By Mannix PorterfieldREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

CHARLESTON — A Raleigh County legisla-tor passed up an opportunity to help createnew jobs in his district by adding a new magis-trate in a bill that got nowhere in a legislative

interims committee.Delegate John O’Neal, R-

Raleigh, voted with the majori-ty in killing the proposal beforeJudiciary Subcommittee A inthis week’s January interims.

Like his colleagues in the ma-jority, O’Neal was leery of theuncertain criteria used to justi-fy new magistrates, not only inMonongalia, the target of theoriginal bill, but also in Berke-

ley, Kanawha, Raleigh and Wood.As explained to committee members by an

attorney, Monongalia ranked fifth in caseloadfrom 2009 to 2011, averaging 3,156 per judge.

The measure was successfully amended byDelegate John Ellem, R-Wood, to add the otherfour counties, but when the final showdowncame, the bill collapsed.

O’Neal

This weekend, Woodrow Wilson High School thespians will wow audiences with a tale as old as time. The much-anticipated “Beauty and the Beast” opens Saturday, presented in 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. shows, and will run Jan. 17, 18,19 with 7 p.m. showtimes. Music teacher Dawn McGinnis said this year’s production will be the largest, most com-plex and visually stunning the area has seen from the school. Including technicians, around 100 students will be in-volved in this year’s production of the Disney classic. In addition to a pit orchestra, additional musical instrumentsand sounds will be generated through OrchExtra, equipment that is expected to make the play sound larger than life.Sophomore Tristan Vaughan will take on the role of the Beast opposite Hannah Wood as Belle. McGinnis welcomesthe public to attend. To provide a donation to help the school cover the cost of production or to purchase tickets, call304-256-4646, extension 7129, during school hours, or 681-220-8108 after hours. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5for students. All shows will be held in the Woodrow Wilson High School Auditorium on Stanaford Road.

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CONTROL PROPOSALSNATION | Page 10A

‘I love the game and I love the kids’Jim Justice — The coach who

happens to own The GreenbrierSPORTS | Page 1B

PINEVILLE LAWYERGETS 18 MONTHSFOR TAX EVASION

REGION | Page 2A

THEREGISTER HERALDFriday, January 11, 2013 Beckley, West Virginia ◆ Single copy: 75 cents

Volume 133Number 206

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Officer cited for 14th year by highway safety program By Wendy HoldrenREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

Beckley Police Department Sgt.Frankie Shelton was named the2012 Officer of the Year for the 14thconsecutive year Thursday at theSouthern Regional Highway SafetyAwards Banquet at the Moose Lodgein Beckley.

This award acknowledges the bestall around enforcement performanceand most consistent efforts in mostevery category of highway safety;Shelton has certainly earned his ac-knowledgment.

In the past year on highway safetypatrols alone, Shelton recorded 163DUI arrests, 92 driving suspended/re-voked charges, over 370 seatbelt vio-lation charges and averaged a DUIarrest for every 3.14 hours he pa-trolled.

A humble Shelton said, “I feel allthe officers are equal. Any of themcould have won this award.”

RICK BARBERO/THE REGISTER-HERALD

Beckley Police Sgt. Paul Blume, director of the Southern Regional HighwaySafety Program, left, and Bob Tipton, director of the Governor’s Highway Safe-ty Program, right, presented Beckley Police Sgt. Frankie Shelton, center, withthe 2012 Officer of the Year Award at the SRHSP annual awards program onThursday. Shelton won the award for the 14th consecutive year based on hisoverall performance for enforcing traffic safety laws. See Sunday’s editionfor more photos from Thursday’s recognition ceremonies.

Removing tollswould be tragedy,Mercer authoritymember warnsBy Mannix PorterfieldREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

CHARLESTON — An impassioned pleaThursday to maintain the controversial tolls onthe West Virginia Turnpike beyond the sched-uled cutoff in 2019 was laced with a warningthat a non-stop, free ride would be tragic.

Bill Seaver of Mercer County issued the grimforecast after Turnpike Manager Greg Barr out-

lined the Princeton-to-Charleston highway’s statusfrom all perspectives to him andother members of the governingboard, the West Virginia Park-ways Authority.

State Code stipulates the tollsmust disappear once the bondsare satisfied, provided the high-ways commissioner feels the 88-mile road is in “good conditionand repair.” As of this week, the

outstanding debt was $62.74 million.Using the same power points as he did before

a legislative panel this week, Barr told the au-thority it would cost the Division of Highways anestimated $59 million a year to maintain theroad.

No sooner had Barr finished than Seaver de-livered a strong pitch to keep the tolls intact andto spread the word that this is vital if the road isto be maintained.

If tolls come down, he suggested, the road islikely to slip back into disrepair.

Delegate says noto proposal to addmore magistrates

F. BRIAN FERGUSON/THE REGISTER-HERALD

Raleigh dropout rate appears to be improvingBy Sarah Plummer REGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

Raleigh County Schools atten-dance director Millard Francis re-ported that 49 high school studentshave dropped out thus far this schoolyear.

With more than 100 students drop-ping out last year, Francis said thisyear the county is trending to havefewer. By this month last year therewere 60 exits.

The number of students exitinghigh school increased over themonth of September this school

year and then leveled out.School officials expect another

spike during the next month andthen the numbers should taper offagain.

Twenty-nine students have leftWoodrow Wilson High School, fourhave left Shady and eight have exitedat both Independence and Liberty.

Superintendent Jim Brown ex-plained how much these school exitsaffect not only the individual stu-dents, but the entire district.

Between 35 withdrawals and 49dropouts, Brown said the school sys-tem loses $8,500 in funding for each

student for a total of loss of morethan $714,000.

“When you disperse 84 studentsover a district, you won’t see that youneed one less teacher here or one lessteacher here. You have to continue todo what you are doing with three-quarters of $1 million less funding,”he said.

Board President Richard Snufferexpressed his concern that statisticsshow the students who leave schoolwithout graduating are much morelikely to get in trouble with the law.

■ W.VA. PARKWAYS

Seaver

Raleigh legislator unswayedby criteria used to justify jobs

See TOLLS, 12A

See MAGISTRATES, 12A See SAFETY, 12A

See DROPOUT, 12A

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THE REGISTER-HERALD

FridayDecember 6, 2013

Managing Editor: Dawn A. DaytonPhone: 304-255-4459 or toll-free at800-950-0250, extension 459Email: ddayton@register-herald.com

Section

Online: www.register-herald.com

INSIDE:Miner’s Day................2Eccles .........................3Location names..........4

Honoring each and every miner. Past. Present. And future.

National Miner's Day falls on the anniversary of the FairmontCoal Company Mining Disaster at Monongah in 1907. Takingthe lives of 362 men and boys who were underground at thetime, it remains the greatest mining tragedy in the history ofAmerican Industry. In commemoration of these, and the hundreds of other liveslost in the mines, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution on Dec.3, 2009, declaring December 6 as National Miner's Day.

www.register-herald.com mobile: m.register-herald.com facebook.com/RegisterHerald twitter.com/Register_Herald

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NELSON MANDELA,SOUTH AFRICA’S

PEACEMAKER, DIESWORLD | Page 9A

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Volume 134Number 170

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Parkways boardmember says hewill stand up toMercer delegate

By Pamela PrittREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

An otherwise routine Parkways AuthorityBoard meeting hit some rough road Thurs-day when Delegate MartyGearheart, R-Mercer, spoketo the group under its “call tothe public” portion of themeeting.

Gearheart defended the billhe introduced during the2013 legislative session thatwould slice $90 million fromthe authority’s budget byeliminating tolls, forbid theauthority from borrowingmoney and transfer the au-thority’s powers to the WestVirginia Division of High-ways, as well as all of its as-sets.

While the bill passed theHouse of Delegates by a 99-1margin, Gearheart said, thebill died in the State Senate.

The delegate promised torenew his efforts during the2014 legislative session.

“I do have a point of view, and I will de-fend that point of view with vigor,” Gear-heart said.

Seaver says Gearheart’sproposal to remove tolls on W.Va. Turnpike ‘crazy’

RICK BARBERO/THE REGISTER-HERALD

Third year medical students at West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine took part in the school’s RuralHealthcare Initiative Program by participating in a mine simulation lab where they helped in mock accidents Thurs-day at the National Mine Health and Safety Administration Academy in Beaver. As physicians, the students said theexercises would help them know what to expect when a mine-related injury arrives for their emergency care.

WVSOM students learn what to expectwhen treating coal mine-related injuriesBy Cody NeffREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

Students at the West VirginiaSchool of Osteopathic Medicine triedto save their patients, but no matterwhat they could have done, therewas no hope. That might be becausetheir patients were never alive to be-gin with.

The students were taken to theMine Safety and Health Administra-tion Academy in Beaver Thursday aspart of WVSOM’s Rural HealthcareInitiative.

After a tour of the mock-mine set-up, the students broke into twoteams and had to help out in a coupleof fake mining accidents.

The first accident involved a man-nequin who was hit with a blast thattore a large chunk out of his shin.Each six-person team had to save theman while dealing with a mouth-piece of a self-rescue system. This

caused the students to have to usegrunts and hand signals to talk withone another.

The second accident featured amannequin who had a head injury, acollapsed lung, and severe burns onhis hands. By this point, the studentsseemed to have a good hang of talk-ing with a mouthpiece in and zippedright to saving the victim.

Some mistakes were made, butstudents said they learned from theirmistakes and learned a good bitabout what a miner might gothrough.

“After the first scenario, looking atscene safety and self-awareness,making sure you take care of yourselfis important,” third-year medical stu-dent Michael Bledsoe said. “After thesecond scenario it kind of remindedme how important C-Spine stabiliza-tion is. A broken neck or a possiblebroken neck, that’s something youforget about because you’re so wor-ried about everything else going on.Participating in this activity reallycemented that into my mind.” Brown: No alert

given because nothreat after arrestBy Jessica FarrishREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

If a credible safety threat ever exists ata Raleigh County school, the school willbe closed or operated undera “ lockdown situation,”Raleigh Schools Superin-tendent Jim Brown prom-ised Thursday.

On Wednesday, in thewake of online threatsmade against the studentpopulation of Shady SpringHigh School, some parentsin the district had ex-pressed concern that schooloff ic ials did not noti fy them of thethreats.

More than half of the 850 Shady stu-dents were absent Wednesday, one day af-ter parents saw news of the student’s ar-rest on Facebook and in local media andopted to keep children at home as a safetymeasure.

■ SHADY SPRING HIGH SCHOOL

See ALERT, 11A

See PARKWAYS, 11A

By Pamela PrittREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

The book of Revelation says thatthe dead will rest from theirlabors for their deeds will fol-

low them. Howard Earehart has a long list of

good deeds to follow him. One of fivebrothers who owned car dealershipsin the Beckley area, the 78-year-oldEarehart died Thursday after severalmonths’ illness. But it is his dedica-tion to God for which he should be re-membered, his brother Andy said.

“He was a good man, a great Chris-tian man,” Andy said. “I’ve seen himgive cars to people who needed trans-portation. He was so close to the Lordall the time.”

Howard was a member of the Fam-ily Worship Center, but had been a

faithful member of the UnitedMethodist Temple earlier in his life.According to a previous article in TheRegister-Herald, Howard “turned hislife over to the Lord” in 1989.

“I can’t explain it, but that nightchanged my life forever,” he said in2009. “It changed me completely.”

His pastor, Stacey Dingess, saidHoward was instrumental in winningpeople to the church and introducingthem to Christ.

“He had an ability to make peoplefeel welcome and embraced,” Dingesssaid. “He didn’t like anyone to notfeel a part of the church.”

The pastor said he has only knownthe Eareharts for a few months, andduring that time Howard had beenvery ill.

Local car dealer leaves Christian, community legacy■ HOWARD EAREHART MOURNED

Howard Earehart See EAREHART, 11A

Gearheart

Seaver

Brown

“We have a lot of coal miners in my area, so it’s been nice toget to learn more about the profession and what the patients

I’m treating have been dealing with, whether it’s the potential diseases or injuries they could have.”

DARBY FORD,third-year WVSOM medical student

See STUDENTS, 5A

WVU FALLS TOMISSOURI

SPORTS | Page 1B

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D1SUD964

The threats, made by asingle student on a socialnetwork site, made refer-ences to Columbine HighSchool, a Colorado schoolwhere two students killed12 fellow students and ateacher before commit-ting suicide on April 20,1999.

The student was arrest-ed on Sunday, hours afterShady Principal DanielMoye and Assistant Prin-cipal David Wills learnedof the threats and notifiedthe Raleigh County Sher-

iff’s Office.Brown explained that

no threat existed Mondaymorning, becausedeputies had arrested thesuspect and had reas-sured Brown, Moye andother school officials thatno threat to student safe-ty existed in the situa-tion.

“If we felt there was acredible threat we knewof, we wouldn’t haveopened school,” Brown ex-plained. “If we would’vehad school, it would’vebeen under a lockdownsituation.”

As it was, Brown said,the arrest of the studentaround 9:30 p.m. Sunday

meant that the schoolwas safe Monday morn-ing.

“Consideration on Sun-day evening was made asto providing notificationto parents,” he said. “Wefelt that that would serveonly to exacerbate the sit-uation.”

Brown pointed out thatwhen local media pub-lished a sheriff’s officepress release Tuesday de-tailing the arrest of theteen, parents reacted in afearful way, even thoughthe school was safe.

“The school has been insession Monday, Tuesdayand Wednesday, and wewere under no belief that

there was a threat to theschool,” Brown said.

Moye said he reactedquickly upon learning ofthe threat and doesn’t seethat he could’ve handledit any differently.

“I handled it the best Icould, and I don’t feel Imade any mistakes,” hesaid. “We had a great dayhere at school Monday,Tuesday, Wednesday andtoday.”

Around 125 Shady stu-dents were absent Thurs-day, he reported.

Brown said the Sundayarrest of the teen who al-legedly made the threatsis actually the result ofstudents, school adminis-

trators and the policehandling the situationsuccessfully.

“In this case, the sys-tem actually worked,”said Brown. “People inthe community, and stu-dents, are becoming morevigilant about what’s be-ing posted on social me-dia.

“When they report thatinformation to school offi-cials and law enforce-ment, we’re able to reactquickly.

“The real crisis is whenthat threat is not madeapparent,” he added. “Inthis case, we were veryfortunate the informationwas presented to school

officials and law enforce-ment and action hap-pened.

“The system worked.”Brown urged students,

parents and others in thecommunity to report anythreats that are made onsocial media sites.

“Whether they feel it’s acredible threat or not, itneeds to be reported,” hesaid. “It gives school offi-cials and law enforce-ment an opportunity toinvestigate and take theaction necessary.

“We have a high proba-bility of avoiding a crisisor a terrible situation.”

— E-mail: jfarrish@register-herald.com

ALERTContinued from 1A

In response to a ques-tion about replacing tollrevenues, Gearheart said“minds brighter than” hishad found the replace-ment funding. Gearheartsaid after the meetingthat the authority doesn’tneed $90 million to oper-ate the turnpike, addingthat its ancillary revenuefrom properties likeTamarack along the turn-pike could sustain the au-thority’s budget. He saidhe supported tolls on oth-er state roads, includingthe King Coal Highway.

“If we want new con-struction, we’re going tohave to find creative waysto fund it.”

Gearheart said hewants to ensure that theturnpike is turned over tothe state by 2020.

The delegate’s state-ments during the meetingangered one board mem-ber who said every bill inthe House passed by asimilar margin on thesame day as Gearheart’s.

Bill Seaver went on tosay that the only way tostop such political actionis to rally parkways em-ployees to vote, and to en-courage their families tovote, as well.

Seaver said Gearhearthas called parkways em-ployees “lackadaisical”and accused them of notearning their salaries.Seaver said no one on theboard had challengedGearheart before, but heintends to from this point.

“I’m going to stand up,”he said. “It’s not reason-able to do away withthese tolls. We have tocome up with our ownplan.”

After the meetingSeaver called Gearheart’s

legislative actions “crazy.”The largest effect of thelegislation would be to cut400 jobs, Seaver said.

“They’re not dealingwith the needs of thestate,” he continued.

Money from the tollsshould be spent in south-ern West Virginia sincethat is where the moneyoriginates, he said.Seaver pointed to severalimprovement projects theauthority has accom-plished, including theCheylan bridge and U.S.19 south of Summersville.

Gearheart said he be-lieves tolls amount to adouble-tax for businesseswhich pay tax on the fuelthey purchase to main-tain the roads and thenpay tolls for the same pur-pose.

Gearheart wasn’t fin-ished with the authority,questioning some vegeta-tion removal methodsalong the turnpike in

Mercer County. The dele-gate said he had a permitto remove vegetation fromthe right-of-way, andparkways authority em-ployees had not followedthe same guidelines re-quired of him, leavingstanding stumps andbrush pushed into thetreeline along the road.

“The state is engagingin what I would be pun-ished for,” Gearheartsaid. “It doesn’t look verynice.”

Director of Mainte-nance Engineering JimMeadows agreed that theleftovers from vegetationremoval didn’t look thatappealing, but the cost ofremoving the stumps andchipping the wood wasprohibitive. Meadows not-ed that small saplings willgrow and leaf out nextspring to hide the debris.

Gearheart respondedhe merely wants “somekind of equalizing” for

both public and privateright-of-way mainte-nance, noting his own per-mit required stumps to beremoved and brush to bechipped.

Meadows said that evenif the wood was chippedon-site, the refuse wouldremain on the right-of-way because of the cost oftrucking it to another lo-cation.

■ ■ ■General Manager Gre-

gory Barr told authoritymembers that Thanksgiv-ing holiday traffic wasdown 7.7 percent fromlast year. Fewer travelerswere on the turnpikeTuesday, Wednesday andThursday, while the lat-ter days of the week wereup about 1,900 vehicles.

Barr said severe weath-er warnings had takentheir toll on travel early inthe week. “I think thosewarnings put people off,”he said.

In other business, theauthority approved an$829,000 bid from Spe-cialty Groups Inc. to paintthe Yeager Bridge overthe Kanawha River inCharleston. The bid camein 28 percent lower thanthe engineer’s estimate,and was less than $10,000under the next lowest bid-der. Specialty Groups is aWest Virginia companybased in Bridgeport. Com-panies from New Yorkand Florida also bid onthe project.

The parkways authori-ty also approved spendingup to $180,000 for LEDlighting and installationof towers in theCharleston area, particu-larly around MacCorkleAvenue. The move report-edly will save on mainte-nance costs, since LEDlights are projected to last20 years.

— E-mail: ppritt@register-herald.com

PARKWAYSContinued from 1A

But in the region, theEarehart name will beforever linked with au-tomobile dealerships.Andy said the Earehartsbecame the definition ofa family business, whichbegan with their father,a mechanic who trainedhis five sons in the busi-ness.

The Eareharts openeda used car lot on Valley(now Byrd) Drive in1957 and got the AMCfranchise in 1958. Theyformed the EarehartAuto Group, and stayedin business together un-til their father passedaway in 1964.

“Then each of usbought our own stores,”Andy said. “All of us gotalong together eventhough we were com-

petitors. We were allvery close. We still are.”

Andy explained thatthe brothers separatedas business partners be-cause they all had chil-dren they wanted tocome up in the automo-bile dealership businessbehind them.

Howard owned theToyota and Volvo deal-erships, then was presi-dent of the Buick, Ponti-ac and General Motorsdealership in Oak Hill.His last project was asmall used-car lot “tokeep him active,” Andysaid.

The Earehart legacy isevident in the respectshown to the family,even from competitors.

“He was a great iconin the auto industry,and in this town,” saidSarah Abrams fromLewis Nissan. “He’ll def-initely be greatly missedand remembered.”

“Good fellow. Good carman. Good friend,” saidKeith Tyler from RameyFord. “He’s always beena man of his word —just an all-around goodgentleman.”

“The Earehart fami-lies are respected pio-neers in the automobileindustry in RaleighCounty, contributing tothe community and sup-porting various charita-ble causes,” ErnieDavis, owner of Home-town Automotive Group,said.

“I am sure Howardwill be greatly missedby many friends andfamily, as well as thecommunity as a whole. Iwould like to expressmy condolences to theEarehart family at thisdifficult time.”

Ruth Lemmon, presi-dent of the West Vir-ginia Automobile andTruck Dealers Associa-

tion, agreed. The Eareharts were a

dynasty in the industry,she said. “Howard,Andy, Bill and Charliewere such a force inbuilding the auto indus-try. They set the bar forauto dealers and com-munity involvement.They were just suchgood corporate commu-nity citizens. He will begreatly missed, just as aperson.”

Lemmon rememberedHoward as a soft-spo-ken, kind person and“always a team player.”

That kind person andteam player now joinshis brothers Dillard, Billand Charlie, and sistersLida and Norma inheaven, Andy said.

“The Lord just choseto take him, and that’swhat he wanted,” Andysaid.

— E-mail: ppritt@register-herald.com

EAREHARTContinued from 1A

U.S. ag secretary praisesfarmers’ efforts for help incleanup of Chesapeake Bay

RICHMOND, Va. (AP)— Farmers have signifi-cantly reduced the flowof pollutants into theChesapeake Bay, withnew conservation prac-tices keeping more than15 million tons of sedi-ment alone out of the es-tuary, a report releasedThursday said.

Agriculture SecretaryTom Vilsack releasedthe results of farm sur-veys to document howvoluntary, incentive-based approaches toagricultural conserva-tion have worked. Thesurveys looked at thosepractices from 2003through 2006 and againin 2011.

“What we found fromthis assessment is con-servation is working andworking in a very signif-icant way,” Vilsack saidin a teleconference.

The surveys foundthat farmers and ranch-ers used an array of con-servation practices suchas cover crops andbuffers to limit sedimentand other pollutantsthat otherwise wouldend up in the bay.

Vilsack said the sur-veys illustrate that“farmers are steppingup” to reduce pollutionin the bay, which is amida massive cleanup in-volving six states andWashington, D.C.