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NEW START
A year of change: Politics, education just the start of what's new for '09
In 2008, voters were lining up to pick their next leaders. In 2009, those leaders take office.
Whether it is a historic change of leadership on a national scale or a new mayor and sheriff locally, Tri-State residents will feel the effects of those changes in 2009.
Politics is just the tip of the iceberg of what Tri-Staters can expect. There will be new schools opening, a new recreation center at Marshall University, a new flea market and a possible new drug treatment facility in Huntington. If those aren't enough for you, there is a national soccer tournament and baseball tournament coming to the area.
And the Tri-State, along with the rest of the nation, will be waiting anxiously to see what happens with the economy.
Here is a preview of some of the issues that could be making headlines in 2009:
New administrations in Cabell County
Huntington Mayor-elect Kim Wolfe officially takes office Jan. 1, and brings a new finance director (Deron Runyon) and economic development director (Tom Bell) with him. Wolfe retained the rest of Mayor David Felinton's administration.
Wolfe must deliver his first State of the City Address and proposed 2009-2010 budget to City Council by Feb. 15.
Wolfe ran for mayor after term limits prevented him from another term as Cabell County sheriff. Longtime deputy Tom McComas was elected to replace Wolfe. He will take office in January as Cabell County's new sheriff. Lt. Doug Ferguson will lead the Law Enforcement Division, while courthouse veteran Betty Bates will lead the Tax Division.
In addition to contract negotiations and pension problems, Wolfe's administration will tackle home rule proposals such as the creation of a land bank to deal with dilapidated housing and a 1 percent occupation tax.
Statewide issues
Gov. Joe Manchin was re-elected to a second four-year term in November after receiving one of the highest vote totals in state history, nearly 70 percent of the 705,626 votes cast.
His inauguration ceremony will be 10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 19, on the north side of the West Virginia Capitol. Inauguration day also will feature a parade, reception and evening ball. Cabell Midland High's band will join in the festivities in the inauguration parade. Manchin is one of the few governors nationwide to continue with an inauguration celebration in light of the national economic problems.
The ball is planned for 8 p.m. Jan. 19 at the Charleston Civic Center. Tickets are $50 per person.
The West Virginia Legislature's 60-day regular session begins in February, a month later than usual because of elections in 2008. The selection of Supreme Court justices and health care reform are expected to be among the issues at the forefront of the session.
The health care reform proposal is expected to address many issues from the exchange of medical records between physicians online to establishing a medical home for patients. Many of the proposals have been initiated by the West Virginia Health Improvement Institute, a group of health care experts, insurance providers, government officials and academic figures. The Institute created four work groups that have been meeting regularly to mold the medical home concept.
One of the issues Manchin plans to address is a loophole in the judicial pension system that allows judges to retire and resume the bench, getting both salaries. Cabell Circuit Judge Alfred Ferguson was among the judges to take advantage of the loophole. It allows him to retire, start receiving pension benefits and return to office in January. He was unopposed in the general election.
The loophole allows both men to simultaneously collect pension benefits and a salary for the upcoming term.
Ferguson, a Democrat from Cabell County, will earn a combined annual salary of more than $190,000. That includes his pay of $116,000 as judge, and the rest would be his pension benefit. His income would amount to $1.5 million during his eight-year term, but he does not anticipate serving its duration.
Ferguson, Manchin and others contend the move is legal, but the governor questions its fairness. Manchin said he worries both judges' timing took away an opportunity for the voters to voice their opinion.
The state court will see some new, and familiar, faces as well. Longtime Huntington attorney Menis Ketchum will join the state Supreme Court of Appeals. He was elected to a 12-year term in November. Ketchum, a Democrat, was the top vote-getter in the Nov. 4 election with 353,293 votes followed by Democrat Margaret Workman, a former justice, with 333,254 votes. The lone Republican in the race, Elizabeth Walker, received 327,084 votes.
He will join Justice Margaret Workman on the court Jan. 1.
Economic outlook
West Virginia and the Tri-State may have a history of weathering economic storms, but experts believe there's no way they will come out of the country's current economic crisis unscathed.
The Tri-State already has seen some effects with layoffs at AK Steel in Ashland and Steel of West Virginia in Huntington. AK Steel laid off 600 workers, who may be rehired in January if economic conditions change.
Industries most at risk moving forward are retailers, construction and tourism, experts say.
Several national chains have closed local stores including Huntington Mall stores like Linen N Things, Steve & Barry's, Value City Department Store, B. Moss and KB Toys.
The economy also has weighed on state budgets with both Ohio and Kentucky struggling to close budget gaps. Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio has made more than $600 million in budget cuts, while Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear considers a tobacco tax increase to ease an estimated $456.1 million shortfall.
West Virginia is expecting a decline in sales tax revenue for 2009, but doesn't expect any major shortfalls or budget cuts yet.
The coal industry is weighing its future as well. Industry officials should find out President-elect Barack Obama's plan for coal sometime after he takes office Jan. 20.
Work on a proposed rail-truck transfer facility in Wayne County is moving forward and should open about the same time as the rest of the Heartland Corridor. A few delays have slowed the proposed Prichard facility, but officials say it should be on track to be completed with the rest of the Heartland Corridor in fall 2010.
The Heartland Corridor is a public-private partnership designed to expand capacity, improve service consistency and reduce customer availability times for intermodal rail traffic between Columbus, Ohio, and Norfolk, Va. It involves improvements to Norfolk Southern Corp. railways between Columbus and the Virginia coast, so that trains can carry more goods. Twenty-eight tunnels -- 23 of them in West Virginia -- will be raised to that trains can carry double-stacked containers.
Future of coal?
West Virginia Coal Association President Bill Raney and others in the industry say they've received mixed messages about President-elect Barrack Obama's support for coal-fired power.
Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden both have said they support finding cleaner ways to burn coal. But during the campaign, Obama told a newspaper that electricity rates could soar under his energy plan, while Biden told a voter in Ohio that "we're not supporting clean coal" -- though he has said the U.S. should develop clean coal technology and export it to China.
Locally a mainstay of the local retail industry is expected to reopen in the spring.
The Milton Flea Market plans to open the doors of a new indoor facility. A Sept. 10, 2008, fire destroyed the market's indoor complex. About 130 vendors sold their wares each weekend in the large facility that housed 300 booths.
Changes at local schools
Much of the ongoing construction of public schools will wrap up in 2009. In Lawrence County, new elementary schools for South Point and Burlington are scheduled to be completed in time for the start of the 2009-10 school year, and Cabell County students also will be stepping into two new schools.
The first, Barboursville Middle School, is complete. Students will attend school Jan. 5-9, then take a nearly two-week hiatus while teachers move from one school to another. Students will come back in waves Jan. 20-22. The school will be at full capacity Monday, Jan. 26.
The second is the new Milton Middle School. It should be completed sometime during the spring, with students and teachers starting the new school year there in August.
The final project is the renovation and rebuilding of the old Cammack campus in the 200 block of 10th Avenue. The largest and most extensive of the projects, the campus will house Southside Elementary and Huntington Middle schools. Officials have pegged its completion around November or December, with students and teachers going through a similar transition to that of Barboursville Middle in early 2010.
The Cabell County Board of Education, which lost out on a bid for Marshall University's University Heights Apartment complex just off U.S. 60, will continue its search for a new middle school site.
The school board was outbid by Prestera Center by $410,000. The site was preferred for a school because it is relatively flat and close to both the Enslow and Beverly Hills communities.
Prestera Center plans to renovate the buildings and consolidate its services into one main location. Its main facility is just down the hill from the apartment complex.
The leases of the nontraditional students living there now will be honored through June 30. In the meantime, Prestera will embark on serious fundraising and grant writing to raise the additional $2 million to complete the renovation process
The Cabell County High School Restructuring Committee will continue to develop ideas for the new landscape of 21st century high schools.
The group consists of dozens of community members, students, teachers, parents and business leaders, who hope to instill new characteristics into the high school curriculum that will better prepare the county's students.
The committee is working with a consultant from New Hampshire who has worked in every level of education, including with the state of New Hampshire.
Higher education
Marshall University continues construction in 2009, with many projects on tap to finish.
The most notable is the new recreational center, located on the corner of 20th Street and 5th Avenue, which is scheduled to open in February. The 123,000-square-foot, $30 million facility will feature a wide range of recreational opportunities and exercise equipment for use by students, employees and alumni.
It features a climbing wall, basketball courts, three-lane lap pool, six-person whirlpool, exercise rooms and free-weight and cardio equipment. There also is a three-lane track on the third floor.
The new Erickson Alumni Center and Marshall University Foundation Hall, located across the street from the Memorial Student Center, is slated to open in the fall. The new 32,220-square-foot facility will house the Office of Alumni Relations, the Marshall University Foundation and the University Development Office.
Construction also will start on new locker rooms for the men's and women's basketball teams. And the new Forensic Science Center, being built on the old Fairfield Stadium property, should be finished in 2009.
Marshall Community & Technical College will continue to work with Marshall University on a separation of assets and liabilities. That includes what to do with property on the northeast corner of 5th Avenue and 20th Street. The property was bought in 2007 with MCTC funds, but the university's Board of Governors holds the deed.
The community college's new Board of Governors doesn't seem all that interested now on building its new campus there, but they hope to recoup the estimated $4 million spent on the property. The two boards must have a plan in place by April 1, or a state mediator will make the ultimate decisions.
The MCTC Board also will start a more thorough search for new home in 2009, with KineticPark as one of the top possibilities. However, the board is expected to seek public and business feedback on a location.
In Cabell schools, the new drug testing policy started in 2008 for all high school students who drive to school or participate in athletic competition is expected to expand to middle schools in 2009.
Last year, administrators and board members wanted to include middle school students who participate in sports, but the cost and the implementation was a little too much. They hope to receive grants to supplement the cost. More importantly, they want to be better prepared to add an additional 500 to 1,000 students from the five middle schools.
In Morgantown, West Virginia University officials have announced that more than 60 people have applied to becoming the next president of West Virginia University, following the scandal that led to the resignation of the previous president Mike Garrison.
Administrators awarded an executive master's business of administration degree to Garrison's longtime friend Heather Bresch, who is Gov. Joe Manchin's daughter and an executive with Pennsylvania-based generic drug maker Mylan Inc.
An independent panel investigated, concluding that Bresch hadn't earned the degree and that courses and grades were wrongly added to her transcript. The panel did not accuse Garrison of direct interference, but said the presence of three top aides at the decision-making meeting created palpable pressure.
Following the scandal, Garrison officially resigned on June 6 and left office on Sept. 1.
Health care
Officials at St. Mary's Medical Center announced that construction could begin next year on a $20 million family medical center that could be a precursor for a hospital on a 20-acre parcel off Ohio 141 and U.S. 52 in Ironton. Architectural plans were drawn up for a center that would be 40,000 square feet or larger.
The family medical center could offer extended urgent care services, and if the center proves economically viable, it could lead to phases such as an imaging center, a surgery center and a $60 million hospital that would provide 200 jobs.
St. Mary's also will open its new $10 million St. Mary's Center for Education.
The center is scheduled to open in the summer and is housed at the former Big Bear grocery store location on 5th Avenue and 29th Street. It will be home to the St. Mary's School of Nursing, the St. Mary's School of Respiratory Care and the St. Mary's School of Medical Imaging. All three schools have degrees affiliated with Marshall University.
A plan to build a local children's hospital is also building momentum. The Cabell Huntington Hospital Foundation continues to work to raise more than $10 million for a children's hospital to be built within Cabell Huntington. The fundraising campaign will be conducted through June 2011. The children's hospital is proposed to include a pediatric unit with 22 private rooms, a sibling room, two family suites, two procedure rooms, a rooftop playground and garden, two age appropriate play rooms and two waiting areas. It also proposed to include a pediatric intensive care unit with 10 private patient rooms and a family lounge, and a neonatal intensive care unit with 20 private patient rooms and eight twins rooms.
The Healing Place, a peer- and abstinence-based substance abuse recovery center, was awarded a $936,000 state grant, bringing it another step closer to reality since it was proposed about two years ago.
The Healing Place of Huntington will use the money to purchase the old Lincoln Elementary School property at 2425 9th Ave. and turn it into a men's recovery facility. Turning the school into a recovery center that will serve 30 to 50 men could take six to nine months, which means it could open in 2009. In the meantime, The Healing Place will look for funding to support operating costs.
The program also is working on a long-term fundraising campaign that will focus on writing grants to local foundations and raising money through area businesses, corporate donors and individuals.
The Healing Place will continue pursuing the old U.S. Naval Reserve training center, which has been vacant for the past two-and-a-half years. That property is located in the 800 block of Jackson Avenue in Huntington. That building could house 100 men and allow for the old Lincoln Elementary property to be turned into a women's recovery center.
Renovations to a building on the campus of Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital to add 20 patient beds expected to open in the summer of 2009. An old building was gutted to accommodate more patients at the 90-bed state-run psychiatric hospital. The renovations were to ease concerns about overcrowding at the state-run mental hospital.
Complaints were made in 2008 concerning overcrowding at Bateman. David Sudbeck, the state ombudsman for behavioral health, issued recommendations to correct the problems in July. He recommended Bateman reduce its number of patients, meet with area hospitals to negotiate a contract to meet treatment-seeking patients' needs, re-evaluate the practice of employing 90-day temporary employees and determine if a separate facility for patients linked to the criminal justice system is warranted.
Downtown, other construction
Meanwhile work will continue on developing downtown Huntington as part of the Old Main Corridor project. Fourth Avenue between 8th and 10th streets were consumed with construction beginning October when the Old Main Corridor project began in downtown Huntington.
That first phase of the project, which generally aims to provide a better link between Marshall University and the downtown, included improvements to sidewalks, lighting and driving lanes.
While the construction of the pedestrian plazas could be completed earlier, city officials have said the water company will be unable to relocate fire hydrants blocking the construction zone until 2009.
There are several projects that need to be completed this year, including installing streetscape elements and pouring asphalt. Until the asphalt plants open after the winter, some portions of 4th Avenue in the construction zone will have rough pavement, according to city officials.
Another two-block project along the Old Main Corridor between 14th Street and Hal Greer Boulevard is expected to start in the spring and cost about $500,000.
Some new construction projects are expected to improve emergency services in Cabell County.
A new building will bring revolutionary changes to Cabell County 911 and the county's emergency operations. The estimated 12,500-square-foot building at Norway Avenue and Gallaher Street houses an expanded 911 dispatch room, along with several offices, two bunk rooms, an exercise room, an equipment room and a dedicated emergency operations center.
The Ted T. Barr Ambulance Station also will open. It will be located along Washington Avenue near 17th Street West.
In the sports world
Hotels across the Tri-State will be full this summer as a national youth soccer tournament comes to Barboursville and the Little League Southeast Regional baseball and softball tournaments converge on Mitch Stadium in Kenova.
Marshall and West Virginia will renew acquaintances in the Friends of Coal Bowl on Oct. 3, 2009 at Milan-Puskar Stadium in Morgantown.
This year's matchup was a swing game in the series. In the original plans, the team that won the majority of the first three games would host the 2009 game. West Virginia emerged victorious in all three meetings, setting up this year's matchup in Morgantown.
The matchup will be Marshall's last non-conference game of the 2009 season.
TV, cellular service
On Feb. 17, all full-power broadcast television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting on analog airwaves and begin broadcasting only in digital, according to the Federal Communications Commission. So, anyone who currently watches TV using an antenna will need to be prepared for that change.
The changeover has been coming since 1996, when the U.S. Congress authorized an additional broadcast channel to each TV station so they could start a digital broadcast channel while simultaneously continuing their analog broadcast channel.
Congress mandated that Feb. 17, 2009 would be the last day for full-power television stations to broadcast in analog. Broadcast stations in all U.S. markets are currently broadcasting in both analog and digital. After Feb. 17, 2009, full-power television stations will broadcast in digital only.
Digital TV is expected to free up parts of the broadcast spectrum for additional use by public and safety services and advanced wireless services, according to the press release.
While the elevated terrain of Appalachia plaguing cell phone users from getting good service, major cell companies are planning major improvements to their towers to allow for better coverage.
In November 2008, the Cabell County Commission approved a lease agreement with New Cingular Wireless for tower access at Porter's Knob in Salt Rock. The 320-foot tower will provide for fire, police and EMS services in an area that has communications troubles.
It will also allow New Cingular Wireless to rent space on the tower and increase cell and broadband coverage in the area.
County Manager Stephen Zoeller has said New Cingular Wireless will begin using the tower space in May.
Verizon Wireless announced in late-July 2008 that it has built at least 40 towers in the Tri-State since early 2007 and is setting up stores. All those new towers are expected to be fully operational in the fall.
nTelos has also made strides to improve cell coverage in the Tri-State by having 52 cell tower sites in the greater Huntington area. The company is touting the launch of its nationwide mobile broadband service, a high-speed wireless data service, in the Tri-State. The implementation of the new mobile broadband technology gives customers wireless Internet access from their laptops, smart phones and cell phones.
Milestones
Cabell County will turn 200 in 2009. The county was founded on Jan. 2, 1809, when the Virginia General Assembly formed Cabell County from the western portion of Kanawha County.
On Sunday, Jan. 17, 1909, the first edition of The Herald-Dispatch hit the streets in Huntington, and we are making plans to celebrate the 100th anniversary of that event in the coming year.
We are currently seeking memories and photos from readers and former employees. If you or someone in your family once worked for the newspaper or have special memories or photos of the newspaper, please share those with us.
Send your memories or photos to news@herald-dispatch.com. Be sure to identify the people featured in photos and give contact information. Or, mail them to us at 100th Anniversary, The Herald-Dispatch, 946 5th Ave., Huntington, WV 25701.
Log on now to our Web site at www.Herald-Dispatch.com to see our growing collection of stories and photos from the past 100 years. Simply click on "100 Years" in the main navigation at the top of the page.
Look for our special commemorative section on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2009.
Homicide cases going to court
Court proceedings are scheduled to continue in several homicide cases, including the June 2007 death of Huntington minister Mark McCalla. Other murder cases progressing through the court system involve the deaths of Travis Huff, Jerry Eaves, Mary Jo Brown, Michael Shane Sharp, Jason Patrick Finley, Jeffrey D. Sadler, Maynard Martez Wiggins, Deanna Obrien (Vandixhorn), Donte D. Newsome, James Patrick Green III, Brenda Yeager, Kathryn Gale Smith and Kameron Horace O'Neal.
Bobby Frazier also is scheduled to stand trial in Wayne County in connection with drunken driving charges. Those charges are linked to the death of two men and two children.
