In Around West Virginia today: ending homelessness, a random shooting, opposition to the "West Virginia Religious Freedom Restoration Act," and more.
n While police say most murders involve people who know one another, police say a man was killed in Beckley over the weekend in a random shooting. Beckley Police say that Charmaine Kent, 25, and Christopher Jones, 21, both of Columbus, Ohio, are wanted on murder charges in the death of 21-year-old Chante Shivers, according to The Register-Herald. "This is a rare type of crime for our area because it appears that there is no motive," Detective Morgan Bragg said.
n Habitat for Humanity of the Eastern Panhandle will build its first fully compliant Americans with Disabilities Act home. The Journal reports that Mike Unger will live there with his son, Shane, who has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair. "God's had his hands in this," Mike said Tuesday, as they signed the paperwork. "I want him to have access to move around and to be independent. I'm not always going to be here. I told him, 'I want you to have a place to call your own.'"
n A WVU instructor wrote a blog post for the Huffington Post opposing the "West Virginia Religious Freedom Restoration Act," a bill that supporters say aims to "restore" religious freedom but gives people who oppose civil rights ordinances and same-sex marriage the ability to argue the law doesn't apply to them. Daniel Brewster said intolerance is one reason West Virginia loses its young people to other states.
"If this bill passes, any West Virginia citizen or visitor to our state can be refused service by restaurants, bakeries, movie theaters, hotels, ski resorts, white water rafting companies, but they can also be refused service by doctors, nurses, EMTs, pharmacists, funeral directors, etc.," he wrote. "Furthermore, an employee could also sue their employer if the business/business owner forces them to serve these individuals against their will."
n For the first time, Marion County volunteers are searching the whole county during an annual count of the homeless, not just Fairmont, WBOY reports. During the Point in Time count, volunteers walk the streets and check abandoned homes in order to determine how many homeless people live in the area. The count affects funding for homeless programs.
n The director of the now-closed Miracle Meadows School in Salem would agree to plead guilty to to three misdemeanors to end the case against her, according to The Exponent Telegram. Susan Gayle Clark, 69, of Pennsboro, would plead guilty to misdemeanor child neglect creating substantial risk of harm, misdemeanor failure to report by a mandatory reporter and misdemeanor obstructing law enforcement, according to her lawyer.
Reach Erin Beck at erin.beck@wvgazettemail.com, 04-348-5163, Facebook.com/erinbeckwv, or follow @erinbeckwv on Twitter.