Roxy Todd, Author at West Virginia Public Broadcasting

WVU's Division of Diversity Steps in to Help Revive Charleston's West Side

The West Side in Charleston is one of the largest urban neighborhoods in the state. Within sight of the Mary C. Snow West Side Elementary School are vacant lots and abandoned buildings. This neighborhood is besieged with many problems like childhood poverty and high crime rates. It’s also a neighborhood that suffers from negative stereotyping—a place where good people and good projects are often overlooked.

Aiming to highlight these challenges and some possible solutions, a collaboration is launching between West Virginia University’s Division of Diversity and the West Side Revive Project.

Reverend Matthew Watts, a pastor at Grace Bible Church, heads up the West Side Revive Project.

“And so we’re trying to help the broader community realize that this is a community of enormous potential. And actually the future growth of Charleston hinges on what we do,” Watts said at the presentation last Friday at the Mary C. Snow West Side Elementary School. The Hope Community Development Corporation initiated the West Side Revive Project.

The meeting last week was also attended by David Fryson and a group of scholars from WVU’s Division of Diversity. Fryson was recently named the Division Vice President. At the meeting, Fryson said that he remembers the real Mary C. Snow and said her legacy should remind people to organize to make great things happen on the West Side. He said WVU is looking to assist the West Side Revive Project, chiefly by evaluating the research the group has done.

Reverend Watts said it’s encouraging to see WVU begin to validate the work his project has been doing for years.

“[There’s] a lot of energy, and a lot of interest in the project. And we have never been more excited for the potential for the West Side of Charleston to truly return to this healthy and wholesome residential community that it used to be,” said Watts.

Watts explained that back in the 1950’s the West Side was a neighborhood where middle class black families could buy nice homes. The West Side’s decline began as many of those families left West Virginia to find jobs.

Though the neighborhood does have many problems it is going to have to face head on, Watts believes that for the first time in years, there is reason to hope that things here can change.

Speaker Gives Insight into the Heart of the Black Community

The Block Historical District is a section of Charleston that was once the heart of the African American community. As part of a project to resurrect some of the history of this neighborhood, the West Virginia Center for African American Art and Culture has organized a series of lectures. About 60 people attended the second of these talks last week.

Charles James III is the fourth generation in his family to own and operate one of the oldest family-owned businesses in the United States, the James company. James said that he remembers being invited to the local country club in the late 80’s. But his father in an earlier generation was not asked to join until the 80’s.

“It was a product of the times. I mean, no blacks were in country clubs. But it’s interesting because they knew him as a businessman. They bought and they sold from each other. But at some point the line was drawn, where the social life took over,” James said at the talk last Thursday.

In 1963, Ebony Magazine featured an article about the James Produce Company, with a subheading that read “Firm Has White Clients.” It didn’t just have white clients-most of the people who dealt with the James Company were white.

Ebony Magazine article, featuring the James Produce Company, in 1963.

James said that it was the quality of the products they sold that motivated these customers to cross racial lines.

“And that’s why I thought they must have been really shrewd business people, cause they were not part of the good old boy network. But the reason they built that business was through price, quality and service. They said, “You know Jim, we’ll play golf on Sunday, but I’m buying my produce from Charlie James.”

Also in 1963, his grandfather, who had campaigned for JFK, was invited to the White House for a state dinner. A generation earlier, his great-grandfather exchanged letters with President Teddy Roosevelt, who admired James and the business that he had started from the ground up. It began in 1883 when C.H. James I moved to West Virginia from Ohio and began selling goods from a mule cart, trading with coal miners. The miners had no cash, only scrip money. So he traded goods in exchange for produce that they could grow.

His son, E.L. James, would later say, “you have to diversify to survive.”

Just before the 1929 stock market crash, the company went bankrupt. But the family was able to pick up the pieces and begin again, opening a small outlet store at Charleston’s original farmers’ market on Patrick Street, and the company reorganized under the name James Produce Co.

Before the James family came to West Virginia they were involved in helping to organize part of the underground railroad in Ohio.

The James Produce Company operated their second business on Virginia and Park St. on Charleston’s West Side.

Elliot Hicks, an African American who grew up in the West Side of Charleston, says all of these stories of his community should be remembered and talked about.

“And Charleston was an enabling community at that time. We need to see how we can succeed by looking back at history. Knowing history is important,” said Hicks.

The once diverse neighborhood known as The Block had many historic buildings that were lost in the 1960’s due to urban renewal and interstate expansion. Today, there are just a few historical buildings from The Block that remain, five of which are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

C.H. James I, the speaker’s great-grandfather, founded the family business in 1883.

This year, the West Virginia Center for African American Art and Culture placed historical markers downtown to mark The Block. Much of that history lies hidden beneath the interstate, but the memories are still around.

The Block Speaker Series is another effort to preserve the almost erased history. The third of these events will take place on August 28^th at the Culture Center Archives and History.

For more information about the West Virginia Center for African American Art and Culture, contact Anthony Kinzer. 304-346-6339.

Children Combat Hunger in West Virginia

Tom Toliver has seen people with children who are hungry, searching for food in dumpsters in the alleys of Charleston. And he isn’t the only one. At the Union Mission where Toliver has been donating fresh vegetables, the president and CEO Rex Whiteman says hunger is on the rise throughout the state, and in Appalachia.

“Yes, we see people that are hungry, people that have not eaten for several days, and will come in our doors saying, ‘can you help me?’. And that is overwhelming, in a society and in a world of abundance, that we have people that are literally starving to death. With the mines closing down, and many of them closing in recent months, that’s just created a new wave of hunger and new people that are in the pipeline, asking for help,” Whiteman said.

And these new people mean that new food is needed all the time. Healthy food, like the type of produce Toliver has been growing in his garden. And this week, staff at the YMCA were inspired by Toliver’s vision and brought 22 kids from summer camp to help him harvest vegetables and deliver them to the Union Mission.

Before the YMCA youths arrived to help, one of Toliver’s gardens was about to become overwhelmed by harlequin stink bugs.

“We’re drowning the bugs, and we’re harvesting all the beans and the plants that are ready to be harvested,” said 11-year-old Hannah McCune. She was dressed in a brightly painted hanker-chief, green socks, and pink tennis shoes. She was also wearing garden gloves for what is sometimes a dirty job—finding and killing stink bugs.

It’s not a pretty job, but it’s a necessary one because the volunteer gardeners are committed to using no pesticides on the food they grow. It takes a lot of time to pick out the orange and black bugs by hand.

Stephanie Hysmith is the master gardener supervising the volunteers. She’s had experience with harlequin stink bugs and squash bugs, which can devastate vegetable gardens if ignored. “Last year I started with my zucchini going out and looking under the leaves. And I discovered [squash bug] eggs that were underneath the leaves.”

Hysmith is one of the volunteers most involved with Toliver’s gardens this year. On Tuesday, she taught the children from the YMCA summer camp about the various plants that grow throughout the garden.

One of the children asked her, “what do you do to the plants in the winter?”

“Well in the wintertime the plants go dormant. These are called annuals because they bloom once and then they die. You can save the seed from the fruit, and grow the same plant next year,” Hysmith explained.

Excitement erupted nearby when a blue tailed skink emerged from one of the raised beds and dove back beneath the beans.

In one morning, they harvest about 25 pounds of chard, collards, cucumbers, green beans and zucchini, which they deliver to the Union Mission the next day.

There, they learned about the somber realities of hunger in West Virginia.

And Tom Toliver was visibly moved from the response he’s received in the last week. His project has gotten a number of calls from people, wanting to support his community gardens.

“My big thought, my big vision, is to rub out hunger, totally, through community gardening. And that’s my strategy—is to start in Charleston, Kanawha County, West Virginia, America—encouraging people to live off the land. And you have seen yourself how easy it’s been to grow food,” Toliver said.

The vegetables that the YMCA kids harvested will be served or given away to families in need who come to Union Mission hungry. Some of these people will not have eaten for days.

The first part of this story about Tom Toliver’s West Side Gardens can be found here.

Tanker Truck Wrecks in Bartow, Leaks Diesel Fuel into Greenbrier River

Megan Moriarty with Allegheny Mountain Radio reports that on Tuesday afternoon a tanker truck carrying 7,800 gallons of diesel fuel overturned at Hermitage Bridge in Bartow, West Virginia. The driver was uninjured but the truck caught on fire and some of the diesel fuel has spilled into the Greenbrier River.

The truck was owned by Petroleum Carriers, LLC, based in Richmond Virginia. A private environmental clean-up crew hired by the trucking company is now on the scene.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection remains at the site, with crews working to remove diesel fuel from the river. According to Tom Aluise from the DEP, the spill was contained and not evident beyond a quarter mile downstream from the spill site.

A similar tanker truck accident happened in July of 2012, where a tanker truck full of gasoline flipped onto its side in a field one-quarter mile south of the Route 250/Route 92 intersection in Bartow. This is the third tanker accident Pocahontas County has seen since 2009.

Fire crews worked to extinguish the fire

Steam Engine Wins Train Race at the Ghost Town of Spruce

It’s been called the NASCAR of train races, and it takes place at an altitude of 3,853 feet in Pocahontas County.

Yesterday a crowd of 250 people gathered to watch as two massive trains, one departing from Cass and the other from Elkins, converged at the wilderness ghost town of Spruce. The two trains raced side by side for nearly a mile.

Cass State Park’s coal-powered steam engine, the Shay #6, crossed the finish line first, beating the Cheat Mountain Salamander Train “by a locomotive length,” said John Smith, the president of the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad, which owns the Salamander train. The Salamander is powered by a diesel locomotive #82.

The crowd then enjoyed grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. Musical entertainment was provided by the Ginsangers from Elkins.

Danny Seldomridge was the engineer on the Shay #6 and Gene Lambert was the conductor. On the Cheat Mountain Salamander Bob Robinson was the engineer and Josh Arbogast was the conductor.

The Salamander will make the ride to the top of Spruce 12 more times this year. This 9-hour round-trip train departs from Elkins.

The Shay #6 steam locomotive train departs from Cass and is operated by Cass Scenic Railroad State Park.

Cheat Mountain Salamander Train at the Elkins Depot

85-Year-Old Says He is Still in Good Health and Spirits and Will Continue to Fast

85-year-old Roland Micklem is still fasting at the West Virginia Capitol Building. He began his fast ten days ago to draw attention to the effects of climate change, and he says he will continue to go without food. Since July 7^th, Micklem has eaten no food and has consumed only water, juice and coffee.

“My health is excellent. I am very much encouraged and motivated by the reception I’ve been receiving by the people we’ve run across. Everyone has been supportive and cooperative,” says Micklem.

“Our support person Cat is providing us with a variety of juices. Grape, apple, and some vegetable juices. And that is the closest thing to food that we are taking.”

A retired science teacher and environmental activist, Micklem is fasting to express what he calls his grief for the loss of creation as a result of mountaintop removal mining.

“It’s not a protest, it’s not a hunger strike. It’s a witness, a witness that I’m making by being there every day and not eating. The campaign needs love and respect for one’s advisories, as well as one’s friends.”

In the past, Micklem has fasted for as long as thirteen days, but he says he plans to go on longer than that this time. Micklem says two trained medics, named Natalie and Noah, have been checking on his health. Aside from a little dehydration, he says they have found no indications that he is experiencing and serious side effects due to the fast.