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Kimberly Litman would like to invite friends to her home, but she's embarrassed.

She's not worried about what people would see at her house, but about what they would witness at surrounding properties - garbage and debris, she said.

And it's not just neighboring, trash-filled properties that she's fed up with. Her hometown of Valley Grove and adjacent Triadelphia, she believes, are starting to deteriorate.

Litman recently gave the Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department photographs of 20 different properties she wants cleaned up or torn down. The properties, most vacant, are all located within about 7 miles of each other.

''I don't understand why West Virginia allows this,'' Litman said Monday evening while standing on the side of U.S. 40, staring at a dilapidated building.

A couple of the abandoned structures, she noted, have been rotting for 20 years. But since coming back from Florida where she lived for a dozen years, Litman has noticed more unkempt properties. And seeing them every day while driving on Historic National Road makes her mad.

''I was in Florida for 12 years, and I come back to see all of this ... I don't believe it. It doesn't have to be this way,'' Litman said. ''I just don't get it. West Virginia is a beautiful place to live. What's the reason we can't get them down?''

Before submitting the photos to the health department, Litman said she contacted Gov. Joe Manchin's office and other agencies, including the state Division of Natural Resources about the properties' impact on the environment.

Howard Gamble, health department administrator, said a sanitarian is scheduled to investigate Litman's complaints. She submitted the photos about a week ago, she noted.

However, he said the health department can only do so much. Properties deemed a threat to public health can be dealt with, but the health department cannot enforce building codes. And since Ohio County itself doesn't have public health laws that deal with hazardous structures, the health department is forced to take people to court, if necessary. City of Wheeling building codes and health-related ordinances do not apply to structures outside the city.

For example, recently, a burned-out house deemed a threat to public health was razed at 105 Valley Blvd. A complaint about the structure, which was located outside the city limits between Wheeling and Bethlehem, was lodged with the health department. A fire occurred there last November and left the structure uninhabitable.

Health officials contacted the building's owner, John Evans, who told the department that he planned to have the home razed by June 20. Gamble said the majority of the demolition took place over the weekend. By Monday afternoon the site was cleared, leaving only an empty lot and mailbox.

''They did what we wanted ... that's the overall goal,'' he said.

Now three orange traffic cones, a wheel barrow and yellow caution tape line the sidewalk in front of the empty lot below. If the owner had not kept his promise to raze the building, the health department may have been forced to take legal action. It was considered a public health threat because of its close proximity to other houses.

But in rural settings, Gamble noted, a similar structure may not be considered a threat, depending on its location. Each structure on Litman's list must be considered separately.

Litman said her ultimate goal is for a new state law to be created to address such property and trash problems out in the county.

''As far as I know, these smaller towns do not have similar laws to the Wheeling ordinances we enforce. If they did, those rules could be enforced by the town, or county health department, if the authority is given to us to enforce,'' Gamble said. ''What we use in situations such as these are state rules or laws that protect the public's health. The West Virginia State Code has several sections that give the county health department or health officer the authority to address some of the concerns raised by Kimberly Litman and most recently the home on Valley View Boulevard. We also can refer some of the problems to state or federal agencies that have authority to address a specific problem.''