Another Byrd legacy in Huntington?

We have the Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing, the Robert C. Byrd Bridge, the Robert C. Byrd Center for Rural Health and the Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center. That does not include the Robert C. Byrd Clinical Addition to the VA Medical Center in Spring Valley or the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam on the Ohio River about 30 miles upriver of Huntington.

Is the Robert C. Byrd Clinical Center at hand?

Two days ago, I missed a turn near Ritter Park and detoured over to 14th Street to get where I needed to go. Behind the new clinic built on the site of Fairfield Stadium (Olde Fairfielde to Ernie Salvatore fans), I saw this sign:

So I swung around to the front, and I saw this high up on the building:

What are we to make of this? Will it be the senior senator's name on the building, or maybe the name of his late wife? Is the cover still there because the senator is not healthy enough to travel to Huntington for a ceremony honoring him?

If you look here, you see the place named as the "Byrd Clincial Center," with no first name. The photo of the building on the official Web site must have been taken before the sign was put up o the front.


Whatever is under the cover is too wide to be merely "Byrd" unless we're talking some really, really wide letters.


I checked our archives, and Byrd takes credit for securing earmarks totalling $11 million to cover the $24 million cost of the center. Those numbers could be outdated by now.

Stay tuned.