Tuesday, April 26, 2011
EKB Capsule News...West Virginia...4-27-'11
- Mingo County Sheriff's Deputies were called to a home in the Spice Branch area near Varney about 1:30 P.M. Tuesday afternoon where they found a man dead with two gunshot wounds. Deputies say the man's wife, 33 year old Crystal Seigler Clark, is a "person of interest" in the the shooting. Police are also looking for 13-month old Chloe Clark. Crystal Clark was last seen Monday driving a silver mini-van with North Carolina plates. Deputies are investigating the shooting as a homicide.
- Average gas prices are rising again in West Virginia. AAA's Fuel Gauge released Tuesday shows the average price for self-serve unleaded rose 6 cents in the past week. It now averages $3.93 per gallon. Gas prices in the state have gone up about 40 cents in the past month. A year ago, gas prices averaged $2.88 in West Virginia. In the areas surveyed, prices ranged from $3.88 in Morgantown to $3.97 in Bridgeport and Huntington.
- As the trial continued Wednesday for Foster "Pete" Bowen, Bowen testified in his own defense. When asked by the defense attorney if he desired sex with men, Bowen responded, “I am not a homosexual, I'm not a pedophile." Bowen said growing up poor made him and his wife want to help people ever since he started working, and that’s why young boys were often around his home. Earlier in the day, defense witness Mike McCallister, a retired Cabell County Sherrif's Deputy, testified as an expert on how to properly interview a sexual abuse victim. In previous testimony, the alleged victims testified Bowen took them around a dentist, Dr. James Aldridge, a physician, Dr. Donald Klinestiver, and former Wayne County Sheriff, Toby Shy. Several of the victims said Bowen either fondled them, commented on the size of their genitals or had discussions about masturbation with them in the presence of one or all of these individuals. Dr. Aldridge denied Bowen ever brought a child to his office, and Dr. Klinestiver testified he never had a conversation with Bowen and a child about masturbation. Toby Shy, who was Wayne County Sheriff from 1993-2001, and an officer at the Huntington Police Department for 30 years before that, testified he had a farm complete with a fishing pond that Bowen regularly brought the boys to, but he never saw Bowen molest kids in his presence, and he never witnessed Bowen touch the boys in any inappropriate way.
- Huntington Police arrested Timothy D. Holloway, 31, of Ashland, Kentucky, Tuesday evening and charged him with two counts of robbery. The two robberies occurred earlier Tuesday at Mug and Pia along 3rd Avenue and Latta's, both near Pullman Square in downtown Huntington.
- One person is dead after an early morning crash Tuesday on Route 214, also known as Midway Road, in the Yawkey area of Lincoln County. The body of Larry Weddington from South Charleston was found nearby a car that was spotted in a creek by someone driving by. Police believe Weddington crashed his convertible into a bridge, causing the car to go airborne, ejecting him from the car. The West Virginia State Police in Hamlin is investigating.
- Huntington Police say James Smith, a Cabell Huntington Hospital security guard, was cut with a pocket knife after trying to stop a man from breaking into an employee's car. Smith says the suspect, Shane Burton, ran from him, and he chased him to Columbia Avenue, where a bystander helped him tackle and take Burton into custody. Police found the driver's license, credit card and cash stolen from the CHH employee's vehicle in Smith's pocket. Her checkbook and an emergency hammer were found in an alley near the parking lot. Burton is charged with a misdemeanor count of breaking and entering and a felony county of malicious wounding.
- Investigators in the Fayette County Sheriff's Department say the autopsy performed on the body of 27 year old Stacey Nicole Wilson has left them with unanswered questions. Captain Jim Sizemore says the autopsy showed Wilson, of Victor, did not die of blunt force trauma, but she also did not drown. Wilson's body was found in the Gauley River near Jodie Saturday afternoon after she called her parents around 7:30 A.M. Friday and told them her car was stuck in a large mud hole and she didn't know where she was. Investigators say the mud hole is some distance from where her body was found floating in the Gauley River. Investigators say she and another woman who was with her became separated and the other woman made it out of the area safely. Captain Sizemore says he can't really rule out homicide, but not having an exact cause of death is making the investigation difficult. Captain Sizemore says the toxicology report, which usually takes a little longer to complete, will let investigators know if there were drugs or alcohol in Wilson's blood.
- Cabell County Sheriff deputies say William Scott Harbour is charged with DUI causing injury after his vehicle hit Chief Deputy Doug Ferguson's cruiser and caused the deputy to run off the road and over an embankment Monday afternoon on Route 10 in Salt Rock. Harbour was arrested at the scene and taken to the Western Regional Jail where his bond was set at $35,000.
- According to a poll of 590 likely Democratic voters and 274 likely Republican voters conducted from April 21st to the 25th by Public Policy Polling and released Tuesday, Acting Governor Earl Ray Tomblin and former West Virginia Secretary of State Betty Ireland are showing double-digit leads in their respective primary races. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent for Democrats and plus or minus 5.9 percent for Republicans. Tomblin is one of six Democrats seeking his party’s nomination in the May 14th special primary to replace former Governor Joe Manchin, while Ireland is one of eight candidates seeking the Republican nomination.
- Work will begin soon to prepare the site for the new Marsh Fork Elementary School. Site preparation bids will be received by May 3rd, while construction bids will be received later in the summer. The new Marsh Fork Elementary School will house about 226 students in pre-K through fifth grades. Williamson Shriver Architects from Charleston has designed the new school which is funded by the West Virginia School Building Authority, the Raleigh County Board of Education, Massey Energy and the Annenberg Foundation.
- Hughie Stover, 59, of Clear Fork pleaded not guilty in March to making false statements to federal agents and obstructing a federal investigation. Those charges stem from the investigation into the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion. Pre-trial motions are set for June 28th with a trial in federal court in Beckley to begin July 18th. Federal agents were investigating allegations that security guards routinely notified mine personnel when Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors arrived. Investigators said Stover falsely denied such a practice existed and told the agents he would have fired any security guard who provided advance notice. But according to an indictment, Stover himself instructed UBB security guards to notify mine personnel whenever MSHA inspectors arrived.
- With gas prices in West Virginia around $4.09 a gallon, the operators of the city's bus system say more people are buying bus passes and taking the bus. The Kanawha Valley Regional Transportation Authority, or KRT, reports more than 100,000 additional riders, compared to a year ago. Doug Hartley, Assistant KRT Manager, says drivers are reporting routes with standing-room only and having to make extra stops, but he said KRT is happy to accommodate riders.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 11:14 PM 
