Spirit of JEFFERSON and FARMER'S ADVOCATE
News
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Thursday, December 27, 2012 A§
BETHANY - A scholarship tion."
fund has been created to remem- Donations may be mailed to:
ber a Northern Panhandle college Beta Theta Pi Foundation, c/o
grad's daughter, one of the young Caroline Previdi of Sandy Hook
victims of this month's massacre Elementary Memorial Schol'
in Newtown, Conn. arship Fund, P.O. Box 6277,
Members of Bethany College's 5134Bonham Road, Oxford, OH
Beta Theta Pi fraternity have cre- 45056.
ated a scholarship fund in mem-
.:cry of 6-year-old Caroline Previ- CHARLESTON
di. Sesquicentennial exhibit: An
Her father Jeffrey W. Previdi educational exhibit on West Vir-
is a 1994 graduate of Bethany, ginia's statehood is available to
where he was a member of the organizations as the state enters
.fraternity. its sesquicentennial in 2013.
• " Caroline was among 26 people The West Virginia Humanities
killed at Sandy Hook Elementary Council is offering the exhib-
r School on Dec. 14 in the nation's it "Born of Rebellion: West Vir-
'second-deadliest school shoot- ginia Statehood" free of charge
• ing. to historical and cultural groups,
" According to the fratemi- museums and other interested
ty, Previdi's 9-year-old son also venues.
was present at the school during The exhibit originally toured
'the shooting but made it out un- the state for two years starting in
harmed. 2006.
The fraternity's goal is to raise
'it least $100,000 to "ensure Car- Smoking report: A new report
'oline will be remembered in a says West Virginia isn't invest-
i ositive way by providing an- ing enough in its efforts to help
.nual scholarships to worthy stu- smokers quit and prevent kids
• dents who are majoring in educa- from smoking.
The report was
released by a co-
alition of public
health groups
that found West
Virginia has the
second-highest
rate of adults
who smoke in
the nation at
28.6 percent.
About 19 per-
cent of high
school students
smoke.
But the report
Virginia 19th in
ranks
the
with a Ford
West boundlanes.
Station exit of
Interstate 81 in
southern Berke-
ley County.
Policesay
DanikaGuier,
24, was head-
ed north when
she' lost control
of her Hyundai
Elantra, crossed
the median and
began to spin
before colliding
Edge in the south-
nation The Keameysville resident
in tobacco •prevention fund-
ing. According to the re-
port, the state will receive $231
million this year from the 1998
tobacco settlement and tobacco
taxes. But only 2.5 percent of
the revenue will be used for to-
bacco prevention and cessation
programs.
INWOOD
Deadly Interstate wreck: A Jef-
ferson County woman died Dec.
18 after a crash ndar the Tabler's
worked second shift as a cor-
rectional officer at the Mary-
land Correctional Institute for
Women in Jessup. She graduated
from high school in Maryland in
2006.
Along the busy highway clos-
er to Martinsburg, miles of con-
crete barriers ha ee been erected
to keep cars from crossing the
median into oncoming traffic.
PRINCETON
Money for school projects:
Boiler work at schools in Mer- Radio-controlled ears upgrade:
cer County and other school con- An underused ice skating area at
struction and repair projects have Pipestem Resort State Park is
won funding from the state, gone, converted into two race
The West Virginia School tracks forradio-controlledcars.
Building Authority has awarded Paul Redford, lodge parks ad-
more than $6.2 million in grants ministrator with West Virginia's
to projects in eight counties, state parks, says there weren't
Mercer received $1 million to tracks for this type of recreation
replace boilers at four schools in the Pipestem area before the
while another $1 million went to park staff decided to make the
Upshur County, where officials change.
plan to rer/ovate heating and air Pipestem offers both a 450-
conditioning at three schools, foot dirt terrain track and a 277-
Other counties winning funds: foot concrete NASCAR-style
Kanawha ($750,000 for an ad- oval. The tracks were designed
dition at John Adams Middle with the help local radio control
School), Fayette ($806,760 to re- enthusiasts.
place a boiler at Divide Elemen- " The tracks are located adjacent
tary School), Grant ($934,808 to Pipestem's Recreation Cen-
for improvements at Maysville ter, alongside an outdoor.pool,
Elementary School), Ohio Coun- a par-3 golf course and driving
ty ($210,910 to repair the foun- range, disc golf course, a mini-
dation and replace a ramp at Tri- golf course, tennis courts and
adelphia Middle School), Cabell amphitheater.
($771,600 for heating and air The radio-controlled race
conditioning projects)and Dod- tracks are open for use at no
dridge ($768,950, also for heat- charge.
ing and AC projects). -- Compiled by Christine Mill-
er Ford, with some information
PIPESTEM from The Associated Press
stion 7 is the top
business story of year
CHRISTINE MILLER FORD bo Yard Industrial Park in Mar-
Spirit Staff tinsburg will employ about 1200
• people and hundreds of seasonal
CHARLES TOWN -- Mary- workers when it's fully operation,
land voters' decision last month al. That should happen next year
• to OK a casino in suburban Prince or early fn 2014.
.George's County - and the repur- 3. Area commuters protest a
cussions the change will mean proposal to alter the MARC com-
'for Hollywood Casino at Charles muter train schedule. Despite a
Town Races- has been selected as letter from West Virginia's top
• the top'business story of 2012 by
:the editors at the Spirit of Jeffer- transportation exec to his counter-
part in Maryland saying Panhan-
son. die commuters are "almost unan-
Other important business de-
"velopments this year included imously opposed" to altering the
MARC train sbhedule] the MARC
Macy's opened a giant fulfillment is now operating with changes.
center in the Panhandle, protests The Brunswick Line includes
'by area commuters against a pro- three stops in West Virginia: at
posal to alter the MARC commut- Harpers Ferry and Duffields in
~r train schedule and the contro- Jefferson County and at Caperton
versial plan to put a CVS pharma- Train Station in Martinsburg. Ev-
_ cy in historic downtown Charles ery weekday, hundreds of com-
Town.
muters in the Panhandle take the
Alook at the Top Five list of lo- MARC to one of the D.C. suburbs
• cal business stories for the previ- or all the way to Union Station.
ous 12months: 4. The controversial plan to
1. Hollywood's parent compa- put a CVS pharmacy in his-
ny, Penn National Gaming, spent toric downtown Charles Town
more than $42 million in hopes of moved ahead. The city of Charles
defeating Maryland's Question 7 Town, the planning commission
casino expansion. Voters who cast and the Charles Town Historic
ballots during in the Nov. 6 gen- Landmarks Commission all ap-
eral election ghve the thumbs-up proved the project even though
to the issue by a margin of 52 per- four buildings in the Downtown
eent to48 percent. Charles Town Historic District
With the bidding process set to
needed to be razed to make room
begin in January, it appears likely for the pharmacy on Washington
MGM Resorts International will
Street.
win the green light to go ahead
5. John Reisenweber beats out
with plans for an $800 million ho- dozens of applicants to become
tel-casino development, the new executive director of the
The passage of Question 7 also
Jefferson County Economic De-
allows Maryl.and's existing and velopmentAuthority.
planned slot machine-only casi-
Formerly a commercial lender
nos to introduce table games. It at Centra Bank in Martinsburg,
also lowers the state's gaming tax Reisenweber, took over the job in
from 67 percent.
2. Macy's opens a giant ful- February.
Reisenweber also has worked
fillment center in the Panhandle.
in U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Cap-
Merchandise began to be shipped ito's regional office, where his
from the new Macy's Intemet ful- focus included economic devel-
fdlment center in July. The 1.3: opment, agriculture and other is-
million-square-foot facility at sues•
'333 Caperton Blvd. in the Cum-
Buckles
FROM PAGE A1
Buckles dodged questions
about his age to enlist at 16,
then went on to outlive 4.7
million other Americans who
served.
Another version being con-
sidered by the Senate no longer
calls for a memorial on the Na-.
tional Mall as Buckles sought.
David DeJonge, who has
spent years working on a doc-
umentary of Buckles' life and
who serves as president of the
WWI Memorial Foundation,
said he is disgusted by the lat-
est twists that have unfolded in
Congress•.
"Tragically, all the good ef-
forts of Frank Buckks, Sena-
tor Rockefeller and millions of
Americans have been crushed,"
DeJonge said Wednesday. "The
sacrifice of 116,516 Americans
and the blood shed bythose
patriots are now kicked into a
D.C. no man's land."
DeJonge places much of
the blame on Rockfeller's col-
leagues, U.S. Sens. Claire Mc-
Caskill, a Democrat from l Iis-
souri, and Roy Blunt, a Repub-
lican from that state. Missouri
is home to the Liberty Memo-
rial at the National World War I
Museum in Kansas City.
A bill fast-tracked late on
Dec. 20 calls only for the cre-
ation of a centennial commis-
sion that would consider how
to appropriately commemorate
the Great War. The 100th anni-
versary of the start of the con-
flict will begin in 2014.
The bill moved forward from
the Senate Judiciary Commit-
tee, where Rockefeller has no
seat. Rockefeller first intro-
duced the Frank Buckles World
War I Memorial Act in 2009,
then reintroduced it earlier this
year with U.S. Sen. Jim Webb,
D-Virginia.
"Frank Buckles was a true
American patriot and a West
Virginia treasure," Rockefeller
i A ssessor. property. The state want&l to put
some pressure on the counties to
FROM PAGE A1 make sure valuations are up to
the appropriate level."
by the state. In an interview Wednesday,
Banks also has been sum- Banks said the state's report fo-
moned to attend next month's cused on 2011 while her office
meeting of the oversight com-has just finished its 2013 work.
.mission. "The state is looking at the
"There's always concern when past," she said. "The require-
someone out of compliance for ments they're asking for we've
that long a period," Kent said. done for 2012 and we've done
"She's going to hax, e to come in for 2013 - there will not be a
and give an explanation on what problem."
she's going to be doing to take Banks said .since taking of-
care of the problems." rice three years ago, she intro-
The commission recently duced many changes to the of-
•mailed out letters to affected rice. "We've made things more
county assessor's offices that efficient," she said. "Once I be-
outline the deficiencies found in came aware of the new require-
operations for the 2011 tax year. ments, I have made sure we are
County commissions and coun- meeting everything the state is
ty school boards also were made asking from us."
mission with detailed written
plans for moving into compli-
ance.
• Jefferson is among the 14
counties asked to not only file
a written plan but also to send
a representative to the commis-
sion's Jan. 16 meeting in Flat-
woods.
"Statewide, the biggest prob-
lem that counties have is that
they haven't kept up in all the
changes in the real estate mar-
ket," said Kent, a mass valu-
tion expert and certified asses-
sor with the International As-
sociation of Assessing Officers
who has been on the commis-
sion for six years. "State law re-
quires that every three years the
assessors have to bring all as-
sessments up to date."
Kent said that while he isn't
aware of the problems, Kent Across the state, deficiencies interested in, making excuses
said. noted by the commission cov- for the problems in the Jeffer-
New this year, Kent said, is ered rules related to real estate son County assessor's office,
the state's ability to cut state (computer entry, validation of he is aware the county in recent
school aid to counties found to sales data, uniformity between years has been home to great
not be assessing property at the sold and unsold properties); fluctuations in housing and land
required 60 percent of its fair mapping; and eva.luation to en- prices.
market value. - sure that the appraisal-to-sales "You've had such a wild real
"The Legislature created this ratio is up to standard, estate market there," he said.
mechanism several years ago, The majority of counties cit- "It's got to be really difficult
but this will be the first year for ed by the state had just one or for them to keep up, particularly
actual (funding) reductions," two years of deficiencies. Kent with number of new houses and
Kent said. "The idea is to get said that all have been given parcels. It may be that there's
counties to stop underassessing until Jan. 7 to provide the com- more there than meets the eye."
said. D.C. for people to pay their re- World War I.
A spokesman said Rockefeller spects. Born in Bethany, Mo., on Feb.
does support the creation of the But his idea has been thwart- 1, 1901, Buckles was raised in
commission so the United States ed by legislation limiting con- Oklahoma. He served as an am-
can begin planning for the cen- struction of monuments and me- bulance driver in England and
tennial, morials in the capital. "This is France and did not see combat.
DeJonge said lab hopes high- a very public and historic deci- After Armistice Day, he helped
er-level national leaders to step sion," DeJonge said, "and we return prisoners of war back to
in and ensure the creation of feel that an overwhelming pub- Germany.
the memorial Buckles envi- lic poll would show that Amer- He returned to the United States
sioned. "We're looking to the ica would agree this memorial in1920 as a corporal, l)tLfing World
president and other politicians needs to be approved and on the War II, Buckles was working as a
to offer a better solution to fulfill mall.'" civilian for a shipping company in
Frank's dream," DeJonge said on Buckles was laid to rest March the Philippines when he was cap-
Wednesday. 15, 2011, in Arlington National tured as a prisoner of war. He spent
Buckles devoted the last few Cemetery after• hundreds of peo- more than three years in Japanese
years of his life to campaigning for pie, including President Barack prison camps.
greater recognition for .his former Obama and Vice President Joe A compromise bill to estab-
comrades, enlisting Rockefeller to Biden, paid their respects,lish the centennial commission
his cause. His gravesite has views of passed the Senate late last week
Buckles wanted to see the Dis- the Washington Monument, the by unanimous consent.
trict of Columbia War Memorial Capitol dome and the Jefferson Calls to McCaskill's office in
rededicated to include the wording Memorial. At the crest of the hill D.C. and Missouri were not re-
"'National World War l Memorial." sits the grave of Gen. John Per- turned Wednesday.
Though Buckles supported the shing, under whose command
Missouri museumanditsmission Buckles served, along with a - Staff writer Marla Pisc[otta
of education, he also believed plaque commemorating the and The Associated Press con-
there should also be a place in 116,516 Americans who died in tributed to this report.
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