This week, in the 1920s, Oscar Micheaux was an entrepreneur filmmaker in western Virginia. He became a world-renowned director and producer. Also, Kentucky’s poet laureate lives down the road from what has been called the country’s most lethal cryptid. Attempts to spot it have led to deaths. And, we talk soul food with Xavier Oglesby, who’s passing on generations of kitchen wisdom to his niece.
While hundreds of thousands of West Virginians are going on five days without water, a school in Wyoming County has not had usable water since September.
The flushing process is underway but without an upgraded system, Herndon Consolidated and those on the Alpoca Water Works lines will have to wait even longer for usable tap water.
“It’s awful because I mean the water is brown and no one wants to wash their hands in brown water,” fifth grader Martina Sizemore said.
Rather than the water system owner, a PSD is working to fix the problem. It’s complicated and involves two public service districts, a small company, and a NASCAR driver.
Alpoca Water Works is a small company that supplies the water to the school and other communities such as Alpoca, and Bud. In a message, owner Rhesa Shrewsbury admitted that the water is bad but said that it’s only been bad for a couple months. Shrewsbury says it’s because the company no longer employs, or “lost” the water operator.
William Baisden with the Logan County PSD says his district is working “in good faith” to fix the water the old and dated system. Logan has assisted Wyoming County with water problems since a devastating flood in 2001 nearly destroyed the region.
Credit Jessica Lilly
/
Gallons of water are regularly stored in the kitchen area.
Logan PSD is acting on behalf of the Eastern Wyoming PSD.
Shrewsbury says her family is in the process of selling the company. But Baisden says it’s not a simple sell and the parties are trying to work out “ownership issues”. He says Alpoca Water Works leased the land from coal companies until the property was purchased by Nascar driver Greg Biffle.
Biffle didn’t immediately return our request for comment.
In the meantime, teachers have tried to create a non-disruptive learning environment by always having bottled water and hand sanitizer in the classroom.
Principal Virginia Lusk is hoping the issue is resolved soon.
“The staff here works so hard and everybody has just made it go as smooth as they can to make this work and to keep the kids safety and the sanitary conditions for the kids,” she said.
Okey Mills has taught at the school for more than 15 years.
Credit Jessica Lilly
/
A water dispenser replaces the water fountain in the hall at Herndon Consolidated.
“I’m surprised that many of their parents and people in the community haven’t complained more,” he said.
The flushing process is underway but Logan PSD says it could still take weeks to completely flush the system. There are no hydrants in the district which can be used to drain systems.
So for now, and since September, each faucet is running and toilets are flushed often in an effort to reach usable water.
Add WVPB as a preferred source on Google to see more from our team
America’s drug crisis is evolving — and so is the fight over how to define recovery. As medication-assisted treatment gains ground, some question whether it’s sobriety at all. In this encore episode, Trey Kay steps inside a West Virginia recovery mission where faith, medicine and survival intersect.
Millions of people are addicted to opioid pain medication. Some use medication-based treatment for their addiction. But that has created a divide in the world of recovery. We listen to an excerpt from the latest Us & Them, exploring the difference between an early medication called methadone and suboxone, which is often used now.
A West Virginia cabinetmaker describes his journey to becoming an accomplished poet. Also, state lawmakers have taken an important step to funding the state’s EMS. And, the Trump administration announced it would roll back a rule on power plant emissions of mercury.
Preparing to consider a host of child welfare bills this week, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee held a listening session to hear from people who've been impacted by the system.
