Oh. This is interesting.
https://blueridgeindependent.com/west-v ... 90-107.htm
West Virginia makes an offer to Virginia's neglected rural counties
3 days ago
byChuck Jackson
Staff Journalist
Sperryville, West Virginia and Brightwood, West Virginia could soon become datelines for newspapers across the country if a proposed resolution currently under consideration by the West Virginia legislature, in Charleston (W.Va.), is approved.
Others, like Madison and Washington, most likely would have to change their names since localities already in West Virginia, have those names.
The state of West Virginia’s legislature - Senate and House of Delegates - have both passed resolutions in their respective bodies and patrons for both hail from the Mountain States’ Eastern Panhandle.
West Virginia Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 2, introduced last Friday by Senator Charles S. Trump IV (R-Berkeley Springs) specifically called on the city of Winchester and Frederick County to join his state, saying an invite was given in 1862 at the height of the War Between the States, and the U.S. Supreme Court backed it up in an 1870 decision that said splitting the western counties of the Commonwealth when Virginia left the Union on the outset of the war, was legal.
Interviewed by The Winchester Star on Monday, President Trump said that his belief of the boundary between West Virginia and Frederick County “is only on paper” as citizens of both states freely travel back and forth daily.
The West Virginia House of Delegates introduced House Concurrent Resolution No. 8, Tuesday, with Patron Gary D. Howell (R-Keyser) sponsoring an invite for all counties currently in the Fifth, Sixth and Ninth Congressional Districts and part of the 10th Congressional District (Winchester City and Frederick and Clarke counties).
Twenty-two Republican delegates and one independent (Berkeley County) signed on as co-patrons, according the the West Virginia Legislature website.
The house resolution clearly speaks of recent Second Amendment locality resolutions passed by over 100 Virginia counties, towns and cities in light of perceived wrongs brought forth by the Democratic-controlled Virginia General Assembly and Executive branches.
The West Virginia house resolution states: “Whereas, In recent days, these tensions have been compounded by a perception of contempt on the part of the government at Richmond for the differences in certain fundamental political and societal principles which prevail between the varied counties and cities of that Commonwealth; and
Whereas, In the latest, and most evident, in this string of grievances, the government at Richmond now seeks to place intolerable restraints upon the rights guaranteed under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution to the citizens of that Commonwealth; and
Whereas, The Legislative body of West Virginia believes that this latest action defies the wise counsel which has come down to us in the august words of our common Virginia Founders: as the government at Richmond now repudiates the counsel of that tribune of liberty, Patrick Henry-who stated to the Virginia Ratifying Convention in 1788 that “The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun.”
The West Virginia resolution concludes by stating, "Whereas, In a spirit of conciliation, the Legislature of West Virginia hereby extends an invitation to our fellow Virginians who wish to do so, to join us in our noble experiment of 156 years of separation from the government at Richmond; and, we extend an invitation to any constituent county or city of the Commonwealth of Virginia to be admitted to the body politic of the State of West Virginia, under the conditions set forth in our state Constitution, specifically, with the consent of a majority of the voters of such county or city voting upon such proposition; and we hereby covenant that their many grievances shall be addressed, and, we further covenant with them that their firearms rights shall be protected to the fullest extent possible under our Federal and State Constitutions; and
Whereas, Providing that the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia shall give its assent to any county or independent city presently part of the Commonwealth of Virginia having the opportunity and ability to do so, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the question of admission, or, the rejection of such admission, of any county or independent city of the Commonwealth of Virginia desiring admission to the State of West Virginia, and a majority of whose qualified voters, voting on the question, have approved such measure, prior to August 1, 2020, shall be submitted to the voters of the State of West Virginia at the next general election to be held in the year 2020.
Such proposal shall be placed upon the general election ballot in the following form: “Shall the following county (or independent city) _____________________(name), currently a constituent part of the Commonwealth of Virginia, be admitted to the State of West Virginia as a constituent county of the State of West Virginia.”
Should the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia give its assent to any county or independent city presently part of the Commonwealth of Virginia having the opportunity to do so, and such county or independent city desiring admission to the State of West Virginia, and a majority of whose qualified voters, voting on the question, not have approved such measure prior to August 1, 2020, but do approve such measure at a later date;
Then, this provision of this Act shall serve as an official request of the Legislature of West Virginia to the Governor of West Virginia to call a special session of this Legislature to provide for a special election to provide for the approval of the admission, or, the rejection of such admission, of such county or independent city; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Legislature directs that the Clerk of the House forward copies of this resolution to the Board of Supervisors of each county in the Commonwealth of Virginia who have voted to become sanctuary counties for firearms rights, and to the Council of each independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia who have voted to become sanctuary cities for firearms rights; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Legislature directs that the Clerk of the House forward copies of this resolution to the Clerk of the House of Delegates and Clerk of the Senate of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia and requests, in a spirit of peace and goodwill, that the General Assembly will allow this measure for the peaceful transfer of peoples and the restoration of harmony to the Virginias; and, further requests, in a continuance of such spirit, that any firearms legislation proposed by that body have an effective date far enough into the future so that this exchange of peoples and territory could be accomplished before the effective date of such legislation."
Locally, in Madison and Rappahannock counties, elected leaders expressed both surprise and intrigue about the West Virginia action.
“That’s wild,” Rappahannock County Supervisor I. Christopher Parrish (Stonewall-Hawthorne District) said via telephone from his Key West, Florida condo where he’s vacationing. “I’m surprised and don’t think something like that is feasible. It does sound like a stretch.
I identify myself as a Virginian, so I would be opposed to it.”
Madison Supervisor Kevin McGhee said he had heard rumblings about it while attending a transportation conference in Washington, DC. Travelling home, Wednesday afternoon, and reached by phone with the question: “How would you like to work for the West Virginia Department of Transportation?”, McGhee’s first quip was, “I hear they have more transportation money than Virginia does.”
But in all seriousness, McGhee - who voted against Madison’s Second Amendment Sanctuary status because he felt he and his fellow board members should have studied the issue instead of voting the same night it was proposed - said he felt the resolutions in the neighboring state had to do with 2A and how local citizens are upset with their Richmond legislators.
“I wouldn’t want to work for WVDOT under those conditions,” McGhee said.
Jackson District Supervisor Ronald L. Frazier - a 2A proponent - laughed when asked if he’d like to live in Viewtown, West Virginia, but the seriousness of the resolutions soon came to light.
“I’ve heard people in our county and around the area who have openly talked about moving to West Virginia,” Frazier said. “If this happened, I guess they wouldn’t have to move.”
Frazier went on talking about the merit but believing constitutionally, the counties in the Piedmont, Shenandoah Valley, Southwest Virginia and Southside Virginia, wouldn’t be allowed such a move legally without first obtaining the concurrence of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Nonetheless, Frazier added, if the legislature continued down the path it’s currently on, more drastic action might evoke a shift of counties.
He compared the goings-on in Richmond to what’s happened in Rappahannock County during the past several years.
“Take John Lesinski’s remarks, Saturday at the county Democratic committee,” Frazier said. The former county board of supervisor member now running as a Democrat for the 5th Congressional District spoke to his former constituents and then answered questions afterwards.
“John talked about how he didn’t know 50 percent of the people who attended the 2A Sanctuary hearing at the high school and how they must have been shipped from outside the county for the meeting,” Frazier said. “I knew most of them and know they’ve stayed in the shadows previously but finally came out when this [2nd Amendment Sanctuary proposal] hit.”
Like Parrish, Frazier said that he really didn’t want a change of address but sees it as a possibility.
“Branches of my family have been in Virginia for a long, long time,” Frazier said. “Some came just before and after the War Between the States and another branch was here before Columbus discovered the Americas.”
The full text of the West Virginia resolution can be read here:
http://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Statu ... illtype=cr
