A bill to make West Virginia a "right-to-work" state passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on a strict party line vote Friday, clearing the way for the full Senate to consider the legislation next week.

The nine Republicans on the committee voted for the right to work legislation, while the eight Democrats voted no.

The resignation of Sen. Daniel Hall last week had left the committee with only 16 members, eight from each party. But Sen. Greg Boso, R-Nicholas, was appointed to the committee on Wednesday, shortly after the Legislature convened, giving the Republicans the necessary majority.

The legislation would free workers in unionized workplaces from having to pay union fees, even though they would still benefit from union representation and union-negotiated contracts. Workers in unionized workplaces do not currently have to join the union, but they must pay fees for the union's work in negotiating contracts and benefits.

Fewer than 10 percent of West Virginia workers in unionized workplaces choose this option, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

About 11.6 percent of West Virginia workers were represented by unions at their workplace in 2014, while 10.6 percent - 76,000 workers - are actual union members.

Those numbers are down significantly since 2013.

In 2013, 93,000 West Virginia workers were represented by unions, while in 2014, the number fell to 80,000, according to the BLS.

For the second day in a row, the often sleepy committee room was packed to capacity, with an overflow of union members, upset at the legislation, filling the hallway.

Republicans argued that the bill was both a matter of fairness for workers and that it would make West Virginia more attractive to potential businesses.

"If this bill, providing workers the freedom to join a union or not join a union, would create one job, it's worth it," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson.

The committee heard from state Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette, who said right-to-work was not an issue in recruiting businesses.

"We've never been recruiting a business who said 'no' because of right to work," said Burdette, a Democrat. "If you asked me for a list of companies that will not look at a state that is not right-to-work, I can't produce that list."

Carmichael said that a right-to-work law would be another tool that Burdette could use to recruit businesses to the state.

But Burdette said it was insignificant compared to the state's true challenges: an undereducated workforce and the lack of flat land for manufacturing facilities.

Sen. Mike Romano, D-Harrison, agreed.

"Not one person has stood up and said, 'here's a company that's coming to West Virginia with 500 jobs if we pass right to work, because it's a fallacy," Romano said. "Its benefits are murky, its detriments are immutable."

Democrats argued that the bill, in weakening unions, would lower wages and workplace safety.

"Lower wages and a loss of union membership are what will very likely happen," said Sen. Herb Snyder, D-Jefferson. "It happened in other states, it'll happen here."

But Carmichael said the bill would not prevent anybody from joining a union or prevent them from paying union dues, it just gives them the option to opt out. "This is a freedom-enhancing bill," Carmichael said.

Reach David Gutman at david.gutman@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5119 or follow @davidlgutman on Twitter.

A group of regional public health officials has targeted three key health issues that have been points of contention in the state over the last few years in an effort to educate the public on the scientific support behind these public health policies.

Rx for West Virginia, led by Dr. Michael Brumage, health officer for the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, and Dr. Michael Kilkenny, health officer for the Cabell-Huntington Health Department, held a press conference on Friday to address its recommendations, or "prescriptions," for the state on three issues: vaccinating children against disease, supporting clean indoor air regulations and discouraging the consumption of raw milk and dairy products.

West Virginia has one of the highest rates of school-age vaccination in the country, and has been free of the measles outbreaks that have plagued other states in recent years. Despite this, legislators introduced a bill last year that would have allowed parents with "moral objections" to vaccines to skip the requirement for school-aged children in West Virginia. That piece of the legislation ultimately was rewritten, but Brumage said the new initiative wanted to remind citizens that vaccines are an important part of disease prevention.

"West Virginia has the best childhood immunization law in the country, and we just want to keep it that way," said Bob Whitler, vice president of government and community affairs for Charleston Area Medical Center.

Another health issue that divided the Legislature during the 2015 session was the push to legalize raw milk sales and consumption in the state. A bill to allow the consumption of non-pasteurized milk in West Virginia passed both the Senate and the House early last year, but was vetoed by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 202 of the 239 hospitalizations involving tainted dairy products between 1993 and 2006 were linked to the consumption of raw milk or raw-milk cheese. More than 1,500 people were sickened by raw milk products in that time frame, according to the CDC. The CDC has also reported that unpasteurized milk is 150 times more likely to cause food-borne illness and results in 13 times more hospitalizations than illnesses involving pasteurized dairy products.

Brumage said there is an overwhelming consensus among health professionals that the dangers of raw milk outweigh the benefits, and Rx for West Virginia has recommended that people only consume pasteurized dairy products.

"We know that raw milk is dangerous, and we don't recognize any added health benefit to drinking it," Brumage said.

Clean indoor air regulations, while widespread in the state, also saw challenges in the Legislature last year. Separate House and Senate Bills introduced last session would have allowed smoking in certain establishments, circumventing some of the clean indoor air regulations in places like Charleston, which bans smoking in all public facilities.

"We have excellent smoke-free ordinances in a lot of areas, and that's something we need to build on, rather than destroy," Kilkenny said. "We just hope to educate the public on these issues and keep them appraised of our stance."

Brumage said the initiative could forward other recommendations in the future, and added that the purpose of Rx for West Virginia was to educate the public on issues that have a lot of scientific consensus, rather than try to push a particular political agenda.

"I know that in the work that I do on the community level, there's a great deal of confusion about health messages," said Judy Crabtree, executive director of the Kanawha Coalition for Community Health Improvement. "You can get on the Internet and get one message, then hear on the news another message, and go to your doctor and hear another message. What I feel this initiative will do is to help is help local community members see where their local health professionals stand on these issues."

Reach Lydia Nuzum at lydia.nuzum@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5189 or follow @lydianuzum on Twitter.

Living Water Worship Centre, 513 Patrick St., West Side, will celebrate its 4th Church Anniversary on beginning at noon on Sunday at the church. The morning worship experience will feature Pastor Marvin Prevost of Extreme Ministries, Oak Hill, as guest speaker. The evening worship experience begins at 5 p.m. with Bishop Michael Austin and The Church of God MPGT Ministries Choir and Congregation of Charleston as guests. For more information, call 304-989-0655.

The Green Valley Church of God Youth, 518 Green Valley Drive, St. Albans, are collecting gently worn or new shoes to benefit third world countries and to help the youth raise money for youth convention. There will be a special "shoe drop-off" event from 1 to 4 p.m. today at the Kmart in St. Albans. For more information, contact Tammy Shaw at 304-543- 0194.

All are encouraged to attend a "Remembering the Dream - Moving to Action" Martin Luther King Jr. Fellowship Free Luncheon and Symposium at 11 a.m. Monday at First Baptist Church of Charleston, 432 Shrewsbury St. Combined choirs will sing and the Rev. Paul Dunn will be keynote speaker.

The Achievers Class of the Fifth Avenue Church of God in South Charleston will open its doors to the Clothes Closet and offer free clothes to those in need from 10 a.m. to noon today at the church. Enter in the side entrance on E Street and go down the stairs. For questions, call Joyce at 304-768-5774.

Abundant Life Bible College, 1534 Washington St. E., will start its next six-week course, Pentecostal Theology I, from 7 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday at the church. The cost is $100 plus a $25 registration fee. To register or for more information on go to www.abundantlifewv.com or call 304-342-0058, ext. 4.

Teays Valley Church of God will offer a Single and Parenting Support Group class from 2:15 to 3:45 p.m. Sundays. The group will feature video sessions to help parents develop effective strategies on being a single parent. Each group topic is self-contained so participants may start at any time. Call 304-757-9222 to register. The class is free, however, there is a $15 fee for the workbook. Teays Valley Church of God is located at 6979 Teays Valley Road in Scott Depot, just east of Exit 40 off Interstate 64 up on the hill.

Teays Valley Church of God will sponsor a new Divorce Care Support Group that will meet from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays at Teays Valley Church of God, 6979 Teays Valley Road, Scott Depot. Participants will view a DVD, which covers topics such as depression, anger, loneliness, financial survival, kid care, forgiveness, moving on and more. Participants will need to purchase a required $15 workbook. The class itself is free. Childcare will be provided. To register, email Brenda at tvcogsecretary@comcast.net or call 304-757-9222.

First United Methodist Church, 1124 5th Ave., Huntington, will sponsor the First Church Dinner Theater 2016 featuring the comedy, "Bitsy and Boots on the Move," by Jonathan Joy. On Feb. 12, 13 and 14. Dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., followed by the show at 8 p.m. The menu is prime rib au jus or glazed Cornish hen with tossed salad, baked potato, green peas and pearl onions, dilly rolls and assorted Valentine desserts. The dinner plus show is adults, $25 and children under 12, $8. Cost for the show only (as space permits) is $5. All profits benefit Missions of First United Methodist Church. Babysitting will be available on request for all shows with advance registration. For dinner/show and babysitting reservations, call 304-522-0357 or 740-867-8576 or sheepshot@netzero.com.

A "Remembering the Dream - Moving to Action" Martin Luther King Jr. Fellowship will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at First Baptist Church of Charleston, 432 Shrewsbury St. Combined choirs will be singing and the Rev. Paul Dunn will be the keynote speaker. A free luncheon and symposium will be featured.

Unity of Kanawha Valley will offer a Soulcollage Workshop: Reflections of You from 1:30 to 5 p.m. Jan. 23 at its location, corner of Bridge and Myrtle roads. Beginners should arrive at 1 p.m. The cost is $30, payable at the door by cash or check. Space is limited. The workshop is presented by Inner Path LLC, facilitated by Megan Lyon and Emily Cloxton. Bring a journal. All other materials will be provided. Pre-registration is required. Email innerpathwv@gmail.com.

The East Nitro United Baptist Church will have a gospel sing featuring The Eyes of Faith at 6:30 p.m. today at the church.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Male Chorus will be in concert at 4 p.m. Sunday at Nondenominational Fellowship Pentecostal Ministries, 1441 Third Ave. Debbie Thomas is pastor.

The Cross Lanes United Methodist Church will present its 2016 Community Music Concert Series featuring Shadowshaker (blues, rock and Americana) from Cabell County at 7 p.m. Sunday at the church, 5320 Frontier Drive, Cross Lanes. Admission is free. Local artists Beth and Alasha will be featured at 7 p.m. Feb. 21 at the church. They will perform original music on the piano and violin. Admission is also free.

The Believers will sing at 7 p.m. Sunday at Lone Oak Church of God Mission, W.Va. 34 Red House Hill.

The Huffman Family will sing at 6 p.m. Sunday at Parsons Chapel, 6th Avenue.

Bob and Tabitha Malot will sing at 7 p.m. Monday at Lucy Wilson Baptist Church, Wills Creek, Elkview.

King of Glory International Ministries will present a Prayer Quake 2016 on Sunday at the church, 302 Delaware Ave. Guest speaker at 11 a.m. will be Apostle Connie Strickland. King of Glory Apostle is Tina M. Beatty, youth pastor is Ron Beatty and Pastor is Roslyn Williams. For information, call the church at 304-720-5994.

Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 442 McDonald St., South Charleston, will have a joint 11 a.m. worship service with New 1st Missionary Baptist Church of Kanawha City at 11 a.m. on Sunday at 442 McDonald St., South Charleston.

Thomas Memorial Free Will Baptist Church, 522 Buffington St., Huntington, will have Sunday school at 10 a.m. Sunday and the morning worship at 11 a.m. Sunday with Pastor Jason C. Black officiating. The evening service begins at 6 p.m. with Dawning Lights singing and Pastor Jason C. Black speaking. The prayer meeting and youth group meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday with the Rev. Ray Vance preaching.

Items for Church Activities may be submitted by mail to Charleston Gazette-Mail, 1001 Virginia St. E., Charleston, WV 25301, faxed to 304-348-1233 or email: gazette@wvgazettemail.com. Notices will be run one time free. Please include a contact person's name and a daytime telephone number. Information will not be taken by phone. The deadline is noon Thursday.

Members of a group that has long combated attempts to move the West Virginia University Institute of Technology out of Montgomery are seeking a restraining order that would stall the college's relocation to Beckley.

Filed by Dorothy Phillips and William Willis in Kanawha County Circuit Court, the motion was accompanied by a separate lawsuit that alleges West Virginia University failed to follow laws requiring its Board of Governors to implement a revitalization plan for WVU Tech created by the Legislature. They ask the court to force the board to carry out that mandate to continue offering an engineering program in Montgomery, attract new faculty and increase salaries.

The lawsuit claims moving the school from Montgomery, its statutorily mandated headquarters, is unlawful and that it was orchestrated unilaterally. Phillips and Willis say WVU did not follow through with revitalization efforts because WVU Tech's engineering program, which is highly regarded nationally, competes with the program in Morgantown. They seek an immediate hearing before the court.

Unless the move is stopped, WVU Tech will relocate in 2017. Starting this fall, first-year students will be admitted to the Beckley campus, which was purchased by WVU last year for $8 million. Sophomores, juniors and seniors, however, can choose to complete their degrees in Montgomery.

The lawsuit asks the court to stop that process and prohibit WVU from advertising its new campus in Beckley until the matter is settled.

The lawsuit alleges WVU's board refused to follow legislative mandates to revitalize the campus and ignored similar recommendations from Higher Education Policy chancellors. Because of this, efforts to relocate WVU Tech to Beckley are unlawful.

Portions of state code cited in the lawsuit could complicate the move, but Senate President Bill Cole told the Gazette-Mail in September lawmakers would be willing to clarify statute, should it become necessary.

Potentially foreseeing a legal battle over its decision to move the school, WVU officials in recent months have brokered agreements with local governments, which have agreed not to file or support relocation lawsuits in exchanged for economic trade-offs.

The Kanawha County Commission voted on Jan. 7 to sign the agreement with WVU. Fayette County commissioners signed the same agreement Wednesday.

As part of that agreement, the university has vowed to maintain WVU Tech facilities until 2025 and help fund development plans for local governments that stand to suffer economic loss from the relocation.

The lawsuit has been assigned to Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom.

Reach Samuel Speciale at sam.speciale@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-7939 or follow @samueljspeciale on Twitter.

After hearing about a man's death in a Jefferson strip club last month, a judge on Friday ruled that the man charged with the killing must remain in jail.

Scott Meador, 39, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Glen Alfred Carpenter Jr., 50. On Friday, Kanawha Circuit Judge Tod Kaufman refused to let Meador out of jail to await trial.

Assistant Kanawha County prosecutor Maryclaire Akers told the judge that Carpenter's body was found with 11 stab wounds to his back and additional stab wounds to his face. He was also shot in the head, Akers said, but police didn't realize that until later because there was so much blood.

"It takes thought or some sort of thought process to inflict that kind of damage over and over and over and over again and then to shoot the victim," Akers said, after handing the judge a stack of autopsy photographs.

Meador's attorney, James Cagle, pleaded with the judge on Friday to set a bond amount - even a high one, as Meador's parents, Nancy and Eddie Meador, were willing to use their house as collateral to ensure their son showed up for court.

Cagle called the killing a clear act of self-defense. He called several character witnesses, who told the judge that Meador was a peaceful person.

Meador was at the Foxy Lady club, which was closed at the time, installing a security system. Carpenter was also working at the club at 6907 MacCorkle Ave., his family said Friday.

"It was the Friday before Christmas," Cagle told the judge. "That nasty night when there was ice on the bridge ... snow on the ground. After the incident, this man walked to a place called Grumpy's ... we measured the distance he would've walked, it's right at two miles.

"He walked with one shoe on and one sock, in the snow to report to someone, 'I've been in a fight and I think I've killed a person and you need to call the cops,'" Cagle said. About an hour before police found Carpenter's body, someone called Kanawha Metro 911 dispatchers and said they had seen a man wearing one shoe and covered in blood muttering that he had just killed someone. Those people didn't believe Meador and didn't immediately call 911, Akers said.

"He told them to 'get out of the way of the bus.' They didn't take him serious because there was no bus," Akers said.

Meador was high, possibly from smoking synthetic marijuana, according to Akers.

Cagle told the judge that he believed Carpenter had planned to rob Meador, and he gave Meador "something to smoke." The attorney said Carpenter was "part of a conspiracy to rob my client" and added, "If attacked, he would obviously have a right to self-defense."

Cagle said Carpenter had three felony convictions that involved violence; Akers said she saw two prior felony offenses for Carpenter: harboring a sex offender and fleeing with reckless indifference. She said Meador had been convicted of DUI three times and was charged with malicious wounding in 1998. He ended up pleading guilty to battery.

Meador has worked as a computer programmer, and often worked on computer systems in Putnam Circuit Court, said his former employer, Butch Evans. A friend of Meador's, Lee Lewis, said, "I've never seen him show any anger or aggression toward anyone."

Kaufman denied the request to set bond. He agreed with prosecutors and said the investigation is still at an early stage.

"In these cases, death cases, equal protection principles apply and it's not fair that somebody that has a lot of money is able to meet bond and get out and someone that is poor who doesn't have any money can't get out," the judge said. "Thirty days, sixty days, is not a long time. It's a long time if you're in jail and you're presumed innocent but in the scheme of having a case dismissed or spending life without mercy in prison, thirty days is a reasonably short amount of time to bring a case."

A gasp could be heard from the family and friends of Meador, who filled one side of the courtroom. Carpenter's family members breathed a sigh of relief. One woman began clapping after the judge's ruling, until a relative quickly stopped her.

Carpenter's wife, Mary, stood outside the courtroom and cried. She said that it had bothered her when Cagle brought up her husband's criminal record - even though he apologized before he said it.

"That didn't give him the right to kill him," she said.

Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.

A proposal to host a court diversion program for juvenile offenders at the former J.E. Robins Elementary building has raised concerns from some residents on Charleston's West Side, but the former Robins student and NFL player pushing the idea says he's been denied funding.

Eric Smedley said he got a call Friday from state Department of Health and Human Resources employees saying he wouldn't receive grant money for his nonprofit West Virginia Alternative Measures Program. Smedley said the program, which he's still working to fund, would've started a "restorative justice" program at the school.

Robins, built more than 80 years ago, closed at the end of the 2013-14 school year, and students were transferred to Edgewood Elementary, which opened last school year. Smedley said he was hoping the Kanawha County school board would donate the building for $1, and he could use it, the state funding and his NFL connections to seek more donations from other organizations.

He said he grew up on the West Side and was part of Capital High School's first state football championship team the same year it opened. He later played for the Buffalo Bills from 1996-1999 and the Indianapolis Colts 1999-2000.

"I know Randy Moss," he said of the former NFL player and Rand native. "I played against his older brother."

Smedley said his program would take a "proactive" approach to crime that could keep kids who've committed low- to medium-level offenses out of jail, and would save the state money.

"If I saved one youth, man, if I saved one youth in Kanawha County, I would have made the state its money back," Smedley said.

"We're talking about shoplifting charges, we're talking about simple assaults, we're talking about somebody breaking into somebody's car and stealing property," he said.

Offenders would come to Robins for mediation sessions, where they'd sit down and talk in a group with the victim of their crime or a victim's advocate; their arresting police officer or a liaison officer; their parents; and a community elder, like a pastor. He said this builds the offender's sympathy for his or her victim, but the offender would also have to abide by an agreement stating what the youth must do by a certain date, lest they go back to the courts.

He said youths in the program would also be able to work for minimum wage in the community doing things like picking up garbage and raking leaves in order to pay back harm done to victims - for instance, by working the hours needed to pay back the hundreds of dollars it takes to fix a broken car window. He said he didn't know who would actually provide the money to pay back victims, but he was working on the issue.

Smedley said the youths would only be at the building for the mediation sessions, for dinners in between work at job sites and while awaiting transportation to the job sites. While he was thinking about expanding the program in other ways, it would by no means be a detention facility. He said he was even pushing for a police substation to be located there to ease community concerns, and was thinking about renting out some space for weddings and other events in order to raise money for the idea.

He said he received an email from DHHR on Dec. 30 saying that he'd been awarded funding. When contacted late Friday about the issue, DHHR spokeswoman Allison Adler wrote in an email to the Gazette-Mail that Smedley's application had been reviewed by a team established by the department's Bureau for Children and Families. She wrote that the review found his application "failed to meet the requirements for approval" and that Smedley had been notified of that determination, but her email didn't provide further information.

Smedley said DHHR employees told him they didn't think he had the time to get his program up and running by the time the grant funds were awarded Feb. 1, and were concerned about his budget being changed three times - though he said this was to decrease the requested amount from $140,000 to $110,000. He said that by Friday's call, he had already contacted Kanawha schools Superintendent Ron Duerring saying he got the award.

Kanawha school board member Becky Jordon, who also went to Robins, said Duerring sent board members a memo about the issue, and she distributed the memo to some people in the West Side. She said she's getting a lot of complaints.

"I didn't want something being voted on and approved and later the residents being upset," she said.

Michael Birurakis, one of those who received the letter from Jordon, said his restaurant, the Best of Crete deli, has been in the Charleston area 32 years and has been at its Beech Avenue location, which is a short walk from the former school, for 18 total years. He reopened the West Side location just last year. He also owns four rental homes in the area and his parents also live in the neighborhood.

He said he's been making others in the community aware of the proposal, which he believes would cause property values to drop, and while he supports the program, he thinks it should be centered in a rural or industrial area, not a neighborhood.

"Perception is everything," Birurakis said. "And if people see that here, what perception are they going to have of this neighborhood?"

Reach Ryan Quinn at, ryan.quinn@wvgazettemail.com, facebook.com/ryanedwinquinn, 304-348-1254 or follow @RyanEQuinn on Twitter.

With temperatures expected to drop into the single digits by the end of the weekend, Kanawha County officials want to make sure people are safely heating their homes.

As the coldest months of the year, December, January and February typically also see the most heating-related house fires, said C.W. Sigman, deputy director and fire coordinator for the Kanawha County Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Because December's temperatures were milder than usual, that hasn't been the case so far this season, Sigman said.

"I think [there've been] less this year because up until recently it's been pretty warm," Sigman said. "The month of December was pretty warm."

Even so, with the more recent colder temperatures, chimney fires have destroyed two Kanawha County homes in the past 10 days, Sigman said.

"We're lucky we didn't lose any lives in them," he said.

Fire officials advise people to make sure their homes have working smoke detectors. Those using space heaters should keep clear a three-foot space around the devices and turn them off before they leave or go to sleep.

"Especially keep the kids away from them; I hate to see a kid hurt," Sigman said.

Those using fireplaces should use a sturdy screen to keep sparks from going into the room.

The colder temperatures are expected to move into the Charleston area Sunday evening, said Andrew Beavers, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston. Monday morning, the temperature is expected to be around 13 degrees, and the high that day will be 20, he said. Monday night moving into Tuesday the high will be 9, he said. Temperatures won't warm up past the freezing point until Wednesday.

"We're just getting a nice arctic front from Canada that's able to push down and bully us out of this nice weather we've been having," Beavers said.

If that seems colder than usual, it's all a matter of perspective. It's nowhere near the record cold of minus 10 for Monday and minus 16 Tuesday, he said.

Thursday's temperatures will be the warmest of the week, he said.

"Looks like it's not going to be warm warm, but Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will be right about normal," Beavers said. "Not any of that 50- and 60-degree weather coming in anytime soon."

This weekend's weather will be snowy, with rain changing into snow tonight and snow showers continuing on and off until Monday. Accumulation will be less than an inch, Beavers said.

Reach Lori Kersey at Lori.kersey@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1240 or follow @LoriKerseyWV on Twitter.

SC Library hours

South Charleston Public Library will be closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Library will reopen at 9 a.m. on Tuesday.

Support groups/classes

Kanawha Pastoral Counseling Center is offering new support groups and classes free of charge at several locations. They include: How to Talk Without Arguing, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Mondays, KPCC Counseling Center, 16 Leon Sullivan Way, Suite 300; Addiction Support, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., Wednesdays, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1600 Kanawha Blvd. E; and Nonviolent Communication (NVC), noon to 1 p.m. the last Friday of each month, Teays Valley Presbyterian Church. For more information, call 304-346-9689 or visit www.kpcc.com.

Republican executive committee

The Kanawha County Republican Executive Committee will have its monthly luncheon at noon on Tuesday at the Charleston Civic Center. Special speaker will be Michael Stephens, recreation supervisor and Director of West Virginia Veterans Homes in Barboursville. The cost is $12, cash or check only. For reservations, call 681-207-9114 or email kcrepublicans@suddenlink.net.

Clean water conference

The West Virginia Clean Water Conference will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday on the campus of West Virginia Wesleyan College, in the Virginia Thomas Law Center for the Performing Arts, Buckhannon. Mike Youngren, filmmaker, will introduce his documentary "Elk River Blues." A panel of experts will speak at 8 a.m. and a Q&A session will be held. Small discussion groups will also meet. The event is free and open to the public. For information, contact Abigail Benjamin at 304-283-0293 or abigail.b.benjamin@gmail.com.

Coin club

Charleston Coin Club will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Kanawha City Community Center, 3511 Venable Ave., S.E. A coin auction will be held. For information, call 304-727-4062 or visit the website at http://charlestoncoinclub.org/.

Items for Bulletin Board may be submitted by mail to the Charleston Gazette-Mail, 1001 Virginia St. E., Charleston, WV 25301; faxed to 304-348-1233; or emailed to gazette@wvgazettemail.com. Notices will be run one time free. Please include a contact person's name and a daytime phone number.

Consensus from longtime Statehouse observers is that Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin did a masterful job of framing the debate on how to address the combined $820 million of funding deficits in the current and upcoming 2016-17 state budgets.

He rationally spelled out a plan that combines $250 million of spending cuts imposed over the past two years with some prudent tax increases that will balance the budget gaps, while allowing the state to continue to pay off sins of the past in terms of closing unfunded liabilities in workers' compensation and state pension funds.

In a counterpoint to the legislative leadership's calls for cutting taxes to make West Virginia more competitive with other states, Tomblin proposed raising a tax that is aberrantly low compared to most other states (tobacco), and enacting a tax that West Virginia lacks that most states already collect (sales tax on telecommunications).

Particularly good was linking the proposed increase in tobacco taxes to a plan that would largely offset proposed severe cuts in Public Employees Insurance Agency benefits - cuts that threaten to leave many state teachers and public employees one serious illness or injury away from financial ruin.

In doing so, Tomblin put the burden squarely on the Legislature to either enact the proposals, come up with viable alternatives, make an ill-advised raid on the state's Rainy Day funds (which Tomblin would likely line-item veto anyway), or allow ideology and political rhetoric to plunge the state further into fiscal crisis.

The initial reaction from some legislative leaders was that they want to close the deficit by cutting spending, as opposed to imposing any tax increases.

To illustrate how ludicrous that is, outright elimination of all general revenue funding for the legislative and judicial branches, and for the entire departments of Administration, Commerce, Education and the Arts, Environment, Revenue, Veterans Assistance and Senior Services combined would not amount to $420 million a year.

It's worth noting that legislative leaders commissioned a $500,000-plus audit of the Division of Highways, in the theory they could uncover massive waste and inefficiencies, and use that savings in lieu of major funding increases to address the state's deteriorating roads.

In fact, the audit found potential savings of $25 million to $50 million a year (with some dubious conclusions). That's not chicken feed, but it amounts to somewhere between 2 to 4 percent of the state's current $1.25 billion annual spending for road maintenance and construction, and well short of the $750 million to $1.1 billion a year of additional funding the Blue Ribbon Commission on Highways concluded is needed to adequately maintain and build roads.

No one has a more thorough understanding of the state budget than Tomblin, and in this instance, he looks like a chess master playing against novices who aren't quite sure which moves each piece can make.

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What the leadership lacks in experience, they make up in hubris, but the veiled threats to refuse to seat Daniel Hall's successor in the Senate if the appointee is a Democrat takes the cake.

The West Virginia Constitution gives the Legislature authority to determine the qualifications of its members, but also sets down quite clearly conditions that would disqualify an individual from serving.

Those includes failure to be a resident of the district from which he or she was elected; holding other public office (state, county or federal); or conviction for bribery, perjury, or other "infamous crimes," but nothing about being from the "wrong" political party.

Refusing to seat the appointee would also be a slap at the will of the voters in the 9th Senatorial District, who thought they had elected a Democrat in 2012.

If Senate leadership ultimately provokes a constitutional crisis, one couldn't fault Senate Democrats for taking a page from history (1911, to be precise), and taking the train to Cincinnati to shut down the Senate until sanity can prevail.

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Speaking of hubris, Twitter lit up recently with an exchange between Berkeley County elementary schoolteacher Gina Pratt and Delegate Eric Householder, R-Berkeley, after she tweeted him, asking that he support putting additional funding into the PEIA to avoid the pending benefits cuts.

When he dismissed her proposal that the state increase the tobacco tax to fund PEIA, Pratt asked Householder where she was supposed to get the money to pay her higher health care expenses.

In a series of tweets, Householder alternately suggested that she: 1. teach summer school, 2. get a part-time job during the summer, or 3. cut expenses, adding, "What can you cut out? Internet?"

(I got a chuckle out of that last suggestion, since that would have avoided the Twitter exchange in the first place.)

Householder, whom I could not reach Friday, subsequently made his Twitter page private, but the screenshots of the exchange have been widely circulated on social media.

nnn

Finally, several readers (smokers, I suspect) have asked why Tomblin proposed a tax increase on tobacco, but not on liquor or beer.

A short answer is that, as sources of state revenue, beer and liquor are small potatoes.

Liquor profits brought in $18.36 million in 2014-15 and are projected to raise $16.05 million this fiscal year. Beer taxes and licenses raised $7.77 million in 2014-15, an amount projected to grow to $8.2 million this fiscal year, reflecting growth in craft beer sales.

By comparison, tobacco taxes brought in $102.16 million in 2014-15, and should bring in $100.4 million this budget year.

Point is, Tomblin could have proposed doubling beer and liquor taxes and not been anywhere close to the $71.5 million that a 45-cent-a-pack increase on tobacco taxes can raise.

Reach Phil Kabler at philk@wvgazettemail.com, 304 348-1220, or follow @PhilKabler on Twitter.

How do you feel about unions?

Ignore the rest of the bluster - from both sides - about right-to-work legislation, and answer that question. The answer to that question will determine what you think about right to work.

Are unions a driver of the middle class, giving working people some power against big corporations, providing decent wages, good benefits and safe working conditions?

Or do unions antagonize and drive away business, existing only for the benefit of their officers and to promote their politics?

There are dozens of studies on the effects of right-to-work laws, and they say all sorts of things. They agree with each other, they contradict each other, they talk past each other.

But the one thing that almost every reputable study agrees on is that right-to-work laws are bad for unions. They lower union membership and finances, which, eventually, lessens union bargaining power.

"This is going to be the most divisive piece of legislation that'll be passed in my lifetime," Ken Hall, president of Teamsters Local 175 and the Teamsters' International Secretary-Treasurer, said Thursday.

"Yes, it's divisive, hard things are divisive," Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, said Friday.

Right-to-work laws allow employees at unionized workplaces to opt out of paying union fees, even though they work under a union-negotiated and administered contract. Under federal law, unions must represent every employee in a unionized workplace, even those that, in right-to-work states, opt out of paying union fees. Workers in any state, regardless of right-to-work status, do not have to become a union member or pay for a union's political activities.

There are two basic questions about right-to-work laws: Are they fair, both to individual workers and to unions; and how do they affect the economy?

Right-to-work proponents, largely Republicans, argue that right-to-work is about fairness: Why should somebody have to pay union fees if they don't want to?

"If the union brings value, then I believe that workers will say, 'Yeah, I want to pay my dues,'" Senate President Bill Cole, R-Mercer, said. "If they don't bring value, at least in that worker's eyes, I think that same worker should have the option to say, 'No, I don't want to do that.'"

Opponents, largely Democrats, say that's naive and that right-to-work creates a free-rider problem: Why would anyone pay union fees if they can get the same union-negotiated contract and benefits without paying?

"If you go to a golf course and they say you don't have to pay the greens fees, you might have some old timers say, 'By God, I gotta pay,'" said Nick Dobbs, a local organizer with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. "But most people are going to say, 'I get to play for free? Well, let's go.' It doesn't mean the golf course was providing bad service."

The other issue is economic.

Do right-to-work laws attract employers to a state - drawn by the promise of weakened unions - and create jobs?

Do those weakened unions mean lower wages and worse working conditions because workers have weaker representation?

Last year, the Republican-led Legislature, eager to pass a right-to-work law, asked West Virginia University's Bureau of Business and Economic Research to examine the issue.

The WVU study, funded by the Republican Legislature, found that right-to-work policies lead to employment growth of about 0.4 percent greater than non-right-to-work states.

The study found that wages were lower in right-to-work states but did not find evidence showing that was caused by right-to-work laws.

On Thursday, as the state Senate began considering its right-to-work bill (SB 1), a national think tank that gets about one-quarter of its funding from unions released an analysis pointing out what it said were serious flaws in the WVU study, undermining its conclusions.

That think tank, the Economic Policy Institute, has done copious research on right-to-work laws, research which shows they have little-to-no effect on creating jobs, and that they lower wages.

John Deskins, the author of the WVU study, acknowledged one error, disputed others, and said, in any case, they didn't affect the study's conclusions.

"You can find many right-to-work studies from think tanks, both left-leaning and right-leaning," Deskins wrote in response. "It is quite a coincidence that all of the studies from left-leaning think tanks indicate that right to work is bad, while all the ones from right-leaning think tanks are good, don't you think?"

The problem is, it's not just research from politically active think tanks that is all over the map.

Independent, academic studies agree on very little when it comes to the purported effects of right to work.

In July, two economics professors from Louisiana State University and Claremont McKenna University published an analysis of Oklahoma's 2001 switch to a right-to-work state.

They found that the switch decreased the membership of private sector unions. "Several other state outcomes, including employment rate and private sector average wages, on the other hand, were not affected by right to work laws," Ozkan Eren and Serkan Ozbeklik wrote, in the peer-reviewed Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. (The WVU study was not peer reviewed.)

Three years earlier, the same two authors wrote that their studies of Idaho's right-to-work law "suggest the laws increased the manufacturing employment, while it had no effect on per capita income."

A 2005 study of Idaho and Oklahoma found that adopting right-to-work laws could have the effect of decreasing wages of non-union workers.

That study, published in the peer-reviewed Industrial and Labor Relations Review, found that wages in Idaho for non-union workers dropped by 4.2 percent, relative to non-right-to-work states, but found no statistically significant change in Oklahoma.

"This result is consistent with the thesis that the introduction of the right-to-work law in Idaho reduced the threat of union organization, resulting in lower earnings for non-union workers and an increase in the union wage gap," author Henry Farber, a Princeton economist, wrote.

A 2007 study from a professor at the Hofstra University school of business concluded that right-to-work states were more attractive to business, but offered significant caveats.

"This does not necessarily translate into enhanced economic verve in the right-to-work state if there is little 'trickle-down' from business owners to the non-unionized workers," Lonnie Stevans wrote in the Review of Law & Economics, which is peer-reviewed. "Findings are that the number of businesses and self-employed are greater on average in right-to-work states, but employment, wages and per-capita personal income are all lower on average in right-to-work states."

A 1996 paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota found that in border counties, between right-to-work states and non-right-to-work states, the right-to-work states tended to have significantly more manufacturing activity.

Is that the result of right-to-work laws, or other aspects of state policy?

"This paper does not tackle this important question," author Thomas Holmes wrote. "However, there are results along the way that suggest that right-to-work laws per se are not the whole story."

What do all of these studies, with their disparate, often contradictory findings have in common? They all find that right-to-work laws reduce union membership.

The disputed WVU study predicts that passing a right-to-work law in West Virginia will reduce private sector union membership by 20 percent.

Indeed, Holmes, whose study was largely favorable to right to work, wrote, "It is clear that the original intent of these laws was to weaken unions."

Reach David Gutman at david.gutman@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5119 or follow @davidlgutman on Twitter.

Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The small-town Tennessee couple that bought one of three magic tickets splitting the world-record $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot says they don't plan to quit their jobs or buy a new house.

Their daughter, however, wants a horse.
After appearing on national television, John Robinson and wife Lisa went to the Tennessee lottery headquarters in Nashville on Friday to have their winning ticket verified by lottery officials. The couple's lump sum payout is about $327 million after buying the ticket for Wednesday night's drawing at a grocery store in their west Tennessee hometown of Munford, population 6,000. Two other winning tickets were bought in California and Florida.
At a news conference Friday, the Robinsons said they won't stop working and won't make any wild purchases. They'll pay off their mortgage and their daughter's student loans, but have no desire to move from their gray, one-story house in a close-knit community into a luxurious compound somewhere.
Lisa works at a dermatologist's office. John is a warehouse supervisor. Both plan to return to work Monday, they said. Friends and neighbors say the Robinsons are a hard-working, responsible family with the ability to humbly deal with their new fortune.
"That's what we've done all our lives, is work," John Robinson said. "You just can't sit down and lay down and not do nothing anymore. Because how long are you going to last? We do want to enjoy a little bit of our earnings, and maybe invest a little bit of it so our son and daughter will have it and they'll never need anything again."
No one has produced the other winning tickets, which overcame odds of 1 in 292.2 million to land on all six numbers at a Publix supermarket in Melbourne Beach, Florida, and a 7-Eleven in Chino Hills, California.
In California, any winnings not claimed within a year automatically go to the state's schools. Florida gives winners six months to come forward before transferring 80 percent of unclaimed prizes to an educational trust fund, and 20 percent into a pool for future lottery prizes.
Robinson said he reached out to his brother for help finding lawyers and financial planners before deciding to take the winnings in a single lump sum of nearly $328 million, rather than let the lottery invest the prize and pay him 30 annual installments totaling an estimated $533 million.
Why pass up on a certain income totaling more than $200 million?
"We're going to take the lump sum, because we're not guaranteed tomorrow," Robinson said. "We just wanted a little piece of the pie. Now we're real grateful we got the big piece of the pie."
The Robinsons said they have no plans to leave Munford, the town about 25 miles north of Memphis where they both went to high school.
Tennessee Lottery executive Rebecca Hargrove said the couple would get a "small check today for a few million," and collect the full lump sum in about 10 business days.
Robinson said earlier Friday that they would help certain friends, give to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, and donate to their church.
"I'm a firm believer in tithing to my church," Robinson said in an appearance on NBC's "Today" show.
The couple has a son, Adam, who works as an electrician, and a daughter, Tiffany, who lives nearby in her late grandparents' home.
Tiffany said she also wants a horse.
"My first thought was, I've always wanted a horse," she said. "I get a horse now. My dad always said, "When I win the lottery."'
Robinson carried the precious slip of paper to New York City and back before showing up at Tennessee's lottery headquarters. Their lawyer went with the family, as did their rescue dog, Abby, who snoozed through most of the excitement.
Lawyers who have represented other winners advise against going public until they have made plans with experts in tax law, financial planning, privacy, security and other safeguards to protect themselves and their winnings.
The Robinsons did ask for privacy Friday.
Munford's mayor, Dwayne Cole, had wished openly Thursday for an investment in the town, whose annual budget is $3.67 million. He said Munford's needs include fire department equipment, an indoor athletic facility for local schools and a community gymnasium.
On Friday, Cole told the AP that they are not the kind to squander their money.
"They're small-town people who appreciate community, appreciate family values. They appreciate hard work. They are responsible. They've always lived within their means," said Cole, who owns an auto parts store in town.
"They have to understand, though, this is a big deal. This is not just a big deal for Munford. This is a big deal nationwide and worldwide. They understand that, I think. I hope they do," Cole added. "I believe they can deal with it. It may be totally overwhelming."
Robinson said he bought the winning ticket at his wife's request at the family-owned Naifeh's grocery on his way home from work Wednesday night, then went to sleep. His wife stayed up to watch the drawing, and started "hollering and screaming through the hallway saying, `You need to check these numbers. You need to check these numbers,"' he said.
He did, four times, then thought: "Well, I'll believe it when the news comes on in the morning."
As for buying a bigger, more resplendent house, it appears to come down to practicality for John Robinson.
"Big houses are nice," he said, "But also you gotta clean `em."

ELKINS, W.Va. -- Troopers with the Elkins detachment of the West Virginia State Police shot and killed a man they say pointed a shotgun at them when they tried to serve a warrant late Friday. The incident happened around 11:45 p.m. at a house on Ward Avenue in Elkins, according to a news release from State Police.

When troopers entered the house, they say they found William Keith Waldron, 26, with the weapon. Police say the man immediately pointed the shotgun at troopers, who fired their weapons at him.

Waldron was taken to Davis Memorial Hospital, where he later died.

Troopers and the Randolph County Sheriff's Department were assisting the Elkins Police Department with the warrant.

WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) - A 39-year-old Wheeling man inspecting an elevator shaft fell to his death.

Wheeling police identified the victim of Friday's fatal fall as Kevin Purpura. He was conducting an inspection of a six-story building on 16th and Main streets, according to media reports.

Developers who are transforming the building into apartments identified the South Wheeling man as a subcontractor.

Wheeling police said they believed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was investigating the accident.

Research at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health site in Morgantown is delving into a new method of disinfecting ambulances and other emergency vehicles that have transported patients during disease epidemics - ultraviolet light.

Steve Martin, a research engineer for NIOSH, is spearheading work that would allow first responders to disinfect vehicles for diseases in a way similar to what many hospitals use around the country. Martin said NIOSH is currently developing three different methods of cleaning emergency vehicles using UV-C light, a method potentially better at reaching germs that are sometimes missed by traditional cleaning methods.

According to Martin, the goal of the project is not to promote the UV light method over other cleaning methods, but to develop a way of quickly and safely disinfecting emergency vehicles in the event of a pandemic or other communicable disease outbreak.

"When we conceived this project, we were looking at it purely from a disease pandemic standpoint, so it would be for when things get really bad. We're in no way saying that what we're doing is ready for primetime to replace more conventional cleaning methods in typical day-to-day operations," he said. "There's a lot of research right now in terminal cleaning of hospital rooms with UV systems, because of the increasing cases of hospital-acquired infections ... and a lot of those studies are finding reasonably good results."

One of the methods NIOSH is exploring could be set up by local emergency services workers using items purchased from the hardware store - Martin said one simple way of creating a UV system is to mount UV lamps to a microphone tripod. This method would require the vehicle to be stationary and likely plugged into an external power source, Martin said. The researchers are also working on creating a system of UV light mounted inside the ambulance, as well as a robot that would rove the vehicle emitting UV light to clean it.

All three methods are still being tested, Martin said.

"We've done a lot of testing with them, just measuring the amount of UV hitting various surfaces," he said. "Now we're in the phase where we're coating small metal coupons with real surrogate microorganisms and distributing those through the ambulance in hard-to-reach areas so that we can measure a real microbial kill. Once that's done, I think we'll be at the point where we've at least proven that the concept works, and then we'll move forward from there."

The UV light system does have couple of drawbacks, Martin said. UV-C light can hurt the eyes, so no one can be inside the back of an ambulance while it is being disinfected, and the UV light cannot penetrate bodily fluids, so things like blood must be thoroughly cleaned up by hand prior to using a UV system.

Ultimately, Martin said he hopes the systems will be "another tool in the toolbox" for first responders.

"The same infections hospitals are dealing with are also problems in ambulances," he said. "You can have patients with [c. difficile] infections, or MRSA infections - types of things you don't want to transmit from one patient to the next, so it could be useful there, as well."

Reach Lydia Nuzum at

lydia.nuzum@wvgazettemail.com,

304-348-5189 or follow

@lydianuzum on Twitter.

The skeletal remains of a man found underneath a tarp in 2010 in the woods near Grafton weren't easily identifiable.

The state Medical Examiner's Office had to enlist the help of the Smithsonian Institution to make an identification.

Six years later, confusion still surrounds the remains of David Haddix.

In a lawsuit filed last month, a woman who worked 15 years as an investigator for the state Medical Examiner's Office claims she was fired for refusing to take part in a plot to conceal the office's mishandling of human remains.

Regina D. Reynolds accuses the state Department of Health and Human Resources Bureau for Public Health of firing her when she refused to burn the human remains of a man her lawsuit identifies only as "D.H." Reynolds says she found the remains in a box in the office of the Medical Examiner. They were supposed to have been buried at the West Virginia National Cemetery in Grafton.

Deborah Cochran, of Thornton, said the remains are those of her ex-husband, David Lee Haddix.

Haddix was a Vietnam Army veteran. He died at 61 in 2010 and was identified a year later. When he returned from the war, he suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, his ex-wife said, and grappled with addiction and other mental health problems.

"We did this phone conference with the Medical Examiner and that's when they told us they had messed up," Cochran said earlier this month. "They said only part of his remains came up [to the cemetery] and the part they sent off to the Smithsonian were still there."

Cochran said she and her son, also named David Haddix, got a call from the Medical Examiner's Office on Dec. 18, about a week after Reynolds' lawsuit was written about in the Gazette-Mail.

"This woman politely told us, 'We have an arm, a leg and a foot,'" she said, adding that the rest of the remains were still with the state.

"We really - we have to - we have to find out where he's at," Cochran said.

A spokesman for the DHHR said in a statement Friday that, "We understand and regret the unfortunate circumstance that the family has had to endure and we will do everything we can to honor the family's wishes."

"The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) made efforts to contact the family to notify them of this isolated incident," Toby Wagoner, a spokesman for the DHHR wrote. "The OCME was finally able to reach the family and have offered exhumation for the purpose of reunification of the remains without a cost to the family. The family has not yet relayed a decision to our office."

Cochran said her son hired an attorney. Her son did not respond last week to requests for comment.

"I talked to the people at the cemetery and they're upset. If that's not his remains, he can't be buried there," Cochran added.

Keith Barnes, director of the National Cemetery in Grafton, said he's concerned the Haddix family might reach an agreement with the state that doesn't include exhumation.

"Those remains need to be those of a veteran and the right veteran," Barnes said Friday.

Exhumation can be performed only by request of the family of the deceased. Their next of kin, plus all surviving relatives, must give permission, Barnes said. A competent state agency can also order it, he said.

"We didn't know what they brought to us, whether it is partial remains or what," Barnes said. "Someone mentioned there's a possibility that what was provided as remains was the area surrounding where the body was found."

Barnes said the cemetery became aware of a potential problem through a funeral home director after the Gazette-Mail reported on the lawsuit. He couldn't recall Friday the name of the funeral home or its director, but said cemetery or funeral home employees wouldn't have examined the remains.

"The way it works is, we don't open what a licensed funeral director brings us," Barnes said. "The Funeral home, just like us, assumed everything was fine. No one would know anything except at the medical examiner's office."

In her lawsuit, Reynolds states that she fears the remains of someone other than Haddix could be buried in the grave bearing his name. State officials are confident that isn't the case.

"We have fully investigated this matter and have no reason to believe that the skeletal remains buried in the cemetery are anyone other than the decedent," Wagoner wrote.

"We are deeply troubled by the actions of the former employee of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Regina Reynolds violated several DHHR policies including placing her and coworkers at risk by storing human remains at her workstation."

Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.

A lawsuit filed last week in federal court in Charleston on behalf of a Lincoln County woman accuses Boston Scientific Corp. of engaging in a conspiracy to smuggle material from China for use in vaginal surgical mesh.

Unlike hundreds of other lawsuits filed against Boston Scientific over defective mesh, the lawsuit filed Tuesday, on behalf of Teresa Stevens, was filed under the Racketeering and Corrupt Organizations Act. The U.S. Justice Department typically uses the RICO statute and penalties to target criminal organizations, but private citizens can seek to apply it in civil cases.

The lawsuit claims that after Boston Scientific lost its U.S. supplier of synthetic resin to produce mesh, it bought unverified, substandard material from a counterfeiter in China.

"The company took extraordinary measures to avoid being caught by U.S. and Chinese authorities, at times acting like a drug dealer to hide multiple overseas shipments," said a news release from Houston-based Mostyn Law, which is representing the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit asks that a judge grant class action status on behalf of thousands of women who had the mesh implanted. It asks for a judge to immediately stop the company from continuing to sell the mesh, which allegedly has been made with toxic ingredients.

Boston Scientific released a statement last week vowing to fight the lawsuit and stating that the case has been brought without merit.

Plaintiffs attorneys have provided information to the Department of Justice about the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Ruby said Friday his office could not confirm or deny the existence an investigation.

For the past several years, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Goodwin in Charleston has been handling thousands of cases over the implantation of vaginal mesh as part of federal litigation across the country.

Boston Scientific has had more than 30,000 cases filed against it over mesh.

Women claim the mesh produced by multiple companies degrades and shrinks, requiring replacement and causing other medical problems. The mesh was implanted to treat, among other things, stress urinary incontinence, which is usually caused by weak pelvic muscles.

Reach Kate White at

kate.white@wvgazettemail.com,

304-348-1723 or follow

@KateLWhite on Twitter.

KIMBALL - On a cold, rainy Saturday morning, a Wal-Mart truck, without a hitch, snaked its way out of McDowell County.

Meanwhile Linda McKinney paced in front of the 110 people who showed up at her food pantry, Five Loaves & Two Fish, Saturday morning.

"We are not going to close as long as we've got one scrap of bread in there," McKinney said to a chorus of "amens."

"I don't know what God has in store for us," Mckinney said. "No one does. But what we get, we'll open up and give to you."

"Does it count if I kill a deer and bring it to you?" someone in the crowd shouted.

McKinney was quick to laugh at the joke and soon the whole crowd was joining in. It was much needed for a group of people, many whom had spent the night waiting in front of the pantry to make sure that they weren't among the 25 people who were turned away.

It had been a tough 24 hours. The day before, they found out their local Wal-Mart, the only major store within 20 miles, was going to close, costing the community 140 jobs.

Despite the uncertainty, Hazel Cooper, 56, was at the food pantry at 11:00 last night, the first in line. She was chased away by Welch police officers, but came right back.

She slept in her car, bundled up under layers of clothing, only turning on the car to warm their feet in the middle of the night.

"Most people don't have the gas to let their car run all night," Cooper said. "People will do that to put food on the table."

The Wal-Mart in Kimball was the only branch shutting down in West Virginia, one of 12 supercenters closing its doors.

"It was like the blood drained out of everybody," Bob McKinney, Linda's husband, said.

Last year, Wal-Mart donated around 90,000 pounds of food to Five Loaves, so that they could distribute it to the community. Now, with the store closing, not only were people losing their jobs, but the food bank was also losing its only source of fresh meat and produce.

"It's sad," said Curtiss Goode, a veteran who is on disability. "And unless something changes, it's only going to get worse."

When Wal-Mart moved in to Kimball 10 years ago, McDowell County was in much better shape, according to McKinney.

But then the mines started closing.

Last year, there were 34 underground mines in the region.

Now there are 13.

With the mines went the train jobs, the mechanic jobs and the car dealers. Now, houses are vacant with caved in roofs. Storefronts are boarded.

"You're just afraid to get up every morning," McKinney said. "When you get up you think, 'OK, today what's going to close? Who's going to lay off?' You would pray, but our tax base is basically zeroed out."

Wal-Mart paid around $65,000 in taxes to McDowell County last year and 80 percent of that money goes to the local school board. With coal severance tax and business and occupation tax down, the county is left scrambling, trying to figure out how to support the community.

"We cried all day yesterday," McKinney said later. "We cried and it's done."

Now McKinney is focused on the future. They still receive non-perishable foods from Operation Blessing. Her son, Joel, is trying to raise money for a high tunnel greenhouse so that he can supply produce for the food pantry year-round.

Between Goodson's and Magic Mart, the town will have places to get groceries. It won't be as convenient and it might cost more, but it's what they'll have to do to survive.

And the people of McDowell County are resilient.

"It's another turn in the road," said Olen Butcher-Winfree, 62. "If it isn't Wal-Mart closing, it's a flood. If it isn't a flood, it's a mine closing. If it's not a mine closing, somebody shot Sid Hatfield."

Reach Daniel Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow @drdesrochers on Twitter.

Music

"MOUNTAIN STAGE": 7 p.m. Featuring Blitzen Trapper, Ruby Amanfu, Wild Child, and The Birds of Chicago. WVU Creative Arts Center, Monongahela Boulevard (U.S. Route 19), Morgantown. Call 304-293-7469.

COLESMOUTH CONCERT SERIES TRIBUTE SHOW: 4 p.m. Cover $5. Tribute show honoring local music regulars Dick Patton, Jerald Greathouse and Joe Dobbs. Cross Lanes United Methodist Church, 5320 Frontier Drive, Cross Lanes. Call 304-661-0655.

MONTCLAIRE STRING QUARTET: 3 p.m. Adults $12. Students $6. University of Charleston. Call 304-561-3570 or visit www.theclaycenter.org.

SHADOWMAKER: 7 p.m., Cross Lanes United Methodist Church, 5320 Frontier Drive, Cross Lanes. Free community concert, which features blues, rock and Americana.

Etc

2016 HUNTINGTON RV AND BOAT SHOW: Noon to 5 p.m., Big Sandy Super Store Arena, Huntington. Tickets are $7 for adults, kids 12 and under are admitted free when accompanied by an adult. Call 340-696-5990 or www.bigsandyarena.com.

KANAWHA TRAIL CLUB HIKE: 1:30 p.m., Kanawha State Forest's Alligator/Mossy Rock trails. Carpool from the parking lot at the corner of Ohio Avenue and Randolph Street, across from the post office. The hike is about 4 miles of moderate trails.

COLLEGE CLUB HOCKEY: 8 P.M. West Virginia University and Marshall University will play each other in ice hockey. The game billed as "Coal Bowl on Ice" starts at 8 p.m. at the South Charleston Memorial Ice Arena. Tickets cost $10.

As the West Virginia Auto Show gets set to open this Friday at the Charleston Civic Center, local car dealers are hoping the event and the new lines of 2016 vehicles will boost sales in Charleston and around the state.

Nationally, automotive sales hit an all-time high in 2015 with an estimated 17.47 million vehicles sold across the country, a 5.7 percent increase from 2014.

Those sales numbers highlight a huge resurgence from the doldrums of 2009 when U.S. dealers only sold 10.4 million vehicles, but in West Virginia automotive sales have not bounced back as quickly as other parts of the country.

"The rest of the country has a much more diverse industry base than we do. It's just not there with the high-paying jobs," said Ruth Lemmon, the president of the West Virginia Automobile and Truck Dealers Association. "I think overall, we are very happy with 2015, when you look at the big picture."

In 2015, West Virginia dealerships sold an estimated 73,089 vehicles. While that was a 1.5 percent increase over 2014, local dealers say more needs to be done in the coming year to ensure continued growth.

"As a dealer, we held our own. We had a good year, but there is always room for improvement," said Jeremy Nelson, a general manager with Smith Company Motor Cars in Charleston. "I think 2016 will prove to be tough year locally."

Richard Stephens, the owner of Stephens Auto Center in Danville, said his business did relatively well in 2015, but he expected the coming year to be a little tighter.

"I am out here on Corridor G, and with the impact on jobs that we have had, it has been particularly challenging," said Stephens, who is supplying the Chrysler vehicles for this years auto show. "I feel very fortunate because this year wasn't much different than last year in sales. We were down in some but up in others. It pretty much balanced out."

Both automotive dealers said they expect the West Virginia Auto Show, which is in its 18th year, to pique people's interest and possibly boost sales in the short term.

"It seems to add a small boost to our winter sales, and we can use every boost we can get," Nelson said.

But representatives for the auto show, which will run from Friday through Sunday, say the event isn't just about educating possible buyers.

DeeDee Taft, a spokewoman for the event, said the vast majority of the people who attend the show are there to simply enjoy the experience and take in the newest automotive creations being offered by 27 different companies.

"The best thing about this show, is that it's all the manufacturers under one roof," Taft said. "It's a non-selling environment. It's a great place to do your research if you're in the market, or you can just come and have fun."

More than a century after the auto industry took off in the United States, Taft said people's fascination has yet to wane.

"The love affair with the car isn't going away," Taft said.

The organizers of the event expect people from all over to flock to the Civic Center.

"Even though this is a regional show, we draw people from Wheeling, Pittsburgh and Columbus," Lemmon said. "It's not just Charleston that benefits from this."

And as in years past, a large portion of the show will be focused on the vehicles' utility, luxury features, towing capacity and horsepower.

Those in attendance will be able to inspect the newest vehicles from GM, Subaru, Jeep, Honda, Acura, Mitsubishi, BMW and many more. They will also be able to get in line to test drive the latest Ford and Toyota models, including the Explorer, Focus, Highlander and Camry.

Less-traditional automotive features will also be on display though, including a variety of innovative fuel systems.

Many of the largest manufacturers will be presenting their hybrid, electric fuel vehicles, including the Chevrolet Volt, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV and the Ford CMAX Energi, and in a first for the show, Toyota will be promoting its hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, the Mirai.

"It's not just electric. It's not just gas. It's not just diesel," Taft said. "The future is going to be multiple options for fuel."

Other manufacturers will be eagerly displaying the technology inside the cab, instead of what's under the hood.

Many of the vehicles at this years show, Taft said, will include the latest cell phone connection technology. She said the ability of drivers to sync their cell phones to their car has become a must in the past decade.

"Gone are the days when it was all about performance and what color it comes in," Taft said.

While cars have given people the ability to make calls and play music from their phones for years, Taft said this year's lineups are the first cars to allow drivers to see their phone screen on the vehicle's dashboard, through Apple CarPlay and the Android Auto.

With the wide array of offerings at this years show, Stephens believes everyone will be able to find something to enjoy.

"This is the one big event each year to put our industry out there and put our best foot forward so to speak," he said.

Reach Andrew Brown at andrew.brown@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4814, or follow @Andy_Ed_Brown on Twitter.