Tax Hike for Jim Jones

County Assessor Hikes Resident’s Tax Value.
Property Owner Alleges Selective Retaliation.

Morgantown, WV– A property owner claims his recent assessment and property tax hike is unfair. Well, most of us would be prone to think that. However, this particular tax increased from $300 to nearly $4,700, or over 1,500%. Also, it happened shortly after Monongalia county Chief Deputy Assessor Bill Perry allegedly offered to buy the property and was turned down.

Sentenced To Love

Wheeling, WV– For those cynics among us who say that romance is dead comes this heartwarming story of felonies, nuptials and… awkward irony.

On September 5, Mr. Kevin Felder robbed the Wheeling Island Convenience Store, an idiotic feat, especially for someone planning soon to wed. Well, the heist netted him $340, which would have been enough for a honeymoon in, say, exotic Youngstown or hire that DJ for the reception. Did I mention his bad decision was a violation of his probation? Probation resulting from a domestic violence trial involving his bride-to-be? Well, it was. Earlier this month, Felder was sentenced to 5-18 years imprisonment for his actions. But that’s not where the story ends, for there, inside the the Ohio County courthouse, love would rule the day!

The West Virginia Chronicles, Vol. 3: Coal Mining

Coal Mining. It’s hard to imagine what would make someone hunch over at the waist or even crawl on hands and knees through a hole dug into a mountain with dangerous, unwieldy machinery, all the while praying that you won’t end up getting a hand torn off by a “seam ripper”, flooded by runoff or crushed by a collapsing column of overhead rock. And, if that’s not enough to make someone up his life insurance benefit, there’s always the deadly gases that can cause violent explosions deep within a mountainside. Well, when you live in Mingo, Logan or Boone County (among others) in West Virginia, you know the answer to that. You do it because it might be the only opportunity you might have to make a living and provide well for your family. Some geographical areas of the State are sustained– economically, at least– almost exclusively by the mining industry. Sure, you might work as an X-Ray technician, railroad track supervisor or grocery clerk, but your job is still tied to to coal mining, directly or otherwise.

The West Virginia Chronicles, vol. 2: Bad Rap/The Gilligan Connection

West Virginia is the butt of many a redneck joke. Personally, I don’t see it. Those stereotypes are based on dispatches to newspapers in New York, Philadelphia and Cleveland a century ago when field reporters were covering labor skirmishes and family feuds for sensational headlines. Besides, for my money, people in Maine and Upstate New York know a whole hell of a lot more about being redneck than Mountaineers do.

Still, West Virginia’s reputation for being weird is not fully unwarranted. Astronomically fucked-up things happen there regularly–things that sound like Onion stories that were somehow picked up by legitimate news agencies that weren’t paying attention. For instance, Gilligan used to live in WV–or, Bob Denver, the guy we know as Gilligan, anyway. Yes, after the wild success of Gilligan’s Island and Dobie Gillis, he settled near Princeton and started a computer business and radio station.

Now here’s where the weirdness comes in. A few years back, Gilligan went sideways of the law.

The West Virginia Chronicles, Vol. 1: Defeated by WV

It’s a small, intriguing territory known for coal, chemicals, college football, skiing, rafting and killer cannabis. I’m talking about West Virginia. Some of you may have driven through Charleston and seen the office towers and gold-leaf dome on the state capital building. Some of you may live in the peaceful, largely-affluent D. C. suburbs around Martinsburg. Some of you may have saved up for a getaway at the four-star Greenbrier resort. These areas of the state are largely-progressive, economically-viable and diversified. They have decent schools, well-surfaced roads and, most importantly, hope. But the lower coalfields, which begin in the southeastern suburbs of Charleston and go right down to the Kentucky and Virginia state lines, are quite a different story…and it’s a story I know well.