……..I think I’m as frustrated by the New Cumberland Hydro Project as I was in 1994 when the legislation enabling New Cumblerland to get funding from it. It’s been almost 30 years since that happened so I’ll understand if you don’t remember, but since I sponsored the bills I remember every little nuance.
New Cumberland’s Mayor at the time was Jack Harris and Jack new what the city of New Martinsville was able to do with revenue from the hydro plant. He had heard rumors one was coming to New Cumberland locks and dam. The only problem was those locks and dams were outside New Cumberland city limits. We had to find a way to incorporate that area without going through a city election. Enter “minor boundary” change. I sponsored a bill which said if the property holders in the area were sparse and 4/5 of them agreed, the property could be annexed. The legislation passed as a “local bill” and the Cit y began the work of getting the property owners (some of whom were absentee property owners) to sign off. They accomplished the goal and the next challenge was to pass legislation that brought New Cumberland to the table and said the hydro plant had to negotiate with the City for payment in lieu of taxes before they could operate. Everything was in place but that hydro plant plan never materialized. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) stopped issuing permits and the speculative funding behind the hydro plant went away. That’s the agony of putting your all into fighting for legislation. Sometimes it’s all for naught.
So it was quite a surprise when hydro raised it’s head after 30 years. The hydro projects, LLC applied for a $1.3 million building permit with New Cumberland and I began to look for signs of construction. I know the final license still has to be issued and I began calling FERC to see its status. FERC does not call back and so I have yet to find out. I can see where it is on the list to be approved..
I was quite surprised then to see an agenda item on the Board of Education speaking to an agreement with Hydro and the County Commission. They have been informed they can proceed. I called Mayor Will White of New Cumberland to find out why New Cumberland was not part of that. White called the City Attorney, Kevin Pearl, Pearl told him that there was no final license issued yet so there was no revenue on which to negotiate. In other the Board’s action was premature., Superintendent Dan Enich was talking to the school board’s attorney, Davis Cross, to see why there is a disconnect of information among the three legal representatives: Kevin Pearl, Esq. for New Cumberland, Davis Cross, Esq. for the Board of Education, and Mike Lucas, Esq. for the County Commission.
Legally, I don’t have a dog in this hunt unless it’s the effort I put for getting the legislation in place. I don’t care when the fee is negotiated just so it is negotiated. I also very much care that the City of New Cumberland is assertive in ensuring it is part of the fee negotiation and the citizens get their piece of the hydro plant. New Cumberland deserves the money legally and morally and it’s imperative that they are part of the negotiations whenever they happen so Mayor White no longer has to endure my phone calls.
…..A dichotomy – that’s what the Repiblican party on a national and state level appear to be. The very party that trumpets “state’s rights” and advocates letting the States run their own ship, are now stepping in on the religious exemption on school vaccines. The same party whose national platform contains “State’s rights” is now ORDERING West Virginia to comply with the “freedom of religion: cause and allow a religious exemption. Meanwhile, back in West Virginia a Kanawha County Judge found in the ACLU’S favor and ordered the State’s schools to follow the statute as passed by the most recent legislature which only permits medical exemptions. The State Board of Education sent out a statement August 22 which ordered the schools to comply with the Judge’s decision. Seems to me like the Republican Gov. Morrisey and Pres. Trump flip flop when it suits them when it comes to the Republican platform.
…….. Doug and Katie and Jacob were in last week and they stayed at Mountaineer. They used to love Mountaineer: the swimming, LaBonnie Vie and the Mahogany and the racing. They went over Monday night to watch the’s races and it was so sad how it has changed. We had to drive all the way over to the north parking lot to get in and then the place was deserted. It’s no wonder. They’ve closed all the food outlets and there’s not even a place to get a hot dog. It was a beautiful summer evening and it felt like a ghost city. I used to feel so bad for those people who had worked their whole lives at Weirton Steel when it died little by little and they now have to drive by its skeleton. What I saw was the skeleton of what racing used to be at Mountaineer and I felt very sad.
………..I’ve always maintained that the bus drivers are the unsung heros of the school system. They get the kids back and forth from school under some vey prerilous conditions. The recent school bus wreck in Aliquippa of a bus carrying Jr. High Football player illustrates the importance of well trained bus drivers and safe buses.…..A dichotomy – that’s what the Repiblican party on a national and state level appear to be. The very party that trumpets “state’s rights” and advocates letting the States run their own ship, are now stepping in on the religious exemption on school vaccines. The same party whose national platform contains “State’s rights” is now ORDERING West Virginia to comply with the “freedom of religion: cause and allow a religious exemption. Meanwhile, back in West Virginia a Kanawha County Judge found in the ACLU
S favor and ordered the State’s schools to follow the statute as passed by the most recent legislature which only permits medical exemptions. The State Board of Education sent out a statement August 22 which ordered the schools to comply with the Judge’s decision. Seems to me like the Republican Gov. Morrisey and Pres. Trump flip flop when it comes to the Repuglican platform.
…….. Doug and Katie and Jacob were in last week and they stayed at Mountaineer. They used to love Mountaineer: the swimming, LaBonnie Vie and the Mahogany and the racing. They went over Monday night to watch the’s races and it was so sad how it has changed. We had to drive all the way over to the north parking lot to get in and then the place was deserted. It’s no wonder. They’ve closed all the food outlets and there’s not even a place to get a hot dog. It was a beautiful summer evening and it felt like a ghost city. I used to feel so bad for those people who had worked their whole lives at Weirton Steel when it died little by little and they now have to drive by its skeleton. What I saw was the skeleton of what racing used to be at Mountaineer and I felt very sad.
………..I’ve always maintained that the bus drivers are the unsung heros of the school system. They get the kids back and forth from school under some vey perilous conditions. The recent school bus wreck in Aliquippa of a bus carrying Jr. High Football player illustrates the importance of well- trained bus drivers and safe buses.
