Lines drawn ahead of the special legislative session

The West Virginia Weakly Reader for Saturday, September 14, 2024

Sep 14, 2024

This weekend’s Weakly Reader is coming to you from Martinsburg, where your host is deep into a book that explains a lot about West Virginians.

It’s about the people who eventually came to be known as the Scotch-Irish, whose culture came to dominate the Central Appalachian region.

If you’re interested, it’s George MacDonald Fraser’s The Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers. It’s a history of the lawless frontier between England and Scotland and the families that dominated the region during the reiver age.

Their surnames are likely familiar. The “riding clans,” as they were known, included Armstrongs, Bells, Grahams, Halls, Johnstons and Lowthers. They were a hard, ungovernable people, which brings me to our lede this weekend — Gov. Jim Justice’s call for a special legislative session.

The call tops our agenda.

Let’s get to it.

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The West Virginia Weakly Reader (sources cited in the footnotes)

🏛️ Gov. Justice is bringing lawmakers back to the Capitol at the end of the month. On Monday, he used a press release and issued a video announcement to make the special session call for September 30, saying “I promised you I’d stand up and fight like crazy for you and try to get another 5% tax cut for you. And, I promised you I would try to help out with child care and absolutely try to get our tax break across the finish line.”1 However, lawmakers have questions about Justice’s tax cut proposal.2 The candidates for governor do, too.3 And the legislature’s minority Democrats say Justice’s child care tax credit proposal is nice but not enough.4 Gov. Justice announced the special session as West Virginia lawmakers held legislative interim meetings near Dave’s hometown, in Parkersburg this week.

🤔 One of those lawmakers with questions is frequent Justice antagonist Sen. Eric Tarr (R-Putnam). Tarr is the chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee. He told Charleston’s WCHS radio on Thursday that Justice’s tax cut proposal would be “persona non grata” if it’s not accompanied by offsetting spending cuts.5 Gov. Justice said he is willing to discuss spending cuts when he was asked about the potential on Wednesday.6 But both sides seem to want the other to make the first move. Ought to be fun to watch.

💸Just when you thought we could get through the week without The Greenbrier Hotel making news, WVMetroNews posted a story Friday morning about a new lien levied against the hotel over unpaid sales taxes. According to public records filed in Greenbrier County this week, the state Tax Division has hit the hotel with an additional penalty of $403,647, bringing the total in delinquent sales taxes to more than $3 million.7

🗣️ Looks like the major party candidates for governor are gearing up to debate each other before the November election. Democratic candidate and Huntington Mayor Steve Williams got things rolling on Thursday when he issued a challenge to Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, whose campaign has accepted.8 On Friday, Morrisey told Morgantown’s WAJR radio, “Absolutely. I look forward to it. There will be a debate."9 No date has been set — and Libertarian candidate, Buchannon attorney Erika Kolenich, is angling to get on the debate stage with Williams and Morrisey.

😧 Flags are flying at half-staff at the state Capitol and in Greenbrier County today in honor of the late Betty Crookshanks.10 Crookshanks served in the West Virginia House of Delegates from 1977 to 1988. She passed away last week.

⛏️ The Charleston Gazette-Mail dug into records kept by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and found the mine where 33-year-old Gary Chapman died a week ago Friday had been issued more than 2,000 health and safety fines since 2019, more than 400 of them designated as “Significant and Substantial.”11 The mine near Sharples in Logan County is controlled by Arch Resources. Two other workers have died at Arch-controlled mines since August 5, including 57-year-old William “Joe” Crandall. He died while working at a mine in Taylor County last month.

🗳️ West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner traveled to Washington, D.C. this week. He was among top state election officials who testified during a contentious congressional hearing on the challenges they face as November approaches.12 Warner called a letter released by a group former intelligence officials ahead of the 2020 election as “the worst election interference in American history.” He told the Republican-led House Administration Committee that the group of 51 intelligence experts “conducted a psychological operation against America and caused us to believe that Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation.”13 Others on the panel argued that a “trend of harassment aimed at election workers is one of the gravest threats to American elections today.”

🏫 Inside Higher Ed published a piece this week by former Charleston Gazette-Mail reporter Ryan Quinn. He visited the campus of West Virginia University in Morgantown and found pervasive uncertainty a year after WVU administrators imposed drastic cuts, eliminating more than 140 faculty positions and 28 academic programs.14

🚸 State Schools Superintendent Michell Blatt said this week that “key indicators are trending in a positive direction” following disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. She presented the results from West Virginia’s Balanced Scorecard during Wednesday’s meeting of the state Board of Education.15 She said math and English scores are up and chronic absenteeism is down.

🎒 It’s been a week for multiple county school districts around West Virgnia. Online threats led to some anxious moments. In Hancock County, schools were closed on Wednesday and a sixth grade student was charged with making terroristic threats.16 Security was beefed up at schools in Kanawha and Cabell Counties.17 In the Eastern Panhandle, the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department said the threats were not credible but that patrols were increased around schools. In neighboring Jefferson County, Superintendent Dr. Chuck Bishop issued a statement saying “These situations arose from a threat that originated in Alabama and made its way to our community. The 13- and 14-year-old students in that case have been arrested." 18 Governor Justice issued a press release late Thursday afternoon, saying more than 45 West Virginia schools received threats of violence. He’s put the West Virginia Fusion Center in charge of coordinating the investigations that have been launched.19

🗞️ After more than 100 years, Morgantown’s main newspaper is passing out of the hands of the Greer/Raese family. The Dominion Post is being sold to Wheeling-based Ogden Newspapers. Owned by the Nutting family, Ogden controls dozens of daily and weekly papers across 17 states. The deal is expected to close at the end of the month, making The Dominion Post the ninth West Virginia newspaper controlled by Ogden.20

👨‍⚖️ Longtime Logan County Magistrate Dwight Williamson is stepping down. Williamson announced his decision to retire in his column published in several newspapers owned by Huntington-based HD Media. Williamson said his decision to retire when his term expires at the end of the year is part of an agreement with the West Virginia Ethics Commission.21 He had faced an ethics complaint over a column in which he called for the death penalty for those caught dealing deadly illegal drugs in West Virginia.22 The agreement must still be approved by the State Supreme Court.

⚖️ Sentencing for former Williamson Mayor Charles Hatfield has been rescheduled. Hatfield had been set to be sentenced on Friday, but that’s now been put off until December 5 at the federal courthouse in Charleston.23 Hatfield pleaded guilty in May to embezzlement charges linked to his time as the CEO of the former Williamson Memorial Hospital.

😥 West Virginia State University’s Thursday night home football opener against Carson-Newman was delayed a day to allow both teams to attend a private vigil for a WVSU player who was fatally shot Wednesday night. 21-year-old Jyilek Zyiare Harrington previously played for Carson-Newman. The university says his death at the Patriot at Greenbrier apartment complex is being investigated as a home invasion. Harrington played linebacker for the Yellow Jackets. WVSU described him as a leader on campus and in the community, saying he created a GoFundMe each Christmas to support less fortunate kids and families.24

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