Weston State Hospital

I was reading up on Weston State Hospital, because I'd like to visit the building this fall. I've only been to see it once, when it was apparently closed for renovations in March, 2008. Since, so much has happened there. There was an episode of ghost hunters filmed there very close to the time that I visited. It has since been (re)named The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, and has a fancy scary website promoting "haunted tours" after dark. Apparently there is a ton of controversy over the name, the tours, the use of the grounds and the building's fate in general.
I think that that is absurd, not simply because I wish to take advantage of the tours offered, (the day-light heritage tour, to be specific,) but because if the building hadn't been purchased, who knows what might have become of it?! I, better than most people my age, know the complications of the movement Kennedy termed "deinstitutionalization". I have done so much research on the history of Kirkbride hospitals, and many, in fact, began as "lunatic asylums" and "asylums for the insane". Though there is a serious stigma attached to such words today, "lunatic" and "insane" were considered appropriate terms in the days leading up to the American Civil War. The appropriate terminology and acceptable vernacular then, of course, were primitive in comparison to the terms we use today, such as "mentally ill" and "psychiatric hospital".
I can understand that the name and present use of the building may be offensive to the survivors of deinstitutionalization: former state hospital residents, their families- even employees- considering Appalachian individuals seem to, in general, have a good understanding of and compassion for the mentally ill. However, I cannot see a better use for the building.
The tours and "sensationalism" of a "haunted hospital" must generate an immense amount of income, much of which must be put toward the upkeep and restoration of the building. Not to mention, the fact that the building is now a privately-owned property listed on the national register of historic places, the yearly property taxes alone must be small fortune. But it isn't about the money. It's about what the money does.
The building is one of the largest hand-cut stone buildings ever constructed. The history of the expert craftsmen who constructed it, the employees who lived and worked there, and the patients that lived their lives inside its walls- all of that is housed there. Why not make it a monument? Why not preserve it the only way that an impoverished economy could? By way of tourism.
There are so many things wrong with West Virginia right now. Strip-mining and mountaintop removal and the corrupt politicians that are in bed with the big companies that fund such evils are parasitic and detrimental to West Virginia's natural resources, natural history and environment. Widespread poverty plagues its rural population and urban population alike. There are not enough jobs, there is not enough money, and funds for public works seem to be very low. West Virginia's economy is largely dependent on tourism. Camping, whitewater-rafting, and other outdoor sports lure vacationers from all over the world to come and see what's so Wild and Wonderful. Mining museums also draw the crowds. But one enormous piece of history has gone unnoticed until recently: Weston State Hospital. It brings in cash for the community as well as its own preservation.
Coming from a city whose "Lunatic Asylum of Southwestern Ohio" stood abandoned (for over a decade?) before being purchased an renovated into a hideous retirement home stripped of all its history, I feel qualified to say that the Jordan family could have done a lot worse with Weston State Hospital. A lot worse.