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STATE'S FLEET WILL BE REDUCED - Governor Wise has called for a major reduction in the state vehicle fleet. The
Department of Highways has one of the largest fleets, but other agencies will be affected.
DOH head Fred Vankirk says the passenger vehicles within the Department of Highways will be reduced from 2,170 to just
over 1,800. Vankirk says a sale is coming up later this month at the DOH headquarters in Buckhannon.
The sale includes dump trucks, graders, and other heavy equipment. Vankirk says those machinery implements will be
separate from their passenger vehicles.
CHEMICAL WORKERS LOSING JOB - Dow Chemical plans to lay off 36 employees at its Kanawha Valley plant with
plans to cease production at two chemical units by the end of the year.
The layoffs include 33 employees at Dow's South Charleston technical center and three involved in the manufacturing section
of the former Union Carbide plant.
A Dow-Bayer official says the decision to idle two of its nine units at the Institute plant could affect about 60 to 70
workers.
The lay-Off announcement comes a week after Dow announced it would cut 4,000 jobs worldwide and sell one-point-five
billion dollars in assets to offset poor earnings.
Two years ago the company had 2,434 employees in West Virginia. The number is now 1,222.
MEDIA CHAIN BUYS RALEIGH TV STATION - West Virginia Media Holdings has purchased a fourth television
station in the state, WVSX-TV, a CBS affiliate in Ghent , Raleigh County.
The sale gives the company a southern West Virginia outlet. .
FCC records say the company bought the station for six-point-four million dollars.
Media Holdings own TV stations in Clarksburg, Wheeling and in the Charleston-Huntington market. The company also
owns The State Journal, a business weekly based in Charleston.
West Virginia Media Holdings, which also owns newspapers, has invested between 80 million and 90 million dollars in the
stations and the newspaper. They have indicated an interest in buying The Charleston newspapers, saying they are
anti-business and need to publish more positive news.
PORK CHOP ASIDE, LINCOLN SCHOOL CONTRACT NOW A GO - A Kanawha County judge has ordered state
school officials to allow a Charleston construction company to supervise the building of a new $30 million high school in
Lincoln County.
Judge James Stucky ruled for the company yesterday.
The original contract with Agsten Construction was dropped in November. State Schools Superintendent David Stewart had
canceled the deal over concerns stemming from the fact the deal was made by former assistant superintendent G. A.
McClung.
McClung resigned last fall after being accused of hand-picking his long-time friend Phillip "Pork Chop" Booth to replace
furniture in flood damaged schools.
Agsten Construction's president, Carl Agsten, also once owned a small part of "Pork Chop" Booth's company, National
Equity.
Agsten stands to gain about one-and-a-quarter million dollars from the Lincoln school consolidation project, the largest ever
in the state.
COLLEGES WILL "FIRE" EMPLOYEES - Higher education's proposed cuts next year come to $53.6 million. If tuition
and fees can't be increased, many employees will have to be fired, according to the state's higher education Chancellor, J.
Michael Mullen.
He says West Virginia institutions are under funded compared with most of their peer schools.
Gov. Wise's budget restored a 10 percent cut for community colleges and rural health programs. The governor also included
some increases for Promise scholarships, the continuation of community college tuition funds and other specific projects.
Wise cut personal services and employee benefits by 3 percent, and each institution also had to absorb a 13 percent increase
in the employer's health insurance premiums, a 30 percent increase in liability insurance and 34 percent in medical malpractice
insurance.
NEW FARM MARKETS GROWING - Nontraditional farm products like nursery stock and organic produce are
becoming the fastest-growing segment of the state's $500 million-a-year agriculture industry, says Agriculture Commissioner
Gus Douglass.
"We've seen tremendous growth in the nursery business in West Virginia in recent years, and hydroponic farming is really
taking off, too," said Douglass. "We'll also be hearing a lot more about West Virginia's organic food growers in the years to
come." West Virginia has 400 small food processing companies, which generate nearly $100 million in sales.
"We're finding that the best way farmers can survive is to get involved in direct-marketing their products," Douglass said.
GSC AND WVU-P GET NURSING GRANTS - Grants totaling $110,500 to bolster nursing programs at West Virginia
University-Parkersburg Community and Technical College and Glenville State Community and Technical College have been
approved.
A $60,500 grant to WVU-Parkersburg Community and Technical College will help that institution increase enrollment in its
nursing program by assisting in hiring additional faculty and modernizing its laboratory.
A $50,000 grant to Glenville State Community and Technical College will help that institution develop a Licensed Practical
Nurse program at Summersville. Five hospitals, a clinic and several nursing homes will contribute a total of $69,000 in
equipment and in-kind contributions.
PUBLIC-PRIVATE ROAD BILL - Unable to lay asphalt with taxpayer money alone, the West Virginia Senate is taking
another look at an idea used in other states - building roads with the help of private dollars.
A year ago, the Senate passed without dissent a bill calling for an infusion of private money to help construct new roads, but
the House did not go along.
"We've got to do things different. We can't continue to do the same things we've been doing. It's a new century," said
Delegate Helmic of Pocahontas County.
The Shawnee Parkway, Coalfields Expressway and King Coal Highway are among the possibilities for applying private
dollars in a mix with the state, he said.
There was no mention of the LK Parkway or an upgrade of U.S. 33.
SMALL TOWNS OPPOSE SCHOOL CONSOLIDATION - With a series of school closure hearings coming, anxiety is
building in the small towns of Iaeger and War. War is in a remote location, the southernmost town in West Virginia.
School consolidation plans endorsed by the state Board of Education are pretty much a given, many in the two towns
believe the fate of Iaeger and Big Creek high schools already is determined.
"I would like to keep the high school in Iaeger, but I think it is just a sign of the times that it will be consolidated," Eugene
Shaw, owner of Shirl's Flowers in downtown Iaeger, said. "If it keeps going like it is, I think it may get down to us having just
one high school in McDowell County. I believe it is a losing cause as far as keeping it in Iaeger.
"GODS AND GENERALS" WILL OPEN ON BIG SCREEN -
Coming to a theater near you is a Civil War story, a story about the war's early years and about families being torn apart.
It's a story about gods and generals.
Unlike past Civil War movies, "Gods and Generals," which opens Feb. 21, is partly about a general born in Clarksburg who
spent his childhood near Weston: Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.
"Gods and Generals" is the second in a trilogy of Civil War movies from director Ron Maxwell. The movie serves as a
prequel to "Gettysburg."
The movie begins with Jackson, who is played by Stephen Lang, as a teacher at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va.
According to a film press release, the movie will focus on Jackson's military life, his faith and his wife, Anna Jackson.
The focus of the movie will be shared among portrayals of Jackson, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, played by Robert
Duvall, Union Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, portrayed by Jeff Daniels, and Union Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock,
played by Brian Mallon.
The movie focuses on three battles, the last of which cost Jackson his life.
"Gods and Generals" will showcase the first battle of Manassas, the battle of Fredericksburg and the battle of
Chancellorsville.
Senator Robert C. Byrd plays a bit role in the film.
FILM TO BE MADE AT THOMAS - Cow Creek Films, makers of the full-length movie "To Walk in Heaven," will create
a film-making family in the small town of Thomas this summer.
The director, producer, cast members and soundtrack musicians, From the Hip, gathered Saturday to introduce themselves
to the town. An enthusiastic crowd filled The Purple Fiddle, where some of the scenes will be shot.
"We want to make a great film, but it's more about the process," said director Jack Marshall of Cow Creek Films, who
hopes to become a "better person" from the experience. "We're trying to arrange ways to be visible in the community and
give back."
The company will initiate Movie Night at the Purple Fiddle on Wednesdays featuring movies that are either about the state or
filmed in West Virginia, according to owner John Bright, who will continue the tradition. Bright hopes to premiere "To Walk
in Heaven" at the cafe in the fall and plans to show the film on a monthly basis during the tourist season.
KANAWHA HAS FREE SPEECH PROBLEM - The Kanawha County Commission has
ordered all county-funded agencies to adopt a new policy giving all residents the
right to speak freely and uninterrupted at public meetings.
The move came a few weeks after the Kanawha-Charleston Board of Health
instituted a new practice at its public hearings giving each individual three minutes
to speak. The board purchased a $189 timing device that emits red and green lights
letting people know when they can speak and when their time is up.
"That decision affects people's livelihoods," a commissioner told Board of Health
Director Dr. Donald Rosenberg. "To have lights going on and off telling them when to
talk and to have your board paying for it, I resent that."
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