Tag: Fairmont

WVU To Build Hospital To Replace Closing Fairmont Facility

West Virginia University Medicine will build a new hospital to replace a closing medical center in Fairmont, Gov. Jim Justice and university officials said Friday.

The new WVU hospital will be about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) away from the shuttering Fairmont Regional Medical Center and is expected to have 100 beds and about 500 employees, Justice said. It is expected to be open within 18 to 24 months.

“You can’t stand to not have a community full-service hospital right here in Marion County,” Justice said.

Fairmont Regional Medical Center, owned by California-based Alecto Healthcare, announced last month that it was unable to find a buyer and that it would close within 60 days.

Albert L. Wright Jr., CEO and president of the WVU Health System, said health care workers will keep portions of the Fairmont Regional Medical Center open while the new facility is being built.

He said there will be roughly a month-long gap in services starting around the end of March due to administrative turnover, though the hospital should be running again by early to mid-May. They plan to have resources to transport patients to different facilities while the Fairmont hospital is temporarily closed, Wright said.

“We might have a bumpy couple months here but long term we’re going to get it right,” he said.

The WVU Health System operates 11 hospitals and is the state’s largest health system.

The announcement of the hospital was a rare bright spot as many medical facilities in the state have announced closures or drastic cutbacks in services.

In January, Pleasant Valley Hospital in Point Pleasant announced it was cutting 53 full-time jobs and ending obstetrics services. Other hospitals have closed in Bluefield and Richwood. Williamson Memorial Hospital filed for bankruptcy in October, and a nonprofit system that operates hospitals in Charleston and South Charleston announced in January that it planned to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy but would remain open.

Officials have also announced that a hospital in Ashland, Kentucky, near Huntington, West Virginia, would shut down later this year.

Small Airplane Crashes In Northern W.Va.

Authorities are investigating reports of a small airplane going down in northern West Virginia.

State Police spokeswoman Shallon Oglesby told The Exponent Telegram that units were headed to the scene, which was in an unincorporated area between Grafton and Fairmont.

No further information on the aircraft was immediately available. The incident was reported to the emergency services office for Harrison and Taylor counties around 1 p.m. Monday. Emergency crews from Taylor County and the city of Grafton were responding.

 

April 29, 1863: Largest Civil War Battle in Present Day Northern West Virginia Occurs in Fairmont

On April 29, 1863, the largest Civil War battle in present northern West Virginia occurred at Fairmont. It was part of the Jones-Imboden Raid. In the previous five days, Confederate cavalry under General William “Grumble” Jones had fought battles in Hardy and Preston counties. On April 28, Jones raided Morgantown. Ironically, one of the Confederate raiders was William Lyne Wilson, who would later return to Morgantown as president of West Virginia University

After heading south for Fairmont, the Confederates defeated about 500 Northern regulars, home guards, and volunteers. Jones’s troops also exploded an iron railroad bridge across the Monongahela River and burned the personal library of Francis Pierpont, governor of the Restored Government of Virginia. Afterward, Jones headed further south and linked up with General John D. Imboden’s cavalry at Buckhannon. Jones and Imobden’s combined force proceeded on to Wirt County, which was the center of the region’s oil industry. The Confederates set fire to oil wells, boats, tanks, and other equipment.

The entire raid lasted four weeks and covered 700 miles. However, the success was short-lived, and Confederates never seriously threatened that region again.

January 11, 1994: Author Agnes Smith Dies in Fairmont

Author Agnes Clifford Smith died in Fairmont on January 11, 1994, at age 87. She spent her childhood in Clarksburg and Charleston before going to a private academy in New York State. She returned to West Virginia and graduated from Fairmont State College (now University) with an English degree. She married Richard Bruce Parrish, who, for many years, was editor of Fairmont’s afternoon newspaper, The West Virginian. For more than 50 years, the couple lived near Worthington, cultivating hay, oats, and other grains. During World War II, Smith ran the farm herself while her husband served in the army.

Agnes Smith became active in Fairmont’s Little Theatre and published the book An Edge of the Forest in 1959. This allegory tells the story of a black lamb separated from its flock and thrust into danger but ultimately saved by a black leopardess. An Edge of the Forest won a children’s book award from the American Library Association.

She went on to publish another children’s book, The Bluegreen Tree, and a collection of essays titled Speaking as a Writer. Agnes Smith was also an accomplished sculptor, potter, and woodcarver.

Federal Agency, Association Offering Reward in Gun Theft

A federal agency and a trade association are offering a reward for information in the theft of firearms in West Virginia.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the National Shooting Sports Foundation are offering up to a total of $5,000 for information leading to a conviction in the theft of firearms from Gun Runner in Fairmont.

Two people burglarized the business on May 5 and removed 67 handguns and ammunition, then took a 2013 pickup truck belonging to the business. The truck was recovered in Washington, D.C., but parts and components for radio-controlled airplanes that were in the truck bed were not recovered.

Anyone with information should contact ATF at (800) ATF-GUNS, or (800) 283-4867 or the Clarksburg field office at (304) 842-9830; or ATFTips@atf.gov; or http://www.atf.gov/contact/atftips .

Baptist Group Ejects Church for Pastor's Gay Rights Support

A church in West Virginia has been voted out of its local Baptist association because its pastor says gays and lesbians should be welcomed.

The Times West Virginian reports the Fairmont Baptist Association voted to disfellow the First Baptist Church in early April.

Pastor Valerie Gittings had endorsed a local human rights ordinance protecting sexual orientation. In a February statement, she said “many progressive Christians reject outright the idea that homosexual behavior is a violation of God’s law.”

Gittings’ church rejected her offer to resign, saying in a statement they hope the local association “will return to the Baptist fundamentals of soul liberty and local church autonomy.”

Gittings says she’s seeking membership with the Rochester Genesee Region of American Baptist Churches, which has taken in other disfellowed churches.

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