Thursday, June 02, 2011
EKB Capsule News...West Virginia...6-3-'11
- Wednesday, Mingo County Sheriff's Deputies arrested Harold Daniel Canterbury, Jr., 24, Nicholas Nathaniel Cantrell, 25, and a 17 year old juvenile after they allegedly broke into a woman's home in Varney, held her at gunpoint, sprayed her in the face with mace and stole the woman's prescription medication. Cantrell and Canturbury were taken to the Southwestern Regional Jail. They are being held on $8,000 bond each. They are scheduled to be in Mingo County Magistrate Court June 9th. The teenager was taken to a juvenile detention center in Boone County.
- MSHA regulators say Cliffs Natural Resources closed the Pinnacle Mine in Wyoming County on May 20th due to elevated carbon monoxide levels. Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration spokeswoman Amy Louviere says approximately 1.6 million gallons of water had been pumped into the Pinnacle Mine by Thursday afternoon. The mine's atmosphere is being monitored to see if carbon monoxide levels have dropped. MSHA records show it produced 1.1 million tons of coal last year. Cleveland-based Cliffs says it hopes to resume production by July 1st.
- Twelve-hundred special athletes from around the state will take to the track, the pool and the golf course this weekend for the annual West Virginia Special Olympics Summer Games held in Charleston. Athletes from 31 counties around West Virginia will compete in everything from the 100-yard dash to bocci, tennis to the long jump. Competition gets underway Friday afternoon. The opening ceremonies will take place that evening at Haddad Riverfront Park. The games run all day Saturday and wrap up Sunday afternoon. If you'd like to volunteer, you can call the West Virginia Special Olympics office at 304-345-9310.
- Thursday, Bobby Hanshaw who State Police say shot and killed Guy Dwier May 11th near the community of Procious, appeared in court for a preliminary hearing. Dwier was shot at close range with a .30-30 rifle and killed instantly. Troopers say Hanshaw was mad at Dwier for allegedly stealing his ATV in 2010. State Police testified the two men have had previous disputes. The court ruled there was enough evidence to send the case to the grand jury. Hanshaw is charged with second-degree murder and wanton endangerment with a firearm. He remains in jail without bail. The Clay County grand jury next meets July 12th.
- A fourth arrest has been made in connection to the armed robbery of Java Joe's. Huntington Police say 21 year old Kimberly Deel of Huntington turned herself in Wednesday. Deel was charged with felony first-degree robbery. Police say Joshua Deel, 24, was the man who actually robbed Java Joes. Authorities also have arrested David Deel, 28, and James Perry, 25 in connection to the robbery.
- Mitchell Alderman, 43, of Nettie, was charged with nighttime burglary, two counts of destruction of property, three counts of battery on an officer and escape after Nicholas County Deputies say he forced his way into Cpl. David Hopkins home at about 1:40 A.M. Thursday. Alderman pushed Hopkin's son as he entered the home. Hopkins was then able to apprehend Alderman outside where he was arrested. While Alderman was in custody at the Nicholas County Courthouse, he escaped into the parking lot. He was again apprehended and taken inside where he began to fight with officers, injuring one and doing damage to a room in the booking area. While traveling to the Central Regional Jail, Alderman kicked out the glass in a cruiser.
- Robert Foster, a man who allegedly stole copper gutters off of a house in the Kanawha City area of Charleston, was in court on Thursday where he pleaded not guilty to a charge of grand larceny. His trial was set for August 29th. Police say Gary Withrow helped steal the gutters which were found in the back of their truck.
- Felicia Lupson, the wife of a Logan County man who died while trying to steal copper, has been charged with grand larceny, destruction of property and conspiracy. Police said Felicia was the lookout for her husband, Steven Lupson, who died after climbing a utility pole. Felicia is expected in court Friday, June 3rd. Police said Lupson's friend, Joshua Drake, was another "lookout." He was also charged with conspiracy, destruction of property and three counts of grand larceny. Drake waived his preliminary hearing and his case will be presented to the grand jury.
- The Kanawha County Planning Commission has joined a growing group of county officials calling for the immediate closure of Secret Pleasures, an adult store in Jefferson. West Virginia State Police seized more than $100,000 worth of synthetic marijuana from the store on May 19th. Under county zoning laws, adult book stores are not permitted to be within 2,000 feet of a church or schools. Secret Pleasures is located across the street from a church and near two schools. The owner, Kenneth Holliday, signed an agreement with the county last August to refrain from selling illegal drugs and other items in order to receive special permission to open at its location. The store voluntarily closed Wednesday, and will stay closed until the West Virginia State Police can test the product seized from the store. A hearing has been continued until July 7th.
- The state Public Service Commission handed down a new order Thursday afternoon clearly stating West Virginia American Water Company must follow the PSC's original order from earlier this week that stopped the layoffs of several employees by the company. The PSC said it saw nothing new in the company's argument against the order in a response the company filed Wednesday. The PSC wants to further investigate the layoffs American Water says had to take place after the commission refused to grant the company a double-digit rate increase earlier this year. The commission said even though the 31 workers in question may not be actively working they are still on the payroll until June 3rd. American Water maintained it had moved on with a new organizational structure. The PSC said, "If the employees were not legally terminated as of May 31, 2011, and American Water does not allow them to return to work, American Water will be in violation of the May 31, 2011 Commission order and subject to possible penalties and remedies as provided by law."
- In West Virginia, 436,000 people get benefits from Social Security while 371,000 are covered through Medicare. Officials with AARP West Virginia are calling on members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives to reject any budget proposals that would dramatically alter or reduce Medicare and Social Security benefits. Gaylene Miller says, "Those are benefits that people have earned over a lifetime of hard work." She says she knows changes need to be made to limit federal spending and reduce the federal debt, but cutting the benefits so many people depend on is not the way to do it. Miller says the "bedrock" programs of Medicare and Social Security need to be protected and strengthened. A national AARP campaign to do so is underway through www.aarp.org/protectseniors.
- Tri-State Airport near Huntington will receive $461,173 in federal funding which will fund design work for rehabilitating the older of the airport’s two runways and to do an investigation of why part of the taxiway has a slight slope to it. The slope is very slight and can’t be seen, but airport officials want to learn why it is sloping and correct it before it becomes a safety problem. The grant was awarded through the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 11:39 PM 
