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f.
The HINTON NE
n o me o f 00th°e t000,[o 00,ater0000F es t i va I
Volume 89 No. 40 Hinton, West Virginia Tuesday Jan. 29, 1991
25 Cents
Health Dept. Services/Hours Cut
By Fred Long
Funding shortages that almost
sent the County Health Department
into bankruptcy a year ago raised its
ugly head again last week forcing
the department to cut operating
hours by 25%, reduce services and
design a fee schedule in an effort to
keep the operation solvent, health
officials said today.
Theleal Board of Health, Thurs-
day, decided to develop a fee sched-
ule for various services offered by
the County Health Dept.; and, in
orde: to reduce salaries and prevent
a budget deficit, ordered the highest
percentage ofworkinghours cut from
the operation, health nurse Beverly
Carter said. =We have been at 90%,
then we went to 80%, and now we
are at 75% of operation. We keep
going down hill. Beginning Feb. 1
we will be closed every Friday and
the last Monday of every month3
The new hours of operation will
be in effect through June; however,
she said, none of the clinics offered
at the health department will be
closed in its entirety. The immuni-
zation clinic for children, which was
open every Monday, will operate only
on the 1st and 3rd Monday of the
month, and the blood sugar clinic for
diabetes, which was held twice a
mont-tci offered on the.first
Tuesday of each month.
"It's impossible for us to cram
100% service in only 75% time," she
said. "Fhe only reason that we have
been able to maintain 100% service
this long is because of the donations
we received last year. All we could
do is hope that things would get
better, but they didn't. I don't know
what this county is going to do. It
looks like Summers County is get-
ting hit with everything."
One year ago, because of financial
problems, the County Health De-
partment was forced to cut services
20% and begin a world-w41de plea for
help that netted close to $15,000 in
personal donations. =Now we are
back to square one," Carter said.
"We have been trying to hang in
there and keep the faith, but it is
getting hard."
Health services have been offered
free of charge throughout the his-
tory of the health department, Car-
ter said, but next month the local
Board of Health will be considering
a policy to implement a fee schedule
that, hopefully, will provide some
funding assistance for the purchase
of supplies. The fee schedule would
not go into effect until March 1, she
said.
In the last 12 months about 3,500
local residents received free immu-
nizations, pap smears and breast
examinations, tuberculosis and dia-
betes testing, blood pressure checks
and examinations for venereal dis-
ease. But many of these people,
Carter said, may stop coming when
they learn that the services are no
longer free. For a county that ranks
4th in the state for the highest rate
of breast cancer, second for diabetes
and number one in deaths due to
pulmonary .disease, she said, "this
worries me a lot."
"We haven't sat down with the
Board and workedout any feesched.
ule yet," the said. "The etate has a
fee schedule that they recommend
but some of them are awfully high.
You have to keep in mind that we
have always been a free clinic and
most of the people that come here,
come here because they can't afford
to go anywhere else: rm afraid that
a lot of the people that come here
CITY ELECTION APRIL 9
With no objections to a charter
amendment, City Council, lastnight,
named April 9 for the date of the
City Primary. The change in the
charter was in order to place a 60-
day gap, required by State law,
between the primary and general
' ..... ,. The only new person to
enter the race for the city election is
William It. Ballengee, Republican,
seeking a seat on the City Council.
-,dts have until Sat. to§le.
now will stop coming here."
What will this means for Sum-
mers County? =I feel we are going to
see the statistics get worse," she
said.
But County Sanitarian, Steve
Trail, said it more bluntly. =More
people will die."
The Atlanta Journal and
Constitution's analysis of mortality
rates state that Summers County
residents die from pneumonia and
influenza at three times the national
rate, from diabetes and lung disease
at 2 and a half times the national
rate, and from breast cancer and
heart disease at twice the national
rate.
On the whole, most working class
people here would stand a better
chance of living to old age in Bul-
garia or Czechoslovakia then where
they are now, based on their analy-
sis.
Although efforts are being made
=constantlf' for additional funding
through grant applications and foun-
dations, Trail said, nothing is guar-
anteed and the future for the depart-
ment isn't getting any better.
Earlier this month city voters
approved a special tax levy that will
provide the department with sup-
plemental funding for the next three
years. Funding from the levy will
begin July i and provide them with
about $3,000 a year, but at the same
time funding from the State will
drop $3,000, Trail said. "We appre-
ciate the fact that the people in
Hinton passed the city levy, but on
July I we are going to be just where
we are today."
The reduction in State support
had nothing to do with the levy
passing, but was due to a =loss in
county population based on the 1990
census," he said.
The problem with the state fund-
ing formula, Trail complained, is that
it is based on population and not
need. =Statistically speaking Sum-
mers County is at the top of every
list dealing with health related is-
sues. Here we are in a rural county
with all of these problems and we
have to close our doors on the people
that need help the most. Not only
that, the summer tourist season
brings in over 1,000,000 people along
with about 15,000 that live here 6
months a year. These people expect
service from our department too. In
Summers County the people lose
again. The only thing that we have
to look forward to is the hope that we
will be awarded a grant of some
kind."
A draw back to the grant process,
Carter said, is that it may not help
them. The last grant, she said, re-
sulted in them working part-time,
while employees under the grant
worked full-time.
"That's not going to happen this
time," Trail said. "We are going to
include office space, telephone, utili-
ties, everything that we think we
.......
Construction of New Wall Finished
can get money out of is in the appli-
cation." Trail said, hopefully this Construction of a new retaining wall to replace
would free up enough money so "we the one that collapsed in Oct. 1989 at the Hinton
can return to full service. If we don't Area Elementary school has been completed after
get some more funding from some months of work and delays. The $53,000 retaining
source, I'm afraid, with utilities and wall was built by the Bridge Division of the state
everything else going up, when July Dept. of Transportation out of Ronceverte, ac-
I gets here we will be at 60%, unless cording to county road supervisor, Bobby Joe
Maddy. Funding came from special money out of
something happens."
Charleston," he said. The 150 foot concrete wall is
in an "L" shape with one inch diameter steel
throughout. The base is buried in the ground
with a 26" thick sidewalk, which acts like a footer,
constructed over it. The wall rises to a height of
about 14 feet and at the top is 1if' thick tapering off
to 12 inches on the lower end.
T
State Rejects County High
.... i .... ! ...... i .... i ............ i ....................
School Building Plan
Board member, Bud Shanks, said of
the state School Building Authority
(SBA), and School Superintendent
Jim Tassos said failure to win SBA
funding is "a devastating blow for
the people of Summers County," that
has put a halt on school administra-
tors dreams of a new high school
building for grades 9-12 near the
vocational school.
"We were evaluated #1 in RESA
1," Board member, John Lilly, said
Thursday night at the meeting of
the School Board, pointing out that
the architectural firm that evalu-
atod the RESA 1 projects =said our
county has the best plan. I make a
motion that we have our attorney
pursue this to find out why the SBA
did not fund our plan and, if neces-
sary, take them to court and find out
why we weren't funded."
Shanks seconded and the motion
passed by unanimous vote. "Good!
Shanks said of what was the first
unanimous vote involving the new
high school and consolidation plan
to come from the Board.
Last August, after four meetings
and four split votes, the School Board
approved the building facilities plan
for a new high school which, also,
By Fred long
Although voted the top plan in
the 6 county Regional Education
Service Agency (RESA 1), Summers
County's plan seeking state funding
for the construction of a new high
school failed to gain financial sup-
port and school officials want to take
the state to court to find out why.
=It's nothing but pure politics,
Blue Star Of Hope & Pride
With the recent deployment of U. S. troops to Saudi
the idea of proudly proclaiming
' member is serving has been revived from a long
Blue Stars originated during WW I when families placed
a star for each member serving in the armed forces on a
service flag. During World War If, a smaller version of the
service flag was made by Valley Forge Flag Company in
Penn. Banners were displayed in home windows across the
until the war ended.
Unfortunately, the Blue Star of hope and pride did not
hang in the windows of America during the Korean and
Vietnam Wars. Since then perhaps the nation has learned to
separate the war from the warriors. Support for the men and
women defending the nation is a noble gesture regardless of
situation.
To this end, Blue Stars are again
beginning to reappear in homes
throughout America. The Casey M.
Jones Post 4500, would like to pres-
ent this banner to families here with
a Summers Countian serving in the
Persian Gulf as a part of Operation
Desert Storm.
The flags were made by Marie
Maddy and Shirla Ballard, both of
Hinton. Contact Veterans of For-
eign Wars, Casey M. Jones 4500,
nton, WV.
called for closing Forest Hill and
Pipe stem schools and the junior high
schools at Talcott and Sandstone.
The present high school, in Hinton,
would be convertedinto a junior high
middle school for grades 6-8. The
school system was seeking $7 mil-
lion for the project.
In what will probably be the last
round of funding from the state SBA
for the construction ofmedern school
facilities in West Virginia, Tassos
said, "it is a very great disappoint-
ment to be voted number one and
have two counties funded (in RESA
1) and not ours!"
The day before Gov. Gaston Caper-
ton had announced building projects
for the second round of SBA ap-
proved funding. Awardsin the RESA
I area went to Mercer and Monroe
county. Mercer County will receive
$8,811,585 and Monroe County,
$8,486,000 for the construction of a
new consolidated high school in each
county.
The school systems new attorney,
Kathleen Bayless of Princeton who
is also one of the attorneys for the
Mercer County school system, at-
tended the three hour meeting and
said the SBA should be able to show
justification for awarding funds.
=I just don't think we were treated
right," Lilly said. =The money is
awarded based on needs and what
county has a greater need than us."
Last year, in the RESA 1 area,
Tassos said, McDowell was voted
first, Monroe second and we came in
3rd. McDowell was funded. This
year Summers was voted first by
RESA I and ranked by the architec-
tural firm =very close, but just ahead
of Monroe County." Summers and
Monroe had the =greatest needs"
according to both evaluations. "The
money is suppose togo to the county
on a needs bases," Tasse com-
plained. =There is no question that
Summers County has the greatest
need in the RESA area. For us, this
a terrible, terrible disappointment."
=I'm probably just as disappointed
as Mr. Tassos," Board President Bill
Dillon said, adding that he didn't
think the interview he and Tassos
had before SBA officials earlier this
month aade a bit of difference. It
wasn't his fault or my fault."
The plan, Dillon said, was an
"excellent plan" that included every
On Jan. 18th the Hinton V.F.W. Post 4500 distrubuted Blue Star
Banners to parents of military personnel stationed in.Deert Storm.
The banner will be hung in the windows of the soldier's home.
These were handed out at the Summers County Support Group's
meeting which was held at the meeting hall in the First Baptist
Churoh in Hinton. The above presentation was made to Mr. Pat
Plumley, left, honoring Mr. and Mrs. Plumley's two sons that are a
part of Desert Storm. This program, on behalf of the VAz'W., was
made poible by Mrs. David Ballard and Mrs. Marie Maddy.
Making the pruentation on behalf of the V.F.W. is Mr. David
Ballard, an officer, in the organization. This pracAce was started
in World War I and continual thru World War H.
school in the county. "We were
number I in this area and we get
denied. It doesn't leave a good taste
in your mouth."
A 90-minute executive session at
the out set of the meeting resulted in
no action from Board members on a
recommendation from Tassos to close
schools in the county to bring em-
ployment figures within state fund-
ing requirements.
Calling it a =drastic proposal," but
one Tassos said, =I feel will have the
least effect on the educational sys-
tem in Summers County, Tassos
suggested closing Forest Hill school,
Pipestem school and Sandstone
school in its entirety, and the junior
high school at Talcott.
=Everyone in this county knows
that we are slowly going broke,"
Tassos said prior to making his rec-
ommendation. "We will probably be
in the red at the end of the year. I
don't see how we will be able to
balance our budget next year. My
feelings are that these cuts will have
to be made. We can't go into next
year over on personnel."
The proposal brought no com-
ments from any of the Board mem-
bers nor, to the surprise of some
people that attended the meeting,
did they return to executive session
to discuss the matter further.
Tassos told Board members at the
last meeting that state funding as-
sistance for employees salaries,
which is based on student enroll-
ment figures, would not be enough
for all the employees in the school
system next year. He said 10 profes-
sional personnel and 11 service per-
sonnel would have to be cut in order
to prevent a deficit and asked them
to give him some guidance.
Tassos said, closing schools in the
county =is one I hate to recommend,
but I feel in my heart thatit has to be
done in order to save the educational
system in Summers County3
Jennifer Sears, Hinton High
School Student Body President,
addressed the Board asking them to
consider =two long range goals for
the high school 3 After waiting over
two hours for her spot on the agenda,
Sears asked the Board to consider
replacing damaged bleachers in the
Perry Memorial Gym and the cur-
tains in the high school auditorium.
The Board took no action.