June 2013 Past News
 

• June 29 a One year ago today  a 15 minute storm wiped out the county and east coast of the country. For two weeks, we suffered thru intense heat without electric and municipal water supply for most of the county
• June 29 a This morning, many in the county woke up to no power. No big storm last night, maybe a little rain and no electric service.
• June 29 a Suns up and it's getting steamy hot.
• June 29 a In the outback, some things never change
• June 29 a If you walk over to you tube and type in Triplett Clay WV, up pops last Saturday nights concert where the local radio station spotlighted Clay County's own Bill Triplett.
• June 29 a Tonight YAP radio features Tasha Patterson and 2Blue with Harold & Terri. Concerts begin at 6pm
• June 28 late p  It's the end of an era. Some say it was mostly fat any way you look at it. Others know that we have some hard working dedicated govt workers. Maybe not some of the elected leadership but certainly the workers
• June 28 late p Today was the last day of work for the current fiscal year. At the Courthouse the Prosecutor is suing the County Commission as he fights to keep his current staff of two office helpers on the job. Not the lawsuit part , but ditto for the Circuit Clerk's office where, to stay within the 2013- 2014 budget cuts, at least one worker has to be turned loose.
• June 28 late p  Over at the Pentagon, with a $550,000 shortfall, cuts have been made. Those cuts are already being felt as summer school is no more. Those day time baby sitting services are gone. Free lunches for June and July,  are also gone
• June 28 late p When asked during the last School Board meeting, Superintendent Kenneth Tanner said that there had been no changes in their financial posture.  That means, in addition to educational cuts and various contractors not being replaced, it means the end for the county's only public fitness center which was partially subsidized by The Pentagon.
• June 28 late p For those thinking the old Fola Coal operation is ready to resume operations under new management, don't think so. A quick check of the Courthouse records reveals no change of ownership
• June 28 late p Welcome to the even poorer Nation of Clay
• June 28 a Hot diggity Dog, It's Friday!!! Last one in June too. Some are now getting their first tomatoes off the vine.
• June 28 a Farmer's Market continues this Saturday morning. With fresh crops now ripe, it will be interesting to see if more participants show up to sell their product.
• June 28a Lots of yard sales scheduled for this weekend but so is rain. Saturday night Harold & Terri Allen are recording over at 101.7's Old Schoolhouse Concert series. Also, Saturday night is a young lady with one heck of strong clear voice, Tasha Patterson. Music begins at 6pm sharp
• June 28 a  Scanner listeners often hear music, sometimes funny music, being played over the restricted 911 frequencies.
• June 28 a Wed morning during the Commission meeting, Emergency Services Director Greg Fitzwater reported that new identifying nodules had been installed in the county's radios. With that in place, it would be easy to track and catch those providing the music.
• June 28 a Wed evening at 10:20 and again at 11pm, you got it, music coming across the airwaves. Some much for technology
• June 28 a  The Communicator will have a bunch of first hand writings from the just completed Hiram Lewis trial. In the mean time, we'll provide a few quicky notes from the two days in court
• June 28 a If you're wondering what the castle doctrine is in a general way, click this button.
• June 28 a If you wondering what the West Virginia law is on self defense, here's the right direction.
• June 28 a Like.... While Lewis was on the stand he provide jurors with an accounting from the June 13 the shooting. On that day, was suppose to be the grand opening of Paradise City retreat, after Lewis shot Steve Bogart in the knee cap, our old Sheriff , the short round one, was first on the scene
• June 28 a With gun drawn and pointing at Lewis, RH was all tense with his Barney Fife pee shooter shaking all over the place as he strongly ordered Lewis to the ground.
• June 28 a  Lewis complied
• June 28 a One problem, where the Poopster ordered him down, it was behind a bench thing and out of sight where the Poopmeister couldn't see him.
• June 28 a As soon as Lewis was down on the ground, the old Sheriff, just as jittery, yelled and screamed for Lewis to get back up where hs could be seen.
• June 28 a Kind of cute as the story was being told.
• June 28 a Enjoy the day and the weekend.
• June 26 p Clayberry has been oh so quiet for weeks and then all of sudden the place goes wild.
• June 26p Covering the complexities of the Nation of Clay, The Communicator made it to news stands across the region Tuesday afternoon. Everything including the kitchen sink this time around.
• June 26 p Last June 13th one time state candidate for office Hiram Lewis IV was arrested for shooting Steve Bogart. Indicted not once but twice for his actions, Hiram Lewis made it to Circuit Court Tuesday morning. For two days the all women except for two men jury heard testimony after testimony. Prosecutors Samples and Dotson worked it hard to establish that vagabond Bogart was actually a resident at Lewis' Elkhurst Rd camp where the shooting took place.
• June 26 p All along, Lewis protested every inch of the way stating that self defense and the castle law should prevail and he should never have been arrested by the past Sheriff in the first place.
• June 26 p  There must have been something to the notion. After a 21/2 hour deliberation, jurors found Hiram Lewis not guilty of felony malicious wounding, unlawful wounding, wanton endangerment and misdemeanor battery  or assault. AS the verdicts were read, Lewis showed no emotions. He was stoic to say the least
• June 26 p   While day two of the trial was in progress, this morning at 6am a white van load of Feds from the DEA and Green Shirts galore surrounded a run down trailer in the Maysel trailer park just across the creek from Maysel Baptist Church. When  Richard D Kohler did not respond to Badge demands, they busted thru the flimsy door.
• June 26 p On the inside, according to published media reports, there was Kohler with a rifle pointing in their direction. Badges unloaded on the 66 year old.
• June 26 p By 7am, Green Shirts had a search warrant for the place and entered the trailer and out buildings
• June 26 p Kohler was not a local but in recent weeks has been seen at the post office and Go Mart driving a  silver Buick.
• June 26 p Local in that area are saying it was a hot bed of cars coming and going and offer reports of stolen property turning up there.
• June 26 p Bill Stephenson was arrested last week for shooting a rifle within 500 feet of a dwelling. That complete story is in the latest Communicator
• June 26 p This afternoon Stephenson had his bail yanked and is once again in CRJ.
• June 26 p  It's been one heck of a day for news.
• June 24 a Real Summer is when humidity makes it impossible to much more than sit on the porch and glow. Real Summer is here now
• June 24 a A public library is important. More than just a place to check out a book, the county's only public library is  the sole source for high speed web searching. It's also  a place for public meetings.
• June 24 a Although it's not in most places (including Clayberry), a library should be the center of the community loaded with activities.
• June 24 a Due to no funding from the County Commission and greatly reduced $$$ from the school system, the Clay County Public Library is in financial straits.
• June 24 a  Tonight at 6pm at the Library, there is an organizational meeting scheduled to try and come up with a plan to save that important community asset.
• June 24 a Stay in the shade if you can.
• June 24 a Communicator comes out Tuesday afternoon. Email over your stuff right away.
• June 23 late p  Phyllis Jean Taylor, 65, of Clay, see OBITUARY page
• June 22 a  Charles Thomas McCune, 75, of Lizemores, see OBITUARY page
• June 22 a Herman Noel Rogers, 76, of Ivydale, see OBITUARY page
• June 22 a An emailer sent over this better schedule of celebration of the state's 150th birthday.
• June 22 a Home grown food is starting to arrive at the Farmer's Market each Saturday morning in front of the Courthouse.
• June 22 a Tonight the radio station is holding a Schoolhouse Concert beginning at 6pm. The schedule has changed around a bit. Be sure to check the EVENTS page for latest.
• June 22 a Had some excitement last night when Badgemobiles came roaring thru downtown Clay.
• June 22 a Within minutes facebook lit up with reports that there had been another shooting in Hartland. Updates on that blog had it that someone had been shot and HealthNet had been called to haul off a shooting victim
• June 22 a With the scanner all quiet, others thought there was some kind of radio silence had been imposed as something big was going down.
• June 22 a The jail website sported a pic of Bill Shephenson with a misdemeanor charge of firing a weapon.
• June 22 a It's been nearly three weeks since Jack Stone was gunned down while working his garden in HArtland bottom. There have been no arrests. The county is on edge wondering if an arrest will ever be made.
• June 22 a When he was killed, Badges worked the area had and regional media outlets were here in full force. Questions were asked, gun shot residue tests were taken, and pictures were taken.
• June 22 a  Sounds like no one in the small community has stepped forward to say they saw anybody running away on foot, in a vehicle, or down the river bank. Clayberry has figured out, the shooter must have been a local loving in the area.
• June 22 a Last night social media bloggers were expressing wishful thinking and hunches.
• June 22 You use your cell to take a picture, you text someone while getting your hair cut, you talk to someone about your doctor's appointment or while you're shooting your gun.... you are providing the Feds a lot more than you think.
• June 22 a Here's an explanation of what metedata really includes.
• June 22 a Big Borther is here.
• June 22 a In Australia, the census survey includes how many times a month you have sex. Don't answer the face to face questioning and you can go to jail.
• June 20 a Today is West Virginia's 150th birthday. We're the state that nobody wanted. as a matter of fact, when we submitted our constitution to Abe for approval, Washington said no way.
• June 20 a Five years ago when the county turned 150 years young, the County Commission organized a party, speeches and music
• June 20 a For the last 9 years, the local radio station held small town America fun complete with live bands, parades, and even fireworks when $$$ allowed. Now with the station located out of town, there is NOTHING planned for downtown Clay. Zero!
• June 20 a Back when the station was hosting stuff each summertime weekend, one Town Recorder spoke that she didn't like it that 101.7FM was holding the events in the downtown area. . That lady got her wish this year
• June 20 a Back in 1963 for the 100th Birthday party of the state, the Clay County Commission organized a big party with cake, festival activities and even a fireworks display.
• June 20 a So much for Larry Darryl and Darryl planning anything for this birthday.
• June 20 a There are family friendly things to do in Charleston for the next four days. We tried to find a list of all the stuff. Here's the best we could come up with.  Big time fireworks  tonight Friday and Saturday evenings.
• June 20 a Glen Sutton has been in the realty business for about 10,000 years. He's got a new website up and running for Sutton's Real Estate. Looks pretty good and up to date too.
• June 20 a Not so with the Clay County Health Dept's web portal which still has a 2010 flu clinic listed as an upcoming event.
• June 20 a  The Clay County Library's page still lists a job opening from 2009.
• June 20 a  We won't even get into the School System's slow poke updates.
• June 20 a Happy holiday wishes to one and all
• June 19 p We're getting ready to celebrate....
• June 19 p the majority of our young people leave the state for employment
• June 19 p statewide govt. paid for internet is so bad, the gov even stopped the fact finding audit
• June 19 p China ranks number one in education while  Clayberry is happy with 70+% of our kids not able to do basic, grade level math and reading
• June 19 p just 35% of us vote during elections
• June 19 p Our local leaders take away property owner rights with the Flood Plain Ordinance
• June 19 p Big Coal makes billions and then walks away leaving messes all across the state
• June 19 p  We so poorly built a $8m school it was named Big Odor Elem
• June 19 p Local leaders regularly operate behind closed doors
• June 19 p Our roads are more like a gigantic speed bumps
• June 19 p Happy 150th birthday West Virginia
• June 18 late p Carol Yvonne Pierson, 70, of Bickmore, see OBITUARY page
• June 17 late p Sunday evening just after 10 pm, 911 scanner traffic lit up with calls that Bullard's Exxon in Maysle had been robbed. This ain't the first time for the station to get thugged. About a month ago the same thing happened late in the evening
• June 17 late p Last night a person with a blue mask came thru the double glass doors , grabbed a bank deposit bag totaling around $1000.00, and skidaddled. The female clerk was unable to provide much info. As of Monday afternoon, no arrests have been made
• June 17 late p 13 days ago Jack Stone was gunned down while planting tomatoes. The shooter remains at large.
• June 17 late p  Last Friday a website post of the meeting agenda for the this evening's School Board meeting included the hiring of  a CHS Athletic Director.
• June 17 late p When agendas were handed out just before the meeting, that agenda item wasn't listed.
• June 17 late p  When asked, Superintendent Tanner said he wasn't finished interviewing applicants.
• June 17 late p Based on a lengthy secret time during tonight's meeting. sure looks like the five member school board is bucking the Pentagon's choice for the $5000 per year position. Just a  guess but most likely, a divided School Board is the reason for  no vote tonight.
• June 17 late p It's time for deal making.
• June 17 late p Need a job? During the School Board meeting, it was announced, the boys on the hill are looking and still accepting  substitute bus driver applications. So far only three have applied.
• June 17 late p The easiest way to get a full time job with the Pentagon is with getting hired as a substitute driver.
• June 17 late p Got ta start somewhere!
• June 17 a It's the middle of the month. Summer tans are showing. Gardens are blooming. Cabbage is being chopped up. The first tiny tomatoes are on the vine.  It's a great time to visit Clayberry
• June 17 a Tonight the School Board meets at the Pentagon. If you look hard enough on their website you can find the meeting agenda minus the start time (6pm) . Rules say a public meeting notice must include the date time place and purposes (items to be voted upon) for the meeting
• June 17 a  Among the new hires and transfers, the elected five will select a new Athletic Director to replace departed Ron Sirk. The position pays around $5000 or so. Look for Greg Knopp to fill the spot
• June 17 a Drugs are eating up our country, county. For parents, here's some darn good reading.
• June 16 a Today's a day Dads don't have to cut grass, weed whack, fix something, or otherwise work a task
• June 16 a Happy Father's Day to one and all
• June 16 a Belated birthday wishes for Keyota Jarvis
• June 16 a The big national news from the last seven days included documentation that Big Brother unlawfully listens in each phone call and collects all our internet data. Most in in the country don't realize how serious a breach of the Constitution this news really is.
• June 16 a More local, the big storm fizzled for Clayberry. On Monday the Weather Channel made known the possibility for a derecho to hit us Wed. as soon as that TV coverage was made, and remembering last June's Derecho from H, Clayberry went out and filled every gas can and stocked up on non perishables.
• June 16 a  We did get a healthy dose of rain but no real storm. Still, as of this post, the Elk and its tributaries are running high, muddy and fast.
• June 16 a Wed morning the County Commission met in regular session. Only 6 people sat in the peanut gallery for the 17 minute gathering.
• June 16 a Saturday night the radio station held another laid back music fest now known as Schoolhouse Concerts.
• June 16 a Each summer for the last many, the ace cub reporter's wifey headed out for a week at the beach with her tribe. For the kid and the old man, the quiet week was 6 days of not doing dishes or otherwise not cleaning up after themselves. Prior the return of the wifey, a major clean up, more like urban renewal,  operation had to be performed.
• June 16 a Over the years the trashed out duo learned of bad things with lasting impact. One year they hid a bunch of the dirty dishes under the front porch.Turns out that was good china.  In another year, instead of washing clothes, they threw em away. Turns out females have better rememories than the boys.
• June 16 a With the wifey, the Warden, scheduled to return at 4pm, yesterday was clean up time at Tallhouse. With no major damages to report from 6 days of bachelorhood, it was four hours of H to get the homefront back in shape.
• June 16 a  Things learned this year include: mice will live in dirty socks; watermelon juice should be wiped away otherwise a big mass of ants will be attracted; a week's worth of watermelon seeds will stop a sweeper;  peeing on the same rose bush for a week will turn the leaves brown; and, fish in the pond don't like wieners, as a matter of fact, wieners will kill goldfish.

• June 15 a The radio station concert tonight has a change. The line up now includes Holy Cow and Owen Frye. The bluegrass group canceled. Show gets underway at 6pm with corn hole courts opening at 5pm
• June 15 p Yesterday's evening post has been updated. Reread for details.
• June 15 p Trash cans are important. Back when Jack Brown was the Mayor of Clay, he removed almost all the cans from Main Street. At the time he said people were dumping too much trash in em.
• June 15 p It was announced during Wed's Commission meeting, new, painted with don't do drug messages emblazoned, trash cans will soon be back on duty in downtown Clay.
• June 15 p Smith & Wesson reported a 43% increase in their third quarter sales. A record $588 million!
• June 15 p Gun control is going very well.
• June 14  p  For the most part, we made it. The derecho didn't hit Clayberry. Heavy rain but none of that 90 mph wind crap. Most telephone and internet service is back up and running as of about 11am this morning.
• June 14 p During the heavy rain yesterday we spent some time in Magistrate Court land. From there...
• June 14 p Samantha Holcomb is the CHS teacher charged with criminal trying to burn the place down last Dec. Actually, she had a bunch of stuff hooked to a surge protector which caught fire and made a mess of stuff over there. Ms Holcomb was in a pretrial yesterday where they set a trail date on August 22nd at 9am
• June 14 p Most people in their right mind would have dropped the charge. 100% agree, there was no criminal intent. Read the Communicator for details
• June 14 p Hiram Lewis was in Jeff Boggs court Thursday as well. In addition to serious felony charges from a June 2012 shooting spree, Lewis was later charged with intimidating the Sheriff, ole what's his name. Hiriam's Magistrate trial date , August 7 9am, will come after his days in Circuit Court land for the felony stuff.
• June 14 p If that goes bad, Lewis will be in the can and won't have to worry about the intimidation stuff.
• June 14 p School Boardster Dave Mullins was also in Boggs' court room yesterday. There he was a victim of assault by a 72 year old woman. With Dave saying he felt threatened big time, Magistrate Boggs found Doris Jean Townsend guilty of assault and sentenced her to 20 days in the slammer. The sentence was then set aside.
• June 13   p A big down pour blasted Clayberry today beginning around Noon:15 and continues as of 1:30pm. Tributaries to the Elk were running high and brown as of 11am this morning.
• June 13 p  Much worser one county away. Roane County is on a state of emergency with their 911 Center evacuated. The National Guard has been called to block roads. There , the heavy rain hit around 7:30am
• June 13 p Maybe not a derecho but the potential for more rain and flooding is real.
• June 13 p   Be careful out there clickers.
• June 13 7:15 a   Wind blowing, thunder booming in the distance, just starting to rain.
• June 13 We'll update as utilities allow
• June 12 later p   The National Weather Service has issued Severe Thunderstorm Watch 302 in effect until 6 am EDT early this morning for the following  areas:  In West Virginia this watch includes 15 counties In central West Virginia  Braxton Calhoun Clay  Gilmer Jackson Roane .   This is a particularly dangerous situation. Strong storms capable of producing tornado-like winds and structural damage may occur.
• June 12 late p From National Weather Service:Flash Flood Watch remains in effect through Thursday

afternoon... The Flash Flood Watch continues for  portions of West Virginia... Barbour... Braxton... Calhoun... Clay... Doddridge... Gilmer... Harrison... Lewis... Nicholas... Pleasants... Pocahontas... Randolph... Ritchie... Roane... Taylor... Tyler... Upshur... Webster... Wirt and wood.
Through Thursday afternoon   any heavy shower or thunderstorm could dump an inch of rain in an hour or less. These downpours would cause the usual street and poor drainage flooding. However... several rounds of
convection are possible into early Thursday afternoon. If rain totals of 2 to 3 inches affect the same creek basin... more  serious flash flooding could occur.
• June 12 a County Commission meets this morning at 10am
• June 12 a Happy belated 39th birthday wishes to Rodney Nutter over in power company land.
• June 12 a New job posting on JOBS page
• June 12 a The Communicator made it news stands across the region Tuesday afternoon. Some pretty good reading this time around with Prosecutor Samples' suit against Larry Darryl and Darryl plus the latest speculations on the murder of Mr Stone
• June 12 a A year and two weeks ago, Clayberry was struck with a derecho. For upwards of two weeks, the county shut down. We were lucky no one died during the high temps, lack of utilities, and no way to cook vittles.
• June 12 a We're on day five of life without wifey.  For the ace cub reporter and his now grown kid, it's a time to endure no one else cleaning up after em
• June 12 a On day five, the dishes had to washed. Before that, the kitchen faucet couldn't even be seen. They were down to licking a spoon for future use. Letting dishes set for five days isn't the way to do things.
• June 12 a  Old fried eggs harden up to concrete on those little prongs requiring scraping with a pocket knife. The pieces of left over peanut butter and jelly sandwiches attract some of the ugliest looking bugs and mice crap.
• June 12 a  You never know how important clean socks and underway is until you don't have any.
• June 12 a  The guys thought the steaks tasted funny a couple days ago. So odd they went back to PB&J and tossed the steaks out the door. Now two days  later, dogs, cats, ground hogs and even the turkey vultures won't touch the things. A week whacker will soon take care of the circling flies.
• June 10 p  So what's the front page story in Tuesday's Communicator? For just 70 cents you'll get the skinny on Prosecutor Jim Samples filing a lawsuit against the County Commission for not budgeting enough $$$ to fund his office staff. All the juicy details and on the cheap too
• June 10 p No updates until we get the Communicator out the door sometime Tuesday afternoon ... well unless something stupid happens
• June 10 a Cloudy this morning and with a chance of a 1/2 inch of rain in the forecast.
• June 10 a Wifey left for the beach Saturday. Just the ace cub reporter and the now college graduated kid at home.
• June 10 a after just two days, the carpet is so crunchy, house shoes are needed to get thru the house. With dirty dishes piled higher than the faucets, we're down to licking spoons and reusing.
• June 10 a Had Foodland any watermelons, the place would be even worse for wear. Flies are starting to attack!
• June 9 late p  Shelby Nottingham, 70, of Maysel, see OBITUARY page
• June 9 a 65 year old Jack Stone was murdered while planting tomatoes last Tuesday.
• June 9 a Badges galore showed up and did their thing. People were interviewed, gunshot residue samples were taken, pictures were snapped, and crime scene tape went up..   Clayberry made the news cycle. Six days later the talking heads are gone.
• June 9 a Here at home word spread quickly that Stone and another had a long standing property dispute. Others speculate there was a family feud which Mr Stone was a part.
• June 9 a The Nation of Clay is back to normal except for one thing, the killer still walks  free
• June 9 a No arrest(s) have been made
• June 9 a  The shotgun blast that killed Mr Stone came from the Hartland neighborhood. There, houses are close together and on such a warm day, many were out working their yards and watching neighbors do stuff.
• June 9 a It's hard to imagine that someone didn't see what happened.
• June 9 a Did you witness the killing? It's time to call the Green Shirts and get the bad guy behind bars.
• June 9 a 304 286 3185
• June 7 p  Clarence Jackson “Jack” Stone, 65, of Indore, see OBITUARY page
• June 7 p Garnet M. Strickland, 97, of Dunbar formerly of Clay, see OBITUARY page
• June 7 p  Robert “Bob” Cecil Taylor, 76, of Lizemores, see OBITUARY page
• June 7 p for those looking for something to do.... You don't need a license to fish in W Va this weekend

June 7 p Time is passing by and Badges have yet to arrest the killer of Jack Stone. They're asking the public to call them with any information. 304 286-3185

June 7 p Exercise caution folks even in the garden!

June 7 a For about 10 minutes last night, heavy rain blanketed the the area making driving next to impossible. This morning a drizzle is in the air and expected to last all day.

June 7 a For those wondering, the murderer of Jack Stone remains at large. As the Capt. said, exercise precautions clickers.

June 7 a Tonight music comes to life again at Big Otter Community Center.

June 7 a All the lovelies come together Saturday for the Big Apple Pageant over at Clay High.

June 7 a Saturday night the local radio station will be hosting their first concert in their new location at Valley Fork School. This year you don't have to worry about rain, storms, or 150 degree temps,  101.7FM has access to the old school gym during inclement weather. Cornhole starts at 5pm. Doc Magley takes the stage at 6pm sharp followed by Bo McMillion at 7:15ish.

June 7 a  After a bunch of us paranoid folks have been speculating for years that the Gov. has been over stepping their constitutional authority with spying on Americans. In response, local yocals would often say, so what, I ain't doing nothing wrong.

June 7 a There is NO doubt those speculations have come true with the recent leaks of data mining of each and every telephone call and web search query.

June 7 a How appropriate on the 50 anniversary of the publishing of "1984"

June 7 a Doing exactly what the terrorists are all about, it is true, they won the war on terror a long time ago.

June 7 a How sad.

June 6 a From the email bag: Clay County Pool will open for the season Friday June 7th at high noon. Swimming lessons begin June 24th

June 6 a As of 9am this morning, still no word on the killer still on the loose in the Great Nation of Clay

June 6 a  Kids are now on Summer break. By noon today, teachers will be set free to recuperate from 180 days of  curtain climber H.

June 6 a Men, you need to take a look over on the JOBS page. Ahhhh, what makes summer so very special.

June 6 a The Apple Festival will be celebrating their 40th season this year. The milestone may be a little youthful.

June 6 a Over at the Courthouse is a new display with lots of early pics and articles from a 1963 Apple Festival.

June 6 a If you include 1963, that would make this the 50th anniversary of the family fun fest.

June 6 a Documentation for the Sept 6th 1963 fest was featured in the State Magazine and penned by editor Harold Gadd.

June 6 a It's not too often that a Clay County teacher gets arrested on criminal charges.

June 6 a Back in Dec., Clay High caught fire. An immediate response kept the worst damage to one room plus smoke and water damage in three or four others. The cause of the blaze was too many appliances (including a microwave) hooked a surge protector power strip.

June 6 a If you look at the records over in Magistrate Court land, teacher Samantha Holcomb was charged with criminal conduct and has a hearing set for June 13th in front of Jeff Boggs. If convicted, Ms Holcomb may be teaching from a CRJ cell. Full details in Tuesday's Communicator

June 6 a Johnny Morris is often seen cruising around the Town of Clay or parked in the Go Mart parking lot.

June 6 a Johnny was picked up by Badges Monday morning after driving on the berm for 200 feet. The smell of alcohol was detected on his breath. When asked, are you doing drugs,  according to the report, Morris replied he took a whole handful of pills that morning

June 6 a Full details in the only source of CLayberry news coming on Tuesday

June 5 p  Captain Lemmon from the West Virginia State Green Shirt group called  a press meeting this afternoon around 3:30 up at their resort in Big Otter.

June 5 p Although tight lipped as the investigation continues: suspects have been questioned; gunshot residue tests have been used; it appears that a single shotgun blast killed Jack Stone yesterday; it was a frontal shot. Mr Lemmon asked , anybody with any leads, tips, etc., please call the Big Otter Green Shirt office now

June 5 p So, with the shooter still on the run, what should Clayberry do? According to the Captain, exercise normal precautions and the let the Badges to their thang. He didn't say that last thang part, we did

June 5 p  Where is the guy? He could still be nearby.

June 5 p   Although Lemmon couldn't say officially or unofficially for that matter, it sounded like he was imparting, this was NOT a wild man on a shooting spree ready to pounce on a bunch of others.

June 5 p Details late tonight if available

June 5  a Blue lights were running in every direction Tuesday afternoon after Jack Stone was gunned down.

June 5 a  It sounded like there was  a delay in getting Badges on the scene but when they got in gear, everything in the county was on hand including Prosecutors.

June 5 a The killing took place around or maybe shortly before 2pm in Hartland. At 3:50pm Green Shirts were still high tailing it to the scene. At 5:15pm one Blue Light zoomed back out of town.

June 5 a At 11pm last night and again this morning at 7:30am, no mug shots of the shooter were available on the  Central Regional Jail web site. Our guess, the shooter remains at large.

June 5 a Hearing the same traffic on the scanner as we did and without a call from local authorities, the Pentagon took precautions and checked schools for possible intruders.

June 5 a TV 8 and TV 3 identified the body as that of 65 year old Jack Stone.

June 5 a Jack was a well known local often seen driving thru Clayberry. Just the average guy on the street and tending on the quiet side.

June 5 a as for the shooter, everybody in the county knows who did it but until Badges make it official, mums the word.

June 5 a We'll check the Courthouse this morning and update later today.

June 5 a The top scholars in the 2013 Clay High graduating class are identical twins. We think they got over on the school system during the ceremonies. During their speeches a couple weeks ago, they switched positions and one gave the orations for the other.

June 5 a Love it when kids get over on the staff!

June 5 a  Best of birthday wishes to long time editor of The Communicator, Teresa Kerns.

June  4 a   With a new wa wa plant producing the wet stuff and a rate increase in the works, Clay Town Council holds their monthly gathering tonight at 5pm

June 4 a   Central Appalachia Empowerment Zone (CAEZ) has their agenda up for tonight's 6pm Bd meeting

June 4 a that group's economic development committee meets at 4pm. Both meeting will be held at the Courthouse    Before the Board are dwindling finances soon to be cramped by Kanawha Valley Community College leaving the Valley Fork building which is owned by the CAEZ. Without those rent dollars coming in, things will be much much tighter.

June 4 a Last night the BDA met at Ginos. With a quorum in place, some observations....

June 4 a County Assessor Teresa Lane is / was a member of the Business Development Authority (BDA). The come once in a while Lane resigned from the group last week. Interestingly, that walk away came right after a quiet decision to allow a potential developer use state tax credits as an incentive to build a $6 million , 40 apartment complex on the old Filcon Industrial site near Wallback. The Filcon property is owned by the BDA.

June 4 a State tax credits often lure big suits into areas. Those credits have NO impact on local tax collections. Tax credits are hedge against future profits.

June 4 a The BDA hopes to sell the 5 flat acres to the out of county developer for around $67,000. Over the last 15 years, the BDA has invested just shy of  a half million dollars into the Filcon site. During that same period, the BDA has had several buyers for the one time labeled worm farm. Priced from $50,000 to over $100,000. all the buyers fell by the wayside mostly cause of a "cloudy" title for the place.

June 4 a Many shake their heads that County Commissioner Arlene Tucker , Queen Smiley to some, says nothing during most County Commission meetings. Others jest: That's not true! Tucker always leads the pledge of allegiance during each meeting. She always says, I pledge.... before the rest chime in.

June 4 a Tucker is also on the BDA. Last night she said more words and asked more questions than during all the CCC and BDA meetings combined.

June 4 a  As a close friend to Lane and a one time underling to the Assessor, Tucker asked a bunch of questions on the topic of tax credits and allowing a company to tie up the Filcon site for months and months during the process of going thru state agencies for funding.

June 4 a Pretty interesting until you realize, the purchase agreement was signed last Sept. by the BDA (did you know that? , Neither did we!) and to break a contract can be a costly thang.  The  Tucker lady was just 10 months tardy in raising concerns.

June  4 a Also, the BDA meeting is trying to grow a kayak / canoe rental business to be housed in the small out building at the old State Road garage in Two Run which they also own. How about it clickers, interested in starting your own business? How about our away from the county clickers, know someone already in the rental business that may be interested in expanding into the Nation of Clay? It's time to call the BDA

June 4 a They also plan to contact the county's only campground, Barrenshe out at Swandale, to see if they can somehow assist Mr Arley Hall in growing the place.

June 4 a Been to Barrenshe Campground? Hands down, without a doubt, situated on the banks of Buffalo Creek, the campground is the prettiest in the region and maybe the nation.

June 3a It was a heck of fine time during the Elk River Fest in downtown Clay. From the kids' games to Hammer Down to the Fireworks, well received by all in attendance.

June 3 a  The Tourism Committee had a different idea for the tourism draw. Instead of the normal fair, they wanted a more local feel with an emphasis on the Elk and local crafters, musicians, and booths. They were successful.

June 3 a If enough $$$ was raised the Elk Fest and other activities will be coming our way.

June 3 a For those stayed at home, you missed out on something nice

June 3 a Tonight the Business Development Authority meets at 6pm but over at Gino's in Two Run. Their idea is to support local businesses. The public meeting agenda is posted here. By the way, it takes about 5 minutes to make such a post available for all to see.

June 3 a the Bored of Education also meets tonight at 6pm at the Pentagon. Even with their 20 million dollar budget, they couldn't get it together to make their meeting agenda available three business days prior the gathering. Here's what non compliance looks like as of 10am Monday morning. A tradition of keeping the public in the dark continues.

June 3 a Big day Tuesday too. CAEZ meets at the Courthouse at 4 and again at 6pm. Clay Town Council also meets on the first Tuesday of each month beginning at 5pm.

June 3 a Clay Roane PSD is holding a Special Meeting June 5th at 9am. The only item on the card is: Motion to entering into negotiations with local, PSC and bond attorney’s for current water projects

June 3 a Students have two days left in prison. With testing over last week and grade cards already marked, there's really no reason to board the bus this week.

June 3 a Are you locking your doors? You should. We understand a local gas station was broke into Sunday evening before 10pm.

June 3 a As for the long running rumor that public official is about to get nailed, it was all the talk during the Elk Fest, but as far as we know, nothing has been recorded in criminal justice system,

June 3 a One feller at the Fest suggested that the indictments are sealed for now. We don't know

June  1 a Welcome to the new month. Yesterday we nearly busted 100 degrees but without humidity. Beautiful

June 1 a Today is the one day out of the year when you can recycle old tires in Clayberry. Take your junk carcasses over the to State Road lot in Maysel right now.

June 1 a Got a bunch of participants in today's Pedal Paddle triathlon today. They start off with a run down Main Street just after noon. Should be traffic congestion about then plus again during the Fest's grand parade which begins at 6pm.

June 1 a  The Elk Fest continues today with tons of activities for the entire family.

June 1 a Tonight around 9:15ish there's  a great big fireworks display.  Got some pretty good food booths too. Guaranteed to block some arteries