Tag: Bluefield

Delegates Host Tax Reform Hearing in Bluefield

State delegates will host a town hall hearing this evening in Bluefield on tax reform.Delegates Marty Gearheart, John Shott and Joe Ellington, all of…

State delegates will host a town hall hearing this evening in Bluefield on tax reform.

Delegates Marty Gearheart, John Shott and Joe Ellington, all of Mercer County, will host the hearing to hear citizens’ ideas and comments on potential state tax reform proposals.

The hearing at the Bluefield High School Performing Arts center will run from 5:30 to 7:30.

The full committee held a separate public comment hearing October 20th in the House of Delegates chamber in Charleston. But Gearheart wants to give people in the southern part of the state who couldn’t get to Charleston a chance for their views to be heard.

All comments at the hearing will be documented and recorded so they can be submitted to the full tax reform committee. 

Police Say Bluefield High Student Brought Gun to School

State police say a Bluefield High School student brought an unloaded handgun to the school.West Virginia State Police spokesman Lt. Michael Baylous says…

State police say a Bluefield High School student brought an unloaded handgun to the school.

West Virginia State Police spokesman Lt. Michael Baylous says school personnel found the gun on Wednesday following an altercation between the female student and another student.

Baylous says in a news release that Sgt. D.W. Miller took the student into custody and brought her to Mercer County Circuit Court. A judge ordered that she be held at a juvenile detention center until a hearing is held.

Two Sentenced in W.Va. Pill Trafficking Crackdown

Two people have been sentenced on federal charges stemming from a crackdown on prescription drug trafficking in southern West Virginia. 

U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin says 20-year-old Aree Lumpkins of Princeton received a two-year sentence on Tuesday. Lumpkins pleaded guilty in July to using a telephone to arrange a drug deal.

Forty-two-year-old Craig Arnold Young of Lashmeet was sentenced to a year and a month in prison for using a telephone to arrange a drug deal. He also pleaded guilty in July.

The charges stemmed from the Bluefield Pill Initiative. Launched in 2011, it targets prescription drug trafficking in Mercer, McDowell and Wyoming counties.

In another drug case, 36-year-old Antonio Padgett of Welch was sentenced to two years and three months for crack distribution. Padgett also pleaded guilty in July.

Man Admits Accessing Porn on W.Va. Culture Center Computer

A Bluefield man has pleaded guilty to charges that he used a public computer at the West Virginia Culture Center to access child pornography.

WCHS-TV reports 21-year-old Matthew Newsome entered the plea Friday in Kanawha County Circuit Court.

Newsome was charged with accessing child porn on the Internet from a public computer terminal at the Culture Center library on Feb. 12. State cyber-security analysts alerted Capitol Police after detecting the activity. Newsome was arrested in April.

Newsome also pleaded guilty to malicious wounding stemming from a robbery at a Charleston motel last December.

Bluefield Seeks Input on Growth Planning

Bluefield officials are asking citizens to weigh in on the city’s planning for community and economic growth.

The city Board of Directors is conducting an online survey to gather citizens’ input. Survey questions include what types of businesses the city should attract and what opportunities are seen for the city.

Community and economic development coordinator Jim Spencer tells the Bluefield Daily Telegraph that citizen input is vital to the planning process.

Spencer says any citizen who doesn’t have Internet access can contact him at City Hall. Arrangements will be made to mail or deliver the survey to the citizen.

He says the board would like to have the surveys completed by early September.

Addiction Treatment Center On Track to Open in Bluefield

Plans are on track for an addiction treatment center in Bluefield.Supporters met Thursday to discuss current plans for the Four Seasons Recovery Center at…

Plans are on track for an addiction treatment center in Bluefield.

Supporters met Thursday to discuss current plans for the Four Seasons Recovery Center at a former school.

The Bluefield Daily Telegraph reports that the new center is expected to open in early May.

Officials say the center will be staffed with people who have experienced their own battles with substance abuse and addiction. It also will not use drugs such as methadone or suboxone for its treatment program.

The center will serve male individuals fighting addiction that are referred to the program by the judicial system.

A state Department of Justice grant is funding the center for a three-year period. Organizers hope the center will be able to support itself by the end of the grant period.

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