This is where I must set aside whatever other plans I had for today’s column and take up for Southwest Virginia. However, what concerns me more than an audience booing the governor is those who have used this as an opportunity to bad-mouth Southwest Virginia. Of the 20 poorest localities in Virginia, 13 are in Southwest Virginia, and four others are on the fringes. It’s certainly true that the economic pillars across Southwest Virginia — and Southside, too — crumbled about a quarter century ago. The most offensive allegation is that Southwest Virginia has “one of the worst school systems in Virginia.”