"No one can solve the problems; we must do it ourselves."

(The following are excerpts from a news article written almost fifty-years ago. It reported on the awards banquet held to celebrate Huntington's designation as an All-American City.)

[EDITED]

Herald-Dispatch. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1959

Governor Lauds Do-lt-Yourself Effort
Spirit of City Acclaimed

By BILL WILD

A look ahead at what Huntington citizens have selected as the five top projects they want tackled first climaxed last night’s All-America City Award dinner in the ballroom of the Hotel Prichard. As each project was announced by J. Thomas Campbell, chairman of the celebration committee, a youngster from the Cammack Children's Center carried a poster through the audience to the speaker's table. From a newspaper poll the five most important items are: A new bridge, new industry, a street improvement program, slum clearance and low cost housing, and more aid for education at all levels. This ending for the banquet summarized the spirit that while Huntington won an award for progress in the past 10 years the city's future depends on further achievements.

Governor Cecil Underwood, who said he might move here "because I'll be unemployed in a couple of years," stated that "for too long the people of West Virginia have been content either to just talk about our problems or else close their eyes to them."

"No one else can solve the problems," he said. "We, the people, must do the job." The governor added, “Last night’s event shows the promise of the state and heralds a new era of progress for Huntington, the Ohio Valley and West Virginia."

Fourth District Representative Ken Hechler noted the proximity to Lincoln's birthday and said "the spirit of Lincoln must have dominated those who pulled together to win this award." National Broadcasting Company newscaster David Brinkley, who delivered the main address, captured his audience immediately with the first of a series of humorous remarks. He said. "If Huntington wants to retain its standing as the state's largest city, you'll have to keep busy because from what I hear Charleston is getting ready to annex Wheeling and Cincinnati." Mr. Brinkley also said that he was in Huntington principally "to prove that there is a man left on television who does not carry a gun."

In between the laughter, however, he put across a message that the sometimes irksome “do-gooders" are the ones who “needle, encourage and goad people to do things nobody can do for you, things which you have to do yourself." "From what I have read and heard about Huntington's achievements, "the credit goes to the "do-gooders.”

Huntington's award, announced January 21, but not formally celebrated until last night to permit ample time for preparations for the event, was won on the basis of civic and governmental achievements over a decade, including a shift from Council mayor to Council-City manager form of government, construction of an airport, hospital, four public swimming pools, the cultural center which is the Huntington Galleries, school improvements and street projects, etc.

Among those at the banquet head table last night were Lawrence H. Rogers, president and general manager of WSAZ-TV, who introduced Mr. Brinkley; Mrs. Kirk Heckmann, president of the Huntington Woman's Inter Club Council; Robert R. Tincher, president of the Huntington Chamber of Commerce; Attorney E. Henry Broh, general manager of the city award committee, and Mrs. Harold Frankel, wife of the mayor.

Introductions included the members of City Council, Manager and Mrs. Robert M. Hoisington, Paul G. Blazer, chairman of the executive committee of the Ashland Oil & Refining Co., and M. I. Dunn of Cleveland, vice president in charge of operations of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway.

Greetings to the city were sent from a number of communities in the state. Out-of-town officials who were present for the celebration included a Ravenswood delegation of Mayor W. S. Ritchie and City Administrator Frank Sohn, Logan Mayor Litz McGuire, and Miller Porterfield, president of the Logan Chamber of Commerce.

Marshall College President Stewart H. Smith won applause for his deft work as "coordinator" and master of ceremonies. It was he who kept the balanced program moving at its intended pace to accommodate the split-second timing of the gathering's television schedule.