2014 Pride - Hope

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Saturday, September 27, 2014 Pride VI 1

Ties — that Bind Pride 2014

Hope

Staff photo by Eric DiNovo

According to officials, the Exit 9, Exit 14 and Exit 1 areas in Mercer County have a great potential for growth in the future.

Growing future Area economic development officials hopeful for advancement

By CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph PRINCETON — Despite continued challenges in the coal industry, area economic development officials say they are hopeful for the future.

“I feel very positive for the future of Mercer County,” county Development Authority Director Janet Bailey said. “I know a lot of our businesses are coal-related, but they are in the process of transitioning to other entities such as natural gas and other sources. I see a v e ry positive future for this area. I think this is a very positive area with Exit 9 and I think Bluefield is starting to move forward now too.”

Bailey said the push for new jobs and industries is continuing in Mercer County.

“We are still pursuing other

❏❏❏ Bailey said the Leatherwood property located at the state line of Virginia and West Virginia — once considered as the site of a shopping center and later the multi-purpose equestrian center project — remains a prime site of interest. industry,” Bailey said. “We are working with a wood products industry, and of course we work in partnership with the state on large projects like this. We are also continuing to pursue other manufacturing and re-manufacturing jobs, and hotels, motels and restaurants.”

Potential growth areas in Mercer County include Exit 14 near Athens, Exit 9 in Princeton and Exit 1 in Bluefield.

“There are always properties available east of Exit 9, and then there is Exit 14,” Bailey said. “I think it (Exit 14) can take growth on its

own. The high school is there, the wood product center (W.Va. Wood Resource Center) is there, and the Department of Highways is there. And Bluefield has a new city manager coming in, and he will bring with him a lot of new ideas.”

Bailey said there is also renewed interest in the old Kmart property in Princeton.

“There has been a lot of people looking at the old Kmart recently,” she said.

“Economic development comes in spurts. Sometimes people will look at sites for a number of years. But there have been a lot of people look-

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ing at the old Kmart.”

Bailey said another 3.5 acres of land also is available at Exit 9 near the old Super 8 property also in Princeton.

“Big boxes are among those still looking,” she said. “We’ve shown them properties at Exit 9 and also properties in the Bluefield area. They really don’t act quickly. It is something they consider for a while. But we feel very positive that one will locate here.

I hate to throw out names because you never know what will happen. They can even take an option on property, and decide after they take that option that they don’t

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want to build or pursue ( a development). But I still feel very hopeful and positive about Mercer County.”

Many companies are still waiting to see if the national economy will continue to improve.

“I think everyone is worried about the national economy right now,” she said. “And they have a right to be. But I think you will see business expand — especially restaurants, retail and even some of the big box entities that will expand.”

Bailey said the Leatherwood property located at the state line of Vi r g i n i a and West Virginia — once considered as the site of a shopping center and later the multi-purpose equestrian center project — remains a prime site of interest.

“The Leatherwood property is being considered for some hotels, motels and other busi-

nesses,” Bailey said. “But I think that will be an area you will see open up. That would be the folks on the Vi r g i n i a side (who are working to develop the property). But if we can help we would be more than happy. Because economic development can’t have boundaries.”

Mike Thompson, director of business development for Tazewell County, agrees.

“West Virginia is a key partner to us,” Thompson said.

“And the things that are available there with Bluefield State College, and Concord (University), and the hotels and the things that are in that area are (also) available to us. We feel like the partnership with West Virginia is very good. We are not a large city. We are all little clusters here. And as we come together as a region — it’s not just

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2 Pride VI Saturday, September 27, 2014

Region’s coal industry continues to fight

By CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph BLUEFIELD — For many in the region’s embattled coal industry, it is difficult to have a positive outlook on the future.

The industry has been under attack by the Obama administration and Washington lawmakers for six years now, and the future remains clouded due to stringent new federal Environmental Protection Agency rules targeting existing and future coal-fired power plants.

But if history has proven anything, the region’s coal industry is resilient. The metallurgical coal mined deep under the mountains of Appalachia has powered our nation for nearly a generation.

It was coal that helped to stop the march of Hitler’s war machine during World War II. And it was coal that helped to construct the nation’s skyscrapers. And in the course of those many decades, the industry itself has seen its share of ups and downs. And despite the current challenges faced by the coal industry, there is hope for the future, according to Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association.

“One thing we’ve got to have is hope, and we’ve got to have hope that this administration in Washington realizes what the rest of the world realizes — that there is no better way to make electricity and more reliable and low-cost ways of making electricity to supply everyone than using coal,” Raney said. “All of the other countries are using that.

America has more coal than any other country in the world. You would think if this is the Saudi Arabia of coal, then you would think the American government would feel the same way about the most proficient fuel that we have. The hope we have is based on the fact that we have the best coal miners in the world here in West Virginia, and we’ve got the best ability to extract that coal and ship it.”

Raney said America can learn lessons from the European Union.

“Europe has tried to impose all of the things that America has tried to do,” Raney said.

“And they just about broke their people. The reliability was very questionable. It is just remarkable to me that we can’t learn from that.”

Although he is hopeful for the future, Raney doesn’t believe meaningful change can come to Washington until a new president is seated in 2016.

“I don’t think anything changes with this administration at all because they are so philosophically driven without any regard to practicability and the concerns of the public,” Raney said. “It hurts our people here in Appalachia.

Not only in West Virginia, but also Virginia and Kentucky.”

Raney said new EPA regulations targeting both existing and future coal-fired power plants will cause electricity rates to increase for Americans across the count ry, as well as right here in West Virginia and Virginia. He believes the sticker shock from skyrocketing electric bills could be a “real wake-up call” for average Americans.

“When the utilities — and the guys who run the power plants — they tell me first of all they can’t comply with these rules,” Raney said. “It is physically and technologically impossible to do. As you progress forward, you know it is going to take more hardware. That rolls back and it’s got to be recovered in the rates. Someone mentioned to me the other day that Appalachian Power has requested a rate increase, and they asked why are they doing that? I said you can look straight back to the EPA. The

Staff photo by Eric DiNovo

A full coal train on its way to Norfolk makes a stop in the Bluefield Rail Yard recently. victims are the consumers.

When the prices of electricity goes up, it effects everything.”

Under the new rules, not even the once highly touted clean-coal technology Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center in Southwest Virginia could be built again today.

“It is crazy,” Raney said.”

Because a new plant today has to have carbon control and sequestration, and it is not technologically possible to do that at the (required) volumes. There are two sets of rules coming out of the EPA, one for new power plants and now the one they just did in the first of June for existing power plants.”

But despite the perfect s t o rm of challenges faced by the industry — including highly competitive prices for natural gas — the region’s historic coalfields do have a number of advantages in their favor.

“We have hope,” Raney said.

“We continue to be the leading exporting state for coal.

We’ve got to have railroad cooperation to get into the ports, and we’ve got to be competitive with Australian coal, and transportation is a big component of that. But I think we are right in this industry. The country has been built on the backs of the coal industry. And I think

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remarkable electricity of this generation has been brought about by coal. Thereby I deduct that we are right here.

We have great people here, and some of the best coal miners in the world. They are t ruly the best in the world at what they do.”

And the region is home to second-and-third generation miners — bringing valuable experience to the industry, Raney said.

“We’ve got the best coal miners,” Raney said. “We’ve got the best coal. We know how to mine and to use it. I think those are just absolutely elemental components in rebuilding an economy on the

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rebound because you’ve got to have low-cost reliability.”

In terms of climate change, Raney points to studies that have found that if you close every coal-fired power plant in America today, it would only lower the world’s temperatures by a single degree.

“There is not a consensus of science on that,” Raney said of climate change. “Yet we are bringing all this harm and devastation on our people.

When you say something opposed to that they quickly call you a denier” Despite all of the harm to the industry coming from Washington, Raney said he is hopeful that young men and

women in the region will continue to pursue careers in the coal industry.

“We hope young men and women will choose that as a field,” he said. “First of all there are great mentors out there who are mining coal. We are kind of a close community.

The technical skills help. Pay attention and stay in school.

Because it (coal mining) is so much more sophisticated now than the history books like to mention today. And we are reaching the age where miners want to retire. The young people need to take advantage of that skill and be willing to learn to become the best miner as their parents were.”

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Saturday, September 27, 2014 Pride VI 3

File photos

Above, Cody Woodall and Stephanie Muncy exchange vows during the Wedding of the two Bluefields at Lotito Park on Saturday July 12. The wedding commemorated the 90th anniversary of the first Wedding of the two Bluefields. Below, the newlyweds cut their wedding cake during the festivities.

Union renewed between two Bluefields

By CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph BLUEFIELD — It can be argued that few things symbolize greater hope for the future than that of a wedding.

And it was a wedding more than 90 years ago that attracted a crowd of more than 10,000 people to the region.

The historic “Marriage of the Bluefields” occurred on July 12, 1924. It was an event made for local history books. A crowd estimated at more than 10,000 gathered at the old Bluefield fairgrounds at the time to celebrate what was billed as “Greater Bluefield Day.” The celebration culminated with the town of Graham, Va., formally changing its name to Bluefield, Va. — hence the official joining and “wedding” of the two Bluefields. At the time, Emma Smith of Bluefield, and Wingo Yost of Graham, Va., were joined together in holy matrimony.

The Reverend W.E. Abrams, pastor of College Avenue Baptist Church presided over the Smith-Yost nuptials. The couple was flanked at the altar by (then) West Virginia Gov. Ephraim F. Morgan and Virginia Gov. E. Lee Trinkle.

In a case of history repeating itself, city officials earlier this year announced plans for a renewal of the wedding vows between the two

Bluefields with the hope of recreating a similar high-profile gathering. Planning for the 90th anniversary of the Marriage of the Bluefields began early in the year through the efforts of a local committee composed of volunteers from the two Bluefield, as well as former Bluefield City Manager Jim Ferguson and other volunteers from both sides of the state-line border.

More than 90 area couples were initially invited to join in the July 12 celebration by renewing their individual wedding vows. But all eyes were on the actual couple who would be selected as the official bride and groom of the celebration. The couple were officially announced in early April. They were Stephanie Muncy, 22, of Nemours, and Cody Woodall, 23, of Bluefield, Va. And on July 12 of this year they were united together in marriage at Lotito Park in a day-long celebration that attracted hundreds of spectators.

The couple who met through mutual friends have been together since high school. At the time of the summer wedding, Woodall worked for AT&T and Muncy was working three jobs, including serving as a daycare worker at Kirk’s Blessings and working for the Bluefield State College Athletic Department.

The wedding itself went off without a hitch.

To open the ceremony, Marie Blackwell of Bluefield read the story of how the idea for the marriage of the two Bluefields came together in 1924. Blackwell said 1924 was part of an era of “Ballyhoo,” when spin doctors used their talents to excite a public that was eager to be excited. She said that local people decided to woo the Ballyhoo, and citizens of Graham decided to rename their town, Bluefield, “in a unified nod to the rapidly growing development in both communities.” She noted that the marriage of Wingo and Emma Yost lasted 60 years until Wingo’s death.

“It is the fond hope of the greater Bluefield communities that (Stephanie and Cody’s) union is as successful as that of the Yost’s and the two communities whom they represent,” Blackwell said at the summer wedding. It’s not just for Ballyhoo. It’s forever.”

City and town officials hope the wedding can be the first of many future projects that the two Bluefields can work together on in the future.

“I think it was really nice,” Bluefield, Va., Mayor Don Harris said at the July 12th wedding. “It’s nice any time that a lot of people can get together and enjoy themselves.”

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Barbara Smith, who attended the nuptials with her husband, Dennis, agreed.

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“I thought it was very nice ...

Very sweet,” Smith said. “It’s a nice showing of people

here.”

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

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4 Pride VI Saturday, September 27, 2014

Staff photo by Eric DiNovo

Assistant Professor of Mathematics Sharon Evans, assists her students Zach Chibuzo, Megan Kittle and Cory Suiter with problems during advanced Mathematics class at the Downtown Princeton location of New River Community College recently.

Positive growth continues in Princeton

By CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph PRINCETON — When Lo r i McKinney stopped at the Princeton Post Office on the a ft e rnoon of Aug. 18, she saw a flurry of activity just across the street. The sight of college students, carrying books and backpacks on Mercer Street, made her smile.

The opening of the new downtown campus of New River Community and Technical College on Mercer Street was part of her original vision for the ongoing downtown revitalization campaign more commonly known as the Princeton Renaissance Pr o j e c t .

“It’s very exciting,” McKinney, one of the driving forces behind the Princeton Renaissance Project, said of the opening of New River Community and Technical College. “Since the very beginning, it (the college) has been a part of our strategic plan. It all works together real well.”

The college had outgrown its existing accommodations at the Mercer County Career and Technical Center, and college officials had been looking for a new home for several years now. But that search came to an end in July when the college was able to reach a lease agreement with the city of Princeton, allowing for New River to relocate its college campus to the former First Community Bank building on Mercer Street.

Since New River was created by the state Legislature in 2003, the Mercer County campus has been co-located within facilities owned by other institutions. It was originally located on the campus of Bluefield State College, and in 2009 it moved into the Mercer County Technical Education Center in Princeton. But space and accommodations

were limited at the technical center. College officials say the new downtown location will allow New River to expand its campus size and student population.

“This is a very exciting moment in the history of New River Community and Technical College,” New River President L. Marshall Washington said in announcing the lease agreement with the city of Princeton. “There is great potential for the college to grow in Mercer County, and we will at last have facilities to allow us to accommodate that growth.

We are also delighted that we have been able to find a location that makes New River part of the revitalization of downtown Princeton.”

McKinney said having college students on Mercer Street is critical to the ongoing downtown revitalization efforts.

“There are just so many things happening,” McKinney said. “We are attracting new groups of artists all of the time. We’ve got a real community downtown. It’s a real community feeling. It is real.

It is no longer us saying this is going to happen. It is happening. And now a lot of people are saying it is possible. When we originally designed the (Renaissance) blueprint, we had a conservative goal. We said by 2016 we would have a downtown that is economically vibrant and exciting. And we haven’t even hit 2016. We feel we are very squarely (on target).”

The Princeton Renaissance Project — an initiative that began as part of Princeton’s Blueprints Communities designation in 2012 — incorporates a number of ongoing downtown projects.

One of the biggest projects the group is working on is the ongoing restoration of the former Lavon Theater on

Mercer Street as a new movie theater and playhouse. The work is part of a larger initiative aimed at jump-starting economic development and redevelopment in downtown Princeton. And the building itself has been renamed the Renaissance Theater.

Greg Puckett, the executive director of Community Connections and a key volunteer with the Princeton Renaissance Project, said the volunteers are still working on gutting the inside of the old theater.

“We are almost done gutting the wall,” Puckett said of the ongoing work to renovate the interior of the Renaissance Theater. “Hopefully we will have our roof going on in October.”

Puckett said theater seats are still being sold. And Puckett himself will once again be lifted high into the air in a bucket truck on Saturday, Oct. 18, in a campaign aimed at raising $20,000 for the Renaissance Theater.

“I’m going up and not coming down until we raise $20,000, and that could be a while,” Pucket said. “It is a non-profit. We need corporate sponsorship. We really need those long-term corporation donations over a period of time.”

When the renovations are complete, the plan is for the building to be used for community activities such as firstrun movies, plays, concerts and other events. The hope is the redevelopment of the theater will also inspire others to take another look at opening their own businesses on Mercer Street.

Local artists also have painted 23 murals in the downtown as part of the Artist Alley project, and additional are planned. For example, a new mural honoring the life of the late Bob Denver, star of “Gilligan’s Island,” is

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planned, according to McKinney. Denver was a resident of Mercer County at the time of his death. His wife Dreama Denver continues to operate the Denver Foundation in Mercer County.

In other downtown projects, new flowers have been planted, and lights have been strung across Mercer Street.

A cruising night event has attracted large crowds to the downtown and more than a thousand people attended last year’s Downtown Countdown New Year’s Eve celebration also on Mercer Street.

“It is really awesome how many different people are taking projects and doing things,” McKinney said. “The whole cruising thing has just blossomed. And then you’ve got all of these different groups of people working from different directions. The thing that is clicking right now is everyone is cooperating and communicating. I think that when people see someone take hold of something or succeed it inspires them to realize they can achieve dreams and visions they have. We are a bunch of people working toward a common goal together and when we start to achieve success that just springs forward momentum. And that has

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made it a lot harder for the people who have been naysayers and have declined to acknowledge the potential (of the Renaissance movement). Now it is getting harder and harder to deny.”

When the seasons transitions from summer to fall — and ultimately winter — the volunteers members of the Renaissance committee won’t be slowing down, according to McKinney.

“We’ve got three major events coming up — the Autumn Festival, the Downtown Countdown and the Monster Mash — so really when the weather starts to t u rn we will start to look at amping things up for the New Year’s celebration,” she said.

“The Downtown Countdown was really successful, and it was kind of mind-blowing that a thousand people showed up.’

McKinney said the Halloween Monster Mash also proved to be a highly successful event in 2013. In fact, the volunteers ended up with more children trick or treating on Mercer Street than they anticipated.

“All of a sudden they started coming — and they just kept pouring in,” McKinney said of the trick or treaters.

In terms of New River Community and Technical

College, officials are hoping to expand the college’s enrollment to several hundred students over the next couple of years at the Mercer Street location. More than 100 students are currently registered for classes at the new downtown campus.

“We know we’re making an impact by bringing these students into the downtown area.

There is a presence of young folks here,” Washington told the Daily Telegraph in August. “Those individuals can also partake of other services that are down here.

They’ll use the post office, use the library, use the other businesses in the area. We’re very pleased about this.”

Washington said a combination of good students transferring to other institutions and quality graduates in programs like the medical assistantship program at New River will keep the new Princeton campus a viable option for new students.

“Our programs are such that they’re also different than Concord and Bluefield State,” Washington said.

“There are some students that may not necessarily want to transfer because what they want to do is get a job right away.”

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

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Saturday, September 27, 2014 Pride VI 5

File photos

Above left, signs clearly mark ATV Routes for riders of the Spearhead Trail system in Pocahontas, Va. Right, an ATV rider makes his way along the Hatfield-McCoy Trail outside of Bramwell recently.

Four-wheeling fun abounds across region

By CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph BRAMWELL — Two trails.

Two states. And plenty of fun for out-of-town visitors.

The region is now home to both the popular HatfieldMcCoy Trail and the new Spearhead Trail. That means ATV riders can enjoy trails in both Mercer, McDowell and now Tazewell counties. And those out-of-town visitors riding the Hatfield-McCoy Trail system can now cross the state line border at Bramwell and ride the new Spearhead Trail system in neighboring Virginia. And that unique twostate connection is giving area officials renewed hope for tourism and economic development growth in the region.

Construction on the Tazewell County section of the Spearhead Trail began in June. It was completed in August. The new trail system

was constructed by in-house crews, according to Tazewell County Administrator Jim Spencer. But the trail itself is being operated by the Southwest Virginia Regional Recreational Authority, which plans on developing additional stand-alone trails in seven different Southwest Vi r g i n i a counties. Another section of the Spearhead Trail also is operational in St. Paul in Wise County.

And while the new Pocahontas to Boissevain section of the Spearhead Trail has only been open for a few weeks now, the potential for future growth in the area is great, David Woodard, tourism coordinator for Tazewell County, said.

“I think we are in a good position,” Woodard said.

“Anytime that you are in a position that you have plenty of room to grow it is a good thing. The amount of interest we are seeing from individu-

als and entrepreneurs is a number you can be confident in. The Spearhead Trail is a dual purpose project. One it provides something to do but second it provides great economic development. St. Paul has already seen a half million in private developments over the past years. And dozens of jobs with that just in a support role for the tourists who come in.”

But the Pocahontas to Boissevain leg of the trail system has the unique advantage of being strategically connected with the existing Hatfield-McCoy Trail system in neighboring southern West Virginia.

The project’s trailhead is located at the Boissevain Coal Miner’s Memorial Park. And the actual link — or connector road between the Spearhead Trail and the Hatfield-McCoy Trail — is Route 644 in

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6 Pride VI Saturday, September 27, 2014

Construction underway on McDowell school project

By CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph WELCH — Construction is finally underway on a longplanned multi-million dollar elementary school project for McDowell County.

Work on the new Iaeger Elementary facility — a project that was originally proposed more than a decade ago — got underway in midAugust. The school constru ction had been delayed by a number of problems, including permitting issues and a subsequent river bank collapse near the site of the old elementary school. The old school, which was demolished earlier this summer, had had a number of structural issues, and was flooded both in 1977 and 2002.

If the weather cooperates, school officials are hoping the construction can be completed in about 16 months. The new elementary school is the last facility to be funded as part of a decade-old flood proofing agreement in McDowell County launched in 2001 in conjunction with the

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Continued from 5 Pocahontas, which has already been designated as a “ATV friendly” route.

“There is no where else at this point where the Spearhead Trail and the Hatfield-McCoy Trail are going to link together,” Woodard said. “And they are only five minutes apart. The temptation factor is going to cause the Spearhead Trail riders to ride the HatfieldMcCoy Trail and the reverse is true. That’s going to create an ATV mecca. And if you look at the marketing campaign for Hatfield-McCoy and the marketing campaign for the Spearhead, the ATV world is being hit by both sides.”

Woodard said not only Pochaontas and Boissevain, but the entire region will benefit from the new trail system.

“You think about lodging, you think about meals, you think about the things they will be buying at the convenience stores — the

❏❏❏ Wo rk on the new Iaeger Elementary facility — a project that was originally proposed more than a decade ago — got underway in mid-August. The school construction had been delayed by a number of problems, including permitting issues and a subsequent river bank collapse near the site of the old elementary school. The old school, which was demolished earlier this summer, had had a number of structural issues, and was flooded both in 1977 and 2002.

state Board of Education, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state School Building Authority.

“New schools normally take about 24 months,” McDowell County School Superintendent Nelson Spencer said. “We are hoping for a sooner building than that. We are hoping to get it done in 16 months. The biggest detriment of finishing — and how quickly it finishes — depends upon the weather.”

For now all of the Iaeger E l e m e n t a ry School students continue to attend school at both River View High School and Bradshaw Elementary.

Spencer said Swope Construction Company is building the new elementary

school.

A number of new schools have been constructed in McDowell County as part of the 13-year-old flood proofing agreement.

Many aging schools — some pre-dating World War II — also were torn down and modern, state-o fthe-art facilities, were constructed in return.

The schools that were constructed over the past 13 years as part of the flood plan included River View High School, Southside Elementary, Mount Vi e w Middle School, Bradshaw Elementary School and now Iaeger Elementary. The old Anawalt Elementary facility also was demolished in 2013.

Students in Anawalt are currently attending school in a

state-of-the-art modular unit located at the site of the former elementary school.

Site work began in December of 2013 on the new Iaeger Elementary, but the construction was stalled after there was a question about a permit. New drawings and permits were then submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for approval.

Parents and community leaders became concerned when site work on the new school stopped without explanation last winter. But site work resumed in the spring, and was finished in late August allowing for the actual start of construction on the new school.

In neighboring Mercer

County, plans for a new Ceres Elementary School project were put on hold earlier this year after an application for the project wasn’t funded by the state School Building Authority.

The Mercer County Board of Education was seeking $9 million in SBA funding for the proposed project. The existing Ceres Elementary School has been expanded several times.

Its oldest section is 88 years old. The location alone is a drawback. It is located too close to the road, and in order to access a playground area, students have to cross a parking lot. The existing school also has no gymnasium or indoor physical education center.

“We are resubmitting that

again this year,” Mercer County School Superintendent Dr. Deborah Akers said of the funding application for the proposed new Ceres Elementary project.

In the meantime, constru ction is expected to be completed later this month on five new boiler replacement projects in Mercer County.

The state Department of Environmental Protection and the state School Building Authority provided funding for the replacement of the existing and aging boiler system at Spanishburg Elementary, Lashmeet-Matoaka School and the Mercer County Technical Education Center.

The SBA also provided funding for the replacement of the boilers at Montcalm High School and Bluefield High School.

“Those were really needed,” Akers said. “Those boilers were very, very old.”

Akers said construction on the new boilers, including the system at Bluefield High School, should be completed by late September.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

Pocahontas Exhibition Mine, the opera house, the Catholic churches — places like that are going to see an influx of tourists that they are not used to just by association with the trail. Our job is to reach beyond that and to get them to see other things — Main Street Tazewell, the coal miner’s memorial in Richlands, the Historic Crab Orchard Museum — our job is get them there. The national marketing campaign is to get them there. Once we get them here we must sell them on all of our local sites across Tazewell County and the area. We have an interest in Mercer County succeeding just like they have an interest in Tazewell County succeeding.”

In the meantime, Woodard said efforts to develop new lodging facilities, ATV resorts, restaurants are related accommodations in the Pocahontas and Boissevain areas also are continuing.

“We have also been working with a couple of ATV resorts that are in progress that will

provide RV hookups and cabins and such things in the town of Pocahontas, and are working with some others and entrepreneurs who are working to expand business and put in new business,” Woodard said.

The neighboring HatfieldMcCoy Trail system already is a success story for southern West Virginia. It spans more than 600 miles through seven southern West Virginia counties, including Mercer and McDowell.

The Hatfield-McCoy Trail Authority was created by the state Legislature more than a decade ago for the purpose of serving as a new economic development and tourism engine for southern West Virginia. Since that time the six-county trail system has been successful in attracting thousands of out-of-town visitors to Mingo, Logan, Boone, Wyoming, McDowell and Mercer counties each year.

Those visitors in return spend money at local stores, convenience stations, restaurants, camp sites and motels provid-

ing a boost to the overall economy of southern West Virginia.

The only stumbling block facing the trail system to date has been a lack of lodging sites. But there has been significant progress in recent months thanks to help from a number of entrepreneurs who have stepped up to develop lodging facilities — including the new BuffaloTrail Resort in Mercer County.

The Buffalo Trail ATV resort

had been four years in the making. It is located just off of Lorton Lick Road near Bluewell. It incorporates the atmosphere of camping with the luxury of a nice restaurant, bar, craft beers and, even wifi on site. The resort also features brand-new wood and stone cabins and an exquisite restaurant accented by a stunning waterfall, koi pond and large outdoor dining area.

Seth Peters, owner and gen-

eral manager of the resort, told the Daily Telegraph in May that his dream is to cater to ATV tourists. However, he hopes the resort and restaurant will be a draw for both local residents and out-o ftown visitors. In fact, he notes that officials have already been approached by area residents about having weddings, family reunions and other events at the resort.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

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Saturday, September 27, 2014 Section VI 7

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10 Pride VI Saturday, September 27, 2014

File photo

The old Best Furniture and Katzen buildings in Welch are slated to be razed to make room for the new Renaissance Village project.

McDowell looks to attract teachers with ‘Renaissance Village’

By CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph WELCH — Attracting and retaining qualified teachers in McDowell County has been a persistent problem for school officials in recent years. And many of the teachers currently employed in the school system do not live in McDowell County, and instead opt to commute to the area from surrounding counties.

That’s why school officials are hopeful that a new “Renaissance Village” can make a positive difference in McDowell County. A project of the public-private Reconnecting McDowell initiative, the so-called teacher’s village is being developed at the former site of the old Best Furniture and Katzen buildings in Welch.

The Reconnecting McDowell partnership purchased the two vacant build-

ings, along with attached parking lots, in May for $92,000. The decision to demolish the two buildings was made by Reconnecting McDowell officials in August.

The apartment building is being named the “Renaissance Village” and will have approximately 30 housing units, community amenities such as a streetlevel coffee shop, and common areas for teachers and other residents to relax and collaborate, according to Reconnecting McDowell.

Adding to the challenge was the fact that school officials began the new year with a shortage of teachers. School Superintendent Nelson Spencer told the Daily Telegraph in August that about 15 teaching positions in the county were still vacant a week before the 2013-2014 school year was scheduled to begin. Many of the positions

were filled in time for the first day of school.

“We need high quality teachers and we don’t have the pool to select from that other counties might,” Nelson said.

He reported 40 resignations over the summer. And Spencer said employment laws prohibited the school system from using fiscal incentives as a way to attract teachers to the area.

“The options are very limited as to what we can and can’t do,” Spencer said, adding that infrastructure improvements in the county — including modern housing and roads — are critical to attracting and retaining qualified teachers.

“Renaissance Vi l l a g e addresses three big problems that have plagued McDowell County — a high teacher vacancy rate, a dearth of available housing, and a lack of economic development,” Randi Weingarten, president

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of the American Federation of Teachers, which spearheaded the original Reconnecting McDowell partnership in December 2011, said during a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Renaissance Village project in August. “A beautiful new apartment complex should be a powerful incentive for great teachers to come and stay in McDowell County.”

“I think once we get them here, we can hold them and show them McDowell County and the city of Welch and our school system,” Welch Mayor Reba Honaker added during the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“The love of the people here in McDowell County (will keep teachers here).”

The new teacher complex will take about 24 months to complete.

Community Housing Partners Design Studio of Christiansburg, Va., is designing the apartment

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building and will use West Virginia union workers, according to an earlier press release from Reconnecting McDowell.

Weingarten estimates the project cost at approximately $3 million to $5 million. She said the Reconnecting McDowell board is seeking both grant and loan funding to develop the project.

Launched in late 2011, the Reconnecting McDowell coalition was originally charged with working to address problems students face both in and outside of school. The group seeks to develop a well-rounded curriculum based on high standards, as well as the support and enrichment services students need to prepare for success in a 21st-century economy.

Another goal of Reconnecting McDowell County is to work on provid-

ing support services in schools such as counseling and health care. A third component involves addressing county infrastructure issues such as roads and providing broadband services so that children in all communities in the county can have access to high-speed Internet in their homes, according to the group’s original mission statement. Since the launching of Reconnecting McDowell in 2011, high-speed broadband has been extended to more than 10,000 homes in McDowell County. Schools also are equipped with broaband.

Reconnecting McDowell began with just 40 partners in 2011. The campaign now has more than 100 public/private partners who are working in conjunction with the school system.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

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Saturday, September 27, 2014 Section VI 11

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12 Pride VI Saturday, September 27, 2014

Hope on the horizon...

‘Very good quality’ water to flow to McDowell County community

By CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph MAYBEURY — Hope is on the horizon for hundreds of families in McDowell County who for years have been dealing with prolonged water quantity and quality.

Construction is continuing on the new $8 million Elkhorn Water Project, a development that will initially serve about 200 families in the Maybeury, Switchback and Elkhorn communities.

But future phases of the project will serve more than a thousand families and businesses along the U.S. Route 52 corridor in the towns of Northfork, Keystone and Kimball. Many of the existing water lines to be replaced as part of the new regional system were constructed prior to World War II. Construction on phase one of the project is expected to be completed by next summer.

“It’s actually a very good quality of water,” McDowell County Public Service District Director Mavis Brewster said of the new regional system. “I think the residents are going to be very pleased with it. It’s a great step forward for our county. Getting this water project in place is a tremendous step.”

While construction continues on phase one of the regional system, the search for funding for phase two is already underway. Phase one of the project is being financed by $6 million in grant funding and $2 million in loan funding from USDA Rural Development.

The project involves the replacement of water lines along Route 52 — some of which pre-date World War II — as well as the installation of meters and the construction of a new state-of-the-art 400,000-gallon storage tank in Maybeury.

Brewster said the PSD is seeking additional funding from the USDA and other sources for phase two of the project.

File photo

Construction is continuing on the new $8 million Elkhorn Water Project, a development that will initially serve about 200 families in the Maybeury, Switchback and Elkhorn communities in McDowell County.

“That plant will serve customers starting from the Mercer County line,” Brewster said. “The plant will (eventually) serve customers all the way to Kimball. We have funding established for phase one, which as you know is under construction. We have submitted funding for phase two.

Phase two will take it into Northfork and Ke y s t o n e .

Right now, those are not systems of the PSD. Northfork has already had an election to transfer the system to the PSD. Keystone will hold an election in the fall to hopeful-

ly transfer that system to the PSD. The residents will have to approve that in order for us to include (the town of Keystone) with the project.”

Until phase two of the construction begins, the towns of Northfork and Ke y s t o n e are still operating their own municipal water systems.

The two towns — as well as the communities of Elkhorn, Switchback and Maybeury — have all experienced multiple problems over the years with water line breaks and prolonged water outages.

“Both systems have been real problem systems,”

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Brewster said.

“We are making progress and are excited about the steps to be taken. The outages have definitely been a problem for us, and it’s a burden for the customers. It will be a relief to get the new system.”

Some town residents in Keystone and Northfork have gone for days without water as a result of water line breaks and leaks in recent years.

As construction on phase one of the project continues this fall and well into the winter, there could be some

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delays along U.S. Route 52.

“They are using flaggers,” Brewster said. “Some of the line is installed on main Route 52. There could be a little inconvenience with that. They try to keep that down to a minimum.”

Three contractors are working on phase one of the project.

Brewster said Famco Inc. of Huntington is working on the water lines and plant construction. Mid Atlantic Storage received a third contract for the tank construction.

In addition to addressing water quantity and quality

problems, Brewster said the new water system is critical to future growth along the Route 52 corridor.

“It’s gives us an opportunity,” she said. “You can’t have businesses to come in if you c a n’t give them reliable water and sewer. And you can’t put sewer in until you have a reliable water system.

We also have a project for sewer targeted on 52, but that is years in the future.

Because you have to first have water before you can have sewer.”

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

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File photos

Above and below, contestants show their horses in the annual Bluefield Shrine Horse Show at Lotito Park over the summer.

Officials remain hopeful about equine center

By CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph PRINCETON — Although it has been long in the planning stages, Mercer County officials are still hopeful that their vision for a multi-purpose equestrian center will come to fruition.

The project itself continues to evolve. A possible casino component or partnership is now being considered in conjunction with the multi-purpose center and original equestrian vision.

An updated study on the multi-purpose center project was just completed this summer by Crossroads Consulting. The new study includes the possibility of a casino partnership or subsidiary development associated with the multi-purpose center, according to Mercer County Development Authority Executive Director Janet Bailey.

“We still think this is a very viable project,” Bailey said.

“And it is something that we would like to get moving forward pretty soon. I know it has been years in the discussion stage. But we hope with this study that this is something we can move forward with.”

Having a partner project such as a casino associated with the multi-purpose equestrian center could help to expedite the overall development, according to Bailey.

“Most of the equestrian projects have some subsidy,” Bailey said. “They are either state subsidized or from some other source.”

Bailey said there are no casinos in the immediate area of West Virginia or Virginia, which could add to the attraction of such a development. If such a casino were to be constructed close to the Interstate 77 corridor at either Athens, Princeton or Bluefield, it would also attract out-o ftown visitors, Bailey said.

“You would have to beef up security, but still it is job creation,” she said. “It’s just an idea, and it is something we are looking at. It is just something we are exploring at this time.”

Bailey said such a casino development would require legislative approval.

“It is just something we are considering,” Bailey said of a possible casino partnership.

“Nothing is set in stone at this time. We are just trying to determine where we could find the money to purchase the land, and where we could find partner money.”

The multi-purpose equestrian center is still being considered for the Exit 14 area near Athens, although Exit 1

in Bluefield hasn’t been ruled out. Bailey said the two projects wouldn’t necessarily have to be located on the same property — adding that a casino could be located at Exit 1 in Bluefield and the multi-purpose center at Exit 14 near Athens. She said casinos have partnered with equestrian centers in other states, including Kansas City.

Bailey said no property has been purchased to date for the multi-purpose center

project. She says the search for funding for the project continues on the local, state and federal levels.

As currently proposed, the multi-purpose center is envisioned as a 54,000-square foot facility that could hold conventions, local gatherings, festivals, sporting events and other attractions.

It is proposed to include an arena, barns and outbuildings for an equestrian component.

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At the moment, the National Guard Armory in Brushfork is the only facility in Mercer County capable of handling such large gather-

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ings minus the equestrian component. The multi-purpose center would be larger than the armory.

The idea of the equestrian

park, and now the multi-purpose center and possible casino component, dates back to 2004. The first committee to study the project wasn’t formed until 2006.

However, the delay in moving the development forward has largely centered around finding a suitable site for such a project. The development authority and multipurpose center committee are seeking a site with at least 400 acres of land for the proposed project. At one point, seven different sites were under consideration for the multi-purpose center.

The equestrian park was originally proposed as a joint venture between the county commission, the city of Bluefield and the city of Princeton. It was originally proposed on property jointly owned by the two cities.

However, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers later ruled that the property in question would not work for the equestrian park because it was located within the flood plain. The two cities are not directly involved in the new proposal.

Bailey said the multi-use center — and its equestrian and now possible casino component — has the potential to attract visitors to the region while also serving as a catalyst for additional economic development and recreational opportunities.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

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Future...

Continued from 1 Virginia but also West Virginia working together.”

Thompson said the five towns in Tazewell County also are working together to promote growth and economic development.

“Tazewell County is a big county,” Thompson said. “We are fortunate to have the towns we have. They are all progressive and are working together on economic development.”

Thompson said the new Bluestone Regional Business and Technology Park — located just outside of Bluefield, Va., and not far from the state line of West Virginia — is a good example of a project that can benefit both states.

“It’s going to be good for the county, and not only the county but also the region,” Thompson said. “I think West Virginia will benefit from it as well. It’s a very good regional type of project.”

Thompson said the hope of county officials is that multiple businesses will eventually open for business in the new Bluestone park.

“We are trying to get as many irons in the fire as we can,” Thompson said in terms of marketing efforts for the technology park. “We are going through various marketing ideas that we have as far as trying to reach out to companies that are expanding out of the area, and may be wanting to come into Southwest Virginia. But as you know there has been a d o w n t u rn in coal, and companies are trying to diversify now and take the skills they have and adapt them to new markets. That could open things up in the Bluestone in the future as they expand. We are talking to several companies and have been talking to several companies over the last year. We have some that are close to making a possible decision. And we have some that are just in the entry level conversation stage. So the whole thing is to sell a company on Southwest Virginia.

The people here. The trainable workforce we have. The

amenities we have. The beauty of the area and the security of the area. It’s a big enticement for the companies.”

Thompson said the new Spearhead Trail in the Pocahontas and Boissevain communities is a huge plus for Tazewell County in terms of future tourism and economic development growth.

“It will get better and better,” Thompson said of the new trail system. “That will grow. There will probably be businesses that come in there and small business-type restaurants and cabins.

There will be a lot of people who will wait to see how it goes for a while. Which is understandable when you make an investment in a community and an area. But I think there will be some that jump in and have experience in the past with trails like this.”

Thompson said the connection between the Spearhead Trail and the Hatfield-McCoy Trail makes Tazewell County unique.

“That’s huge,” Thompson said. “The Hatfield-McCoy Trail has been extremely successful. It’s very well run and very well done. It’s going to be great.”

Thompson said efforts to recruit potential restaurants, motels, convenience stations, cabins and bed and breakfast facilities to the Spearhead Trail system are continuing.

“In one particular, we had a family interested in putting in cabins there from out of state,” Thompson said. “I’m not for sure where it stand at this time but it could involve several cabins. I really think those kind of situations are going to occur more and more. Especially with people from out of the area who have experience with those type of trails and things. It is going to be a great economic impact for the county.”

In neighboring McDowell County, work is continuing on a number of current and future projects, including the restoration of the old Houston Company Store in Kimball.

“They are going to restore it and turn it into a museum,” Stephanie Addair, interim executive director of the

Staff photo by Eric DiNovo

The Bluestone Regional Business and Technology Center in Tazewell County remains empty. Officials would like to eventually see multiple technology based businesses move into the center.

McDowell County Economic Development Authority, said.

“We are actually getting ready to get to go to bid.”

Addair said the EDA is working in conjunction with the McDowell County Citizens for the Arts on the project.

Addair said the county also is hopeful that the proposed Stoneridge housing project can still be developed on Tom’s Mountain in Welch.

The goal of the project is to help address the current shortage of modern housing in the county.

In other economic develop-

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ment-related projects, Addair said a proposed expansion of the Stevens Correctional Center in Welch also is still planned. The project will allow the county to house additional state inmates in the city limits of Welch. It involves a renovation of the old nursing quarters at the former Steven’s Clinic Hospital.

Addair said county officials also are still working to set up a new McDowell County Convention and Vi s i t o r s Bureau to help with tourism and economic development efforts in the county. She said

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the county also is continuing to work with the HatfieldMcCoy Trail Authority on a planned second trail system in the county. The standalone trail Warrior Trail is proposed in the city limits of War. “It is supposed to be open in July of 2015,” Addair said of the stand-alone trail system.

“I know that we did donate funds from the county commission so that it could be finalized for the property and trail.”

Addair said a renovation project at the historic McDowell County

Courthouse also is continuing, along with plans for the second McDowell County Expo currently scheduled for October.

Addair said the old Big Lo t s site in Welch also is now home to several new businesses, including Advance Auto, Family Dollar and now Pizza Hut. A new medical plaza at the site of the old H.C. Lewis oil company in Welch also is now. The project has created several dozen new jobs for McDowell County.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

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Saturday, September 27, 2014 Section VI 15

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16 Pride VI Saturday, September 27, 2014

File photos

The Christine West Bridge spans U.S. Route 19 in the Tinderwhite Area of Bluefield. State and Federal officials have been actively looking for federal dollars to fund the I-73/I-74 corridor project.

Roads to the future...

Supporters of the King Coal Highway and the Coalfields Expressway remain optimistic about the roadways

By CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph BLUEFIELD — Despite the still difficult road ahead in terms of securing additional state and federal funding, supporters of the King Coal Highway and the Coalfields Expressway remain hopeful about the future four-lane corridors.

It has been nearly 15 years since ground was broken on both projects, and progress has been painfully slow. The elimination of federal earmarks — once the primary source of funding for the individual projects — has adversely impacted both future four-lane corridors. Yet supporters of the two projects have retained a positive outlook on the future.

“I’m a little bit more (hopeful) now,” King Coal Highway Authority Executive Director Mike Mitchem said.

“Especially since we’ve got our two congressmen involved. I know they created the authority in 1999, and I came in on 2001. So it has been 14 years. They have gotten some of the Toslia Highway built and some of the King Coal Highway built.”

Mitchem said U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., has been actively involved in the search for federal funding for the King Coal Highway, which is the local corridor of the future Intestate 73/74/75. And U.S. Rep. Shelly-Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who recently toured the Mercer County segment of the project, also has vowed to fight for funding for the future King Coal Highway corridor, Mitchem said.

Although work is continuing on a segment of the King Coal Highway in Mingo County that is being constructed through a public-private partnership with a local coal company, the future I-73/74/75 corridor remains stalled in Mercer County. The last segment of the King Coal Highway to be built near Bluefield was the twin-interstate bridges over Stoney Ridge back in 2007. There has been no new construction since that time on the project in Mercer County.

Mitchem said he remains hopeful that additional fund-

ing — on either the state or federal level — can be found advance to advance the Mercer County segment of the highway.

“Right now we are kind of in a wait and see mode,” Mitchem said. “We are working on other funding avenues.”

Members of the King Coal Highway Authority met in Bluefield in July. During the meeting, board president Tom Hall explained the importance of the authority’s annual trip to Washington.

“Someone asked me one time why do we keep going to Washington asking for funding?” Hall said. “It is hard to measure how successful those trips are. But to not go is to fail. We have to keep going.”

Hall said visiting the law-

makers each year — and renewing the authority’s request for federal funding — is the only way to ensure the project will receive careful consideration from Washington.

The King Coal Highway is proposed to extend some 95 miles through Mingo, Wayne, Wyoming, McDowell and Mercer counties with the Tolsia segment from Williamson to Huntington extending another 55 miles.

Progress also has been slow on the Coalfields Expressway, a future four-lane corridor that will extend 62 miles in length in southern West Virginia. The West Vi r g i n i a segment of the Coalfields Expressway will extend through Raleigh, Wyoming and McDowell counties. In Virginia the Coalfields

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Expressway will extend another 51 miles from Pound in Wise County through Dickenson and Buchanan counties. The roadway also is known as U.S. Route 121 in Virginia.

About six miles of the roadway have been completed to date in West Virginia, along with another two miles in Virginia.

The most current segment of the project under construction in West Virginia is being built through a federal TIGER (Transportation Infrastructure Generating Economic Recovery) grant.

The two mile segment brings the road from the West Helen section of Raleigh County to the Wyoming County line. A second section of the project is proposed to be constructed through a public-private part-

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nership, and would extend the four-lane corridor to Mullens in Wyoming County, according to Coalfields Expressway Executive Director Richard Browning.

“We are looking at the next two miles and a connector road as a public private,” Browning said. “The contract we are on now gets us to the Wyoming County line. The next project would get us to Mullens.”

Browning said discussions also are continuing on a possible public-private partnership for a new section of the roadway in McDowell County.

To date only a non-paved twomile segment of the expressway has been completed in McDowell County at the Indian Ridge Industrial Park near Welch.

“It’s kind of a personal thing

for me because I started the public-private discussion in the state,” Browning said.

“This will be the first in the state to utilize this type of highway construction. Many years ago Virginia was doing it and South Carolina was doing it.”

Browning said the state of West Virginia was initially reluctant to pursue such public-private partnerships, but has become more receptive to the concept in recent years. The most recent design build contract, which is bringing the four-lane corridor to the Wyoming County line, is saving the state about $5 million in construction costs.

“That’s been my argument all along that we should be doing it that way because it is just the smart way to do it,” Browning said of the publicprivate partnerships concept.

The Coalfields Expressway is included in the state’s sixyear highway improvement plan, which does make it eligible for state discretionary funds.

Due to a planned public-private partnership that will result in a re-routing of a 26mile section of the Coalfields Expressway in Virginia, the Federal Highway Administration ordered a full environmental review of the new route in June . The newly ordered environmental review will take 18 months to complete.

As part of the proposed public-private partnership planned in Virginia, area coal companies would convert previously mined areas into the project roadbed through the extraction of coal.

The Shawnee Parkway — a scenic two-lane roadway proposed to extend 22 miles from Ghent in Raleigh County to the mountaintop ridges of Mercer County before it ultimately connects with the King Coal Highway near Crumpler in McDowell County — also remains stalled. So far only 1.22 miles of the Shawnee Parkway have been constructed in the Ghent area of Raleigh County, bringing the roadway within striking distance of the Mercer County line.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

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Saturday, September 27, 2014 SectionVI 17

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18 Pride VI Saturday, September 27, 2014

Staff photo by Eric DiNovo and contri buted photo

Mercer County Animal Shelter Director Lisa Williams, left, and A.L.I.V.E. President Kathy Tabor, right, use their organizations’ resources to save and care for animals around Mercer County. Though their groups’ methods diverge at times, they still cooperate for the sake of the animals they love.

Hope for the homeless...

Fury friends find compassion in Mercer County

By CHRISTOPHER CLAY Bluefield Daily Telegraph PRINCETON — There are two sides to saving animals in Mercer County. The Mercer County Animal Shelter is charged with caring for the animals that have been cast out and abandoned. The people working there struggle with the shelter’s euthanasia policy. The other side of the fight to save animals involves the volunteers who attempt to save the animals; the groups that transport animals to no-kill shelters and new owners to prevent their early demise.

The two organizations must work together despite their differences for the sake of the animals.

Mercer County Animal Shelter Director Lisa Williams started at the shelter seven years ago as a kennel technician.

“I cleaned the dogs and cats, did adoptions, whatever they needed done, I did,” Williams said. “Through the years, I’ve moved up. I’ve done rescue coordination and I’ve been assistant director and now I’m the director.”

Williams said her love of animals inspired her to begin working at the shelter.

“I absolutely love animals. I love them,” Williams said. “I pick them up on the side of if they were strays and I’d take them home and I thought: ‘What better way to be able to incorporate everything I love? Work at an animal shelter.’”

Her work at the animal shelter was a dream come true, according to Williams.

“I knew it was for me. I knew it. I knew this was my calling,” she said.

Williams deals extensively with the volunteer effort at the shelter including those volunteers who transport animals no-kill shelters and homes which might not be in the area.

“I would like to see more,” Williams said. “What do you do when the shelter gets full, and the rescue gets full, and there’s nowhere to put anything? What we need , and it has to be a community effort, is community involvement to help them be more responsible with their animals.”

The problem is aggravated by the number of dogs that run free without being spayed or neutered, according to Williams. Volunteer organizations like Mercer County Spay Association attempt to stem the problem, but they are quickly running out of money.

“A lot of people need assistance getting their animals spayed and neutered,” Williams said. “You have to have a lot of community effort for everything to corr espond.”

Williams said the primary difficulty with volunteers that work at the facility is reconciling their work with the animals at the shelter with the possibility that the animal may have to be euthanized.

“They know when they come in that the animals have to be euthanized, but if they’re unfamiliar with it, it’s hard for them,” Williams said. “We very rarely have to euthanasia anything now, but

❏❏❏ ‘We have a saying amongst us: “Working together, making a differ ence, one life at a time’ and that’s what we do, and we truly believe one life at a time we are making a difference. We volunteer, we’re all here, but this is a kill facility. We realize that. We accept that. It’s the way it is, but that doesn’t stop us from trying. We will move every life out of here that we can.’”

— Kathy Tabor President of Animals Lives Inspiring Volunteer Effort

the thought of something having to be euthanized and that’s an issue for them.”

The work involved in caring for the animals is also a challenge for volunteers, according to Williams. The number of tasks that must be completed are staggering.

“When volunteers come through here, their conception of what we here is totally different than what they think,” Williams said. “The dogs have to be scooped every day, they have to be sprayed, they have to be cleaned, they have to be sprayed again, and then the water has to be squeegeed out. You’re talking about 20 runs having to do that in every single run, and that’s just on the outside.

“Then you have to come on the inside and do the same thing. In our cat room, the cages have to be torn down every day and wiped out, rack cleaned, towel put back on it, and put back in the cage. We have several banks of cages and that has to be done with every single cage.

After we get that done, all the food bowels, water bowels, and litter boxes have to be washed every day. Every animal in our cat room gets a towel every day and every dog in the dog room gets a blanket, and those are washed every day.”

Kathy Tabor is President of “Animals Lives Inspiring Volunteer Effort” (A.L.I.V.E.), an organization that provides medical care, transportation, short term shelter, and a safe haven for companion, farm, and other legally licensed animals.

“I feel that an animal’s life is important and they add value,” Tabor said. “They need to be protected, taken care of, and saved whenever possible.”

Tabor originally volunteered at the shelter, but left.

She returned after the mass euthanasia at the Mercer County Animal Shelter in 2011.

Tabor said she feels like saving animals is a hopeless cause, but the need for her work keeps her going.

“It matters,” Tabor said.

“They’re live matter.”

Tabor said she keeps 26 animals on her property including foster animals and hospice animals.

“It’s extremely difficult financially and physically,” Tabor said. It’s just myself and my husband. All the animals require daily care, food, water, and shelter, and for our hospice animals we provide medical care.”

Tabor is involved in all aspect of care for the animals including rehabilitation and care of undesirable animals.

“Simply put, I guess I have more heart than I have sense,” Tabor said. “It’s a passion and once that passion enters your heart, there’s a fine line between being a volunteer, being passionate about being an advocate, and crossing that line into things that aren’t healthy anymore: Hoarding, collecting, things like that.

There’s a fine line there.

“You have to keep yourself in check and you have to keep company with good people who will also keep each other in check and maintain those balances. That’s why we work with rescues. At any given pint, I may have 100 animals on my property, and by morning, 50 of them will have left for rescue and I have people around me that will help me with that.”

Tabor’s organization works rescue in a variety of areas and travels a considerable distance to save the lives of animals and find better homes for them.

“We’re currently holding on to an $8,000 vet bill.

E v e rything we do is based on donations,” Tabor said. “We rent the van, we have all the cages and crates that carry these animals. We come up here, we get a list of all the animals that are ready to go, and we leave and transport them to other areas. We also have a list of animals from the community and their owners and their fosters meet me in the parking lot and go with us. We go all the way into the furthest corner of Pennsylvania and double back.”

Tabor said all of this is for the sake of the animals. The volunteers feel a need to help improve those lives around them, be it human or animal.

“You have to give back to the community, you have to give back something of yourself, you’re only here for a little while. The only thing you leave behind are the things you do, the things that matter. It’s often said that you have a birth date and a death date, but what matters is that dashing in between. I want my dash to matter.

We have a saying amongst us: ‘Working together, making a difference, one life at a time’ and that’s what we do, and we truly believe one life at a time we are making a difference. We volunteer, we’re all here, but this is a kill facility. We realize that. We accept that. It’s the way it is, but that doesn’t stop us from trying. We will move every life out of here that we can.”

Tabor recounted two success stories her organization had a part in: “We’ve taken three very extensive vetting cases.

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These animals were deemed salvageable, so we put forth the money to salvage these animals. One is three-legged now, one was, from what we can tell, a bait dog who lost the fight and was thrown away. That dog is happy and healthy now in a home with other dogs and children in a family. We paid several thousand dollars to get that dog rehabilitated and put it where it needed to be. In shot: It matters.”

Tabor said she has never been able to reconcile the Shelter’s euthanasia policy with her values and the values of her organization.

“You have to not make it personal,” Tabor said. “My group and I adore and respect the people who are here.”

Her organization is the result of serendipitous collaboration between a group of animal-loving community members, according to Tabor. It was simply a matter of meeting the right people and coming together to accomplish something great.

“Collectively, we have moved close to 5,000 animals out of this community,” Tabor said. “That’s less than a dozen of us working collectively.”

There is hope for the future of Mercer County’s animals.

A mutual appreciation for animals and a shared abhorrence for death brings these two organizations together in

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pursuit of a common goal: Saving animals from unneeded suffering and an early death.

Animal Advocate Debra Roberts works independently to assist the animal shelter and other organizations in finding homes for animals.

“I foster for the animal shelter, I transport if animals need to be transported, I work closely with rescue groups in finding homes for shelter animals, and I do a little bit of private rescue if there’s a need to try and keep animals from going to the shelter, Roberts said.

The Foster Moms Foster Association fund at Veterinary Associates was started by Roberts to collect donations to assist with the healthcare of animals.

“We have one at Ve t e r i n a ry Associates right now that’s been there for four weeks,” Roberts said. “It was really just skin and bones. We’ve been working with him and I’ll be transporting him to his new location tomorrow.

Predominately I pay for any care the animals get, or the rescues and I work together to get the bills paid.”

Roberts worked with the shelter and rescue for thirty years. Her lifelong love of animals took shape when she was 7 years-old and rescued her first animal.

“It was a stray husky that came to our home and I fell in love with her and she fell in love with me,” Roberts said. “My father hauled her off and took her to Hinton. I lived on Eads Mill Road, and within a week, she was back.”

Roberts’ said she has trouble handling the sadness and mistreatment she sees when she tours the shelter.

“I think more people should visit the shelter and maybe walk the dogs, volunteer, because I go through, and just to pet them, or give them a treat, or take them for a walk, it’s just the warmth and

love I feel for them is just amazing,” Roberts said. “It may be the last time any ever touches them. It may be the last time they ever have any human contact. I know that we can’t save them all, but at least they have that memory and I have that memory that some kindness was shown to them.”

Roberts works full time during the day, and her lunch break and off time is spent taking care of her animals.

“No job is hard if you love what you do,” Roberts said.

The volunteer community is excellent, according to Roberts.

“There are just so many wonderful groups out there,” Roberts said. “Animals just enrich your life. It’s just the warmth, and love, and kindness they show. I work so hard to find them homes that are not just places they live, not just somebody walking in saying: ‘I want that dog,” and then maybe the dog gets chained in the backyard. We do home checks. We make sure hat the home is suitable.

It’s almost as hard as adopting a child to adopt a dog from us, but it’s because we want them to have a family.”

Roberts said there is value in volunteering to help animals in need in different organizations.

“The more volunteers we have, the more lives we can save,” Roberts said. “It’s the hope. It’s the hope the animals have to be saved. It’s the hope for them to have a good life.”

Organizations like A.L.I.V.E. and Mercer County Spay Association are always in need of funding to pursue their goal of stabilizing and nurturing the animal population in Mercer County and West Virginia.

To help, volunteer with, or adopt from these organizations, contact the Mercer County Humane Society at 304-425-2838.

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Staff photo by Jon Bolt

Aramus Wimmer, 16, folds clothes at the Bluefield Union Mission. Wimmer accompanied Bluefield High School’s Key Club on a trip to the Mission to help those less fortunate.

Giving hope to those in need...

Local men, women part of ‘explosion’ in youth volunteerism CHRISTOPHER CLAY Bluefield Daily Telegraph BLUEFIELD — Young people in the community have gained a reputation for being lazy, unmotivated, apathetic, and cynical. Mature generations have said video games, television, Facebook, and Twitter are the driving force behind today’s young men and women, and a sense of entitlement dominates their generation.

Bluefield Union Mission Director Craig Hammond said, in his experience, this is not the case.

“Over the last 10 or 15 years, we’ve actually seen a volunteer explosion,” Hammond said. “Thirty years ago, the average age of a volunteer was late 60’s early 70’s. Today, the average age of a volunteer of at the Bluefield Union Mission is about 20 or 21 when you average them all up because we have a whole lot of teenagers from high schools and early college years that may be turned off from politics, but are turned on to new ways of helping their communities.”

Hammond said he is encouraged by the considerable support the facility is receiving from young people.

“A lot of people are pessimistic about the current generation, but I’m not,” Hammond said. “I see a generation that is really eager about helping their community in many ways. My generation from the 50’s and 60’s was a little self-absorbed, but not this group. They’re willing to do more for their community.”

Bluefield High School’s Key Club offered support to the Bluefield Union Mission stocking the clothing room, rearranging the food pantry, and filling the Mission’s recycling station.

“The Key Club is full of spirit and they really care about their community,” Hammond said. “They’ll do

Staff photo by Jon Bolt

Kiersten Thomason, 14, helps move supplies at the Bluefield Union Mission. Thomason is one of many young volunteers who have come to help the Mission. anything we ask. What I like about Key Club is: They greet everyone with a smile, treat everyone with common courtesy, and they pay attention to the details and I think that’s a big deal when you’re working one-on-one with the public.

Sixteen year-old Mary Shepherd is the president of her Bluefield High School’s Key Club and lieutenant gove rnor of her division.

“With Key Club, you are supposed to help others and the Union Mission feeding the community, I feel like it’s important for us to give back to our hometown,” Shepherd said. “With this project, we’ll be able to help members of our community who may not be as fortunate as us.”

Shepherd said she sees volunteerism is important

because she has been blessed enough to have the ability to help others.

“I think Key Club’s involvement is important because we teach leadership and, by volunteering, we get leadership traits because we understand our community is in need and we take a step forward to help,” Shepherd said.

The nature of a teen’s formative years are to credit for the surge in volunteerism, according to Shepherd. The search for identity drives young people, and Bluefield’s youth believe they can make a tangible difference in their area.

“It’s as simple as going to a club meeting and going to a project,” Shepherd said. “In going to that project, we understand that we can help

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people. That’s a part of who we are.”

Club Vice President Jessica Shanklin, 16, said it is important to give back what she can to the community.

“I really like it,” Shanklin said. “I like getting to go out and volunteer. It makes me feel happy to be able to help others.”

Shanklin said she would encourage people her age to take part in volunteer activities.

“I feel like it’s part of building your character.

Everybody needs to learn to go outside of themselves and learn to help other people,” Shanklin said. “I think we’re figuring out how important it is to get involved in our community outside of sports and academic and how important it is to get out and help other people.”

Club Secretary Jessica Devor, 17, said volunteerism improves work ethic and gives volunteers a sense of worth.

“It’ll help prepare you for when you’re older,” Devor said. “It’ll help you learn about working and responsibility.”

Devor said her volunteer activity will help her in her future endeavors, but the act of volunteering is also rewarding.

“I really like helping people,” Devor said. “A lot of people have helped me out, so I feel like I should try to give back.”

Devor said she gets a sense of accomplishment out of helping in her community.

“I can look back when I get older and be happy I had this experience,” Devor said. “I made so many friends in Key Club and I’ve met so many people in the community that I’d like to help out more sometime in the future. You get so much out of it.”

Club member Karlee Williams, 14, said, for her, the volunteer work at the Union Mission was personal.

“I have some friends that

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don’t really have food at their house. I thought I could be helpful just in case they come and eat tomorrow,” Williams said. “It’s important to me because I like to help people.”

Williams said it’s essential that people her age volunteer with local organizations like the Union Mission; according to Williams, numbers matter.

“If we can get more people to help, then we’re helping more people,” Williams said.

Club member Aramus Wimmer, 16, said she volunteers so she can help raise the quality of life for others.

“I really enjoy helping people,” Wimmer. “I want people to have the same benefits I have, and that’s what this place does and that’s what Key Club does. It helps people.”

Setting an example is important, according to Wimmer, and correcting the misconceptions of older generations is important.

“A lot of the time, the older generation thinks that teenagers don’t care, so we need to show them that we do,” Wimmer said. “It’s important. It’s important to set an example for people and show them you can make a difference. We’re tired of the way the world has become and we want to change it.”

Club member Careb Maitland, 17, said he wants to help as best he can because there are others that do not.

“We’re able and we want to come and help,” Maitland said. “That’s what Key Club is all about. It’s about people coming together and helping other people in need.”

Maitland had first hand experience with the charity of others when his home burned down a few months ago.

“I needed help,” Maitland said. “I’d like to return the favor for the people who helped me, by helping.”

Maitland admits he is not sure why there has been

such a surge in young volunteers, but, for him, there is still more to do.

“We need to step up our game,” Maitland said. “We need to volunteer more and be more involved in the community instead of staying home and playing video games and doing something that’s not productive when you could be out helping other people.”

Maitland said his generation wants to give back to the community so they can make it a better place.

“When we have kids, they can grow up in a better place,” Maitland said.

“Maybe they’ll be more fortunate and more giving in the community because we set an example for them. There are a lot of people in needs and the more people that volunteer, the more people you’re going to be able to help.”

Bluefield High School Teacher and Key Club Sponsor and Advisor Sherry Desjardins said she is excited and proud of Key Club for the work its students do.

“They are the finest group of students I’ve come across,” Desjardins said.

“Each one has a very kind and open heart.”

Desjardins said the relatively young club has risen to the occasion and attained six awards including the coveted Service Award.

“These are the kids you wish you had a classroom full of,” Desjardins said. “I think it can change images of young people. Sometimes, some people think young people are always on their cell phones and aren’t as actively involved or caring, but this can change that image and for those kids that are doing it, it can be a stepping stone for better things.”

After their visit to the Union Mission, the Bluefield High school Key Club agreed to serve the evening meals on the first Monday of every month.

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