Passing of a wonderful old pol...
Boater wrote:
West Virginia mourns Underwood
West Virginia Gov. Cecil Underwood greets a joint session of the state
legislature before delivering the State of the State address in
Charleston, W.Va. on Wednesday, Jan.14, 1998. Underwood died Monday at
age 86.
Local and state officials -- whether former political opponents or
allies -- hailed him for his work on behalf of the state's economy,
better roads and senior citizens issues, among other things.
Mostly, though, they paid tribute to him as a keen public servant.
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I first met Cecil Underwood the day after I moved to West Virginia to be
a correspondent for The Associated Press. I was in Huntington, saying
hello to some of the folks of the then locally owned newspaper when the
Sunday managing editor invited me to lunch. On the way over, he was
greeted by Underwood, then long out of office, and I was introduced to him.
Underwood was a great guy to talk to, and a terrific source of news and
gossip on West Virginia politics. He introduced me to John Callebs, who
was the GOP candidate for secretary of state, running against Jay
Rockefeller, and to Ken Hechler, then the area's Democratic U.S.
Congressman. These were all really interesting people, far more
approachable than most of today's pols.
Underwood was never a favorite of the Charleston newspaper. When he
moved out of the governor's office, the paper had someone there snapping
photos. The paper made it appear as if the former gov was carrying out
boxes of liquor, but the reality was there was no move-out allowance and
Underwood had visited a number of liquor stores to get empty boxes.
The year I was in West Virginia, Hechler ran against a local whose real
name I don't recall, but who was known as the Wayne County wooperwill
because he had a radio program on which he made bird calls. Hechler won.
You might have heard of him as the author of a book that was made into a
movie, "The Bridge at Remagen."
Got a video recently from some of my old West Virginia newspaper
buddies...they've formed a bluegrass jug band, with emphasis on the jug.
Sure.
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