Let me begin by saying what an overwhelming response I received regarding my experience with State Farm Insurance. Several readers have called my office to express thanks for providing the information. One was still unhappy because State Farm refused to verify their cell phone number as the one, they had on file… even with the explanation that they had the same number for at least the past 17 years.
I’m glad it has helpful. I did receive my confirmation letter last week that I had to sign and return saying that I was authorizing the change in agents. I hope that was the last obstacle. I have insurance that is due, and I refuse to pay it in Summersville.
In case you missed the State Farm number last week or have misplaced your paper… here it is again… 1-800-782-8332.
I know I’m getting old, but I wish people respected a newspaper like they used to. I have complained in this space previously that schools and other groups and organizations don’t let us know about their events which makes it difficult to cover what’s going on in Braxton County to inform the 2/3’s of the population that doesn’t have access to or don’t use the internet. Social media is not an adequate or a reliable substitute.
However, an incident happened recently that further illustrates the problem. Over two weeks ago the Interstate bridge at Burnsville was closed to traffic for some time. We were told about the situation almost immediately. The next morning, I called Braxton Control to see what I could find out. I talked to the 9-1-1 Director which shared as much information as he had with me. He too was pretty much in the dark. He gave me a phone number of the Department of Highways and said they might be able to help. I called the number and found out that apparently the cold weather had created an issue with an expansion joint on the bridge that was damaging motorist’s tires which resulted in the closure. He gave me the number of the DOH Public Information Office and said they could give me more details. He said if I didn’t get through, to leave a message and they would return my call. I did that on Friday.
Monday’s press deadline passed, and I still hadn’t received a return call. On Tuesday, I called again, with the same results, so we didn’t have anything for the Democrat when it went to press.
The following week I received an email with no information that I didn’t already know. It did confirm the bridge was back open to traffic.
So, what could have been a very informative and timely article containing information that residents need to know, didn’t run. That was directly due to the inept public information department at the DOH since they apparently don’t think newspapers are important.
We are not special, but we are still an important part of how citizens get timely and most importantly ACCURATE news. I just wish the bureaucrats recognized it! Sorry, we tried!