Community Engagement Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

State Police Public Liaison Tasked With Redemption

Mitchell says from a day-one cadet to a retiree, troopers vow to maintain the core values of respect, integrity, courage, compassion, honesty, and justice.

In his new position as West Virginia State Police Chief of Staff Services, Maj. James Mitchell acts as financial CEO and oversees the cadet academy, public relations, legal relations and a dozen or so other departments. The law enforcement veteran and Beckley native says he wanted to be a trooper ever since he saw the men and women in green when his farming family took him to the state fair as a youngster.

“I joined the state police in January of 2000, that was 23 years ago,” Mitchell said. “I was a city police officer before that in Beckley for about six years, and I was in the military before that. So I’ve got 33 years this year as a law enforcement officer.”

Mitchell said when he learned of the hidden camera in the women’s locker room and all the allegations of wrongdoing, it broke his heart.

“It affects every single person wearing this uniform,” he said. “Not just the state police, it affects other agencies as well, because the public will group law enforcement together, regardless of the color of the uniform. It was heartbreaking not just to me, but to so many of the people in law enforcement that I’ve talked to. It’s happened, we can’t deny that. But we can make sure it doesn’t happen in the future.”

Mitchell said cadet training at the State Police Academy evolves over time and changes in social culture. He said the loss of integrity by a few in the department makes balanced training even more important.

“Number one, we’re honest about it,” Mitchell said. “We expressed to them the importance of Stress Inoculation Training. So, we’re going to talk about the balance of it. We try to make sure at the beginning of training, that they can respond and function under a life or death, high stress environment. Then it changes more to a mentoring style of training the mind when it comes to criminal work. They gain understanding of criminal investigations, crime scene investigation, traffic investigation, and officer survivability techniques. So, there’s a great balance of training, and it fluctuates.”

Mitchell says from a day-one cadet to a retiree, troopers vow to maintain the core values of respect, integrity, courage, compassion, honesty, and justice.

“I think their value system is very important,” he said. “It will hold them true throughout their career, and then they won’t have problems like we’ve experienced. Unfortunately, what some have done is a violation of the core values.”

Mitchell said he could not discuss the active investigations now underway involving alleged casino theft, the hidden camera and destruction of evidence, alleged rape and improper conduct – or pending litigation by a growing number of women law enforcement officers concerned with possible violations while training at the academy. He was asked, “Was there a problem with a few bad apples, as Gov. Jim Justice has said, or was there a counterculture uncovered that put integrity on the backburner?”

“All of the things that you ask, I’m sure, are being looked at in the investigations,” Mitchell said. “There will come a day though, we hope it to be sooner than later, where we’ll have all the facts of this and we’ll be able to openly discuss it.”

He explained that the wholesale leadership and personnel changes made by new Superintendent Jack Chambers come with the qualification of choosing your own top office staff.

“When a superintendent comes into office, he has by code, the ability to choose his own senior staff,” Mitchell said. “Anything above lieutenant – captain, major, lieutenant colonel, are all appointed positions by the superintendent.”

He said the State Police are working closely with Homeland Security and Gov. Jim Justice’s office, but all final decisions are made independently by Chambers.

“They trust him to do this job, that’s why they appointed him,” Mitchell said. “They trust him to make the right decisions, and they’re being very respectful and very supportive of him.”

Mitchell said 99 percent of the agency, civilians and sworn personnel alike, are excellent, hardworking, compassionate people that really want to do a great job and want to arrest those who are doing wrong and protect the innocent.

He said from what he’s heard, the rank and file, boots-on-the-ground troopers, female and male, still have the public trust and respect.

“Most people here support law enforcement, support the military, they’re very patriotic, they love their country. So we’ve been very blessed when it comes to good people,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said for the future of the West Virginia State Police, it’s about societal adapting while committing to those core values.

“We want to continue to change where changes are necessary, continue to stay with our principles that we know are true and move forward to continue to provide a service that’s exemplary,” Mitchell said.

‘Blair Footsteps’ Find Permanent Place At New Mine Wars Monuments

This weekend, organizers with the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum located in Matewan will uncover monuments meant to provide permanent markers about the Battle of Blair Mountain and other related events.

The work is driven by the momentum of last year’s celebrations that marked the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Blair Mountain. There were walking tours, new museum exhibits, concerts, picnics and labor symposiums.

One program called Blair Footsteps offered an interpretive pop-up trail with five temporary exhibits that were up for two weeks. The trail marked where miners walked to Blair Mountain, ready for battle.

Director of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum Kinsey New-Walker said the event was so successful, attendees didn’t want to see the markers come down.

“We got a lot of feedback from the centennial where folks were like, ‘Make these markers permanent,’” New-Walker said. “These stories are virtually invisible. So the thing that was missing was these history sites in the landscape and so, the Mine Wars Museum launched a new project to have something permanent.”

They called the project, “Courage in the Hollers: Mapping the Miners’ Struggle for a Union.” It’s a public history project that has so far secured resources to install two monuments in the West Virginia coalfields.

Along with some other partners, the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum is helping to organize two events this Labor Day weekend, one in Marmet and one in Clothier.

“We chose Marmet and Clothier because they are typically the beginning and ending points of the march,” New-Walker said. “Marmet is where mine workers and their families gathered and prepared to march.”

The statute in Marmet is of Mother Jones. There will also be silhouettes of miners who participated in the March, laying down their work gear and picking up their weapons.

“One thing about the miners’ march on Blair Mountain is we don’t have a comprehensive list of families who participated or miners who participated because of the secrecy and the suppression that surrounded the events and the aftermath,” New-Walker said. “But the silhouettes are actually community members who have participated in this process, shared their stories and helped make the monuments a reality.”

Tom Long and Patty McGrew, Marmet community members posing for the monument silhouettes.

Silhouettes will also stand in Clothier where, according to New-Walker, “thousands pass through on their way to the front. Volunteer nurses set up field hospitals, and others set up kitchens and ammunition depots.”

The physical monuments and trails are important because the miners’ march was removed from textbooks.

“Back in the 1930s, we have a letter from the governor at the time who stated that he wanted no mention of Mother Jones or the miners’ march in the state’s history textbook,” New-Walker explained. “That kind of sets off this trend of not talking about this history. So visitors who come to the museum can actually flip through that display and see books and letters for the 1930s all the way up to the 1970s.”

“The miners’ march and the act of people having the power is a different power structure than they were used to,” New-Walker said. “It was a moment in time and in the Jim Crow era where people banded together across racial, ethnic, religious and gender lines. New stories continue to surface because miners and their families have been hushed. Either if it’s from censorship from the state, but also, after the Battle of Blair Mountain, miners were put on trial for treason.”

New-Walker said the efforts have been community driven and the project has brought a powerful message.

Community members of Marmet stand outside George Buckley Community Center, planning for the monument that will soon be dedicated there.

“People brought artifacts to community meetings and shared stories about how weapons were potentially used in the Battle of Blair Mountain and photographs of the places that they grew up.”

“In a lot of ways, I think that this history can be a chance for us to rebuild ourselves too,” she said. “For me, there’s a lot of pride in this history because like the folks that were coming out to the community meetings, I am also the daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter of union coal miners. It’s a pride point for me, and I think it is for a lot of people to come out and have something positive to share about their history, their ancestors.”

Monuments will be unveiled in Marmet and Clothier this Labor Day weekend.

Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022 at 1 p.m. at the UMWA Local Hall 2395, End of Coal Valley Road, off Hwy 17, Clothier, West Virginia, 25183

Monday, Sept. 5, 2022 at 4 p.m. in Marmet at the George Buckley Community Center, 8505 MacCorkle Ave, Marmet, West Virginia, 25315

Project partners include the International United Mine Workers of America, UMWA Local 1440, the West Virginia Humanities Council, and the Berea College Appalachian Center.

Those interested in attending are encouraged to RSVP by Sept. 1: https://tinyurl.com/monumentrsvp

New Director Hopes To Build Trust And Sustainability In Business Development

Development in the southern coal fields has often run into issues of trust and sustainability. For the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority, business development in Nicholas, Summers, Raleigh and Fayette Counties began with relationship building.

Jenna Grayson was recently named the Director of Business Retention and Expansion at the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority. The new role positions Grayson to take economic development in the region to the next level.

Grayson’s background is in economic development and community engagement.

“I would say that getting folks to understand that there are resources available and leading the horse to water, essentially, is a real struggle at times,” Grayson said. “But once you get there, it’s so rewarding. And so getting people to understand that there are state, local and federal resources out there. And yes, they can be a little bit daunting and overwhelming.

“But that’s actually why this position is so important, because I can be there to kind of handhold, cheerlead and also take on some of that responsibility and those needs to lessen the burden on the business owner.”

Grayson says it is fair to say that people are sometimes wary of accepting state or federal resources and the people who say they have them.

“And for good reason, right. There are probably communities and businesses out there that have experienced something like that in the past that maybe didn’t pan out,” Grayson said. “At times, I do get that response.”

Grayson says with a little patience, evidence, and data she has developed many relationships across southern West Virginia.

“I haven’t run into as much of that, culturally speaking, where folks don’t feel as though they’ve earned the resources,” Grayson said. “Not to say that folks are jumping up and down, saying that they deserve [the resources].”

“I think that, at this point, there are a lot of businesses that will take anything they can get, because it has been a challenging couple years. I think one of the struggles that I do run into with businesses, especially smaller businesses, is people that say, they don’t need help, they don’t need assistance. And I’m not sure why.”

Sometimes, business owners are concerned about the cost of the resources. A free service that Grayson shares information about is with the WV Hive.

“You can do business planning, you can get marketing, HR, accounting support,” Grayson said, “there’s a whole plethora of resources that are available through the hive, and it’s a free service.”

The resources are meant to help southern West Virginia, a region that’s been hit particularly hard economically by coal’s boom and bust cycles and decline in good paying coal jobs. This project focuses on Nicholas, Summers, Raleigh and Fayette Counties.

“I would say that the need is great in all of southern West Virginia,” Grayson said. “I think these four counties just happened to be the place that I work in and we as an Economic Development Authority have identified [these counties] as a priority but with additional resources, other communities could have a similar position that could do the same.”

With new federal investments in projects to help communities diversify economically and support entrepreneurs, Grayson is eager to help current business owners get what they need to thrive in this region.

“To any business owners out there entrepreneurs, folks who are business minded or entrepreneurial minded, go for it. There is no better time than now. And, we have the resources,” Grayson said. “There are so many opportunities and they may seem daunting, but dive in and we’ll help you.”

Why The Charleston Shelter Is Euthanizing Fewer Dogs and Cats

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.

“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.

Adam Batty, foster volunteer with Dog Bless

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.”

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.”

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

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.

Grafton Turns Out for Turn This Town Around

We continue our coverage of the Turn this Town Around Project. This series follows two towns, Grafton in north central West Virginia and Matewan in southern West Virginia, as they undergo projects to help the towns look better and revitalize community development. Monday night, Grafton held its third public training workshop to help teams continue to focus their efforts and get ready to apply for funding.

The welcome surprise at Monday’s meeting was an overwhelming turnout. More than 135 people showed up, excited and ready to talk about how to “turn their town around.” For many of them, it was their first “Turn this Town Around” meeting.

Eric Pories, the project’s Community Improvement Coach says there is a definite sense that enthusiasm for the effort is building.

“Yes, I think, you know, we’re learning as we go and this was pretty amazing, I mean the momentum for this is building and that’s how communication works in the community. The people are obviously out there talking about it, encouraging other people to get involved. Isn’t that great?”

Community Improvement Coach Eric Pories interacts with a team at Monday night’s workshop.

$50,000 is available in mini-grants. August 1, 2014 is the deadline for the teams to submit the applications. Pories says the process is moving right along and now there’s the added excitement – and challenge – of working with several new teams.

“Next step is we’re asking for project applications to be turned in which will be reviewed and then at the next workshop we’ll further refine those projects. And for those who joined this evening, we’ll have a little bit of catch up work to do, so August fourth will be a big day.”

Pories encouraged the teams to work quickly to get their projects submitted for review.

“Fairmont 101”: Learning Basics of Local Government

Operating a city is a complicated business. Cities provide a variety of services from public safety and road repair to clean water and public parks. There are multiple departments, a mish-mash of funding streams, and oodles of state and federal regulations to observe. The City of Fairmont, West Virginia has launched an interactive program to make sure its citizens understand the city’s role and responsibilities and its processes for serving the public: “Fairmont 101”.

What Is “Fairmont 101”?

When you label a class “101” you generally mean it’s going to introduce the student to the basics of its subject. A, B, C, 1, 2, 3.

“Fairmont 101” is no exception.

Participants meet for two hours once a month to learn about different aspects of Fairmont’s city government. They hear from department heads and tour facilities. City Manager Jay Rogers says the nine-month program starts out with an orientation and history session.

“We go over the form of government we operate under,” says Rogers. “The various departments that we have, the state code that we work under which, the last year and now this year for 101 we had a great discussion about Dillon’s Rule vs. Home Rule, because home rule has been such a hot topic in West Virginia with municipalities. And guide them through then the part about how Fairmont even came to be – taking us from Middletown, Virginia all the way to Fairmont, West Virginia.”

After that first session, participants go on to learn about the roles of city officials, planning and community development, public safety (both fire and police), finance and budget, utilities, building inspections and code enforcement, public works and quality of life.

“Fairmont 101” class visits City Public Works Department

Rogers got the idea for “Fairmont 101” from a conference he attended. One of the presenters was from the City of Decatur, Georgia, whose “101” program was helping citizens there understand how their local government works.

He says Fairmont suffers from some of the same confusion Decatur deals with – namely the confusion over the jurisdiction of neighboring municipalities, county government and the state.

For example, Fairmont gets calls from citizens wanting action on state road repairs or needing help with an issue that is not within Fairmont’s city limits.

The 101 program helps clear up some of that misunderstanding and educates participants about the City of Fairmont’s specific roles and responsibilities.

Rogers says department heads already see the benefit of having this face to face interaction with citizens.

“And they’ll talk about how nice it was to get that person to understand why we plow the streets in the manner that we plow them,” says Rogers. “That we give first priorities to school routes and hills and people that we know are on dialysis and things like that and alleys are going to be last and now people can understand.”

“I know who to call.”

Participants see the benefits, too. Rogers says one woman in the first Fairmont 101 group told him that being more informed is a plus.

“She said, I know how to save time. I know if I have an issue with a vacant, dilapidated house I don’t need to call the city manager, I don’t need to call my council member, I need to call the code enforcement department and that’s where I need to go. She said, before I might make four phone calls and everybody eventually got me to the code enforcement office, but now I know who to call.”

Marianne Moran is in the current Fairmont 101 class. She says she has learned something new at each session. She has been active in Marion County for many years, but sees this as an opportunity to learn more about how the city works.

"A lot of people complain about what the city is and isn't doing and I thought well that's sort of not fair," says Moran. "And I'd like to come and learn about the inner workings of all the departments of the city and just learn how it functions"

Moran has thrown her hat into the ring to run for city council.

Rogers says that type of involvement is a natural outgrowth of the Fairmont 101 program. He says it comes down to finding new ways to engage citizens and help them become more active in their community.

He’s pleased with the variety of people who have signed up – retirees, college students, and people who work in Fairmont but live elsewhere. Some businesses or other entities that work with the city – or hope to work with the city – have also sent some of their people through the program to get a better idea of how the city works.

Rogers says he would definitely recommend that other cities in West Virginia consider offering a “101”-type program.