Rick Lucas Benefit Car Show Photos

A local car club held a benefit car show to raise funds for extraordinary medical expenses incurred by Rick Lucas of Uphsur County.  The show was held on September 16, 2016 at the Tractor Supply lot in Buckhannon.

Scenes from Hawks Nest & Babcock State Parks

Video and photos from the Hawks Nest State Park overlooks and from Babcock State Park, including the old grist mill and the natural arch, on September 15, 2016.

Jury Convicts Three for Conspiracy, Operating Meth Lab

After a two day long trial, a Webster County jury today convicted three persons for conspiracy and operating or attempting to operate a meth lab. The jury deliberated less than 45 minutes before returning with their guilty verdicts.

Rodney Allen Carpenter, age 46, Vickie Davis, and Alan Garner, were all charged with conspiracy to operate a meth lab, and then actually operating or attempting to operate a meth lab on August 6, 2015.  Carpenter was represented by Gassaway lawyer Daniel Grindo, Davis was represented by Buckhannon lawyer Dennis Willett, and Garner was represented by Clarksburg lawyer Timothy Gentilozzi.

All three defendants now await sentencing.

Prosecutor Says County Actually Won Jail Bill Case

As a result of the high court's decision
today, the Tax Commissioner has released
$360,000.00 in tax money back to the
County that was being wrongfully held
at the direction of the Jail Authority.

When contacted about today's West Virginia Supreme Court decision which ruled against Webster

County on the money it owes to the Regional Jail Authority, Webster Prosecuting Attorney Dwayne Vandevender said that the decision was in reality favorable to the County.

Vandevender said that the decision requires the Jail Authority to work out a payment plan with the County to "pay the past debt over a reasonable period of time."  He said that prior to the case being filed, the County did attempt to enter into a reasonable payment plan.  "We never argued that we didn't owe the money."  The jail authority just asked for an unreasonable amount (over a million dollars), which the County could not afford, he noted.

"So, when the high court today ruled that the Jail Authority must work out a reasonable payment plan, that is what the County asked for in the beginning," Vandevender commented.  "We asked to go to mediation [to work out a payment plan before court proceedings], but they refused," he said.

Vandevender was also pleased with the high court's decision to reject the Jail Authority's request to have the State Tax Commissioner release Webster's share of coal and gas severance taxes, liquor and cigarette taxes, etc. to the Jail Authority.  Vandevender said that the Jail Authority had no legal grounds to have the Tax Commissioner withhold those funds from the County.

After the arguments before the high court last week, Vandevender reported today that the Tax Commissioner has released over $360,000.00 to the County, which the County received this past Monday.  The Prosecutor said that those released funds have been building up and withheld from the County over the past year and one half.  He said those released funds will be used to pay the County's operating expenses, including any current jail bill, and some of it will be applied to the past jail bill owed.

The Court's actual decision today supports Vandevender's view of the opinion.  While on paper the Court ruled the County owes the money (which the County never denied), the more important decisions by the Court went against the Jail Authority; that being the requirement that they must work out a reasonable payment plan with the County and that they could not require the Tax Commissioner to surrender Webster's tax money to the Jail Authority.  "That's a win for us," Vandevender concluded.

Supreme Court Rules Against Webster County Over Jail Bill

In a unanimous decision, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ruled today that Webster County must pay its jail bill to the West Virginia Regional Jail Authority.

The high court decision requires Webster County to pay the $1.31 million dollar jail debt existing when the lawsuit was filed, plus any amounts that have accrued since then (now believed to be over $1.5 million).  The decision "requires the Regional Jail to work out a payment plan with the Commission that allows the Commission to pay the past debt in installments over the course of a reasonable period of time."

The high court further rejected the County's various arguments about why it could not pay its jail bill. The Court said that " the facts of this case show only that the Commission has arbitrarily chosen not to make payments on the debt it owes the Regional Jail. Although we recognize the Commission may have encountered an unexpected loss in revenue from the coal industry, this situation is a statewide problem that is not peculiar to the Commission. Moreover, this Court does not have authority to decide what bills government entities can avoid paying, in times of financial belt tightening, because of revenue shortage from the coal industry. The issues raised by the Commission in this regard are matters for the Legislature to consider and resolve. Our duty is to apply the law, not reinvent it in order to allow a party to avoid payment of a debt."

Although it lost this case, there is some good news for Webster County.  The Jail Authority asked the Court to order the State Tax Commissioner to give the Jail Authority the monies the Commissioner has been holding back from the County.  The high court declined to order the Commissioner to turn over Webster's tax money simply because the Tax Commissioner was not a party to the lawsuit.

The Court's full opinion can be read at this link:

Court Decision on Webster Jail Bill Debt

Prolific Tomato Plants

For the past few years, I have been buying vegetable plants from the man who sets up shop in Cherry Falls each Spring.  This year, for a very reasonable price, I purchased eight tomato plants (4 better boy and 4 roma type).  I am well over 150 tomatoes picked so far and the plants still have another 30 green tomatoes starting to ripen (they were planted June 1 and began producing tomatoes on August 1 and it is now mid-September and the warm weather keeps them blooming).

Condition of tomato vines on September 14, 2016

Tomatoes picked on September 14, 2016

Details Released in Fatal DUI Motorcycle Accident

According to published reports, Johnny Hayward McCourt, age 58, of Webster Springs, was charged with the felony crime of DUI Causing Death.

The charges stem from a July 2, 2016 motorcycle accident in Randolph County involving McCourt and his (alleged) passenger, Charles V. Hamrick, who was non-responsive at the scene and later pronounced dead.  McCourt was life flighted from the scene to a Morgantown hospital.

On July 9, police took a statement from McCourt.  McCourt allegedly told police that while he was initially driving the motorcycle back home from Snowshoe, he felt he was too intoxicated and then let Hamrick drive the motorcycle.  McCourt allegedly claimed that Hamrick was driving the motorcycle when the accident occurred.  

Police later interviewed Hamrick's mother, who said that her son could not possibly have driven the motorcycle due to a past injury to his arm and a disability in his leg.  Police also interviewed a couple who was driving behind the motorcycle when the accident occurred.  The couple said that McCourt was the operator of the motorcycle.  Police then obtained medical records from the hospital, which showed that McCourt had a blood alcohol content of .19 (more than twice the legal limit), which was taken two and a half hours after the accident.