City of Huntington Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Huntington’s LGTBQ+ Rating Leads State

The city of Huntington begins the new year as a state and national leader in creating an inclusive community for the LGTBQ+ population.

With some civil rights under attack at the state level, and a new, more conservative Huntington mayor taking office, will the River City’s inclusivity stay strong?

The Human Rights Campaign is the country’s largest LGTBQ+ civil rights organization. Every year, the group releases a Municipal Equality Index, ranking more than 500 U.S.cities on factors including non-discrimination laws, municipal employment policies, inclusiveness of city services and municipal leadership on matters of equality. For 2024, both Huntington and Morgantown received, for the second year in a row, a perfect score of 100.

Outgoing Huntington Mayor Steve Williams said when he began his first term, 12 years ago, the city’s Equality Index was far from perfect.

“Our score was 43 and it broke my heart, because I know the hearts and the caring the people in Huntington have,” Williams said. “The one thing I learned immediately is that you have to be intentional in everything that you’re doing.”

Williams, a Democrat, created a Huntington Human Relations Commission, and worked to get an anti discrimination ordinance passed. The mayor said there had to be actual inclusion within the administration, so he created an LGBTQ advisory committee.

Huntington City Council member Ally Alyman is also a founding member and president of the non-profit Huntington Pride Organization. She said the group was founded in 2018 specifically for the city’s LGBTQ+ community in Huntington.

“We offer free events for the community,” Layman said. “We’ve hosted pride festivals. We’ve hosted different types of artistic creative events for the community to get together and have places to go and have community and conversation. We’ve also helped to put together a health and safety resource guide for Cabell County. It’s one of the few that are available in the state of West Virginia.”

Willams said Huntington’s purposeful inclusivity is a catalyst in attracting new business and business minded familes.

“Every week I end up hearing and meeting someone who said, we’ve heard about what you’ve been doing with the LGBTQ community and with diversity and inclusion within the city, and we didn’t think that was present in Appalachia, he said”

Layman agreed with that assessment.

“I think it shows diversity within the workforce,” she said. “We’ve honestly had a few folks from other states move to Huntington and open their businesses for local businesses from Texas and other places. We’ve had doctors move to the area because of this municipal Equality Index.”

For the eighth consecutive year, the Human Rights Campaign has designated Huntington as an “All-Star” city for scoring above 85 points. The Campaign says that’s despite being from a state without LGBTQ+ inclusive non-discrimination laws at the state level.

Layman said she takes pride in Huntington and 15 other West Virginia cities creating their own non-discrimination ordinances.

“There’s always a concern with our Republican supermajority in the state of West Virginia,” Layman said. “I know last session there were, I think, about 45 laws that were written that may not have moved out of committee and they may not have moved to the floor, but it just shows the attack on human rights from a state level. I mean, yes, there’s always concern, but we have a lot of folks within our legislature, Democrats, independents, Republicans, that also fight for our community.”

Incoming Huntington Mayor Patrick Farrell, a Republican, did highlight the importance of diversity in his campaign platform. Farrell says he has no plans to take away any citizen rights and will continue advancing diversity gains.

“All of our cities need to be a place where people feel safe and welcome,” Farrell said. “No matter where you’re from, what you look like, how you pray or who you love, this is a place that we want people to feel safe, so that will certainly continue when I’m mayor.”

Five other West Virginia cities were included in the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index. Charleston scored a 96, Wheeling a 75, Charles Town tallied a 53, Lewisiburg a 37 and Parkersburg scored a 26.

State, National Organizations Petition W.Va. Supreme Court To Keep Huntington, Cabell Opioid Case Alive

A group of national and state organizations are asking the state Supreme Court to side with Cabell County and Huntington in their lawsuit against major opioid distribution companies.

The Amici Curiae, or friends of the court, are organizations that have an interest in the outcome of the case.

“The opioid crisis represents one of the greatest threats to public health in our lifetime, with profound consequences for the communities Amici serve,” the Amici said in the brief.

The case pivots on the legal definition of what is considered a public nuisance. After Judge David Faber ruled narrowly on what defines a public nuisance, Cabell and Hunting lost their case against the companies. The Amici told the court in its brief that Faber’s decision was overly restrictive and inconsistent with West Virginia law.

“(The decision) prevents opioid distributors from being held responsible for the costs of abating the crisis they caused,” the Amici said in the brief. “And improvidently diminishes their duty to avert the further spread of the crisis to almost nothing.”

The localities appealed the decision in the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which asked the state Supreme Court to define the legal reach and definition of a public nuisance.

The Cabell County Case needs a broad description to stay alive, much like what the state of West Virginia used in a separate suit.

“The court should answer the certified question in the affirmative, holding that West Virginia Common Law defines public nuisance to include the conditions caused by distribution of controlled substances,” the Amici said in the brief.

The organizations represented in the brief are the National Association of Counties, the County Executive of America, the National League of Cities, the International Municipal Lawyers Association, the West Virginia Sheriffs Association, the West Virginia Association of Counties, the County Commissioners Association of West Virginia, and the West Virginia Municipal League.

In the brief they said that a narrow definition would absolve major drug companies of their responsibility for creating an opioid epidemic.

Gold Star Families Monument Unveiled In Huntington On Woody Williams’ 100th Birthday

Woody Williams, the late World War II Congressional Medal Of Honor recipient, created the Woody Williams Foundation to honor the families of those who died serving their country. His final wish was that the foundation erect a memorial for Gold Star Families in Huntington. On Monday, what would have been his 100th birthday, he got his wish.

Woody Williams, the late World War II Congressional Medal Of Honor recipient, created the Woody Williams Foundation to honor the families of those who died serving their country. His final wish was that the foundation erect a memorial for Gold Star Families memorial in Huntington. On Monday, what would have been his 100th birthday, he got his wish.

Near the close of the dedication, Lee Greenwood sang his iconic song “God Bless The USA” before more than a thousand people gathered at the Huntington Memorial Arch. The site is now also the home of the nation’s 131st Gold Star Families Monument. Greenwood said as William’s long time friend, and a Medal of Honor Society award winner, he wouldn’t have missed this event for the world.

“To give honor to Woody Williams is giving honor to all of them,” Greenwood said. “I’m proud to be here in West Virginia.”

At Williams’ state Capitol funeral service a year ago, friend and former Huntington mayor Kim Wolfe was reminded that he was tasked with getting this monument erected. Wolfe said it was one of many projects he worried on, for and with Woody, over 40 years.

“About three weeks prior to his passing, Woody said, ‘I’d like to have a monument.’ I don’t know anything about monuments. ‘Yeah, but you know people, just make that happen,’” Wolfe said.

Grandson Brent Casey reminded the crowd that Monday’s unveiling was not about his beloved “papaw,” but the two dozen or so Gold Star Family members in attendance, each given a yellow rose to place at the base of the monument.

“I share his exact words at nearly every dedication and groundbreaking that he came to,” Casey said. “People try to make it about him when he would say ‘It’s not about me. We are not here for me. It’s about them.’ We are here for them – to honor and recognize the Gold Star Families.”

Huntington’s Southside Preservation and Enhancement Alliance spearheaded the monument construction. The neighborhood group adjacent to the Memorial Park did all the logistics and raised all the money to make this monument and event possible. Alliance President Dan Gooding said all the work was true to a great man’s final wish.

“Woody picked the spot that this is on,” Gooding said. “It was the last request he had. This is the county seat of Cabell County, where he lived the majority of his life. And so it’s very, very meaningful.”

Some heard the clip clop of a not really riderless horse leave the event area. Wolfe said Williams, a fellow horseman, made him promise he’d get him on a horse on his 100th birthday. Wolfe did just that.

The riderless horse has Woody Williams’ ashes in his saddlebag.

*Randy Yohe/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

“Woody turned one hundred today,” Wolfe said. “He had told me many times, I want you to put me on a horse when I’m one hundred. So this is going to be his horse, and his ashes are in that saddlebag. There’s a little urn under that gold strap. He’s not looking down from heaven today, he’s here.”

Initially, the Woody Williams Foundation’s goal was to establish a Gold Star Families Memorial Monument in Woody’s home state of West Virginia. Once that monument was complete, a new mission was to establish monuments in as many communities as possible in all 50 states and U.S. territories. That has been done over the past ten years.

These monuments are a two-sided tribute made of black granite. One side bears the words: Gold Star Families Memorial Monument, a tribute to Gold Star Families and Relatives who sacrificed a Loved One for our Freedom.

The other side tells a story through the four granite panels: Homeland, Family, Patriot, and Sacrifice. At the center of this tribute, is a silhouette of a saluting service member which represents the legacy of the loved ones who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Together, these features tell each community’s unique story based upon the pillars of the foundation.

City Of Huntington Awarded Grant To Expand Crisis Intervention Team

The U.S. Conference of Mayors and the store chain Target announced Monday that the City of Huntington is the small population winner of this year’s Police Reform and Equitable Justice Grant Program.

The program is designed to identify, promote and support police policies and practices that cities of all sizes are finding to be most effective in advancing the goal of justice for all residents.

Huntington was recognized for its Crisis Intervention Team, which pairs mental health providers with police officers to respond to mental health/co-occurring substance use crises. City officials and community health agencies developed the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) with the Huntington Police Department in September 2022.

The purpose of the CIT is to handle active mental health crises in the community that cannot be solved by other mental health programs such as crisis phone numbers. The CIT is a part of the department’s new Coordinated Care Unit that will focus solely on mental health needs within the community. In addition to the Huntington Police Department’s Mental Health Liaison and CIT officers, the project currently partners with the Mayor’s Council on Drug Control Policy and mental health providers in the community.

In the third year of this competitive grant program, judges named one winner in the program’s large (over 300,000), mid-sized (100,000 – 300,000) and small (under 100,000) population categories. Huntington was the winner in the small population category. Arlington, Texas (large category) and Lansing, Michigan (mid-sized category) also were named winners

Huntington will share in a total of $350,000 in grant funds with the other two winning cities.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are more than 1,400 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the conference by its chief elected official, the mayor.

Hal Greer Boulevard Project To Reshape Huntington’s Interstate Access Corridor

Gov. Jim Justice announced Friday morning a $13.5 million comprehensive upgrade of Huntington’s Hal Greer Boulevard, also known as 16th Street, all the way from Washington Boulevard to Third Avenue.

Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston said the project would be fast tracked, with a field office going up in January, building demolition in February and road work beginning in the spring of 2023.

“This one’s comprehensive,” Wriston said. “It has all the bells and whistles, pedestrian, bike path, new lighting, landscaping, you name it, this project’s got it.”

Huntington Mayor Steve Williams said the project was more than a decade in the making, with stakeholders from the Fairfield neighborhood to hospital and university presidents joining in a planning alliance.

Designs will highlight safety, accessibility, beauty and economic development for the main corridor that leads people from I-64, to Cabell-Huntington Hospital and to the downtown area and Marshall University.

“With all of the business development that is planned on Hal Greer Boulevard, in five years, anybody who’s coming through here right now will not recognize Hal Greer Boulevard,” Williams said. “It will be absolutely transformed.”

The project will also highlight a partnership with the Thundercloud “First Dig” Initiative, laying underground broadband fiber along the corridor, providing internet speeds that partners say will be 1000 times faster than what locals are experiencing now.

Cabell County Appeals Opioid Ruling

Officials with the Cabell County Commission are moving to appeal a federal judge's ruling.

The Cabell County Commission voted unanimously to appeal a federal judge’s ruling in favor of drug distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson.

Judge David Faber ruled that the state’s public nuisance law did not apply to the three distributors for distributing 81 million addictive pills over the span of eight years.

Huntington Mayor Steve Williams spoke before the commission, indicating that the city is backing the appeal.

“Our constituents need to know we’re not giving up,” he said. “I’m proud to be able to stand by the Cabell County Commission with the City of Huntington, for us to aggressively continue forward on abating this scourge from our community.”

Initially, Huntington and Cabell County asked for more than $2.5 billion to fund opioid response programs.