West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Telling West Virginia's Story
West Virginia Public Theatre is getting ready to open in Morgantown, for its 30th season. This non-profit theatre has had quite a story.It began because…
West Virginia Public Theatre is getting ready to open in Morgantown, for its 30th season. This non-profit theatre has had quite a story.
It began because one man who moved to West Virginia saw a lack of professional theatre companies when he came here. Founder Ron Iannone talked to Ben Adducchio about the theatre, what it has tried to accomplish, and how he wants to be remembered when he decides to walk away.
To learn more about the season, you can find information here.
Federal environmental regulators have picked five West Virginia projects to receive $1 million in brownfields grants.
The Environmental Protection Agency program helps communities conduct environmental assessments of properties, review cleanup options, and start cleanup at contaminated sites.
The recipients include the Wayne County Economic Development Authority, city of Morgantown, city of Thomas and Wyoming County Economic Development Authority.
The state Department of Environmental Protection also received one grant for Nicholas, Fayette, and Raleigh counties.
The Wyoming project covers the Barkers Creek Industrial Park, which has been abandoned since 2000.
The five grants were $200,000 each. Most grants cover assessment of eight to 15 possible sites.
Overall, 171 communities in 44 states are receiving 264 EPA brownfields grants. EPA announced $67 million in nationwide brownfields funding Wednesday.
Editor’s Note: West Virginia Public Radio is airing a four part series on heroin addiction in West Virginia. The number of deaths attributed to heroin overdoses in West Virginia is rising steadily. This story is a conversation with some of those seeking help and treatment for their addiction to the drug.
According to statistics from the West Virginia Health Statistics Center, nearly 300 people from West Virginia have died from heroin overdoses since 2001. Almost all of them were males. These deaths occur all over the state, with the five leading counties being Berkeley, Cabell, Monongalia, Kanawha and Jefferson. Law enforcement officials say they are seeing more cases involving heroin across the state, with the drug coming primarily from Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and other nearby cities. While those officials are trying to stop the sale and use of heroin, many addicts seek treatment because they desperately want to stop.
There are three medications that are used for people struggling with heroin addiction. One is Methadone, which has been used widely for years. Another is buprenorphine, which some believe is very useful. The third is called naltrexone.
West Virginia Public Radio spoke recently with several people who are trying to kick the heroin habit. Out of respect to their privacy, we won’t be using their actual names in this story.
One person who is seeking treatment is a mother from Hampshire County, who comes to Morgantown to get help. She is being treated at Chestnut Ridge Center in Morgantown. Like many heroin users, her addiction began with pills.
“When I shot it up for the first time, it was like it made all my problems go away. Everything was better for that couple of minutes where I had that rush. Nothing could beat that rush. Once you do heroin, you will never like another drug in my opinion,” she said.
She says she’s 40 days clean now. But nothing comes easily for her. She recalls having a difficult time simply going to a grocery store, because dealers were there selling drugs.
“Now at 40 days clean I can honestly say I haven’t had any urges, and I think in my mind I’m ready to get clean. If you’re not ready, you’re not going to. You have to accept that you have a problem and get help for it,” she said.
Another person seeking treatment is a young man from Harrison County. He says using heroin almost killed him.
“I was a needle user since I was 15, 16, and actually two years ago I had a stroke and I almost died from using needle. A blood clot. It’s hard. Every day it’s a struggle. It’s hard to rebuild what you had. I had nothing really, just being ill all day, it’s really hard,” he said.
“It’s like playing Russian Roulette with your life. It’s either you choose your life, or you’re working on death. It’s a downhill slope.”
And then there’s a 32-year-old woman from Parkersburg, who is in treatment for the second time. She says the lowest point was when she found herself stealing money for her addiction from loved ones.
“How low have I sunk to get to this point? I’m stealing from people I care about,” she said.
“I just wanted someone to recognize that I needed help. Once all those things are gone, you really start to figure out that you need help.”
But she’s got hope. And she says she has a message for people who are struggling.
“You are not alone,” she said.
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It makes a lot of things harder in your life, but being in recovery, my life has grown exponentially. Being a drug addict does not mean that your life is over.”
There’s a very important competition taking place in Washington D.C. next week. It’s the National Geographic Bee and West Virginia has a competitor who thinks he has the right stuff.
Andrew Christy is an 8th Grader at St. Francis de Sales Central Catholic School, in Morgantown. He’s going to represent West Virginia, for THE THIRD YEAR IN A ROW, at the National Geographic Bee. He came up short on his first two tries, but now, it’s his final chance to bring home 50 thousand dollars in college scholarships and bragging rights to the Mountain State.
“It feels really good; in sixth grade I was very nervous, in seventh grade, I was pretty nervous, but this year I think I know what’s going on,” said Christy.
“I know the drill. I’m still a little nervous, but not as nervous as I have been before.”
Like Spelling Bees, at a Geography Bee contestants must answer questions correctly to advance. But it’s a bit different in that every contestant will have to answer nine questions, and the best ten competitors get to make it to the finals. That usually means if you miss one of the nine, you’re probably out of the game.
And they aren’t easy questions, either. Listeners, let’s try one together. Here’s the question.
Caribbean Hindustani, a dialect of Hindi, is commonly spoken in an island country off the coast of Venezuela. Can you name the country?
The Answer is Trinidad and Tobago. That’ s a sample question of what might be asked in the bee. Andrew says the questions are tough: few are multiple choice, and while clues may be given, a contestant really has to know where to find them.
“Last year at nationals, there was a question about the Gulf of Fonseca, it’s between El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, and I got it wrong,” Christy said.
“They won’t straight ask you what’s the capital of this country, or what river runs through this capital, they will word it differently and give you clues in the question. You can ask for them to repeat the question, or for them to spell a word.”
He may not have traveled to the Gulf of Fonseca, but he’s traveled a lot for a 13 year old young man, and he says traveling has helped him stay enthused about geography.
“I like western South America, because that’s where llamas live and I really like llamas. They are my favorite animal,” said Christy.
“We went on a cruise in Europe; we went to Italy, Greece, Croatia, and Turkey. I’ve been to the Bahamas, and I have been to Niagara Falls.”
To prepare for the challenge, Christy studies atlases and maps, and takes online quizzes. He says the most difficult part of the competition every year are the other competitors.
“Everyone is good because they had to win their state, and region. Everyone is good, they are all on the same level, or better than you,” he said.
But he loves the competition. Andrew will be attending Morgantown High School next year. He isn’t sure about his future plans, other than to attend college where he’s interested in studying science, or possibly architecture.
Andrew will be in Washington this weekend to compete in the National Geographic Bee. The top 10 finalists will compete in the final round, next Wednesday, moderated by journalist Soledad O’ Brien. It will air on television on the National Geographic Channel.
For young children with certain disabilities, it’s just about impossible to ride a conventional bicycle. So a children’s charity known as Variety, which began in Pittsburgh in 1928, along with several people who wanted to get involved, started a program called the “My Bike” program. It provides specialized bicycles, that are built to suit the special needs of the child.
Nearly 30 children received these specialized bikes at a recent ceremony in Morgantown with Variety.
One of the most exciting aspects of the event was a bicycle parade, when the children rode these rides for the first time around the SteppingStones Facility in Morgantown. One of the children, six year old Isabella, was extremely excited. It was her first bike, according to her mom, Stephanie Derby.
“We have tried other bicycles from general stores, and nothing has ever worked for her, and she gets kind of frustrated. When she got to try the bike out the first time, she was so excited, and she was pedaling and going within seconds. It gives her a sense of independence; it also gives her an opportunity for a shared activity with her older sister,” she said.
Derby says her children like to ride bikes in their spare time. She says now with Isabella in the seat she hopes the whole family bonds together over this recreational activity.
“Now that [Isabella] is going to have one, it’s something that we will hopefully do as a family and get some good exercise,” said Derby.
These are the first bikes of this kind to be donated through Variety in West Virginia. There are three wheels on the bike, instead of two. There’s a handle bar that looks like those on exercise machines and there are special safety straps too that aren’t on other bikes. Adults can step in and help maneuver the bike if necessary.
Isabella’s family proudly watched as she wheeled around in the bicycle parade.
Also on hand was U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin. He walked around the room with some of the children during the parade. He says his son in law told him about this charity; he hadn’t heard of it before. He says for children to succeed, they need adults in their lives to provide guidance.
“These children are blessed because they do have adults out there who care about them. They want for them to have a normal life as much as humanly possible and today it’s a dream come true for them. It’s really special,” he said.
According to Variety, for a family to qualify for a bike, it must reside in one of 10 counties that are participating and the family’s income must meet specific poverty guidelines. The counties participating are Barbour, Doddridge, Harrison, Marion, Marshall, Monongalia, Ohio, Preston, Taylor and Wetzel.
West Virginia’s got a lot of deer within its borders, and they can be a burden. For instance, the state’s vehicle collision rate with deer is one of the…
West Virginia’s got a lot of deer within its borders, and they can be a burden. For instance, the state’s vehicle collision rate with deer is one of the highest in the nation, according to a study by State Farm Insurance. In Morgantown, new technology is being used to monitor these animals.
You see them while driving along the interstate. You’ll catch them in your residential neighborhoods, eating vegetables from your garden.
They’re deer, and the state is trying to find better ways to quantify how many of them are in West Virginia. Sheldon Owen is a wildlife specialist at the West Virginia University extension office in Morgantown.
“A lot of people will say that we have too many deer out there. Those individuals who love to see a lot of deer are happy with the numbers. We are experiencing a lot of deer damage in the state, to agriculture, to our gardens, and also to our natural resources,” said Owen.
“Our forests are taking a hit because of the number of deer foraging on the seedlings and things that are trying to grow.”
This week, members of the extension office are canvassing Morgantown using new methods to track how many deer are in the city. This includes using a special infrared technology, said Owen.
“Any object gives off heat radiation, or a thermal signature. A thermal imaging device basically captures that information and translates it onto a screen so we can form a picture of what is going on out there. We can see this thermal picture of what is across the landscape,” he explained.
“We can determine the outline of a deer, a dog, raccoon, houses, cars, so we can differentiate between what is a dog, deer, or what is going on in the landscape.”
Owen says the infrared technology is superior to the current system that utilizes spotlights.
“We have used spotlights and have driven specific routes and located deer and counted deer over certain area. In using spotlights, we are relying on an external light source, we are missing deer because we can’t see them through vegetation,” he said.
By using this infrared technology, Owen said they find up to 30 percent more of the deer that are out there.
The extension office works closely with the Division of Natural Resources on projects like this. Owen is hoping more counties will use this infrared technology so deer counts can be more accurate.
“We’re doing this to try to see, well to come up with a kind of protocol, that everyone can use, other municipalities and communities can use to get a handle on the number of deer in their area,” said Owen.
Even with the new system Owen expects there will be challenges. He says the biggest one may be line of sight, in other words, finding deer that may be hidden behind buildings and in geographically tricky locations where it could be tough to find them. But he says infrared gives another advantage.
“You’re able to see through heavy fog, smoke, mists and things, so it allows us to detect animals that are otherwise missed with our other technologies, such as using a spotlight,” Owen said.
The locators will be traveling in vehicles to do the work. Once the information is collected, the Extension Office will pass along the numbers to the city of Morgantown, which allows urban deer hunting. Owen and his team also work with the Division of Natural Resources, so they will receive the more accurate numbers as well.