EKB News

• A federal grand jury has filed a new indictment against Hughie Elbert Stover, the former security director for Massey Energy’s Performance Coal Co. subsidiary, which runs the Upper Big Branch Mine. The indictment alleges that, during an interview on November 30, 2010, Stover lied to the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration investigation team looking into the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster by telling them Performance prohibited security guards from giving advance notice when federal inspectors were on mine property. The indictment alleges Stover directed guards to give advance notice. Stover was already facing charges of obstructing justice by concealing documents and making false statements in the criminal investigation of events at UBB.

• Jay Van Meneen, 33, of Phoenix, Arizona pleaded guilty Monday to charges of aiding and abetting the distribution of 100 kilograms or more of marijuana in Putnam County. Prosecutors say Meneen drove from Arizona to West Virginia to deliver the marijuana on behalf of a drug trafficking organization operating in Arizona and Mexico. The buyer was a confidential police informant. On March 5, 2010, police pulled his vehicle over, searched a trailer he was pulling and found 310.2 kilograms of marijuana stored in a false wall. Mennen faces up to 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine when sentenced September 19th.

• The Hurricane Police Department is investigating after the body of 53 year old Louis “Jimmy” Reynolds was found at about 10:00 A.M. Tuesday morning laying in a fire pit near Tanner Street in Hurricane. Police think the death is accidental.

• State Agriculture Commissioner 84 year old Gus Douglass, West Virginia's current longest serving statewide elected officeholder, has announced he will not seek reelection. Douglass says this, his 11th four-year term in office, will be his last. Douglass plans to retire to his family farm in Mason County once his term in over in January 2013. Douglass was first elected in 1964 and served continuously until a run for governor in 1988. He returned four years later and has served since then.

• Police arrested Victor Bradshaw, 48, of Ironton, Ohio, around 4:00 A.M. Tuesday morning after they say they found him stealing the gutters from the St. John's Episcopal Church located at 3000 Washington Boulevard in Huntington. Bradshaw is charged with a felony count of grand larceny and a misdemeanor count of destruction of property.

• Charleston City Council approved a measure Monday that will clear the way for a new 10-bed veterans' group home to be located at 229 Capital Street where the top two floors have been vacant for nearly 10 years. Despite the opposition of several businesses, Council members voted 21-2 to support the plan. Councilman Robert Sheets, from the city's 10th Ward, and Councilman Culbert Smith, from the city's 9th Ward spoke out against the bill, saying they would like the group home to be located elsewhere. In the current plan, the Roark-Sullivan Lifeway Center will operate the 10-bed facility with one person supervising the homeless veterans. Councilman Bobby Reishman, who owns the building, did not vote on the measure.

• WorkForce West Virginia Acting Executive Director Russell Fry told a group of state lawmakers Tuesday that money will not have to be borrowed from the state's Rainy Day Fund to prop up the state Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund. Fry says the state's unemployment rate is now below the national average. State lawmakers gave approval to a plan earlier this year to borrow up to $20 million from the state's Rainy Day Fund. The money would be paid back within six months. Fry says that won't be necessary.

• U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is warning Congress that not raising the debt ceiling could cause a second recession, but West Virginia's Republican Representatives Shelley Moore Capito and David McKinley say “reckless spending” and no fiscal reforms is what hurts the U.S. economy. In a May 13th letter to Senator Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Geithner said not increasing the debt ceiling would cause the U.S government to default on spending obligations, such as Social Security, and such a default would “inflict catastrophic, far-reaching damage on our nation’s economy.” Capito and McKinley, who aren’t buying that, say it is time for the government to spend within its means, and the Obama administration needs to cut spending before they would vote to increase the debt ceiling.

• An audit covering the 2008 through 2010 budget years released to legislative leaders Tuesday alleges revenues from 10 athletic camps hosted by West Liberty University, formerly known as West Liberty State College, ended up in the personal bank accounts of coaches. Two of those coaches, in the men's basketball and football programs, failed to report $80,000 from these proceeds on their state or federal income tax returns. Legislative Auditor Aaron Allred told the House-Senate Post-Audits Subcommittee that these were money-making operations. The audit found the school's Hilltopper Athletic Club received $101,515 from boosters and in other revenues during that time, but had lost its tax-exempt nonprofit charity status with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

• In an effort to improve ticket sales, West Virginia University Athletic Director Oliver Luck has proposed beer sales, along with prohibiting the re-entry to games and moving smoking to designated areas during football games. The public had one month to comment on the proposed rule, but with hundreds of opinions pouring in, the public seems to be against the sale of beer at WVU athletic events. WVU’s Board of Governors will discuss the proposal at its June 3rd meeting. The rule, as written, if approved, will go into effect August 1st.

• Six at-large, and seven Ward seats, as well as a mayoral term were up for grabs in Charleston's general election Tuesday. Charleston Mayor Danny Jones won a third term. Returns showed Jones with 3,349 votes, topping his challenger Janet "JT" Thompson, who had 1,376 votes. Six Council-at-Large seats were decided; top vote getters were: (D) Mary Jean McIntosh Davis, (D) Andy Richardson, (R) Tom Lane, (D) Jerry L. Ware, (D) Kasey Russell, and (R) Chris Dodrill.

• Republican Anne Charnock won was unopposed for Municipal Judge, with 3,089 votes. Democrat Vic Grigoraci won the City Treasurer's race unopposed, with 3,350 votes.

• The totals for each race follow:

       Municipal Judge
      (R) Anne B. Charnock - 3,089
     
     City Treasurer
      (D) Vic Grigoraci - 3,350
     
     Council-at-Large (Top Six Elected)
      (R) Chris Dodrill - 1,886
      (R) L.G. Sturgill - 784
      (R) Tom Lane - 2,541
      (D) Martha "Gale" Poore - 1,525
      (D) Kasey Russell - 1,914
      (D) Pat Brown - 1,519
      (D) Jerry L. Ware - 2,003
      (D) Andy Richardson - 2,612
      (D) Mary Jean McIntosh Davis - 2,646
      (I) Charles "Chuck" Parks - 423
      (I) Jason "Slim" Blackhurst -669

      City Council Ward 1
      (D) Bobby Haas - 105
     
     City Council Ward 2
      (R) William Kirk - 87
     
     City Council Ward 3
      (D) Joe Deneault - 83
     
     City Council Ward 4
      (D) James D. Ealy - 109
     
     City Council Ward 5
      (R) Teresa "Tricky" Reed - 87
      (D) Mike Nichols - 162
     
     City Council Ward 6
      (D) Edward Talkington - 144
     
     City Council Ward 7
      (R) Mike Stajduhar - 119
      (D) Chris Kimes - 104
     
     City Council Ward 8
      (D) Bob White - 75
     
     City Council Ward 9
      M. Sharon King - 42
      (I) Cubert Smith - 111

      City Council Ward 10
      (D) Robert E. Sheets - 112
     
     City Council Ward 11
      (D) Marc Weintraub - 253
     
     City Council Ward 12
      (D) Jim Harris Jr. - 142
     
     City Council Ward 13
      (R) Susie Kortz Salisbury - 213
      (D) Garold "G.W." Morris III - 86
     
     City Council Ward 14
      (D) Jack E. Harrison - 190
     
      City Council Ward 15
      (R) Courtney C. Persinger - 231
      (D) Dave Higgins - 209
     
     City Council Ward 16
      (D) Samuel A. Minardi - 184
     
     City Council Ward 17
      (R) Bobby Reishman - 180
     
      City Council Ward 18
      (R) John H. Miller, Jr. - 237
     
      City Council Ward 19
      (R) Rick Burka - 85
     
      City Council Ward 20
      (R) Brent Burton - 175
      (D) Cheryle M. Hall - 107
     
     City Council Ward 21
      (D) Mike Clowser - 116