West Virginia libraries have seen no challenges to book access so far this year, following just one challenge in 2023, according to American Library Association (ALA) Communications Specialist Raymond Garcia.
The data comes during a national downturn in reported book challenges, although some challenges and self-censorship may go unreported.
Last legislative session, House Bill 4654 proposed that the state hold educators criminally liable for displaying media deemed to be “obscene matter” to minors. The bill did not pass the West Virginia Senate. Lead sponsor Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, did not respond to requests for comment.
The West Virginia Library Association released a statement on HB 4654, comparing it to other states’ bills that ultimately removed books from institutions. It argued that the bill “opens our cultural and educational institutions to damaging attacks.”
Ron Titus, an electronic services librarian at Marshall University, has put together several digital resources about banned books in West Virginia, pointing to a history of book bans extending to the 1974 Kanawha County Textbook War. He said advanced literature classes often include difficult topics on their curriculums.
“I always say what you’re doing with your child that’s totally up to you, but that doesn’t necessarily give you the right to dictate to someone else what they do with their own child,” Titus said. Libraries should be “a place for the whole community.”
Titus said parents can pull their individual child from units with required reading. But he also encourages people to read and engage with books on a case-by-case basis rather than rely on organized groups trying to remove lists of titles, a trend in recent years.
“Talk to your kids,” Titus said. “They’ll let you know if they are uncomfortable with something.”
Jeannette Walls is the author of “The Glass Castle,” a memoir about her childhood that features her years living in Welch and includes extreme poverty and abuse. She said she still considers West Virginia “home.”
The book has faced challenges and bans outside of West Virginia but remains on many school reading lists. Walls said while she is often unsure of how to help specific communities resist book bans, she is “passionate” about advocating for the book’s accessibility.
“I tour a lot on behalf of it,” Walls said. This often includes “kids coming up and saying, ‘I thought I hated reading until I read your book,’ and, ‘Your story’s like mine.’”
“They tell me their stories and it just takes my breath away,” she said.
For Walls, writing the book opened ways to understand herself and connect with people from all different socioeconomic backgrounds. She said that seeing students have a similar experience in reading the book is more “meaningful” to her than any widespread recognition.
Walls also emphasized the importance of book discussion happening in the community space of a classroom, where she credits teachers’ skills in guiding conversations and creating space for students — like her West Virginia high school teachers did for her.
“I think we’re underestimating kids and their ability to understand and cope with these stories,” Walls said. “And I think that sharing and taking people out of their shame is the most valuable tool that we can give our kids.”
Turmoil over vacancy proceedings has plagued the Jefferson County Commission since the summer of 2023. That’s when former Commissioner Claire Ath stepped down from office, triggering a dispute over her successor.
Two commissioners, Jennifer Krouse and Tricia Jackson, disapproved of the candidates for Ath’s replacement, with Krouse saying online that they were not “actual conservatives.”
In protest, Krouse and Jackson refused to attend seven consecutive meetings, stalling the county government and later resulting in their removal from office.
One year after the conflict, confusion surrounding vacancy proceedings has surfaced again. Only this time, the looming general election in November could render another search for a successor inconsequential.
The court decision
In August, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals upheld an earlier circuit court decision that removed Krouse and Jackson from office.
In the months between the May circuit court decision and the August supreme court decision, the commission was permitted to select temporary, stand-in commissioners without a full appointment process.
They chose James Cook to represent Krouse’s Shepherdstown District, and Kevin Upson to represent Jackson’s Harpers Ferry District.
The supreme court decision affirmed that Krouse and Jackson could not return to office, triggering a full appointment process. Under state law, this process requires identifying a successor “of the same political party” as the outgoing commissioner upon their departure.
For Jackson’s former district, that meant finding a Republican.
This meant her successor had to come from the Mountain Party, a minor party with fewer than 2,500 members statewide and just 145 in Jefferson County.
The Jefferson County Commission at its May 2 meeting, the first meeting after former Commissioners Tricia Jackson and Jennifer Krouse were removed from office.
Photo Credit: Jefferson County Commission
Starting the search
In May, then-Mountain Party Chair Denise Binion told West Virginia Public Broadcasting she was unsure why Krouse switched affiliations, because her “politics don’t match the party at all.”
At the time, Krouse did not respond to requests for comment. But her switch came after months of dispute with the local Republican party.
Earlier this year, the county government fallout led the West Virginia Legislature to reform county commission vacancy protocols.
Successors soon must come from an outgoing commissioner’s party upon election. But that policy only takes effect at the start of 2025, meaning Krouse’s replacement still must be a member of the Mountain Party.
Per state law, the Jefferson County Commission had 30 days after vacancy proceedings began to find replacements independently. They quickly reappointed Upson to represent Harpers Ferry.
For Krouse’s former district, the Mountain Party State Executive Committee recommended Todd Cotgreave, a former mayoral candidate in Shepherdstown, according to current Mountain Party Chair Dylan Parsons.
But Commission President Steve Stolipher said they could not agree upon a member of the Mountain Party to represent Shepherdstown.
“We interviewed some Mountain Party candidates. It just so happened to be a tie,” he said. This disagreement meant the commission was unable to find a replacement within 30 days.
Parsons is skeptical that the party was simply unable to agree.
“The Mountain Party platform advocates for reforming county commissions, including reducing the length of terms for commissioners,” he wrote in an email to West Virginia Public Broadcasting. “It is therefore unsurprising that the Jefferson County Commission is keeping a true Mountain Party member from filling the vacancy.”
After 30 days, a party’s county executive committee must then select three nominees for office to be voted upon by the county commission.
But this brought about another issue: The Mountain Party did not have a formal county executive committee in Jefferson County. Plus, Parsons said the party struggled to identify enough eligible candidates.
A question of authority
“Due to the party being a minor party, finding three names who truly represented party values was difficult,” Parsons wrote. “Three names for us is the same as 300 names for the GOP, to put it in perspective.”
Deak Kersey, chief of staff to Secretary of State Mac Warner, said it is unclear whether the Mountain Party’s state committee has the authority to nominate a candidate for office.
Deak Kersey with the West Virginia secretary of state’s office says challenging current Jefferson County vacancy proceedings could require legal intervention.
Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“First, there’s a question of: Do they even have the body, the political committee, that can submit the names to the commission?” he said. “We are in that limbo where the authority goes to the county party, [but] there isn’t a county party, so there can’t be a list submitted to the county commission.”
Parsons said his party has formed a local county executive committee headed by Cotgreave, and that his party still wants the commission to appoint him.
But Stolipher said the county commission is still awaiting a list of three names for potential candidates, which is required under state law. Kersey said the commission likely has legal grounds to wait.
“Otherwise, the county parties could just submit one name every time,” he said. “It removes the authority of a county commission to select from the list.”
The general election
Vacancy proceedings are currently at a standstill. Regardless, both Krouse and Jackson’s former seats will be contested, because appointed commissioners must be formally elected to remain in office.
This means, if the Shepherdstown seat is filled, the new commissioner would serve for just a matter of weeks.
Kersey said challenging the commission’s vacancy proceedings would probably require going to court. But this would still likely overlap with the general election, limiting courses of action and making the appointment process less consequential.
“It’s a tricky situation,” Kersey said.
Once the county certifies its election results, the commissioner elected to represent Shepherdstown will take office, which could come as soon as late November, according to Kersey.
In the meantime, the Jefferson County Commission currently has four members in office. Despite the risk of a deadlock on any given vote, there are enough people to meet quorum and conduct business, Stolipher said.
For now, the county government is “completely back to normal,” Stolipher said; just with one less voice.
West Virginia Metro News Talkline host Hoppy Kercheval said both Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Huntington Mayor Steve Williams’ gubernatorial campaigns have “confirmed their willingness to debate” with the outlet in a Sept. 24 email to WVPB. Kercheval wrote that no date is set, but the debate “will likely be the week of October 28” with statewide radio and video streams.
On Tuesday morning, the Williams campaign released a statement that a different debate at Huntington TV station WOWK had been canceled. However, none of the five registered gubernatorial candidates told WVPB they had confirmed their or other campaigns’ participation with WOWK. On Tuesday afternoon, WOWK released a statement that they were “unable to reach an agreement with the candidates.”
WOWK Station Manager Sean Banks sent invitations to all five candidates – including Libertarian candidate Erika Klie Kolenich, Mountain candidate Chase Linko-Looper, and Constitution candidate S. Marshall Wilson. In documents Linko-Looper and Wilson forwarded to WVPB, that invite included an Oct. 30 live air date for “qualified candidates,” with an attached “Nexstar Debate Participation Criteria” document.
Those qualifications required that candidates pass a 5 percent primary or 10 percent general election polling minimum and have a minimum of $100,000 in monetary donations “on the most recent official forms filed with the appropriate election authority.”
While third party candidates told WVPB they would have accepted the invitation at WOWK, none met the polling qualification. The West Virginia Secretary of State’s campaign finance reporting system lists Williams with only $77,481.81 in total contributions.
“We have another reporting period that falls at the end of this month, for the end of the quarter,” Williams Campaign Manager Mike Plante said when asked about the campaign’s fundraising. “So no, it’s not a barrier.”
Morrisey Campaign Manager Jonathan Ewing did not directly comment on the WOWK debate.
Looking ahead, Metro News did not invite third party candidates.
“AG Morrisey is looking forward to debating his Democratic opponent this fall,” Ewing said in a statement to WVPB. “We’ll be finalizing details in the near future.”
“We’re ready for [Morrisey] to to appear and discuss the issues, and we’re happy to be there,” Plante said.
WVPB will report the time and format of the debate when finalized.
On this West Virginia Morning, the Charleston and Wheeling areas of West Virginia are among 78 communities in the United States approved for a local-federal partnership to reduce firearm violence in domestic abuse cases. Maria Young spoke to the state’s two U.S. attorneys, who will manage the program.
Plus, many orchards struggled to find wholesale apple buyers last year, causing a surplus. Federal dollars helped orchards that were unable to sell their produce. But, as Jack Walker reports, the apple market may still face risks.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University and Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Maria Young produced this episode.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
West Virginia Week is a web-only podcast that explores the week’s biggest news in the Mountain State. Curtis Tate is our host this week.
On this West Virginia Week:
We’ll hear why the state employee health insurance plan canceled a trial with a popular obesity treatment. We’ll take a look back at the two years since state lawmakers enacted a near-total abortion ban. And we’ll learn about a West Virginia queer film festival.
Plus, why are schools receiving so many threats? Congress honors a West Virginia space pioneer. And the Mothman Festival is upon us.
Curtis Tate is our host this week. Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert.
West Virginia Week is a web-only podcast that explores the week’s biggest news in the Mountain State. It’s produced with help from Bill Lynch, Briana Heaney, Caelan Bailey, Chris Schulz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Jack Walker, Liz McCormick, Maria Young and Randy Yohe.
Sept. 20 marks the start of West Virginia’s Nov. 5 general election. County clerks have begun mailing absentee ballots throughout the state.
Donald Kersey, chief of staff to the Secretary of State, said common reasons for absentee voting include traveling outside of your county on election day, physical disability, or temporarily residing outside of the county. A full list is on govotewv.com.
Kersey described the website – which also provides a way to request an absentee ballot, check your registration and register to vote – as the “dashboard for all things election information in West Virginia.”
If voters have issues with registration, their county clerk, or receiving or submitting their absentee ballot, Kersey directed them to call the secretary of state’s office at (304) 558-6000.
Absentee ballots must be postmarked by Oct. 30 and received, at the latest, by the canvassing board six days after the election.
“There’s a lot of volume during the election period, so the timing of a ballot getting back is critical,” Kersey said.
Early voting opens locally on Oct. 23 and ends Nov. 2. You can vote during business hours and two Saturdays. The deadline to register to vote in any form is Oct. 15.
