Diabetes study

A FamilyCare Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator is currently enrolling patients with Type 2 diabetes and A1cs greater than 8 percent into a study sponsored in part by the American Diabetes Association-Recognized Education Program. Those who qualify will receive a $20 gift card for each study visit to the clinic. Teays Valley FamilyCare classes will be held at 9 a.m. today; 2 to 5 p.m. Jan. 27; and 3 to 6 p.m. Jan. 28. The Patrick Street FamilyCare classes will be 2 to 5 p.m. Thursday; and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jan. 29. FamilyCare will bill your insurance. Space is limited. To register, call Grace Gibson at 304-720-4466, ext. 8136 (Charleston) or 304-757-6999, ext. 1075 (Teays Valley).

Coin club

The St. Albans Coin Cub will have its monthly meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the basement of the St. Albans Municipal Water Co. Building, 1499 MacCorkle Ave. For information, call 340-727-4062.

SC library board

The South Charleston Public Library Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the library, 312 4th Ave., South Charleston. The agenda is available at the library.

Karate classes

Isshinryu Karate classes are offered from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays of each month at Valley Park Community Center located at Valley (Wave Pool) Park, Hurricane. The cost is $40 per month. Call 304-757-3442 for information.

Running 101

The South Charleston Chamber of Commerce's Wellness Committee is sponsoring a free Running 101 Workshop from 6 to 7 p.m. Jan. 26 at Classroom 3 of the South Charleston Community Center, 601 Jefferson Road. This workshop will be taught by Matt Young, RRCA Certified Running Coach and Genesis 5K Training Coach. Young will discuss the elements of a good training plan, how the body adapts to running, the basic elements of efficient running form, and tips and techniques to make every runner successful. Although the workshop is interactive, it is taught in a classroom setting; participants will not actually be running. Registration is required due to limited space. Register online at www.SouthCharlestonChamber.org, by emailing soccoc@wvdsl.net, or by calling 304-744-0051.

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.

Consumer advocates, citizens groups, local businesses and agency staff are all urging the state Public Service Commission not to abandon a long-stalled investigation of into West Virginia American Water Company's response to the January 2014 Elk River chemical spill's contamination of its regional drinking water supply.

Lawyers for the PSC staff, the agency's Consumer Advocate Division, Kanawha Valley residents, and area businesses filed a joint statement this week that says passage of legislation to regulate chemical storage tanks and improve drinking water safety measures does not eliminate the need - or the potential benefits - of a general investigation of the spill response by the PSC, which regulates West Virginia American and other state water utilities.

"The PSC is the only agency with the power to thoroughly investigate the water company's response to the January 9th, 2014, water crisis with an eye to ensuring that all of the lessons are learned from that crisis," the statement said.

"The possibility that some adequate remedies have already been taken does not detract from the PSC's public interest duty in completing the investigation," the statement said. "It is essential that the commission not abandon this general investigation."

The statement was filed Wednesday afternoon in response to a commission request for views from parties in the case about any potential conflicts between the PSC's investigation and actions already taken by the Legislature to require the state Department of Environmental Protection to better regulate chemical storage tanks and the state Bureau for Public Health mandate water utilities develop plans to protect against future contamination. Commissioners had hinted, in an order issued late in the day on New Year's Eve, that they were considering dropping their investigation because of potential conflicts with the legislative actions.

In its own statement to the commission, also filed Wednesday, West Virginia American told the PSC that the agency should abandon the investigation, citing reforms that lawmakers already mandated be made by the DEP and the BPH, which is part of the state Department of Health and Human Resources.

"Nearly every criticism of the company's alleged acts and omissions, both before and after the Freedom Industries spill, includes and express or implied recommendation for future operations," lawyers for West Virginia American said. "Consequently, any commission ruling addressing such a recommendation - either by adopting, modifying or even rejecting it - presents the potential for conflict with ongoing legislative and regulatory programs."

In the case, pre-filed testimony from PSC staff, consumer advocates and citizen groups has alleged that the water company did not prudently plan for a toxic leak, despite knowing the proximity of Freedom's facility to its water intake. West Virginia American has been trying to limit the scope of the hearing and to keep out evidence about prior planning - or lack of planning - for a major chemical leak into the Elk. Those parties argued in their new statement to the PSC that commissioners should continue the investigation so that they can more fully examine, among other things, issues about proper monitoring of the drinking water supply and provision of an alternative supply in case of contamination.

The investigation, though, has been stalled for more than a year because of the recusal in August 2014 of PSC Chairman Michael Albert, a longtime water company lawyer, and the resignation of Commissioner Jon McKinney in December 2014. Those moves - and the lack of an appointment by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to replace McKinney - left the commission with just one member, Brooks McCabe, not enough under the law for it to take any action. In October, Tomblin appointed Kara Cunningham Williams, a former Steptoe & Johnson lawyer, to fill McKinney's seat.

The PSC has a hearing scheduled on Friday morning to discuss the investigation.

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kward@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1702 or follow @kenwardjr on Twitter.

The West Virginia House Judiciary Committee moved to strengthen campaign finance reporting rules on Wednesday, advancing a bill that would require candidates to promptly disclose contributions received while the Legislature is in session.

The bill, which passed on a bipartisan voice vote, would require candidates to disclose such contributions greater than $250 within 10 calendar days of receiving them.

It applies both to legislative candidates and to candidates for statewide office — governor, attorney general, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, and agriculture commissioner.

Currently, candidates are only required to file campaign finance reports once a year, during non-election years. During election years, they must file reports both before and after primary elections and several times before and after general elections.

The bill (HB 4001) advanced by the House committee would require additional reports within 10 days of receiving contributions or holding fundraisers while the Legislature is in session. The secretary of state’s office would then have to publish the reports within one day of receiving them.

“This bill strives to hold us to a higher ethical standard and I think the people of West Virginia will appreciate that,” said Delegate J.B. McCuskey, R-Kanawha, a co-sponsor of the bill.

The bill has exclusively Republican sponsors, including House Speaker Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha.

Delegate Frank Deem, R-Wood, voted against the bill, arguing that the increased requirements would discourage people from running for office.

He urged his colleagues to consider the bill from the point of view of an average person, not a legislator.

“He’s confused by all these laws that we pass, it’s enough to inhibit people from running,” Deem said. “How much information do you need to decide who you’re going to vote for?”

n Also in the Legislature on Wednesday:

One of the House’s most liberal members and one of its most conservative announced plans to team up on a bill intended to limit employers’ access to employees’ social media accounts.

Delegate Stephen Skinner, D-Jefferson, and Delegate Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock, will be two of the sponsors on the bill, which would prohibit an employer from forcing their employees to disclose information about social media accounts.

A similar version of the bill, sponsored by Skinner, passed the House of Delegates last year by a vote of 93-3, but stalled in the Senate.

On Wednesday, West Virginia was one of 17 states to announce the introduction of similar Internet privacy legislation, an effort coordinated by the American Civil Liberties Union.

“There’s a broad consensus that we need to be more focused on protecting privacy in the digital age,” Skinner said.

The legislation he sponsored last year would prohibit employers from asking employees (or job applicants) to disclose user names or passwords for social media, email or any electronic communications accounts. There are exceptions for employer-provided email accounts, employer-provided phones and if an employee discloses proprietary information.

“Every person should have the power to decide who they want to share personal, private information with,” said Eli Baumwell, policy director for the ACLU of West Virginia. “Privacy is not about keeping secrets, it is about exercising control over our own lives.”

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

From the 16-day, 111 roll-call vote deadlock to elect a president in 1913 to the infamous Senate "kidnapping" two years earlier, West Virginia has a brief but colorful history of deadlocked state Senates.

With the potential that the Senate could again have a 17-17 tie among Republican and Democrat members, retired Goldenseal editor John Lilly revisited Wednesday an article he wrote in 2011 about the 1911 Senate.

That year, a 15-15 tie in the then-30 member Senate, along with a Democratic majority in the House of Delegates provoked one of the most outrageous episodes in legislative history, when Republican Gov. William Glasscock took steps to sequester Senate Republicans to keep the Senate from having a quorum needed to take any action.

For the first six days of a 13-day standoff, the Republicans barricaded themselves in the governor's reception room in the old Capitol, protected by guards armed with guns and clubs.

"The main contrast I see to today is that there was so much drama in 1911," Lilly said Wednesday. "Sen. Henry Hatfield, who would go on to become governor, vowed that he would not be taken alive."

When Democrats obtained arrest warrants to compel the Republicans to attend Senate sessions, Republicans snuck out of the Capitol in the early morning hours and boarded a train to Cincinnati, where they took up exile in the luxurious Hotel Sinton until a deal was worked out a week later.

There have been some rumors that present-day Senate Democrats might take similar action, if Senate leadership would refuse to seat a Democrat to fill the seat vacated when Sen. Daniel Hall resigned on Jan. 4 to become a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association.

"It's all in a trump card you'd hate to play," Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, said of the potential that Democrats would refuse to attend legislative sessions, leaving the Senate without a quorum needed to conduct business.

Kessler said Wednesday he's confident that scenario won't occur. After initial posturing about potentially refusing to seat a Democrat, Kessler said both Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, and Finance Chairman Mike Hall, R-Putnam, have said the leadership will abide by whatever decision the Supreme Court hands down on the Hall vacancy.

"I'm confident the Republicans will recognize that the fact of the matter is, there are 17 elected Democrats and 17 elected Republicans in this body," Kessler said.

Kessler said he finds it disconcerting that the whole controversy is driven by one individual whom he said was "very disloyal to the Democratic Party" and who also effectively abandoned the Republican Party with his resignation from the Senate.

Hall was elected from the 9th Senatorial District as a Democrat in 2012, and switched party affiliation after the November 2014 elections to break a brief 17-17 deadlock, giving Republicans control of the Senate for the first time in 83 years.

Louis Southworth, a Charleston lawyer and lobbyist who researched the potential 17-17 deadlock in the Senate following the 2014 elections, said circumstances are different now, should the state high court rule that a Democrat must replace Hall.

"It's totally different than what I wrote back in 2014," he said. "Bill Cole was elected Senate president for a two-year term. He continues as Senate president, and appoints all committee chairs, vice chairs, and makes all committee appointments."

Southworth said nothing in Senate rules requires an even number of Republicans and Democrats on committees in the event of a 17-17 split, although Kessler said he will push for a rules change to have even representation on committees if the 17-17 deadlock occurs.

In a tied Senate, he noted, even if Republicans maintained majorities on all committees, they would still need an 18th vote from a Democrat to pass any bills on the Senate floor.

"Ironically, it might be the best thing to lead to compromise legislation that will benefit all people of the state," Kessler said of the potential for a deadlocked Senate.

Lilly said he finds it interesting that, unlike the current situation, no one sought guidance from the state Supreme Court on how to resolve the 1911 impasse.

He said he also sees another key distinction between 1911 and 2016:

"One thing that strikes me about the resolution of the 1911 case, which I would hope would happen now, is the spirit of compromise, and recognizing that both side's arguments have merit," Lilly said. "I get the sense that in modern day politics, the art of compromise isn't what it once was. It's 'winner take all' these days."

Ultimately, the 1911 impasse was resolved with a series of compromises, Lilly's article noted.

Hatfield was elected Senate president, while committee chairmanships were assigned in a bipartisan manner. Resolving a key point of contention, the Senate reappointed Democrats William Chilton and Clarence Watson as U.S. senators - with the 1911 session held prior to ratification of the 17th Amendment and the popular election of U.S. senators.

Two years later, the Senate again found itself with a 15-15 deadlock, prompting a 16-day impasse with the Senate unable to elect a president after 110 tie roll-call votes.

As in 1911, senators eventually reached a compromise, with Republicans throwing their support to Democrat Samuel V. Woods for president on the 111th roll call vote, in exchange for being allowed to select the Senate clerk and sergeant-at-arms, and appoint all committee chairmen.

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

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is on board with letting Uber offer rides in West Virginia.

Tomblin spokeswoman Shayna Varner says the governor plans to introduce a bill letting ridesharing companies, including Uber and Lyft, operate in the state.

An Uber push in the GOP-led Legislature died last year. Among other issues, a pocket of lawmakers opposed a provision to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender riders from discrimination.

Varner says Tomblin's version will require that companies have a nondiscrimination policy and comply with nondiscrimination laws.

The bill would require companies to have a Division of Motor Vehicles permit, car insurance, underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage and a zero tolerance drug and alcohol policy.

Tomblin's bill hasn't been released yet.

Republican Sen. Chris Walters has also introduced an Uber bill.

— The Associated Press

A bill to repeal the state’s 81-year-old Prevailing Wage Act rolled through the House Government Organization Committee Wednesday, after requests for analysis of the bill’s financial impact on the state were rejected.

The bill (HB 4005) advanced to the House floor Wednesday on a party-line 15-9 vote, after Chairman Gary Howell, R-Mineral, ruled against Delegate Isaac Sponaugle’s request for a fiscal note on the measure.

“It would be extreme and reckless of this committee, looking at the thousands of workers and thousands of employers affected by this, to make a decision without that information,” said Sponaugle, D-Pendleton, who twice attempted to invoke House Rule 95a.

That rule requires that any bill that “increases or decreases the revenue or fiscal liability of the state” must have a fiscal note prepared before the bill can considered by any House committee. A fiscal note is an outline prepared by the affected state agencies of the potential financial impact of the proposed legislation.

“We have no idea whatsoever that there’s going to be a savings or a loss, even though that’s how it’s being presented, as a savings to taxpayers,” Sponaugle said.

Afterward, Sponaugle said he’s worried that repealing prevailing wage will have serious ramifications for the state budget, potentially reducing income taxes paid by construction workers and state building contractors, and possibly causing construction workers to lose health insurance benefits, forcing them onto state Medicaid rolls.

His first motion to postpone consideration of the bill until a fiscal note is prepared was rejected on a voice vote. The committee has a 17–9 Republican to Democrat majority.

Shortly after, Sponaugle again demanded a fiscal note, and also demanded that the House parliamentarian be called before the committee to determine if it would be proper under House rules to proceed without that information.

After a lengthy recess, Howell, postponed consideration of the bill to Wednesday afternoon, when he promptly ruled against Sponaugle’s motions.

Some committee members were also upset that Howell abruptly ended debate on the bill, prior to the roll call vote.

“I’ve never seen the courtesy not offered to allow a legislator to address an issue of such importance to West Virginia, and frankly, it’s disheartening,” said Delegate Mike Caputo, D-Marion.

Howell said he had called for discussion of the bill, and no one spoke up.

Most of the committee’s morning and brief afternoon sessions were spent questioning Steve White, executive director of the Affiliated Construction Trades Foundation.

White noted that during a three-month gap last year when there was no prevailing wage — after the old prevailing wage rates lapsed on June 30 and before new wage rates calculated by WorkForce West Virginia went into effect Oct. 1 — there were no significant changes in square-footage costs for state-funded construction projects.

He said that seemed to contradict claims by proponents of the bill that the state could build five schools for the price of three without prevailing wage.

“The supposed huge savings was just not there,” he said. “The theory was, if you cut wages, there would be huge savings to taxpayers.”

This marks the second straight year the Legislature has made repeal of prevailing wage rates a priority.

Last year, legislators compromised, passing a bill that instead moved authority for determining wage rates from the state Division of Labor to WorkForce West Virginia, and eliminated prevailing wage for projects costing $500,000 or less.

However, legislative leaders became frustrated with WorkForce’s decision to survey more than 3,700 state contractors to determine regional wage scales, which did not produce the reduction in wage rates that leadership had sought. As early as last July, Senate President Bill Cole, R-Mercer, began discussing prospects for an outright repeal of the law this session.

Moving in tandem with a Senate bill to make West Virginia a right-to-work state, giving workers in union shops the option to not pay union dues (SB 1), the prevailing wage repeal bill had only one committee reference, sending it to the House floor just eight days into the 60-day regular session. The Senate bill, meanwhile, is up for passage Thursday in the Senate.

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

The City of Mount Hope has issued a boil-water advisory for Mill Street and Brown Court, because of a line break.

West Virginia American Water has issued a boil-water advisory for about 100 New River System customers along W.Va. 16 in Fayette County, including Goose Creek Road, Old Court Street, Woollard Road, N Court Street, Lindberg Avenue and Short Street. The advisory follows a main break.

Customers in those areas are advised to boil their water for one full minute before use.

West Virginia entrepreneurs and tourism partners met Wednesday morning to discuss key bills introduced this legislative session that could boost visitor revenues.

The Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau board hosted a coffee talk at the Town Center Marriott where Sen. Chris Walters, R-Putnam, detailed a few bills that he said would help bolster the state’s tourism economy.

Carol Fulks, executive director of the West Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association, also told those in attendance how they could influence their legislators to support those bills, such as attending Tourism Day on Feb. 8 at the state Capitol to speak with lawmakers.

Better known as the “brunch bill,” SB 21, introduced by Sen. Robert Beach, D-Monongalia, would permit restaurants to sell alcohol on Sundays at 10 a.m. The law currently prohibits Sunday alcohol sales before 1 p.m. The bill has failed for the last three years.

“The brunch bill always moves through the Senate with not many problems at all — it’s when it’s gotten to the House that they’ve had issues,” Walters said.

The bill is currently pending in the Senate’s Economic Development Committee. Sunday morning alcohol sales is “something we’re missing here in West Virginia,” he said.

Attempts to reach House Speaker Tim Armstead were unsuccessful Wednesday.

Walters also stressed the impact SB 315 would have on the state’s economy if passed. The bill would provide for construction of a statewide, fiber optic broadband infrastructure network.

“We’re looking at broadband expansion so people who want to come to West Virginia in a tourist sense can get here earlier and still do work, because the global economy is online now,” he said.

After Citynet improved Internet infrastructure at Snowshoe Resort, for example, “people are now arriving there on Thursday instead of Friday and staying even longer because they can do work from their condos,” Walters said.

Rural broadband connectivity could also lower the cost of healthcare through telemedicine, he said, which allows a patient to receive services from a health care provider without person-to-person contact.

When Charleston Area Medical Center purchased cameras for use in rural health clinics so patients wouldn’t have to travel as far for medical treatment, “they didn’t have the bandwidth to take it back to Charleston to actually utilize the equipment,” he said. He added that a recent poll of businesses showed that the cost of health care is the No. 1 deterrent for businesses considering coming to West Virginia.

“We can’t lower the cost of health care with telemedicine because we don’t have the infrastructure.”

He cited a West Virginia State University study that found building statewide broadband infrastructure would create 4,000 permanent jobs and add nearly $940 million to the state’s gross domestic product within one year.

Alisa Bailey, president and CEO of the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau, said protecting the state Division of Tourism’s matching grant programs is essential foe continuing to build Charleston as a destination for visitors.

The Convention and Visitors Bureau will set up appointments for constituents to meet with legislators in the coming weeks.

“The real work happens in those appointments,” she said. “They want to hear from the businesses.”

Reach Elaina Sauber at elaina.sauber@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-3051 or follow @ElainaSauber on Twitter.

Legislators had the opportunity to discuss conservation issues affecting West Virginia while dining on foods produced in-state at Wednesday's inaugural Farm-to-Table Legislative Breakfast.

The West Virginia Conservation Agency and the West Virginia Association of Conservation Districts co-hosted the event at the state Capitol.

Attendees were treated to a meal of Kanawha County eggs, Jefferson County pork, and potatoes provided by the Agriculture Enhancement Program's Potato Demonstration Project, among other items.

Cold Springs Farm, owned by Dave Fierbaugh and located in Sissonville, provided about 17 dozen eggs for the event.

The breakfast was part of Agriculture Day at the state Capitol.

Cable companies that provide Internet service are working to kill legislation that would create a state-financed $72 million fiber-optic network across West Virginia.

Suddenlink, Comcast, Shentel, Time-Warner Cable and other members of the West Virginia Cable Television Association oppose building the high-speed Internet network, saying it’s a waste of money.

“This bill [SB 315] would obligate the state to borrow between $75 million and $100 million, and it wouldn’t guarantee that a single rural customer who doesn’t have broadband service would get it,” said Mark Polen, executive director of the state cable association.

Sen. Chris Walters, who’s spearheading the legislation, said the cable companies want to block competition from smaller Internet providers. Walters’ bill aims to improve Internet service and drive down prices in rural parts of the state.

“I’m trying to get people in rural communities off this island,” explained Walters, R-Putnam. “I’m trying to take something to them and create a path where Internet companies can get to them.”

The cable companies and others want no part of Walters’ proposed 2,500-mile broadband network.

Frontier Communications, West Virginia’s largest Internet provider, came out against the bill two weeks ago. The state’s chief technology officer, Gale Given, also has reservations. On Wednesday, an industry group called the Utilities, Telecommunications & Energy Coalition of West Virginia announced its opposition to the project.

Since 2000, the cable companies have spent a combined $2 billion building 6,600 miles of fiber-optic networks that reach 50 of West Virginia’s 55 counties, Polen said.

“The state-financed, state-owned and state-operated fiber network will be in direct competition with the private investments our members have made in West Virginia,” he said.

Some examples: Shentel has built fiber connections to 10,000 households in McDowell County. Armstrong Cable is starting similar projects in Lincoln, Wayne and Ritchie counties. Suddenlink and Comcast have “gigabit” projects that will bring some of the fastest Internet speeds in the nation to customers in West Virginia.

The cable companies say they have no use for a state-financed Internet network and wouldn’t pay to connect to the network to serve customers. That disinterest could sink the statewide broadband project.

Walters said Internet companies, especially those that sell wireless Internet service, would pay to tap into the network. Smaller firms like Citynet and Alpha Technologies support Walters’ proposal to build the “middle-mile” network that would bring fiber from cities to rural communities.

“Once we build this network, people are going to use it,” Walters said. “If all of a sudden you have a network that affordably gets you where you want to go, you’re going to use it if it makes financial sense.”

The cable companies allege that Walters wants to require state agencies and local governments to buy Internet service from the state-owned network to help pay for the project, which would be financed through a bond issue. The companies also fear the state would try to seize part of their fiber networks to complete the state’s network.

“Providing a new state fiber network operation with the powers of intimidation, just short of seizing private property built exclusively with private capital does not seem like the kind of free market solution to problems that the new majority in the West Virginia Senate has identified as a goal,” Polen wrote in a letter to Walters earlier this week.

Walters disputed both assertions.

“There is no mandate that state agencies use this network, and there are no plans to use ‘eminent domain’ to take any fiber.”

As an alternative to Walters’ bill, the cable companies are backing legislation (SB 16) that would give tax credits to companies that expand Internet service to homes and businesses in remote areas. Internet providers would be eligible for a $500 tax break for each new location that receives broadband service. The tax credits would be limited to $1 million a year for all Internet providers.

“Senator Walters is proposing to put the state on the line for as much as $100 million,” Polen said. “If we start tackling the problem of rural broadband by only spending $1 million of state money, I think that’s a good investment.”

Walters said he would support the tax credit proposal if it spurs the expansion of high-speed Internet to more West Virginians. He heads the Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which is expected to take up both bills next week.

“My goal is to do everything we can to increase broadband in West Virginia,” Walters said.

Reach Eric Eyre at ericeyre@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4869 or follow @ericeyre on Twitter.

Approved bondsmen will be allowed to continue offering their services in Kanawha County, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Kanawha Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey declined to grant a stay to the Kanawha Public Defender's Office while they wait for a judge to rule on the legality of an October order from then-Chief Judge James Stucky to allow bondsmen to work in Kanawha County.

Bailey said the request for a stay did not seem to be an emergency order, since it was filed in December, months after Stucky's order.

"Today I am not going to grant a stay because the position of the petitioner is that there's no harm," Bailey said.

Currently, there are three bail bonds companies allowed to operate in Kanawha County.

Stucky originally approved four bail bonds companies in late December, but one of those bondsmen, Richard Patrick, had his approval to sell bail bonds revoked Tuesday, when his agents started selling bail bonds in Kanawha County. According to the ruling, Patrick had permission to sell, but his agents didn't.

Bailey referenced that recent decision during the hearing, saying that the order was working if someone already had their license revoked for not following the law.

The petition filed by the Public Defender's Office argues that the administrative order allowing bondsmen was never submitted to the Supreme Court, as state Trial Court Rules require.

Bailey called into question whether or not the order had to be sent to the Supreme Court, depending on how the order was classified.

The bail bondsmen who were in attendance were pleased with the result and optimistic that the judge will rule in their favor when it comes to the legality of Stucky's order.

"I think they'll say that the Public Defenders Office has no right to even file this complaint," said Lora Stevens from 1A Bailbonds Inc.

The bondsmen were surprised that the Public Defender's Office was bringing this complaint, because in most counties, the bondsmen work closely with the Public Defender's Office.

"The public defender is usually our friend," said Amy Hass, from Amy Sword Bail Bonds. Hass was the first person to offer a bail bond in Kanawha County in almost 20 years.

Bailey gave the Public Defender's Office 10 days to provide her with evidence that Stucky's order was afoul of Trial Court Rules and what standing the Public Defender's Office has to raise the case on behalf of itself.

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

The Roman Catholic priest who's led downtown Charleston's Basilica of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart for about 35 years, and significantly expanded the real estate footprint of his parish during that time, is retiring.

Since he became rector of Sacred Heart in 1980, Monsignor Edward Sadie, 85 - whom former Pope Benedict XVI named an Apostolic Protonotary, the highest rank of monsignor, in 2013 - has also been head of both Charleston Catholic High and Sacred Heart Grade schools, which are on opposite sides of the Charleston church.

He was ordained as a priest in 1957, and has spent more than a half-century with the Wheeling-Charleston diocese. He's also served on numerous Catholic committees and the boards of St. Francis Hospital and Catholic Charities West Virginia.

He said he'll give up all these positions in early June, when a new priest will likely be assigned rector of Sacred Heart, a position he said entails "pretty much running the place."

"All the financial decisions, all the decisions on the two schools, all the decisions on acquiring or selling property, as people like to talk about." Sadie said, with a laugh.

He said priests technically never retire from the priesthood, and he'll still be available to fill in for the new rector when needed. He'll likely move from the church building where he and two priests live, to a house in Kanawha City he bought for his late mother.

His current home, which also has church offices and the church technology center in the bottom, is one of the acquisitions he worked on: the former Cenacle House on Virginia Street, which used to house the Catholic Cenacle sisters.

In an interview Wednesday with the Gazette-Mail, Sadie talked energetically about his past business deals, including a bidding contest in an auction he had with Lyell Clay, a late owner of the Charleston Daily Mail, in which he drove up Clay's purchase price by $60,000, going beyond the bid the diocese had previously authorized. Clay, to Sadie's surprise, still later agreed to donate $300,000 to Sadie's addition to Charleston Catholic High School, the priest said.

In a 2012 article on the completion of the church's latest project - the $3.5 million Sacred Heart Pavilion, a "state-of-the-art day care center and gymnasium" near the church that allowed it to drop the minimum age of the kids it serves from 3-year-olds to 6-week-olds - the Charleston Gazette reported Sadie had, in total, acquired and developed about 15 downtown properties. On Wednesday, Sadie didn't downplay his real estate reputation.

"When I came here, the only parking we had was on the street, the meters," Sadie said. "... Parking is essential to the health of a parish church, and I think most churches realize this sooner or later, I realized it very soon.

"When I was appointed at Sacred Heart I said to the bishop at that time I said 'Bishop [Joseph] Hodges, Sacred Heart is landlocked, I'm gonna try to buy every piece of property I can hit with a rock.'"

He also said that, at the start, the only building where groups could meet was the elementary school. So he had to get more property.

"For those who are critical of that, I wish they would remember that all of the buildings I bought were boarded up," he said, noting, for example, the old Kanawha Valley Memorial Hospital building, which the parish largely demolished to make room for a parking lot and playground. He said that gave the school a "complete turnaround."

"I would say parking has been the key to Sacred Heart's success," he said. "We have people come to Sacred Heart from 40-something zip codes."

Some of his deals have brought controversy, like the Riverview Terrace Apartments senior living facility, which the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston bought for $1.2 million in 1993 because, Sadie said, it'd be a way to keep aging parishioners in Charleston. A resident has sued the holding company for the apartments over increased fees and plans to turn the apartments into condominiums. Sadie said Wednesday he doesn't want to saddle his successor with the apartments, whose transition to condos should be complete over the next 12 months.

He said 1033 Quarrier Street is also now off the city's vacant properties list, and he hopes to have it open as a grade school expansion by Aug. 1.

But Sadie stressed that acquiring property - something that must be signed off on by the bishop - isn't the most important thing he's done, noting the people he's baptized and the other services he's provided.

"For 34 years, I've shared the scriptures every day, every single day," he said.

Though he said he's been blessed with good health, Sadie noted he has diabetes and knee problems and, at 85, "you get tired."

He said he sent Wheeling-Charleston Bishop Michael Bransfield a letter a couple weeks ago saying he's ready to retire - 15 years after priests' optional retirement age, and a decade after the age at which he was required to submit a retirement petition, on which Sadie then wrote he was "more than willing" to continue serving.

"I think it's time for someone else to have all the fun I've been having," he said.

Sadie, a Parkersburg native whose father was a non-English-speaking Syrian immigrant, served from 1957-63 as associate pastor of St. Mary Church and Mission in Blacksburg, Virginia, and chaplain at Radford College, Virginia, and the Virginia Tech.

He returned to work in West Virginia in 1963, and until 1969 was vice rector, treasurer and an instructor at St. Joseph Preparatory Seminary in Vienna. From 1969-80, he was the pastor of Kanawha City's St. Agnes parish, and he became rector of Sacred Heart in 1980. In a statement on his retirement, the diocese credited Sadie with "saving the Catholic elementary and high school from financial ruin and extending their programs, beautifying the Co-Cathedral and enlarging it, fostering the devout life, and building a noble campus around Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral."

It also called Sadie "instrumental in having Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral raised to the status of a minor basilica in 2009." Sadie said the basilica title is a "distinctive honor," which he believes belongs to fewer than 90 of the nation's 19,000 Roman Catholic churches.

Aside from his Catholic credentials, Sadie has been involved in multiple interfaith events with Jewish, Muslim and other religious leaders. He also touted the high number of non-Catholics who send their kids to his schools.

"The people of our country have to learn to live together and even pray together even though they're different, and here at Sacred Heart, we have that," he said.

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

Ezekiel Ellis had built a home at Tent City in Charleston, before the residents were ejected by police under the direction of the city on Tuesday.

He had about $700 worth of food - bought with food stamps, a two-room tent, several sleeping bags and blankets, and personal hygiene items, among other belongings.

Wednesday afternoon, a friend drove him to Cato Park to retrieve his belongings, where city workers had stored them. He wasn't at the encampment when police and city officials arrived on Tuesday afternoon.

"I was only able to find one bag of clothes," he said.

Ellis pointed blame at Charleston Mayor Danny Jones, who made the decision to dismantle Tent City, a homeless encampment that was located by the Spring Street Bridge along the Elk River.

"It doesn't matter how much good a person does," Ellis said. "He still wants to put them down. He's self-centered. He's self-righteous and I hate to say it - only God can save him."

Maj. Jason Beckett, deputy chief of the Charleston Police Department, says that only trash was thrown away.

Mayor Jones, who made the decision to dismantle Tent City, also said he believed only litter was thrown away.

"If it looked like it was personal, we collected it," he said. "... I don't think we threw anything away."

A church had arranged for people to pick up their belongings Wednesday afternoon, according to Rod Blackstone, an assistant to Jones.

He said retrieval sites would also be set up in Charleston on Thursday. The locations had not been set as of Wednesday afternoon.

Stacy Jones, a volunteer who regularly collected donations for the homeless, said some of the former residents told her they were only given 5 minutes to collect their things. She said many of them left numerous items behind.

"These tents are set up like their homes," she said. "They even decorated the inside of them."

Beckett said that officers were there for three hours.

"It was handled in a way to get them out of there," he said. "Obviously, that was our goal. We needed to get them off of Waste Management property."

Waste Management has said company employees had been approached by "disorderly occupants of Tent City" in the past.

Mayor Jones said he received a call from Waste Management about shutting the site down on Jan. 14. He said he came to the decision to dismantle Tent City last week, and a Gazette-Mail article on Tuesday about how Tent City residents were faring in the cold weather reminded him of the situation.

"It's not that I was reacting to it," he said. "It just kind of put it in the forefront."

He also met with officials from Waste Management on Tuesday morning.

Sam Petsonk, an attorney for Mountain State Justice, provided a letter dated Aug. 21, 2014 from Mountain State Justice attorney Lydia Milnes to Beckett.

Beckett and Milnes agreed that if Charleston Police Department were to eject the residents, "it would be important that our organizations communicate to make sure residents know those intentions and plans in advance," the letter says.

City officials - not within the police department - let Mountain State Justice know Tuesday, according to Beckett.

"You promised to let Mountain State Justice know in that event, so we could help make certain that the residents were clearly informed at that time of what the law required and the options legally available to them," Milnes wrote.

Beckett said he "never told them I would definitely call them."

"I did tell them I would try," he said.

The mayor said he wasn't aware of the letter.

"Jason Beckett doesn't speak for me and I made the decision," he said. "If Mountain State Justice wants to go to court, we're prepared for that also."

Traci Strickland, director of homeless programs at Prestera, said she would have liked more notice, but appreciated that shelter beds were offered to the residents, even though some did not accept the offer.

"You can always wish things were handled differently," she said. "It could have been better. It could have been a lot worse."

Ellis, the former Tent City resident who couldn't find his belongings, received no notification.

"I'm just trying to stay positive," he said.

Reach Erin Beck at erin.beck@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5163, Facebook.com/erinbeckwv, or follow @erinbeckwv on Twitter.

In Around West Virginia today: two cities consider nondiscrimination ordinances, Handle with Care expands to Berkeley County, and more.

n Lewisburg's city attorney is conducting legal research in anticipation of a potential lawsuit if the city updates its nondiscrimination ordinance. The Register-Herald reports that Lewisburg City Council met with City Attorney Jesse Guills for three hours on Tuesday evening. The city is considering an ordinance to expand protection from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations to members of the LGBT community.

n Martinsburg City Council is also considering an ordinance that would expand protections to members of the LGBT community, according to The Journal. The Martinsburg mayor set a special meeting for this evening at 6:30 p.m. for the first and second readings of an ordinance to allow members of the LGBT community to sue if discriminated against in housing, employment or public accommodations because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

n Two elementary schools in Berkeley County were selected to pilot the Handle with Care program for the county, The Journal reports. Police who agree to follow the program, which originated in Charleston, notify children's schools when they see kids present at traumatic crime scenes, so that school officials know to "handle with care" the next day.

n The police chief of Paden City has been fired, according to the Tyler Star News. Joseph Richardson had been suspended after being charged with battery and unlawful restraint when he allegedly attacked a woman on Oct. 12. A warrant has been issued for his arrest for allegedly violating the terms of his bond agreement.

Reach Erin Beck at erin.beck@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5163, Facebook.com/erinbeckwv, or follow @erinbeckwv on Twitter.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - West Virginia's employment picture brightened in December.

WorkForce West Virginia reports that the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased two-tenths of a point to 6.3 percent last month. The number of unemployed West Virginians decreased by 1,800 to 49,300.

For the year, total unemployment was up by 3,600.

The national unemployment rate remained at 5 percent.

WHEELING ISLAND, W.Va. (AP) - The West Virginia Division of Highways has closed a bridge that connects Wheeling Island with Bridgeport, Ohio amid concerns over its deterioration.

The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register reports workers constructed a fence at the Aetnaville Bridge on Wednesday, preventing pedestrians and cyclists from entering. The bridge has been closed to vehicle traffic since 1988.

West Virginia Department of Transportation Communications Director Brent Walker says a fence will also be put up the bridge's Ohio side.

Some residents say they believe conditions are far less safe for pedestrians and bicyclists now that the bridge is no longer an option for them. Many will have to use alternative routes, which include dealing with traffic and intersections.

Walker says the bridge was closed for safety reasons. He says there's been no final decision on its future.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is reminding residents that the state's price gouging laws are in effect as a winter storm bears down on the state.

The laws took effect Wednesday afternoon when Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin issued a state of preparedness for all West Virginia counties.

The state's price gouging laws prohibit any person, business, or contractor from inflating the price of any consumer item by more than 10 percent of what it sold for 10 days prior to the declaration. The laws remain in effect until the declaration is lifted or 30 days, whichever is longer, subject to limited exceptions.

Items subject to the state's price gouging laws are food items, essential consumer items, emergency supplies and home heating oil.

West Virginia will not receive $140 million in federal funds that the state had applied for as part of a contest for regions that have been recently hit by natural disasters.

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin had applied for the funds, administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in connection with several declared disasters in 2012 and 2013, including the derecho and Superstorm Sandy.

The state's application was declared a finalist last June, and Tomblin touted the contest in his State of the State address last week.

The money would have gone to projects in six counties - Boone, Lincoln, Logan, McDowell, Mingo and Wyoming - in the southern coalfields.

"If we're successful, these federal funds will help us rebuild aging infrastructure, promote land use planning and hazard reduction efforts and stimulate housing and economic development in areas outside the region's floodplains," Tomblin said.

But West Virginia was not successful.

The $1 billion in grant money was split among projects in Virginia, Iowa, Louisiana, California, North Dakota, New Jersey, Tennessee, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Tomblin said despite the foregone funding the state would continue to try to redevelop the massive Hobet mountaintop removal mine for other uses, another proposal from his State of the State address.

The hoped-for federal money would have gone to water and sewer projects and flood management, among other proposals.

"We remain committed to our efforts to diversify southern West Virginia's economy and provide opportunities for West Virginians who have called the region home for generations," Tomblin said in a prepared statement.

A Putnam County construction company owner is running for a West Virginia Senate seat as a Democrat.

Glenn Jeffries, president of Cornerstone Interiors, announced his candidacy in the Senate's 8th District at the state Capitol Thursday.

The seat is held by Sen. Chris Walters, R-Putnam, who's seeking re-election.

Jeffries is a part owner of the Charleston Four Points by Sheraton. He serves on the Putnam County Economic Development Authority.

The 8th District stretches over northern Putnam and Kanawha counties.