Last Tuesday in Webster Springs

Those curves in front of the courthouse claimed another victim last week.

Sex Offender's Appeal Rejected for Fifth Time

Convicted sex offender Alvin Chambers.

In what seems like an endless ability to appeal a criminal conviction, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals today again rejected the appeal of sex offender Alvin Chambers.

Chambers was convicted by a jury in 2005 of four felony counts of sexual assault and sexual abuse by a parent, guardian, or custodian. Judge Jack Alsop sentenced Chambers to a term of not less than 20 but not more than 40 years in prison. Chambers appealed that conviction and sentence to the Supreme Court and it was rejected back in 2006.

After his 2006 appeal denial, Chambers filed his first writ of habeas corpus, which is effectively another appeal saying he is being detained wrongly. That first writ was denied in 2007 (he did not appeal the rejection of his first writ). In 2010, Chambers filed his second writ of habeas corpus and it was denied in 2011. Chambers appealed the denial of his second writ to the Supreme Court and it was rejected in 2012. In 2013, Chambers filed his third writ which was denied and he appealed it to the Supreme Court, who denied it in 2014.

Which brings us to his filing of his fourth writ in 2015, which was denied by the Circuit Judge, and appealed yet again to the Supreme Court. Today, the Court denied this fourth writ, which is effectively Chambers' fifth appeal attempt to get his conviction and sentence thrown out.

Chambers claimed defects in jury instructions and that his trial counsel was ineffective. Without spending much time explaining why, the high court today found no errors in Chamber's trial.

The full opinion can be read at the link below:

Full Text of Opinion

Meth Maker's Appeal Rejected

Convicted conspirator
and meth maker Patricia Palmer.

Today, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals rejected the appeal of convicted meth maker Patricia Palmer.

Palmer was found guilty of the felony crimes of  conspiracy to make meth and making meth by a Webster County jury in April of 2015. Judge Jack Alsop sentenced Palmer to not less than one but not more than five years on the conspiracy conviction and to not less than two but not more than ten years of the making meth conviction, running the sentences consecutively so that her actual term of confinement is not less than three but not more than 15 years.

At her jury trial, a State Police chemist verified the substances found at Palmer's residence were used in meth making. Palmer complains in her appeal that the sealed evidence analyzed by the chemist had a date on it one week earlier than the date of the crime. The high court did not buy into that technicality to overturn Palmer's convictions as she admitted on the day of her arrest that she had just been to the store to buy one of the ingredients used in making meth and that her and her co-conspirators "were just making some shit to smoke," statements which the jury considered. Palmer was also caught by police red-handed with what looked like meth, which she described as a "white bottle with white gunk."

Click this link for the Court's full opinion:
Palmer Appeal Rejected

Delegate Lynch and Buddies Fail Again

Webster County House of Delegates member Dana Lynch, and Senators Robert "Crazy" Karnes and Greg "Bozo" Boso joined the rest of the clowns at the West Virginia Legislature in failing to pass a budget prior to the expiration of the current legislative session.

The legislators have known since June of 2016 that the budget this coming year would have serious deficits. But yet they collectively waited until the end of the current session yesterday to try to come up with a budget.

They failed.

It is time for all three of them to resign for failing to do the one required piece of legislation each year, that being the State budget. Of course all three are concerned with collecting their paychecks which will stop them from resigning, so the only remedy is to vote them out in the next election.

Last year, they also failed to pass a budget on time and it cost taxpayers over $650,000.00 to pay them for a special session. It looks like another special session will be called at taxpayer expense yet again.

Girlfriend Put on Ice, Really

This story comes from the category that you just can't make it up.

All of this, of course, ALLEGEDLY happened.

Yesterday, a Richwood man consented to a police search of his residence. During the search, police found the man's off again, on again girlfriend dead in his refrigerator. He then confessed to strangling the victim.

Not surprisingly, the man has been charged with murder.

Missed Opportunity: "Sheriff" Given Was Right

The last time a train ran through Webster Springs was in May, 1971, when the "Salt Sulphur Special" took passengers for a scenic ride from the old Maryland B&O Depot near Baker's Island up the Elk River. "Sheriff" D.P. Given (who was never a Sheriff but had that nickname) urged the County to find a way to operate a scenic railroad to generate tourist dollars for the County. The photos below are the Salt Sulphur Special from May, 1971.

Hodam Mountain Rock Slide: Any Fossils?

The photos below are from the Webster OES/911 Facebook page. This rockslide today is on Route 20 on Hodam Mountain (between Diana and Hacker Valley). Sometimes, in the layers of rocks from these slides, fossils of different types can be found.

The photos below are rocks recovered from a rockslide near Diana several years ago, revealing fossils in the rocks.

Webster Deputy Involved in Shooting

Approved for Release from Office of Emergency Services/911: April 2, 2017 Product Type: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

**OFFICER INVOLVED SHOOTING-SUSPECT INFORMATION NEEDED**

On April 1, 2017 at approximately 1844 hours Deputy David Vandevender of the Webster County Sheriff’s Office was conducting road patrol near Meadow Fork Road, off Rt 82, near Cowen, WV. Deputy Vandevender approached a vehicle stopped in the road. The driver appeared to be passed out. Deputy Vandevender approached the vehicle and was immediately shot with a small caliber handgun. Deputy Vandevender retreated while returning fire and the suspect fled. Deputy Vandevender returned to his patrol vehicle and gave chase but lost the vehicle. The round struck Deputy Vandevender in his bullet proof vest and he was not injured.

The vehicle was a Chevy Cavalier, light blue in color. The license plate was covered with a dark tinted cover and was obscured from view. A similar vehicle is pictured below. Anyone with information concerning this suspect, vehicle, or this incident please contact Sgt. Steve Murphy at 304-226-3200 or 304-637-0200 or 304-847-2122.