The residents of Sistersville are desperately seeking a revival in business and in population. Yet, when people decide to make this community their new home, some residents do what they can to make the newcomers feel unwelcome.

Just last week, our message board was polluted with blatant examples of the dreaded (born here) mentality that is choking the life out of our community.

At what point do you become a part of the community? At what cost are you accepted into the inner sanctum of society? Since Sistersville General Hospital no longer delivers babies, is the new generation now approaching adulthood held hostage to a technicality? After all, no one is “born” and raised in Sistersville anymore. In the most literal sense, we are all outsiders.

Throughout Sistersville’s history families have moved here and staked their names and reputations on the town. They have given their all to revive and preserve the history that literally seeps from its pores. Though the oil may be long gone and only one derrick remains from the early days of the bygone era, the memories and historical relevance remain in tact.

Don’t be too quick to judge an out-of-towner who wants to breathe new life into our tired town. His or her ideas may be what we need to come bring this community back from the dead.