Woman sexually assaulted

Police in Richwood are investigating a possible sexual assault of a woman. The name and age of the victim, and further details of the investigation are not being released at this time. According to police, the incident occurred on Saturday Aug. 14th, sometime after the Cherry River Festival.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun Learning

Anne Greynolds, Infectious Control Awareness Nurse explains hand washing to 5 year old Madison Johnson at the SRMC Back to School Bash that took place on Tuesday, August 17 at New Life Chrisian Academy.

 

 

 

 

 

Nicholas County students show

improvement on WESTEST2 scores

The West Virginia Department of Education in the past few years has established higher learning standards and measures of student success. These higher measures are necessary to ensure all students graduate from high school and are prepared to be the future leaders of our county, state and nation. The rigor of teaching and learning has taken a steep climb upward with students and teachers expected to rise to the occasion. This climb parallels alignment to national and international standards. Nicholas County Schools has been and is making that steep climb.

The Nicholas County Board of Education and Superintendent Beverly Kingery have released measures of student success for 2009-10. Attendance, discipline, dropout rate and academic achievement are collective contributors to student success.

Nicholas County Schools reports improvement in all areas for the past school year.

The West Virginia Department of Education requires 95 percent average daily attendance. Nicholas County students attained a 97.26 percent daily attendance rate.

Individual school attendance in Nicholas County Schools ranged from 95.84 percent to 99.15 percent. County discipline referrals decreased in 2006-2010 from 4,671 students per year to 1,997 and discipline suspensions from 893 to 585 students per year. From 2007 to 2010, the number of high school dropouts inclusive of grades 9-12 decreased from 87 to 52 students.

The world is changing, and so is West Virginia’s educational system. For our students to be successful in this global economy, the West Virginia Department of Education increased expectations of student performance on the WESTEST2 the past school year. This more challenging content and higher expectations result in more difficult assessments, including WESTEST2. With this said, lower student performance scores throughout the state occurred on these more rigorous test this year and is projected to continue this trend the next few years. Thus the academic challenge for a county is increased.

Results on the West Virginia Educational Standards Test 2 (WESTEST2) show improvement in both reading/language arts and math. These results reinforce that the tough and hard decisions our schools make daily to assure students are college and career ready when they graduate from high schools are paying off. Students must master more of the rigorous curriculum than on previous measures of success to become college an career competitve.

 

 

 

 

 

Deputy sheriffs, county

employees request pay increase

The Nicholas County Commission on Friday, Aug. 27, heard a request for a pay increase from deputy sheriffs and non-civil service employees.

The Commission also contributed $5,000 to a water extension project in the Mount Nebo area, opened bids for a new emergency radio communications tower, approved a request for office space for an additional probation officer, heard a request for two additional vehicles for the sheriff’s department and appointed a person to the Nicholas County Parks and Recreation Commission.

Present for the meeting were Commissioner Birl O’Dell and Commissioner Dr. Yancy Short. Commission President Spurgeon “Jinks” Hinkle was unable to attend due to a prior engagement.

The meeting was held in one of the witness rooms near the Circuit Court room due to early voting being held in the Commission meeting room for the Special Primary Election for U.S. Senate on Aug. 28.

Salary increase requests
Nicholas County Sheriff Wetzel Bennett and Chief Deputy Bo O’Dell came before the Commission as a follow-up to their previous requests for a salary increase for deputy sheriffs. They sad they had been advised in the spring to come back and make the request again in August.

The Commission took no action on the request and said they would not make a decision on the request unless the entire Commission was present.

County Clerk Wanda Hendrickson advised the Commission that county employees who are not deputy sheriffs would like to request a salary increase of $100 per month.

She said if non-Civil Service employees do not receive a $100 per month increase, they would like a $50 per month increase on the off years that they do not receive their automatic increases with years of experience.

The Commission took no action on the request and said all three commissioners would take the matter under consideration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richwood Council holds short meeting

Maxine Corbett
Richwood Editor
Richwood’s Common Council sat in regular session on Aug. 19 with little in the way of business to conduct. The only item on the agenda, other than the standard citizen and Council concern agenda portions, was an update on the sewer project.

On that subject, Mayor John McClung said much reclamation work had already been done, including in the areas of the main city park, Johnstown, and the area near the river bank across from the high school. He said Mendon crews would be going up the opposite side of upper Oakford Avenue as pipe installation nears completion.

It is necessary for the crews to install a 12-inch additional line, needed to efficiently separate all surface water from wastewater. After this pipe work is completed, paving will begin, then the remaining reclamation work will be done. When questioned, the mayor said, after inspection, if needed, reclamation will include repair to two sidewalks areas reported as disturbed in Johnstown.

Mayor McClung stressed, “We are not finished in the Johnstown area although we have already done reclamation work there.”

Next came comments from Police Chief Shane Boggs. He said he thought the Cherry River Festival had gone well, with only one incident in the Monday to Friday time period. He said, “All went downhill from there.” Chief Boggs then reported on an incident in which a juvenile took one of the city police cars.

He said the juvenile would be charged with joyriding and had been removed from parental custody.

“At three a.m. we had three incidents going on,” Boggs reported. He then spoke of an alleged rape which he called “nasty” and “scary.” The chief said the city officers were receiving assistance from the West Virginia State Police and from the Drug Task Force. Retrieved evidence is at the State Police Lab and the city is waiting for results of the forensics collected. He added it is suspected the person who committed the alleged rape “is not local.”

Boggs said the officers are working on seven felony cases and six will soon be going to trial. He said an earlier, additional reported rape was easily solved and was not related to the latest incident. He stressed that Sheriff Wetzel Bennett has provided support and manpower on the rape case.

Mayor McClung said, “I personally thank the chief and the Police Department. I think they did a good job with the Festival. He is doing a good job as chief.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magistrate Court cases

William David Weese pleaded guilty to shoplifting. He was fined $50 plus $160.80 in court costs and ordered to pay restitution of $50.

David Lee Wright pleaded no contest to battery of a police officer. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail with six days credit given for time served and the remaining 24 days suspended. He was given one year of unsupervised probation, fined $150 and ordered to pay $160.80 in court costs.

Robby Ray Holcomb pleaded no contest to battery of a police officer. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail with six days credit given for time served and the remaining 24 days suspended. He was given one year of unsupervised probation, fined $150 and ordered to pay $160.80 in court costs.

William Hayward McCourt pleaded guilty to possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. He was sentenced to 90 days home confinement and ordered to pay $160.80 in court costs.

 

 

 

 

 

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