A CBS News "60 Minutes II" segment featuring interviews from Marietta about poverty has touched off a debate in the community about whether the area is considered poor and how it is portrayed.
The news segment is scheduled to run in early January. The crew came to Marietta on Nov. 13 to film and interview residents who attended a free food pantry giveaway at Indian Acres Park.
The giveaway had no income guidelines or restrictions and some local officials have expressed concern that the national media exposure might stereotype Washington County as a poor region. Others believe that the segment may do some good by drawing attention to poverty in the area.
Whatever the outcome of the "60 Minutes II" report, local officials are looking at and debating the status of poverty in Washington County. What they are finding is that there have been improvements in some areas for the poor, but also hardships in others -particularly in health care and housing.
Additionally, state poverty numbers show that more than one-third of Ohio's counties are worse off than Washington County, leading some to question why "60 Minutes II" chose this area to film.
Washington-Morgan Community Action Director David Brightbill has worked for 32 years at the area's main aid organization for the poor and said he will wait to see the "60 Minutes II" segment before passing judgment.
"There's a serious issue of poverty in this county, but if their intent is to show that we're a poor backwards county with nothing but poverty, then that's wrong," Brightbill said.
Brightbill also said a lack of food is not Washington County's biggest problem concerning the poor. The need for affordable housing and health care are the county's main problems, he said.
"I have a waiting list of 300 people who need housing vouchers," Brightbill said. He explained that if housing takes up more than 35 percent of a person's income, the person can qualify to receive vouchers to help with housing costs. There is a continuous shortage of housing vouchers, Brightbill said.
Health care and insurance for adults is another major problem, according to Brightbill.
"Ohio has made great strides for children, but for adults it's a different situation," he said. The emergency health care is there in some form, Brightbill said, but everyday health care is not.
"So people aren't starving, but they may be making choices on housing or health care (instead of food), which has increased the demand at the food pantries," Brightbill said.
There is no surefire way to calculate the real amount of poverty in the United States, but the government does collect statistics that provide general numbers. The U.S. Census issues a formula based on total income and persons in a household to determine what it considers to be poverty.
For example, two people younger than 65 with one child need to make less than $12,207 in order to be under the poverty level, the federal government says.
Using Census 2000 figures, Washington County had 7,002 people in 1,534 households, or 11.4 percent of its population, below the poverty level.
The county is just above the state's average of 10.6 percent poverty, but it is better off than 31 of Ohio's 87 other counties with greater poverty levels. Athens County, neighbor to the west, has the state's greatest poverty level at 27.4 percent.
Washington County also has better poverty statistics than the United States average of 12.4 percent poverty. These numbers have some local officials questioning: Why did "60 Minutes II" choose Marietta to do a story about poverty, when there are many other places that could use more help?
"I don't think we're as bad off as some outsiders like to look at us," Family Health Services Director Kathy Boersma said. She fears the "60 Minutes II" story will be slanted, showing long lines of people waiting for food.
Reno resident Charlene McCoy, 38, was one of those in line at the free food giveaway, and she said she didn't appreciate the national media attention.
"The media puts a spin on everything," McCoy said. "Marietta is going to look like a bunch of fools on that program."
McCoy said the media circus delayed what normally takes 30 minutes to get the food, into more than an hour of waiting. She also said the reporters only interviewed those who fit the mold of the program. McCoy said she tried to flag down one reporter to express her opinion, but she was ignored.
"The opinion I had of them being there ... I'm sure they won't be putting that on air," McCoy said.
Boersma said perhaps the best measure of the poverty situation in Washington County is to look at the number of people receiving food stamps.
The number of food stamp recipients has slightly increased in the past two years to 3,955 people a month, but the overall number is still below 1997 figures, which had 4,475 people receiving food stamp aid.
Brightbill said the numbers and statistics will never tell the entire story. He said welfare reform has been both good and bad for those with financial struggles - good that it has more people working, but bad because once they start working, a lot of the aid is taken away.
"Making progress should count to stay on welfare," Brightbill said.
"Today you could drive down the streets of Marietta and find a 'help wanted' sign, but those are jobs that pay $6 to $7 an hour without health benefits. By the time people net that out with a couple of kids, they don't have a lot of money to live on," Brightbill said.
"I'm not sure how they do it, but I know people do it because these are the people who provide us with services we all need every day."
Despite some frustrations with state and federal qualifications for aid, Brightbill said the bright side is that the people of Washington County do a lot to help.
"There is a willingness of people in this area to work together to provide the best services possible with very limited resources," Brightbill said.
Poverty rates
People below U.S. poverty level / percent of population below poverty level
* Washington County - 7,002 / 11.4 percent
* Ohio - 14,728 / 27.4 percent
* United States - 33,899,812 / 12.4 percent
- Source: 2000 U.S. Census