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UBB victims' families furious over amusement park attraction

Kings Dominion does not plan to host a Halloween themed attraction called, Miner’s Revenge next year.

The Virginia-based amusement park does not plan to host a Halloween themed attraction called, Miner’s Revenge next year. The park charged more than $32 for admission during the weekends in October. The haunted attraction’s similarities to the Upper Big Branch disaster similarities infuriated the families of the victims. Some have said it’s eerily similar to their real life nightmare.

Halloween Haunt 2013 at Kings Dominion featured attractions included Edge of Darkness, a show described to “bring a decaying circus back to life.” Zombie High is listed as “an outbreak that would cover the world in days.” Miner’s Revenge doesn’t have a description on the website anymore.

Ellen Smith, Owner and Managing Editor of Mine Safety and Health News quoted the description in an article before it was taken down stating in part:

“It was reported to be the worst coal mine accident in history. The families of missing miners begged for help but it was decided that a rescue was too dangerous. The miners were left entombed deep underground. Lamps at their sides and pick-axes in their hands they are searching for the men who left them to die…“

After reading this Smith started a petition to have the attraction stopped.

“I questioned whether or not I was overstepping a line in journalism where I was becoming part of the story,” Smith said. “I didn’t want to be but I wanted Kings Dominion to understand just how serious this was.”

"You would not make an attraction from what happened on 9-11. You would not have an attraction of someone being stuck in a 110 story high-rise and not being able to get out because the middle part of the structure was blown apart and that people was jumping out of windows you would never do that. I did not understand why they chose to take this theme when it hits this close to home. And they’re in Virginia they’re next door neighbors," said Smith.

Smith also said, even despite her status as a journalist, she “cannot be silent.”

Smith’s petition collected more than 300 signatures while a petition started by a Beckley resident collect more than 100.

The Halloween Haunt event ended this past weekend concluding the amusement park’s season as well. Still, Smith says she plans to present the signatures to Kings Dominion and hopes to send a message along with the names.

“What might seem so innocent can really really hurt people and bring back memories and traumatic events that they don’t need,” she said. “They’ve already been traumatized.”

Gary Quarles, who has actively spoken out to honor the memory of his son Gary Wayne Quarles, in the past, rounded the courage to share his fury about the attraction.

Twenty-nine helmets hanging on red crosses close to the UBB entrance is just one memorial the community setup after the explosion.

“We’re all trying to heal and go on with our everyday life,” he said. “We would like to be just left alone.”

In an email, Kings Dominion spokesperson Gene Petriello said, “Miners Revenge is not designed, nor intended, to depict a specific situation. Rather it is simply a themed Halloween attraction for the 2013 Haunt season at Kings Dominion.”

But Quarles says the description hits way too close to home.

“The public don’t really need to know,” he said. “They don’t need to know about all that stuff about our loved ones whoever could have been blown plum to pieces or who wasn’t.”

The UMWA joined the families to say “We are very disappointed by this outrageous “attraction” at Kings Dominion. It’s extremely insensitive to all families who’ve lost loved ones in mining tragedies over the years.”

Petriello said, upon completion of each season, all Halloween attractions are reviewed to allow for new themes. As part of its regular rotation, Kings Dominion does not intend to operate the Miner’s Revenge Halloween attraction next year.

It’s unclear if the attraction will remain on the “regular rotation” schedule past 2014.

State Film Office offers new functionality to locations database

The West Virginia Film Office is always looking for the next great location for a film or television shoot. If you own a home, business, or property that you would like the film and television industry to consider featuring in a potential production, you can now post your information to the film office’s online locations library.

“In addition to tax incentives, one of the most effective tools utilized by the film office to recruit the film industry to the state is its online locations database,” said Pam Haynes, director of the West Virginia Film Office.

The database features the state’s communities, landmarks, diverse architectural structures, topography, and much more.

“This is a very competitive business, and the availability of online information about various locations is an essential resource for film industry personnel to quickly search for the next perfect location for filming,” said Haynes.

Jamie Cope, location services coordinator for the film office, stated that the current database has nearly 46,000 images comprising more than 4,300 locations. With this new functionality, property owners will be able to submit their own photos for inclusion in the library at no cost.

“We hope that this new feature will increase the number of private homes and businesses represented in the library,” said Cope. “It is our focus to offer the industry the widest array of locations available from which to choose, and this new submission engine will help us reach that goal,” he added.

“Film office staff frequently receives requests for certain physical looks in homes for shooting, but it is challenging to reach out to hundreds of homeowners statewide when turnaround time is critical,” Cope said.

He explained that some requests are very specific, such as the search for a white, split-entry home with blue shutters in a cul-de-sac.

“The more locations represented in the database, the better the state’s chances are of attracting more production business,” said Cope.

“To assist in this new effort, the film office has prepared and posted photography tips to review before submitting images for consideration,” Cope added. “And the person submitting the photos must be the owner of the property.”

Cope said that the owner’s contact information will remain hidden from the public search engine.

“If a producer is interested in a property, they will contact the film office, which will subsequently contact the owner to gauge interest. It is always up to the owners to decide on a case-by-case basis whether they wish to approve filming on their properties.”

To submit a property for consideration, visit www.wvfilm.com/locations, click on the button to “Submit Locations,” and follow the simple directions.

The film office has prepared “Tips for Photographing Your Property,” which can be viewed under the same link. All questions may be directed to Jamie Cope at 304-957-9324 or by email at james.b.cope@wv.gov.

The West Virginia Film Office is a section of the West Virginia Division of Tourism, under the West Virginia Department of Commerce. Visit the film office at www.wvfilm.com

Marshall Women’s Basketball hope to improve on 2012-2013 season

Marshall Women’s Basketball Head Coach Matt Daniel is set to tip off his second season in Huntington.

How does the Marshall Women’s Basketball program rebound from a rough first year under new Head Coach Matt Daniel in 2012-2013? They bring in 10 new girls to fill the roster. A year after finishing 9-20 overall and 3-13? in Conference USA play, the Marshall Women hope to fit more into Coach Daniel’s up-tempo style of play.

“Well with 10 new faces you never know how that’s going to equate to wins and losses, but they’ve really jelled together really quickly. I really like the personality of our team and we’re not a group that takes ourselves too seriously, we’re just out here to work hard and try to have a good time and see what happens at the end of 40 minutes,” Daniel said.

Despite adding 10 new girls to the team, five girls with starting experience do return to help steady the transition. Among Daniel’s goals as the coach of The Herd is to bring in local talent. This year Daniel as added freshman Kiana Evans from Huntington, McKenzie Akers from Princeton and Talequia Hamilton—a University of Cincinnati transfer that originally hails from Huntington. Daniel thinks local talent could be the key.

“You know when you’re recruiting kids and you’re establishing who you want to be and I was just talking to President Kopp and I want to do it with kids that are local and I think that’s important that we educate the kids that are within our tri-state area and hopefully at the end of the day try to win a few ball games as well,” Daniel said.

Marshall opens the season November 8^th at home against Bluefield College. The Herd plays 9 of its first 11 games at home and has 18 home days overall. Daniel thinks his group of girls will take to his philosophy of being aggressive and quick.

“Well they’re very coachable and that’s all you can ask and it’s going to be interesting to see. It can get real fun real fast or it can still be a grind, you hope for the best, but you plan for the worst, so we’re just going to go out and we’ll kind of see what’s what then and see where we go, but I’m really pleased with the effort the girls are giving,” Daniel said.

Among those returnee’s is 5^th year senior forward Erica Woods. She said this group is different than last year’s team.

“I have never in all my life seen a group of young ladies come together and jell at once so quickly. Obviously still have a ways to go and there is always room for improvement and things like that, but definitely willing to want to get it right, not be right, but get things right, we’re all about us and not just one person,” Woods said.

Not only is the team changing, but the conference the women play in is changing quickly. With 8 new schools, some of which have had previous national success, play could be tougher than it’s ever been. Woods said with the addition of all the new girls they can play the style that Coach Daniel wants.

“We just have girls that are ready to get after it day-in and day-out and everybody seems to be buying into Coach Daniel’s concept and like I said in practice everything is full speed. And if we don’t go full speed, we run and nobody wants to run, so we just try to do as he says and get in and get out,” Woods said.

Among the newcomers is transfer Talequia Hamilton, who said her transfer back home from Cincinnati was about playing in front of the people she cares about.

“I missed home, I really did. Of the two years I was there I wasn’t

really sure that my heart was in it, but I knew back home that I would get to play in front of my friends and my family, so I’m going to put my all into it,” Hamilton said.

Daniel hopes that home mentality for the local girls can be one of the keys to resurgence.

Lumberjackin Bluegrassin Jamboree celebrates 31 years

The Lumberjackin’ Bluegrassin’ Jamboree took full swing earlier this month at Twin Falls State Park. The annual event includes speed competitions,…

The Lumberjackin’ Bluegrassin’ Jamboree took full swing earlier this month at Twin Falls State Park. The annual event includes speed competitions, vendors, and bluegrass music.

Three school clubs from Penn State, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia University competed in various team events such as a log roll, cross cutting, chainsaw, bolt splitting and chopping. The students’ participation exposes them to the timber industry.

Twin Falls Activity Coordinator, Brian Danford, oversaw the student competition.

“All these students are learning how to, basically what people did in the olden days because they used cross cut saws and hand axes because, to fell trees,” Danford said. “Now days it’s more mechanized and they have chainsaws and everything else in order to get the wood out. But we want to teach them the culture so and get them some good competition.”

The co-ed teams competed for most of the day. There were male, female and co-ed events, including the jack and jill competition, where a male and female crosscut saw team would go against a team from another school.

The jamboree celebrated its 31st year. It’s a community event that focuses on the importance of the timber industry in West Virginia.

According to the West Virginia Forestry Association, the industry contributes just over $3 billion dollars to the state’s economy. Traditionally, timber ranks as one of West Virginia’s largest major industries following coal.

When the western Virginia, now West Virginia, virgin forests were discovered, they were filled with large trees, some reaching heights of 140 feet and 27 feet in diameter, which included oak, maple, poplar and the American Chestnut.

The chestnuts were killed off in the early 20th century by a fungus. Efforts are currently underway by the American Chestnut Foundation to restore the tree. Other trees under attack include the state’s hardwoods by the gypsy moth and hemlock trees by the hemlock woolly adelgid. The West Virginia Department of Agriculture is working to combat the adelgid through chemicals and natural predators. But Amanda Cadle who was watching the competition, shared a unique way of replanting hemlock trees, which she learned from a family friend.

“And so my friend, wanting to preserve the memory of his father,” she explained, “took his idea and cut some branches off of that tree right after they cut it. Probably about the size of a seedlin, you know about this big around. You just take a hatchet and you just kinda split the end and you just plant it in fertile soil.”

Cadle added that soaking the branches in water before planting them is helpful. She says her technique is working. However, her trees are in an isolated area away from the adelgid’ at a lower elevation and therefore in a somewhat protected environment. Whether or not her technique will work in other locations remains to be seen.

In addition to the lumberjack and jill competition, the Lumberjackin’ Bluegrassin’ Jamboree held a variety of other attractions including vendor’s arts and crafts, bluegrass music, square dancing, and hayrides.

The three day jamboree usually hosts around 3,500 visitors.

This year, Penn State came in First, WVU second, and Virginia Tech came in third.

Stories from the Lost River Valley

Stories and photographs from the Cacapon and Lost River Valley are featured in a book just released by West Virginia University Press.

Listening to the Land features the stories of several owners throughout the watershed who have chosen to preserve their land through the Cacapon and Lost River Land Trust.

“When we signed some of the first easements that the Land Trust did, people started sobbing, literally, in the easement signing in the attorney’s office,” Nancy Ailes, executive director, said. “And I started realizing that there are these great stories behind those tears.”

Ailes wrote a grant proposal and received $50,000 from National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to produce the book. The Trust hired documentary writer Jamie Ross and photographer Tom Cogill to traverse the valley documenting the people, their land and their stories.

“The land is beautiful, I think this valley could be a national park,” Cogill said.

Cogill is primarily a portrait photographer so he approached the landscape the same way he would if he were capturing an image of an individual. There are photos in the book of teenage girls hauling in a deer they shot, scenes of farms, livestock and hay, as well as the highway and power lines bisecting the land.

Cogill is particularly fond of a photo that shows a weathered wood plank wall with graffiti scratched in it.

“It’s the two page spread for the section called ‘The Pull of Home,’” Cogill said. “Probably 100 people have written their name and the date, just kind of scratched it on the wall, some of them have extended stories, others it’s just initials and dates.”

“It’s a portrait, it’s a short story, it talks about the people who live here without showing any of them,” he said.

While Cogill shot photos, Ross interviewed people. The Land Trust chose about 30 whose stories might be interesting, including those who still live in the valley as well as those who grew up there and moved away.

The 150 page book documents families like the Hahn’s, Mongold’s, Slonaker’s and Mills as they participate in activities such as hunting, farming, enjoying meals and gathering mushrooms.

One of Ross’s favorite stories is that of Josh Frye, who comes from a long line of Frye’s who have worked on the family’s farm near Wardensville since Colonial times. Frye’s father and two of his brother’s died in farm accidents.

“And still they could not bring themselves to sell the property,” Ross said. “And part of that too goes with all the funny stories that go along.”

The book details how Frye’s mother was embarrassed when her husband bought a hearse that he parked in the field so he could sleep there and keep an eye out for predators trying to eat the turkeys raised on the farm.

“And Josh speaks so warmly about farming when people used to move from farm to farm to accomplish the task,” Ross said. “They would do haying as a group and move from one place to the next.”

Another profile features Bobby Ludwig from Baker, who the book says went off to college in New England and built a lucrative career on Wall Street.

Ludwig no longer lives full time in Hardy County but he’s bought and preserved thousands of acres of farmland to prevent developers from building houses on it.

Ross said Ludwig had a good comeback when officials wanting to widen the state highway near his farm suggested he could just go buy another piece of property in exchange for the one they’d take.

“And he said ‘well how about I take your girlfriend and spend the night with her and you just go get another one,’” she said. “It’s not just the attachment it’s the wit and wisdom and everything.”

Ross said there were two thoughts she heard over and over again as she interviewed people: it’s important to leave the land better then you found it, and your word is your bond.

Kanawha Co. clerk seeks delay in gay marriage lawsuit

The clerk of West Virginia’s biggest county says she needs more time to answer a lawsuit over the state’s ban on same-sex marriages.

     Kanawha County Clerk Vera McCormick filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Charleston, asking the deadline for her response be extended past Wednesday.

     The New York-based gay rights group Lambda Legal sued earlier this month, declaring West Virginia’s Defense of Marriage Act a violation of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

     It filed a similar lawsuit challenging Virginia’s gay marriage ban in September.

     McCormick says the case involves constitutional questions of widespread importance, and 21 days is not long enough for her to prepare.

     She also says it’s unfair to require a response before she knows whether the state Attorney General is going to intervene.