West Virginians must display integrity of success

While it is certainly true that hard times and trials reveal character, often it is during success and prosperity that integrity is revealed.

While it is certainly true that hard times and trials reveal character, often it is during success and prosperity that integrity is revealed.

By most measures, and despite some weather, the return of the Charleston Sternwheel Regatta has been a smashing success. Now in its second year, large crowds attended, vendors were happy, the city showed off areas of itself that have been reinvigorated in recent years, politicians were thrilled, and almost everyone sees the big doings as a good thing.

Almost everyone.

Reporter Kyle Vass, doing some good, old fashioned shoe leather reporting, found some folks definitely not enjoying the Regatta: 25 of them in fact, swept up by law enforcement on the Thursday prior with 16 charged with “sleeping in a public park” and 11 on apparently nothing else. Add in the holiday weekend and a closing of courts, and the Kanawha County Public Defender’s Office reported that those detained would be sitting in South Central Regional Jail with no hope of getting a hearing for nearly a week.