April 07 News

 
  • April 30 pm  The Communicator made it to the news stands around 4pm Monday. The lead story contains the findings of the Community Design Team.  24 pages of news and views on Clayberry West Virginia
  • April 30 pm  This is a big week for public meetings. Clay Town Council convenes at 6pm at the Water Plant. CAEZ's Eco/Dev Committee meets at 4pm followed by the full Board meeting at 6pm.  CAEZ meetings are held in their Main Street Clay office near the DHHR building.
  • April 30 pm  Thursday evening the Business Development Authority holds their monthly meeting in the CCC room beginning at 5pm
  • April 30 pm   From the email bag this:  Fisherman fishing Laurel Creek there is a slimy snake steeling stuff from the cars and trucks parked there , see they don't work for a living they have all the time in the world to steal off of honest hard working people, So lock up your stuff or better take it out before you go fishing there  , They stole a new tool box full of tools and an open faced fishing pole out of the back of our pickup truck it was in our topper with the door closed, so to the ones that stole these tools sell them and buy you some crack cause you sure are not going to work with them  !!! you know who you are!!! that is if you can READ , please pass the word along it could keep these thugs from new found income ,So if you see some shady looking creep trying to sell a new black and diamond plated tool box full of tools  and a open faced fishing pole call the sheriff's office he will know what to do, also my husband was fishing with you and he has a good idea who you are !!!
  • April 30 pm Sounds like somebody ain't too happy.
  • April 30 pm   from the email bag .... TICK WARNING: I hate it when people forward bogus warnings, and I have even done it myself a couple times unintentionally... but this one is real, and it's important. So please send this warning to everyone on your e- mail list. If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks due to the warm weather and asks you to take your clothes off and dance around with your arms up,    DO NOT DO IT!! THIS IS A SCAM!! They only want to see you naked.   I wish I'd gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid.
  • April 30 pm     A  circus owner walked into a bar to find everyone crowded about a table watching a little show. On the table was an upside-down pot and a duck tap dancing on it. The circus owner was so impressed that he offered to buy the duck from its owner. After some wheeling and dealing they settled for $10,000 for the duck and the pot.  Three days later the circus owner runs back to the bar in anger, "Your duck is a rip-off! I put him on the pot before a whole audience and he didn't dance a single step!"   "That's strange" said the duck's former owner, "did you remember to light the candle under the pot?"
  • April 30 pm All pooped out tonight, better post on Tuesday.
  • April 29 pm   Harold J. Woods, 82, see OBITUARY page
  • April 29 pm From the last seven days...
  • April 29 pm Remember when out leaders told us that Iraq was an immanent threat? Now Condi has stepped back from those claims.
  • April 29 pm Remember when the Courts said that those prisoners at Guantamo had to be released? There still there.
  • April 29 pm  Despite their parliament building getting blown up four weeks, John McCain says Baghdad is doing much better. This week American forces lobbed artillery rounds into that safe part killing untold numbers of civilians. Now that's the way to make friends!
  • April 29 pm  Not some pee ant, a big cheese from the intelligence community says all the new killing is revenge for the hanging of Sadamn.
  • April 29 pm  In early Jan Dubbya said his new plan of attack, a surge, actually an escalation, would do the trick. Now 90 days into it, maybe it's time for the next plan for victory. Surge assessments being held up.
  • April 29 pm According Mr Murtha, there have been 53% more American deaths in the last four months. The last election should have told Washington we want out. They're still not listening.
  • April 29 pm There have been 3,604 coalition deaths -- 3,334 Americans, two Australians, 145 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, six Danes, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Fijian, one Hungarian, 32 Italians, one Kazakh, three Latvian, 19 Poles, two Romanians, five Salvadoran, four Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians -- in the war in Iraq as of April 26, 2007, according to a CNN count
  • April 29 pm Closer to home it was a big week as well. Badges arrested Tracy Sizemore for her part for phoning in fake prescriptions to Rite Aid. Considered a star and from a good family, it only goes to show how prevalent the drug trade is in Clayberry.
  • April 29 pm Wednesday morning during the County Commission meeting, more concrete plans were made public to build  a 23 mile road from the Hartland bridge over to Rt 19 in Nicholas County. The road would also provide a minimum of 1500 flat to rolling acres for development. More business, more homes. Already the near sighted are poo pooing the idea.
  • April 29 pm With Commissioner Prez Triplett out of action with a virus, Fran and Jolly made it official with a no vote for a proposed Flood Planning Ordinance. Zoning is dead for now.
  • April 29 pm Badges arrested Tommy Young Jr and Jeremy Salisbury on grand larceny charges. Their target was a bulldozer.
  • April 29 pm  Thursday evening a WVU group called the Community Design Team moved into Clay for three days. Their goal was to determine what's good and bad with downtown Clay and provide answers. We put on a great dog and pony show with few snags. Those folks were pretty darn good. After just a few days, they were able to scope out many real issues behind our third world status. The complete run down will be Monday's Communicator, but., in a nutshell, there was no mention of growing smoke stacks, and pollution belchers. The 12 person group keyed in on our potential as a tourist spot.   Hmmmm.., have we heard that before? They said to develop and grow existing resources. Stuff like, the new ball park, the BC&G RR, the new campground, the Elk River, side roads for biking, and make downtown Clay "quaint" with arts and craft stores.
  • April 29 pm They mentioned the lack of co-operation between different committees, elected boards, and authorities,  the need for a PR person to put our best foot forward, a person to coordinate grant writing efforts, and the obvious, redo the sidewalks, put up period streetlights, either use the parking meters or take them out, road signs in and around Clay are missing or less than informative, etc.
  • April 29 pm  This makes about the third such group coming in here explaining the obvious. Maybe this time it will take
  • April 29 pm Friday night over at Clay County Park, all the Little Leaguers showed up for a Lighting the Ball Park. it was great seeing all the kids out on the field as the new $76,000 lights were told on. The weather cooperated and the lights even worked.
  • April 29 pm  Telford's Chevy made it thru another week. Word on the street had them shutting down Friday. Didn't happen. We talked to Rick Tanner Friday evening and he said he still had a job there and was reporting for duty Saturday. Back in Jan, TG Cruickshanks told  The Communicator that a deal for a company to buy them out would be completed by March. Now almost May, the guess, the deal with General Truck Sales is off. There still open but with hardly any inventory, what's up. Maybe a locally owned partnership is in the works.
  • April 29 pm This weekend, people planted the last of the cabbage, dug more ramps, washed their cars, and cooked out. With all the problems, Clayberry is still a  great place to call home.
  • April 29 am   Did you put on an extra cover last night? Chilly and wet in Clay with today predicted to be sun filled. Just perfect for molly moochers to pop up again. Nothing says Spring like mushrooms and ramps. Yum Yum
  • April 29 am Weekend wrap up coming. Just too seepy at 1 in the morning. Should be posted by noon Sunday
  • April 28 am  Charles Brooks Tanner, 67, of Nebo, see OBITUARY page
  • April 28 am   Clyde C. Cook, age 78, see OBITUARY page
  • April 28 am  From the email bag:   HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARL HUDNALL JR, YOU ARE GONE, BUT YOU WILL NEVER BE

  • FORGOTTEN!!  WE LOVE AND MISS YOU VERY MUCH, FROM ALL  OF YOUR FAMILY
    April 28 am  At three minutes and four seconds after 2 o'clock on the 6th of May this year, the time and date will be 02:03:04 05:06:07.
  • April 28 am  The biggy for the today will be preliminary findings for the Community Design Team. That comes tonight at 7pm in the Lion's Club building. 12 folks from the WVU community have been in town giving the place a once over. A formal report comes later.
  • April 28 am Friday morning the Team heard from various business leaders. Friday afternoon they toured Lake Sampson, the old Courthouse, the JG Bradley Campground,  and the Swinging bridge on Elkhurst. Friday night they attended the lighting ceremony at Clay Park near  Maysel.
  • April 28 am We had a chance to talk to Teflord Chevy's Ric "Nebo Warrior" Tanner Friday evening. He said he still had a job when he left and planned to show up for duty Saturday.
  • April 28 am Two cars on the lot.... more pick up trucks gone.... employees being laid off... and not a peep on General Truck Sales taking over. Something ain't smelling right. Maybe there's something else brewing.
  • April 28 am  We held up the Communicator until Monday so as to include the Design Team findings and Mikey stuff.
  • April 27 am We're holding up the Communicator until Monday afternoon. Sorry for the delay but it will be worth the wait. Deadline for notices, classifieds, etc.,  is Saturday at noon.
  • April 27 am So how do you go about stealing  from the tenants of Maysel Manor/Anderson Heights Apartments? Here's one way. Mark the apartment as vacant while occupied. Makes things much easier when tenants are told to pay in cash too. Both happened.
  • April 27 am Here's another way, tell tenants to pay their security deposits in cash and then don't write down that the deposit had been paid.
  • April 27 am If it hadn't been for those pesky tenants that insisted on a written receipt, no one would have ever known.  As for how much was actually swiped, we may never know exactly, but as more and more tenants are speaking up, the dollar amount is growing growing daily.
  • April 27 am In a written correspondence with Encore, the USDA folks  want the management firm to turn in the loss (minus the missing equipment) into their insurance provider instead of prosecuting the former site supervisor. It makes it much less public that way. Keep everything quiet!
  • April 27 am Full details Monday in the Communicator
  • April 27 am Tommy Young Jr was arrested Thursday afternoon. Stolen goods seems to be the charge.  More as we get it
  • April 27 am  Mikey Lanham went before Magistrate Boggs Thursday. Boggs said Yelp, sure looks like Lanham violated the terms of his suspended sentence from punching out that little tubby reporter last April 5th. After Mr. Boogs, Iron Mikey went across the hall to Magistrate King where he was locked up until his attorney can come up with some way to defend the out of control fight prone Mikey.
  • April 27 am  Here's a parcel listing of Lanham's adult criminal history:  11 felony charges; 9 battery convictions, and a total of 66 misdemeanors.  even after all that, the little feller doesn't seem to learn . During the Thursday's court room appearances, he made threatening remarks to the Sheriff, Prosecutor, and others.
  • April 27 am   The Community Design team is in town today and Saturday. Remember , be on your best behavior.
  • April 27 am  Free ball game tonight at Clay County Park.  CCHS takes on Roane County. Go Clay!
  • April 27 am   She was in the kitchen preparing to boil eggs for breakfast.   He walked in;   She turned and said, Joe You've got to make love to me this very moment."  His eyes lit up and he thought, "This is my lucky day." Not wanting to lose the moment, he embraced her and then gave it his all ...... right there on the kitchen table. Afterwards she said, "Thanks,"  and returned to the stove.   More than a little puzzled, he asked, "What was that all about?"     She explained, "The egg timer's broken."
  • April 27 am With the lights blinking off and on, storm suppose to be coming... that's all for now.
  • April 26 pm  Shirlene Brashears, 60, of Bomont, see OBITUARY page
  • April 26 pm  Eugene “Pops” Duffield, see OBITUARY page
  • April 26 am  The Flood Plain Zoning Ordinance is dead... for now. During Wednesday's County Commission meeting, Fran and Slinky voted no. Peter Triplett was absent with the flu.
  • April 26 am  More interesting was a presentation by Fola Coal on a new 22+ mile two lane road connecting Clayberry to Rt. 19 in Nicholas County. In addition to easy access, the plan calls for a minimum of 1500 "rolling" acres of developable land along the roadbed, in Clay County.  Water sewer, and power easements are also called for in the plan.
  • April 26 am Already there are several opposed to the road mentioning that everybody would head over the hill to Summersville and downtown Clay would turn into a dust ball. Of course the other way of looking at it is, with 1500 acres to develop, a bunch of new business would certainly help what's left of downtown. Additional tax base, additional families, additional everything.
  • April 26 am  If the road plan is not a way to get around cleaning up the environmental mess on the old Vandala strip mine site, it's a no brainer. Build it, they will come.
  • April 26 am  In the way of an update on the Maysel Manor/Anderson Heights Apartments mess, Commissioner King answered some questions Wednesday. According to Franny, the Housing Authority is getting NO support from the USDA; and if something doesn't change by Friday noon, she plans to call  up TV, radio, and newspaper outlets and spill her guts on the many many problems with the county's two public housing projects.
  • April 26 am When she promised that same action back in Feb ( the gas crisis), government agencies got their thumbs out of their butts and actually did something.  Stay tuned clickers, Friday afternoon may get interesting.
  • April 26 am A memorial service was held outside the Courthouse yesterday. The stats provided by the speakers were alarming...
  • April 26 am  Since Jan 1 07, there have been 29 child abuse and neglect "actions" in the county
  • April 26 am  Clay has the third highest percentage of cases in the state
  • April 26 am  There have been 42 cases of Domestic Violence in Clay so far in 07
  • April 26 am  In 2005, 20 out of 100 West Virginia kids were victims of neglect or abuse. Those are the convictions, not cases.  Many more instances are thought to have gone undetected.
  • April 26 am  Little Mikey Lanham is back in custody after a several days of looking by the Badges.
  • April 26 am  Why is "bra" singular and "panties" plural?
  • April 26 am  Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp
  • April 26 am  If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?
  • April 26 am  Can you cry under water?
  • April 25 am County Commission meets this morning at 10 am. In addition to the Flood Plain Ordinance vote, they have appointments to various committees to make. They also have to do with personnel issues at the Ambulance Service. With the phone call to Rite Aid made during a work shift, this stuff is serious business.
  • April 25 am Last year we lost a major grocery store. A year before that we lost a furniture store.
  • April 25 am The future of the local car dealership, Telford's Chevy, is in limbo. Most employees have been laid off including the salesman.
  • April 25 am  Try buying a new pair of dress shoes in Clay, dress slacks, suit, or get clothes dry cleaned. You can't.   The number of business licenses have been going down for decades. Much of Main Street Clay is filled with low budget non profits and government offices.
  • April 25 am Beginning Thursday evening and extending the next three days, a group of WVU folks will be in town having a look see on what needs improved to make Clayberry a viable community.
  • April 25 am After talking with the taxpayers and businesses, the Community Design Team will preset their findings to the public Saturday night, 7pm in the Lion's Club Casino.   They are also asking the public to come out Friday evening, 7pm for a Community meeting.  While neither meeting is a dress up affair, please put in your teeth and wear shoes.
  • April 25 am Having been studied to death for 30 years, their findings should show little different from all those in the past. Stuff like: the sidewalks need replaced; we need wheelchair accessibility, road signs are missing in many places, store fronts need to be upgraded, store signs are atrocious, the Elk River banks on both sides are filthy, we need trees on Main Street, period lighting, benches, flower pots, a small park, and more just to compete with other third world nations.
  • April 25 am  It's all about getting grants and local support to improve the place. Both are in short supply in Clayberry.
  • April 25 am Here's the link to the WVU press release.
  • April 24 pm Motorcyclists, see ADVISORY page
  • April 24 am  Arley "Fip" Gray, 84, see OBITUARY page
  • April 24 am  Spencer Markle, 46, see OBITUARY page
  • April 24 am From the email bag:  Megan Workman, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ! Remember your goals!!!!!! Hang in there, I am here if you need me.  Love and miss u  Aunt Sharon
  • April 24 am  From the email bag:  Stephanie Young has successfully passed the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy Technician Licensing Exam.  Stephanie is employed by Rite-Aid Pharmacy in Clay.  Congratulations to Stephanie from her co-workers at Rite-Aid
  • April 24 am On April 20th, 30 year old Christopher Coulter walked into Rite Aid to pick up Clonazephan phoned in earlier in the day.  With the call in a fake, Black Shirts arrested the lad  as soon as he paid for the drugs. He stands charged with two felonies.
  • April 24 am That's the old news.
  • April 24 am Monday afternoon, Tracy Sizemore was arrested for her part in the drug deal. Ms Sizemore, an employee of the Clay Ambulance Service and formerly with Clay Primary Care, phoned in the prescription saying she was someone else who worked at Primary. According to the police report, Tracy confessed to the felony.
  • April 24 am  With Sizemore saying her income was zero and receiving a free attorney, the guess is, the County Commission (operators of the ambulance service) fired her on the spot.
  • April 24 am County Commission's Wednesday morning agenda calls for a secret time to discuss ambulance personnel . Guess we know what that's about this time.
  • April 24 am  Anybody seen Mikey Lanham? Police are looking for him concerning his return visit to Johnny Bowman's home at Wallback. Tell Mikey to report to the Sheriff's office.
  • April 24 am Wayne King lost his attorney license Feb 16th for ethics violations. His suspension was for two months. A quick look at the State Bar web site last night reveals, Mr King is still without a license to practice law.
  • April 23 am  Pauline Irene Keener Hardway, 87, see OBITUARY page
  • April 23 am  James Scott, Happy Birthday
  • April 23 am  Also , Birthday wishes extended to Donnie Peck Jr
  • April 23 am  Belated Birthday wishes to  Harold "The Water Man" Allen
  • April 23 am  We stink in Clay. Half the county was at the Big Otter Ramp feed Sunday. The other half of the county has been frying ramps at home. If in the county, don't stand upwind of anyone!
  •  April 23 am  County Commission meets this Wednesday at 10 am. During the last Flood Plain Ordinance, all three promised to veto any vote to implement the proposed zoning law.  Might want to be there just in case.
  • April 23 am Mikey Lanham doesn't learn easy. After making bond, he was back at his most recent victims residence.
  • April 23 am A life sentence wouldn't be long enough for that guy.
  • April 22 am  Connie Moore, 51, of Clay, see OBITUARY page
  • April 22 am  Randall Koch, 60, see OBITUARY page
  • April 22 am  From the email bag: Do you know anyone that might have any extra ramps that they would be willing to give to me.  I always have been able to get my own until I have been ill this past year unable to gather them myself.  I also love to have fresh poke greens but I am afraid that I won't have any of them either. If you know of anyone that is willing to let me have a good mess to cook myself I would be grateful. Thank you Nancy Collins  587-4993
  • April 22 am  MARK LACHER AND TONYA DELARWELLE(FORMERLY OF PROCIOUS WV) OF APPLE VALLEY CALIFORNIA are proud to announce the birth of their son Isaiah Joseph Lacher. Isaiah was born at Victorville community hospital on April 10,2007 weighin 9 lb 1 0z n 21 1/4 inches long. Isaiah would like to send some special lovin to his big sister Kayla Cummings of Procious . his grandma Kathy Runion and grandpa Frankie Runion of Procious  and his aunt Christina of Clay and his Uncle Chris of Procious and his cousins jess and krisitin. .. we thank god for our bundle of joy with god all things are possible..
  • April 22 am Looking back...
  • April 22 am Monday afternoon the big robes in Washington decided women aren't smart enough to think for themselves. The Supreme Court said they knew better than doctors, what's best for a women, when they tossed an important life saving technique commonly known as partial birth.
  • April 22 am  Over at Virginia Tech a nut killed 32 absolutely innocent fellow students and instructors. Instead of zeroing in on the dismal performance of mental professionals, media jumped on the need to eliminate gun rights and ownership from law abiding citizens.
  • April 22 am On that same day 180 people were killed in Iraq without a peep, making April the deadliest month in 5.
  • April 22 am  In Washington, during a fourth attempt to re invent the oil war, back room discussions center around making someone other than the Shrub, head of the war effort.  Hot potato Hot potato, Pass the buck!
  • April 22 am Locally, during the Tuesday night during the School Board meeting, artfully crafted wordsmithing made public the need to come up with an additional $1/2 million for a poop factory at the new Valley Dale Elementary School near Big Otter.
  • April 22 am  Word came that Elk Power would remain under the Musser Company umbrella while 6 other divisions were mandated to be given/sold to more responsible corporations.  Additional rate increases were provided Elk Power to reward less than honorable leadership in the Musser Empire.
  • April 22 am  David Pierson is a local businessman and community leader and giver. With his hat now in the ring to run for County Commission, Commissioner Peter Triplett now has his hands full during the May 2008 Primary Election. Look for several others to enter the contest this Summer.
  • April 22 am Friday morning business leaders met at a local restaurant to get their heads together on issues facing the county. Although mostly a brag session and free meal, good may come from such elbow rubbing.
  • April 22 am The week was filled with more info on the sorely lacking management at High Street  and Maysel Manor apartments. The finger pointed at the for profit group, Encore Management Company from Charleston. Instead of growing to the task of correcting serious problems under their watch, they reverted to the time honored tradition of  lets keep this stuff secret and it's the messenger's fault, not ours.
  • April 22 am In addition to Encore, this site pointed the finger at the other professional group charged with making sure our local assets are properly cared for, the USDA. A planned meeting of the local oversight group, Clay Housing Authority, was not held Tuesday.
  • April 22 am  It's been a full week without a local Manager or repair man. Both apartment complexes remain without smoke detectors, fire alarms, and with poop dripping into lower level apartments, windows busted out and locks that don't lock. Pitiful!
  • April 22 am On the plus side, Saturday morning, kids from all over the county gathered at Dundon field for the first day of baseball season. They ran, they climbed fences, stuffed sand down other's pants, drank pop, and ate hot dogs. Our future leaders had a great day under blue skies and bright sunshine. America at its best!
  • April 22 am And. it's ramp season in Clay. The Appalachian tradition got into full swing with the first ramp feeds held. With green residue in their smile and breaking wind worse than a busted sewer plant, we're crapping green once again and darn proud of it!
  • April 22 am  Be real quiet, don't tell Encore... they've probably stopped reading by now....
  • April 22 am Behind the scenes and away from public scrutiny, low levels from the company did come into town to discuss stuff. Details coming. Here's our prediction: Nothing, absolutely nothing will change after the media hype dies down. Those in need of low cost public housing will continue to live in an unhealthy environment devoid of standards most of consider "the basics." As for the Feds, USDA, response: How can we make this go away.  As for the local Housing Authority: More foot stomping but with little more than lip service provided.  The quaqmire will continue.
  • April 22 am Hope that prediction has to be eaten!
  • April 21 am  Randall Koch, 60, see OBITUARY page
  • April 21 am  From the email bag: tell anita ferrebee that she is not forgotten, and that she is very much missed.    Rich
  • April 21 am  Today is opening day for Little League Baseball in Clay.  Fun starts at 9am with Opening Ceremonies followed by lots of baseball.
  • April 21 am  The 2008 County Commission election is now underway. During a Clay Fire Department meeting, local business man and School Board member Dave Pierson made it official, he's running for County Commission. Incumbent CCC President Peter Triplett plans to seek reelection next May as well.
  • April 21 am  If Pierson is elected to the Commission, the make up will consist of two former school board member and a former school superintendent.
  • April 21 am  Last night around 11:40 came a 911 Dispatch. Be on the Look Out for a silver Cadillac driven by Allan Painter.... coming from Fayette County and related to a domestic complaint near Jody.
  • April 20 am  Greetings Lake Wales,  Lakeland,  Zellwood,  Inverness,  and The Villages Florida clickers. Glad to have you along.
  • April 20 am For those clickers far from home: The Elk RIver is high and brown, thick enough to plow; yesterday was quiet in Clay with many folks just leaning against parking meters and chatting.
  • April 20 am Harold Allen is the service guy at Clay County PSD. He's also a blues musician second to few. Tonight at 9:30 pm on WV Public Radio, Mr Blues and Terri Lively will be featured on Joe Dobbs' Music from the Mountains show. Tune in!
  • April 20 am  What happens when people get caught doing little to earn their keep.  Almost always they say it's all a lie; you don't know what you're talking about; and, I'll sue the B**##!!!ds.
  • April 20 am After five days in the spotlight, of course we're talking about Encore Management. Instead of stomping their feets, wouldn't it be refreshing for the for-profit company to come out from under their veil of secrecy and say: We've screwed up, we can and will do better, Yes we'll provide the financials we've been hiding for years from the owners, the citizens of Clay County, and lets get started today.
  • April 20 am Makes too much sense doesn't it?
  • April 19 pm  Clay Primary Health is known for being tight lipped.  Word on the street has it the place was closed down today after a wall mounted blood pressure "cuff" spilled mercury on a floor.
  • April 19 pm  Phone calls revealed little more than 'We opened at 1pm today." Any questions call Ric Simons 545-0571
  • April 19 pm  All Board meetings of the group are closed to the public as are minutes and anything related to the operation. Sadly this has been allowed to go on for years even with the whole darn placed funded by tax dollars. The mortgage is still paid from Legislative funds.
  • April 19 am  17 year old Anthony  Bishop has been missing since Sunday.  When you see Mr. Bishop, kick his hind end and tell him to go home. His Mother is worried to death. You can reach her at  587-9937
  • April 19 am Here's something left out of the current edition of The Communicator. William Miller brought around notice of a Friday evening, April 20th, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) meeting in the CCC room beginning at 6pm.
  • April 19 am What's a CERT? From the brochure:  it's a training program that prepares the community in the event of a disaster and backs up first responders.  The public is encouraged to attend.
  • April 19 am We have an update on little Mikey Lanham. He's still in jail waiting on someone to go his $8800 bail. He's charged with battery, obstructing, trespassing, and public intox.
  • April 19 am We had a chance to talk to Lanham's latest victim Johnny Bowman yesterday. Sounds like Iron Mikey, as he likes to call himself, crashed a picnic, was asked to leave, an altercation between Lanham and Bowman got underway in Bowman's yard. Bowman got in some good blows (was a Golden Gloves Boxer) but ended up tripping over some logs in his yard. While down, Lanham did a goal post style kick (maybe more than one) to Bowman's temple. Mr Bowman was released from the hospital with a a broken jaw, busted teeth, a concussion, and swelling in the head.
  • April 19 am A kick in the temple can kill. Sure seems like battery isn't a strong enough charge. Time will tell.
  • April 19 am Although the jail web site heading said sentenced, ain't true. According to Magistrate Boggs, before probation can be yanked, a hearing has to be held.
  • April 19 am  We haven't talked about Elk Power Co in a while.... Last report was the horribly mismanaged utilities being forced into receivership.
  • April 19 am Elk Power and it's sister companies of the Musser Empire have made a deal where four of the electric companies and two water PSD's will be spun off to new ownership. Elk, Black Diamond, and Union Power Companies are the only units left under Musser Co control.
  • April 19 am The Empire's foundation started to crumbled right after they asked for a rate increase and WV Public Service Commission started poking around the books. That was Nov 2004. On April 27 2005, the rate increase request turned into a full blown, investigation into purchasing practices. Somewhere in there Elk Power's supplier, AEP cut them off for huge past due bills. During a public session of the PSC, it came to light, Musser was skimming off utility dollars to private ventures. Uhhhh.. that's a real no no.
  • April 19 am As for Elk Power and them owing the customers over $500,000 in refunds, Elk Power was given a rate increase. From $5.23 to $5.75 per kilowatt something or other. As for local customers seeing any of the refund in the form of a check... You won't.
  • April 19 am Back in January we heard Telford's Chevy was to be sold off to General Truck Sales. When we talked to TG, he said something should be finalized in March or April. A quick look at the lot reveals just two new cars left in inventory. It's common to run the inventory down prior to a sale.
  • April 19 am Or, maybe there's more to the story
  • April 19 am  A Federal tax lien was filed March 19, 2007. Total amount of the lien against Telford Chevrolet is $219,682 dating back to the last quarter of 2005.
  • April 18 Late pm  May Day May Day  Be on the Look Out: 4 month old basset hound pup.  Answers to the name Leon.  Oddly colored like a blue tick dog.  Was a Christmas gift for a 5 year old little boy.   Last seen near his home in Ovapa on Thursday.  Please call 587-2595 with any information.
  • April 18 pm If you really want to pee off a Judge, don't show up, show up late, or come unprepared for the hearing. A couple weeks back, Kevin Duffy was one of those folks that showed up late for a juvy hearing.
  • April 18 pm Judge Alsop waited on Duffy a few minutes and then told the Sheriff, take Duffy into custody. When Duffy finally made it to the Courthouse, Randy Holcomb did just that. The Bean Pole was taken to the holding cell.  After the hearing was finished and as everyone was leaving, Judge Alsop told Duffy to stay until after the Court room was cleared.
  • April 18 pm Our guess is, the Judge provide Duffy with words of encouragement on showing up on time. Something stronger than a "time out" in the holding cell.
  • April 18 pm   Today a rep from Encore Management is suppose to come to town and discuss the long standing problems at Maysel Manor and High Street Apartments. Yesterday's Clay Housing Authority meeting was not held. Or at least, if they did, no agenda was posted.
  • April 18 pm  THe School Board artfully words a bunch of stuff. During last night's Board meeting, they mentioned the need to spend another 1/2 million on the packaged sewer plant. So far there is no funding for that addition. Although worded to reduce the impact, it sounded like they were busy trying to relocate the poop factory. They didn't say where the plant was going but it seemed to be an unexpected set back.
  • April 18 pm  The main event was the Clay Roane PSD meeting at the Courthouse. Normally before their meetings, people chit chat tell stories and joke around. Not so last night. As the parties were assembling, there were frowns and quiet.  In hushed tones there was mention of "micro managing" by the Board.
  • April 18 pm Within 10 minutes of opening and during discussion on employee mileage expenses, the group abruptly went into secret time. During secret time hand gestures and finger pointing was seen thru the glass meeting room door.  At one point, after huddling around Chair Dave Grigsby, Casto left the room in a rush and in tears. After regaining composure, she went back in for round two.
  • April 18 pm Later , during a public portion of the meeting, during strong strong discussion on who gets paid for travel time and call out mileage, more tears came and dried up. In between votes, it looked like Casto was depending on fellow Boardster Shayne Sams for  support. Instead of voting likewise, the most Casto could get out of Ms Sams was an abstention.
  • April 18 pm Boardster can abstain but that's usually reserved for a conflict if interest situation.
  • April 18 pm Something happened around 9:21 pm. Casto hurriedly penned some kind of note, told Jonathan Dobbins to "Pass that over to the Chair", gathered her stuff , and left the room once again madder than a wet hen.
  • April 18 pm Dawn Casto resigned on the spot and left the building.
  • April 18 pm  The Chair stopped the meeting and tried to catch CAsto before she left the parking lot but without luck.
  • April 18 pm No not as good as a Postelwait moment like when she was ready to smack a commissioner, but something is wrong deep in the bowels of Clay Roane Public Service District.
  • APril 18 am Hello Shonnie B in Barboursville WV. Thanks for the email.
  • April 18 am When you see Clara Cadle, wish her a Happy Happy Birthday.
  • April 18 am Last night's Clay Roane PSD meeting went for 3 solid hours.  Within ten minutes of opening , they went secret. Half way thru the gathering and in tears, newbee Boardster Dawn Casto quit. She stood, gathered her stuff, tossed a handwritten note toward the Chair and left in tears.
  • April 18 am Thru out the meeting, Casto pointed out financial and lack of oversight problems.
  • April 18 am Once during the secret time Casto left the room looking madder than H.
  • April 18 am Little Mikey Lanham looked like he was ready to fight Monday afternoon in downtown Clay.
  • April 18 am Late Tuesday afternoon at Hunt's Trailer Park at Wallback, Iron Mikey TKO'd Johnny Bowman. This time an ambulance had to be called and the guy was taken to the hospital.  Green Shirts arrested Lanham some time later and he's back in jail where he should be!  The 33 year old was on probation from an April 5th 2006 incident where he attacked the ace cub repoter.
  • April 18 am Full post later today
  • April 17 pm  This Encore  Management/Federal Govt.  boondoggle goes ways back.  From back in 2002, we wrote: During the course of the article and after speaking with Ms Vickers, this paper can comment in a first hand way on the rude action, less than professional attitude, and arrogance of Wanda Vickers as well as that of her employer, Encore Management.
  • April 17 pm The full article on neglect at Maysel Manor and Anderson Heights (from 2001) can be found on our ADVISORY page  as well as the follow note from Jan 2002.   It is our understanding that the same Wanda Vickers remains in management at Encore Management Co in Charleston.
  • April 17 pm   In addition to the Federal Government doing nothing in the way of oversight..... Encore has been in Court over the neglectful ways.  Just a few years ago a lady won over $90,000 from Encore after suing over no night lights and debris laying around. Another guy was successful in his suit against Encore for equally deplorable management practice. What does it take for the Feds to step in and remove Encore for accepting $ under false pretenses?
  • April 17 am The latest edition of Clay County's source for news and views, the Communicator,  made it to the news stands around 3pm Monday. Our lead story covers the many many problems at Maysel and High Street Apartments.
  • April 17 am What hacks off  people more than anything?  You got it, the spotlight. Such may be case with Encore management, the folks paid to manage and maintain the county's two housing projects. Today's meeting of the Clay Housing Authority has been canceled. Seems the Encore folks are upset with the postings on this web site. Gosh, if they're mad about that, what till they see the Communicator!
  • April  17 am  Stomp their feet Stomp their feet!!
  • April 17 am Of course Encore and the Federal Govt. are actually mad at themselves. Encore for years of dismal unacceptable performance. The Federal Govt for being asleep at the wheel for years and offering No, Zero, Ninguno oversight.
  • April 17 am Tonight Clay Roane PSD meets in the County Commission room at the Courthouse. The full Agenda is posted on the ADVISORY page.
  • April 15.. mid month and snow is still in the forecast. !!@@***
  • April 15 am Hears our look back..
  • April 15 am Washington is nothing more than a distraction from the real world. Everyone understands Imus is a racist. There's a lot of em out there and there's nothing illegal about being a racist. No one has won the 2008 Prez nomination, everything is just talk and speculation
  • April 15 am  While attention is drawn to those subjects, American soldiers continue to die. Dubbya is reportedly coming up with another reinvention of his oil war. Supposedly, W will come up with a new position, War Czar as many are naming it. New names, same waste
  • April 15 am  There have been 3,562 coalition deaths -- 3,298 Americans, two Australians, 140 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, six Danes, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Fijian, one Hungarian, 32 Italians, one Kazakh, three Latvian, 19 Poles, two Romanians, five Salvadoran, four Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians -- in the war in Iraq as of April 13, 2007, according to a CNN count.
  • April 15 am Here at home, there's been some ups and downs
  • April 15 am During Tuesday's Clay Town Council meeting, they agreed to seek yet another water rate increase. With the town supplying water to Clay Roane and Clay Co PSDs, we can all expect to pay much more in t he near future for wa wa.
  • April 15 am For those living in Town and on the Rapid Cable TV system, your rates are going up 5%. Rapid is the cable system that came into the county 12 months ago with promises to support local functions and provide a good cable service. By the way, Rapid's satellite dishes and towers are located on Linda Rhodes property. Rapid has not paid one penny to Rhodes!
  • April 15 am  Tom Auxier has been fighting the Truman family for years over a right of way dispute. During a 2005 court battle,  Auxier was absent and the Judge fined him for being a no show. Auxier said he had not received notice of the hearing. Last week, the WV Supreme Court big robes agreed with Auxier and overturned the Circuit Court decision.
  • April 15 am  Tuesday the county went dark. Am early morning house fire burnt the tele lines and shut down telephone and internet service through out Clay and parts of Roane and Calhoun County. The county shut down.
  • April 15 am Sadly the fire claimed the life of 62 year old Rosalie Keen. Most of us would see Ms Keen sitting on her front porch swing almost year round.  Unofficially, smoking in bed may be the cause of the fire.
  • April 15 am   Wednesday mornings County Commission meeting fired up when the Commission asked Ambulance Director Bev King to explain additional expenses. Director King's responses revealed a long standing rift between the Ambulance Service and the CCC. At times, it sounded like Bev King was not willing to take orders from her boss, the County Commission.
  • April 15 am By mid week, rumors were swirling about the fate of Maysel Manor and High Street apartments Manager Sherry Brown.
  • April 15 am A Thursday mid day Emergency Meeting of the Clay Housing Authority revealed that Brown was ordered to clean out her office space and hit the road. Meeting discussion brought out the words fraud, thievery and absolute zero maintenance at the two facilities.
  • April 15 am  The finger is pointing at the Federal government in one more instance where the big boys were asleep at the wheel even after serious breaches in  management were reported to them months ago, actually years ago.... or ever since the Fed's appointed management company, Encore took charge of operating and repairing the two county owned facilities.
  • April 15 am Thursday night the second Flood Plain Ordinance (FPO) Forum was held at the Courthouse. Well over 100 came out to tell the CCC, we don't want ANYTHING to do with a much easier to enforce FPO.  This time around the crowd got Kookla Fran and Jolly to say publicly how they were going to vote on  the matter.  All three were in agreement, we ain't touching this hot potato. By jove, I think they've got it this time clickers!
  • April 15 am Friday's mail informed customers of the Clay Water plant of problems with the wa wa. Always good to know when there is a problem, unfortunately, the notice was referencing problems from TWO YEARS AGO!
  • April 15 am On the plus side, Saturday morning a bunch of kids showed up for a Fishing Tournament held (for the first time) at Lake Sampson. It rained and was cold cold cold but the kids didn't seem to even notice. There were 500 pounds of trout to be caught and prizes to be won.
  • April 15 am Once again, a volunteer effort and community/business support brought out the good side of living in Clayberry.
  • April 15 am It's tax time. Most people don't know that return isn't due until the 17th. Those two extra days won't help procrastinators one bit! Most of us filed electronically this year.
  • April 15 am   With trees a blooming and grass a growing, snow was in the forecast for Saturday night. Yuck!
  • April 15 am  Chelsea Clinton returns from a date, and Hillary asks her if she had a good time, etc.   Chelsea says she had a wonderful time and says she thinks she's in love.   Hillary says, "You didn't have sex, did you, dear?"   Chelsea says, "Not according to Dad."
  • April 15 am We're in shut down mode until we get The Communicator out the door Monday afternoon around 4pm
  • April 14 LATE pm  Rosalie Keen, 62, of Clay, see OBITUARY page
  • April 14 am  Bobby Darius Morton, infant son, see OBITUARY page
  • April 13 am  Doyle Wayne Rodgers, 72, of Bickmore, seee OBITUARY page.
  • April 13 am  We don't have an obituary yet on Rosalie Keen who passed died two days ago from burns sustained in a Main Street Clay house fire. The Hurherald has a better update. Details in Monday's Communicator.
  • APril 13 am  Be reeaaaal careful today clickers
  • April 13 am Last night's Flood Plain Ordinance (FPO) hearing went to nearly 10 pm. Over 100 people were in attendance. Full update coming later today.
  • April 13 am  In a nutshell after hearing comments from  many, each Commissioner stood and said, not me folks, wasn't my idea to begin with, and Nope, I ain't voting for it!
  • April 13 am It appears the  "we got to have it now" flood plain ordinance will be tossed for a while. The CCC intends to vote the idea down during the next  meeting of the group.
  • April 13 am Hurraaaaay!   And, Hurraaaay for all the folks that showed up for the meeting!
  • April 13 am We're holding up the Communicator until Monday so we can include the hearing and the latest developments with the Clay Housing Authority vs Encore Management
  • April 13 am Deadline for all notices, events, classifieds etc is today at 6pm. Email em in now
  • April 12 pm Sherry Brown has been a long time employee of a local pizza company here in Clay. She's the big lady that also handles the Christmas party and even hands out the gifts. Always with a smile even after a long shift, Sherry is the model employee. That's true at the pizza place but not so at her part time job as Resident Director of High Street  and Maysel Manor Apartments.
  • April 12 pm Ms Brown was employed by Encore Management Co. several years ago. Encore contracts with the Fed Govt (USDA, loan funder) and the local housing authority to make sure everything runs properly and assets ( the buildings are owned by the county) are taken care of.
  • April 12 pm Today at 11 am, the Clay County Housing Authority held an Emergency Meeting where the following was made known by Boardsters Fan King and Jay Carper.....
  • april 12 pm  Sherry Brown left Maysel Manor yesterday with all her personal belongings. Fan King would only confirm publicly that Brown and the maintenance man  no longer worked for Encore.
  • April 12 pm At issue is potentially $1000's and equipment missing. Records indicate that tenants are reported to have NOT paid rent for months. When those same tenants were asked, some reported that in addition to paying rent, the rent had been paid it early on many occasions.
  • April 12 pm During the meeting discussion came on the need for an audit of the books and maybe a criminal investigation of the matter. Carper reported that the Authority was not allowed ANY records of the day to day operations at the two subsidized housing projects. Carper did have copies of the 06, 07 annual budget estimates.
  • April 12 pm The authority made public they had been working on many complaints from tenants for over a year when these discoveries were uncovered.
  • April 12 pm   With the county owning the property, King and Carper were concerned about the buildings too. Issues include: no smoke alarms present, raw sewage dripping from upstairs apartments unto lower apartments, ceiling tiles missing, broken windows, and little or no  maintenance (including painting) for 6 years.
  • April 12 pm  During the meeting King reported that Ms Brown admitted to sticky fingerhood and agreed to repay the money.
  • April 12 pm During the meeting Fran King briefly mentioned prior convictions on Ms Brown. We think King was talking about more than a dozen convictions on Ms Brown in Kanawha County relating to a 2005 case.
  • April 12 am Tonight at 6pm the Clay County Commission will be hosting a public forum on the Flood Plain Ordinance. This will be the second hearing on the topic. Last time, about a month ago, well over 100 tax payers were in attendance.
  • April 12 am  If voted into law, the new Flood Plain Ordinance (FPO) would drastically affect all future development in the county including the tearing down or moving of existing structures located in or near the flood plain.
  • April 12 am We say new FPO because an existing FPO has been on t he books since 1975. Why a new FPO? Under the new law, enforcement actions can come much easier.
  • April 12 am Here's an example: You built a structure 10 years ago with your own money on your own property which lies in or near the 100 year flood plain. Before you can make any significant addition to your structure, it has too be raised up out of the flood plain, torn down, or moved.
  • April 12 am While there's only 54 structures in the county with flood insurance, the new FPO affects the entire county.
  • April 12 am Suppose you have a motor home you want to set up on your property for use during return visits to Clayberry, you can't. The new FPO says you can't make permanent electric, water or sewer connections to the motor home if it's in the flood plain.
  • April 12 am Tuesday night the suit from Charleston told Town Council, the new FPO would have no affect on the municipality EXCEPT, they needed to hire their own Flood Plain Co-ordinator to do the permitting process. In lieu of hiring the high dollar co-ordinator, the town could band together with other municipalities and split the cost of the new salary.
  • April 12 am In reality, NOT ONE FLOOD PERMIT has been sold in the town for years. Not one.
  • April 12 am Any way you look at it, the FPO is zoning. Zoning works fine where's there's plenty of flat land to develop. In Clay County where we have narrow mountain valleys and flat land is in short supply, stepped up zoning mandates could be the kiss of death.
  • April 12 am During the first FPO forum, it was apparent, no one in the crowded room was in support of the new more enforceable FPO requirements except the government rep from Charleston. Most felt and expressed: Keep the existing law, ditch the new one,  and leave us alone! When was the last time the government came up with something that makes sense and doable?
  • April 12 am How often does the government provide and opportunity for you to voice your sentiments.
  • April 12 am One thing is for sure, Kookla Fran and Jolly can easily deduce, if fewer people show up tonight, maybe no one really cares and it's OK to go ahead and vote in the boiler plate, one size fits all Flood Plain Ordinance. Maybe if fewer people show up, they don't care too much about property owner rights.
  • April 12 am
  • April 11 pm  Hold it clickers!!
  • April 11 pm  Tonight's Clay Roane PSD meeting has been canceled for now.
  • April 11 pm Seems there is a little discrepancy in who agreed to the special meeting date, tonight. Hmmmmmmmmmmm....
  • April 11 am We may have spoken a little too early Tuesday. We said that internet and tele service was restored in the county Tuesday afternoon.
  • April 11 am Wrong! Downtown Clay had local telephone and internet service by mid afternoon. Not so the rest of the county. Both came back on late last night in the Maysel area. Not sure about the rest of outlying areas.
  • April 11 am CCC meets this morning at 10 am. Big long agenda sure to be fun
  • April 11 am Tonight Clay Roane PSD meets at 7pm. The group normally meets on Thursday. There is no mention of the meeting being a Special meeting.
  • April 11 am Town of Clay Water customers have been pretty snug about their water bills. The Town has the lowest water rates in the county, less than half what Clay Roane, Clay Co, and Queen Shoals PSDs charge.
  • April 11 am  Last night Town Council voted to go after another Rule 42 water rate increase. They never called it a water rate increase but that's what it is, a request for the WV PSC to raise em as high as possible.
  • April 11 am If anyone wanted to challenge the decision.... it nor any other vote was posted on their agenda.
  • April 11 am The town supplies water to Clay Co and Clay Roane PSDs. When the Town raises rates, guess what the PSDs have to do.
  • April 11 am Town elections are in June.
  • April 11 am  From the email bag:  I moved away from WV back in 1977. Went to the Army, then moved to Arizona. I always meant to move back but found my "knight" is shining armor here in AZ & He was born here. You guys got snow-it is 90 degrees outside right now. Have my fan blowing under my desk. Work for Scottsdale Healthcare hospitals in the Cancer Registry department. I really enjoy reading about home & looking at the pictures. Thanks. Formerly: Rose (Rogers)now (Knight)
  • April 10 pm A fire broke out in Rosalee Keen's Main Street Clay home this morning around 2:30am
  • April 10 pm Senior citizen Keen had just returned to her home after surgery.
  • April 10 pm Shortly after 5 am the town was rocked from an explosion at the home.
  • April 10 pm Ms Keen was flown to the burn center in Pittsburgh with 1st and second degree burns on her extremities.
  • April 10 pm By day break Ms Keen's home was a total loss. Bill Dennis' home next door was also damaged.
  • April 10 pm The flames wiped out all telephone and internet service in the county. Telephone was restored around noon with internet service back in operation around 3pm.
  • April 10 pm Most in the county know Rosey as the lady always on her front porch rocking in the swing.
  • April 10 pm No official cause has been made know. Speculation is Ms Keen was smoking in bed. The loud explosion was from a large oxygen tank exploding.
  • April 10 pm  No other injuries were reported.
  • April 10 am  Dolly D Thomas, see OBITUARY page
  • April 10 am It's not often you hear of a new business opening in Clay. From the email bag:  Grand Opening of New Business!   Dawn's Beauty Boutique   Located at 319 Center Street Two Run - across from the old State Road Garage.  Hours Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from  9:00a.m.  to  5:00p.m.  Men, Women, Children and Walk-ins Welcome   587-7771 - call if you need a later appointment.
  • April 10 am Can you share for a couple days? There's a group of college students coming to Clayberry April 26th and 27th to do a planning and design study of the downtown. Those folks need places to sleep (close to town) those two nights.  Six rooms are needed.  If you can put up one or more in a spare bedroom give Linda Klotzbach at the Health Dept a call ASAP.
  • April 10 am The countdown begins for deadbeat tax filers. Have you even started your tax forms?
  • April 10 am  Tom Auxier and Billy Truman have been feuding over a right of way for decades. Court cases have come one after another.
  • April 10 am  Back in 05 Auxier was fined and ordered to pay court costs for a hearing he didn't attend. All along he's maintained he didn't get notice of the trial.  He appealed that decision to the WV Supreme Court a few weeks back. We have an update
  • April 10 am He won. The big robes reversed the Circuit Court decision.  Full details this Friday in the Communicator.
  • April 10 am  Today Town Council and Clay County PSD meet
  • April 10 am We forgot to mention Clay Roane PSD meets this week. This week that PSD will meet Wednesday evening , 7pm, at the Courthouse. They're meeting Wed evening instead of the normal Thursday slot because the CCC is hosting  a FLood Plain Ordinance Forum Thursday evening, 6 pm, at the Courthouse.
  • April 10 am For those in attendance Thursday, look for the CCC to offer changes in the already discussed and hated,  one size fits all, Zoning ordinance
  • April 9 am Odd thing about those Easter bonnets this year, ear muffs were attached!
  • April 9 am We've got a big week in the land of Clay.
  • April 9 am  Clay County PSD meets Thursday at 5pm followed by  t he rescheduled Town Council meeting at 6pm.
  • April 9 am Wednesday morning Clay County Commission meets in regular session. Already posted on their agenda is a Thursday evening forum on the controversial new and improved Flood Plain Ordinance. If there's not a good showing Thursday evening, our elected folks may think, they've lost interest. Last time we predicted 19 people would show up. We were wrong. Hope that's the case this time around.
  • April 9 am  If you were in the mess John Habjan Sr is in, wouldn't you want to keep in contact with your attorney? He hasn't. Last week Habjan's attorney filed paperwork to that affect. Wonder what the truth is, Habjan Sr ain't been paying him?
  • April 9 am  Are you suffering from a slow dial up connection? Jimmy Miller lives way out Wilson Ridge to far for ANY telephone company DSL service. Last week he came in and said a satellite internet provider named Sky Blue had just hooked him up.
  • April 9 am Compared to his slow dial connection, Mr Miller said Sky Blue was fast as greased lightening! Price $50 per month
  • April  9 sm Over the Easter break, the ARCHIVES page was updated to include all the 2006 Communicators. We're working on the 06 pictures now.
  • April 8 am  Harry Glen West, 66, of Clay, see OBITUARY page
  • April 8 am No updates, taking the day off...
  • April 8 am    Three blondes died and found themselves standing before St. Peter. He told them that before they could enter the Kingdom, they had to tell him what Easter was. The first blonde said, "Easter is a holiday where they have a big feast and we give thanks and eat turkey." St. Peter said, " WRONG!" and went on to the second one.  The second blonde said, "Easter is when we celebrate Jesus' birth and exchange gifts."

  •        St. Peter said, "Wrong!!" and went to the third blonde. The third blonde said she knew what Easter was and St. Peter said, "So,
    tell me." She said, "Easter is a Christian holiday that coincides with the Jewish festival of Passover. Jesus was having Passover feast with His disciples when he was betrayed by Judas, and the Romans arrested him.  The Romans hung Him on the cross and He died. Then they buried Him in a tomb behind a very large boulder. St. Peter said, "Finally! Verrrrry good!" The blonde continued, "Now every year the Jews roll away the boulder and Jesus comes out. If he sees his shadow, we have six more weeks of basketball."
  • April 8 am Happy Easter
  • April 7 am We're taking a couple days off for the Easter holiday.. No posts unless something dumb happens.
  • APril 7 am  Friday night it snowed like crazy in Clayberry. The place was covered with around an inch of snow.
  • April 7 am We're ready for Spring, what happened?
  • April 7 am From the email bag:  HAPPY BIRTHDAY GOES OUT TO OUR MOTHER KATHY RUNION ON APRIL 7,2007.WHO WILL BE 52 YRS OLD.WE WISH MANY MORE BIRTHDAYS TO YOU MOTHER
  • April 6 pm  Mable J Squire, 44, of Duck, see OBITUARY page
  • April 6 pm   Jim Bill “JB” Gray, 79, of Indore, see OBITUARY page
  • April 6 pm   William Edmond Eagle, 85, of Ivydale, see OBITUARY page
  • April 6 pm   Way to many obituaries this week!
  • April 6 pm  From the email bag referencing Forday's front page pictures: Dangit  AW, would you please quit showing pictures like the "Bad Friday: one.. Makes me so Homesick for Clay County, I can't take it any more.. reckon I'll head on out to Pensacola Beach today and "bask" in the Florida Sunshine.. CSS
  • April 6 pm  Last night the Clay County Business Development Authority met at the Courthouse.
  • April 6 pm  Long time Boadster Morgan Gibson resigned from his post. BDA Secretary Fran King commented that they had invested two years of training into Gibson and asked, What happened? Other than the Chair saying Gibson wanted to spend more time on personal interests, nothing else was said.
  • April 6 pm  During the meeting CAEZ Director Connie Lupardus informed the BDA of a project the CAEZ has been working on. According to Lupardus, progress is being made on adding single family housing units in the county. She said the Frank Murphy property near the Wallback exit is being looked at by several contractors. The housing units would be "upper class" units and would meet the needs of professionals wanting to locate away from the crowded Cross Lanes, Putnam County areas.
  • April 6 pm The response from our lead economic development committee wasn't too good. With some of the Murphy property located in Roane County, several on the BDA questioned any worth since the tax base would go to Roane County. Lupardus came back with the good created by more people buying groceries, buying gas, more kids in the school system... not sure the BDA was listening.
  • April 6 pm the BDA response was no better to Lupardus' update on a proposed two lane highway thru Fola coal property over to Rt 19. Almost as soon as she started that update, one guy yelled out, That'll suck the rest of it [Clay business] out! Others seemed to agree.
  • April 6 pm The BDA meeting was adjourned before Lupardus could finish her updates.
  • April 6 pm  It sounded like members of the BDA are happy to keep Clayberry the way it's been for 40 years, no new jobs, no new businesses, and no future for the youth other than the highway to Charlotte.
  • April 6 pm Most of us know Keith Lahti for his great pottery. He's also a good musician. His group, Holy Cow, will be performing at Taylor Books on Capitol Street in Charleston Sat April 7th from 7:30 to 9:30 pm. Free Show!!
  • April 5 pm  Thomas Junior Richardson, 82, of Dille, see OBITUARY page
  • April 5 pm For those afar, it's snowing in Clay this morning. All the pansy's are shivering. Those over achievers that went ahead and planted  tomatoes last week, that's what you get!
  • April 5 pm  Here's a couple notes from Tuesday's CAEZ meeting
  • April 5 pm  The CAEZ has been a strong backer of the BC&G RR Co-Op since the beginning. During Tuesday's meeting, Roger Nutter from the Co-Op stood and made a plea. Nutter said the group is in need of some real help. He said they had done many fund raisers like raffles but big big dollars are needed to  make excursion train trips and a public camp ground a reality. In response the CAEZ sounded like they were 100% behind the effort. One Boardster suggested that they provide the funding via tax credits for the metal roof on the Welcome Center at the campground. No decision made with more info needed from the BC&G before a decision could be made.
  • April 5 pm  The truth is, that excursion train business is the future for our county. If the BC&G gets going, the campground business will also grow.  For Clay County that means new, much needed,  out of county dollars being spent at area businesses. Growing the county with new $ is what it takes.
  • April 5 pm Also from Tuesday..... since last Fall the CAEZ has been working on a plan to grow a new road from Clay to Rt 19 in Nicholas County. A little more was made known during Tuesday's meeting. According to CAEZ Director Connie Lupardus: when completed the road will be a two lane but with several three lane turn off sections; already a FL based company has expressed an interest in some kind of "pellet" plant along the highway; when completed, the roadway will tie into Peach Orchard Rd on the Nicholas County side; the total length will be 23.4 miles; and, instead of this developing in 20 or 30 years as earlier reported, the first part of the road (on the Clay side) may be ready to develop in 7 years or so.
  • April 5 pm  One last note from CAEZ, interest is growing on developing  housing units near the Wallback exit on Frank Murphy's property. No not the flood prone flat section at the exit but the hillside on the right as you head back toward Clay. Lupardus said a couple developers have already contacted her about the idea.   With Cross Lanes and Putnam County areas already bumper to bumper in traffic, and Wallback just 30 minutes from Charleston, the proposed higher income housing units may just happen.
  • April 5 pm Think what 50 new families with disposable income could do for Clayberry's economy.
  • April 5 am  Roy C. Fields, 88, of Big Otter, see OBITUARY page
  • April 4 am Rumors on top of rumors are circulating around the county since Ray James death early Sunday morning.
  • April 4 am In today's Charleston Gazette article there are scant few details. From Tuesday's Gazette: Clay County man dead   MAYSEL — Clay County sheriffs deputies are investigating a man’s death, Sheriff Randy Holcomb said.  Ray James was found dead Sunday, but Holcomb refused to release any other details about his death or the investigation. No other agencies are involved in the investigation, he said.
  • April 4 am  From the email bag:    Around 1 am April 1st two vehicles parked in front of valley gas had their passenger side windows busted with a brick by a would be thief.  Just like something out of the wild west the young man was wearing a bandanna around his face as well as dark jeans and a T-shirt. When approached by the owner he fled through the middle of town through the Rite Aid parking lot and behind the adjacent buildings.  This was a young man between 5'7" and 5'9" tall short dark hair.  Clay police responded but could not locate the man
  • April 4 am  Monday night's School Board meeting had an interesting nugget..
  • April 4 am A Clay County school service employee was given a five day suspension without pay effective Tuesday. With the employee no where to be seen Monday night, the guy's name was never mentioned but since Clay Elem Principal Danny Brown doing the talking, we can guess the offender worked at the that school.
  • April Brown said the guy had been on two improvement plans and had had two reprimands.
  • April 4 am  The Somber Super added, "There have been previous situations."
  • April 4 am Discussions turned to other janitors that will not come out for work when called. School Board Gene King offered a solution. According to King, Tell em to get on SSI
  • April 4 am Special Edster Bev Nichols wanted dead beat aides to be added to the list of no show janitors. Look for the School Board to come up with a new call out policy in the next few weeks.
  • April 4 am  Clay Town Council was suppose to meet last night at 6pm according to their Agenda. And Yes, we did check it twice this time.
  • April 4 am About the only other person that showed up was Robert Perry... the guy who's fronting the proposed Flood Plain Ordinance.  Both stood around in the parking lot until well after 6pm. No elected leaders, narry a one!
  • April 3 pm A lot of people have been asking, just noticed this on the Wilson, Shamblin, Smith Funeral Home page.
  • April 3 pm  Wilbert Ray James, 61, of Maysel, WV, see OBITUARY page
  • April 3 pm On a lighter note, go to Google, click images, and then type in Avis Rose.
  • April 3 am  Badges ran every which a ma way last night.
  • April 3 am 911 Dispatch reported a reckless driver only to come back with one Ford chasing another and shots fired.
  • april 3 am Moments later down at a junk yard came reports of shots fired.
  • April 3 am That one came back as guys banging stuff together trying scare horses to move from one field to another.
  • April 3 am Ahhh Life in the outback
  • April 3 am Bush says one thing and the Supreme Court says another on green house gas emissions and regulation.
  • April 3 am The whole idea on moving daylight savings time up a month was to reduce electricity use. Besides not working, little kids are standing out in the dark waiting for school buses even longer!
  • April 3 am Now don't get too excited, Sheriff Holcomb has a news release over on the ADVISORY page
  • April 3 am  One morning a husband took a pair of underwear out of the drawer.  "What the ? ? ?" he said to himself as a little "dust" cloud appeared when he shook them out.  "April," he hollered into the bathroom, "why did you put talcum  powder in my underwear?" She shot back: "It's not talcum powder. It's 'Miracle Grow'."
  • April 3 am Two really old guys decided they would go out and try to play a round of  golf together. They get on the first tee and the first old guy says to the   second, "My eyesight isn't what it used to be. Can you watch my ball for   me?".  The second guy says, "Sure! I see fine. Go ahead and hit."  So the first old man steps up to the tee and really hits it. He turns to   his buddy and says, "Did you see it?".  "Sure!", says his buddy.  "Where did it go?", the first guy asks.   The second old man thinks for a minute and says, "I can't remember."
  • April 2 am Ray James is dead
  • April 2 am Details are murky at best as of late Sunday evening. The body was found near his dog pen behind his house up on the hill.
  • April 2 am Street talk has everything from  a note left behind to a 12 gauge shotgun blast.
  • April 2 am  Mr. James was a teacher, administrator, dad, grandfather, coon hunter and outdoors man.
  • April 2 am Details as we get them
  • April 2 am  Toby Brown, see OBITUARY page
  • April 2 am  Tonight the School Board meets at the Standard Bryant annex beginning at 6pm. Tuesday the CAEZ meets at 4 and again at 6pm in their Main Street Clay digs right beside the DHHR office. Town Council gathers at the water plant beginning at 6pm. BDA meets on Thursday at 5pm in the CCC room. It's a full week for public meetings.
  • April 2 am The Communicator is out. We forgot to include the Heart to Heart article. Our bad and Sorry.  It's now posted over on the ADVISORY page.
  • April 2 am The radio station is looking for a small TV antenna for use as a receiver at the station. If you have a used one in good shape that you can donate, call the station 587-8353 or just leave it on the porch. thanks
  • April 1     2:00pm  When they want to, Badges use cell phones to get around scanner listeners. I think that's what happened before noon today when calls were  placed by Deputy Miles Slack.  The only thing listeners heard was the call for a coroner for a Two Run residence.
  • April 1  2:00pm    We have to confirm before posting, but a suicide or accidental shooting, which ever,  real sad.
  • April 1 pm  Phillip Wayne Pyatt, see OBITUARY page
  • April 1 pm Carl Wayne Hudnall Jr., 30, of Indore, see OBITUARY page
  • April 1 am  The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest has been wiped out. The dreaded spaghetti weevil went wild this year. With t he huge crop gone, expect spaghetti prices to rise
  • April 1 am  And, isn't it awful that the Taco Bell Corp purchased the rights to the Liberty Bell!! From now on it has to be referred to as the Liberty Taco Bell.
  • April 1 am Gotcha  April Fools Day. Watch out clickers today's the day for such
  • April 1 am We've got a couple new postings over on the ADVISORY page including one from Sen Jay on more $ coming to Clay for internet connections. It's hard to get fired up over more $ coming to the school system after their blowing of a high million dollars for wireless service just a couple years back.
  • April 1 am From the last seven days..
  • April 1 am  Most often we bad mouth the Shrub during our weekly wrap up. Don't have to this time, the facts speak for themselves
  • April 1 am From Reuters: The Iraqi government raised the death toll on Saturday from a truck bomb in the town of Tal Afar to 152, making it the deadliest single bombing of the four-year-old war. Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Abdul Kareem Khalaf said 347 people were wounded in Tuesday's attack on a Shi'ite area. There was another truck bomb in the mixed northwestern town on Tuesday, but it was small. Khalaf said 100 homes had been destroyed in the main blast, which officials have blamed on al Qaeda. The explosion left a 23-meter (75-ft)-wide crater.
  • April 1 am  In Baghdad, a car bomb outside a hospital in a Shi'ite stronghold killed five people and wounded 22, police said. Four people were killed and 20 wounded by a car bomb in the Shi'ite city of Hilla, south of Baghdad
  • April 1 am   Gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying civilian workers employed at an Iraqi military base near Hawija, 70 km (45 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, killing eight and wounding two, police said. Four brothers were among the dead.
  • April 1 am And that's just in the last three days.  The past week has been the bloodiest in Iraq since the government launched a security crackdown in Baghdad in February aimed at halting the country's slide toward civil war
  • April 1 am  The chronology from Reuters.
  • April 1 am  There have been 3,504 coalition deaths -- 3,246 Americans, two Australians, 134 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, six Danes, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Fijian, one Hungarian, 32 Italians, one Kazakh, three Latvian, 19 Poles, two Romanians, five Salvadoran, four Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians -- in the war in Iraq as of March 30, 2007, according to a CNN count.
  • April 1 am  Closer to home , County Commission met for their last meeting of the month  March 28th, Lunch and Munch. Great food and bunch of people but.   The idea was to get department heads to come together once a month and discuss issues facing the county. Didn't happen. Great food but no discussion.
  • April 1 am We saw something happen in Washington. Both the House and Senate voted to end the Oil War next by Fall 08. Our soldiers will be coming home after four years of loss of life in the wrong country. Dubbya says he'll veto the bill.
  • April 1 am The Clay Middle and Clay High kids attended state competition where they brought him awards big time.
  • April 1 am While those were away, one kid was crapping on a school bus while another was busted for having pot at school.
  • April 1 am Neighbors in the Upper Sycamore neighborhood say that father of two, Carl Hudnal Jr was found dead in a white Chevy pickup truck Thursday morning. Some say he had been dead a couple days.
  • April 1 am  In other county news from last week. Some Stoned doo doo ran a stolen Tracker into  the Christian Church of Lizemores where it caught fire and nearly burnt the vinyl clad addition to the ground. Fortunately those nearby hooked a chain to the burning SUV and pulled it away from the building before everything went up in smoke.
  • April 1 am   LJ is one of those guys that bleeds Bush blood. Every once in a while on this site, we sorta give the Shrub double H. Such posts  make LJ grit his teeth.
  • April 1 am  Proudly we report, Mr LJ has renewed his Rx to the Communicator another time.
  • April 1 am Now that we've got his $, here's an excellent site for Bush Heads.   Just makes you cry reading thru his quotes.
  • April 1 am  Two little kids are in a hospital, lying on gurneys next to each other outside the operating room.  The first kid leans over and asks, "What are you in here for?" The second kid says, "I'm in here to get my tonsils out, and I'm a little nervous." The first kid says, "You've got nothing to worry about. I had that done when I was 4. They put you to sleep, and when you wake up, they give you lots of Jell-O and ice cream. It's a breeze." The second kid then asks, "What are you here for?"  The first kid says, "A circumcision." The second kid says, "Whoa, good luck buddy! I had that done when I was born.  Couldn't walk for a year.
  • April 1 am We're starting a new month and lots of public meetings. Make it a point to take in the best entertainment in the county of Clay.

  • April 1 am  Monday night the School Board meets. The agenda is posted here.