A former deputy clerk for Berkeley County has pleaded guilty to seven felony charges connected to her work in county government. Melissa Joanna Beavers could face up to 70 years in prison, and must pay restitution.
A former deputy clerk for Berkeley County has pleaded guilty to seven felony charges connected to her work in county government.
Melissa Joanna Beavers forged checks from the county clerk’s office to her roof repair business, according to a Sept. 5 press release from State Auditor J.B. McCuskey. She stole more than $270,000 between 2019 and 2021.
Beavers also altered records to steal portions of cash deposits, and forged documents relating to her divorce.
Beavers was charged with 41 separate counts last fall. On Tuesday, she pleaded guilty to seven of those charges, including felony embezzlement and forgery.
Circuit Court Judge R. Steven Redding accepted the plea. Beavers could face up to 70 years in prison, and must pay restitution.
Three attendees at a Martinsburg High School football game were injured in a shooting Friday evening. One bullet traveled through the stadium and struck a fan in the bleachers, and two other fans were struck with shrapnel.
Updated on Monday, September 9, 2024 at 3:30 p.m.
Three attendees at a Martinsburg High School football game were injured in a shooting Friday evening, according to the Martinsburg Police Department.
A shooter fired from outside the stadium around 7 p.m. One bullet traveled into the stadium and struck a fan seated in the bleachers, causing injuries that were not life threatening. Two other fans were struck with shrapnel, causing superficial injuries.
After the incident, police and school officials resumed the game. Local police “determined that it was safe to keep attendees inside the secured area of the stadium and for the game to proceed,” Principal Trent Sherman said in a press release Saturday.
“We are saddened that one spectator in our stands was struck … and two others were hit by shrapnel,” he said. “Thankfully, this outcome was not worse, and our thoughts and prayers are with those who were injured, their families and all members of our community affected by this act of violence.”
Sherman said that police have not found any reason to believe the shooting was “related to or targeting” the sports event. As of Saturday no suspects had been arrested. Local police are still investigating the incident.
**Editor’s note: This story was updated to include information from a press release written by Martinsburg High School Principal Trent Sherman.
Kentucky and West Virginia reported 113 dog bites last fiscal year. This year, that number rose to 119. The United States Postal Service wants to better prepare workers.
This year, the number of dog bites on mail carriers in West Virginia and Kentucky is on the rise, according to Alan Lewis, United States Postal Service (USPS) safety manager for the two states.
The states reported 113 dog bites last fiscal year, which ended in September 2023. This fiscal year, that number has risen to 119, with more than a month to go.
“I need the customers to know that we’re providing a service for them,” Lewis said. “The only way we can provide that service is to be safe.”
For USPS, part of keeping workers safe is training them for the reality of encountering aggressive pets on their delivery routes.
This week, USPS brought trainer Hector Hernandez and his dog Chankla to post offices across the Mountain State to teach them the best practices for handling dogs.
During a Wednesday training session in Martinsburg, tens of Berkeley County mail carriers recounted experiences of being chased or bitten by aggressive dogs.
Robert Miller, a rural mail carrier who delivers to the greater Martinsburg community, said he’s been bit by three separate dogs at three separate households.
“No matter how much you train or try to prepare yourself, what I’ve learned from this experience is it happens so quick,” he said. “Most of the time you don’t have time to think.”
But Hernandez said it is important for mail carriers not to panic and take steps to keep themselves safe.
This includes not turning one’s back to an angry dog or putting an alternative item — like a hat or carrier bag — in their face to bite instead. As a last resort, mail carriers are also equipped with pepper spray and horns, which can be used to scare a dog away.
A volunteer demonstrates how to free up a hand and use pepper spray on an attacking dog during Wednesday’s training session.
Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Still, Hernandez said the issue often does not end with a dog. Pet owners, even those who let their dogs out unsupervised, can be protective over their animals, and even hostile to mail carriers who take steps to keep themselves safe.
During the training, Hernandez showed several videos of mail carriers getting violently confronted by residents for warding off angry dogs, even as they attempted to bite the workers.
Hernandez said mail carriers should not engage in altercations with residents, keep distance from angry pet owners and contact their supervisor or animal control to report instances where they feel unsafe.
“If ever you have to use pepper spray, make sure you have the supervisor, animal control or the police make contact with the owner so they do not retaliate against you,” he said. “That’s number one issue.”
Ultimately, Hernandez said it can be hard to train mail carriers for every possibility out there. Residents can own multiple dogs, or even be away from their homes when their dogs attack.
He said the most effective way to prevent injuries like these is by requiring residents to be more responsible over their pets. And, when a moral responsibility does not change a resident’s behavior, being notified of their legal liability in the event of a dog bite can also be effective.
“We have to manage and control them for the safety of not just the letter carriers, [but for] anyone who can go onto their property without permission — utility workers, police,” he said.
A teen who disappeared in the Berkeley Springs area of Morgan County was found safe over the weekend. Her parents confirmed on Facebook that they were reunited with their daughter.
A teen who disappeared in the Berkeley Springs area of Morgan County was found safe over the weekend.
Fifteen-year-old Angel Turner was missing for more than two weeks, last seen by her family on the evening of Aug. 2. They said she disappeared from her home in the middle of the night without her cell phone or medication.
But the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department announced Sunday that Turner was located “in safe condition.”
Turner’s mother Carrie Michaels confirmed in a Monday Facebook post that they had been reunited with their daughter, and asked for privacy during this time.
“Angel is found and safe,” Michaels wrote in a public Facebook post. “We ask that you [give] us a little time to take care of things that we need to take care of and allow us some privacy as we work through this traumatic situation.”
When a storm hits, some rainfall enters the soil, but a lot of it collects pollutants and ends up in waterways. By installing rain barrels, farmers and gardeners can collect rainwater and ensure it goes directly to their crops.
Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Debby brought heavy rainfall to the Mountain State. Some rainfall enters the soil, but a lot of it collects pollutants and ends up in waterways.
By installing rain barrels, farmers and gardeners can collect rainwater and ensure it goes directly to their crops. Eastern Panhandle Reporter Jack Walker spoke with Colleen Seager, a stormwater technician for the City of Martinsburg, about how to install and use rain barrels.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Walker: What are rain barrels, and how do you use them?
Seager: So rain barrels, you can buy them at Lowes or Home Depot. Even Tractor Supply has barrels and kits that you can get. But it’s essentially like a food-grade barrel. You can buy a kit for it and cut holes in it and install it yourself in your home. It attaches to your gutter and collects any of the water that hits your roof that would go into the ground. You can just keep it in. I’m not too sure how big these barrels are. I want to say they’re about 50 gallons, and it stores the water there for you. You can use it to water your garden whenever you need it. Also, if it gets full, it has an overflow. So it infiltrates through the ground instead of turning into runoff, which can pick up pollutants. We try to avoid any unnecessary stormwater runoff.
Walker: Can you expand on that? What are some benefits of using rain barrels in gardening and agriculture?
Seager: Sure. So rain barrels, you can use them for watering your garden. They can be really good for collecting rainwater so that [it doesn’t] go down our stormwater infrastructure. It’s basically a great way to keep your garden and our watershed healthy. So, not only can it help lower the cost of your water bill, but it can also benefit you and your community in tons of ways. Collecting rainwater, it reduces the amount of stormwater that enters the storm system, and that can decrease the burden on the infrastructure, which minimizes risks of a combined sewer overflow, which can obviously be bad for our watershed. Letting it infiltrate the ground instead of turning into runoff will minimize pollution. That’s always appreciated.
From a stormwater perspective, if it turns into stormwater it can pick up trash, oil and other toxic pollutants before it reaches our stream. We have Tuscarora Creek and Dry Run in the city of Martinsburg, so we primarily try to protect from pollutants from getting into them. Any time rainwater is collected, it’s slowed down and it can prevent pollutants entering the stream. Whether it’s sediment and nutrients or oil and heavy metals, we want to try to keep that stuff out of our creeks. So collecting it not only helps prevent pollution, but you can also use it to have a really healthy garden. It’s the purest form of water, so it doesn’t have any added chemicals or anything like that. That’s exactly what your plants want to thrive. Say you have water coming down from your roof and it’s infiltrating down into the ground and causing some flooding issues in your basement. If you have a rain barrel, it can fix that for you. Also, you can have a garden that’s nice and lush and beautiful.
Walker: How has the City of Martinsburg been spreading awareness about rain barrels and their benefits?
Seager: So the city of Martinsburg typically hosts two workshops a year at The Martinsburg Roundhouse or the farmers market, where [residents] that live within the city limits can get free rain barrels if they sign up. We typically have someone reach out to the local newspaper. Or on social media we’ll post that there, or on our website. We’ll update that whenever we have rain barrel workshops. The county also often will raffle off free rain barrels. The [Berkeley County Public Service Storm Water District], they often raffle off their rain barrels. You can give them a call if you don’t live within city limits. Eventually, one day, we would like to have the city and the county work together for an event where we can have folks come out and paint rain barrels. It’d be like a really fun community activity where people can come out and learn about how they work, how to install them, how to keep them safe during the winter time and make them last as long as you possibly can. So we’ll try to have more events in the future so people can come out and do that or just learn about it. They don’t have to sign up for a rain barrel. They can just come out. Anybody can come out and learn about what they’re good for and how to make them work for whatever they need them for, whether it’s their garden or if they’re having some damp basements or anything like that. We typically try to host those events twice a year.
For more information on stormwater education and rain barrel workshops in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle, visit the Martinsburg Stormwater Management website.
As Tropical Storm Debby brought heavy winds and rain to the Eastern Panhandle, a minor tornado struck a residential area near the Berkeley County town of Hedgesville.
An F1 tornado touched down in Berkeley County Thursday night as Tropical Storm Debby brought strong wind and heavy rainfall to West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle.
The National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed Monday that a tornado with winds of 80 miles per hour traveled half a mile near the Berkeley County town of Hedgesville last week.
According to NWS, the tornado caused minor damage near a residential community roughly eight miles away from the town’s center. The tornado uprooted several trees in the area and knocked down “numerous large branches.”
NWS did not report any injuries or property damage from the tornado.
West Virginia has seen at least 19 tornadoes this year, with four months left in 2024. The state’s previous record was 15 documented in one calendar year.
