PEOPLExpress is planning to offer low-fare flights from Charleston’s Yeager Airport to Orlando starting next month.
Officials on Wednesday announced the new flights that will begin on Oct. 16.
Service between Charleston and Orlando will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays with Boeing 737 aircraft. Introductory fares start at $49 each way.
Officials say Charleston is the first destination to be added outside the PEOPLExpress base at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport in Virginia.
Summertime is always the high season at animal shelters, and many homeless pets end up being put to sleep. The Kanawha Charleston Humane Association is trying to buck this trend. In the last 5 years the shelter has cut the number of animals it’s euthanized by almost 95%.
Two years ago, a group called Dog Bless began working to help foster dogs from the Kanawha Charleston Humane Association shelter. Some animals find permanent homes nearby. But each month about 50 others are transported to rescue groups in Philadelphia, Jersey City and New York City, where rescue groups have offered to help.
"If people don't adopt and foster, they will just continue to stack up here, and we would be forced to return to euthanizing for space."- Chelsea Staley, director Kanawha Charleston Humane Association Shelter
On Fridays, the trip up north begins here, at the edge of the parking lot of the shelter around 6:30 in the misty early morning. There are some tears today, as 22 dogs are loaded into the transport van, including Luke Skywalker, a black and tan shepherd who is saying goodbye to his foster mom, Debra Null.
This is Luke Skywalker
“I just want to help with the mission of keeping the dogs alive–the new mission of the shelter and not euthanizing them.”
That new mission began last September, when the Kanawha Charleston Humane Association changed its policies and started trying to save all adoptable animals. The KCHA could do that, in part, because of Dog Bless. Cathy McClung co-founded the volunteer-run organization.
“We started rescuing from the shelter when it was a high-kill shelter, and they allowed us to start pulling dogs for rescue. And now that the shelter has changed a lot of its practices, Dog Bless’s mission is still to reduce euthanasia at the shelter. And rescue is a part of that equation.”
In 2009 the KCHA euthanized 4,160 animals between January and June. This year the shelter has only euthanized 211. Dog Bless is part of the reason, but the shelter also made a difficult decision when it changed its policy. It reduced the number of animals it takes in–by half. All strays are automatically accepted, but owners wanting to surrender their pet are often put on a waiting list.
Credit Anthony Cassis
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Adam Batty, foster volunteer with Dog Bless
Credit Roxy Todd
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Credit Roxy Todd
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Pebbles is a one and a half-year-old beagle mix
The KCHA shelter isn’t exactly a nice place, but for about 278 animals it’s home. It’s loud with the cacophony of dogs barking, and even with the constant cleaning of the cages, it smells.
Even the director of the KCHA helps with the chores. Chelsea Staley is mopping the floor just before the shelter opens for the day.
“Our intentions are good. We want to save every animal that comes through our door. But we can’t do it. We can’t continue to hoard animals. So moving them out of here is absolutely key.”
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Also, the KCHA now wants to be the last resort for people that need to surrender their pets–not the first option. Last month, the shelter adopted just over two-thirds of all the animals it did accept.
The shelter also still depends on Dog Bless to help get many dogs as possible to rescue groups across the country. Before they leave West Virginia, the dogs are placed into foster homes temporarily.
Chad and Angela are some of the most active of the foster families with Dog Bless. In addition to the three rescue dogs they already own, this month they are hosting 6 dogs from the shelter, including one mamma dog and her 1-week-old puppies.
Chad and Angela both work day jobs, but they spend their evenings, weekends and even their vacations with the dogs. They spend more money on dog food than on their own grocery bills.
Angela and Chad’s own dogs have served as role models to help socialize the fosters and get them ready for their new home.
“Yeah they help each other. And I think that’s what we’ve learned the most about having dogs is they help each other. And they help us. They fill a hole…that sometimes you don’t even know you have.”
Credit Anthony Cassis
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Foster volunteer Lindsay Smith
The Kanawha Charleston Humane Association hopes more people like Angela will be willing to open their hearts and their homes to these animals and increase their adoption rate. Shelter director Chelsea Staley says that increasing its local adoption rate is key to its success of shelter’s mission of reducing euthanasia.
“If people don’t adopt and foster, they will just continue to stack up here, and we would be forced to return to euthanizing for space. And we just certainly do not want to do that.”
For more information about Dog Bless, click here, or email them: dogblesswv@hotmail.com. To find out which dogs and cats are available for adoption in Charleston, click here, or call (304) 342-1576
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See Spot Rescued is a rescue group in Jersey City where many of the dogs are transported when they leave the Charleston shelter. Chibi found a home with the help of See Spot Rescued.
To see more photos from one of the rescue shelters in New Jersey that regularly finds homes for West Virginia dogs, visit See Spot Rescued’s facebook page.
It’s National Farmers Market Week, and USDA Acting Under Secretary for Rural Development, Doug O’Brien, visited the Capitol Market in Charleston to help celebrate.
A number of USDA officials are visiting farmers markets around the country this week to highlight opportunities and community benefits farmers markets provide. Doug O’Brien, USDA Acting Under Secretary for Rural Development came to celebrate with West Virginians at Charleston’s Capitol Market.
“This really is a unique market. It’s been here for nearly twenty years, and the vision of the community coming together, and using this great historic space for this great community benefit, I mean I think it pays dividends in so many ways. I think it’s really fantastic that a community the size of Charleston can support a seven-day market like this.”
The Capitol Market is a big part of West Virginia’s local food economy, generating an estimated $7.5 million in annual sales and attracting more than 500,000 visitors annually.
“Farmers markets provide a lot of community benefits. They provide an outlet for small entrepreneurs who grow food and plants. They provide a great meeting space, a community space for people to come together. They provide access to healthy, nutritious food for the community.”
Kelli Melton, daughter of Rita Lovejoy, an owner of a small business called, Granny’s Greenhouse, says she and her family have been holding up their business at the Capitol Market for fifteen years. Melton says the Market had been a huge impact on her family. She hopes more people take advantage of what farmers markets have to offer.
“I think people need to be more active in farmers and local people growing their own food and growing their own stuff and help populating the Earth with trees and shrubs, and just doing more growing. I like it, I love this. There’s nothing else better.”
The Capitol Market is one of 8,268 farmers markets listed in the USDA National Farmers Market Directory, and the number of farmers markets listed in the Directory has increased 76% since 2008.
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.
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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.
Patriot Coal is relocating its West Virginia office in Charleston to Scott Depot in Putnam County.Patriot spokeswoman Janine Orf says the St. Louis-based…
Patriot Coal is relocating its West Virginia office in Charleston to Scott Depot in Putnam County.
Patriot spokeswoman Janine Orf says the St. Louis-based coal company plans to make the switch in late summer or early fall.
The Charleston office has about 100 employees.
The company has 10 active mining complexes, with eight in West Virginia and two in western Kentucky. Patriot employs about 4,000 people across the whole company.
Editor’s Note: Today we continue our series on how to keep young people in West Virginia. Yesterday, we looked at the struggle many people go through to find work in the state in their chosen fields. Today we examine the stereotypes young West Virginians who choose to stay in the state face from those on the outside.
With the state expected to lose nearly 20 thousand people over the next 15 years, many are trying to figure out how to entice young people to stay in West Virginia in the hopes of reversing that trend. Some young people want to stay; others don’t for many reasons, like finding work. But many young people agree there’s a perception amongst young West Virginians that people have to leave, not just to find work, but to simply succeed.
Logan Spears, a 25 years old bartender, works at the Dancing Fig on High Street, in Morgantown.
Spears says in his group of friends, there’s a bias against those that stay in West Virginia, primarily because of compensation.
“Most of the people that stay in the state are looked down upon by the others. ‘Oh, I guess he didn’t as good a job as I did’,” Spears said.
“I think one of the big things is the pay that you get from it, it kind of goes on the price of living.”
But it’s not just about money; it’s also about attitude.
Jocelyn and Matt Crawford live in Charleston, and have been married since 2012.
“It seems to be that people who were born and raised in West Virginia, if you choose to stick around, the people who have left to go to other places, they have sort of made it and you have not, even if you’ve been doing great things with your life,” said Jocelyn Crawford.
“It seems like a lot of the people that we know who have gone to school in West Virginia are looking to leave, or feel like they are stuck in a rut, even if they have a good job or are successful in other ways,” Matt Crawford said.
The Crawfords, believe national media coverage of West Virginia, which they say tends to be negative, plays a role.
“Whenever there’s a study out and it has West Virginia at the bottom of something good or the top of something bad, people talk about it a lot. It seems like it’s almost been ingrained in people our age, that we’re the fattest state. Or the dumbest state, and you can’t succeed if you’re here,” said Matt Crawford.
Not Buying It
The Crawfords aren’t buying that assessment. And they’re not alone.
Mike Jones was raised on a tobacco farm in Virginia. He moved to West Virginia for college, met the woman who would become his wife, and decided to stay. He now lives in Charleston and works at a small business in Montgomery.
He says anyone can find something fun to do in West Virginia. And he says it’s the true mountainous beauty of the state that keeps people here.
“I had never been rock climbing before until I went to New River Gorge. Just several experiences that I wouldn’t have had in other parts of the country,” Jones said.
“If people look up from their screens they will realize there’s plenty going on around them and not everything is going on away from them. I’ve experienced several people that will not be in the moment. They would rather be somewhere else. If that attitude doesn’t change, then they are not going to experience happiness.”
