The Morgantown City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to move forward with a plan to create a Citizens Police Review and Advisory Board.
A vote on final approval of the board is expected in two weeks.
The nine-member board would serve as a go-between for the city residents and the Morgantown Police Department. They have the power to review and make recommendations on internal department policies and hiring practices.
Unlike earlier proposals, the board would not have the power to investigate civilian complaints of police misconduct. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and the Mon-Preston Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) had threatened to sue if the board had the power to investigate.
Under the current plan, the police chief will conduct any investigations of police misconduct, but the board will be able to review those investigation’s findings — and again — make recommendations.
On Wednesday, an attorney for the FOP told WAJR they were pleased that the investigative power was removed but still planned to sue over the board’s ability to make recommendations to the police chief after an investigation is completed and the board’s power to question witnesses.
Tuesday’s vote marks the culmination of almost a year’s work from city officials and stakeholders that started last summer after the murder of George Floyd in May by a Minneapolis police officer and ensuing nationwide protests.
Bluefield has the only other police review board in the state. The board was formed following a consent decree from the Department of Justice. It has been dysfunctional and out of compliance for much of the last two decades until recent actions by city officials to get the board to function.
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin reintroduced two bills Thursday to commit over $1 billion in federal funding for reclamation projects and economic development in coal communities.
Manchin said the bills are critical investments for West Virginia towns that have suffered from the decline of the coal industry.
“For generations, West Virginia coal miners have made tremendous sacrifices and done the heavy lifting that powered our nation to greatness,” Manchin said. “Both the RECLAIM Act and the Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Fee Extension Act are much needed investments in coal communities.”
Sen. Joe Manchin's Introduces AML Reclamation Free Extension Act of 2021 and RECLAIM Act of 2021
The RECLAIM Act would release $1 billion in federal funds to create jobs by cleaning up abandoned mines. The second bill would extend the abandoned mine land fee set to expire in September.
This fee funds ongoing reclamation projects on abandoned mine lands.
Manchin introduced the two bills with senators from Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
The proposal is backed by both the largest coal miners union and environmental groups.
United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts said Congress must act and pass both bills.
“The economic situation for many families and communities in the Appalachian coalfields is already catastrophic,” Roberts said. “Things will not get better by themselves.”
Angie Rosser, executive director of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition applauded the reintroduction of the two bills.
“Furthering the clean-up of abandoned mine lands is an opportunity to prevent disasters and create jobs in places hit hardest by coal’s decline,” Rosser said. “These measures couldn’t come at a more important time for our communities.”
Ella Marie Haddix was a freshman in college when she was asked to do something no other 18-year-old in the country had done — register to vote.
She was accompanied to the Randolph County courthouse by Jennings Randolph, a U.S. Senator from West Virginia and father of the 26th amendment, which lowered the voting age to 18.
“I just remember it was snowing and the roads were slick,” Haddix said in an interview this week. “Senator Randolph and I had to cross the street and we held onto each other crossing the street to the courthouse because we were afraid we’d fall down because the road was so slick.
Back at the courthouse, Haddix told him she planned to register as a Republican because her family were Republicans. Randolph was a life-long Democrat and she was worried it might embarrass him.
“He was very gracious about it,” she said. “I told him if he wanted to look for someone else that would be okay but he said ‘No absolutely not, it didn’t matter whether it was Democrat or Republican.’ It was that he finally managed to get this 26th Amendment through Congress. It was his privilege to take an 18-year-old to register.”
Fifty years ago Wednesday, the West Virginia Legislature voted to ratify the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Later that year, the amendment became law and millions of Americans between the ages of 18 and 21 like Haddix got the right to vote.
Today, Haddix is a retired art teacher in Randolph County. In the classroom, she tells her students the story of how she registered to vote and made sure they registered, too.
Courtesy Secretary of State’s Office
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This year, to honor the occasion, West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner made Wednesday a special young voter registration day across the state.
“We’d like to get folks involved just as early as possible,” he said. “So this is focused at those 17 and 18-year-olds who are going to be able to vote in their first election — next year in 2022.”
Over 50 high schools in West Virginia will hold voter registration drives for eligible students.
“They see their classmates registering and go, ‘oh, what are you up to,’” Warner said. “We have people there with tables and so forth to actually give them the form and let them fill it out right on the spot.”
High schools that register at least 85% of the senior class will be eligible for the Jennings Randolph Award.
Lowering the voting age was a decades-long goal for Randolph.
Jo Boggess Phillips, a civics teacher and school librarian in Ripley, W.Va., is writing a biography about Randolph’s life and legacy. For the last few years, she’s researched his life and history as a lawmaker, using the state archives, his kids, and visits to every presidential library.
She said Randolph’s persistence set him apart from other lawmakers who tried to lower the voting age.
“He was one of the first and he never gave up,” Phillips said.
As a member of Congress, Randolph introduced legislation to lower the voting age, not once but 11 times.
Courtesy of Frank Randolph
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Jennings Randolph
She explains Randolph’s persistence by pointing to a quote from a Senate Committee hearing in 1961.
Randolph told his fellow senators that 18 to 21-year-olds “already bear the responsibilities of citizenship without its privileges.”
Phillips said Randolph was all about fairness when it came to the voting age. The senator believed the voting age should be lowered after the draft age was lowered to 18 during World War II.
“He had to work really hard at convincing those in power that these young people were capable of stepping up, and making decisions and creating ideas that would help the country,” she said.
When President Richard Nixon was elected, Randolph had been pushing to lower the voting age for over 25 years.
Jo Boggess Phillips
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Randolph’s 1969 letter to Nixon
“I am convinced, Mr. President, there is no better way to initiate a broad national effort to express justifiable confidence in our young citizens, and bring them into full partnership in our society, than to lower the voting age,” Randolph wrote in a letter to Nixon in December 1969.
Initially, Nixon’s staff brushed him aside but slowly came around under the senator’s persistence.
“Basically, they said, ‘Listen, you know, Jennings Randolph, is really pressing us on this. And we really think, can we not just say something that would be supportive?’” Philips said, referencing another letter from the Nixon Presidential Library. Finally, Randolph had found the right political moment for lowering the voting age.
The Nixon Administration supported the plan and with a significant grassroots campaign, it gained traction.
It passed both houses of Congress and was ratified by the states faster than any other amendment — three months and eight days.
Today, 17 to 21-year-olds make up about 6% of West Virginia voters and just under half of them voted in the 2020 election. Without the work of the late Sen. Randolph, they wouldn’t have been able to vote at all.
Last year, West Virginia’s New River Gorge became the state’s first national park and preserve and the 63rd national park in the nation.
It’s just a one word change — but those who fought for the new designation say it could make all the difference for the local tourism economy.
Two other national parks — one of the youngest, and one of the oldest — have lessons for the future of the New River Gorge.
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Indiana Dunes National Park
Three years ago, the Indiana Dunes Lakeshore was in the exact same position as West Virginia’s New River Gorge. Congress had just approved a national park designation for its fifteen miles of ecologically diverse beaches along Lake Michigan.
The new name brought a lot of popularity that surprised the park staff.
“It was really amazing how much the name change meant to so many people out there, said Bruce Rowe, chief interpretive ranger.
Jeff Manuszak/NPS
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Bruce Rowe
In the first summer as a national park, visitation increased by 28 percent.
Pat Majka, a longtime park volunteer, said it wasn’t just more visitors, there was also a new type of visitor. In addition to locals or daytrippers from nearby Chicago, she saw more first-time visitors from farther away.
“I’ve met people that will just travel the whole country stopping at every park,” Majka said.
At the visitors center, almost twice as many people walked through the doors that summer and the COVID-19 pandemic only added to the park’s popularity.
Its beaches stayed open while those nearby shut down. At one point it was so busy, the police were brought in for crowd control.
The national park impact is felt on the beaches, as well as nearby towns like Chesterton. Businesses there have seen more visitors in a place that used to be just a highway stop for travelers.
“With this being a destination, our customers are not just stopping here because they’re getting gas and coffee,” said restaurant owner Lisa Wodrich, “They’re stopping here because they’re staying here because of the national park.”
She’s lived in the area for 30 years and said there are some inconveniences to suddenly having a national park in your backyard.
“We got our RV, and I tried to book a camping spot,” she said. “And we couldn’t get a spot for three months. Like it was there was nothing. There was nothing.”
But overall, she said the positives of the name change far outweigh the negatives.
I think it’s always nice to be part of someone’s vacation,” Wodrich said. “But now we’re part of people’s bucket lists.”
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Great Smoky Mountains National Park
While Indiana Dunes is still a young national park, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has been a vacation destination for over 80 years.
Summit Real Estate
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Vickie King
Dedicated in 1940, it’s been the most visited national park every year since the end of World War II. A third of the nation’s population is within a day’s drive, and several nearby towns form a tourist mecca — home to Dollywood and many other attractions.
“The town’s very full, very busy, and we have become a year-round destination,” said Vickie King, a lifelong Pigeon Forge, Tennessee resident.
She got her first job in grade school as an usherette at Hee Haw Village — a roadside tourist attraction with a comedy show. Since then, she’s worked almost every kind of tourism job you can think of — retail, a wedding chapel and now vacation rentals.
She remembers when the tourism economy wasn’t enough to sustain her family year-round.
“When I was growing up, and my mom worked in hospitality, you know, she was laid off for three to four months during the winter, and then brought back to work,” King said. “You don’t really see layoffs anymore. It’s almost a thing of the past. Which is amazing.”
Park visitors pump over a billion dollars into the area’s economy each year.
Tennessee Tourism Commitee
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Leon Downey, Pigeon Forge tourism director.
Leon Downey, tourism director in Pigeon Forge, said these tourism dollars are such a big deal that even his eye doctor has a stake in it.
“First question he asked me is not ‘how are your eyes? Are you having any problems with your eyes?’ He said, ‘Leon, what kind of a tourism season are we going to have this year?’”
Downey said his eye doctor knows a successful season means more money for locals to spend on glasses in a town that is holistically dependent on the tourism economy.
Right now, Downey said the relationship between the town and the national park is strong, but it took time to get there. Over the last 20 years, the park and nearby towns have worked together to promote the whole region and ensure economic success.
“Our guests don’t see us individually as Pigeon Forge, or Gatlinburg, or Seville,” Downey said. “When we asked them where they went on vacation, they went to the Smoky Mountains.”
Now, what does all this mean for West Virginia’s new national park and preserve?
The New River Gorge is likely to see more visitors, this summer and beyond. Many of them will be first-timers and curious about the new park. The crowds will more than likely mean extra wear and tear on the roads and trails.
But if park infrastructure meets the demand and money is invested to promote the park, economists and tourism experts say new visitors will become repeat visitors and spark a robust tourism economy like the Smokies.
“If you have that national park designation, that’s already inherently a stamp of approval that says, ‘There’s a really cool spot here that you can come and visit and there’s going to be cool stuff going on,’” said John Deskins, an economics professor at West Virginia University who studies regional economic opportunities. “I think this is a core element of forming the kind of recreation economy that we should strive to build in that part of the state.”
Board members for the West Virginia School Building Authority approved Monday almost $75 million for school construction projects.
Twenty nine counties applied for construction funds, but just seven counties made the cut.
“For the last year, the staff has worked extensively in many counties to gain an understanding of the severity of need with each project submitted,” said Ben Ashley, director of architectural services for the authority.
The state funds will help pay for seven new elementary schools, a new middle school, and renovations at nine other buildings. Counties will also contribute their own money in every county but Summers.
Projects that were not approved must be resubmitted for another round of funding in December.
Counties Receiving Funds
Greenbrier County received $8 million to relocate Alderson Elementary School.
Jefferson County received $7.5 million to build two new elementary schools.
Mercer County received $9.6 million for the construction of new Bluewell-Brushfork PK-5 Elementary School
Mineral County received $9.6 million for the construction of a new Frankfort PK-4 Elementary School
Ohio County received $18 million towards renovations to a half dozen schools.
Roane County received almost $14 million to build a new Spencer Middle School
Summers County received $8.2 million for additions and renovations on its middle and high schools.
The West Virginia Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to approve the closing and consolidation of schools in four counties.
Board members acknowledged the difficulties of school closings but applauded the work of county superintendents in formulating and promoting each plan.
Next, counties will seek funding from the School Building Authority to pay for the proposed school improvements.
Here are the changes and the counties’ reasoning.
Kanawha County
Cedar Grove Middle School would close and its students would start attending Dupont Middle School.
In their proposal, Kanawha County Schools officials cite decreasing population and student enrollment as well as the age of the Cedar Grove facility. They also say the merger would lead to a better education experience for students.
For the last decade, the county has seen its population decline by almost 15,000 people and there is no sign of this trend changing, according to U.S. Census Bureau data and projection. The number of deaths has been higher than the number of births in Kanawha County as well as thousands of people choosing to move out of state.
At Cedar Grove Middle, enrollment has declined by 18 percent over the last decade, from 194 students in 2010 to 156 students this year. County-wide, there has been a 6.3% decline in student enrollment over the last decade. Projections show both downward trends continuing.
Cedar Grove Middle has $8.3 million in needed improvements if the school is not closed. An engineering analysis included in the county proposal almost half that at $4.2 million to improve Dupont Middle to accommodate the consolidation and new students.
According to the written proposal for the change, it would provide better programming for special needs students and have lower student-teacher ratios in both core classes and the arts.
McDowell County
In McDowell County, the school board plans to close Fall River Elementary School, Kimball Elementary School, and Welch Elementary School. Before three schools would be consolidated, a new facility would need to be funded and built.
Like most of the state, McDowell County has seen a steady decline in student enrollment and population. Over the last decade, the county has lost 4,000 residents and is projected to lose another 2,000 in the next decade. With current birth and death rates, these downward trends are expected to continue.
Additionally, the county plan said it would be cheaper to operate one school as opposed to three. The current trio of schools is being utilized at between 23% and 34% of capacity. The consolidated elementary school would be at 85% capacity.
Under the proposal, busing would also be consolidated. Bus runs would be reduced from 26 runs to 13 runs as the need for transfer buses would be eliminated. Just under half of the bus routes would be the same time or shorter while the other half would be longer.
One of the three elementary schools, Fall River Elementary, would be repurposed to house the McDowell County Career and Technical Center (CTC). The county says repairs to the elementary school building would be cheaper than repairing the current CTC building.
Mineral County
The proposed changes in Mineral County are similar to McDowell with three schools becoming one as Frankfort Intermediate School, Fort Ashby Primary School, and Wiley Ford Primary School would become a new district primary school.
Mineral County Schools cites three main reasons for the change: aging facilities, current grade configurations, and projected improvements for students.
Currently, students attend either Fort Ashby or Wiley Ford through second grade before attending Frankfort Intermediate for third and fourth grade. The new school would keep students under one roof from Pre-K through fourth grade.
The proposed state-of-the-art facility would provide additional education opportunities through a STEAM lab, dedicated cafeteria, gymnasium, and music room.
At the three current schools, enrollment has decreased by 3.6% over the last decade and is not expected to increase. The county’s population is also declining and projected to keep declining.
The county says accessibility for disabled students would improve, with the new school being wheelchair accessible (two of the old schools are not), and having many aspects designed with physically disabled students in mind.
Wayne County
The plan laid out by Wayne County Schools would combine two schools across the street from each other just south of Huntington.
Buffalo Elementary would close and merge with Buffalo Middle into a new Pre-K through eighth-grade school as enrollment and population projections show a continued decline for the next decade.
Buffalo Elementary currently has “severe water issues” during significant weather events, according to the proposal.
The new facility will have a STEM program and several partnerships with nearby colleges and an airfield to involve students in the aerospace field. The county says the additional space would also better provide for special needs students with classrooms with connected bathrooms and crisis prevention areas not present in the current facility.
Officials said both buildings are also under-utilized and it would be more efficient to combine them. The middle school is only using 57% of its space while 85% is recommended.
