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THEREGISTER HERALDSaturday, August 17, 2013 Beckley, West Virginia ◆ Single copy: 75 cents

Volume 134Number 59

BRIDGE . . . . . . . . . 9B

CALENDAR . . . . . . . 9B

CLASSIFIED . 11B-14B

COMICS . . . . . . . . 10B

DEAR ABBY . . . . . . 9B

DEATHS . . . . . . . . . 6A

HISTORY. . . . . . . . . 9B

HOROSCOPES. . . . 10B

NEWS OF RECORD 13A

OPINION . . . . . . . . . 4A

SPORTS . . . . . . 1B-5B

STATE & REGION . . 3A

STOCKS . . . . . . . . . 9A

TELEVISION. . . . . . . 9B

INSIDE TODAY

Mostly cloudy.40% chance

of rain.High 73. Low 60.

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WEATHER

F. BRIAN FERGUSON/THE REGISTER-HERALD

You’re the one! Aeryn McGraw, 2, daughter of Scott and Nancy McGraw of Crab Orchard, chooses a rubber duck for a prizeat the Lucky Duck booth at the State Fair of West Virginia. To purchase this picture and to see others, visit our photo store atwww.register-herald.smugmug.com

FAIR FOLK AND FACTS COLUMN AND MORE STATE FAIR PHOTOS ON PAGE 2A

■ ALABAMA WOMEN MISSING SINCE 2000

2 bodies found in storage unitBy Jessica FarrishREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

The remains of two peoplewere discovered Wednesdayat a Summersville storagecompany, but no arrest hadbeen reported by State Po-lice Friday evening.

Alabama authorities be-

lieve the remains could bethose of two women missingfrom there since 2000.

State Police Sgt. R.D. Lillyof the Summersville detach-ment in Nicholas County de-clined Friday to identify thesuspect in the case but saidhe hopes to file charges “inthe very near future.”

Lilly said, the owner ofStor-All storage company onBroad Street contacted po-lice to report what appearedto be a human leg inside aunit into which he looked be-cause the door was unse-cured.

“He saw what he believed tobe a human leg, but he wasn’t

sure,” Lilly said. “He told us hedidn’t know if it was animal orhuman ... but as soon as wesaw it, we knew. There was noquestion.”

After obtaining searchwarrants, troopers discov-ered the decomposed

Awfully fond of you

Countyreeling as judge,official indictedBy John Raby and Vicki SmithASSOCIATED PRESS

WILLIAMSON — Even insouthern West Virginia, wherecorruption is as much a part oflife as coal, people are shockedby allegations that a judge com-mandeered the legal system in ayears-long attempt to frame a ro-mantic rival for crimes he didn’tcommit.

Federal prosecutors indictedMingo County Circuit JudgeMichael Thornsbury on twocounts of conspiracy Thursday,just hours after indicting CountyCommissioner Dave Baisden onextortion charges. Thornsburyattorney Steve Jory declinedcomment while Baisden’s attor-ney did not return messages.

The state Supreme Court hassuspended Thornsbury and hislaw license, and a replacementjudge took over his caseload Fri-day.

Thornsbury is set to appear infederal court in Charleston at 10a.m. Wednesday. Meanwhile,he’s been ordered to surrender

UMWAmembersratify pactat Patriot

Home-bound fourth-grader can attendclasses, hang with her friends, via VGo

■ DOES IT NEED A HALL PASS?

■ MINGO

By Cody NeffREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

She wakes up and getsready for school. Rather thanslip off to the bus, she sitsdown at the computer and ac-tivates her robot avatar, VGo.VGo rolls off its base andthey’re off to class.

This might sound like sci-ence fiction, but this scenariois very real for Hinton Ele-mentary School fourth-graderEllie Rhodes.

Rhodes is isolated to herhome as a result of a compro-mised immune system that isthe result of a bone marrowtransplant. With the help ofher new robotic self, Rhodescan go to school, attend class

and even socialize with herpeers.

The VGo telepresence robotallows its controller audio/video control as well as re-mote-controlled movement.VGo was purchased for use inthe classroom by the SummersCounty Board of Educationwith a grant provided by theHinton Area Foundation. Theschool board confirmed that itis the first in West Virginia toimplement this technology.

VGo got its first test runThursday as Rhodes rolled offto start the fourth grade.Rhodes will be operating therobot from her own computerat home using the remote soft-ware purchased by the school.She will be able to operate the

VGo for the entire school dayon the robot’s 12-hour battery.

Superintendent Vicki Hiner-man says it was SummersCounty business managerJennifer Farley who proposedthe idea of buying the VGo ro-bot after seeing a news storyabout a student in anotherstate using the device to at-tend school.

With the recent news abouta Texas family’s baby monitorbeing hacked, parents mayhave concerns about hackerstaking control over the Inter-net-controlled robot.

“There’s nothing to worryabout,” Hinerman said. “Ifsomething so extreme were

See INDICTED, 13A

See BODIES, 13A

See VGO, 13A

Therobot VGophysicallyattendsclassesfor fourth-grader EllieRhodes at HintonElemen-tarySchool.

By Jessica BordersFOR THE REGISTER-HERALD

FAIRMONT — United MineWorkers of America membershave voted in favor of the agree-ment with Patriot Coal Corp. onlabor contract terms and condi-tions.

On Monday, both entities madeannouncements about the settle-ment, which shows substantialimprovements compared to thechanges to collective bargainingagreements and benefits thatU.S. Bankruptcy Judge KathySurratt-States approved May 29and the contract terms that Pa-triot imposed on July 1.

Approximately 1,800 West Vir-ginia and Kentucky UMW mem-bers, from 13 local unions, votedFriday at their worksites. Activeminers, laid-off miners, and em-ployees who may be off because ofworkers’ compensation injuries

See PATRIOT, 2A

■ 1,800 WORKERS

23-inch CyanMagentaYellowBlackR-H Page XX Jumps

The following is a list of incidentsreported to police agenciesAug. 15; however, the call mayhave resulted in something otherthan what was originally reported.

Beckley Police

Alarm: Robert C. Byrd Drive,South Kanawha Street, OrchardAvenue, Perdue Street, Busi-ness Street, Prince Street,Robert C. Byrd Drive Check welfare: Harper Road Destruction of property: HartleyAvenue, Division Street, Wild-wood Avenue

Disturbance: Third Avenue Domestic dispute: Third Av-enue, Hargrove Street (2), Hart-ley Avenue Drug violation: Joseph Street Falls: South Fayette Street Fight: Mills Avenue, McGinnisStreet Found property: Harper Road Harassing phone call: BarberAvenue

Larceny: Ewart Avenue, TempleStreet, North Eisenhower Drive Missing person: SouthKanawha Street Motor vehicle accident:Stanaford Road, NorthKanawha Street Possible DUI: N. EisenhowerDrive, Robert C. Byrd Drive Prostitution: Third Avenue School zone: Crescent Road,

South Fayette Street Suspicious activity: City Avenue Unwanted presence: BurgessStreet Vehicle towed: G Street Violation of DVP: Ewart Avenue

Raleigh Sheriff

Animal problem: Lanark Breaking and entering: Mount

Tabor, Glen Daniel Disturbance: Crab Orchard,Beaver (2), Harper Heights,Bradley Larceny: Beckley (2), Prosperity Motor vehicle accident: Bolt,Sophia, Beaver, Ghent, Survey-or, Crab Orchard, Pettus Shoplifting: Bradley Unwanted presence: Sprague,Beckley

NEWS OF RECORD

FromPageOne 13ATHE REGISTER-HERALD

Saturday, August 17, 2013www.register-herald.com

Yesterday’s high 77°Yesterday’s low 55°Record high 94° in 2007Record low 45° in 1979,1963,1912

Precipitation (period ending 6 p.m. yesterday)

Sunrise today 6:42 a.m.Sunset today 8:14 p.m.

• For statewide fishing reports on-line, visit: www.wvdnr.gov/fishing/weekly_fishreport.shtm

• For the latest river and stream reports, which are updated at 8 a.m. each day

by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, phone the following numbers:

Bluestone Lake 304-466-0156Lake, New River, Greenbrier River information

Summersville Lake 304-872-5809Lake, Meadow River information

R.D. Bailey Lake 304-664-9587Lake information

• SIX-DAY FORECAST • W.VA. FORECAST

• SEVERE WEATHER, ROAD CONDITIONS

• LAKES, STREAMS, FISHING LOTTERY

To report severe weather, call the National Weather Service toll-free

at 877-633-6772

Current weather and alerts on-line:www.WVVA.com

West Virginia road conditionswww.transportation.wv.gov or

877-WVA-ROAD

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0.00inches

For year29.29inches

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Daily 3: 9-5-8 Daily 4: 2-6-5-1Cash 25:01-16-17-19-23-25

Powerball:Est.: $60 million

Mega Millions:7-13-26-36-46Mega Ball: 37 Est.: $43 million

A1SUD360

remains of two humans,Lilly reported.

The State Medical Ex-aminer’s Office removedthe remains toCharleston for identifica-tion, and Alabama au-thorities were inCharleston Friday to as-sist in identifying the bod-ies, he added.

■ ■ ■Walker County, Ala.,

prosecuting attorney BillAdair said Friday thathis office is investigatinga case involving a motherand daughter who disap-

peared from Jasper, Ala.,in winter 2000.

Sgt. Lilly said that thehome of Wanda FayeKiser, 61, of Sum-mersville, was searched inJuly by Alabama investi-gators, Lilly and Cpl. D.P.White and that the Alaba-ma authorities questionedKiser about the disap-pearance of Mary Cobband her daughter,Wynona Delvecchio.

“They didn’t discoveranything,” Lilly reported.“They didn’t gain anynew information, at thatpoint, on the missing per-sons case that they wereworking.”

Kiser was indicted inAlabama in July on 17

counts of forgery for al-legedly cashing Cobb’srailroad retirement bene-fits and Delvecchio’s al-imony checks, officialsreported.

She had already servedthree years’ probation af-ter a federal judge inWest Virginia found herguilty in 2005 of wirefraud in receiving Cobb’srailroad benefits, accord-ing to Adair. She was al-so ordered to pay morethan $10,000 in restitu-tion to the United StatesRailroad RetirementBoard, according to courtdocuments.

According to Alabamaofficials, their case beganin January 2000 when

Delvecchio was livingnext door to Kiser in amiddle-class subdivisionin Jasper, Ala.

Delvecchio’s motherwas staying at theShadecrest Health CareCenter, a nursing homein nearby Mobile, Ala.

When Delvecchio, whowas reported to be in her80s, fell in 2000 andbroke her ankle, Kiserdiscovered her.

Delvecchio’s doctorsplaced Delvecchio tem-porarily at the samenursing home as hermother.

Two or three weeks in-to Delvecchio’s stay atShadecrest, Alabama po-lice alleged, Delvecchio

checked herself out of thehome, with the help ofKiser.

Within a week, Delvec-chio had checked Cobbout of the nursing home.

Neither of the womenhas been seen since then,Alabama official sourcesreported.

The case became amissing persons case inJune 2003, when an in-vestigator with the Unit-ed States Railroad Retire-ment Board tried unsuc-cessfully to contact Cobb.

Alabama authoritieslearned of Kiser’s arreston the wire fraud chargesthrough federal agents.When Adair becameprosecuting attorney, he

re-opened the investiga-tion into women’s disap-pearances and enlistedthe help of West VirginiaState Police to chargeKiser with the 17 forgerycharges related to cash-ing Cobb’s retirementchecks and Delvecchio’salimony checks.

Currently, Alabama of-ficials said, Kiser is fight-ing extradition to Alaba-ma on the forgerycharges.

Alabama Gov. RobertBentley has formally re-quested that Gov. EarlRay Tomblin extraditeKiser back to WalkerCounty, Adair said.

— E-mail: [email protected]

BODIESContinued from 1A

his passport, to give upany weapons and toavoid contact withdozens of potential wit-nesses, including anoth-er judge, county officials,five state troopers andprominent multimillion-aire industrialist James“Buck” Harless.

Both Thornsbury andBaisden are free on$10,000 bond whileawaiting trial, but the in-dictments were painfulnews in a communitystill reeling from the as-sassination of its sheriffin April.

The indictment saysThornsbury tried between2008 and 2012 to frameRobert Woodruff forcrimes including drug pos-session, larceny and as-sault. The judge had beenhaving an affair with hissecretary — Woodruff’swife, Kim — and he triedto eliminate the competi-tion after she tried tobreak things off, it says.

The schemes involveda state trooper, the coun-ty emergency servicesdirector and anotherman, the indictmentsays, but none of thempanned out.

Thornsbury faces up to20 years in prison if con-victed, and a lawyer forthe Woodruffs says hecan also expect a civillawsuit.

“My client should nev-er have been placed un-

der the stress of beingcharged criminally,” saidCharleston attorney MikeCallaghan, “nor should hehave spent time in jail forcrimes he did not commit.

“As a lawyer, I knewsomething was wrong,”he said. “But never inmy wildest dreams did Ifathom the reason forthe prosecution.”

The indictment saidThornsbury, 57, wanteda friend to plant a mag-netic metal box contain-ing drugs on RobertWoodruff’s vehicle in2008. The friend didn’tgo through with it.

When that failed, pros-ecutors said the judge gotthe trooper to file a falsecomplaint against RobertWoodruff for larceny. Thejudge wanted the trooperto pursue a case againstWoodruff for salvagingmine-roof drill bits andscrap from the companyhe worked for, though hehad permission to do so.

Thornsbury had be-friended the trooper and“purposely cultivated arelationship” to influ-ence how he carried outhis duties, the indict-ment said.

The officer, namedtrooper of the year in2009, was placed on ad-ministrative leave pend-ing an internal investi-gation, said State Policespokesman Sgt. MichaelBaylous.

County ProsecutorMichael Sparks inter-vened in the larcenycase. He knew of the af-fair and “recognized that

the criminal chargesagainst Woodruff wereimproper,” the indict-ment said.

The late sheriff, Eu-gene Crum, was workingas magistrate at thetime and dismissed thelarceny case.

Thornsbury also tappeda friend, the county’semergency services direc-tor, to become the grandjury foreman, according tothe indictment.

The judge allegedlywrote subpoenas and hadthe grand jury issue themto help get private infor-mation about Woodruff.That scheme was exposedwhen one of the business-es refused to cooperate.

And when RobertWoodruff became thevictim of an assault lastyear by two men, thejudge arranged forWoodruff to be identifiedas the perpetrator.

The county prosecutordismissed the charges.

U.S. Attorney BoothGoodwin said none ofthe men accused of help-ing Thornsbury in his“campaign to persecute”Woodruff will becharged. However, hesaid, “the investigationinto Mingo County cor-ruption is ongoing.”

Mingo County has along history of violenceand government corrup-tion. It’s the home of thelegendary feud betweenthe Hatfield and McCoyfamilies, and wasdubbed “Bloody Mingo”when unionizing minersbattled security agents

and coal companies inthe early 20th century.

In 1988, former sheriffJohnie Owens was con-victed of selling his officefor $100,000.

In 2002, the countyclerk resigned to avoidprosecution over mattersthe prosecutor had beeninvestigating, includinguse of a governmentcredit card for personalreasons and overcharg-ing for expenses.

In 2007, the prosecu-tor was admonished bythe State Bar for sub-poenas his office issuedfor a county commission-er’s financial records.

In February, a womanwas charged with tippingpeople off about indict-ments while she servedon the grand jury.

Meanwhile, Baisden,the county commissioner,was accused of trying tobuy tires for his personalvehicle at a governmentdiscount, then terminat-ing the county’s contractwith Appalachian Tirewhen it refused to cooper-ate. Baisden, 66, was re-leased on $10,000 bondand ordered not to dis-cuss the case with anywitnesses, including hisfellow commissioners.

In April, Mingo Coun-ty’s sheriff was shottwice in the head, in aspot in downtownWilliamson where Crumfrequently had lunch.

The suspect, TennisMelvin Maynard, is fac-ing first-degree murdercharges. The motive hasnot been revealed.

INDICTEDContinued from 1A

ever to happen, there is apower switch on the ro-bot’s base that can forceit to shut down.”

■ ■ ■According to its web-

site, VGo’s underlyingtechnology is very sophis-ticated, but to the user,it’s very simple and notraining is required.

Ellie will bring up theVGo App on her comput-er, click on the locationshe needs to visit — andinstantly she is there.

VGo connects to thenetwork (Internet) usingWiFi or Verizon 4G LTEservice. VGo is continual-ly monitored by a pur-pose-built cloud-comput-ing network (VGoNet)that keeps track of itsavailability and initiatestelepresence upon re-quest by a remote user.

VGoNet uses its intel-

ligence to establish thebest connection throughthe network to providethe highest possible qual-ity.

The upper part of theVGo is what people lookat and is where all theaudio and video is cap-tured, processed and pre-sented.

Driving VGo is simple— just drag the mousepointer and VGo movesin that direction. Drag itmore and the VGo movesfaster. Keyboard arrowkeys will also move it.

The camera is tilted us-ing the scroll wheel onthe mouse or the key-board.

■ ■ ■The Hinton Area Foun-

dation is a nonprofit, com-munity foundation organ-ized to encourage philan-thropic giving and to pro-vide a common source forcontributions to benefitthe local community.


VGOContinued from 1A

VGoNet establishesthe best connectionthrough thenetwork toprovide thehighest possible quality.

VGoNet

Editor’s note: The following article ispart of the West Virginia Press Associa-tion’s series on the “Our Children, OurFuture” Coalition. Journalist GeorgeHohmann is following the coalition’s ef-forts, providing reports from its organiza-tional meetings this month through itsattempts to have impactful legislationpassed during the 2014 session of theWest Virginia legislative session.

By George HohmannWVPA REPORT

CHARLESTON — Organizers ofa grassroots campaign to improvekids’ health and fight child povertyin West Virginia through astatewide call to action hope tobuild momentum this week andhelp set the agenda for the nextsession of the Legislature.

Started last year by kids’health and anti-poverty advo-cates, the campaign — now oper-ating under the banner “OurChildren, Our Future” — is aloose coalition of groups includ-ing unions, chambers of com-merce, faith groups, lawmakers,and kids and families them-selves.

The “Our Children, Our Fu-ture” coalition won five victoriesor partial victories in the Legisla-ture earlier this year, saidStephen Smith, executive directorof the West Virginia Coalition forHealthy Kids and Families.

Smith’s Healthy Kids and Fami-lies Coalition was created in 1998to push the Legislature to createthe Children’s Health InsuranceProgram, known as CHIP, in WestVirginia. That effort succeeded.“West Virginia is seventh in thecountry in terms of enrollment,”he said.

“About one-and-a-half yearsago, our board said, ‘On the onehand, poor kids in West Virginiahave health care and that’s great.But on the other hand, in almostevery other way, poor kids areworse off than when we started 14

years ago.“As we were

having that con-versation inter-nally, other or-ganizations werehaving similarc o n v e r s a t i o n sabout ‘Whatwould it look likeif we had astatewide cam-

paign that was explicitly notabout one issue or area but wastackling the problem of childpoverty more broadly? Whatwould that look like, how wouldyou do it, who would be a part ofit?’

“We don’t care about political af-filiation. As long as you’re willingto work and you care about havinga state where kids don’t grow upin poverty, come and learn how tomake policy and win policy. Thisis especially for students, familiesand teachers — people who careabout the issues. Come get theskills.”

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THEREGISTER HERALDSunday, August 18, 2013 Beckley, West Virginia ◆ Single copy: $1.50

Volume 134Number 60

BRIDGE. . . . . . . . . . 7E

CALENDAR . . . . . . . 7A

CLASSIFIED . . . . 4C-8C

COMICS . . . . . . . INSIDE

DEAR ABBY . . . . . . 4E

DEATHS . . . . . . . . . 6A

HISTORY. . . . . . . . . 5E

HOROSCOPES . . . . . 6E

NEWS OF RECORD . 8A

OPINION . . . . . . . . . 4A

SPORTS . . . . . . 1D-8D


STOCKS . . . . . . 3B-4B


INSIDE TODAY

Cloudy with a 50% chance

of rainHigh 72. Low 61.Details, Page 8A

WEATHER

WHEN ALL YOU CAN DO IS ‘TRI’

HOLIDAY SEESHERD O-LINEAS A STRENGTH

Smith

See CAMPAIGN, 5A

F. BRIAN FERGUSON/THE REGISTER-HERALD

Siblings Hallie Marie Bess, 3, left, and older brother Frank Bess, 5, center, both of Beckley, get fitted for freeshoes from volunteer Ella Cox during Saturday's Day of Hope event at the YMCA Soccer Complex.

By Jessica FarrishREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

Nicholas County Prosecutor P.K. Milamsaid Saturday that a woman whom policesought to question about an elderly motherand daughter missing from Alabama will becharged in West Virginia with two counts ofillegally disposing of a dead body.

Wanda Kiser, 61, was charged in July byAlabama authorities with 17 counts of for-gery for allegedly cashing checks that be-

longed to 105-year-old MaryCobb and her daughter,Wynona Delvecchio, 84, ofJasper. The women were re-ported missing in 2003, ac-cording to Alabama offi-cials.

West Virginia State Po-lice discovered the remainsof two bodies Wednesday at

a Summersville storage company. Milamsaid arrest warrants were issued in thehours following the discovery, but whentroopers went to arrest Kiser, she had “tak-en a bunch of pills.”

Milam added that Kiser is hospitalizedand will be arrested once she is released. Noadditional charges related to the bodies willbe filed against Kiser in Nicholas County,he said. He added that additional chargesmay be filed in Alabama.

Kiser is fighting extradition to Alabamaon the forgery charges, and the governor ofAlabama has asked Gov. Earl Ray Tomblinfor assistance.

Charges tobe filed inillegal bodydisposal Hospitalized woman tobe arrested upon release

By Wendy HoldrenREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

Day of Hope started out withgoals of 750 volunteers, 3,000guests and 35,000 pounds of donat-ed food, but just after 1 p.m. Satur-day, those goals were exceeded.

Nearly 1,000 volunteers cameout to support the Beckley Day ofHope at the YMCA Paul ClineYouth Soccer Complex, and over3,150 people participated in theevent.

The event provided free food, aswell as medical and dental servicesto anyone who was in need.

Pastor John Jordan with Cal-vary Assembly of God got in touch

with Convoy of Hope, a nonprofitorganization that provides re-sources to help communities meetphysical and spiritual needs, to co-ordinate the event.

“I’ve had a desire and a dream todo this for 10 years,” Jordan said.

“It’s been an amazing, surrealand incredible experience.”

He said “you have to be blind”not to see the need in the commu-nity.

“It’s not just Beckley, it’s every-where. People are having hardtimes across the board.”

He said all the people he had theprivilege of speaking with werevery appreciative and thankful forthe Day of Hope.

“We thank them, too — they’rethe whole reason we’re here.”

The Wallace family certainly hada fun-filled day, as they were allsmiles after having a family por-trait taken.

“We heard about the eventthrough our church,” Todd Wallacesaid.

His wife, Rachel Wallace, andtheir kids, Neighla, 10, and Hecca-kyah, 8, enjoyed coming out andspending some quality family timetogether.

“It’s great to have fun, to see di-versity and to see everybody cometogether,” Wallace said.

Day of Hope accomplishes goals

By Cody NeffREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

Seventeen years ago, it was decided thatthe Appalachian Arts and Crafts Fair neededto be expanded. This expansion aimed tomake the fair into a communitywide eventthat would include multiple events and part-nerships with businesses and organizations

in the area. This combina-tion began the Ap-palachian Festival.

The AppalachianFestival is typicallyheld throughoutRaleigh County overthree days in late

August each year. Thisyear the festival will be Aug. 23-25. The fes-tival helps to advance the Beckley-RaleighCounty Chamber of Commerce’s goal of giv-ing visitors the opportunity to “see it all” inone stop.

Kiser

See KISER, 8A See HOPE, 8A

Coalition fighting to reduce child poverty Appalachian Festival slated to kick off Friday

See FESTIVAL, 8A

23-inch CyanMagentaYellowBlackR-H Jumps Page 8A

The following is a list of inci-dents reported to police agen-cies Aug. 16; however, the callmay have resulted in some-thing other than what was origi-nally reported.

Beckley Police

Assault: Harper Road Check welfare: Hager Street,Harper Road, South KanawhaStreet Destruction of property: Lau-rel Terrace Disturbance: Harper Road,Beckley Plaza Drug violation: South FayetteStreet (2), Vine Street DUI: Klaus Street

Harassment: Hylton Lane Larceny: South EisenhowerDrive, Calloway Street Motor vehicle accident:North Eisenhower Drive (2),McCulloch Drive, BeckleyCrossing, Robert C. Byrd Dri-ve (2), Johnstown Road MVA leaving the scene:Robert C. Byrd Drive Prowler: South Kanawha

Street Reckless driving: SouthEisenhower Drive, East Beck-ley Bypass, Reservoir Road Suspicious person: Larew Av-enue, Bibb Avenue, GalleriaPlaza, Hager Street Unwanted presence: SouthKanawha Street

Raleigh Sheriff

Breaking and entering: Mid-way (3), Stanaford Burglary: Beckley Check welfare: Fairdale,Daniels, Glen Daniel (2),Shady Spring, White Oak Disturbance: Coal City, West-view, Bradley, Sophia Drug violation: Shady Spring,Tolleytown, Dameron Larceny: Calloway Heights,

Sandlick, Stanaford, Rhodell,Fitzpatrick Motor vehicle accident: San-dlick, Sophia Possible DUI: Beckley Prowler: Raleigh, ProsperityReckless driving: Eccles,Glen Daniel Shots fired: Clear Creek, Mid-way Unwanted presence: Bradley

NEWS OF RECORD

FromPageOne8A THE REGISTER-HERALD

Sunday, August 18, 2013 www.register-herald.com

Yesterday’s high 70°Yesterday’s low 55°Record high 96° in 1988Record low 41° in 1914













at 877-633-6772



877-WVA-ROAD




0.00inches

For year29.29inches

For month4.47inches

Daily 3: 3-1-5 Daily 4: 2-7-9-7Hot Lotto:7-17-27-37-39Hot Ball: 9Est.: $1.15 million

Powerball:18-21-46-54-56Powerball: 23Est.: $60 million

A1SUD360

F. BRIAN FERGUSON/THE REGISTER-HERALD (2)

Convoy of Hope volunteers hand out free groceriesduring Saturday's Day of Hope event at the YMCA Soc-cer Complex.

Earl Bennett, 3, of Pax gets a back-to-school haircutfrom Brenda Edwards during the Day of Hope event.

West Virginia StatePolice Sgt. R.D. Lillysaid Friday that theowner of Stor-All storagecompany on BroadStreet contacted police toreport what appeared tobe a human leg inside aunit into which helooked because the doorwas unsecured.

It is unclear who holds

the lease on the storageunit.

“He saw what he be-lieved to be a human leg,but he wasn’t sure,” Lillysaid. “He told us he did-n’t know if it was animalor human ... but as soonas we saw it, we knew.There was no question.”

After obtaining searchwarrants, troopers dis-covered the decomposedremains of two humans,Lilly reported.

The State Medical Ex-aminer’s Office removed

the remains toCharleston for identifica-tion, and Alabama au-thorities were assistingin identifying the bodies,he added.

Lilly said Kiser’s homewas searched in July byAlabama investigators,Lilly and Cpl. D.P. Whiteand that the Alabamaauthorities questionedKiser about the disap-pearance of Cobb andDelvecchio.

“They didn’t discoveranything,” Lilly report-

ed. “They didn’t gain anynew information, at thatpoint, on the missingpersons case that theywere working.”

Kiser was convicted infederal court in 2005 ofwire fraud for receivingand cashing $10,000 ofCobb’s United StatesRailroad RetirementBoard benefits. Kiserserved three years’ pro-bation in Nicholas Coun-ty on that charge.


KISERContinued from 1A

The main attractionof the Appalachian Fes-tival is the Arts andCrafts Fair, which is inits 49th year. Morethan 100 vendors willbe there this year tosell their hard workand will have every-thing from quilts andpottery to sculpturesand wood works. Foodslike kettle corn, roastedpeanuts, and steaksandwiches are alsomade by the fair’s arti-sans.

With half-a-centuryworth of history underits belt, the fair hastouched the lives of en-tire family generations.

“We had sold to thefamilies of children instrollers and now thosechildren have grown upand brought their ownkids to the festival,”stained-glass crafterJudy Bailey said.“We’ve been doing theArts and Crafts Fair foraround 25 years now.”

Bailey runs a craftstand that produceseverything from gardenlights to bird feeders.

“We started glass-work as a hobby andpeople just wanted ourcrafts more and more,”Bailey said. “We could-n’t give our crafts toeveryone, but we wouldsell a little bit. We oncewent to the Charlestonshow and sold out all ofour crafts on the firstnight, which was a lit-tle embarrassing,” Bai-ley added with a laugh.

Bailey says that theChamber of Commercehas worked hard toavoid turning the fairinto a regular market-place.

“All of the crafts thateveryone makes are al-ways so nice,” Baileysaid. “It’s not a bunchof cheaply made jewel-ry like you’d find insome shows. Peoplecome to the Appalachi-an Craft Fair for quali-ty items.”

Bailey and her hus-band may have beencontributing to the fairfor 25 years, but theyshow no signs of slow-ing down.

“My husband and Iwill keep exhibiting inthe fair for as long aswe feel healthy,” Baileysaid. “It’s nice to have ahobby that keeps meactive, and I certainlydon’t feel my age. All ofthe people that we’vemet through the fairhave just been fantas-tic.”

Aside from the Artsand Crafts Fair, theAppalachian Festivalalso features daily mu-sical entertainmentthat is said to rangefrom traditional Celticmusic to bluegrass.

Those who attend theArts and Crafts Faircan also take their tick-et to the Beckley Exhi-bition Coal Mine to re-ceive a tour at a re-duced group rate. Tick-ets can also be present-ed at the Cliffside Am-phitheatre to receivediscounted tickets tosee “Rocket Boys, theMusical.”

Ellen Taylor, presi-

dent and CEO of BRC-CC, said she and herstaff always look at thisevent as kind of a lastsummertime hurrah.“It’s a fun three daysfor the community andit is a very family-ori-ented event.”

Arts and Crafts Fairhours are from 10 a.m.to 8 p.m. Friday andSaturday and fromnoon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Other weekendevents include artistsdemonstrations and ajuried art exhibit from11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridayand Saturday at theCynthia Bickey Galleryinside Beckley Art Cen-ter on Johnstown Road.

The gallery will alsohost a Make and TakeWorkshop from 11 a.m.to 4 p.m. in whichadults and children cancreate a small water-color painting to takehome.

Another Make &Take, this one a tradi-tional mountain craft,will be from 10 a.m. tonoon at the Youth Mu-seum of Southern WestVirginia.

A coal mining photoexhibit by GeorgeBragg will be shown atCrossroads Mall.

The big event of theevening will be theTaste of Appalachia, ablock party showcasingthe flavor and music ofAppalachia in Beckley’sHistoric District. In ad-dition to cuisine fromlocal restaurants, therewill be performances byClinton Collins & theCreek Boys and theNew River Jazz Bandin Uptown Beckley at

Main and Nevillestreets from 6 to 9 p.m.

Another evening ac-tivity is the HistoricBeckley Ghost Tour,which explores localhistory and unusualhappenings. The tourtakes from 60 to 90minutes and starts infront of the RaleighCounty Courthouse.

A variety of activitiesin the New River GorgeNational Park areavailable as well, in-cluding ranger-led ac-tivities to learn moreabout nature.

Craft demonstrationsof textiles and turnedwood will be availablefrom 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.each day of the festivalat Tamarack.

An Oldies Car Showby Shade Tree CarClub will be Sunday atCrossroads Mall; regis-tration is from 10 a.m.to noon and the showwill be from noon to 6p.m.

Tours of HistoricWildwood House, homeof Beckley’s founder,Gen. Alfred Beckley,showcase materials dat-ing back through the19th century and a dollcollection. Hours are 1to 4 p.m.

Tamarack will haveits weekly Sunday@Two performance fea-turing Bobby Maynardand Breakdown.

■ ■ ■For more informa-

tion, including ticketprices, visit www.ap-palachianfestival.net orcall the Beckley-Raleigh Chamber ofCommerce at 304-252-7328.

FESTIVALContinued from 1A

The kids especially en-joyed the “Kids Zone,”where they played in thebounce house, slid downthe slide and even gottheir faces painted.

The event was filledwith local volunteersfrom 15 churches and ahost of various business-es and organizations,but one young volunteerhailed all the way fromSouth Africa.

Fresh out of highschool, soccer playerDundas Clark said he isstaying with an Ameri-can family in Danielswhile he works withConvoy of Hope.

“It’s always nice toserve and to work withkids,” Clark said.

“It’s wonderful toserve Jesus.”

Over 750 people tookadvantage of free healthservices offered at theevent — everything

from dental and visionscreenings to mentalhealth and diabetes edu-cation.

Wes Dangerfield andPastor Jason Lowehelped organize themedical staff on site Sat-urday.

Sam’s Optical offeredthe eye screenings,Beckley ARH and FMRSprovided mental healtheducation, and dentistDr. Greg Harvey andDr. Brett Eckley were onsite for dental screen-ings.

Local LPNs were alsoon site to offer theirservices.

“We feel from a churchperspective, that’s whatwere here to do. We’rehere to help,” Lowe said.

“There are so manyvolunteers, so manyphysicians, and it’sgreat to see them volun-teer their time.”

Dangerfield added,“It’s a tremendous bless-ing.”


HOPEContinued from 1A

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WEATHER

‘Urbanized area’designation putspublic transitfunds in jeopardyBy C.V. MooreREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

Public transit in Raleigh and Fayette coun-ties is at risk of going away unless leaders finda way to negotiate a new funding landscape.

A new “urbanized area” from Beckley intoFayetteville was revealed by the 2010 census.

The urbanized designation is having the un-intended consequence of endangering publictransit services. When the area was rural,state funding helped match a federal invest-ment in transit, but the new urban designationtakes those state funds off the table.

Now, local leaders are struggling to find away to come up with the difference so thatservices can be maintained. This is difficult inan area where small municipal governmentsare struggling for cash as it is.

“We’re very likely looking at some kind oftransportation levy because as far as I’maware, none of the counties and towns havethe money to put in,” said W.D. Smith, execu-tive director of the Region 4 Planning and De-velopment Council.

“The lack of funding is the big gorilla in theroom,” says David Cole, Smith’s counterpart inRegion 1.

The situation will play out differently inRaleigh and Fayette counties, which currentlyhave separate public transit systems.

In Fayette County, Mountain Transit Au-thority (MTA) now provides bus service. It is arural transit authority that also serves Web-ster, Greenbrier, and Nicholas counties.

There are contradictory signals as to itsplans going forward.

At a meeting of the Metropolitan PlanningOrganization (MPO) Monday in Beckley, Colereported that the MTA recently announcedthat its board no longer wanted to provideservice in Fayette County.

Farm fresh

RICK BARBERO/THE REGISTER-HERALD

Jerry Wiley sits on his truck along W.Va. 10 in Pineville Monday selling his dou-ble sweet corn while trying to escape the rain. He said he sold 140 dozen.

Experts called into help ID remainsof Nicholas bodiesBy Jessica FarrishREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

The West Virginia State Medical Examin-er’s Office called in experts from Washington,D.C., to help identify two sets of human re-mains found Wednesday in a Nicholas Countystorage unit, an Alabama prosecutor saidMonday.

Walker County District Attorney Bill Adairadded that Wanda Kiser, 61, of NicholasCounty, for whom arrest warrants were is-sued in Nicholas County for two counts of ille-gally disposing of a dead body, remained hos-pitalized in Summersville Monday morning.

Nicholas County Prosecutor James Milamsaid Saturday that when law enforcementwent to her house to serve the warrants, theyfound she “had taken a bunch of pills.” Shehas been hospitalized since.

Adair did not say whether the storage unitwas leased to Kiser, who is charged in Alaba-ma with 17 counts of forgery for allegedlycashing retirement checks belonging to MaryCobb, 105, and alimony checks of Cobb’sdaughter, Wynona Delvecchio, 84, of Jasper,Ala.

Regional Jailsto lose moneywhen inmatesmove to SalemBy Mannix PorterfieldREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

CHARLESTON — Courtfees are on the decline, andonce the new prison over-crowding law starts to havean impact, the Regional JailAuthority stands to lose sig-nificant income, lawmakerslearned Monday.

Already, Regional Jail Di-rector Joe DeLong said, hisagency will seean $8 millionloss in revenueonce 450 state-sentenced in-mates aretransferred toa prison inSalem.

This year,the Legisla-ture enactedSB371 withvarious provi-sions intendedto ease over-crowding, andthis will signif-icantly trimthe revenuespaid into hisagency by the counties for theupkeep of inmates.

DeLong was joined at an in-terims meeting of the Legisla-tive Oversight Committee onRegional Jail and Correction-al Facility Authority by hisagency’s chief financial offi-cer, Tony Atkins.

As of June 30, Atkins toldthe panel, the authority hadtotal net assets of $118 mil-lion, and $20.6 million in re-stricted cash, including an an-nual installment of $8.9 mil-lion in bond debt payments.

With eight more years leftto satisfy a remaining bonddebt of $56.4 million, Atkinspointed out that the only ded-icated source of meeting thesepayments is money collectedin court fees.

DeLong pointed out thatmoney paid by counties can-not, by law, be applied to thebonded indebtedness, butsuch payments can only bemet with court fees. The perdiem payments by countiesmust be spent on general op-erating costs.

“We’ve had a funding deficitthe past seven years of almost$5.6 million in court fees tomake our debt payments,” hesaid.

Atkins told the committeethat as of July 1 next year,the agency’s financial state-ment must begin to reflect thepension liability, but he could-n’t project what that numberwill be.

House Government Organi-zation Chairman Jim Mor-gan, D-Cabell, asked Atkins ifhe could provide a ballparkfigure on what the pension li-ability would be, but the fi-nancial officer couldn’t.

“Not a wild guess?” Morganpersisted.

“I do not,” Atkins said, butthen added, “It’s not going tobe a small number.”

Lawmakers leaving this week tolearn about ‘future fund’ in N.D.By Mannix PorterfieldREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

CHARLESTON — Hoping toavoid repeating the mistakes of thepast, when billions of dollars in coalproduction largely went to out-of-state corporations, a delegation ofWest Virginia lawmakers heads toNorth Dakota this week to learnabout creating a future fund.

In mind is a special account to befed by taxes imposed on the fledg-ling Marcellus gas in-dustry and oil produc-tion.

“It’s financially re-sponsible to save forthe future,” Sen.Daniel Hall, D-Wyoming, one memberof the entourage, saidMonday.

“Look at what we’ve been able todo with the Rainy Day Fund. Wedon’t spend that money unless it'san emergency situation, like disas-ter relief.”

In this year’s legislative session,SB167, the proposal advanced bySenate President Jeffrey Kessler,D-Marshall, never came to a vote inthe Senate.

Kessler arranged the Wednes-day visit to Bismarck to see howNorth Dakota set up and hasmanaged its own future fund, onethat has swelled to $1.3 billion in

only four years.“We don't want to hamper the gas

industry,” Hall said.“But we also don’t want to do

what coal did to McDowell,Wyoming and Boone counties in the1930s. People didn’t think and mil-lions — actually, billions by today’sstandards — worth of coal was pro-duced in southern West Virginiaand it all went to New York andPittsburgh.”

Hall acknowledged that coal wasa financial blessing tosome extent but saidthe state could havefared much better hadpeople looked to thefuture rather than thepresent.

“McDowell Countywas one of the richestand most productive

counties for several decades in thecountry in the early part of the1900s,” the 9th District senatorsaid.

“Now, it’s one of the poorest.There's no real infrastructure.”

Hall said governments are facingpotentially tough times, particular-ly with the “legacy costs,” of post-employment benefits and pensions.

“This could help alleviate some ofthose problems with the state downthe road,” he said.

See TRANSIT, 11A

See BODIES, 11A

“It’s financially responsible to save

for the future.”

SEN. DANIEL HALL,D-Wyoming

See FUND, 11A

2013Legislature

On Page 2A■ More from

Legislative interims

See JAILS, 11A

23-inch CyanMagentaYellowBlackR-H Page XX Jumps

The following is a list of inci-dents reported to policeagencies Aug. 18; however,the call may have resultedin something other thanwhat was originally reported.

Beckley Police911 hang-up: Vine Street,Woodlawn Avenue Alarm: Robert C. Byrd Drive(2), Johnstown Road, S.Oakwood Avenue (2), Rus-sell Street Assault: Harper Road Attempt to locate: Maple-wood Lane Business check: AdairStreet Check welfare: HarperRoad, Third Avenue, RobertC. Byrd Drive Domestic dispute: Wood-lawn Avenue, Foster Avenue,S. Kanawha Street

DUI: Neville Street Fight: Oakwood Avenue Firework complaint: ParkAvenue Harassment: Orchard Av-enue Intoxicated person:Kessinger Street, S. Eisen-hower Drive Juvenile problems: S.Fayette Street Larceny: Hull Street (2) Leaving the scene of an ac-cident: Harper Road Mental/Emotional PS: HillStreet Motor vehicle accident:Harper Road Noise complaint: RailroadAvenue Parking complaint: N.Eisenhower Drive (3) Runaway juvenile: GrantStreet Shoplifting: N. EisenhowerDrive Shots fired: Bostic Avenue Suspicious person: Beckley

Crossing Threats: Stanaford Road,Main Street Trespassing: N. EisenhowerDrive, S. Eisenhower Drive Unwanted presence: S.Kanawha Street Violation of DVP: BellevueLane

Raleigh SheriffBreaking and entering:Sprague Check welfare: Stanaford Destruction of property:Rhodell Disturbance: Crab Orchard,Soak Creek, Dry Hill Domestic dispute: CoolRidge, Bradley, Leevale,Shady Spring, Stanaford,Dameron Larceny: Crab Orchard,Macarthur Motor vehicle accident:Glen Morgan, Mount Tabor,Sophia, Dry Hill, GlenDaniel, Eccles Shoplifting: Macarthur

NEWS OF RECORD

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Tuesday, August 20, 2013www.register-herald.com

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Both Cobb andDelvecchio werechecked out of an Al-abama nursing homewith assistance fromKiser in 2000, and theywere reported missingin 2003, Alabama offi-cials said.

A skull was found un-der Delvecchio’s homein 2012, and Alabamainvestigators had trav-eled to Nicholas Coun-ty in July to questionKiser about thewomen’s disappear-ance, Nicholas policereported Friday.

No posit ive DNA

matches or identifica-t ion have yet beenmade to the two bodiesor to the skull, Adairsaid Monday afternoon.

“Because of thelength of the time, ob-viously, and the statewe found them in,there are some difficul-ties surrounding (iden-tification),” said Adair.“Although we are some-what confident of whatwe have, we need toverify this and that’staking the amount oftime.”

Adair said Kiser andher husband had livednext door to Delvecchioprior to Delvecchio ’sdisappearance, whichwas reported to Jasperpolice in 2003.

Kiser was foundguilty in federal courtin West Virginia in2006 of wire fraud forreceiving $10,000worth of Cobb’s retire-ment checks from theUnited States RailroadRetirement Board. Sheserved three years’ pro-bation.

Adair added thatwhile Kiser is currentlythe only personcharged with anycrimes in relation tothe missing personscase, “We have notclosed off any avenue.

“At this point, thereare some leads investi-gators are following upon.”


BODIESContinued from 1A

“The MTA does notwant to taint themselveswith the urban criteriathat goes along with oper-ating in this area,” hesaid, since that criteriacould cut it off from statefunding.

It was originallythought that since so littleof its services occurred inFayette County, that itcould continue to operateas a rural provider. How-ever, it’s apparent nowthat if it is going to serveany of the urbanized area,it is going to have to be-come an urbanized transitauthority, said Smith.

“They indicated early onthat they did not want tobecause they were notstaffed for it and did nothave the budget to sup-port the required local

cost share,” he said.“From their perspective, itsinks the fiscal ship.”

But Bill Mauzey, direc-tor of MTA, says his or-ganization is considering“still being in FayetteCounty in some capacity,”though not in the urban-ized area running mostlyalong the U.S. 19 corridor.

Susan O’Connell of theWest Virginia Depart-ment of Transportationsays the ball is in theMTA’s court.

“The MTA has not putforth any kind of plan,”she said. “We would bewilling to consider some-thing in Fayette County ifthat’s what the MTAwants to do, because theyalready operate there, butI don’t know if it makessense from an operatingperspective.”

Mauzey protested thatthe MTA was not givenadequate information toinform such a decision.

“If we were informedwith more details of howthe match money worked,we could have maybe gotmore involved,” he said.“We never had enough in-formation that we neededto move forward. We in-vestigated all we could.We didn’t have anythingto make the decisionwith.”

The MTA recently can-vassed Fayette Countycommunities for funds toexpand its services there,so local leaders were sur-prised to hear of its possi-ble intention to pull out ofFayette.

“Where does this leavethe municipalities inFayette County with pub-lic transportation?” askedOak Hill City ManagerBill Hannabass, whosecity recently gave $6,000to MTA.

“My disappointment isthat we have not been aparty to this conversation

at all,” said Fayette Coun-ty Commission PresidentMatt Wender, wholearned of the matter atMonday’s meeting.

The situation in RaleighCounty is different, butjust as serious.

Currently, RaleighCounty Community Ac-tion Association (RCCAA)provides transportationservices there, includingfour bus routes and sever-al other specialized servic-es for residents and com-muting workers.

Much of its fundingcomes from two programsthat were repealed underlast year’s federal MovingAhead for Progress in the21st Century Act. Thatmoney is now rolled intoUrbanized Area FormulaProgram funds.

But since RCCAA is aprivate non-profit and nota public transit authority,it is not eligible to directlyreceive those federal

funds.A couple of options exist

for creating a “designatedrecipient” that would sub-grant the funds to aprovider like RCCAA.

A new public transit au-thority with an independ-ent board could be createdto be the recipient.

Or an existing govern-ment entity could becomethe conduit of the fundsfor a sub-grantee to oper-ate the transit system.This would require somestaff resources to execute.

In either case, some-thing must be done by theend of this coming fiscalyear, June 30, 2014.

Both MTA and RCCAAwill continue to operate inFayette and Raleigh untilthat time. After that, thepath is unclear.

The MPO decided tomove forward with cre-ation of a scope of workdocument that would es-tablish the public trans-

portation needs of the twocounties, in the hopes thata provider would step for-ward to operate both.

“We have to define whatit is we really need, andwe may redefine whattransportation servicesare being provided in thearea,” said Cole. “In fact,we may be priced out ofthe market without an ad-ditional revenue stream.But we have to do our duediligence to identify that.”

Bobbi Thomas-Bailey ofRCCAA expressed con-cern that a lengthy studycould delay proceedings.

“Raleigh County has notransit if this doesn’t getdone,” she said.

“We do know the clockis ticking. Certainly wedon’t want to see transitcome to a standstill atthat point. ... That wouldbe disastrous,” said Beck-ley Mayor Emmett Pugh.

—E-mail: [email protected]

TRANSITContinued from 1A

Atkins said pensionplans have figured promi-nently in the “stress”caused in other states andmunicipalities, more re-cently as evidenced inbankrupt Detroit.

Overall, however, law-makers were told that thestate’s unfunded liabilityof the Public EmployeesRetirement System as ofJune 30, 2012, was $1.2billion.

“And when this kicks in,a portion of this will be-come a liability on the re-gional jail authority’sbooks,” Atkins said.

Atkins said the authori-ty has some $122 millionworth of assets, but the

average age of them is16.2 years, well beyondthe ideal five to six years.

The first jail was erect-ed in 1989 and the lastone in 2005. Southern Re-gional Jail was construct-ed in 1993.

■ ■ ■In another matter,

Mark Reynolds, directorof Trinity BroadcastingNetwork’s SecondChance, explained theprogram’s goal of workingwith chaplains in seekingto rehabilitate offendersat no cost to the states.

“We blanket the worldwith our programs,” hesaid.

THe idea is to workwith juveniles in an effortto improve the recidivismrate.

While he couldn’t pro-vide any hard figures to

Delegate Denise Camp-bell, D-Randolph, largelysince “there are severalfingers in the pie,”Reynolds provided someanecdotal evidence to thecommittee.

A warden at theLouisiana State Peniten-tiary, also known as Ango-la, called Second Chance“one of the three legs ofhis success.”

“They went from one ofthe bloodiest correctionalfacilities n the UnitedStates to one of the mostpositive facilities,”Reynolds said.

“We just want to be atool to help enhance thosechaplains and state pro-grams,” Reynolds said.

“We’re trying to head itoff at the youth level.”


JAILSContinued from 1A

“Those are the legacycosts of maintainingbridges, the infrastruc-ture system of water andsewer systems, whichare all going downhill in50 years. The thingswe’re doing now are allgoing to run out. Noth-ing is permanent.”

If the state can erect aspecial fund and eithercollect interest or investit, Hall said, it would bein position to meet fu-ture needs.

“We have some of thehighest bond ratings inthe country right nowbecause of the RainyDay Fund,” the senatorsaid.

“We’re able to borrowmoney at much cheaperrates than other statesdo.”

Others making the tripare Sens. Bill Laird, D-Fayette; Ron Miller, D-Greenbrier; Bob Beach,D-Monongalia; RockyFitzsimmons, D-Ohio;Bob Plymale, D-Wayneand Bob Williams, D-Taylor, and DelegatesNancy Guthrie, D-Kanawha; Jason Bar-rett, D-Berkeley; AdamYoung, D-Nicholas;Richard Iaquinta, D-Harrison; Bill Hamilton,R-Upshur; Ron Waltersand Eric Nelson, both R-Kanawha; Philip Dise-rio, D-Brooke; and MikeManypenny, D-Taylor.

“The reason we’re go-ing to North Dakota ob-viously is to see what

they've done and seewhat they've done rightand wrong,” Hall said.

“Surely, there aresome things that theywished they had donedifferently when they setit up.”

Hall said many ques-tions remain about howWest Virginia lawmak-ers will create one here.

“We don’t want to raisetaxes,” he said.

“Nobody is sayingraise taxes. I’ve neversaid we should raise tax-es to pursue a futurefund. But I’m not op-posed if gas productionand prices go to a certainpoint that this wouldtrigger another percent-age increase. Not a hardset tax, but maybe a per-centage. It’s all in howyou set it up.”

FUNDContinued from 1A

news writing 8 17 all bodies found jf

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