More and more West Virginians recognize we cannot hope to realize the prosperity that prevails in the rest of the nation until we adopt policies that invite the sort of investment that would allow us to escape 49th place on the nation’s economic gages.

Yes, we can make tough decisions. Gov. Joe Manchin proved it. We’ve tackled workers’ compensation head on, and West Virginia is on the path to privatizing its broken and failed government system. It’s a work in progress, and we all have a stake in a successful transition to a real-world marketplace of insurance providers.

With such a profound change under way, tax reform seems more possible than ever. But I question whether holding a special session of the Legislature after the Nov. 7 general election to address our tax code is wise or practical. Yes — an emphatic yes — we need tax reform, but we also should be aware that citizens rightfully may question whether lame-duck legislators are the right people to enact reforms of that magnitude.

Who knows what beaten and bitter legislators may do? Who can hold them accountable? And with the leadership of the House of Delegates in transition for the first time in a decade, what will that mean?

Tax reform is an enormous undertaking. We may be better served if the governor and the Legislature slow down the train but make a bullet-proof promise that they are serious about West Virginia’s future. That means enacting tax reform that leads to investment and job creation.

Perhaps their best strategy is to commit to a timetable for change. Such a timetable, I believe, should roll out reforms in stages rather than through a single document that enacts myriad reforms simultaneously.

The Tax Fairness Commission of Gov. Cecil H. Underwood in the late 1990s provided a great template for reform. Its principles, I believe, remain useful. Manchin and the Legislature could review and update that document and then implement the reforms incrementally.

No one said this would be easy. But asking a lame-duck Legislature to take it on may pose some unnecessary difficulties.

***

With all eyes focusing on Morgantown Sept. 2, I wonder what memories the 60,000-plus spectators will carry away from the West Virginia-Marshall football game.

The first of my many Mountaineer football memories came on Nov. 22, 1958. I remember the brisk Morgantown air crackling with excitement. Male students dressed in sports coats and ties and young women in wool suits, some with bright mum corsages, huddled together as they slowly made their way down steep steps to splintery bleachers.

The sing-song chorus from the student section was the strongest taunt in those days. It surely amused the Orangemen from Syracuse:

We don’t give a damn for the state of New York, state of New York, state of New York …

We don’t give a damn for the state of New York …

For we are the Mountaineers …

We are the Mountaineers …

It was the grandest place on earth for an 8-year-old boy from West Virginia. I had found the center of my world at West Virginia University — an institution that would become my alma mater.

The scene today is dramatically different. The good, old days are faded memories. Today, the alcohol flows. Vulgarity gushes. And visiting fans are the targets of malicious taunts.

I’m wasting my breath, I know, but Mountaineer Field today can be a hostile, hateful place. Some football fans seem to confuse vulgarity and virtual hooliganism with loyalty to their school. It’s embarrassing.

Not all fans behave that way in Morgantown. Most don’t. But the obnoxious few — perhaps closet couch-burners — are out of bounds and make it more difficult today for families with children to attend games. Who wants to expose their children to an avalanche of vulgarity and hostility?

I’m not optimistic, but I do recognize that fans at some college stadiums are downright friendly to visitors. And at least one NFL franchise has taken steps to curb rowdy fan behavior. The atmosphere at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati led Bengals management to create a hotline — (513) 381-JERK — through which fans can report obnoxious behavior in the stands. Team officials, who blame alcohol for much of the misbehavior, also have video cameras trained on the stands.

But such an effort would have no bearing on the way West Virginia fans behave outside the stadium. I pity the people who wear the wrong colors into Mountaineer Field.

What should be done? What can be done?

I don’t know. I only know that I would not subject an 8-year-old to such an environment, and that is sad.

Dan Page is editor and publisher of The State Journal. His e-mail address is dpage@statejournal.com.