When the Legislature starts its annual session on Wednesday, it will have a seemingly small change that's taken workers thousands of hours over the past eight months to accomplish.

After using Word Perfect software for word processing for the past 15 years, the Legislature is changing its computers to Microsoft Word.

The transition isn't as simple as moving from one program to another, said Aaron Allred, legislative auditor and legislative manager. Not only is there a learning curve, but staff members have had to convert about 38,000 files from one program to the other.

"It's all the programming behind it that takes the enormous amount of time," Allred said.

The project, which cost $55,000, started after last year's session ended. Allred estimates that the IT department's 10 staffers have spent 4,000 to 8,000 hours on the project.

"Those hours didn't include House and Senate clerks' offices and they've put in a lot of time, as well," Allred said. It also doesn't include the time to train staff members on the new system.

House of Delegates Clerk Steve Harrison said the conversion was a major project.

"There is a drafters' code that the bill drafters use to pull in certain sections of the code that had to be converted from Word Perfect to Word," Harrison said. New templates and macros needed to be created, too, he said. "It's been a major project over the last several months."

Allred said the system will be in place Wednesday, but it won't be perfect.

"It's going to work," he said. "Anytime you do a big IT project, it's never perfect when you roll it out. There'll be growing pains with this. That's the way any program is."

But he said he supports the decision to change computer programs.

"The Legislature was speaking French in an English-speaking world," he said. Often lobbyists and citizens would draft bills using Word, which wouldn't be compatible with Word Perfect, he said. Using Word will make the process more standardized and flexible.

"It was just the right thing to do, but it's not going to be pain-free and it has not been pain-free," Allred said.

Assistant Senate Clerk Lee Cassis said learning the new program has been easier for newer staff members than for those who have been there for years. Cassis started working for the Legislature in 2002.

"It was the same for me," he said. "I used Word in college and haven't used it since until this year."

Cassis said he knew the transition to Word was only a matter of time.

"I think this was going to happen eventually because the rest of the world uses Word and several members of the Legislature and outside the Legislature have wanted this for some time," he said.

Along with the transition to Word, the legislature is closing the Journal Room, where people could pick up copies of each bill. Instead, all bills can be printed from the Legislature's website. In the old way of doing things, the Journal Room would hold 100 to 200 copies of each of each bill, available for whomever wanted them. Not all of the bills were wanted, though.

"And at the end of session, we would be rolling out carts of paper to throw away," Allred said. "It was an enormous waste of paper and money."

There are around 2,000 bills introduced each year, and on average about 250 pass, he said. About 1,500 bills don't even get out of committee.

"And the question is how many people actually want a copy of that bill?" he said. It made more sense to print three copies of a bill for the people who asked for them and 500 for the people who wanted another bill than to print 200 of each bill, he said.

People can have bills printed at no charge in the Legislature's print shop in the basement of the Capitol. Allred said anyone who doesn't have access to the Internet can contact the clerks' office or public information. The House clerk's office can be reached at 304-340-3200, the Senate clerk at 304-357-7800 and Public Information can be reached at 304-347-4836.

"Absolutely, we will work with someone who doesn't have Internet access," Allred said.

The Legislature will also print journals - a record of everything that happened in the Legislature on the day before - as needed as opposed to printing several of them that may go unused, Harrison said.

"Each day, we would print numerous journals - and they're thick," he said. "Most days, several were thrown away. Now they'll be printed as needed."

Both the Senate and House staffs are also working to make the bill process more consistent from one side to the other, Harrison said.

One way they're doing that is standardizing the paper the bills are printed on. Now they will be printed on standard 8.5-by-11-inch paper. In the past, the size of the paper varied with what stage each piece of legislation was in, Harrison said.

Senate bills and House bills will also have the same format and font as each other. Harrison said the similar formats will help readers more easily locate differences between the versions of the bill.

"We think that consistency will be a positive thing," Harrison said.

Reach Lori Kersey at

lori.kersey@wvgazettemail.com,

304-348-1240 or follow

@LorikerseyWV on Twitter.

A West Virginia Ethics Commission panel has dismissed the ethics complaint a state Board of Education member filed last month against the board's president alleging violations of open meetings laws and other accusations.

Mike Green, president of the state school board, said he got a notice a few days ago that the Probable Cause Review Board found no reason to continue with an investigation into the allegations fellow board member Bill White made against him, which related to a Fayette County school consolidation plan and other issues. He declined to comment further on White's allegations.

"It's water under the bridge, it's over, they found no probable cause," Green said.

White, however, said he's now considering filing a lawsuit against Green, a decision he may make in the next few weeks. He said the notice he received around Christmas said the Probable Cause Review Board found his allegations didn't constitute a "material violation of the ethics act upon which the commission could probably act," and that it went on to state that the Ethics Commission does not enforce the open meetings act or state education statutes.

"Which is really sad because if the ethics committee doesn't do it, there's no one in state government that does, except for the courts," he said.

In his complaint, White alleged that a board member handbook the board approved in October was formed outside of required open meetings, wasn't properly filed with the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability and contains illegal language. An attachment in support of his complaint also alleged it was illegal for Green to have Kristin Anderson, spokeswoman for the Department of Education, send out a news release that, according to White, "promoted his personal agenda and not that of the Board."

White had previously taken issue with Green's letter, publicized by Green in a release Anderson sent to news media, in which Green asked Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to call a meeting for the state School Building Authority's board to reverse its September decision to not approve Fayette's consolidation plan. Green said the SBA vote was illegal.

The governor refused to call that meeting. However, the SBA board regardless reversed its decision at its next scheduled meeting in November. But even though it approved the plan - under threat of a lawsuit from the Fayette County Commission - it chose last month to deny funding for it.

White was alone among the nine state school board members in voting against approving the member handbook, and was the only board member to vote against Green being named president. He accused his colleagues then of a "back-room deal." Board member Tom Campbell wasn't present for both those votes.

White raised issues with a portion of the handbook that says state school board members serving on other "committees, agencies or authorities by virtue of appointment on behalf of the [state school] Board" should consider abstaining from voting if they cannot support the board's position before those agencies.

White said he felt the language was in reaction to the SBA board's original vote to shoot down Fayette's plan to build a new high school and consolidate four others. The plan had the support of a majority of state school board members and state Schools Superintendent Michael Martirano, but not White. White wasn't on the SBA at the time of the original vote, but has since become one of the three school board members who are on both boards. Martirano also has a vote on the SBA board.

In December, White didn't vote to support Fayette's consolidation plan; in a voice vote among the 11 members, only Martirano and state school board member Tina Combs were heard voting against stopping consideration of the plan for funding. Peter Markham, the SBA board's chairman and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's designee, votes only in case of a tie. White also took issue in his ethics complaint with part of the handbook regarding $100 daily payments board members can receive when they perform certain duties. The handbook quotes state law that says voting members of the board "shall be paid one hundred dollars per diem each day or any part thereof spent in the performance of their duties under this article."

The handbook then states: "While the statute provides both for a per diem payment and reimbursement of expenses, the Board believes there are situations where reimbursement of expenses is appropriate while the collection of a per diem by a member is not."

It then includes among a list of guidelines it says are based on state code, this, regarding the National Association of State Boards of Education: "members will not be eligible to receive per diem payment for traveling to or from meetings or for attendance at NASBE meetings." White said he attends NASBE meetings, and the provision would discourage him from representing the Mountain State.

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

People aren't paying their taxes in Kanawha County.

Or, at least, some aren't.

Kanawha County is facing a $600,000 deficit from this point last year (the fiscal year in West Virginia ends in June), partially the result of a decrease in money from personal property taxes.

Normally there's a slight increase over a year due to natural growth, according to Kim Fleck, the finance director for the Kanawha County Commission.

"There's usually natural growth because of appraisal values," said Allen Bleigh, the chief tax deputy for Kanawha County. "But I don't know that there's much growth in the valley right now."

The tax deficit won't have a direct affect on the people of Kanawha County right now, according to Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper. Rather, the commission will attempt to cut its budget and will not be issuing any raises to county employees.

The biggest area where people in the county will see a change is in funding for community projects. In attempts to preserve funds for emergency services, the county won't be able to give as much money to cities that ask for funds.

In 2015, the commission did help Capital High School build an indoor training facility for some of its sports teams, and it continues to help Camp Virgil Tate with its attempts to install a swimming pool. But the few projects that it supported aren't what they used to be.

"If you go back and look at our budget 10 years ago," Carper said, "You'd see that there are significant community projects."

Bleigh specifically pointed to the struggling coal industry as a source of some of the problems the county is seeing.

"There's some bankruptcy issues in that industry," Bleigh said. "They haven't paid taxes that they have in the past."

This year, the county has seen more a $400,000 deficit from Mammoth Coal, whose parent company, Alpha Natural Resources, filed chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015.

Bleigh is wary that the commission may not receive all of that money. Even though taxes are among the first debts to be paid off, Bleigh said the county might see as little as 10 percent of the money Mammoth owes, which would be a big blow.

"You never know, when it comes to bankruptcy, how much you're going to get back," Bleigh said. "You just never know what you're going to get or when you're going to receive it."

But the coal industry isn't the only one that has struggled in the county.

"No question when you lose thousands and thousands of jobs in the coal industry and the chemical industry and the manufacturing industry you're going to lose money," Carper said.

Even though jobs from those industries may have declined, the number of businesses in Kanawha County increased between 2015 and 2016, according to the business industry growth numbers from the Secretary of State's office.

However, the rate of growth declined significantly. Where the county saw 1.97 percent growth between 2014 and 2015, this year it only saw .75 percent growth.

Despite the new businesses, if tax shortfalls become a trend in the county, the money could start to have a more direct impact on the people.

"It won't matter for Joe Schmoe in Amandaville until he calls for an ambulance and it doesn't show up," Carper said.

Reach Daniel Desrochers at

dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow

@drdesrochers on Twitter.

Dear Savvy Senior,

Can you recommend some good home video monitoring devices that can help my sister and me keep an eye on our elderly mother? Over the holidays, we noticed that her health has slipped a bit, and would like to keep a closer eye on her. - Worried Daughters

Dear Worried,

There are lot's of great video monitoring cameras that can help families keep a watchful eye on an elderly parent from afar, but make sure it's OK with your mom first. Many seniors find this type of "I'm watching you" technology to be an invasion of privacy, while others don't mind and even welcome the idea. With that said, here are some top monitoring devices for keeping tabs on your mom.

Video Monitoring

As the technology has improved and the costs have come down, video monitoring/surveillance cameras have become very popular for keeping an eye on your home, business, child or pet (via smartphone, tablet or computer), but they also work well for monitoring an elder loved one who lives alone.

Most home video monitoring cameras today are sleek, small and easy to set up, but do require home Wi-Fi.

Although camera capabilities will vary, the best devices all provide wide-view angles, HD quality video, night vision, built-in motion and sound detection that can notify you when something is happening, and two-way audio that let's you talk and listen.

And, they also offer a video recording option (for an extra fee) that saves past video to a cloud, so you can rewind and review what you missed.

One of the best products available today that does all this and more is the Nest Cam (nest.com), which costs $199, but if you want their video recording option, it's an extra $100 per year for a 10-day video history, or $300/year for 30 days.

Also check out the Piper NV (getpiper.com), which - at $279 - is more expensive than the Nest Cam but allows free Internet cloud storage. And the Simplicam (simplicam.com), which is the cheapest of the three but the video quality isn't quite as good. They charge $150 for the camera, or $200 for the camera plus 24-hour video storage for one year.

Sensor Monitoring

If your mom is uncomfortable with video monitoring, and doesn't want you to be able to peek in on her whenever you want, another less invasive option to consider is a "sensor" monitoring system.

These systems use small wireless sensors (not cameras) placed in key areas of your mom's home that can detect changes in her activity patterns, and will notify you via text message, email or phone call if something out of the ordinary is happening.

A great company that offers this technology is Silver Mother (sen.se/silvermother), which provides small sensors that you attach to commonly used household objects like her pillbox, refrigerator door, TV remote, front door, etc.

So, for example, if your mom didn't pick up her pillbox to get her medicine or didn't open the refrigerator door to make breakfast like she usually does, or if she left the house at a peculiar time you would be notified and could check on her. You can also check up on her anytime you want online or through their mobile app. Silver Mother costs $299 for four sensors, with no ongoing monthly service fees.

Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of "The Savvy Senior" book.

The Kanawha County Sheriff's Office is warning residents of scammers claiming to be with the sheriff's office or another law enforcement agency.

Suspects call people in the area and demand money, accusing victims of not showing up for jury duty, court appearances or of some other violation, according to a news release from the sheriff's office. They tell victims they can pay fake fines over the phone by buying gift or money cards or wiring money.

These calls are illegal and the claims are untrue.

"If you owe court costs and fines we recommend you call local courts to find out how much and how to pay," the sheriff's office says in the release. "Use published phone numbers. Don't trust the word of those who call you alone.

"Verify what is being told you by calling a valid phone number or going to the courthouse in person," the sheriff's office advises.

Anyone who suspects they've been the victim of such a scam is asked to contact law enforcement or call the non-emergency line for Kanawha County Metro 911, 304-357-0191.

With the demise of the Capital Classic basketball game for the immediate future, and perhaps longer, Charleston-area officials are worried about the economic blow the cancellation could have on the city.

The annual men's basketball game between Marshall and West Virginia universities has consistently brought in crowds of 10,000 to 12,000 fans to the Charleston Civic Center, which has hosted the game since 1992.

Civic Center General Manager John Robertson said the game has been a significant event for the community for more than two decades.

Robertson said about $170,000 will be lost to the Civic Center annually if the games aren't reinstated.

"The food and beverage [revenue] on that game are somewhere around $140,000," Robertson said. The rental fees and other expenses the schools paid to play there are around $35,000, he added. The schools split the ticket sales 50/50.

Attendance numbers for the last three years have faltered slightly after the schools began scheduling the game in mid-December instead of late January, when state Legislature is in session. Last month's game drew more than 11,700 fans to the Civic Center, which has a 12,337-seat capacity.

Chesapeake Energy has been the game's title sponsor for the last five years, though that agreement expired at the end of 2015.

The loss of revenue to city hotels, restaurants and retailers is difficult to measure.

Holiday Inn Express General Manager Rusty Eaton said the game was "incredible" for the hotel during a time of year when occupancy numbers are typically lagging. After Dec. 15, he said, "the hotels here are just dead, so it's been a nice difference for us in the last few years."

Even though that boost has been only around 55 rooms at $129 each, the extra $7,000 has an impact during the slow month, Eaton said. "It's a measureable loss, and one that we'll feel," he said.

Charleston Deputy Mayor Rod Blackstone said there's "no doubt" that the in-state rivalry and Capital Classic benefit both Charleston and the state.

"Most other states with two major universities have rivalries they celebrate and honor," he said.

Sen. Michael Woelfel, D-Cabell, plans to introduce a bill in the upcoming legislative session that would mandate a Marshall-WVU men's basketball game. According to the drafted bill, the venue, date and other details of the game would would be determined by the universities.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin voiced his support for Woelfel's proposal in an interview Wednesday.

"I hope he's successful," Manchin said. "It's good for the state [and] the fans really enjoy it. I mean, it's taxpayer-supported schools; don't you think the taxpayers ought to get something out of it?"

Marshall University Athletic Director Mike Hamrick also released a statement Thursday. "It is our desire to play this game for many years to come, as it fits our scheduling philosophy to play a challenging nonconference schedule," he said.

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

The West Virginia State Capitol Complex's newest buildings don't require clearing a security checkpoint and being scanned by a metal detector to enter - you just have to be able to climb a tree and squeeze through a 2-inch hole.

On Saturday, Boy Scouts from Charleston's Troop 31 installed 10 new squirrel nest boxes to provide enhanced shelter for the Capitol grounds' most visible and best-fed wildlife species as part of troop member Breece Ferrell's Eagle Scout project.

"I live two blocks from the Capitol, and growing up, the Statehouse lawn has been like my own yard," Ferrell said. During recent visits to the Capitol grounds "you could see some squirrel houses kind of hidden up in the trees, but all of them had rotted out, bottom-first. Since I was looking for a more unique Eagle project, replacing these boxes seemed like a good idea."

Ferrell's initial offer to replace the dilapidated squirrel condos was declined, without explanation, by the General Services Administration, the agency in charge of maintaining the Capitol grounds.

Undeterred, the Eagle Scout candidate consulted with Scott Warner, with the wildlife resources of the West Virginia DNR, who supplied him with design drawings for a prototype squirrel box, and made a few modifications on his own, then resubmitted his plans and his intentions for them. This time, GSA chief Greg Melton, himself the father of an Eagle Scout, approved the project.

"Since the floors of the boxes had rotted out, I decided to use corrosion-resistant wire laths instead," Ferrell said. Ferrell also opted to top the wooden roofs of the nest boxes with sheets of aluminum to further prevent weathering, and to paint the boxes with nontoxic, food-grade paint, since squirrels tend to gnaw their own surroundings.

A final design change was the addition of the fleur-de-lis Boy Scout emblem on the fronts of the boxes, which were secured to selected oak trees with rust-resistant cable.

Ferrell pre-cut wood to form the walls, roof and backing of the nest boxes, and with help from other members of Troop 31, assembled the units in their headquarters in the basement of the Baptist Temple at Quarrier and Morris streets on Wednesday night. Lowe's and Home Depot donated the wood, while Charleston Re-Store supplied the hardware.

On Saturday, Ferrell used an aluminum ladder to reach and remove the dilapidated squirrel boxes that had been installed, as it turned out after researching Gazette-Mail files, by another Eagle Scout candidate, Mike Evans, of Sissonville, back in 1994. Ferrell then looped rust-resistant cable around the tree and through eyelets attached to the new boxes, and then ratcheted them securely to trunks and limbs.

Eastern gray squirrels like those living on the Statehouse grounds often make use of second and even third homes, using one nest as a home base and one or two auxiliary nests for temporary shelter when foraging for food when vittles get scarce near their primary domiciles. Squirrels make use of both leaf nests attached to tree branches and cavity nests in tree trunks and larger limbs. Ferrell's nest boxes replicate cavity nests, which allow squirrels to conserve energy and better survive winters.

"Breece had a good idea for his Eagle project and having to work a little more to get permission to do it was part of the process," said Troop 31 Scoutmaster Jim Porter. "He will be the 83rd Eagle Scout from this troop since it started in 1917."

Ferrell, who turns 18 on Jan. 20, is a senior at Capital High School. He is the son of Mark and Ingrid Ferrell.

Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelhammer@wvgazette.com, 304-348-5169, or follow @rsteelhammer on Twitter.

OMAHA, Neb. - Disappointed you didn't win the Powerball jackpot this weekend? Don't be.

Lottery officials say the estimated $1.3 billion prize is the world's largest. Ever.

"Biggest jackpot in the history of the world. Absolutely confirmed," Texas Lottery executive director Gary Grief said.

The jackpot is so big that billboards in Texas and around the country have to advertise the price as $999 million because they're not built to show billions. The lottery computers will handle the decimal point without a problem.

No one matched all six Powerball numbers Saturday night, leading to the astronomical prize. And that is all but certain to grow before the next drawing Wednesday, according to Texas Lottery spokeswoman Kelly Cripe.

"We've never been at these levels," said Grief, whose state lottery is part of the Multi-State Lottery Association that runs Powerball.

The odds to win are one in 292.2 million. Seventy-five percent of all the possible combinations were purchased before Saturday's drawing, Grief said, and he expects that enough tickets will be sold to cover about 80 percent by Wednesday. About 95 percent of Powerball tickets have computer-generated numbers.

"I've been in the industry over 20 years, and I've seen jackpots hit when we hardly have any of the potential numbers covered - like 5 percent of the possible combinations covered. And I've seen other jackpots when we've had 95 percent of the combinations covered and it rolls," Grief said.

The jackpot has ballooned since its Nov. 4 starting point of $40 million.

Saturday's winning numbers - 16-19-32-34-57 and Powerball number of 13 - did gain some people a little wealth: 25 tickets won $1 million by matching five numbers, and three other tickets won $2 million because they paid extra to multiply smaller prizes.

The record jackpot lured an unprecedented frenzy of purchases. Between Jan. 6 and Saturday's drawings, more than $900 million in Powerball tickets were sold.

Officials expect similar sales before the next drawing, but Grief said it's hard to predict how excitement about the record jackpot will boost sales.

"It's exponentially greater than any sales that any of the states involved have ever seen," he said.

Neighborhood watch

A Neighborhood Watch meeting is scheduled for the residents of Ward 2 in St. Albans at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the First Presbyterian Church, Kanawha Terrace and Pennsylvania Avenue. Jason Philabaun is in charge of the meeting. Call 304-767-4874 for more information.

GSDC meeting

The Greater Sissonville Development Council will meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday in Sissonville Library. An election of officers for the coming year will be on the agenda as well as fulfillment steps of the recently adopted MISSION and VISION statement. Members of the community are invited to attend.

Main Library events

Kanawha County Main Library will have the following events: Tuesday, Baby and Me. Storytime program designed for some of our youngest patrons. Birth-18 months; Wednesday, 10 a.m., Tiny Tots, Toddlers, 18-36 months, will enjoy this weekly storytime program that encourages music and sensory play; Thursday, 10 a.m., Playgroup at the Library. Drop in to socialize with other families and play with toys reserved just for this age group. Parents supervise their children at this informal gathering. Birth-36 months and caregiver. For more information, call the library at 304-343-4646, ext. 1244.

International sorority

Alpha Lambda Master chapter of Beta Sigma Phi International Sorority will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the home of Janet Winans, 50 Cedar Drive, Hurricane. Rhonda Ashworth will lead the business meeting and Janet will present a program. Plans will be made for The Snowball Tea to be held on Jan. 23. Members will help with the Haiti Medical Mission Trip Spaghetti Dinner to be held at the Charleston Woman's Club on Jan. 24.

Marshall and WVU hockey

West Virginia University and Marshall University will play each other in ice hockey games Friday and Saturday evenings.

The games billed as "Coal Bowl on Ice" start at 8 p.m. each day at the South Charleston Memorial Ice Arena.

Tickets cost $10 a game.

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.

Don't look for the Rev. Ken Locke to stay in one pulpit for long. Not anymore.

As interim pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of South Charleston, he's experiencing his first go-between role, a minister bridging the gap between the former pastor and the new one.

He enjoys the consultant side of his assignment, the chance to suggest changes as his temporary flock embarks on the search for a new leader.

Now, he's looking at interim work as his permanent niche. When he leaves South Charleston, he plans to move on to one interim slot after another.

Reared by liberal Baptist missionaries, he spent several formative years in Hong Kong, his birthplace.

Visits to a Presbyterian student center as a graduate student hooked him on the inquisitive theology of Presbyterianism and led to a divinity degree. He landed eventually in Nashville, where he nurtured a thriving program for the homeless in a landmark downtown church.

The need for a change brought him to the interim post in South Charleston last March.

Lanky and bearded, an avid runner, he peppers his conversation with flamboyant gestures, humor and analogies associated with entertaining preachers. A laid back demeanor belies his unquenchable curiosity and sense of adventure.

"In 1956, my mother and father met on a train to San Francisco. She was going to Hong Kong to be a Pentecostal Holiness missionary. My father was going to Korea with the occupation forces after the war. Pretty girl. Lonely boy. They got to talking.

"In '58, they married. I was born in 1960 in Hong Kong. I'm told I was the only white baby in the nursery in what was then the largest hospital in the British Empire.

"In '62, mother's term in the mission field expired. We moved to College Station, Texas, home of Texas A&M. I was 2. Dad did his doctorate in psychology. Mother saw the light, I guess, and became a Baptist with Dad.

"In 1971, Jan. 2, we went to Hong Kong and they were Baptist missionaries there until 1975 when I was 14.

"They were lay missionaries, teachers at Hong Kong Baptist College. Dad was the school psychologist and taught psychology. Mother taught sociology. They witnessed through their work.

"I went to King George V School. I wore a uniform every day. My classmates were from all over the world, other missionary kids, children of diplomats and a lot of local kids whose parents wanted them to have an English-language education. We had prayers and scriptures every morning. I played soccer at lunchtime.

"When we came back to the States in '75, I was starting 11th grade in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Mom and dad were employed at Ouachita, a Baptist college.

"For Baptists, my parents were pretty liberal and forward thinking. It wasn't until the 1980s that the Southern Baptists became extremely conservative and fundamentalistic.

"In high school, I had my sights set on teaching. When I went to college, Ouachita required one year of ROTC. I enjoyed it. I was heavy into English and the theater and writing. Marching and learning to shoot a rifle and learning to rappel down the side of a building was all great, guy stuff.

"I got an ROTC scholarship and owed Uncle Sam four years. I was thinking about a career in the military. I ended up in the infantry and spent my first two years in Fort Dix, New Jersey, tramping in the snow and cold, and I swore I would never live in New Jersey again. So I traded New Jersey for a year in Korea. If you think New Jersey is cold, try sleeping in a rice paddy in Korea in winter.

"As much as I appreciated the military, I never fell in love with the push-up. If you couldn't do push-ups, you were out. Secondly, there aren't many women in the infantry.

"So I got out and went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and got a master's degree in English.

"I started going to the Presbyterian Student Center across from the university. I started going to Presbyterian churches. Presbyterians appreciated your mind. They wanted you to think. Questioning was encouraged.

"I had started dating Elizabeth, who was getting a master's in library science. I finished my coursework and moved up to Allentown, Pennsylvania, because Elizabeth's family lived in Swarthmore. Her dad was the law librarian at Temple.

"I worked for Airborne Express as the customer service supervisor. If I had not become a minister, warehousing and shipping was my first love. I would probably be in warehouse management now. I like the constant activity.

"I did my master's thesis by correspondence. Elizabeth got a librarian job in the area. We married in the Swarthmore Presbyterian Church in 1989.

"I got a job at a church in Radford, Virginia, as Presbyterian campus minister to the Radford students. I went to staff meetings and was involved in the worship every week. I discovered two things. One, I was a terrible campus minister. I don't have a clue what college students are thinking. One-on-one, I'm as good as anyone, but put 15 of them in a room, and they might as well be from Mars. It about drove me nuts.

"The other thing I found was that I enjoyed Presbyterianism. I enjoyed the theology, the thinking about God, the sovereignty of God, their understanding of church history and how that affects your thinking today, and the connectionalism. What one Presbyterian church does affects all the other churches, and what all the other churches do affects the one church. I fell in love with Presbyterianism.

"Elizabeth's family lived a hop, skip and jump from Princeton, and Princeton gave me a full scholarship. I was going to get a master of divinity degree. It was a gradual awakening that this is what I wanted to do. I was prevaricating. Elizabeth said, 'Ken, God is calling. Would you please pick up the phone and get on with your life.'

"I finally did. Second semester of my senior year, I applied for the Ph.D. preaching program. I wanted to teach preaching to seminarians. Then I got this note from the Ph.D. committee that said it wasn't going to happen for me.

"The dean wanted me to apply again. But I had lost my gut for that sort of industrial-strength study. I had to get a job because I had to get out of married student housing two weeks after graduation.

"I had my divinity degree and I'd won a preaching award. I was in the top of my class. I circulated a resume and ended up at a 100-member Presbyterian Church in northwest Indiana, a conservative red brick church built by the farmers themselves where the Republican women met in the basement. I'm this liberal theology East Coast guy wearing a little earring, and we just fell in love with each other.

"I enjoyed being a pastor, writing sermons, preaching. I love to go see you in the hospital. I can talk about your hip replacement all afternoon.

"Every Sunday I get paid to stand up and tell people what I think. I get paid to go out and drink coffee with interesting people. Does it get any better?

"I was almost five years at that church. We wanted a bigger place, more continuing education opportunities. I got the call for the Downtown Presbyterian Church of Nashville. I was there 12 years.

"That church was built in 1851 in the Egyptian revival style. It seated 600, but they were lucky to have 100 on Sunday. As a downtown church, at least 10 percent of the people would be from out of state. We were on everybody's list of historic places to see. It was the Westminster Cathedral of Nashville.

"By the time I left, we had a thriving ministry to the homeless. We were feeding them lunch on Wednesday and breakfast on Sunday, 20,000 meals a year. We were writing them $200 to $300 a month in checks, primarily for ID cards. Since the Patriot Act, it's illegal to hire somebody who does not have a valid state-issued ID.

"I was getting sort of burned out. I wanted something different. I'm a fix-it kind of guy. I want to know how something works. I enjoy walking into an organization and asking what would happen if we tweaked this or shifted that.

"That's in line with what interim pastors do. I'm called in when an installed pastor leaves. You want a period where you can sort of cleanse your palate. 'Our former pastor always did this or liked that. What do we like?'

"What I do is part church pastor and part outside consultant. You've seen 'Dancing with the Stars?' I'm out there on the floor dancing with the church. I preach and marry and baptize and do your funerals and moderate your meetings. But I'm also up in the balcony watching and saying, 'What if we tried the steps this way or made the music a little louder?'

"I help the congregation see things through a new set of eyes. When Bob retires from the shipping department after 25 years, maybe we ought to have a transitional shipping director who can say, 'Hey, exciting things are happening in shipping technology.'

"I started here March 1. It's not in my contract to stay. I really enjoy this. When my time here is up I want to go do the same thing somewhere else. I want to hone these skills.

"We have finished the who-are-we part. In the next couple of months, they will elect a pastor nominating committee and there will be an interviewing process. There's a lot of vetting to make sure the church and pastor are compatible.

"At some point, I would like to do more traveling. When I was in seminary, we stayed six weeks with my parents in Moscow. Five years ago, we spent two weeks in Turkey.

"I'd like to master Hebrew. I know just enough to make a fool of myself. And I'd like to learn to drive tractor trailers and spend some time out on the road.

"One of my hobbies is trail racing, foot racing. I run probably 20 to 25 miles a week. I run four days a week.

"I'm a little bit of an adrenaline junkie. If somebody would come to me about sky diving lessons, I would do that.

"My wife would prefer for me to have an installed position. We have agreed that she is the home base, and I will go do these other positions. I still have wanderlust in me. I'm only 55. I want to experience other things."

Reach Sandy Wells at sandyw@wvgazettemail.com or 304-342-5027.

Recreation facilities not associated with fishing and hunting at four Southern West Virginia Wildlife Management Areas were officially closed as of Saturday, in an effort to help the Division of Natural Resources' parks and recreation section comply with a 4 percent inter-agency budget cut ordered by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin in October.

Affected by the closures are Bluestone, Plum Orchard Lake, Berwind Lake and Laurel Lake Wildlife Management Areas. While hunting and fishing, including fish stocking, will continue to be offered at the four WMAs, recreational facilities operated by the state parks system since 1979 will not, due mainly to low usage and high operating costs.

The cutback will close Berwind Lake's swimming pool, bathhouse and snack bar near War in McDowell County and provide no maintenance funding for the WMA's picnic shelters and eight-unit campground.

Laurel Lake WMA near Lenore in Mingo County will also have its swimming pool mothballed and lose maintenance funding for its seven picnic shelters and two playgrounds.

At Bluestone WMA, funding to maintain 330 campsites in seven primitive campgrounds along Bluestone Lake, the New River and Indian Creek in Summers, Mercer and Monroe counties has been cut, along with money to maintain a rustic lodge with full kitchen, bunk-rooms and bathrooms often used for wedding receptions and family reunions. Operations at adjacent Bluestone State Park are not affected.

Plum Orchard Lake near Pax in Fayette County lost funding to maintain its 21-site Beech Bottom Campground, along with 17 lakeside campsites and a rowboat rental facility.

"The recent 4 percent cuts affect all DNR sections but in particular, the parks and recreation section, which is most reliant on state general revenue funds," said DNR Director Bob Fala.

"The swimming pools at Berwind and Laurel lakes and the campgrounds at Bluestone Wildlife Management Area were our biggest concerns," Fala said.

While the pools were producing less than $1 in revenue for every $10 in costs, the Bluestone WMA campgrounds "have a lot of issues with things like potable water, sanitation and safety issues from frequent flooding. We feel that campgrounds at nearby Pipestem and Bluestone state parks are safer, and by moving camping there, it increases the viability of those parks," Fala said.

Dropping non-wildlife recreation facilities at the four WMAs also addresses federal audit findings that require revenues dedicated to parks and recreation be used for those purposes only, while the same is true with federal revenues dedicated to wildlife restoration.

"Sometimes, over the years, the funds have crisscrossed," Fala said. "This helps us clean up our accounting system."

Management of the four WMAs is now entirely controlled by the DNR's wildlife resources section.

"In short, fish and wildlife-oriented recreation will take precedence over park-oriented recreation" at the four facilities, Fala said, which effectively "will return them to their pre-1977 status as WMAs."

Fala said the changes to the four WMAs had been under consideration prior to the call for the 4 percent budget cut.

In 2014, the Legislature approved a concurrent resolution authorizing the Joint Committee on Government and Finance in 2015 to study reassigning the operation of Berwind Lake, Laurel Lake, Bluestone, Plum Orchard Lake and Panther Wildlife Management Areas to the DNR's Wildlife Resources Section, to save more than $800,000 in annual operating costs and "alleviate the budget crisis for state parks."

Fola said DNR staffers have been in contact with citizens, clubs and elected officials in the vicinity of the Berwind Lake and Laurel Lake WMAs.

"There have been some thoughts expressed that between county commissions, foundations and other entities, funding could be raised to re-use the pools," Fala said. "We're open-minded about that, but at the same time, we don't want to give anyone false hope."

Fala said dropping the non-wildlife recreational operations at the four WMAs should cover all of the Parks and Recreation Section's 4 percent cut, making further state parks cuts unnecessary.

Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelhammer@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5169 or follow @rsteelhammer on Twitter.

Unless the West Virginia Supreme Court tells him not to, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin intends to appoint a Democrat to the state Senate seat that has been vacant since Republican Sen. Daniel Hall resigned, a move that would swing the chamber from GOP control to a deadlock.

However, Tomblin wants the Supreme Court to resolve the controversy before he would be forced to make a decision. Tomblin must choose a replacement within five days of when he receives a list of nominees from the local party executive committee.

The governor had been largely quiet on the controversy, triggered when Hall, who was elected as a Democrat and then switched parties, resigned to take a lobbying position with the National Rifle Association.

The governor's stance, made public Monday, comes in a brief filed with the Supreme Court by his general counsel, Peter Markham.

Under state law, the governor must fill vacancies in the Legislature with a member of the same party, but Hall's party switch has created confusion about which party that should be.

"Does Governor Tomblin," Markham wrote, "honor Hall's party affiliation at the time of election or vacancy?"

The state Democratic Party filed suit with the court on Friday, asking that a Democrat be chosen to fill the seat, and naming Tomblin, the Democratic governor, as one of the respondents in the lawsuit.

Tomblin wrote that the issue is unresolved in state law.

State code, Markham wrote, tells Tomblin to appoint "a replacement from the list submitted by the party executive committee to which the former senator 'was affiliated,' but does not clarify when party affiliation is relevant (i.e. at the time the former senator was elected or at the time he vacated office?)."

But, Markham reasoned, Tomblin best honors the will of the voters who elected Hall by choosing a Democratic replacement.

"Daniel Hall ran for office as a Democrat," Markham wrote on behalf of Tomblin. "Governor Tomblin's intention to apply Daniel Hall's party affiliation at the time of his last election in appointing his replacement is supported by sound public policy. It honors the mandate of the voters of the Ninth Senatorial District and avoids a constitutional challenge."

Markham added that Tomblin understands that the Supreme Court, not the governor, will ultimately decide the issue, as the Republican Party will certainly challenge his appointment of a Democrat.

"Governor Tomblin respectfully requests this Court address and resolve the issues raised," Markham wrote, "and provide clarity on whether he is obligated to appoint a Democrat or a Republican."

Markham wrote that Tomblin does not request the opportunity to participate in oral arguments, should the court hold them.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, wrote last week that a Republican should replace Hall.

Judicial elections in West Virginia are now nonpartisan, but the Supreme Court is composed of three Democrats and two Republicans.

As it currently stands, following Hall's resignation, Republicans hold a slight 17-16 majority in the 34-member Senate.

A Republican replacement would cement Republican control of the chamber. A Democratic replacement would result in a 17-17 tie, stymieing Republican plans for several measures they intend to push when the Legislature gavels in on Wednesday. A deadlocked vote would result in a failed bill.

The Senate also was deadlocked after the 2014 elections, but only very briefly. Hall switched parties a day after the election and was rewarded with the position of majority whip and with the chairmanship of two minor committees.

The state Republican Party has until noon today to respond to the Democrats' lawsuit.

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

Enrollment at state four-year and community colleges has dropped, but the number of graduates has improved, state higher education officials told legislators Monday in the annual presentation of the state Higher Education Report Card.

Higher Education Policy Commission Chancellor Paul Hill said enrollment peaked in 2011, in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

"Then, it started to decline as more people got back into the workforce," he told the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability.

Also affected by declining numbers of state high school students, full-time equivalent undergraduate enrollment has dropped from 64,427 students in 2011 to 61,042 in 2014, a decline of more than 5 percent, according to the Report Card.

However, a total of 9,269 bachelor's degrees were awarded in 2014, up from 8,886 degrees in 2011.

Meanwhile, bachelor's degrees in health-related fields jumped nearly 26 percent from 2010, while degrees in STEM majors - science, technology, engineering, math - increased more than 12 percent during the period.

"These are growing fields in West Virginia, and the message is getting out to students," Hill said of the high-demand degrees.

Hill said part of the improvement may be that colleges are emphasizing having students who need remedial education enroll in credit-earning classes and receive additional academic support, as opposed to taking no-credit development classes, given the historically low graduation rates for students who take developmental courses.

A total of 46.8 percent of students who enrolled as freshmen in West Virginia colleges in 2009 graduated within six years, with graduation rates ranging from 55.7 percent at West Virginia University to 19.6 percent at Bluefield State College, according to the Report Card.

Tuition and fees have also increased, the Report Card noted. From 2005 to 2014, average in-state tuition has increased 67.6 percent, to $6,211. According to the Report Card, colleges in the Southeast region saw in-state tuition increase by 74.4 percent during the period, to an average of $7,498.

Meanwhile enrollment at the state's community and technical colleges dropped 20 percent from 2009-10 to 2014-15, from 36,039 students to 28,752.

However, according to the Report Card, total numbers of two-year associate's degrees awarded during that period increased from 2,250 to 2,842.

Overall, just 29.5 percent of CTC enrollees earn a degree within five years, a factor Council for Community and Technical College Education Chancellor Sarah Armstrong Tucker attributed to having adults 25 and older make up 47 percent of CTC enrollment.

"You have a lot of folks who have been out of school for a number of years," she said.

She added, "Unfortunately, our graduation rates are pretty consistent with what you see across the country. They aren't any worse."

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

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. - Several collectors, toy and doll enthusiasts, and visitors attended the 25th annual Teddy Bear and Doll Show in Marietta, Ohio.

The Parkersburg News and Sentinel reports the show was held Sunday at the Lafayette Hotel.

Show coordinator Anna Vukovic says this year's show was dedicated to Ken Yenke, a well-known teddy bear appraiser and collector that they've worked with for 18 years.

Vukovic says exhibitor fees, ticket sales and raffle profits benefit the Marietta Area Teddy Bear Fund, which allows the stuffed animals to be given to children in several area hospitals.

Over 20 exhibitors from several states, including West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, attended the event to sell and show their collections as well as to reconnect with friends.

A West Virginia lawsuit against 11 prescription drug wholesalers is back on track after the state Supreme Court refused to put the brakes on the case's proceedings in Boone County Circuit Court.

In a two-page order, the Supreme Court rejected the drug companies' request for a "writ of prohibition."

The drug firms alleged that Boone County Circuit Judge William Thompson "committed clear error" by refusing the companies' repeated requests to dismiss the lawsuit.

The Attorney General's Office and two state agencies -the Department of Health and Human Resources, and the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety - countered that the drug companies were trying to stall the lawsuit because they want to conceal their role in West Virginia's prescription drug epidemic.

"We defeated the writ of prohibition, which should now allow this case to proceed expeditiously to trial," said Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.

The lawsuit - filed in 2012 by then-Attorney General Darrell McGraw - alleges that the drug wholesalers shipped an excessive number of painkillers to "pill mill" pharmacies in West Virginia.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency records show that the companies distributed 60 million oxycodone pills and 140.6 million hydrocodone pills to West Virginia between 2007 and 2012, according to the lawsuit. Oxycodone and hydrocodone are powerful painkillers.

The lawsuit has dragged on for three and a half years. The trial is scheduled to start in October.

Lawyers from the two sides also will try, in April, to settle the case through mediation.

The drug companies have argued that they can't be held liable for West Virginia's prescription drug problem.

The companies named in the lawsuit are: AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp., Miami-Luken Inc., J.M. Smith Corp., Harvard Drug Group, Anda Inc., Associated Pharmacies, H.D. Smith Wholesale Drug, Keysource Medical, Masters Pharmaceutical, Quest Pharmaceuticals and Top Rx.

The state also is suing Cardinal Health, the nation's second-largest drug wholesaler, in a separate lawsuit.

In late October, Cardinal Health filed a legal brief with the state Supreme Court in support of the other drug companies' request to halt their case.

The Healthcare Distribution Management Association, a national trade group that represents prescription drug distributors, also filed a "friend of the court" brief, asking the Supreme Court to dismiss the lawsuit.

Morrisey was a lobbyist for HDMA, in Washington, D.C. He also represented Cardinal Health and other drug wholesalers before he took office in 2013. Morrisey's wife lobbies for Cardinal Health.

On Friday, Morrisey announced that he was stepping aside from the state's lawsuit against AmerisourceBergen and the 10 other drug firms. Last month, the state Lawyer Disciplinary Board suggested that he do so, to "avoid the appearance of impropriety." The board's investigative panel also dismissed an ethics complaint against Morrisey.

Morrisey stepped aside from the Cardinal Health lawsuit - a recusal he recently characterized as a "permanent screen" - in July 2013, seven months after taking office, according to the disciplinary board.

Also on Friday, Morrisey filed a lawsuit against McKesson Corp., the nation's largest prescription drug distributor. He did so without notifying the DHHR and the Department of Military Affairs, which had asked him to sue McKesson more than a year ago. The agencies aren't included as plaintiffs in the complaint against McKesson.

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

Big rig crash closes lanes on interstate

House and Senate Judiciary Committee members were divided Monday over two proposed changes to the state Ethics Act.

That included proposed legislation that would ban registered lobbyists from contributing to campaigns for statewide elected officials or for legislators, with some legislators concerned about loopholes in the proposal.

Several noted that the proposed bill would ban lobbyists and their spouses from making campaign contributions, but does not prohibit the lobbyists' employers from contributing - or bar lobbyists from hosting fundraisers.

"If this bill becomes law, a lobbyist could still hold a fundraiser and collect checks from his clients, so long as he did not make a contribution," noted Delegate Stephen Skinner, D-Jefferson.

Likewise, Sen. Robert Karnes, R-Upshur, said nothing in the proposed legislation would prohibit a lobbyist's employer from contributing to candidates.

"Have we really accomplished anything if he goes back to the boss and says, "Give to this individual and this individual?'" Karnes said of a potential lobbyist scenario.

"This has an enormous number of holes in it to accomplish its stated objectives," he said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Bob Williams, D-Taylor, questioned the proposed ban on spouses' campaign contributions.

"I don't know about everyone else's spouses, but my spouse has her own money and her own views," he said.

The joint committee ultimately endorsed the proposed bill on a split 19-10 vote.

Committee members delayed a vote on another proposed Ethics bill, to expand the definition of immediate family members under the Ethics Act.

Currently, the Ethics Act defines immediate family as spouse, dependent parents and dependent children. The bill would expand the definition to include non-dependent children and spouse's siblings.

House Judiciary Committee counsel Marty Wright, a former Ethics Commission attorney, said the change would mainly affect the Ethics Act's prohibition on public officials having private interests in public contracts by expanding the potential conflicts of interest among relatives.

Some legislators noted the change could pose hardships in small counties, which already frequently have to ask the Ethics Commission for hardship exemptions when there are no other viable bidders for public contracts.

"Nobody's going to be able to do business if a county commissioner has a large family," Delegate Larry Rowe, D-Kanawha, said of small, rural counties.

Rowe, a former member of the Ethics Commission, said the change could overwhelm an Ethics Commission that's already understaffed.

"The Ethics Commission already has about all it can do now," he said.

It was also noted that the bill does not change current law, which exempts family members of legislators from the prohibition.

Committee members postponed a vote on the proposed bill Monday.

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