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W.Va. High School Students Creating Furniture For New Court


Three shop students and their teacher from a West Virginia high school are working this summer to build furniture for the new Intermediate Court of Appeals courtrooms.

Herbert Hoover High School in Clendenin won the bid to produce benches, podiums and tabletops for the main courtroom in Charleston and five satellite courtrooms.

The satellite courtrooms in Grant, Lewis, Morgan, Raleigh and Wetzel counties will allow parties to virtually argue cases.

The court was created last year to hear appeals of civil judgments from circuit courts.

The main bench is being made of walnut and will seat up to five judges, while the satellite benches are made of cherry and can be linked to the main courtroom, the Supreme Court said in a news release.

Some members of the Supreme Court and Intermediate Court of Appeals visited the shop this month to discuss details.

The students — Kole Johnson, Josh Stuart and Lane Ramsey — are working on the project during the summer and being paid $15 an hour, the release said.

“You guys wanted them to do the work and they are,” Hoover shop teacher Tim Meyer told the court officials. “They could set up a cabinet shop and make a living at this.”