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It is a measure of how bad many roads in Marshall County are that when Gov. Jim Justice visited to announce a grant of nearly $1 million to Cameron, much of what he heard was complaining.
Cameron Mayor Betty Scott and other officials were grateful for the $955,000 in federal funds, to be used to improve the town's sewerage system, of course. And for the record, governor, the help is appreciated.
But during Justice's stop in Moundsville on Monday, much of the talk was about secondary roads. Many of those in Marshall County are in deplorable, dangerous condition -- and they continue to deteriorate. One man describing the situation to the governor talked about a seven-mile stretch of road on which there are seven slips or sinkholes.
Justice's reply was brief, but to the point: "All I can tell you is just this: Give me this summer. Give me the time."
That is reasonable. Bad roads in our area cannot be corrected with a snap of the fingers. As state Division of Highways officials pointed out last week, they have begun addressing the secondary road situation with necessary preparation of hundreds of miles of highways. That work includes ditching and rectifying problems with drainage culverts.
But the challenge in Marshall County is greater than in many other regions of the state. And local residents have put up with potholes, sunken sections of pavement and slips that have reduced roads in some places to one lane for long enough. They want to see results -- soon.
Marshall County residents are not unreasonable. They understand it will take time to make all the necessary repairs. But their message to the governor this week was that they have not seen enough evidence of a sense of urgency in the DOH.
That needs to be corrected. Let us hope that Justice, upon his return to Charleston, instructed DOH officials to accelerate the road repair program in Marshall County.