The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1922-06-03
RiuesUiIIe mis- ter Mayor
of TolUa, Opposes Change ir1
undaries--ELecti0n IuesdayI
Points Out Advantages Under
Centralized Authority
at This Time.

RIvESvILLE. June 3-"Rives-
Vile citizens must bury the ham
mer and getttogether if they would
have bigger, better, cleaner
Christian community" declared
the Rev. ]. w. Richards, mayor of
Rivesville, this afternoon. in dis
cussing the proposed change of in
corporation limits which would
greatly decrease the population OF
the town.
when the question comes UP
for vote at the town election Tues
day, June g." declared the Rever-
end Mr.. Richards. every loyal,
law-abiding citizen should be back
!, of the city officials in their efforts
to retain the city as it is.
Says Change"is Menace
UNLESS we unite now against
this menace to our town, Rives-
Vile cannot hope for future prog
ress 1t has not been SO many
years ago that local persons can
not remember when Greentown
DRINKS would come over into the
old Rivesville and defy the law.
When officers attempted to arrest
them, the ruffans would run
across the bridge into Greentown,
on county territory, and yell
Come on over here and get us II
you dare!' And the officials could
not go over because they had no
authority outside the town limits.
when Greentown was taken
into the city. this ceased. 1mme-
diately law and order was estab-
lished and Rivesville was made a
fit place to live in. We cannot
allow ourselves to revert to the old
condition.
.If the proposed corporation
limit change is effected, Rivesville
will be reduced from a town of
$500 population to a village of
only 500 or 500. Such small
citizenship will not suffice to raise
sufficient money to offer proper
police protection. We shall be
thrown back to calling upon the
county for aid. And with the
county already doing all it posi-
bly, can, that would not be a GER
tain or safe protection.
Back of County AIen
81 do not mean by that that we
are not back of the county for We
are, but we realize that the county
has too much work to handle al
ready We believe the county
officials are capable and efficient
but they cannot accomplish the
Impossible. Rivesville should be
able to protect itself and is But
it will not be if this proposed
partitioning of the city's territory
is allowed to come about.
How good record the city has
is evidenced by the fact that
during the entire coal strike
period, we have had no trouble of
any kind. Everything has gone
along peacably-and because we
are living according to Christian
principles and trying to have a
good town in which to live.
There are no worthwhile argu-
ments in favor of this extensive
change of corporation lines The
mooted question seems to be the
county bridge proposition. The
Paw Paw Creek bridge is an old
one and must be replaced. Rives-
vile cannot afford to expend the
several thousand dollars neces-
sary. Therefore, say those in
favor of the change, the incorpora-
ton line should be changed.
Line Should BE Changed
Certainly, the corporation line
should be changed, but not in the
manner suggested. The town
government is heartily in favor of
changing the corporation lines
so as to leave the county bridge
outside the city, but not so as to
again make Greentown common
county territory.
I'm fact, there is no reason for
the territory on which the bridge
must be built being included in
the town territory. We do not
need it, and our corporation limit
lines will be better and stronger II
it is left out. But we should not
give up Greentown with it's nearly
1000 citizens.
Another question brought up is
taxes. In reality, the town taxes
in Rivesville are no higher than in
other cities of the same size and
are considerably lower than in a
large number of towns. Taxes are
a question always brought up-no
matter whether they have and re-
lation to the matter discussed or
not. In this case they do not. No
thinking citizen will allow himself
to be hoodwinked by such a
groundlessI charge.
Complaints have been received
that no work is being done on the
roads. I have been in office only
a short time, but already several
hundreds of dollars have been
spent for Improvements. Some of
this work is being done in Green
of it in the old Riyes-s
Vile section.
Financial Condition Good
"The city Is now getting on its
fnarfcial feet. We are reaching