Sex Pervs Are Marshall...

I hate to admit that until I got "The Dog Dailed 911," a compliation of documents uncovered by the smoking gun, I completely missed this story about the Marshall Cheerleading Squad:

JUNE 23--A West Virginia coed who landed a cheerleading scholarship to Marshall University is suing the school for discrimination, claiming that she was subjected to a "pervasive environment of sexual harassment" and abuse at the hands of male members of the squad who allegedly exposed themselves, fondled female team members, and even subjected some women to a so-called teabagging. In an explicit June 13 Circuit Court complaint filed in Kanawha County, the cheerleader--identified only as "K.C."--alleges that male cheerleaders engaged in a wide variety of improper behavior and that the team's male captain exposed himself to her and "rubbed his testicles on the head and face of cheerleaders." The woman, who enrolled at Marshall last year, also charges that the team's coaching staff did nothing to stop the harassment and even allowed the male squad members to call cheers by sexually tinged names such as "Bearded Clam [vagina]" and "String of Pearls [ejaculation]." The lawsuit, a copy of which you'll find below, does not specify monetary damages. Full Story.

New Statewide Teaching Award

Rocket Boys teacher Freida J. Riley will have a new statewide award recognizing the best teacher in WV named for her.

Riley, a graduate of Concord University which already honors her with a scholarship, was indentified as key to the development of the "Rocket Boys" as a scientific endevor and to their future academic and professional careers.

"a new state award recognizing an outstanding West Virginia teacher will be launched beginning next year to coincide with the annual October Sky Festival in McDowell County, and the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik." Full Story.

A WV University Wins a National Title

While many of us, including myself, will be stapled to the couch watching WVU throtle the Ramblin' Wreck, here is a story about West Virginia's smallest public university winning a national title on an academic field of battle versus many larger schools:

"Concord University won the Phi Alpha Delta Prelaw Fraternity’s National Mock Trial Competition in Washington, D.C., on November 10 through the 12, defeating the University of Arizona in the finals. In addition, it won “Outstanding Defense Team” for the third year in a row. " Full Story

While smacking around a bunch of southern techies on the football field will make us all feel good, it is victories on the intelectual fields that provide one more stone in the foundation of a new West Virginia.

BTW, if WVU or Marshall had won, it would have been in every paper in the state. Because it happened at a small, academically focused public university (Division II on less) it barely made a blip.

As a professional academic, and former employee of said institution, I can say that Concord remains one of the best kept secrets of West Virginia.

Read this Blog

It is rare that you get a blog that is funny, hardhitting and so very pro-West Virginian as The Fifth Column written largely by "Hippy Killer".

Plus it makes ragular attacks on Don Blankenship, so extra double bouns points right there.

Just check out this recent entry on the real difference between WV's economy and other state's experiences with big business.

WV: #1 Judical Hellhole, and Proud of It

The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) has listed West Virginia as America’s #1 judicial “hellhole,” and I’m damn proud of it. The ATRA is little more than a front for narrow-minded defenders of corporate America and coordinates approximately 40 state “tort reform” (i.e. corporate protection) coalitions.

It is no surprise that the ATRA is partially funded by that paranoid paragon of extreme conservative viewpoints, Richard Mellon Scaife.

This is the same Scaife who:

• Evaded the weak laws at the time to donate nearly $1 Million dollars to Nixon’s re-election campaign
• Who funded the “investigation” (read smear campaign) that lead to the ridiculous impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton.
• Who funded the campaigns of the borderline evil and wholly laughable Rick “Frothy Mix” Santorum.
• And many other ultra conservative causes.

Of course, that will not be reported in our local media or even regionally. All you will hear is that WV is an awful place for business, which may be somewhat true, but not due to these types of lawsuits. Rather, West Virginia should be lauded, and proudly ranked number one, for having juries that can see when one of their own is being screwed by Big Business, the Government or both.

It is just one more example of how local news is not slanted left or right, but completely into the pocket of corporate America. And waterskiing squirrels.

Economic Development? Not for Everybody

In an editorial in today’s Charleston Daily Mail the massive upgrades to AEP facilities in Putnam and Mason County and the Toyoda plant expansion in Putnam County are emblematic of economic progress in the State of West Virginia. Indeed, the article likens news of the investment to “cool water in the desert.”

This is a classic misunderstanding of how West Virginal really works.

You see, the Charleston / Huntington corridor and Mason County are not the economic deserts of West Virginia. Are they the hot development areas of Northern Virginia or Atlanta? Of course not, but most WV communities would sacrifice the residents of the local animal shelter to have the economies of these areas.

If you want to see real economic deserts, come take a look at Williamson, or Bluefield, or Welch.

This editorial just reinforces the notion that most people in our state think that WV’s southern border ends at Beckley. In fact, I have heard public officals in Southern WV claim that the Economic Development office in Charleston has actively discourage small business owners from opening business in places such as Bluefield. (Of course, many northern West Virginians think Charleston is in Southern WV. Puleeze.)

I have suggested, tongue only half way in cheek, that southern WV should auction itself off to another state. Surely, some state out there needs a slightly larger population for an additional Congressional seat, in exchange for real economic investment? Or maybe, as a protest, it should secede from the U.S., declare war on the U.S., and immediately surrender and apply for economic aid as a “defeated” country.(Much like the Conch Republic tried some years ago.) I am sure we could do more with the tens (hundreds?) of billions wasted in Iraq than the likes of Halliburton have.

Sago Report Postponed; (get my judgement today)

Though it has not been officially released, the state report on the Sago mine explosion, leaked to the AP, cites lightning as the primary cause of the blast, generating a force five times what seals were able to withstand.

Unfortunately, this may lead some to believe that this relieves the non-union company, International Coal Group (ICG), of responsibility. Not so. Disasters will happen, especially those that are of the natural variety and very likely will be beyond our control. However, the way in which we respond to an event, or better still prepare for its eventuality is well within our control.

So how did ICG prepare and respond?

“Ken Ward, Jr., in a January 3, 2006 story in the Charleston Gazette, "Sago mine has history of roof falls", wrote that the most recent MSHA inspections, from early October to late December, resulted in 46 citations and three orders, 18 of which were “serious and substantial.” (S&S) Violations include failure to follow the approved roof control and mine ventilation plans and problems concerning emergency escapeways and required pre-shift safety examinations. From early July to late September, MSHA found 70 violations, 42 of which were S&S. MSHA found 52 violations from April to June, of which 31were S&S.

Ward explains, "These “S&S” violations are those that MSHA believes are likely to cause an accident that would seriously injure a miner."

Davitt McAteer, MSHA chief during the Clinton administration told Ward, "The numbers don’t sound good....[they are] sufficiently high that it should tip off management that there is something amiss here. For a small operation, that is a significant number of violations.” McAteer said the roof fall frequency “suggests that the roof is bad and that the support system is not meeting the needs of the roof.” [link]

Ken Ward, Jr., wrote in a January 15, 2006 story entitled Chaos marred critical early hours after blast, that the company did not call a specialized mine rescue crew until 8:04 a.m. — more than 90 minutes after the blast. The company notified the federal Mine safety and Health Administration at 8:30 a.m. The company said it started its calls at 7:40. MSHA records two calls at 8:10 to personnel who were out of town due to the holiday. MSHA arrived on site at approximately 10:30 a.m. The first rescue crew arrived ten minutes later.” [link]

ICG was not prepared and responded in a criminally slow way, possibly robbing the miners of their only reasonable chance for rescue. Then again, if the federal government had real, aggressive people in charge of MSHA instead of industry insiders this might have been prevented.

I can’t wait for the civil trials to start so that we the people can give these creeps at least a small measure of what they deserve.

Full release of the report is being delayed due to a request by victims' families for more information.

How to Lower the Gas Tax

“West Virginia motorists may be crossing the border to fill up their gas tanks next year. State tax commissioner Virgil Helton announced Wednesday that one of the state's motor fuel taxes will jump four and a half cents to eleven cents a gallon January first. That means motorists will be paying just shy of 50 cents per gallon in both state and federal taxes. The hike would make West Virginia eleventh in the nation for total gas taxes, up from 18th.” (Link)

It would be easy to whine about a higher gas tax (and it certainly is regressive, hurting the poor more than the better off) but what is a poor state to do?

Here are a few ideas:

1. Highway tolls – Those of you who live in areas other than south central WV may protest, but we’ve paid tolls for the WV turnpike since 1954, first to pay for the road itself, then to pay for its upkeep and for roads elsewhere in the state. It is a little unfair to expect southern West Virginias to pay $7.50 for a trip (and bear a larger burden of interstate upkeep) to Charleston and interstate travel to be free for all other destinations. I say reasonable tolls between Morgantown and Charleston, and between Huntington and Charleston could be used to lower the gas tax for everyone.
2. Tax major users – Since they do the most damage, have a road service charge added to owners of heavy commercial vehicles.

What are your ideas?

West Virginia is Calling (pick up)

It looks like WV will be getting a new advertising campaign to coinside with the release of “We Are Marshall.”

The campaign will be called “West Virginia is Calling” and will target markets in OH, WV, VA, NC, DC and MD.

Are we calling:

collect?
you out?
to say I love you?
me home? (yes)
birds?
pigs?
yo mama ugly?

This is begging for satire.

WV in the Movies

According to IMDb, the following is a complete listing of movies that fall under their keyword heading of "West Virginia" (number to the right are the ratings out of 10 from IMDb members):

1. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) 8.6/10
2. The Night of the Hunter (1955) 8.2/10
3. The Big Clock (1948) 7.8/10
4. Matewan (1987) 7.7/10
5. October Sky (1999) 7.6/10
6. Medium Cool (1969) 7.3/10
7. Hawkins on Murder (1973) (TV) 6.9/10
8. When Willie Comes Marching Home (1950) 6.6/10
9. Silent Hill (2006) 6.5/10
10. The Mothman Prophecies (2002) 6.4/10
11. Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933) 6.2/10
12. Gods and Generals (2003) 5.9/10
13. West Virginia, the State Beautiful(1929) 5.7/10
14. Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004)
15. Special Investigations: Mothman (1996)(V)3.1/10
16. Princess of the Dark (1917)
17. Out of the Storm (2001)
18. We Are Marshall (2006)
19. Crossing Time: The Wheeling Suspension Bridge (2002) (TV)
20. Correct Change (2002)

I am not familiar with all of them, and of those I have seen, I'd put Matewan #1, Lambs #2, October Sky #3 and Gods and Generals in a vat of boiling acid.

I am sure We Are Marshall will crack the top 4 in short order.

I Weep for the Future....

This video was taken at large private university around the last Congressional election.



Look, I was a college student not too long ago, and I and my friends were all reasonably informed about public affairs and we voted.

If these self-indulgent twits can't be bothered to inform themselves and vote when they are students, what will happen when they work 40+ hours weeks and have a family?

While youth maybe wasted on the young, idiocy rarely is.

OPEN THREAD-I Should Have Been Home Yesterday

For those of you not currently living in WV, like me, use the comments link to tell me what you miss most about living there.

We Are ALL Marshall . . .At least for one day

All joking aside, the Marshall plane crash is of course one of the saddest events in American sports. I cannot begin to imagine how it felt to be a student, professor, or family member in Huntington on that awful day. The rise of that program after such an event is a tribute to the power of sports to transcend itself and to the determination of the greater West Virginia Family.

The We Are Marshall Trailer:

Pat White Makes Fun of the Pitt Panther "Growl"

WV not as bad as you might Think

West Virginia is not nearly as bad as you might think

When you grow up in a very rural, backward area of the Mountain State, you get a skewed view of what being a West Virginian means.

I come from a town so bereft of enlightenment that it once voted down an essentially free public library. It was so economically depressed that my family, which by any other standard would have been considered merely stable working class, was considered "wealthy" because we could speak well, had good manners and had decent clothes because my parents didn't blow their money on Jim Beam, muscle cars and over priced hunting equipment. The community values were so out-of-whack that our neighbor and my uncle, who raised at least a hundred chickens for cock fighting, made sure that is best birds had indoor air conditioning before his family did.

So you might imagine that I grew up with a low opinion of what West Virginia could be, unil I went to WVU and got a better idea of what was possible and that not everyone in our state was backward or ignorant.

But until you live outside the state as an adult, you really can't appreciate the positives of our state.

1. Our DVM really isn’t that bad. Having recently moved to OH I had to deal with their “BMV.” I had to register my car ($12.50) at one building (in Youngstown, decorated in the Late American Slum period), then drive 10 blocks to pick up my new plates ($55.00), then drive 10 miles to take a driving test, that drive back 10 miles to the previous office to get my drivers license ($27.50). Back home in Mercer County, I could have done all of that in one building for less money. Did I mention that these offices did not accept bank cards? Barbarians.

2. Our public school funding, while flawed, isn’t as awful as Ohio, which is using WV as a model for reforming their own system. In the OH, school districts are tiny, based on towns, villiages, cities and townships, and over reliant on periodic tax levies so that exceedingly poor districts and extremely wealthy district exist side by side with no mechanism for the redistribution of funds.

3. There are parts of OH that will match any part of WV for absence of civilization or abundance of ignorance, yet it is WV which has the bad reputation. While there are still plenty of yahoos who wave the Confederate flag in good ole’ WV, in OH I have seen at least two public high schools use it as their official athletic logo. This is something that I feel confident in stating would never happen in WV or in most points south.

4. Nor have we had as crooked a governor as Ohio currently has since Shelley Moore Capito’s daddy was in office. From Wikipedia:

“Taft was elected governor of Ohio in 1998, defeating Democrat Lee Fisher 50-45 percent, and was reelected in 2002, defeating Democrat Tim Hagan 58-38 percent. Then in 1999, Taft issued an executive order mandating four hours of ethics training for his cabinet directors, assistant cabinet directors, and senior staff every two years. During his tenure, Taft offered seats in the governor’s box at The Ohio State University football games and invitations to the governor’s mansion in exchange for secret contributions to the Ohio Republican Party. In the wake of convictions for ethics violations (see "Criminal charges", below), Gov. Taft's approval rating bottomed out at 6.5%, according to a late November, 2005 poll by Zogby, giving him quite possibly the lowest polled approval rating ever by a United States politician.[2] A SurveyUSA poll that same month gave Taft a rating of 18%. A late-2005 article in Time Magazine named him as one of the three worst governors in the country.

On August 17, 2005, Taft was charged with four criminal misdemeanors stemming from his failure to disclose golf outings paid for by lobbyists, as well as some undisclosed gifts. The Associated Press reported the total value of the undisclosed gifts as about US$5,800; they included:

• book and artwork from the consulate general of the People’s Republic of China worth $100
• a book, autographed football and pottery from then-Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge valued at $128
• a photograph and framed medal from the Defense Supply Center worth $85
• a $125 framed photograph from Murphy Beading Designer Portraits of Zanesville
• an $87 stuffed bear from Meigs County commissioners
• a portfolio and clothing worth $119 from the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.

This was the first time an Ohio governor has ever been charged with a crime while in office.”

5. Finally, Ohio State Sucks.

WVU's Slaton Featured in "The Onion"

From the Onion:

Heisman Candidate Promises Voters Free Health Care, Lower Taxes
November 9, 2006 | Onion Sports


MORGANTOWN, WV—With his stock falling and his projected share of the vote expected to be smaller with every passing week, Steve Slaton (RB-West Virginia) has begun making extravagant promises late in his Heisman campaign. "A vote for me is not only a vote for a gutsy all-purpose back who can run, catch, and block, but for free health care for all Americans, greater access to continuing education to those who qualify, and lower taxes for the American middle class," Slaton said Tuesday in an announcement approved by West Virginia's sports-information director. "Troy Smith may be a fast quarterback with a rocket arm, but he does not share your interests and does not believe in distributing the wealth as well as he distributes the ball." Heisman voters remain unmoved, saying that Slaton's two recent fumbles against Louisville prove that he is weak on national ball security.

Link

Little Known Facts About West Virginia Media Holdings

From Wikipedia:

"West Virginia Media Holdings is a media chain in West Virginia. It owns television stations in each of the four main media markets in the state, as well as a weekly newspaper.

The group owns WOWK in Huntington, West Virginia, WVNS-TV in Beckley, West Virginia, and WTRF in Wheeling, West Virginia, which are all affiliated with the CBS network, and WBOY in Clarksburg, West Virginia which is affiliated with NBC. It also owns the State Journal weekly newspaper."

"The largest private investor in the company is Bray Cary. Cary was formerly an executive with NASCAR, and was responsible for its television contract, and was also involved in syndication of college basketball games. The company was, however, forced to reveal that the bulk of its funding came from the endowment of West Virginia University and that many state political figures that the stations covered were also investors in the company."

So, could it be that the WVU Foundation has funded its own media outlet that is really just a mouthpiece for the politicians who approve WVU's funding?

Note to WOWK: You're Not Helping

The natural beauty of West VIrginia is a well known feature, also most cliche, of our state. All too often many of our own treat WV as their personal landfill. However, it comes to a new level when a TV station allows the kind of pollution and garbage to exist on or near their facilities as shown in this short video:

A Three Way Race / Fist Fight

The return of traditional WV politics...

At a recent campaign event for the office of Lincoln County, WV Sheriff, the Independant candidate (a male) took offence at something the female democratic candidate said. Natually he then punched her in public. He was then arrested by the Republican canadiate, who we gather is a serving law enforcement officer.

West Virginia University for Sale

Fresh off the rumor mill, Take Me Home has learned from a source inside West Virginia University that the “fix” may already be in for the next President of WVU. The only problem is that he may not be qualified what so ever.

The insider claims that Milan Puskar, chemical tycoon and source of the largest single gift in WVU’s history ($20 million), is pushing to name the successor to David Hardesty who announced his intent to retire back in August.

According to the source, the unnamed candidate has no experience in academia or in the management of large institutions higher education.

While I have no problem with donors getting buildings, stadiums, scholarships or much anything else named after them, the idea that the Presidency of West Virginia’s flagship institution is up for sale is an indicator of a new level of corruption in West Virginia; and that is saying something.

West Virginia Education: Failing to Help the Most Needy

It was recently reported by a study from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute's entitled "How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children?" and based on the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress scores and Advanced Placement testing data that West Virginia scored a “D-“ when it came to educating our poorest and most needy children.

This is of course absolutely no shock.

You can also bank on the idea that while hands will wring and protest lodged against the study itself, nothing will be done about it.

After all, West Virginia is a state that despite being the home of many poor rural student would be the first person in their family to go to college, designed a “scholarship” program to reward those who already had a great deal going for them.

I write of course of the PROMISE Scholarship program, a program to provide in state students, who reach a certain level on the various sections of the ACT or SAT test and leave high school with a 3.0 GPA in core academic subjects. The PROMISE was presented as a way to reward “good” students.

It is nothing but bunk that is little more than a back door tax cut for the upper middle class.

In his many comments on the subject, former Governor Bob Wise implied three major goals for the Promise Scholarship: Reward good students who “work hard and play by the rules,” reduce student loan burden, and keep West Virginia students in state after graduation.

Does the Promise reward good students? Both the ACT and College Board have issued statements against the use of the test as a benchmark for scholarship. While the tests are particularly good at the extremes of the scale, and therefore very useful tools in determining English and math class placement, the fact is that the scoring system can vary greatly with out any real measurable difference in academic ability. In fact, the SAT can vary as much as 125 points and the ACT by 1.43 to 2.20 points. While this variance represents no real difference in ability, it can result in a difference of thousands of dollars in scholarships. I believe that we do a disservice to both the ACT and the College Board and a greater disservice to the people of West Virginia when we misuse these tests for purposes for which they where not intended and are ill-suited. The Promise has operated as a poorly constructed fishing net, allowing many quality students to go unrewarded.

Does the Promise reduce loan debt? Certainly for those students who receive the scholarship, but that begs the question; what type of student receives the scholarship?
While there is some doubt about their ability to predict overall academic ability, the ACT and SAT can highlight certain educational disparities and level of preparedness. Both tests acknowledge that there is a direct correlation between family income and test score. Therefore it may seem that granting scholarships on the basis of these financial disparities, especially in a state so very poor, is a little misguided. For example, let us look at Webster County, which has the lowest per capita income in West Virginia, according the West Virginia Bureau of Employment Programs. Individuals there earn an average of $13,183 per year. (Per Capita Income or PCI) Only 9.67% of 2001 Webster County high school graduates were granted a Promise Scholarship. In the state’s wealthiest county, Kanawha ($27,508, PCI) 22.4% of the students received a Promise Scholarship. Do we really believe the kids in Charleston are twice as smart than those in Upper Glade? Or is it that those who live in the State Capitol have twice the advantages of those who live in a poor rural county? Instead of rewarding students for great achievement in a fair determination of relative ability and commitment, we are in effect punishing children for not being as fortunate as others.

We do know what type of student needs to take a loan; typically those from poor, working and lower middle-class families who are not poor enough to qualify for state and federal grants. According to Figure 1 these are the types of families least likely to receive a Promise Scholarship. We may have to wait a few more years for definitive proof, to determine the effect on loan burden, but there are doubts so long as those most likely to earn a scholarship are the ones least like to need a loan.

The new individual test score requirements for the Promise, which requires not only a 21 ACT composite, but also a 20 on all subject tests will exacerbate the problems of income disparity. With a statewide average of only a little over 16 on the Math section of the ACT it is unlikely that the promise will be in the grasp of the typical and otherwise deserving West Virginia high school senior. It cannot be ignored that even in the counties with the best Promise award rate, only about 1/3 are gaining any benefit from the program.

Finally a consideration for the third goal of the promise; to keep our students in West Virginia after graduation. For seven years I had the privilege of teaching about 50 of the state’s best and brightest high school students at a weeklong seminar. I always asked how many wished to stay in state after college and a strong majority always raises their hand. When I ask how think they must leave to find a career, another vast majority appears.

Our students do not want to leave this most beautiful and peaceful of states, but they often find themselves forced to do so. While other states have found success in retaining graduates by simply enticing them to remain in state for college, those states possessed a greater, more diverse economic base than West Virginia. I am afraid that due to the continued lack of professional and technology based jobs in West Virginia, the Promise will become a free job training program for our sister states.

While this is not the venue for discussing West Virginia’s economic development, it is a place to acknowledge that while the goals of the Promise are laudable, the only responsible question is if the current program matrix is actually doing the job we need it to do. I would argue that this is not the case and that the program, like most young efforts at social policy, needs considerable upgrading. In order to affect the former Governor’s goal in a more efficient and more socially just way, I would suggest the following: Make the Promise and West Virginia Higher Education Grant Program one unified program: the WV Promise Grant Program if you will.

Grant tuition and regular fees to any WV high school graduate with at least a 3.0 high school GPA in core courses, who then enrolls in a West Virginia college, university or community college. Private colleges would participate much as they do now. This will hopefully correct the problem of income disparity attached to the SAT and ACT.

If students stay in West Virginia up to two years after graduation (with an exemption for graduate or professional school) then the grant will remain just that. However if the student should leave the state in that time, the grant will become a loan to be repaid with a reasonable rate of interest. The combined, but not reduced budgets of the Promise and West Virginia Higher Education Grant Program would be used to make interest payments on the loans (as opposed to paying for the entire program “up front”) only having to pay full tuition and fees if the student completes all program requirements. Those that move out of state will continue to help their home state by repaying the program. The requirement to stay in state for two years will create a base population, educated and expectant, that will demand economic development and offer a ready made and talented workforce.

It should be stressed that these suggestions are just that. It would be the height of arrogance to assume that the answers to such a complicated issue lay with the confines of one mind, or even one isolated group. The best solutions are inspired by dynamic interactions of diverse stakeholders. I am firm in my conviction that should such a discussion take place that we can build a socially responsible program that will make college an option for all of our students and be a model for the rest of our country.

Sources:
SAT Factsheet, National Center for Fair and Open Testing, http://www.fairtest.org/facts/satfact.htm

ACT Factsheet, National Center for Fair and Open Testing, http://www.fairtest.org/facts/act.html

West Virginia County Profiles, WV Bureau of Employment Programs, http://www.state.wv.us/bep/lmi/cntyprof/

County Boards of Education Public School Headcount Enrollment by Grade 2000-01, West Virginia Department of Education, http://wvde.state.wv.us/

Total Awarded Applicants by County of High School and High School, 7/8/2002, WV Higher Education Policy Commission, http://www.hepc.wvnet.edu/

Bridge Day Death

From the Associated Press, submitted by Jeff Webb:

FAYETTEVILLE, West Virginia (AP) -- Thousands of people watched a parachutist jump to his death from a bridge during a festival Saturday when his chute opened too late, a sheriff said.

Brian Lee Schubert, 66, died of injuries suffered when he hit the water 876 feet below the New River Gorge Bridge during West Virginia's annual Bridge Day festival, said Fayette County Sheriff Bill Laird.

Schubert, from Alta Loma, California, had been well known in the sport of BASE jumping since 1966, when he and a friend became the first people to jump from El Capitan, a nearly 3,000-foot-tall rock formation, in California's Yosemite National Park.

The sport's acronym stands for the places jumpers usually leap from: buildings, antennae, spans and earth.

Lew Whitener, a newspaper photographer covering the annual Bridge Day festival for the Register-Herald of Beckley, said it appeared Schubert's chute didn't start to open until he was about 25 feet above the water. The crowd gave a collective gasp, he said.

"It was everybody kind of held their breath then an eerie silence afterward. Everybody kind of looked at each other and said 'Wow,"' Whitener said.

A large rock obscured the crowd's view of the man's body hitting the water, Whitener said.

The fatality is the first since 1987 at Bridge Day, a popular event that typically draws an estimated 100,000 spectators and about 400 parachutists to the southern part of the state.

For one day a year, the National Park Service allows people to parachute off the world's second largest single-span bridge to the national river below. The bridge, a well-known icon in West Virginia, is featured on the back of the state's quarter.

To qualify to jump off the bridge, applicants must have skydived at least 50 times.

Jumping at the festival continued after Schubert's body was recovered and taken to a funeral home. Laird said officials allowed it because weather didn't appear to be a factor in the accident. There were 804 separate jumps Saturday, officials said.

"No measurable winds or anything would appear to have contributed to adverse conditions making this any more dangerous than base jumping would ordinarily be," Laird said.

Mathis Reimann, who jumped within an hour after the accident, said Schubert's death made him think about safety.

"It's a dangerous sport and makes it clear that you really have to be careful," said Reimann, who lives in Michigan.

Since 1981, there have been at least 100 BASE jump fatalities around the world, according to the World BASE Fatality List, a Web site maintained by a BASE jumper.

New Fiction from WV Author on the Sex Industry

from the Herald-mail.com:

West Virginia woman weaves dark tale of the sex industry

By CHRIS COPLEY chrisc@herald-mail.com

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. — Priscilla A. Rodd's new book, "Surviving Mae West," is not for everyone.

"I tend to fall on the frank side of things," Rodd said, over coffee at a tiny table at the Lost Dog in Shepherdstown. "There's room for what people might consider graphic."

"Surviving Mae West" tells the story of Tess, a 20-year-old West Virginia woman who suffers a sexual assault after her first year of college and goes into an emotional tailspin. She doesn't tell her parents, and the resulting rift drives Tess out of the house to New York, where she finds work in the sex industry.

Tess tells her story in journal entries that are spare, funny, insightful, raw, frank. About a favorite client, Tess writes, "I want clothes. How cool for a man to know your taste and size, and select the perfect dress for you to wear? I know I sound disgustingly Pretty Woman."

About her workplace, a house of prostitution, Tess writes, "Each room is equipped with a powerful shower you can use before and after The Dirty Deed. And one room sports a bidet, which I love. A tower of safe sex spiraling to the sky."
In her private journal, Tess talks about her customers, the acts she performs with them. She discusses body parts. She uses frequent strong language. Her entries are graphic but not pornographic. She is, after all, talking about her ordinary, day-to-day work routine.

"This book is rated R," Rodd said. "(Working in the sex industry) is a very removed existence from the rest of the world."

When she began writing the book, Rodd, 32, of Charles Town, W.Va., followed the dictum: "Write about what you know." So she used her own history. When she was younger, she worked as a cocktail waitress in a strip club in New Orleans. She got to know strippers. She met others in the sex industry.

"I had a friend who was a nude housekeeper — that's more common than you think," she said. "I was fascinated by this world I was always on the fringe of."

Rodd said she felt safe dipping her toes into the world of the sex industry. For her, it was an adventure, not a dead end.

"Some women were 18 and were there for a few months and then gone. Some were there for the long haul, bodies not in their peak form," she said. "Coming from a strong family, I always felt my stay in that world was temporary."

Rodd's parents are Quaker. She was home-schooled until sixth grade. Her parents have always put their faith into action. Mom is an environmental activist. Dad clerks for West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Larry Starcher.

Now Rodd has a family of her own. Husband Deane Kern is a seventh-grade English teacher in Loudoun County, Va.; he also is a writer. They have two sons, Loki, 3, and Zion, 1.

Rodd said she has a few goals for "Surviving Mae West." For one thing, she wanted the book to offer a model for people who suffer following trauma.

"I would ultimately hope that maybe (military) veterans would read this and see themselves in it," Rodd said. "Tess has symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. It doesn't have to be sexual — that was important for me as a writer. Trauma is trauma. I wanted to speak to their experiences, and to respect people with PTSD."
But another goal of the book was to show a young woman exploring her life.

"With men, it's different. You can bike cross-country or hitchhike on railroad tracks. But with women, it's more dangerous," Rodd said. "If you want to be an adventurous young woman, what can you do? Stripping is one way to do that. It's bizarre, but it's safer to work in a strip club than to bike cross-country, if you're a girl."

"Surviving Mae West" is available at Walden Books in Martinsburg (W.Va.) Mall and Four Seasons Books in Shepherdstown, or can be ordered online at wvupress.com for $12.

If you go ...
Priscilla Rodd will meet fans and sign books at the second annual West Virginia Book Faire, a writers conference and book fair, on Friday, Nov. 3, and Saturday, Nov. 4, in downtown Martinsburg, W.Va. There will be book discussion groups, authors talking about their books, writing workshops, children's events, and an authors dinner. There is a fee to attend some events. For more information, go to www.wvbooks.org.

Wild and Wonderful - FOREVER!

When ever I have returned to West Virginia by car it is often been an emotional event to see the “West Virginia Wild and Wonderful” sign stretching out over the highway. More than our state flag those signs, letting me know that I had come home, were a touchstone to all that is good about the home state.

But not anymore.

When you come into our great state you get an abomination that claims that West Virginia is “Open for Business”; just like prostitutes everywhere. (Would it be more accurate if they said "Owned by Business"?)

But you can help change that.

To voice your outrage at this silly and poorly thought out PR nightmare, sign this petition. Over 11,000 already have.

Read a full article here. Or an editoral here.

Get your t-shirts here.

Morgantown police crack down on sign thieves

Near the end of my first year at WVU the Arnold residence hall, at the time home to the Honors Program and most of my on – campus friends, our little society slowly degraded into a controlled debauchery; really nothing different from any other large public university dorm.

In the quest of a souvenir from their freshman days, a couple of friends, now of course pillars of the general community and faithful alumni, inform the rest of us that they had stole the street sign from in the front of the dormitory one drunken night before. They claimed that their problem now was how to get it out of the building.

We thought the sounded weird. After all a simple street sign really isn’t that big.

So we went to their room to take a look.

In their closet was said street sign.

Still attached to the steel pole it had been mounted on.

Which had a basketball size piece of concrete around the bottom.

I thought the bigger mystery was how they managed to sneak that into the dorm, up eight flights of stairs, completely drunk.

In that spirit I present this story from the Herald-Mail.com:

Morgantown police crack down on sign thieves

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- Police have one word for the people who have been pilfering signs from city streets, and it's the one on that big red octagon: STOP.

Thieves have been stealing street and traffic signs, and sometimes destroying the metal posts they're hung on, Police Chief Phil Scott said Monday.

Sign-stealing is a perennial problem in Morgantown, but Scott said it started getting worse last year, particularly in neighborhoods dominated by West Virginia University students.

"High Street is always a popular one," Scott said. "And anytime that a street name coincides with someone's last name, it's a trophy."

The problem has become so common in Sunnyside that city officials are now identifying streets with green reflective tape on utility poles.

Scott said he's had enough.

Stealing signs in residential areas could pose problems for firefighters and ambulance drivers, and create serious traffic hazards. Missing stop and one-way signs "could actually be devastating" for out-of-town drivers and lead to deadly accidents, he said.

In some states, people who removed street signs and caused accidents have been charged with manslaughter. In a 1996 Florida case, three people were found guilty in a crash that killed three people, but their convictions were overturned on appeal.

Police officers often discover stolen road signs when they enter homes and apartments in Morgantown to investigate unrelated incidents, Scott said. In the past, they've seized the signs but generally not filed charges.

That's about to change.

Anyone caught stealing or possessing a traffic or street sign will be charged with a misdemeanor, he said. It's punishable by a fine of up to $500 and jail time.

Morgantown High Choir to get Show on MTV

From tv.com:

MTV Show Choir follows the Morgantown, West Virginia, choir, who perform songs in four-part harmony, complete with elaborate costumes and choreography, throughout one competitive season. Tired of coming in second, it decides to perform modernized versions of current pop hits with new hip choreography.

It will premiere next spring. MTV also ordered eight episodes.

Eight Semi-Random Things I like about WV

Just to make it clear, I love my native state; I just detest many of its public and private leaders.

Here is a list of the 8 things / people I currently like most about West Virginia: (Why only 8? Cause the man won’t give me 10….)

• The Pride of West Virginia, the Mountaineer Marching Band
• The New River Gorge
• Morgan Spurlock
• Traditional Music (see Johnny Staats)
• The West Virginia Mine War (becasue we fought back for a change)
• The Capitol Building (but not most of the people in it...)
• West Virginia Public Radio
• Mountain Stage New Song Festival

National Record Set by Matewan Teen?

Paul McCoy, a running back Matewan, W. Va., rushed for 658 yards and scored 10 touchdowns.

Full Article

Bluefield Daily Tele-Lie?

In my most recent post I detailed how the Bluefield Daily Telegraph described Masey Energy CEO Don Blankenship as "non-political" despite his reputation and extensive evidence to the contrary. Even the New York Times got it right in a recent article about the West Virginia Supreme Court:

"Justice Benjamin, a Republican lawyer with no judicial experience, unseated a West Virginia Supreme Court justice in 2004 with the help of about $3 million in advertisements and other support from Don L. Blankenship, the chief executive officer of Massey Energy, a coal-mining company. Massey has its headquarters in Virginia, but the company says Mr. Blankenship has spent most of his life in West Virginia.

As far as Justice Starcher is concerned, “Now we have one justice who was bought by Don Blankenship.” "

I guess the Bluefield Daily Telegraph can claim that it was a typo, or maybe you have to report from New York to see how much the deep pockets of Big Coal still dictate the political culture of our state.

Full Article

Massey Coal: No Friend to West Virginia

The annual Coal Show in Bluefield, WV played host this year to the Bluefield Coal Symposium sponsored by the Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce. The “main event” was an opening address by that paragon of virtue Don Blankenship, president and CEO of Massey Energy, a division of the 9th Circle of Hell.

He apparently made a series of weird, widely inappropriate statements that the local paper quoted, but refused to comment upon. The paper in question, the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, actually called him “the man who is arguably one of the state’s most non-political figures,” apparently forgetting that he is in fact just the opposite. From his Wikipedia entry:

“He is known for his participation in politics, particularly in West Virginia and Kentucky, where Massey has substantial holdings.

In 2004, he spent millions of his own dollars campaigning against the re-election of West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals justice Warren McGraw. One ad he sponsored criticized McGraw for joining in a decision that allowed a convicted sex offender to remain on probation and also keep employment as a school custodian. That ad and the unprecedented intensity of the campaign virtually ensured Brent Benjamin's win."

(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Blankenship )


Commenting on measuring dust in coal mines, high levels of which lead to mine explosions, Blankenship said, “Dust measurement doesn’t solve problems, U.S. Technology is too busy taking dust samples and pushing wars to keep the oil flowing.”

Responding to a question about coal reserve estimates, Blankenship went way off the tracks saying it was “sad” that the nation is “willing to send children to Iraq to fight a war, but not willing to issue a (permit for) a valley fill.” (WTF?)

The article continued, "He then went on to give his opinion of the state’s political developments during the past 76 years and finished that off with his observation that West Virginia has “the lowest average income and the highest incidence of child abuse.” He said that with the state’s “gift” of abundant coal reserves, it ought to take advantage of that gift. “I don’t know how anyone can argue that we don’t need the change,” he said. "

Blankenship said the focus needs to be on “the people’s whole environment,” and not a single aspect of the environment. He said that the state government doesn’t realize that the customers of big coal companies are “the state’s customers too.”

Blankenship’s use of the Iraq war dead to further his selfish industrial goals is just mind-numbingly offensive. His compliant about the state of West Virginia’s government is ridiculous, as said government has been in the thrall of his industry; largely doing their bidding. Finally, the implication that it is “OK” to destroy the environment because the monetary benefits of the mining operation will make child abuse go away is so intellectually dishonest, that it would not pass muster in an introductory course in a junior college.

To read the full article see http://www.bdtonline.com/local/local_story_270222048.html

WV Congressman makes the Top Twenty (But not in a Good Way)

Congressional watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has released their report on the 20 most corrupt members of Congress.

Imagine our deep shock when one of West Virginia's fine congressional delegation was on the list.

Here is a little selection:

"Alan Mollohan is a twelfth-term member of Congress, representing the 1st district of West Virginia. His ethics issues stem from misusing his position to benefit himself, his family and his friends and misreporting a dramatic increase in his personal assets.

Earmarking of Funds for His Personal Benefit

Over the past 10 years, Rep. Mollohan has earmarked $369 million in federal grants to his district for 254 separate programs. Between 1997 and 2006, $250 million of that total was directed to five nonprofit organizations that Rep. Mollohan created, that are staffed by his friends, and that are the recipients of the largest earmarks from Rep. Mollohan. During the same period, top-paid employees, board members and contractors of these organizations gave at least $397,122 to Rep. Mollohan’s campaign and political action committees." (Full Report)

Of the top 20, 17 were Republicans. Again, I'm shocked, SHOCKED!

It is no supprise that creapy knuckle-draggers like Conrad Burns, Rick Santourm and Bill Frist are right at the top of the list.

Go Fighting Miners! or Towards a better higher education system.

Having spent seven years in the West Virginia Higher Education system as an administrator, like any complex system I observed a lot of inefficiencies hampering the good intentions of many talented people. However, too often I noticed how the defense of petty bureaucratic kingdoms and sacred cows took precedence over serving the students and people of West Virginia.

Yet, instead of complaining about the waste and political motivations of the creation of a commission to manage the community college system independent of the 4-year university system, or the waste and social injustice of the PROMISE scholarship program, or the malignant effects of the yearly rotation of the bulls eye that the legislature turns on our four year institutions (Concord, Bluefield State, Glenville, WVU Tech, etc.) thus weakening them and creating self-fulfilling prophecies, let us talk of solutions.

First, there is the contention that WV, a state with challenging economic problems, has too many public colleges and universities. Let’s compare apples to apples. West Virginia has 13 significant public college or university campuses compared to 16 for Nebraska; a state with a similar though slightly smaller population, with one major difference; it does not have the mountains that make commuting to class such a problem in WV. Even North Dakota, with a third of WV’s population, has 11 public campuses. Clearly the number of public campuses in WV is not out of line with our peer states. The problem is not the number of campuses, but the number of redundant administrations and services that could be done with fewer people using modern technology.

Second there is an issue of location. Starting in the 1960’s WV underwent a massive shift in the economic importance and demographic profile of particular cities. If WV were establishing colleges today, cities like Beckley, Princeton, Parkersburg and Lewisburg would undoubtedly have universities of their own, while sleepy little towns such as Glenville and Athens (Concord University) and shrunken industrial shells such as Bluefield and Montgomery (WVU Tech) would have, at best, community colleges. The location of an institution impacts upon enrollment (and therefore institutional success) through both local populations that serve as a stable student base that require minimal recruiting and out-of-town students who are partially attracted to a campus by their ability to reach the campus and the level of social activity in the location. These are pressures that affect institutional viability, pressures that continue to threaten Glenville State, WVU Tech, Bluefield State and others.

So here are my radical proposals that will offend many due to personal investments, but as I now observe for outside the system, I think are necessary for WV to compete in the higher education market.

1. The State of West Virginia should buy Mountain State University and move WVU Tech to Beckley. It is ridiculous that Southern WV’s fastest growing and largest city does not have its own university. Yes, Concord and Bluefield other have made half-hearted gestures at having programs in Beckley, but a city of 50,000+ needs its own campus. That one of the other regional college or universities has not already done so is a grave strategic blunder. By moving to Beckley WVU Tech would triple its enrollment in a year. The WVU Tech Community College would continue to be based at the current campus in Montgomery.
2. Glenville State and West Liberty should become regional campuses of WVU. Given their proximity to Morgantown with the added kick that WVU affiliation would bring I see no reason why this should not be done. Data base and processing jobs could be trimmed along with white collar management positions.
3. Concord University, Bluefield State College, New River Community College, the Wyoming Campus of WV Southern Community College and the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine should be merged into a University of Southern West Virginia. (USWV – the Fighting Miners!) Talk about killing a few sacred cows. However, if these southern institutions wish to continue to prosper and maintain a political balance within the state with the two other university systems, unity is the only long-term solution. As well, money can be saved by eliminating duplicate positions and visibility can be raised by affording Division I / IA sports programs (Go Fighting Miners!).
4. All public universities should be required to offer at least one complete degree online in order to maintain their university status, with new degrees to be added every two years for 10 years. Faculty and misguided administrations are currently blocking the delivery of such innovative techniques while expensive for-profit and desperate private institutions are eagerly filling the gap. (One university leader in WV remarked to me that they didn’t believe that online education was necessarily viable and wanted to see proof. Here you are.)
5. The data processing and record keeping for all universities and colleges not part of the 3 major universities (I’m including USWV) should be unified into one statewide processing center, eliminating jobs that unnecessarily duplicate work.
6. It is extremely important to note that while this is partially a cost saving measure in the long-run, those displaced by the lost of positions must not be abandoned. Those without college degrees should be offered a full PROMISE scholarship for 4 years and those with bachelor degrees should be given 36 free credit hours in a graduate program at any state institution.
7. Shepherd University should be given the freedom to exploit their geographic position by offering in-state tuition to Maryland and Northern VA students.

I don’t pretend to know everything, but these ideas would but WV high education on a much firmer footing and make it far more competitive.

Go Fightin’ Miners!

The Real Lessons of 9/11

Keith Olbermann should be a major network anchor. It is galling that someone as shallow and vapid as Katie Couric sits in Cronkite's Chair when someone of Keith's ability could do it so much better:

Heart and Soul Performance

Here is a video from my Mom and Dad's band, Heart and Soul, performing at their place, the Riverside Music Stage, in Montcalm, WV, Mercer County. Dad is on lead vocals and mom is on the drums.

Beckley Police Officer Dies in Line of Duty

Read Here

Confederates Stink

I invite you to read the following “conversation” I had with a fellow poster on youtube. The video in question (posted below) is a Euro dance version of “Country Roads”, the West Virginia national anthem.

In the video, a Confederate flag can be seen in the background. Please notice how soon this “gentleman” resorts to insulting my education (big mistake) and our state. One more nominee for the Jackass Awards.

____________________

eric5906 (3 weeks ago)
Cool Confederate flag in the background.

wvexile (3 days ago)
which is a little out of place, since WV fought for the Union against people who though owning other human beings was a good idea. As a native West Virginian, please don't link us with the Confederacy.

eric5906 (3 days ago)
Don't worry, I'd never link you people with the South. Sounds like you need a history lesson, buddy. Look at all your Yankee generals: almost ALL owned slaves, including your drunken Grant. Lincoln stole WV and made it into a sham/psuedo state.

wvexile (2 days ago)
I have a masters in history, thanks. While it's true that a number of northerners had slaves prior to the war (which can never be excused or whitewashed) they didn't base an entire political system upon it, and then FIGHT to keep humans enslaved. Rich southern leaders duped poor white southerners to kill themselves for the benefit of wealthy plantation owners. Rich southerners have a long tradition of screwing over the poor, regardless of color. Just look at who is in the White House.

eric5906 (12 hours ago)
Delighted that you have a masters. Just look at who brought all the slaves and propagated it for the first 70 yrs. Rich Yankee, Northerners. Tell me how these "southern leaders duped poor whites" into dying? Excuse me, but I don't think you can get hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life for a handful of "wealthy plantation owners". I think that is a common myth that is now accepted as truth.

wvexile (1 minute ago)
"Tell me how these "southern leaders duped poor whites" into dying?" - The same way we still do it; dishonest appeals to patriotism, demonization of the "enemy", and general propaganda. There have always been ways for the ruling class in every society to convince people to fight for a cause not their own by confusing the issues involved.

eric5906 (12 hours ago)
I think it is quite the opposite: rich Yankees duped the North into fighting a horrible war that benefited the rich. The South was fighting for their independence from a voluntary union. Over 30 of my ancestors fought for Confederacy - true patriots in the tradition of Thomas Jefferson and Co! Needless to say, I would've joined in with 'em.

wvexile (2 minutes ago)
No issue is black and white. Yes, Northerners and the British made money by slave trafficking. But in both cases, by the 1850's, many had "repented" and those regions were home to the leading emancipation movements. Such cannot be said of the South. I too have Confederate ancestors. It is something I try to live down, in little ways, everyday. All families have ancestral shame. It appears we will agree to disagree, but remember instead of looking for excuses, examine the facts.
_________

Notice also that he never refutes that the Confederacy was a slave based culture, rebelling for the “right” to extend and maintain slavery. I am fully aware that the actual arguments are far more nuanced, however, when some knuckle-dragging apologist starts talking about how the Civil War was about “States’ Rights” just ask them this: the state’s right to do what exactly? The South did not attempt to leave the Union over a tariff dispute, or interstate commerce. They rebelled because Lincoln promised to LIMIT slavery. That was the root cause. Saying it was about state’s rights is like saying WWII was only about redressing the inequities of the WWI peace tresty without talking about the Nazi plans for genocide and world domination.

And, for the last time, West Virginias ARE NOT SOUTHERNERS, not historically or culturally. We are Appalachians. Period.

I was tempted to ask him how it felt for his ancestors to get beat by a drunk that graduated at the bottom of his West Point class (Grant) but that wouldn't be Christian. But, then again neither was owning slaves.

The video in question:

Hoopies

I was giving a presentation in East Liverpool, OH yesterday on cultural barriers to higher education. East Liverpool is a small, but a one time much larger, town right at the point where OH, PA and WV meet on the Ohio River. There I met a fellow WV native who was working and teaching in the Human Resource field who grew up in Chester, WV which on this small stage acted as New Jersey to East Liverpool’s New York City.

He informed me that despite being so close and similar, East Liverpool residents have historically looked down on their neighbors across the river. Apparently, instead of being called “hillbillies” the East Liverpudlians called West Virginians “Hoopies.” This was an insult I had never heard before.

It comes from the conceit that back when East Liverpool was the Pottery Capitol of the World, (practically the Paris of the Ohio River!) West Virginians looking for jobs were only fit and smart enough to bang together the metal strips needed for barrel construction. Jackasses.

It seems that no matter how far down you are on society’s totem pole there is always someone else to demonize or belittle; how else to feel better about yourself? Certainly not elect leaders who know what they’re doing, who can uplift the state’s economics and image.

All I can say is Thank God for Mississippi (and VA Tech fans).

I Made a Film!

Here is a little film I did for a contest with some friends a year or so ago. Nothing great but I like to share:

B'Bye Mr. President

So, David Hardesty has decided to retire from WVU, effective Sept. 20, 2007, as the longest serving president in the institution's history (though falling short of Concord University's Jerry Beasley, who has served as that institution's president since 1985). I was graduating just as Neil Bucklew was leaving and Hardesty was taking office.

There was some controversy at the time of his hiring. After all, Hardesty had no real academic administrative experience coming from the world of corporate and tax law. Hardesty was no doubt intelligent, (WVU, Oxford, Rhodes Scholar, Harvard Law) but many felt he would not be able to handle the political eddies of higher education or the unique details of university governance.

That was a miscalculation. First of all, WVU, being the flagship institution, for good or ill sets the agenda for higher education in West Virginia more than any other body including, the largely clueless Legislature.

Secondly, the fears were based on a misunderstanding of the role of a modern major university president; namely, the fear that someone occupying that seat must be able to handle the intricacies of academic development, faculty management, etc. Nonsense. When you operate at the level of WVU president, you can hire people to handle the nuts and bolts of everyday and academic operations. While small college and university presidents must be more skilled in the ways of academia, a major university president has but two duties that s/he must shoulder for themselves; raising money and maintaining and enlarging institutional prestige.

By that standard, Hardesty has been a success. Research funding has doubled and enrollment, powered by out-of-state bargain hunters and PROMISE scholarship fueled WV students has increased by 5,000, or about 20%. Plus, he hired the right football coach and got lucky in having a GREAT basketball coach fall into his lap. Partnerships with NASA, the FBI and the biometrics industry have also given WVU a luster of the high tech world.

In fact, his only great PR plunder was his insistence on “Free Speech Zones” that would have limited campus protests to specific, isolated areas. Perhaps President Hardesty forgot that it is in the nature of a university to be a free speech zone in its entirety.

So what does this say for the next WVU president? I would not be surprised if a former or soon- to-be former politician makes a bid for the seat. After all who has more experience in the schmoozing and fundraising skills so necessary for the job? There might be as big a scramble for this vacated position as when Bob Byrd finally calls it quits (sit down, John Raese).

Loyal Fans, Disloyal State

As a frighteningly loyal WVU fan and graduate, I really have not cared about playing Marshall University in any sport. Yes, we share a state, but that's all really. And Marshall offers no real advantage over WVU academically, because it is too big to offer small classes, and too small to offer a more diverse cultural setting.

Don’t get me wrong, MU has potential, but I am afraid that with the notable exception of the School of Medicine, that they have very little vision.

However, I have been looking forward to the smackdown of all smackdowns that WVU will deliver to the Herd in a legally mandated game on September 2nd. Especially after the past basketball season when Marshall made way too much noise about defeating the WVU basketball team during last year's excellent run. (To show just how serious of an academic institution they are, they briefly featured the victory on their top web page. Classy. You’d have thought they’d won the national championship. As my friend Skip used to say, “Act like you’ve done it before!”) I really think that even when their destruction is assured, that Coach RRod will be the LAST person to call off the dogs.

Marring my enjoyment of the sacrifice / game is the announcement that it will be called the “Friends of Coal Bowl.” Yuck. You might as well have called it the Buffalo Creek Bowl. (I would have settled for the Mountain State Bowl, The Uncivil War, etc.)

Now, I could spill tons of bile at this self-loathing decision by our so-called leaders, the coal industry and their promotional shills (I'm looking at you Don Nehlen), but why re-invent the wheel?

For enough properly aimed bile for 125 people, read this.

I wish everyone at the game would show up wearing gold shirts that simply say "Remember Sago". Now that's a good idea. In fact here you go, priced at cost. Who's with me?

Good God.

Good God. (No pun intended.) I got over this type of thing in high school and stopped arguing about it in college. How can anyone, with any sense of democracy and understanding of the law, actually think it is okay for a big oil painting of Jesus to hang out side of a principal’s office in a public school?

Yet that is just what is happening in Bridgeport, WV.

From MSNBC:

“The painting, which depicts Jesus in sepia tones on a large canvas and hangs outside the principal's office, has been at the school for 37 years. A guidance counselor left it behind upon retirement.”

The regular list of cultural warriors have lined up to fight this never-ending battle with all of the typical misconceptions. The ACLU v. the life-of-quiet-desperation types. It must be said that most of the misconceptions are emanating from the Jesus Camp. The dumbest misunderstanding is the Bible Bleaters contention that someone is trying to take religion out of public school. This is alarmist bullshit. It would be just as illegal and unethical to ban student prayer as it would be to require it. It isn’t that prayer should be banned, but that mandatory prayer, or prayer at official functions or led by public officials in their official capacity is flatly unconstitutional. Again, something most of us should have learned in high school civics.

The second problem with these zealots is the way they interpret the term "religion." They, as always, seem to think that a religious neutral environment where all religions are given the same rights and privileges is “anti-Christian”. Fundamentalist Christians believe this because, just like the other worldwide evangelical, zero-sum enterprise of fanatical Islam, religion = only Christianity. Therefore, when a court mandates "religious neutrality" it is translated to their misguided, problematic brains as “Jesus was an Asshole,” which he most certainly WAS NOT, though a number of his modern so-called followers certainly are.

A few months ago, I was at something most West Virginias do not believe exists, let alone see; a public school with a majority religion that wasn’t Christianity. It was in a majority Jewish suburb of Cleveland. Guess what? They had tons of religious Jewish imagery throughout the school. See, people of other religions can be just as narrow-minded as Bridgeport Christians, and I was duly offended. Not by the religion itself, but rather the identification of a public school with a specific religious community. Unlike Eric Cartman's hero, Mel Gibson, I like Jews. And Christians and Muslims, etc. Actually, I like some of them and I dislike some of them, but based only on their individual character flaws, not on their stance concerning the baby Jesus, or how many conservative radio hosts can dance on the head of an Oxycontin. I mean, non-Christians are just like real people and everything.

What if it had been a majority Islamic school? I wonder if the same people who defend a public school’s endorsement of Christianity with one of those cheesy Jesus pictures your grandma owned would be so happy if their child attended a school where the 99 names of God were inscribed in the library and most of the students prayed to Mecca right before lunch?

In a great update to the case, the picture of Jesus (or Jaysus as too many of my fellow West Virginians would say) was stolen from Bridgeport High School. Wouldn’t it be funny, if it was the school administration who did it so that they could make the problem go away without backing down?

Original Story:
http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2006/08/west_virginia_s.html

Update:
http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/2006081749/

Down, and Out of West Virginia

For those of you not in the know, after living in, working for and generally supporting the State of West Virginia for 34 years, I recently left my position at Concord University for a higher paying job with more career opportunities at a university in Ohio.

Not that this was really part of my grand plan. If I'd had my wish, I certainly would have stayed at CU or at least in WV for the rest of my career, but there comes a time when you have to decide that you know how valuable and capable you are, even if others fail to see it. So, after TWO rejections by Marshall, (in which the SAME PERSON got the job I wanted TWICE; see if I ever apply there again) and a continuing tradition by Concord of refusing to promote from within, I took the hint and moved on. It may be a little irrational, but in some ways I feel that my state, or at least those who lead its higher education establishment, rejected my service. So, with that in mind you can understand my appalled reaction to this story from the WV Political Sweatbox, detailing the scandle of greed and ungrateful attitude of someone theoretically working for the people of WV. That someone who is a convict and abuser of the public trust can so casually throw away a job at a salary that would have kept me in WV is more than galling, and as my wife pointed out, a little sad of all concerned.

It just seems like WV continues to encourage the many of its loyal, capable sons and daughters to leave while making room for the outsiders, the incompetent and/or the visionless.

At Least We have Football

Football is the sport that most of America looks forward to. In a time of niche marketing and narrowcasting, football has become the real national pastime. It is certainly a good time to be a football fan in West Virginia:

• The WVU football team: Top Ten, and a legitimate proto-superstar in Steve Slaton.


• Marshall, while having an appointment with destruction in their opener with WVU, does have a major movie coming out in "We Are Marshall", based on the 1970 Marshall Football Team plane crash. If the admissions office has any brains, they will send a free ticket to every high school senior on their recruiting lists.


• The All-American Football League, which will feature graduates of major university programs playing together in their old stadiums, is considering a Morgantown team (go here to vote for WVU)


• And the Bluefield Barons, a second year team in the very semi-pro Alliance Football League, (AFL) coming off an undefeated, league championship rookie season, have started to play again. (currently 2-0)

The AFL was overwhelmed by Bluefield its first year. But then again Buefield is a football town with multiple state championships and a large local following. The Barons have a number of former players from WVU, Marshall, East Tennessee, as well as a large contingent from the local Division II team at Concord University who were living and working in the area before the formation of the team. Their success says a lot about the people who built the organization.

It also says a lot about the leadership of the Bluefield, WV community. It is a shame that in just one year year the people of Bluefield can build a football team to dominate (actually humiliate) an entire football league, but for nearly 40 years haven't been able to revive an economy since the end of labor-intensive coal mining. Many missed oppoutunities inculde barring mall and shopping center developments from the city limits as threats to the good old boy power structure and watching them set up just outside of town, operating as permanent tax base destroyers.

At least we have good football teams.

BTW, here's a music video of a song about the 1970 plane crash:



Now, to cleanse the palette for we WVU fans...

Big Fish in a Small Pond

For many of us who grew up in the Motherland (WV), the experience of being a big fish in a small pond (the somewhat talented person whose abilities are magnified by living in a tiny town without much competition) is a something of a common experience.

Here is an ad from BET for a rapper by the name of "6'6 240" who is called "WV's #1 Hip Hop artist."

Talk about your small ponds...



According to his Bio, Mr. 240 is a WVU student currently a DJ for WVU's U92 FM.

Other Info:
Accomplishments:
2003 4th place finish (out of 850) in the E.A.R.S. Talent Contest NYC.
Audition finalist MTV "Freestyle" Competition.
Ludacris was on the judging pannel.

Projects
8 Independent Album releases since 1999

Show Appreances include:
Dmx, Nas,Lil Kim,Trina,Bubba Sparaxxx, TI, D-Block
BoneCrusher, Ying Tang Twinz, Rosco P.Coldchain
2NMC Nashville Music Conference Showcase

Cheezy, But Oddly Satisfying

This remix and simple video of Country Roads is weirdly funny but somehow endearing.

I Want a New Flag

Before I go down this road, let me just reassure everyone that I am very much a “WV Patriot.” In fact from time to time I feel more like a West Virginian or Appalachian than an American (such as right after watching “Matewan” or giving a lecture on college access in WV.)

So I say this with heavy heart, but "true is true, no matter what you do"; our state flag is ugly. That isn’t to say that I don’t fly it. I fly it on every reasonable occasion. However, it is an unfortunate example of how a committee or legislature designs a flag as opposed to how a creative person with a modicum of taste would design a flag.

Vexillology is the scientific study of flag history and symbolism. I should know, as during that ritual of many WV school children, the State Social Studies Fair, I researched the impact of flags and symbols on history. Well, as much as a 5th grader could research. I do still keep up to date on the field and still purchase new reference guides from time to time.

The North American Vexillological Association (NAVA), the premier professional organization on the subject, has rated WV’s flag as one of the worst state or provencial flags in North America. Here is what it says on the WV flag, “The seal itself is complex, the white background is boring, and the overall design differs from other state flags only in its blue border.” (New Mexico was voted the best, Georgia the worst.)

I think a new flag for the state could be an opportunity to reunite our people, and the members out there of the Mountaineer Diaspora, and be used by the state as a marketing opportunity for business and tourism. After all, more than one company has reinvented itself with a new logo, why can’t we?I would like to invite you to submit a flag design for the “new” West Virginia. Just follow these rules from NAVA.org:

1. Keep It Simple - The flag should be so simple that a child can draw it from memory…
2. Use Meaningful Symbolism - The flag’s images, colors, or patterns should relate to what it symbolizes…
3. Use 2–3 Basic Colors - Limit the number of colors on the flag to three, which contrast well and come from the standard color set…
4. No Lettering or Seals - Never use writing of any kind or an organization’s seal…
5. Be Distinctive or Be Related - Avoid duplicating other flags, but use similarities to show connections…

When we have enough choices, I’ll put up a poll.