CHARLESTON, W.Va. — U.S. Attorney for Southern West Virginia Mike Stuart is ready to hit the road for a listening tour.
The community forums begin this week and will stretch over the next few months, Stuart told MetroNews.
“I want to hear from citizens as to their concerns about their community. We’re going to be taking good notes and there are state, federal and local issues. I may not be able to help on the state and local side but I can help coordinate. I want to hear what the challenges are in these communities,” Stuart said.
The first meeting is set for Tuesday night at the Holiday Inn Express on U.S. Route 60 in Barboursville from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Stuart said he expects open, vigorous discussion.
“It could be any variety of issue. Anything from local school concerns to law enforcement concerns, public corruption. These are citizens and I work for citizens and taxpayers,” he said.
Stuart also expects to hear much about the impact of the opioid crisis.
Stuart said listening is a good thing.
“My dad always told me as I was being raised that if you listen more than you talk you’ll learn a lot. So my goal is, what I do every day, to learn everything I can and where we can take action and help the community we’re going to do that,” Stuart said.
The rest of the October schedule:
Thursday, October 11 – Raleigh County – Raleigh County Convention Center, 200 Armory Drive, Beckley
Tuesday, October 16 – Logan County – Word of Life Church, 518 Mud Fork Road, Logan
Tuesday, October 23 – Putnam County – Teays Valley Church of the Nazerene, 3937 Teays Valley Road, Hurricane
Doors will open at 5:00 p.m. for networking. Each forum will go from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.