New Uniforms for WVU Football?

Here are some images of the possible new WVU football uniforms. Rumors persist that the "alternate" jersey will be worn for the 100th Backyard Brawl. There was some talk on fan sites about using a "throwback" uniform for the event, which is problematic, since the old WVU logos sucked so much.

possible New Uniforms:

Home

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/3028/wvunewunihomegn8.gif
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Away
http://img393.imageshack.us/img393/218/wvunewuniawayak6.gif
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Alternate
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/1753/wvunewunialternateqc8.gif

Old Logos:

Huge Explosion in Ghent

I am having a hard time procesing the gas station explosion in Ghent, WV. I have driven by that place hundreds of times and stopped there for gas, cash and soda at least 50. My cousin used to work a couple of miles from there and stopped there almost everyday after work.

More importantly, I can't fathom the cosmic "justice" of people who were just stopping for gas or a sandwich at the little Subway shop that was in the building, or people working there at jobs that must have been less than satisfying, becoming vaporised becuase they were in the wrong place, or in the case of the fire fighter and EMT who died, just doing their best to serve the people. Not in a war zone, not near an oil well, or a refinery or some other dangerous place. Just a gas station near a ski resort.

There are also rumors in the local community, that the call to the local fire department about a gas leak was made the day previous to the explosion, but that is just a rumor at the moment.

It is late and this is bothering me, so sorry if I am rambling, but just looking at the pictures is overwhelming, having a personal knowledge of the place. (see Article)

I suppose if I am drawing any personal insights from this it would be:

1. I have not for some time been a believer in a deterministic, paternalistic god, as it would require me to have faith in something who would be by definition cruel in my estimation. Events such as this simply reinforce those internal views. But then again, I am sure that the same is true for people of that type of faith, who just believe all the more blindly in the face of random death. In adulthood I believe that most often traumatic events tend to reinforce who we are, not change us. And so, our greater efforts should rest on not trying to change people, but working on living with each other as they decide whether or not to change themselves, or when necessary, helping them to survive a world that is ultimately cruel without the milk of human kindness.

2. Try as we might to live safe, insured insulated lives, we all live under the despotism of chaos. Therefore, if you do not like your life, and have the means to alter it, you are a fool not to do so. Now. AS far as we know for sure, you only have this chance and you have no real idea when that chance will be over. It might be on your way home from work this very day.

3. For the untold billions who do not have the power to alter their life course, it remains the moral obligation of those of us who can, to empower those whom we can.

2007's First Mining Deaths in WV

On the morning of Saturday, January 13, 2007 James D. Thomas, 48, North Tazewell, Va. and Pete Poindexter, 33, of Rock WV became West Virginia's first mining deaths of 2007 when a roof collapsed at the Brooks Run mine in McDowell County, where safety violations were issued as recently as December 6. The mine had been cited 57 times in 2006.

I would offer my sympathies in any such event, but even more so in this case as the event took place near both my wife's hometown and mine.

It is hard to know which would be preferable from the victim's family point of view. If this were but an "act of God" would the randomness of the event enrage you and add to your grief or act as a salve? If it turns of to be a case of operator negligence, an all too familiar case in West Virginia history, would knowledge that death was preventable result in destructive dreams of vengeance or would the cause of justice for a fallen family member in the long run sustain you?

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.

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.

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.