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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
advocate
pirit of JEFFERSON and FARMER'S ADVOCATE I Wednesday, May 21,2014
"No government ought to be without
censors and where the press is free, no
one ever will." -- Thomas Jefferson
Mills an ideal choice
for city manager
Last week's selection of David Mills as Charles Town's new city manager is
an exciting development for our community.
City leaders deserve praise for recognizing Mills' unique assets and moving
quickly to bring aboard a leader who will hit the ground running and focus on
moving the city forward.
Because he is a native of Jefferson County, Mills' familiarity with the area's
strengths and challenges dates back decades. He's also a mature leader who un-
derstands how much more can be accomplished by working with City Council,
community members, community leaders and others. Here's someone who has
a handle on the solutions that exist and truly desires to put in place every smart
idea out there that can make our government and our city work better.
We saw him lay the groundwork for a transformation in Ranson that caught
attention not only statewide, but nationally. It's extremely likely that the influx
of federal money for new streets and other improvements that are part of the
"Ranson Renewed" project would not have come our way except for the foun-
dation Mills' vision, expertise and hard work put in place.
As passionate as he has been in bringing positive change to Ranson, Mills
now is excited to put his energy into making Charles Town the best possible
place to live and work. We praise city leaders for recognizing this unique op-
portunity and look forward to what's ahead for our fine city once this capable
new leader is in place.
Praise-w0rthy intervention
We applaud Attorney General Pat-
rick Morrisey's decision to step into
the fray in Mingo County where he
says two middle school girls' allega-
tions of repeated sexual assault by a
pair of male classmates with relatives
in the school system went all but ig-
nored - with only sham investigations
and "punishments" such as the deni-
al of an ice cream break to one of the
young accusers.
Mingo County, where shocking
headlines about corrupt judges and
other politicians have dominated the
news for months, now is home to per-
haps an even uglier series of mis-
deeds.
The story, which we first reported
in the Spirit last week, now has been
covered by CNN and other media out-
lets.
The case moved behind closed
doors late last week as two officials
from Mingo County Schools along
with four faculty members made their
initial appearances in court to an-
swer Morrisey's civil complaint that
they concealed sexual abuse by two
seventh-grade boys at Burch Middle
School between November 2012 and
May 2013.
Many of the attacks Morrisey de-
scribes in the filing happened at
school, though one allegation involves
a field trip to Charleston, where one
of the girls said she was raped on the
school bus. The girls' parents had
been assured the police knew of the
allegations but only later learned the
authorities had never been notified.
The abuse allegations are noth-
ing short of horrific, and the idea that
the adults in charge in Mingo Coun-
ty knew of the girls' suffering but
did nothing tostop it is truly stom-
ach-churning. We are grateful Mor-
risey came to the aid of these young
women whose plight heretofore had
not been acknowledged - who had,
in fact, been required to continue to
attend classes alongside their alleged
victimizers.
His involvement in this case is an
example of the good an attorney gen-
eral can do for a state - to ensure that
the rights of its citizens, particularly
those who are young and vulnerable,
are protected.
Mooney's
Last week's primary victory from
a newcomer in little Charles Town
over an entrenched lawmaker from
the big city of Charleston ordinarily
would be cause for celebration here,
but the Alex X. Mooney story cer-
tainly is not typical.
Mooney, who resigned as GOP
chairman in Maryland only last year,
began renting a house in Charles
Town in October. He raised nearly
ill of his enormous war chest from
conservative interests outside West
Virginia. He campaigned on "tradi-
tional values" and had little to say
about going to Washington to solve
the problems we face in the Second
Congressional District.
Nonetheless, Mooney prevailed in
the May 13 primary over a plethora
of Republicans hoping to move into
the seat in Congress held since 2001
by conservative Shelley Moore Cap-
ito, who is eyeing the spot in the U.S.
Senate that has been in Democratic
hands since the 1930s.
Mooney beat out even West Virgin-
ia native Charlotte Lane, a Charles-
ton lawyer with decades of experi-
ence in county, state and federal pol-
itics who early in the primary cam-
paign described Mooney as a carpet-
bagger She later created a series of
hard-hitting ads in which she point-
motivationg.
ed out that prior to this month's elec-
tion Mooney had never even voted in
West Virginia.
Mooney will face off with Nick
Casey, the former West Virginia Dem-
ocratic party chief, in the November
general election. Many expect Casey
to spend the coming months ham-
mering away at the same points Lane
brought up against Mooney.
It has long been this newspa-
per's tradition to avoid political en-
dorsements. We did not weigh in on
M0oney's candidacy in this space
prior to the primary vote. We will
say that it's surprising to see so many
West Virginia voters apparently will-
ing to turn over the reins of power
to Mooney, who hasn't bothered to
invest in West Virginia - not in time
nor in money.
He hasn't worked in the trenches
in Charles Town or anywhere else
in West Virginia as a problem-solv-
er (despite all the many, many prob-
lems to be solved here). He hasn't
even extended himself enough to buy
a house in our state. We would en-
courage voters to examine Mooney's
motivations in seeking this office.
Is it about representing West Virgin-
ia? Or is the driving ambition behind
this run simply Mooney's driving
ambition?
DREW WILT
Adam Parks, who pitched 62 strikes in a game for the Cannons last summer, will be back in Shenandoah Junction when the
Cannons kick off the season at Sager Field May 30.
There's nothing like top-caliber
baseball right in our backyard
I had never heard of the Shenando-
ah Valley Baseball League until last
summer when the Cannons baseball
team arrived in Jefferson County. It
is one of eight summer collegiate
summer baseball leagues around the
country. These leagues give top col-
lege ballplayers the chance to spend
the summer gaining more experi-
ence and exposure.
When I went to last season's open-
ing game, I had no idea of the qual-
ity of the baseball I would be seeing.
These are cream of the crop college
baseball players from schools all
over the country. Nine - that's al-
most one third - of last year's Can-
nons roster played in the College
World Series. Two players from last
summer's Valley League teams were
listed in Baseball America's 2014
Top 100 College Prospects.
The motto of the Shenandoah Val-
ley Baseball League is "Gateway to
the Majors," and for good reason.
Since its founding in 1923, over
1,000 Valley League players have
gone on to the Major Leagues. The
Valley League website lists 27 for
mer League players on the rosters
of MLB teams last season, includ-
ing St. Louis Cardinal outfielder Jon
Jay who played in the 2013 World
Series.
MLB scouts can be spotted reg-
ularly at Cannons games. Several
Cannons players from last season
are likely prospects in next month's
MLB draft. We are fortunate that
one of our star pitchers from last
year, Adam Parks - who pitched a
perfect game against Woodstock last
June, throwing 62 strikes - will be
pitching again for us this year.
It is hard to believe that baseball
of this caliber is being played right
here in Jefferson County. What could
be a better way to spend a beautiful
summer evening than watching top-
notch college baseball played at Jef-
ferson High School's Sager Field?
So catch Cannons Fever the way
I did last summer! Come out to a
game! You will have your first op-
portunity to meet the players on
Thursday, May 29 at the Cannons'
Picnic in the Park at Memorial Park
in Charles Town from 5:30 to 7:30
p.m. Maybe you will get. the au-
tograph of a future Major League
star.
Walter Washington
Charles Town
Morrisey critique a 'cheap shot'
I recently read the editorial in
the April 9 edition of the Spirit and
wanted to poin[ out several inaccu-
racies in your piece and ensure that
your readers are informed of the ac-
tual facts, not unsupported conjec-
ture.
First, the West Virginia Attorney
General's Office periodically con-
tracts with an entity that dissemi-
nates satellite feeds to television sta-
tions across the state, including the
Hagerstown (Md.) market, which
covers the Eastern Panhandle.
One of the single biggest chal-
lenges we face as an office is ensur-
ing that residents outside of Charles-
ton are kept informed about impor-
tant developments in the Attorney
General's office. We represent the
entire state, not just those living in
Kanawha or surrounding counties.
As you know, the Eastern Panhan-
dle often feels disconnected from
Charleston. As such, we work very
diligently to try to ensure media out-
lets in the Panhandle, including the
Spirit of Jefferson as well as other
regions through the state have the
same access to our office as media
outlets in the Capitol City.
Similarly, we need to always send
a strong message to businesses and
individuals that we vigorously will
enforce the Consumer Protection
laws on the books. No business,
regardless of its size or location,
should believe it is above the law.
Over the past 15 months, we have
relied on The Media Center to trans-
mit satellite feeds to various televi-
sion markets serving the state, be
they based in Hagerstown, Harrison-
burg, Va., Wheeling/Weirton, Beck-
ley/Bluefield, Clarksburg/Morgan-
town or Parkersburg because we be-
Patrick Morrisey
lieve the public in those regions de-
serve to have access to the same in-
formation stations serving the Hun-
tington/Charleston market have.
This is especially critical when the
information impacts their lives and
the enforcement of laws in West Vir-
ginia. We will not ignore parts of the
state outside of Charleston and must
serve all counties equally.
Your editorial grossly distorts
what our office does. Periodically,
we pay a fee to The Media Center
to record and then transmit via sat-
ellite raw, unedited interviews on
particular subjects to various televi-
sion markets in an effort to narrow
the chasm between places such as
the Eastern Panhandle and Charles-
ton. However, we do not, as your ed-
itorial wrongly states, ever hire vid-
eo crews to tape businesses as they
are being served with lawsuits. That
didn't happen in the case in which
your editorial references, and it does
not ever happen. Your newspaper
should correct that error.
As stated above, the feeds are de-
signed to provide equal access to a
medium that is 100 percent depen-
dent on images. While newspaper
reporters can conduct interviews via
email or phone, it is much more dif-
ficult for television stations to do
that. So we provide raw interviews
that the stations can edit and cut if
they decide to report on the story.
But the information shared is not a
video news release, nor are stations
obliged to run it.
As you know, we have gone much
further than any office in the state
to save taxpayer dollars. The Office
of the Attorney General has returned
$16.5 million to the state's Gener-
al Fund in the 15 months that Pat-
rick Morrisey has been in office. We
work every day to eliminate taxpay-
er waste. Unfortunately, the steps we
have taken are not enough for some
who view our reforms with disdain
and would like to see the status quo
continue in Charleston.
The Spirit's editorial suggests that
you want our office to stop commu-
nicating important consumer pro-
tection information to the state and
limit how the office can communi-
cate most effectively with citizens
in the Eastern Panhandle and else-
where. Your editorial was a politi-
cal cheap shot that speaks more to
a very limited and partisan perspec-
tive on issues than a question on
how taxpayer monies are used. If
you are looking for a model on how
to save taxpayer dollars and end the
self-promotion practices of incum-
bents, look no further than the At-
torney General's Office.
Beth Ryan, spokeswoman
Office of the Attorney General
Charleston
INN V00qDMYER
The signals Jefferson County sends in passing a tough ethics policy
The Jefferson County Com-
mission is scheduled to approve
an ethics policy soon. The
policy reflects state law, partic-
ularly Section 6B-2-5 of state
code that outlines ethical stan-
dards for elected and appointed
officials.
The county commission eth-
ics policy is more understand-
able than the state law. State
code requirements are very de-
tailed, include sentences that
run on for five or six lines and
consist of numerous subsec-
tions that are very difficult to
follow. The county commission
ethics policy, proposed by me
in early May, is more direct. An
applicant to any board or com-
mission agrees to "make public
disclosure of all pecuniary in-
terest regarding any decision to
be made on the board/commis-
sion" and to "leave any cham-
ber in which such a matter is
under deliberation."
The ethics policy also makes
clear there are penalties under
s.tate law for violating these re-
quirements, including fines and
even jail time.
When the county commission
first discussed my draft propos-
al, some expressed concern that
such requirements might "scare
off" applicants to boards and
committees. Citizens are not
exactly applying in droves for
vacancies. My response? The
day that the county commission
lowers ethical standards sim-
ply to attract more applicants is
the day we lose the trust of our
constituents.
The solution to finding more
applicants is to do a better job
advertising vacancies and ed-
ucating people about what
boards and commission do.
Simply putting an ad in the le-
gal notice section of the news-
paper is not enough. Public
outreach is needed to assure
boards and commissions attract
a cross section of the communi-
ty. The county commission has
approved a contract to update
the county website. A website
that emphasizes outreach and
takes advantages of all types of
social media will help get the
message out about volunteer
opportunities.
By signing the ethics poli-
cy, applicants agree to exer-
cise fair, honest and indepen-
dent judgment; to neither seek
nor accept gifts or favors and to
not misrepresent facts or distort
information for the purpose of
achieving a desired outcome.
I
Many bpards and commis-
sions already adopt their own
code of ethics or conflict of in-
terest policy. The IRS now re-
quires nonprofit organizations
maintain a conflict of inter-
est policy and even provides a
sample form. At a recent train-
ing session I attended for the
Telamon Community Action
Board, the issue of ethical be-
havior was discussed at length.
As an elected official, I sub-
mit annual financial statements
to the West Virginia Ethics
Commission. This information
is public. The intent is to help
assure elected officials are not
using their public office for pri-
vate gain.
By adopting a code of eth-
ics, the Jefferson County Com-
mission clearly signals a simi-
lar standard will apply to any-
one seeking appointment to a
board or commission. The goal
of applicants should be to pro-
tect the public interest of the
county. Signing a code of eth-
ics ensures applicants agree to
that goal.
Lyn Widmyer, a Democrat,
serves on the Jefferson County
Commission. She opted not to
seek another term
