Requests for heating help up sharply.
The WJP has a very limited website, so here goes:
DSS (Wilkes Department of Social Services) officials and others cited soaring fuel prices and other rising cost of living expenses as primary factors, as well as increased unemployment.
...
"We're seeing more and more people who never applied now applying for assistance," said Lynn Cox, supervisor of the Wilkes DSS...
...
"There are more situations where elderly people are having to choose between heating and eating, on top of medical bills," added Mrs. Cox...
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Mrs. Cox said more Wilkes people with job skills such as carpentry are unemployed.
Officials said they're seeing more instances of extended family members living together due to energy costs and other expenses, including single adults moving in with their parents.
Wilkes DSS Director Donnie Bumgarner said many people getting low income assistance in Wilkes are working but don't earn enough to make ends meet.
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So far this winter, 3,170 Wilkes households have received $292,000 through the low income energy assistance program...
First, a big shout out to the WJP for doing some solid reporting.
Second, why haven't any High Country media outlets called around to the Ashe, Avery, or Watauga DSS offices to determine the extent of the problem in those counties? Does their lack of reporting on the issue mean it doesn't exist?
Third, this is just really sad. Wilkes is a pretty conservative county. We can't help but wonder what Rep. Foxx (R-NC) will do to help these people. Maybe she'll do nothing--after all, that's what a free market is all about: zero government intervention, right?
Well, they might intervene to save a failing bank or two--but that's different.
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