Cecelia Mason, Author at West Virginia Public Broadcasting

These Two Friends Want to Document and Preserve Appalachian Culture

The Appalachian region has been reported on, documented and studied quite a bit in the past 50 years since President Lyndon Johnson came to the region to declare a ‘war on poverty.’

But two friends, Shane Simmons of Johnson City, Tennessee, and Jason Barton of Dickinson County, Virginia, are hoping to make a documentary showing what’s good about the area. They started The Appalachian Project, or TAP, earlier this year and are collecting stories from people who live in a specific part of Appalachia: the mountainous regions of Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina.

TAP is looking for articulate older people willing to share interesting stories that highlight the region’s heritage and culture. Simmons and Barton mention coal miners, nurses, loggers and soldiers as good candidates.

“Anybody that has that interesting back story that can shed some light on how Appalachia used to be and in a positive light,” Barton said.

It’s important to Barton and Simmons to collect stories that are positive and they think that’s something Appalachians crave.

“Most people are here because we want to be here. We love the mountains, we love the privacy, we love the beauty, we love the community and family,” Simmons said. “That’s really important to show that side, that aspect of Appalachian people and culture because I think it doesn’t get told a lot”

Barton and Simmons are not documentary filmmakers, not even close. One is a banker, the other sells insurance. They were “called” to document Appalachia during a road trip last year to New Orleans. They took a break in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and meet a really interesting older man who seemed like he had a good story to tell. Simmons said another goal of TAP is preserving the culture.

“Being Appalachian is somewhat of a culture and it seems like we’re losing a little bit of that identity,” he said. “And it’s good and it’s bad, social media and the world and America is becoming more homogenous, just because we watch the same shows and we all connect that way and you can make friends in other countries on line and that type of thing.”

Simmons and Barton hope by putting the focus on collecting stories from older Appalachians they can help keep some of the traditions of the culture alive.

Simmons and Barton are finding people to interview through social networking. They’ve created a Facebook page, a sort of virtual meeting place where folks from the region can share stories, historical facts, photos, thoughts and ideas.

They say it’s also a great way to find potential interviewees for the documentary. And based on the response Appalachians are anxious to have their story told.

“The response has been overwhelming,” Barton said. “We get emails that say ‘your Facebook page alone has made me so much more aware of my heritage has made me so much more proud of where I come from.’”

“People are looking for something to believe in and I think that’s what we’re trying to give them,” Simmons added. “We do believe in Appalachia, we believe in the people, we believe in where we’re from and we’re hoping that translates.”

Simmons and Barton hope to continue collecting videotaped stories until the end of the year. They then plan to use these stories in the documentary.

Free Lunch Available to Jefferson County Children

During the school year children are guaranteed at least one full meal a day, something that goes away during the summer months. Three churches in…

During the school year children are guaranteed at least one full meal a day, something that goes away during the summer months. Three churches in Jefferson County are teaming up with other organizations to offer lunch to children.

St. John Lutheran Church and St. John’s Episcopal Church in Harpers Ferry and Bolivar United Methodist Church in Bolivar are teaming up with the Jefferson County Council on Aging to provide summer lunches and activities for children.

The Trinity MEAL program- MEAL stands for Methodist, Episcopal and Lutheran- is piggy-backing on the senior lunch program to offer meals for children. State Senator and Lutheran Pastor John Unger is one of the organizers.

“A child can come and if you’re 18 or younger the child will eat for free regardless of their socioeconomic status,” Unger said. “And we don’t take names all we do is count the number of the meals and also if they want a second meal they can have a second meal.”

Lunch is served at various locations throughout the county each weekday at noon, then activities are planned for the children and seniors to participate in.

“We’ve had everything from bingo to community gardening to a dance-a-thon,” Unger said. “Also people have been reading to the children, seniors have been reading. It just varies.”

Unger said there’s a great need in Jefferson County to continue offering children lunch when schools are not in session.

“We do have a large number of children that are designated as homeless,” he said. “They qualify for free and reduced lunches during the school year and this gives them an opportunity for them to continue to be provided nutritious meals during the summer and have interaction with other children as well as seniors.”

And since the program started more seniors are showing up for the lunches.

“And what we’re hearing is that these seniors are coming because they want to volunteer and work with children,” Unger said. “So they get out of their homes they eat a nutritious meal, they interact with children and other adults and so that’s a healthy life for them as well so it’s a win, win.”

Unger said the MEAL program is a model that other counties can use to offer children free lunch during the summer.

Free meals for children will be served at the following sites from June 23 to August 15, 2014:

Bolivar United Methodist Church, 1215 W. Washington Street, Harpers Ferry

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, lunch noon-1:00 p.m., activities 1:00-1:45 p.m., snack 1:45-2:00 p.m.

St. John Lutheran Church, 950 W. Washington Street, Harpers Ferry

Tuesday and Thursday, lunch noon-1:00 p.m., activities 1:00-1:45 p.m., snack from 1:45-2:00 p.m.

St. John’s Episcopal Church, 898 W. Washington Street, Harpers Ferry

Tuesday and Thursday, activities 1:00-1:45 p.m., snack from 1:45-2:00 p.m.

Blue Ridge Mountain Volunteer Fire Department, 181 Keyes Gap Road, Mission Road

Tuesday and Thursday, lunch noon-1:00 p.m., activities 1:00-1:45 p.m., snack 1:45-2:00 p.m.

Jefferson County Council on Aging Senior Center, 103 W. 5th Avenue, Ranson

Monday-Friday, lunch noon-1:00 p.m., activities 1:00-1:45 p.m., snack 1:45-2:00 p.m.

Power Companies Ask for Rate Increase

Customers of American Electric Power in West Virginia would pay more for electricity if the power company’s request for a rate increase is granted.

Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power filed a request Monday with the West Virginia Public Service Commission for a $226 million revenue increase. Both are subsidiaries of AEP, which says in a news release that if approved, West Virginia customers would see a 17 percent increase in electric rates depending on usage and how they’re classified.

The company said in a news release the rate increase is needed for several reasons:

To recover the cost of restoring power and making repairs after two major storms that hit West Virginia in 2012, the Derecho and Hurricane Sandy.
Implementation of a right of way maintenance program which to help prevent outages and reduce restoration times when storm damage occurs.
Rising maintenance costs and the need to improve transmission lines and generating plants.

American Electric Power officials said rates in West Virginia have not increased since 2011 and during that period customers in Virginia and Tennessee have seen increases.
If approved, the company estimates a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month would pay $21.77 more each month and customers using 2,000 kilowatt-hours would see an increase of about $44.59 a month.

W.Va. School Building Authority Gets New Leader and Members

There will be some new faces at the next quarterly meeting of the West Virginia School Building Authority. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has appointed a new…

There will be some new faces at the next quarterly meeting of the West Virginia School Building Authority. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has appointed a new executive director and five new members to the SBA.

Tomblin announced Monday that David Sneed will serve as executive director. According to a news release from the Governor’s office, Sneed was the Chief of Architectural Services for the School Building Authority from 1990 until 2012. He has also served as director of school planning in Kanawha County and worked with a private company in educational project planning.

Sneed replaces Mark Manchin who was executive director of the SBA for seven years before taking a job as Harrison County Schools superintendent.

Tomblin also appointed several new members to the SBA: Tom Lange and Eric Lewis of Jefferson County, Victor Gabriel of Harrison County, Robert Holroyd of Mercer County and Chris Morris of Kanawha County.

High School Students Encouraged to Take Action

110 high school students from around the world are taking part in a week-long event in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, that encourages them to develop…

110 high school students from around the world are taking part in a week-long event in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, that encourages them to develop conservation leadership skills.

The Student Climate Conference, which is called SC3 for short, brings together students representing 30 states and nine countries, including Brazil, France and Somalia, asks the question: How are we as global citizens going to bring back and contribute to our schools and communities?

The event is sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Green Schools Alliance. It takes place at the Fish and Wildlife Service National Conservation Training Center. The students are tasked with going back to their communities with a plan of action.

“I really will be working with awareness; I’m going to be working on just bringing people together and realizing what we do have and where we can go from that,” Megan Cooper of Metamoros, Pennsylvania, said.

Jaried Buxton from Birmingham, Alabama, plans to start small. “Start by trying to get my school to join the Green Schools Alliance,” he said. “Also going to try to work with this group called the Alabama Environmental Council and just apply what I learned here.”

Zach Shulkin of Memphis, Tennessee, is founder and president of Environmental Conservation Club at his school. He plans to work on making his school greener and, in particular, wants to get the cafeteria to serve food on reusable plates.

Susie Marvin is a public school teacher from Leslie County Kentucky who is a faculty member teaching during the SC3 conference. Like the students, Marvin plans to implement some of what she’s learning here.

“We’ve got this great little greenhouse out back,” she said, “so in talking at the conference I’ve been able to get some ideas on how we could really help that project to take root at our school.”

The first SC3 took place in 2009 and since then 700 students have ‘graduated’ from it.

How Well Will Hops Grow In West Virginia?

One day you might be able to buy even more styles of 100 percent West Virginia-made beer. That is, if a current study shows the state is a good place to…

One day you might be able to buy even more styles of 100 percent West Virginia-made beer. That is, if a current study shows the state is a good place to grow hops.

Since the craft beer industry has taken off, West Virginia State University decided to study whether local farmers can benefit from the burgeoning beer industry by growing hops for the brewers to use.

West Virginia State extension agent Brad Cochran says the state agriculture department awarded a $23,000 grant for the project, which seem to be popular. He received 70 applications from folks wanting to participate.

Matthew Grove and Robbie Babbitt were chosen to take part in a study on whether hops can grow well in West Virginia.

Three larger growers were chosen, in Jefferson, Fayette and Marion Counties. They received 60 hops roots, known as rhizomes, and the materials needed to construct a structure on which to grow the hops, which are like bean plants, they climb.

Currently there is no large scale hops production in West Virginia. Some people grow the plant for home brewing purposes, but commercial brewers order from what what Cochran calls the “hops mecca of the U.S.,” the Pacific Northwest. He says beer makers also order some specialty hops from Germany and other European countries.

Cochran said one goal of the study is to boost the state’s production and encourage farmers to consider growing the plant commercially.

Meet Two Hops Farmers

Matthew Grove and Robbie Babbitt of Berkeley County are among the 35 smaller growers throughout West Virginia who received 60 free plants as part of the study. They have to construct their own structure.

All the participants were given the same three varieties, Cascade, Centennial and Columbus.

Grove and Babbitt have planted 60 rhizomes on a plot of ground in front of Babbitt’s house at Broomgrass, a farming subdivision in western Berkeley County.

“Maybe some varieties work in some parts of the state and some don’t,” Babbitt said. “Maybe none of them work in West Virginia; we’re just going to try to find out.”

Each of the three varieties is planted in its own circle. Grove and Babbitt will erect an 18 foot pole in the middle of the circle which will support twine that the hops can climb.

“It’ll be set up so the lines that run to the top can be hoisted and lowered for harvesting, similar to a flag pole, a way to run the line up and down so we don’t have to get on ladders,” Grove said.

“Big tall ladders,” Babbitt added, laughing, “20 foot straight up.”

All the participants will provide Cochran with data over the next three years on how their plants are doing. Cochran said the ultimate goal of this little experiment is to encourage farmers across the state to consider growing hops that can be used in some of the local, craft beers.

“We can have 100 percent produced West Virginia beer and that’s exciting just to keep everything here at home,” he said.

Later this year forums and panel discussions will take place so farmers and brewers can get together to learn more about developing a hops production industry that can support local breweries.