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Harrison County (West Virginia) Board of Education recognizes sports, educator accomplishments

by Josiah Cork STAFF WRITER
Nov 7, 2023
Nov 7, 2023

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WV News) — The Harrison County Board of Education held a presentation-filled regular session Tuesday evening, honoring several championship sports teams and two educators.

First up was the South Harrison Middle School volleyball team, which won the Central West Virginia Athletic Conference Championship on Oct. 28 after going undefeated in pool play.

Josiah Cork / Staff photo by Josiah Cork

The Central West Virginia Athletic Conference champion South Harrison Middle School volleyball team is honored.

“We’re super proud of them, and the school is super proud of them. We had a great season. [A 14-1 record] is hard to come by in volleyball,” said head coach Emily Southern.

The Mountaineer Middle School boys soccer team was the next to be honored — for winning the Mid Mountain 10 Athletic Conference with an 11-1-2 record.

Josiah Cork / Staff photo by Josiah Cork

The Mid Mountain 10 Athletic Conference champion Mountaineer Middle School soccer team is recognized.

“We’re very proud of our boys. ... More importantly, over 90% of our team made the honor roll, so they’re very good student-athletes,” said head coach Josh Houser.

Washington Irving Middle School’s football team was recognized for winning the Mid-8 Conference Football Championship.

Josiah Cork / Staff photo by Josiah Cork

The Mid-8 Conference champion Washington Irving Middle School football team is honored at Tuesday evening’s Harrison County Board of Education meeting.

After the sports award presentations, Heidi Griffith, former career technical education director for Harrison County Schools, was recognized for receiving an honorary Future Farmers of America degree after being nominated by all five FFA programs in the county.

Josiah Cork / Staff photo by Josiah Cork

Heidi Griffith, former Harrison County Schools career and technical education director, was recognized for receiving an honorary FFA degree.

Anna Malone, a Title I reading specialist at Nutter Fort Intermediate, was recognized for being nominated for the Dr. Jennie Bechtold Award from the West Virginia Reading Association.

The award recognizes educators with less than five years of experience who are making great strides in teaching reading.

Josiah Cork / Staff photo by Josiah Cork

Anna Malone, a Title I reading specialist at Nutter Fort Intermediate, is recognized for being nominated for the Dr. Jennie Bechtold Award.

The board also heard updates from Jeff Barnhart about the Elks Drug Awareness Program and from Healthy Harrison Executive Director John Paul Nardelli about ongoing initiatives.

The board heard a funding request from Lincoln High School Principal David Decker for money to replace the netting at Lincoln’s baseball field.

In personnel matters, the board learned that Robert C. Byrd High School Principal Steve Gibson will be stepping down to become the new Harrison County Schools child nutrition director.

In the superintendent’s update, Assistant Superintendent of Operations and Facilities Jimmy Lopez reported that a much-needed influx of bus drivers will be coming soon and that multiple school projects have been wrapping up in recent weeks.

The board also adopted several new policies, including one that adds school-funded student newspapers and one that redefines details regarding the employment of substitute teachers and bus operators in areas of critical need and shortage.

News

Military helped Eagle soar from West Virginia roots to around the world — and back home again

by Jacob Martin STAFF WRITER
Nov 8, 2023
Nov 8, 2023

CLARKSBURG W.Va. (WV News) — From the Air Force to the Army National Guard, Ron Eagle served to keep planes in the air and soldiers safe on the ground.

For Eagle, his interest in pursuing a career in electronics started while he attended the since-consolidated Monongah High School. Growing up in Four States, Marion County, Eagle saw little opportunity for a future career, so he turned to the military after graduation.

“Back in the ’80s, there weren’t a lot of opportunities job-wise in West Virginia. Either you go to college or the coal mines. I had no desire really to pursue college [because] I had a high interest in electronics, but college was not really going to offer that to me in the capacity that I wanted it to. I had no interest in going into the coal mines, so the only option was the military.”

After finishing high school, Eagle joined the Air Force in 1980, where he served 10 years active duty and reached the rank of staff sergeant.

Eagle joined and completed basic training with the promise of working on IBM computers, but after traveling to Pittsburgh to train for his military occupational specialty, he learned there was no position available.

“When I got to the end of basic training, they said, ‘Your job is not available,’” Eagle said.

But, poetically, there was another opportunity. In keeping with his namesake, Eagle was assigned to work as an avionics technician specialist (a computer mechanic) for McDonnell Douglas F-15 “Eagle” fighter jets.

For 10 years, Eagle worked on the “dorsal spine” of F-15 jets. The spine is a box that houses all the aviation equipment for the aircraft.

“All of the computerized instrumentation that the F-15 fighter jet flies with, those boxes are all mini-computers, each having their own independent function,” he said.

When they would go bad, the “boxes” would be pulled by the flight line and sent to Eagle to be diagnosed and repaired so the aircraft could fly again.

While stationed at Okinawa, Japan, Eagle was activated to assist with the Grenada and Desert Storm operations.

But plans changed due to “the world situation,” and Eagle, along with his unit, ended up in South Korea for support in case conflict would spread around the rest of the world.

After leaving the Air Force, Eagle returned home and decided to continue serving. He joined the Army National Guard in Fairmont and became a part of the 201st Field Artillery Regiment. He rose to chief warrant officer 3 and used his experience with electronics to work on radar equipment.

“From room service and hotels [to] tents and horrible coffee,” Eagle said.

In 2004, the 201st Field Artillery was activated and deployed to Iraq with the understanding that it would be fulfilling field artillery duties. However, once in Kuwait, the unit was informed that it was reassigned to provide convoy security.

The convoys moved materials from Kuwait to just south of Baghdad in Iraq. Eagle and his fellow soldiers provided security, constantly searching for improvised explosive devices and defending against persistent harassment from al-Qaida.

“The one thing that the enemy wanted to do was disrupt the supply lines,” Eagle said. “If they could disrupt the supply lines, then obviously they could hamper us and slow us down. They would plant IEDs or attack the supply lines. That was a daily threat for the troops that were out there.

“We were lucky enough that the 201st was one of the few military units that brought all 300-plus soldiers home,” he said. “Now that wasn’t to say we didn’t send anyone home without injuries. We did send quite a few troops home due to injuries, but we did bring them home all alive. That was a reflection of our officers in charge who were running the program out of the command center. They ensured that all of the soldiers had the necessary tools and training to be successful.”

After his year in Iraq, Eagle had reached the 23-year mark of his military service. He officially retired and returned home to find a job in the aircraft industry. He resides in Bridgeport today.

“I am in the career that I am in today because of the military,” Eagle said. “It was a catapult that got me where I am.”

Later, Eagle started his own company, HQ Aero Management Inc., which still operates in Bridgeport.

Eagle is thankful for the opportunity to serve his country and for the many opportunities it provided him to learn and achieve his dreams.

With Veterans Day approaching, Eagle said, “It’s both an emotional and a prideful [day]. There is a lot of pride because we did serve, and there is a lot of pride in what we did achieve.

“It’s emotional because you had met friends and folks while being deployed to find that some of them weren’t lucky enough to make it back. I think for a lot of military members, especially when you stand there and listen to taps, there is usually not a dry eye in the house.”

Charles Young

Johansen

World

AP

Israel fights Hamas deep in Gaza City and foresees control of enclave’s security after war

The Israeli army says its forces are battling Hamas fighters inside Gaza’s largest city, signaling a major new stage a month into a war that has claimed thousands of lives and leveled swaths of the territory

by Najib Jobain
and Samy Magdy The Associated Press
Nov 7, 2023
Nov 7, 2023

HAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israel said Tuesday that its ground forces were battling Hamas fighters deep inside Gaza’s largest city, signaling a major new stage in the month-old conflict, and Israeli leaders foresee controlling the enclave’s security after the war.

The push into Gaza City guarantees that the already staggering death toll will rise further, while comments from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about controlling Gaza’s security for “an indefinite period” pointed to the uncertain endgame of a war that Israel says will be long and difficult.

Israeli ground troops have battled Palestinian militants inside Gaza for over a week, cutting the territory in half and encircling Gaza City. The army’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said that Israeli ground forces “are located right now in a ground operation in the depths of Gaza City and putting great pressure on Hamas.”

Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad, speaking Tuesday from Beirut, denied that Israeli forces were making any significant military gains or that they had advanced deep into Gaza City.

“They never give the people the truth,” Hamad said. He added that numerous Israeli soldiers were killed Monday and “many tanks were destroyed.”

“The Palestinians fight and fight and fight against Israel, until we end the occupation,” said Hamad, who left Gaza days before Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel, which sparked the war.

The Associated Press could not independently verify the claims of either side.

Israelis commemorated the 30th day — a milestone in Jewish mourning — since the Hamas incursion, which killed 1,400 people. About 240 people Hamas abducted during the attack remain in Gaza, and more than 250,000 Israelis have evacuated homes near the borders of Gaza and Lebanon amid continuous rockets fired into Israel.

A month of relentless bombardment in Gaza has killed more than 10,300 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-run territory. More than 2,300 are believed buried from strikes that reduced entire city blocks to rubble.

Around 70% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes, and many of them are crowded into U.N. schools-turned-shelters. Civilians in Gaza are relying on a trickle of aid and their own daily foraging for food and water from supplies that have dwindled after weeks of siege.

FLEEING SOUTH

Israel unleashed another wave of strikes across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday as hundreds more Palestinians fled Gaza City to the south.

Some arrived on donkey carts, most on foot, some pushing elderly relatives in wheelchairs, all visibly exhausted. Many had nothing but the clothes on their backs. “There is no food or drink, people are fighting in the bakeries,” said one man who didn’t want to give his name.

Hundreds of thousands have heeded Israeli orders to head to the southern part of Gaza, out of the ground assault’s path. Others are afraid to do so since Israeli troops control part of the north-south route. Bombardment of the south has also continued.

An Israeli airstrike destroyed several homes early Tuesday in Khan Younis. An Associated Press journalist at the scene saw first responders pulling five bodies — including three dead children — from the rubble. One man wept as he carried a bloodied young girl, until a rescue worker pried her from his arms, saying, “Let her go, let her go,” to rush her to an ambulance.

AP video at a nearby hospital showed a woman desperately searching for her son, then crying and kissing him when she found him, half-naked and bloodied, but apparently without serious injuries. A girl sobbed next to a baby on a stretcher, apparently dead.

“We were sleeping, babies, children, elderly,” said one survivor, Ahmad al-Najjar, who is the general director at the Education Ministry in Gaza.

In the town of Deir al-Balah, rescue workers brought out at least four dead and a number of wounded children from the wreckage of a flattened building, witnesses said. “My daughter,” screamed a woman as she ran behind them.

Israel says it targets Hamas fighters and infrastructure and accuses the group of endangering civilians by operating among them.

At a school in Khan Younis, thousands of displaced were living in classrooms and the playground. One of them, Suhaila al-Najjar, said the last month had been filled with sleepless nights.

“What’s to come? How will we live? Bakeries have closed, there’s no gas. What will we eat?” she said.

ISRAEL TO MAINTAIN CONTROL

Israel has vowed to remove Hamas from power and crush its military capabilities — but neither Israel nor its main ally, the United States, has said what would come next.

Netanyahu told ABC News that Gaza should be governed by “those who don’t want to continue the way of Hamas,” without elaborating.

“I think Israel will, for an indefinite period, will have the overall security responsibility because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have it. When we don’t have that security responsibility, what we have is the eruption of Hamas terror on a scale that we couldn’t imagine,” he said.

Netanyahu did not make clear what shape that security control would take. The White House on Tuesday reiterated that President Joe Biden does not support an Israeli reoccupation of the Gaza Strip after the war.

“We do think that there needs to be a healthy set of conversations about what post-conflict Gaza looks like and what governance looks like,” said White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, adding that he would leave it to Netanyahu to clarify what he means by “indefinite.”

Israeli officials say the offensive against Hamas will last for some time and acknowledge that they have not yet formulated a concrete plan for what comes after the war. The defense minister has said Israel does not seek a long-term reoccupation of Gaza but predicted a lengthy phase of low-intensity fighting against “pockets of resistance.” Other officials have spoken about establishing a buffer zone that would keep Palestinians away from the Israeli border.

“There are a number of options being discussed for The Day After Hamas,” said Ophir Falk, a senior adviser to Netanyahu. “The common denominator of all the plans is that 1) there is no Hamas 2) that Gaza is demilitarized 3) Gaza is deradicalized.”

Israel withdrew troops and settlers in 2005 but kept control over Gaza’s airspace, coastline, population registry and border crossings, excepting one into Egypt. Hamas seized power from forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007, confining his Palestinian Authority to parts of the occupied West Bank. Since then, Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade on Gaza to varying degrees.

In his ABC interview, Netanyahu also expressed openness for the first time to “little pauses” in the fighting to facilitate delivery of aid to Gaza or the release of hostages. But he ruled out any general cease-fire without the release of all the hostages.

HEAVY FIGHTING IN THE NORTH

For now, Israel’s troops are focused on northern Gaza, including Gaza City, which before the war was home to about 650,000 people. Israel says Hamas has extensive militant infrastructure within residential areas, including a vast tunnel network.

The military says it has killed thousands of Hamas fighters. The Gaza Health Ministry’s death toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants — and slain fighters not brought to hospitals would not be in its count. Israel also says 30 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ground offensive began.

Several hundred thousand people are believed to remain in the north in the assault’s path.

Residents in northern Gaza reported heavy battles overnight into Tuesday morning on the outskirts of Gaza City. The Shati refugee camp — a built-up district housing refugees from the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation and their descendants — has been heavily bombarded over the past two days, residents said.

The war has also stoked wider tensions, with Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group trading fire along the border. More than 160 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the war began, mainly during violent protests and gunbattles with Israeli forces during arrest raids.

Hundreds of trucks carrying aid have been allowed to enter Gaza from Egypt since Oct. 21. But humanitarian workers say the aid is far short of mounting needs. Egypt’s Rafah Crossing has also opened to allow hundreds of foreign passport holders and medical patients to leave Gaza.

Wvnews

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Local board members reflect on first meeting of West Virginia First Foundation

by Charles Young SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Nov 7, 2023
Nov 7, 2023

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WV News) — Officials with the West Virginia First Foundation met Monday to begin the process of setting up the organization tasked with addressing the state’s opioid crisis.

The foundation board’s two members from North Central West Virginia, Jonathan Board and Dora Stutler, had an opportunity to meet their counterparts for the first time as they began the complex undertaking of establishing the new nonprofit.

Board, former chair of the Marion County Chamber of Commerce and an executive with Mon Health, was elected in July to represent Region 4 on the foundation’s board. He said the 11-member board had a very productive first meeting.

“It’s a room full of doers, and we were able to accomplish a lot in a really quick timeline,” he said. “This is a foundation that’s being started from the ground up, and there was a lot to cover really quickly.”

The meeting included the election of officers, administrative details related to setting up bank accounts and a discussion of personnel matters, officials said during a press conference Monday afternoon.

Stutler, the superintendent of Harrison County Schools, was appointed to the board by Gov. Jim Justice. She was elected Monday to serve as secretary of the board’s executive committee.

“We’ll have meetings outside of the normal board meetings,” she said. “I was happy to do that.”

Monday’s meeting also included a discussion of the foundation’s bylaws and an overview of its finances, Stutler said.

The board consists of six members elected in regional meetings over the summer and five members appointed by Justice.

Region 4 includes county and local governments in Monongalia, Braxton, Lewis, Harrison, Marion, Preston, Taylor, Tucker, Barbour, Randolph, Gilmer, Doddridge and Upshur counties.

The board members, along with an executive director, will determine how the foundation will use 72.5% of the state’s opioid lawsuit settlement funds. Around 24% of the funds will go directly to local governments throughout the state. The state will hold the remaining funds in escrow.

Matthew Harvey, the prosecuting attorney for Jefferson County who was elected to serve as the board’s chair, said Monday that funds for county and local governments will be distributed “this calendar year.”

Board and Stutler both confirmed Harvey’s comment, saying the $73.5 million allotted for local governments is expected to be disbursed before the end of 2023.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is responsible for choosing an executive director candidate, who must be approved by the foundation’s board. On Monday, Morrisey said it was “premature” to make an announcement about a potential candidate.

“I’m optimistic that this is going to be an exciting opportunity for whoever is going to be named the executive director,” he said.

Potential executive directors were disused Monday after the public portion of the meeting, Board said.

“We expect them to be singularly focused on the issue of substance abuse and mitigating substance abuse here in the state of West Virginia,” he said. “We take that very seriously, and I’m excited because I think there are very good people that are presented in this matter.”

At the end of June, Morrisey announced that DRiWaterstone Human Capital of Arlington, Virginia, had been contracted to conduct the search for an executive director.

Board members want to chose the most qualified candidate, regardless of where they are from, Board said.

“This board is going to do its part to assure that whoever comes in is the absolute best person for the job,” he said. “We cannot allow us to be blinded by anything that would otherwise challenge this individual’s ability to help this state heal and to bring us out of this public health crisis.”

There isn’t yet a regular schedule for future board meetings, but a virtual meeting is scheduled for next week, according to Stutler.

“They’re talking [about]next week doing a [Microsoft] Teams meeting, like the first of next week,” she said. “That would be the whole board to do a follow-up. They wanted everybody to go home and kind of think about what all they had heard and get a handle on everything we heard in that little bit of time.”

News

Antero Foundation makes $50,000 donation to local Salvation Army

by Logan Cottrell STAFF WRITER
Nov 7, 2023
Nov 7, 2023

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WV News) — The Antero Foundation donated $50,000 to the Salvation Army for the purchase of a new box truck.

Officials with the foundation visited the Salvation Army’s Clarksburg location Tuesday to present the check.

“No one should have to worry about where they’ll access basic necessities such as food, shelter or warmth, but these are unfortunate realities. That is why we’re proud to assist in the Salvation Army’s purchase of a new box truck so that it can meet the needs of so many West Virginians,” said Kevin Ellis, Antero regional senior vice president and Antero Foundation board member.

“Antero is committed to meaningful service to our communities in the best possible way, and our partnership with the Salvation Army is reflective of that,” Ellis said.

The new box truck will be a great benefit, said Salvation Army Major Eric Roberts.

“The new truck will be used to pick up our larger orders from Food Lion and Walmart for our food pantries,” he said. “The truck will also be used throughout all of the other eight counties we are involved in.”

Transportation of food is key, Roberts said.

“This will also greatly impact how much we can transport,” he said. “Right now, the truck we currently have can only hold four pallets of food. The new truck we will be purchasing with the money donated will be able to carry up to six pallets’ worth.”

The Salvation Army is involved in quite a few different ventures, Roberts said.

“We also do a rag business in our thrift store where we take donated clothing and sell them to rag dealers,” he said. “We do this to raise money for the food pantries. With this new truck, it will allow us to get more rags and make more money to give back into the community.”

Roberts said the Antero Foundation has been a partner to the Salvation Army for as long as he’s been in Clarksburg.

“Antero has assisted us greatly with funding for our programs,” he said. “The people at Antero have big hearts, and they like to help us out. The especially help out whenever we start doing our youth programs. We are extremely happy to be working with them.

“I started at this branch around five years ago, and Antero has been involved every step of the way.”

The Antero Foundation has been working with the Salvation Army for the better part of a decade, Ellis said.

“We have been working with them for about five to seven years now,” he said.

The new truck hasn’t been ordered yet, but Roberts said he has been looking at one.

“We really aren’t sure when the new truck will get here,” he said. “If it was up to me, the new truck would be here tomorrow. Whenever we purchase new equipment, we like to go through and make sure it is up to our standard.”

News

WVU hosts National First Generation College Student Celebration Day

by Damian Phillips STAFF WRITER
Nov 7, 2023
Nov 7, 2023

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) — First-generation students at West Virginia University were invited to mingle and network at the Erickson Alumni Center on Tuesday for National First Generation College Student Celebration Day.

This is WVU’s seventh year taking part in the celebration, and it is the second year the university is holding activities all week long, said First Generation Initiative Program Director Michelle Paden.

As a first-generation student herself, Paden said she found a second family in the Student Support Services Office when she was a WVU student.

Student Support Services is a part of WVU’s TRIO programs, which use federal funds to assist students in need of support, Paden said.

More than 4,000 undergraduate students at WVU have self-identified as first-generation college students, with 21% of students on average identifying as first generation each year, she said.

As a first-generation student, “there’s a lot of ... imposter syndrome. You feel like you’re the only one that ... doesn’t know what’s going on. You don’t feel like you actually belong,” Paden said.

“And when you find other people of that similar background, you realize I’m not the only one and [other student’s families] also don’t know how to properly assist them. And it really does help so that [the first-generation students] create that bond and it helps them to support each other,” she said.

WVU President Gordon Gee spoke at Tuesday’s event.

“For first-generation students ... this is an opportunity. You come to a great university with great mentoring and great supports, but also you have a chance to tell your story,” he said, adding that those stories inspire others to also walk the path to higher education and to connect with other first-generation students.

Gee was followed by four WVU faculty members who also were first-generation students.

Physiology Professor Stan Hileman said his father was a laborer for Kaiser Aluminum but wanted a better life for his two sons and pushed them to pursue higher education.

“They bring bauxite ore up on the barges, and they unload it and smelt it down, and it would go from ore all the way to finished product. ... He would spend days in 120-degree smelting rooms. And I think he just wanted something better for his kids, so they pushed education very hard on me and my brother,” Hileman said.

He recalled that as a first-generation college student, he was able to connect with graduate students on a flag football team. That connection lead to Hileman helping the graduate students with research on the university’s farms, since he had originally dreamt of being a veterinarian.

Hileman pointed to a common theme among the four faculty members who were first-generation students: Faculty members were involved in their lives on campus and made a difference.

“There are faculty here who want to help you, that want to do things for you. You just got to let them know that you need help,” Hileman said, before acknowledging that admitting you need help is the hardest part.

He reminded students that many who come to college find part way through that their interests have changed and they no longer have a passion for their previously chosen academic field.

“And that’s OK,” he said.

Following remarks from faculty and staff, students were invited to continue to enjoy Tuesday’s event — eat, network and make new friends from a similar background.

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