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The
HINT01'( NEWS
(Continuing he Hinton Daily Hews 8, The Weekend Leader)
Home of the W. Va.' Yater Festival
Volume 100 No.. 45
Hinton, West Virginia Tuesday.00=h. ! 2, 2003
50 Cents
Members of the newly formed Hinton Depot
Restoration Committee (shown on the front
row from left to right) are Debbie Darden
With the National Park Service, President of
the Hinton Woman's Club Betty Jo Basham,
Depot Restoration Committee Chair Betty
Giles, Director of the Hinton Railroad
Museum Dorothy Jean Boley; (shown on the
back row from left to right) are Richard
Segars with the National Park Service,
Hinton Historic Landmarks Commission
member Dwight Emrich, City Councilman
Bobby Wheeler, Joe Garcia with ManTech,
and Ben Borda with the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers.
Committee Organized
to Restore the Hinton Depot
By Chad Wykle
The City of Hinton is pleased to
announce the formation of the
Hinton Depot Restoration
Committee, a dedicated group of
volunteers that have agreed to work
diligently on the total restoration
and design future community uses
for one of the most prestigious
historic landmarks in Summers
County.
Over the past two months,
members have outlined both the
mission and vision statements that
will guide the overall work of the
Depot Restoration Committee
during the various phases of
preservation and redevelopment.
The mission of the Hinton Depot
Restoration Committee is to
facilitate and implement the
restoration of the Depot and to
: develop a master plan for adaptive
; reuse as a vital community facility.
The committee members envision
a regional destination that will
commemorate the railroad history
and unique culture of southeastern
West Virginia and celebrate Hinton
as the gateway to the New River
Gorge National Park.
Currently, the committee is
focusing in four primary areas:
t resource development;
i the restoration of the exterior
of the building;
I a cultural usage plan; and
I other economic development
strategies to ensure building
sustainability.
If you would like to contribute
either time or resources to the
restoration of the Hinton Depot,
please contact Committee Chair
Betty Giles at 466-1448 or Mayor
Cleo Mathews at 466-3255.
c"m'ntThis and That
By Fred Long
The unexpected death of Phil
Bagdon shocked me, but not nearly
as much as what happened
afterward. Phil and I had been
friends since 1996 and we had
worked together on a project to
publish my father's stories in book
form. No indication of any sickness
had been exhibited and then the call
came, around 9:30 p.m., he was
dead. At 10:20 p.m. I received
another call of an anonymous
nature. The male voice spoke softly
and calmly into the phone. "One
Down. Several more to go."; and
abruptly hung up. I recovered the
phone number, a U. S. Cellular
phone, and called 911 to make a
Establishment of Hinton
Community Distance-
Learning Computer Lab
The towering mountains
surrounding Hinton will become less
of a barrier this March as Mission
West Virginia, Inc., a statewide not-
for-profit organization, and a unique
group of southern West Virginia
partners unveil a distance-learning
and computer lab that will help the
community bridge the digital" divide
through the Internet.
The 15-computer lab is designed
to give people access to new
computers and the Internet while
providing an option for youth and
adult learners who would like to
attend college or continuing
education classes.
Now, through the use of distance-
learning equipment and
partnerships with several area
grqups, they can do so without
leaving their community.
."This is one of the main goals of
Mission West Virginia to use
technology to diminish the barriers
to education and skill development
which aIe so often caused by our
sta's geography, said Chris A Wood,
Exec:utive Director of Mission West
Virginia.
"With the help of forward-
thinking sponsors like the Hugh I.
Shott Jr. Foundation of Bluefield,
and other partn, ers including
Concord College, Summers County
Schools and the Southern West
Virginia Technology Association, we
are finding ways to overcome
isolation, promote communication
and encourage the development of
new ways of learning," Wood said.
The Hinton site is the first of two
Mission West Virginia distance-
learning labs iw southern West
Virginia provided by a grant from
the Shott Foundation. The second
site, located at Bluefield State
College, will be opened in the coming
weeks. Both sites are accessible to
the public.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the
new distance-learning lab has been
set for March 11 at 10:00 am at the
Summers County High School.
Additional information may be
obtained locally by calling Sarah
Brown at the Summers County
Board of Education or Jim Wallace
of the Southern West Virginia
Technology Association.
report. Patrolman Greg Adkins
came and took a statement. He said
Phil apparently died of a heart
attack. Heart attacks can be
induced. I assure you, after
receiving that call, and not knowing
what caused his death, my heart
raced. I took it to the prosecutor,
Jim McNeely. He didn't seem that
concerned, felt it was a prank call.
"It's just a misdemeanor," he said.
"Only one call was made," he said,
while going through the codebook
and telling me that using computers
to send a harassing e-mail
constitutes an harassing phone call
because e-mail is sent over the
phone lines. Irritated by his
seemingly lack of interest, I
informed him that I had given it to
the City Police, notified the FBI, and
I was now giving it to him. A
reasonable person would think the
County Prosecutor would be
concerned when a newspaper
received a call of this nature shorty
after the death of someone that his
caught the wrath of what Brian
Boyle called in his commentary "the
Anti-Mayors." A reasonable person
would also wonder why this call was
termed "just a misdemeanor?" The
charge against Councilman A1 Stone
in Magistrate Court was just a
misdemeanor. The charges against
Rex Cyphers in Circuit Court are all
just misdemeanors. The traffic
citation issued against Phil Bagdon
in Sept. by the City Police, and
carried with him till his death, was
just a misdemeanor. The bogus
traffic charge and DUI against me
by the City Police are just
misdemeanors. And the March
2002, unresolved charge of public
intoxication that was filed by City
Police against my driver when he
was preparing to go into his home,
is just a misdemeanor. Why is this
misdemeanor, if that is what it is,
different? Was this a personal
threat, or was this a threat against
the Mayor ofHinton, Cleo Mathews,
and Councilman A1 Stone? What
would a reasonable person
conjecture after hearing the words-
"One Down. Several more to go."
And what about the anonymous
"hate mail" sent to some that are
Continued on page 10
Hinton Railroad Historian Dies
By Fred Long
IIinton railroad historian, Philip
Vincent Bagdon, 50, was found dead
at his 6th Ave. home, Tuesday night,
of an apparent heart attack, police
said.
City police were summoned to his
home around 9 p.m. where they
found his body fully clothed slumped
over the computer at his desk.
Preliminary reports suggests that he
had been dead for at least 36-hours.
His remains have been sent to South
Charleston for a autopsy.
Bagdon, born in Alexandria, Va.,
Nov. 1, 1952, the son of Vincent J.
and Phyllis Bagdon, moved to
Hinton in 1'994 to continue a writing
career, that began in 1968 while
attending Fort Hunt High School in
Alexandria.
His commentaries in the Hinton
News made him a controversial
figure that sparked hatred for him
in some corners as he exercised his
First Amendment right to free
speech: "An acquaintance remarked
that she hadn't seen my column in
quite a while and asked what was
up," Bagdon said in a commentary
on Sept. 24. "I didn't get into the
cursing and physical threats from
last time (the truth about Mayor
Mathews' provoked some doozy
phone calls, let's say). Only noted
to this person: I had opted to "lay
low."
Bagdon received a traffic citation
shortly after this commentary hit
the streets for allegedly failing tO
stop at a stop sign and for carryittff
an unsigned registration card.
'q'his was the first such violation,"
he said in his last commentary on
Oct. 1, "received in my 34 years of
driving." The ticket was never
resolved by the court system.
"I was bitten by the Cass history
bug" in 1964 while on a vacation to
the State Park with his parents, he
once said. But the year 1971 was
the pivotal point in his life. "I had
just graduated from high school, and
obtained a summer job as reporter
and photographer with my mentor,
Jim Comstock at the West Virginia
Hillbilly. I had the summer job and
was preparing to enter college." It
was also the year of his first visit to
Hinton as a member of the safety
staff for the Collis P. Huntington
Chapter of the National Railroad
Historical Society, the New River
Train excursion between
Huntington and Hinton.
'rhe train's destination struck me
as almost mythical," he said in Oct.
2001. 'Thirty years have passed and
instead of heading for age 19, I'm
just shy of being one year away from
50. SeeingHinton for the first time
stands out among treasured
memories from the fall of 1971 when
the C&O history bug bit in a new
and wonderful way."
Bagdon earned a degree at West
Virginia Institute of Technology in
1976 (B.S. printing management)
Philip Bagdon poses next to
Cass Scenic Railroad No. 5,
with the first of his two
books. Photo by David Kinchen
and Was a member of Sigma Phi
Epsilon and Pi Alpha Psi (National
Honorary Printing Fraternity).
Following graduation, in 1976, he
worked a summer job at Cass Scenic
Railroad as a train commentator
and afterwards moved to New York
City to begin his career as a writer,
editor, graphic designer and print/
promotions consultant. He worked
for two national magazine
publications and also began his self-
employment business, Dog and Pony
Show Productions, holding down a
part-time job as a New York City
taxicab driver between
engagements.
In 1992 he returned toAlexandria
for a job position with USA Today,
leaving that position in 1993 and
after the death of his mother, moved
to Hinton.
In 1996 and 1997 he was
employed as the seasonal historian
at Cass Scenic Railroad and in 1998
assisted in Smithsonian Associates'
first study tour of Cass in 15 years.
He was the author of two
booklets: "Essential Cass: An
Overview of Cass Scenic Railroad
State Park" (color guide) and "The
Cass Roster: All-time Cass Scenic
Railroad Locomotives and Rolling
Stock" (detailed equipment
reference). He wrote two books,
"Shay Logging Locomotives At Cass,
West Virginia, 1900-60" and "West
Virginia's Last Logging Railroad
Meadow River Lumber Company."
He also provided articles for
-ginia Hillbilly,.
The Log Train; The Hinton News
and the Appalachian Regional
Commission's journal.- He also
served as managing editor for The
Log Train (Mountain State Railroad
& Logging Hi'storical Association's
quarterly journal).
He attended the Nazarene
Church and was a member of the
Mountain State Railroad & Logging
Historical Association.
He is survived by a distant cousin,
Jane Wait of Ashland, Va.
A memorial service will be held
at the First Christian Church,
corner of 7th Ave. and Temple Street,
at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22.
He requested that his remains be
cremated and the ashes spread at
Cass.
Attend Library Appreciation Day at the State Legislature
January 27th. was Library Appreciation Day Union, welcomed employees from Summers
at the State Legislature. Delegates Ron and Raleigh County Libraries to Charleston.
Thompson (D) Beckley; Sally Matz Susman Following the Floor Session the Members
(D), Beckley; Virginia Mahan (D), Green welcomed them to the podium for a different
Sulphur Springs and Gerald Crosier (D), view oft he House Chamber.
1 0000BAnnounce00 Senior Trz00t Officer
First Community Bank, N.A.
announced that Michael J. Earle has
recently joined the Trust and
Financial Services Division as
Senior Vice President, Senior Trust
Officer.
With one banking location in
Hinton, on Stokes Drive, Earle
comes to First Community Bank
from First Commonwealth Financial
Corporation in Greensburg, PA,
where he served as Senior Vice
President and Associate Counsel.
Earle has extensive experience in
the Trust area, and has also worked
in the fields of investment
management, auditing manage-
ment, and employee benefit services.
John M. Mendez, Chief Executive
Officer of First Community
Bancshares, Inc., said, "We are
pleased to welcome Mr. Earle to his
new position at First Community
Bank. His leadership experience
and managerial skills, combined
with his investing and financial
planning knowledge, will be of great
benefit to our Trust and Financial
Services Division, and will further
assist our delivery of the best in
financial services."
Earle is a graduate of the
University of Pittsburgh with a J.D.,
George Washington University with
an M.B.A. degree, and Rider.
University with a B.S. degree in
Business Administration. He is also
a Licensed Attorney in the state
of Pennsylvania.
Earle resides in Bluefield,
Virginia, with his wife, Mary Helen,
and their three children.