Friday, March 25, 2011
EKB Capsule News...West Virginia...3-26-'11
- Donald Good, the man charged with the 1987 Huntington Mall rapes, was in court Friday morning attempting to have Cabell County Circuit Court Judge Alfred Ferguson recused from the case. Good has spent a lot of time in court these last few months, filing motions on everything from challenging evidence and DNA to trying to get his attorney dropped from the case. Good accused Judge Ferguson of being biased and prejudiced, but Ferguson denied the opinion, saying he doesn't feel there's any basis for it. Ferguson said he will do his best to insure a fair trial. The trial is set to begin Tuesday.
- Belle Police Officer 28 year old Daniel Dodd of Charleston was arraigned Thursday for allegations of domestic battery. Charleston Police led an investigation after his wife reported that he hit her. Charleston Detective G.R. Daniels wrote in a complaint that Dodd slapped Jennifer Totten in the face three times, threw her up against the wall, then to the floor, attempted to break a cellphone and threatened her after she posted a comment on a memorial website for her late boyfriend. Dodd was a Charleston Police officer when he was charged with domestic battery when his girlfriend claimed he grabbed her by the throat during an argument in June 2007. He was found not guilty after a bench trial in January 2008. Dodd remained on paid administrative leave through at least June 2008 and was no longer with the department as of August 16, 2008. He started with the Belle Police Department in February 2010. Belle Police Chief Derrick Cox said Dodd would remain on paid administrative leave until the outcome of an administrative hearing.
Four West Virginia public housing agencies are sharing federal grants totaling more than $139,500. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced the awards Thursday as part $54 million being shared by about 600 agencies across the nation. The funds are part of the federal Housing Choice Voucher Family Self-Sufficiency Program. The money will help link low-income families with the necessary education and job training to put them on a path to self-sufficiency. The West Virginia agencies receiving funding are the Charleston-Kanawha Housing Authority, the Clarskburg-Harrison Regional Housing Authority, the Housing Authority of Mingo County, and the Housing Authority of the City of Fairmont.
- Mason County Sheriff’s Deputy Robert Glenn was fired Friday after some serious allegations from students and parents at Hannan Senior and Junior High School. Sheriff David Anthony, who provides the districts resource officers, says complaints of inappropriate conduct continue to come in accusing Glenn of using inappropriate verbal comments, including sexual harassment to male and female students.
- The plan to turn a 14.6-mile segment of U.S. 35 in Mason and Putnam counties into a four-lane road isindefinitely on hold after state officials say they simply couldn't come up with the $187 million needed to build the road. A low bid on the project by Kokosing-Keiwit was allowed to expire Thursday after repeated extensions. Over the past few months, the administration of Acting Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has gone to the Supreme Court to fight for the road and backed a controversial plan to finance it, but rising interests rates have made the road nearly impossible to finance.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 11:27 PM 
