—it heckles it.

Their recent unsigned editorial, “Harrison County Board of Education Should Prioritize Auctioning Surplus Properties,” wasn’t just bad policy advice. It was a condescending, out-of-touch attack on a city working hard to rebuild.

Rather than support local redevelopment or acknowledge the city’s thoughtful efforts, the Exponent Telegram chose to dismiss it all. They ignored neighborhood needs, smeared practical ideas, and—unsurprisingly—failed to contact the city for comment before publishing.

Councilman Jerry Riffle confirmed that. Zero outreach. No due diligence. Just anonymous judgment from a keyboard.

At this point, it’s fair to ask: are they rooting for Clarksburg to fail?

🧱 This Is About More Than a Building

Washington Irving Middle School isn’t just “surplus property.” It’s a vital structure in a part of neighborhood that is teetering on the edge of decline. The neighborhood surrounding WI is filled with aging housing, tight parking, and long-time residents barely hanging on as the cost of upkeep rises and population falls. Dump a massive vacant structure into the middle of it and you tip the whole area into blight.

North View is a neighborhood built around its community school.

Hite field is historical and important to the city.

That’s not opinion—it’s history.

🧨 Let’s Talk About What Actually Happens

We’ve seen what happens when we hand these buildings off to private speculators:

• Broadway School: Sold to a doctor who turned it into a personal junk warehouse. He filled the entire building with junk from auctions and yard sales, he filled the basement with tires. Eventually, it caught fire—creating an environmental nightmare. Firefighters risked their lives battling the blaze, and the surrounding neighborhood was endangered for days.
• Central Junior High: Sat empty beside the city parking garage for years. Became a magnet for drug activity, trespassing, and danger. Eventually demolished at public expense.
• Genesis Youth Center: Not a school, but close enough. Shut down, abandoned, and quickly became one of Clarksburg’s biggest headaches for over a decade.

You know what we’ve never seen?
A private buyer swooping in to renovate one of these buildings and create a community success story.
Never.

The only example of a school successfully reused is Adamston Elementary, which stayed a school.
That’s it.

💰 “These properties are worth millions.”
According to who?

The Exponent Telegram throws around that line like it’s fact, but the numbers just don’t add up.
The Goff Building—one of the tallest, most visible structures downtown—sold for $75,000.
The Empire Bank Building, a true architectural landmark, went for just over $230,000.

And yet somehow we’re expected to believe that Washington Irving, North View Elementary, and Hite Field are untapped gold mines?

Let’s be serious. These buildings aren’t some jackpot waiting to be cashed in—they’re massive, aging, purpose-built facilities that require enormous investment to repurpose. And outside of serving as schools again, nobody has successfully pulled that off around here.

If someone thinks they’re worth millions, they’re welcome to open their checkbook. Otherwise, let’s stop pretending these are cash cows instead of complicated, expensive liabilities.

And let’s address the Exponent Telegram’s claim that the city’s plan is “vague.”
Sure—it’s not a blueprint with bulldozers already on standby. But that’s the whole point: we need a public body guiding the next use of these properties, not some flipper with a dream and a demo crew.
If a developer wants to repurpose an old school, they should have to submit a plan, prove it’s viable, show financing, and earn the public’s trust—not grab it at auction like they’re bidding on a storage unit full of mystery boxes.

🙄 A Private Christian School Is Not “Competition”

Another baffling claim in the editorial is that allowing a religious school to operate in a former public building somehow constitutes “competition” with public education.

That’s a fundamental misunderstanding of how people choose schools.

Parents who enroll their children in Christian schools aren’t deciding based on the address or the building condition. That decision is driven by faith, or deep dissatisfaction with the public system. They’ve already made up their minds—this isn’t a swing vote.

The idea that a city helping a private Christian school use an old building somehow undercuts the public system?
It’s not a turf war. It’s called reality.

🤝 The WI Gym Argument Is a Self-Own

Ironically, the one point in the Exponent Telegram piece that makes sense is that the RCB basketball team may want continued access to the Washington Irving gym.

And they’re right—it’s a great gym. And the school should be welcomed to use it.

But they then argue in the same breath to sell the building—which would almost certainly result in losing that access.

If the city owns it, the school board can negotiate and put gym access into the deed.
If a private buyer owns it, good luck. They’ll charge whatever they want or lock the doors.

So which is it, Exponent Telegram?
Do we preserve the gym or do we put it on the auction block?

You’re arguing against yourself—and you don’t even seem to notice.

🎯 Pay It Forward: The Hope Gas Building

The Harrison County Board of Education was gifted one of the most valuable properties in the city: the Hope Gas Building. Prime downtown real estate. Multiple stories. Fully developed. Millions in value.

They didn’t sell it.
They didn’t auction it.
They used it.

Now they’re being asked to pay that blessing forward by donating old, outdated, difficult-to-use school buildings to the city—not for profit, but for the good of the community.

Seems like a fair ask.

🧾 Let’s Not Forget: We Already Paid

Taxpayers funded these buildings once already. We’re not asking for a gift—we’re asking for a responsible second use.

Dumping them at auction with no plan, no oversight, and no public input is how neighborhoods collapse. It’s how fires happen. It’s how cities fall apart.

The city’s offer to take over the properties, invest in them, and pursue community-focused redevelopment is the only option that’s ever worked—and the only one that makes sense.

If there is money to be made in the long run? Fine. Put it in writing. Let the city make the investment and the school board get a cut of any future sale or profit.

But pretending these are “valuable assets” just waiting for private rescue? That’s fiction. And bad fiction at that.

And here’s the real risk: by refusing to work with the city, the Board of Education isn’t just acting short-sighted—they’re jeopardizing long-standing support. Clarksburg voters have consistently backed school levies, trusting that their tax dollars are being used with purpose. But when the BOE tries to double-charge the same taxpayers for public property they already funded, that trust starts to crack. Keep pushing, and you might find city voters less willing to say “yes” the next time you come asking for a levy for example.

😏 Of Course, There’s Another Option…

Let’s say—strictly as a thought experiment—that Clarksburg didn’t want to play nice.

The city could, if it wanted to, make sure any private buyer understood exactly what they were getting into:

• Rigorous code enforcement
• Detailed zoning inspections
• Scrutiny on Building Permits
• Careful historic district restrictions
• Surprise fire marshal visits
• And maybe a gentle reminder that eminent domain is always an option

Not that I’m suggesting anything.
Heaven forbid the city use all the tools at its disposal to protect its neighborhoods.

But if someone were trying to send a message that Clarksburg is done being used and dumped by absentee landlords and dreamers with no budgets?

I’d say that message would come through loud and clear.

📰 Journalism? Or Just Jeering?

What’s most frustrating about all this is that the Exponent Telegram didn’t even bother signing the editorial. No author. No accountability. No one to respond to.

That’s not journalism. That’s a drive-by opinion.

I sign mine. I always will.

If I thought anyone still bought the Exponent Telegram, I’d be calling for a full boycott by Clarksburg residents. But I don’t need to—the public already figured out what I have. They’re done listening to a paper that doesn’t speak for them.

I care about this city. I served it. I still do. And I’ll continue to say what others are afraid to say:
This editorial wasn’t helpful. It was hostile.

And it’s time someone pushed back.

—

Gary Keith
Publisher, Clarksburg News and Observer