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Woody Williams U.S. Capitol Statue Will Happen, Grandson Says

Curtis Tate spoke with Chad Graham, Williams’ grandson, about what happens next.

The state Senate unanimously approved a resolution in February to place a statue of Hershel “Woody” Williams in the U.S. Capitol. Williams, who died in 2022 at age 98, was the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from World War II.

The measure, though, did not get a vote in the House of Delegates before the regular session ended. Curtis Tate spoke with Chad Graham, Williams’ grandson, about what happens next.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Tate: How come the legislature didn’t complete its work on the resolution to place the statue?

Graham: My understanding is, and of course, I’m a resident, as my granddad used to call it ‘that foreign state over there,’ Kentucky. So I’m about two hours and 40 minutes from where I grew up there, and the Huntington-Barboursville area, but my understanding is, it was just timing. It seems like there’s widespread support of this. And I think it was just how things fell in terms of what they were trying to get through within that session. And everybody feels confident that in this next round, or I guess, maybe in a special session, it’s something that will get pushed to the top of the stack, so to speak, but that’s my understanding.

Tate: What would your grandfather think about the effort to put his statue inside the Capitol?

Graham: I’ve never known anyone that was more proud and loved more being a West Virginian. My grandmother was the same way. She used to joke, ‘I’ve got five grandsons.’ My mother, Tracy, still lives in Barboursville. But the other daughter lives in Ohio. Her sons live in Ohio, and then three of us grandsons live in Kentucky. And one day my grandmother’s over visiting the family in Ohio, and she was still living and she said, “Do you think it’s time for us to get back home? The air is just better over there.” And it was I mean, they were you know, they were in like Marietta so that was right across the river. But point being, he loved being a West Virginia and he loved West Virginia so much. Even where he chose to be laid to rest there with my grandmother at Donnel C. Kinnard State Veterans Cemetery, so many people said Woody, you know, as a Medal of Honor recipient, Arlington does welcome those recipients to be buried there and their spouses. He said, “That’s not where I’m from.” He said, “I want to be with my people. I want to be in West Virginia.” So I know this for him would be so, so meaningful.

Tate: Once the legislature is fully on board, how long might this take?

Graham: My understanding is that it is a multi-year process, as many things in the District are, especially when it involves the Capitol, the way that the Capitol is governed and the design components of this and how that design would be developed. Even down to the medium used for the statute itself, there are fairly clear-cut regulations and guidelines for that. I can send you some quick reads in terms of how the statuary works. But it would be a multi-year process. And if that all went smooth – I know just enough to be dangerous in terms of how the different committees work when it comes to design and things like that at the district or within the district, especially within the Capitol. It could be as quick as two to three years. There are components of it that would be out of the hands of our state of West Virginia, essentially.

Tate: The rotunda was full of dignitaries the day his casket was brought in. Do you see that happening when the statue is unveiled?

Graham: Of course, we miss him every day. Still, every single day. But it warmed our hearts, made us feel very thankful for everybody that supported him. And I feel like this would be much the same. He was so generous with his time and who he was that he gave a little piece of himself to everyone that he met and interacted with, and even some folks that he never met. I think what he meant to people is part of why this is important. And I am certain that on that wonderful day when this is unveiled that there’ll be a lot of people squeezing in to be a part of that, to see it and and support it and support what he’s about.

Tate: The last survivor of the USS Arizona attack at Pearl Harbor just died. Your grandfather was part of a generation we’re losing fast.

Graham: On the (USS) Missouri, it’s probably been 2016-17, somewhere in that space. With then five of the living Arizona survivors of course as you mentioned, we just lost the last one but sitting with those five gentlemen and then going into the captain’s quarters on the Missouri, decorated as it was in World War II with pictures of the commander in chief (Harry) Truman in the cabin. And these old guys, it was like dialing back the clock, they might as well been 21 years old again. You know, giving each other a hard time of course, Papaw being a Marine like your granddad and these guys being Navy and giving each other just all kind of grief, and then when they christened my granddad’s ship in San Diego. Those guys came to support him, those Arizona survivors, and to lose them I think that to me, it breaks your heart a little bit to see – not a little bit – it breaks your heart, period, to see that generation dwindling away because they’re from a different fabric.

Session Ends With Woody Williams Statue Resolution Stuck In House

The Senate passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 30 unanimously in February. It would have placed a statue of Hershel “Woody” Williams in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.

A resolution to honor Woody Williams with a statue in the U.S. Capitol never got a vote in the House of Delegates.

The Senate passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 30 unanimously in February. It would have placed a statue of Hershel “Woody” Williams in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol.

But like hundreds of other bills during the 60-day session, it never moved in the other chamber.

Williams, who died in 2022 at age 98, was the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from World War II. Williams was awarded the medal for his actions in combat in the Marine Corps at the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945.

Congressional leaders paid tribute to Williams in the U.S. Capitol rotunda following his death.

His statue would have replaced that of John Kenna, a 19th century legislator. Kenna’s statue would have been relocated to the Culture Center in Charleston.

Watch West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s tribute to Williams here.

Constitutional Protection From Euthanasia Could Appear On Ballots This Fall

Republicans in the West Virginia House of Delegates have backed a resolution allowing residents to vote to add protection from euthanasia to the state constitution during this fall’s general election.

Republicans in the West Virginia House of Delegates are calling on their colleagues in the West Virginia Senate to place constitutional protections from euthanasia on voters’ ballots this fall.

Euthanasia, or medically assisted suicide, is already illegal in the state.

With both chambers’ support, House Joint Resolution 28 would allow residents to vote on adding protections against euthanasia to the state constitution during this fall’s general election.

But lawmakers held conflicting views on the measure at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting Monday.

Resolution sponsor Del. Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock, was invited to speak to senators in committee, stating that the state’s stance against euthanasia is important.

“There’s this phenomenon of nihilism that’s sort of spreading across the country, and I think it’s an important issue we need to address,” McGeehan said. “To the best of my knowledge, we’ll be the first to place this and take a stand in the state constitution.”

While euthanasia prevention received some bipartisan support, pushback on aspects of the bill fell along party lines.

Republican lawmakers wanted to add language to the amendment so it could not affect capital punishment policies.

But Democratic lawmakers like Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, said that contradicts the purported pro-life nature of the resolution.

Woelfel said he supported the resolution generally, but that protecting capital punishment gave him pause. Other lawmakers expressed concern over outright condemning euthanasia.

Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, said he became more sympathetic to legalizing euthanasia after watching his father-in-law suffer through hospice care at the end of his life.

“We was praying for him to die, that’s how much he was suffering. We was literally praying for him to die,” Caputo said. “I know that, if he could have made this decision to end it earlier, he would have done that.”

Caputo also expressed concern that the resolution would hold legal implications for medical professionals, but McGeehan said the measure would not hold legal weight beyond what is already in place in state law.

Ultimately, members of the committee voted in favor of the resolution, sending it to the Senate floor with the recommendation that it pass.

If members of the Senate approve the resolution, West Virginia voters will be able to vote on constitutional protections from euthanasia in the state general election this November.

Senate Effort To Raise Indecent Exposure Penalties Causes House Confusion

Members of a House of Delegates committee expressed confusion over a bill modifying indecent exposure penalties in West Virginia, and had extensive debate over additional amendments to the bill.

A bill that would raise penalties for indecent exposure moved swiftly through the West Virginia Senate last month, passing the chamber just two days into this year’s legislative session.

But a West Virginia House of Delegates committee reviewed the bill this week with less certainty than their colleagues across the rotunda.

Senate Bill 160 would allow for stiffer penalties for individuals repeatedly convicted for “indecent exposure for purposes of sexual gratification,” permitting them to be both fined and imprisoned.

The bill prompted more than an hour of debate in the House Judiciary Committee Thursday morning.

Members of the committee widely supported reinforced protections against sexual misconduct.

But Del. Chris Pritt, R-Kanawha, sought to amend the bill to expand definitions of — and penalties for — indecent exposure when a minor was knowingly present.

Pritt said his amendment aimed to address “news across the country” of “sexually explicit” conduct in libraries and schools.

“We’re talking about shows in which individuals are dancing in a manner that is sexually suggestive in front of children at libraries, at schools,” he said. “We’ve all heard about it in the news.”

Pritt did not cite any specific examples of these performances.

Several committee members applauded Pritt’s impulse to reinforce protections for minors, but some expressed concern that his amendment would modify case law cemented in West Virginia courtrooms.

“If we’re applying a different standard than what has historically been applied, we would basically be getting rid of 100 years of case law by switching this,” said Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, who is an attorney.

The amendment would have changed the bill’s language to include references to “private parts,” defined later in the amendment to encompass body parts such as the “post-puberty female breasts with less than fully opaque covering of any part of the nipple.”

It also specified a wide range of “sexually explicit” acts that would fall into the purview of the new bill, like the “lascivious exhibit of simulated sexual intercourse.”

But opponents said these changes were too far-reaching, and gave too much authority to an individual’s definitions of nudity and sexual conduct.

They worried incidents of sexual dancing at a wedding or wardrobe malfunctions at a beach could fall into the definition of indecent exposure under the amendment.

“This is just getting worse and worse and worse. We are in a hole so deep we need a bigger shovel,” said Del. Rick Hillenbrand, R-Hampshire. “I don’t like the amendment to the amendment, [and] I don’t like the amendment.”

Ultimately, Pritt’s proposal was defeated in a vote of 11 to 11, with 3 members of the committee absent or not voting.

Still, the initial bill itself raised further concerns from lawmakers.

The Senate bill would remove a clause explicitly stating that breastfeeding did not qualify as sexual misconduct under state law.

Committee members suggested that this was because senators felt it was an unnecessary addition to state law, because breastfeeding does not constitute an act of “sexual gratification.”

But lawmakers with legal experience, like Steele, said that removing the explicit breastfeeding exemption could be seen as an effort from lawmakers to authorize prosecution for public breastfeeding.

“I don’t want anybody looking back at this legislative intent and seeing that we removed that language,” he said. “When we cross out language like that, I can see a judge saying, ‘Well, the legislature must have intended to recriminalize this.’”

Steele proposed an additional amendment to reverse the removal of the breastfeeding clause, which passed unanimously.

After extensive debate, the committee ultimately voted in favor of the bill, sending it to the full House for further discussion.

House Hitting Deadline To Introduce, Pass Bills

The House of Delegates worked through more than 30 bills on third reading Tuesday. Proposals that included water service cut offs, banning mugshots, helping veterans and outlawing deep fake election material.

The legislature is getting close to the end of session and there is a race to get all bills out of their chamber of origin by Wednesday. Nearly 2600 bills have been introduced this session, but fewer than 50 have completed legislation so far.

The House of Delegates worked through more than 30 bills on third reading Tuesday. Proposals included water service cut offs, banning mugshots, helping veterans and outlawing deep fake election material.

Keeping your water running was key to Senate Bill 631. The measure prohibits municipalities from disconnecting water service for nonpayment of stormwater fees. There are some protections and exemptions.

The sponsor of the bill, Del. John Hardy, R-Berkeley, said his research showed that some communities are over zealous in fee collection vs. disconnecting a family’s water supply,

“Some of the municipalities have encumbered some of that stormwater money into their bond agreements and their bond declarations,” Hardy said. “So we felt like this would be a fiscally responsible way to make sure that we’re taking care of the municipalities, but still giving some relief to our constituents who are in some of these municipalities who are acting very heavy handedly.”

The bill passed 99-0 and goes back to the Senate.

House Bill 4621 is known as the mugshot bill. It bans the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation from posting booking photographs of an accused person. The bill denies the release of mugshots, with some public safety exceptions, until a person is convicted of the crime, instead of upon arrest.

Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, opposed the bill. Steele said making mugshots public upon arrest protects and safeguards the defendant, the public and victims.

“The whole purpose of a mugshot is twofold,” Steele said. “One, to inform the public of what’s going on in their community, to let people know who’s in custody and why they’re in custody and what they’re charged with. The other thing is to protect the defendant, so that the defendant, that the world knows that that defendant is in custody.”

Del. Larry Rowe, D-Kanawha, was one of many who supported the bill. Rowe said when the media and third party websites and magazines post and publicize mugshots before conviction, they prejudge a person who is still innocent until proven guilty.

“This really poisons the jury pool,” Rowe said. “It has a major effect, because people will be watching and saying. What we’re about is protecting individual rights against the mob. While the mob is on the side of publishing these photographs, it’s not on the side of protecting people from being embarrassed and having their reputations ruined, without ever having been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”

After lengthy debate, the mugshot restriction bill passed 54-46 and now goes on to Senate consideration.

House BIll 4882 extends in-state tuition rates to all members and veterans of the National Guard, reserves, and armed forces as well as their spouses and dependents.

Del. Ric Griffith, D-Wayne, was among many supporting a bill he said will invigorate the state and its economy.

“We have the lowest return rate of any state in the union of our discharge veterans,” Griffith said. “And one of the concerns that was expressed as people were discussing this is that that’s going to cost our institutions of higher learning. They’re badly needed out of state tuition. Well, to that, I think all of us feel strongly about this and realize these people aren’t coming if we don’t do this.This will bring people home.”

The bill passed 98-0.

House Bill 4963 is one of several AI bills proposed this session. It prohibits the use of deep fake technology to influence an election. Deep fake AI goes beyond photoshop, defined as an artificially produced audio, video or photo so realistic a regular person can’t tell it’s fake.

The bill was sponsored by Del. Josh Holstein, R-Boone. He said certain voters are especially susceptible to false images and especially voices, in campaign ads.

“If I were attacked, and I was in a primary campaign against me with somebody of the opposing side, their image behind me, that wouldn’t be necessarily a deep fake,” Holstein said. “But if somebody had remarks attributed to me that they played on an ad, using my voice that’s created with an artificial intelligence audio maker, and they say that I support this candidate or I support this legislation, which is false, and it’s a replica of my voice, that would be a deep fake. So that’s the intent behind this.”

The deep fake election restriction bill passed 88-11.

Private School, Religious Vaccine Exemptions Pass House

The West Virginia House of Delegates passed a bill that would grant youth vaccine exemptions for religious purposes, and give private, parochial and virtual schools priority over student vaccine requirements.

Some West Virginia schools could soon have more leniency over vaccine requirements.

House Bill 5105 would remove vaccine requirements for enrolling in private, parochial or virtual public schools in West Virginia.

It would also allow parents or guardians to exempt their child from vaccination because of their religious beliefs.

The bill narrowly passed the West Virginia House of Delegates on Monday, following a vote of 57 to 41. Two lawmakers did not vote.

The bill’s initial draft only applied to students enrolled in virtual public schools, but was amended to also include students in private or parochial schools earlier this month.

Currently, students must receive vaccines for several infectious diseases — like polio, measles and hepatitis B — regardless of the type of school they attend, unless they are homeschooled or medically exempt.

Under the bill, private, parochial and virtual schools would still have the authority to impose their own vaccine requirements. But these schools would have discretion over what vaccine requirements they have in place.

Proponents of the bill described it as a matter of personal choice and religious freedom.

Del. Laura Kimble, R-Harrison, serves as lead sponsor on the bill. Kimble said she drafted the bill after learning that students must be vaccinated to enroll in virtual public school programs, which she called “absurd.”

“We live in West Virginia. We live in the United States of America. We have rights. We have the constitution,” she said. “We acknowledge that we’re guaranteed the right to religious liberty, yet our West Virginia government has attempted to infringe on this right.”

Del. Larry Kump, R-Berkeley, said he does not consider himself anti-vaccine, but that he supports the bill as a matter of personal choice.

“Why should government mandates do this?” he asked fellow lawmakers on the House floor. “This is a personal property or personal liberty and accountability bill.”

But opponents on both sides of the aisle expressed concerns that increasing leniency over vaccines would hurt public health.

Some lawmakers said the success of decades-long vaccine campaigns has removed a sense of urgency in present-day thinking around public health.

“Vaccines have erased these diseases from our memory,” said Del. Ric Griffith, D-Wayne. “We don’t see them, so they don’t happen.”

Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, said vaccines are an important way to curb public health emergencies.

“At the end of the day, this is about protecting not only our children, because if your children catch something, they’re going to take it home to the family,” she said. “This will allow the vaccine to spread to local communities and businesses, and we don’t have enough childcare to support the illnesses that will come,” Hamilton said.

Del. James Akers, R-Kanawha, said he saw value in the state’s current vaccine mandate, and that the bill might also be unfair to families that cannot afford public education.

“I think that we are potentially creating an equal protection problem among schools, because we’ll have a situation where if a parent can afford to send their child to a private or parochial school, then they will not have to be immunized,” he said.

Akers also said he found the bill to be too far-reaching.

“I wish this bill was just about religious exemptions. I would press green every day,” Akers said. “But this bill goes beyond that, and I believe it does pose a risk to public health I simply can’t support.”

After more than two hours of intense debate, lawmakers narrowly approved the bill just days before the deadline for a bill to pass its initial chamber. The bill will now undergo further deliberation in the West Virginia Senate.