Walker said her forte in leadership begins with being an active listener.
“And after you listen, you put out a call to action,” Walker said. “That can be uncomfortable and it can take some time and building, but it’s definitely doable.”
She says an initial priority will be to make the unaware in West Virginia understand how the ACLU-WV can help people to help themselves.
“ACLU has done some wonderful things and is still doing wonderful things in our state,” Walker said. “But we also have some pockets regionally, where some folks don’t even know the mission of ACLU. And so those are the target areas that we’re going to look towards.”
Walker explained what sustaining civil liberties means to her.
“It means making sure that the Constitution is represented and protected for all West Virginians and all that are travelers passing through West Virginia,” She said. “I’m talking about laborers, children, elders, disabled people, women, LGBTQ community, people of color, black people, that’s exactly what it means.”
Republican Gov. Jim Justice will appoint a Democrat from Monongalia County to serve the remainder of Walker’s term, which includes a full legislative session. The county Democratic executive committee can submit recommendations.
Walker begins her duties on April 17th, succeeding interim executive director Eli Bramwell.
Larry V. Starcher, a retired Supreme Court Justice and Monongalia County Circuit Judge, passed away Saturday, Dec. 24. He was 80.
Larry V. Starcher, a retired Supreme Court Justice and Monongalia County Circuit Judge, died Saturday, Dec. 24. He was 80.
“Justice Starcher devoted his life to public service, as a circuit judge, Supreme Court justice, and law professor,” said Chief Justice John Hutchison. “He was a mentor to many young lawyers, law students, and law clerks. His love for the law school was known to all. His monetary gifts were important, but his gift of teaching was the most important of all. He had an incredible work ethic and was a champion of many causes. He was a loyal friend to many and will be sorely missed. On behalf of my fellow justices, I send sincere condolences to his family.”
Starcher was born at home in Calhoun County, West Virginia, on Sept. 25, 1942 and was raised in Spencer, in Roane County, and graduated from Spencer High School in 1960. He earned his bachelor’s degree (1964) and his law degree (1967) from West Virginia University.
Before being elected circuit judge in 1976, he served as an Assistant to the Vice-President for Off-Campus Education at West Virginia University and as Director of the North Central West Virginia Legal Aid Society. He served as circuit judge for 20 years.
While sitting as a circuit judge, Starcher served as a special judge in 23 of West Virginia’s 55 counties. He presided over the trial of 20,000 asbestos injury cases and a six-month state buildings asbestos trial. As a trial judge, he was active in the area of juvenile justice, including establishing alternative learning centers for youths at risk and a youth shelter. He also pioneered the use of work release and community service as punishment for nonviolent offenders.
In November 1996, he was elected to a full twelve-year term on the Supreme Court of Appeals. He served as chief justice in 1999 and 2003, and he promoted action in several areas of judicial administration, specifically the Court Facilities Committee, Public Trust and Confidence in the Judiciary, Mental Hygiene Commission, Court Technology Summit, Self-Represented Litigants Task Force, State Law Library improvements, and he reactivated the Gender Fairness Task Force.
In 2004, in partnership with the Mountain State Bar, West Virginia’s historic minority bar association, Justice Starcher and his senior law clerk, Thomas Rodd, initiated the J.R. Clifford Project, a series of statewide community programs and publications based on the life and work of J.R. Clifford (1848-1933), West Virginia’s first African American lawyer. He retired from the Supreme Court at the end of 2008 but continued working as a senior status judge by appointment. He also served as an adjunct lecturer at the West Virginia University College of Law until 2020, teaching pre-trial litigation and trial advocacy, and he advised the Lugar Trial Association.
Earlier this week, West Virginia surpassed 7,500 COVID-19 deaths. But the virus has not had an equal impact everywhere. Across the country, some states and communities continue to be harder hit by the pandemic than others, and West Virginia is no exception — even varying by county.
Earlier this week, West Virginia surpassed 7,500 COVID-19 deaths. But the virus has not had an equal impact everywhere.
Across the country, some states and communities continue to be harder hit by the pandemic than others, and West Virginia is no exception — even varying by county.
Kanawha County is the largest in the state, with more than 180,000 residents. That’s roughly 10 percent of West Virginia’s population, and, as would be expected, the county makes up about 10 percent of the state’s COVID-19 deaths.
For the most part, bigger counties around the state have more deaths, proportional to their size. The same goes for smaller counties and fewer deaths. But there are a few outliers.
One of the biggest outliers is Monongalia County, which accounts for just under 6 percent of the state’s population, but less than 3 percent of all deaths in West Virginia.
“In COVID, we found that probably the single greatest risk factor, especially early in the disease with the Wuhan strain, of a predictor of mortality was age,” Dr. Steven Eshenaur, health officer for the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, said. “The older you are, the worse this disease is on you.”
Eshenaur points to the significant difference in the age of Kanawha and Monongalia counties’ populations as a likely explanation for the discrepancies in death rates.
“Kanawha County has 21.6 percent of our population that is over 65,” he said. “Mon County has 13.5 percent of its population over age 65. It’s almost half.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Americans age 55 and older account for 90 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the country.
CDC data also shows that the risk for death from COVID-19 grows dramatically as age goes up. Compared to 18-29 year-olds, 40 to 49 year-olds are 10 times more likely to die from COVID-19. For those aged 50 to 65, they are 25 times more likely.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
/
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that older populations are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 deaths.
Dr. Lee Smith is the health officer and director of the Monongalia County Health Department, and has led the county’s pandemic response for the past two-and-a-half years.
“Right now, we have [the] total number of deaths, [the] total number of cases,” Smith said. “The areas that we don’t have right now is how many of the people who contracted COVID were smokers, were elderly. We know that those are the at-risk populations.”
Smith cautions drawing conclusions from what he calls an incomplete picture. He said it may be years before we understand how and why COVID-19 impacted communities differently, if ever.
“Public health is going to be studying COVID probably for the next decade, if not more,” he said. “We saw that this impacted the elderly more at the beginning. So I think that it’s a worthy line of inquiry because this is going to be a cumulative knowledge built up over time.”
One thing that both health officers can agree on is the impact of vaccines on the pandemic and deaths. Eshenaur calls vaccines the single most effective tool we have to protect individuals, but the statewide rate of distribution for booster shots is at just 32 percent.
Smith said he can relate to the public’s COVID-19 fatigue.
“I think that because of COVID fatigue, many people are wanting just to not consider it anymore, and I certainly understand that because our staff is as fatigued as anyone with COVID,” Smith said. “But it hasn’t gone away completely. It was said early on, ‘My mask protects you, your mask protects me, my vaccine protects you, my, your vaccine protects me.’ I think that if we can move beyond the politics, and get to a point where we’re doing this as a community, that’s going to be the better position.”
COVID-19 fatigue and vaccine complacency could spell trouble in the coming weeks and months, as COVID-19 begins to interact with other respiratory viruses that surge with colder weather.
“We are moving into, the buzzword now is a ‘tridemic’ of flu, RSV, and COVID all potentially hitting their peak this fall,” Eshenaur said. “It could be very bad, especially when you see people that get concomitant illnesses, that is they get two illnesses at the same time, like flu and COVID, or RSV and COVID together.”
COVID-19 deaths are slowing in West Virginia, and that may be causing some people to let their guard down, but vaccine hesitancy combined with flu and RSV outbreaks could spell a long winter for the state.
Mon EMS and the Mountaineer Area Rescue Group (MARG) are combining resources to improve emergency medical service access to remote areas.
Monongalia EMS and the Mountaineer Area Rescue Group (MARG) are combining resources to improve emergency medical service access to remote areas.
After nearly 18 months of planning Mon EMS, in Monongalia County, has forged a partnership with MARG to improve patient care.
MARG and Mon EMS will combine emergency medical services with wilderness search and rescue skills using state of the art medical equipment to reach people who are hurt or sick in remote places like Mason Dixon Park, Coopers Rock State Forest, Snake Hill Wildlife Area and the headwaters of Cheat Lake.
Mon EMS Executive Director Forest Weyen said the two agencies will still remain separate entities.
“Our folks are trained professionals that are on an ambulance and are typically used to dealing with folks in their homes and along roads, not necessarily real far out in the wilderness,” he said.
Weyen said when someone gets hurt in an area or off a trail that is not easy to access, Mon EMS is limited in its ability to respond.
“What ends up happening is our folks are lugging equipment out there,” he said. “We might not have the full spectrum of equipment that those folks might have, water resources, compass, GPS – all those kinds of things.”
The partnership came about after both departments realized there was a need to figure out ways to solve problems before they happen.
Weyen said the two agencies were looking for ways to improve and subsequently identified there is a potential for emergency care to get delayed.
Mon EMS will provide training and competency for the Mountaineer Area Rescue Group.
“They will come to some of our training, our medical director and our clinical team will find them all such providers, these folks are West Virginia licensed EMS providers already, somewhere,” he said.
Weyen called it a “truly symbiotic” relationship. While MARG will benefit from state of the art medical equipment, personnel and first responder resources, in return they will provide land navigation, map reading and other critical skills that will help Mon EMS better handle emergencies in remote outdoor areas.
“The best thing about it is that the patients who live, work and play in Monongalia County, and certainly people in those super remote areas out in the wilderness somewhere, they’re going to have proper EMS care if and when they need it,” he said.
The search in Monongalia County for a suspect connected to a murder ended Monday.
Updated on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 at 2:10 p.m.
The Monongalia County Sheriff announced that Arlo Romano was taken into custody Monday night by the Pennsylvania State Police Uniontown Barracks.
Chestnut Ridge Park and Campground returned to normal operations Tuesday, June 28. On their Facebook page, the park said they will have a security patrol cover the park through the end of the week from dusk to dawn.
Original Post:
The search in Monongalia County for a suspect connected to a murder entered its sixth day Monday.
The Chestnut Ridge Park & Campground east of Morgantown remained closed Monday as law enforcement searched for Arlo Whiteoak Romano in connection with the death of Matthew Moore in May.
Monongalia County deputies encountered Romano Wednesday night, but he fled on foot to a wooded area that backs onto Coopers Rock State Forest.
On Friday, the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department announced via its Facebook page the closure of the Chestnut Ridge Park after a confirmed sighting of Romano near the entrance to the park’s campground.
Chestnut Ridge Park was closed through the weekend, and on the park’s Facebook page, officials hoped Monday would be the final day of forced closures.
Law enforcement in Monongalia County are searching for a murder suspect who fled on foot Wednesday night.
Law enforcement in Monongalia County are searching for a murder suspect who fled on foot Wednesday night.
A warrant for 1st Degree Murder and Felony Conspiracy has been issued for Arlo Whiteoak Romano in connection to the death of Matthew Moore in May.
In a press release, the Monongalia County Sheriff said deputies encountered Romano Wednesday night, but he fled on foot to a wooded area that backs onto Coopers Rock State Forest.
Law enforcement from multiple jurisdictions searched the area overnight for several hours and the search is continuing.
Romano is a white male, 5 feet 10 inches, and approximately 175 pounds, last seen wearing a T-shirt, shorts and has numerous tattoos on his arms.
He is believed to be on foot at this time and residents are urged to use caution if they come into contact or see Romano or anybody resembling him. Residents are asked to call 911 immediately.
The search for Romano follows the arrest of another suspect in Moore’s killing, Cleotis Cortez-Paul Epps, on Wednesday.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Images of Romano shared by the Monogalia County Sheriff’s Department.
