I was reading about the 2008 Morgan County Photo Contest that will be in the Messenger in May. I have seen the photos from previous years and there are some very good photos. I may even entered some myself this year.
What interested me about this article was the Special Photo Keepsake titled This Is Morgan County. I know there will be some great photos but I wonder if any "real" photos of This Is Morgan County will appear in the paper?
I doubt ones like the "Water Run-off Pond Filled with Shopping Carts" by the Movie Gallery and Food Lion will be one of them. One of our citizens pointed out to me their thoughts about the large hand-painted "For Sale" banner on the side of the old Rag Shop; how bad it looked and that it is one of the first things you see when you come into town.
Saturday I was shown some old pictures od Berkeley Springs and how pretty the town and area once looked, at a time when Berkeley Springs was known across the country.
There is a lot of cleaning up that needs to be done around here. We want tourists to come, but should we attract them with beautiful pictures so when they get here that are agassed at really how dirty and run down the area is?
I do see each year where communities and organizations get together to clean the trash along the roads each year, but more needs to be done.