Tag: Raleigh County

Creeks Rising in Southern West Virginia

High waters are creating dangerous conditions in southern West Virginia. Dispatchers say some residents are being evacuated.Emergency dispatchers in…

High waters are creating dangerous conditions in southern West Virginia. Dispatchers say some residents are being evacuated.

Emergency dispatchers in Wyoming County say that the rainfall Wednesday morning caused a mudslide. One resident in Jesse told dispatchers that part of the mountain slid into their residence. Deputies are on scene evaluating the situation.

Several roads in Wyoming County including route 971 in front of Westside High School are closed.  Students were not in class because board members made the proactive decision to cancel school Wednesday, anticipating high waters in the region.

Some roads are also closed in Raleigh County due to high waters including parts of Airport Road between the Mining Academy and the Raleigh County Airport. Traffic is being rerouting because dispatchers say parts of the road have caved in.

Dispatchers also say about 10 homes were evacuated from Violet Lane in Beaver because of rising waters.

Video by Mel Petrey, standing on the bridge by Beaver hardware in Raleigh County.

Some roads in Mercer County are also closed. McDowell County officials are currently out in the region to assess the damage while Summers County is reporting no issues at this time.

Dispatchers throughout the region are bracing for more flood conditions.

Black Diamond Power Wants Overcharges to be “Customer Contribution"?

According to request filed by attorneys at law Hannah and Hanna PLLC back in August, Black Diamond Power admits to overcharging customers $1,686,338…

According to request filed by attorneys at law Hannah and Hanna PLLC back in August, Black Diamond Power admits to overcharging customers $1,686,338 admits to collecting over a five year period.

The document indicates that the company serves about 4,300 so that’s about $385 per customer.

The company proposes to refund $488, 307 to customers over a five year period which would come through a rate reduction.  But Black Diamond Power wants to treat the remaining money, treat the remaining $1.198 million as a “customer contribution.”

It appears that the Staff of the Public Service Commission filed recommendations on October 1. In that document, the staff of PSC recommends about $900,000 be recorded as a customer contribution and a reduction of rate base.

Black Diamond Power purchases all of its power from American Electric Power. The business serves at the electric company in parts of Clay, Kanawha, Raleigh and Wyoming Counties with business offices in Sophia, Clay and Mullens.

While the Register Herald is reporting that Black Diamond Power Customers will see a reduction of 1.21 cents per kilowatt hour, Susan Small with the Public Service Commission says transcripts from a hearing on this case held on October 22 were not available. Small also told us that no other details were available since it was an open case.

President of Black Diamond Power, David Musser, was not available for comment but told the Register Herald the rate reduction was made possible by way of American Electric Power reducing its charges to Black Diamond, which was in turn able to give customers a lower rate. 

Attorney’s representing the company Hannah and Hannal LLC did not immediately return our request for comment.

Organization Looking at Ways to Improve Transportation in Fayette & Raleigh Counties

A group is working to create a transportation plan for Raleigh and Fayette Counties. The Metropolitan   Planning Organization, or MPO, is working to identify transportation investments needed to move the region forward.

The MPO office is federally and state funded but it’s made up of local governments, business leaders, and others. The group is responsible for long range transportation planning.

When the 2010 Census was published in 2012 is showed six towns across Route 19 in Fayette and Raleigh Counties had a population density of 50,000 or more. This makes the region “urbanized.” The municipalities included with this new designation include Fayetteville, Mt. Hope, Oak Hill, Sophia, Mabscott, and Beckley.

When an area is deemed ‘urbanized’ the federal government mandates the formation of an organization to come up with a transportation plan. As mandated by the federal government, the MPO is working to develop a 25‐year Regional Transportation Plan, which addresses travel by all modes, including streets and highways, bikeways and walkways, public transportation, aviation, rail and waterways.

Folks are encouraged to attend the second meeting to share ideas with leaders on what should be included in this plan.  The is Tuesday, September 30 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. at the Beckley City Hall Council Chambers in Beckley.

You can also share your ideas for the Fayette Raleigh County 25 year transportation plan online.

Youth Program Combines Science and Art

A new after school program in Beckley is bringing Science and Art together. The program is made possible by a grant from the Beckley Area Foundation with the help from the Benedum Foundation and West Virginia Division of Culture and History. 

Dr. Aida Jimenez is the Assistant Professor of Biology in the Department of Natural Science and Mathematics at the University of Charleston in Beckley and director of the after school program.

Jimenez says the program, The Science Behind the Art Experience, is meant to provide a unique extracurricular activity and increase science and art literacy among youth in the region. 

The Science Behind the Art Experience is a six week program that meets two days per week. Students age 13 to 16 will perform college level science experiments and create pieces of art that relate to the science.

Scholarships are available. To find out how to register, visit the website.

Young and Old: Traditional Music Inspires a New Generation

There’s a culture of music that’s been passed down orally through the hills of West Virginia for many generations.

Old time music has roots in Celtic and Native American cultures, as well as American ballads and popular music and poems that passed on through oral tradition. The practice of learning young the tunes of their ancestors is alive and well in Sophia, in Raleigh County.

“There’s a lot of good words in an old country song,” Carl Hensly of Beckley said. “A lot of times it’s something that they go through.”

Hensly is part of a small group of old time country, folks, bluegrass and gospel lovers that meet once a week at Sophia Fire Department in Raleigh County. The door is open to anyone that wants to join on Tuesday nights.

The group has been meeting for more than 20 years.

“Different people’s been in charge of it for a period of years and one dies off and the other one takes over,” Hensley said.

That’s the idea, to keep playing with an open invitation hoping that someone will always be there to take over. If not, Hensley says, Appalachians lose a part of their heritage.

“We lose that we lost part of it,” Hensley said. “The younger generation is just not going to pick it up and continue. However, we have talked two or three young ones in here and they’ve turned out to be excellent.”

Picking Up the Melody

One of those youngsters is Sophia resident, Jordan Young.

Jordan Young is passionate about Bluegrass Music. He plays mandolin, guitar, banjo upright bass and sings.

“In a way I think it was something I was doing to get closer to him because I stayed at his house all the time,” Young said.

Young says it was his grandfather that took him to the jam sessions in Sophia. For Young it was time spent with his family, and a place to learn.

“That’s where I learned to play honestly,” Young said. “I knew maybe four chords and he said, ‘well I’ll take ya some place where you can kind of just play around with people and through time I got to playing solos with them and it just helped me so much.”

Credit Toni Doman
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His grandfather passed away about a year ago. And now it’s more important than ever for Young to carry on the traditions.

Young is now a student at Glenville State College, getting a degree in Bluegrass. The website boasts it as the world’s first four year bachelor of arts degree in Bluegrass Music.

Young says studying Bluegrass and old-time music offers a window into Appalachia’s past and he hopes to help carry it on, into the future.

MSHA Says 100 Things Have Changed Since Upper Big Branch

The federal mine safety agency says it has finished implementing the 100 regulatory and administrative changes it recommended after West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch mine disaster.

The changes stem from a March 2012 internal report examining the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration’s actions leading up to April 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners. The agency says all recommendations in the report were implemented by Dec. 31.

Among the reforms are revision of mine inspection procedure handbooks and development of a new coal roof control handbook, training sessions for agency personnel on issues raised by the review, and improved tracking of inspector retraining.

Joseph A. Main is assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health. He calls the changes the most extensive improvements at MSHA in decades.
 

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