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(Continuing the Hlnton Daily News & The Weekend Leader)
of the W. V;
FestiVal
Volume 89 No. 10
Hinton, West Virginia Tuesday July 3, 1990
25 Cents
~'By Fred Long the Mayor's office with your calls
Hintofi has been virtually with- and letters in support of our cause."
outapolice force, with the exception Mayor James A. Leslie, Jr. said
of Hinton's Chief of Police, for the he did not know of any =pay dispute~
past four days because each member between him and the officers saying
has called in sick with a mysterious he believed the police officers =to be
illness, Chief John Plumley said professional people that would not
yesterday, leave the job unless they were really
=As far as I know they are sick,~ sick. The first time I've heard about
Plumley said. =None of them have a dispute over pay is now.~ But, he
talked to me." said, =if they are calling in sick and
City officers Cpl. B. B. Angell, notworkingbecausewegavethema
Ptlm. Jimmy Wills, Bruce McCallis- 3% pay increase and they don't like
ter and Fred Moody =have all called it. I'll begin due process proceedings
in sick daily to the dispatch center in the courts tomorrow to dismiss
since7amFriday,~Plumleysaid. "I them."
have been answering every call." Leslie said any allegation that he
All four officers, in a prepared and the City Council refused to work
announcement yesterday, corn-with the Police on pay increases =is
plained that the Mayor and City false. For several months we worked
Council reneged on a promised pay on a uniform pay scale for all era-
increase that has been a "dispute~ ployees that included years of serv-
between them and City Government ice, but that system didn't work out."
for over six months. Angell, when contacted last night,
Likewise, Cindy Cooper, City protection, Plumley said he could City is protected. If I need help all I
Clerk, said to her knowledge the see no difference. ~b~e had a person have to do is pick up the phone."
officer "didn't approach the Mayor breakoutawindowatMessersPhoto =I want to remind every body,~
or Council at any time as a group. I the other night that, for some un- Cooper said, "we have the Sheriffs
haven't heard any complaints about known reason, tried to steal two Department and State Police in
pay so they must really be sick.~ picture frames. I arrested them. I Summers County. Hinton is in the
As far as the City having police think that speaks for itself. Ifeelthe county."
Both departments have been
notified, Plumley .said, and will as-
sist if needed.
Plumley said he did not know how
long the other officers would be off.
Until then he said he would be tak.
ing care of all police emergencies.
July 2, 1990
To Whom It May Concern:
We, the undersigned, want to
address our situation to the citizens
of the City of Hinton of whom we
serve.
priate actions upon the part of the
Mayor and Council.
The plight of the Hinton Police
Department has been in severe
straits for several years. Over ten
years ago a patrolman made $4.19
an hour. Prior to July 1, 1990 a
Recentattemptsbetween the City patrolman made $5.19 an hour. The
police officers and City officials to lastpayraiseforpatrolmanto$5.19
reach an agreement have been effec- an hour was received when Mayor
tive; however, the City officials have Leslie took office seven years ago. It
failed to deliver their part of the was ex-Mayor Bill Humphreys'
agreement. We, the undersigned, administration that saw progressive
ministrativepositions. Forexample, ity is to serve'our families. A
a city fireman makes $6.25 an hour patrolman's average take home pay
compared to our $5.35 an hour as of is $250.00 every two weeks. One
July 1, 1990. patrolman hasmet the federal guide-
The City's response has always linestoparticipateintheFoodStamp
been based upon the lack of funds. Program. Still, itisnotourdesireto
The Police Department has fewer leave Hinton in search of adequate
officeres, no dispatch center, and a jobs.
reduc~on in other employees, as well A police officer's job i~ not always
as a reduction in other departments, pleasant nor appreciated. But those
This has resulted in a savings from time when we did respond to a call,
salaries and other benefits that the the citizens were grateful for our
City would have paid. We ask the presence. With approximately 5,000
=City officials have failed to de- saidheissickwithwhathethought cannot remain passive any longer, increa|meinmalaries. The financial location of the saved monies. We people residing in the City limits,
liver their part of the agreement," i~ a ~inus infection. ~I'~ve been sick . . ~In the ~Fall~ of 1989,. ....... Mayor~ ~ Leslie,:~ ~._~..~z.~t. for_~ ..~olice ~ ~ms wor~ .queetiet~th.~tureaofmonies there is one officer per t,000 people.
thefourofficerssayf,~We,~h~unde~;.~ offand on for the past three weeks,, w3th Councilman l~effer present, enedduringthelastsevenyearsdue into the purchase of properties and Now, the Chief of Police is alone
signed, cannot remain passive any he said. Last week Angell said he addressed pay raises for the officers to several reasons: theMainStreet Program. One City responsible for 5,000 individuals,
longer-~ worked almost 90 hours =and three by stating he would like to see us 1) City employees in the pastCouncilmembermadethestatement their homes and their businesses.
According to the officers, "in the of those days I was so sick I could equal or above a City fireman's sal-
fall of 1989" they began negotiations hardly move.~ He said he has been
for apayraise "equal or above a City in contact with his doctor and has a
fireman's salarf' which is 90 cents doctor's appointment scheduled.
more an hour. Police officers jobs =This is the first time that I ever
are =just as hazardous and impor- came down with somethinglikethis
tent,~ they write in the statement, in the Summer time.~ Although he
But they say "On Monday, June did say he signed the officers an-
18, 1990, the City police officers nouncement concerning pay, that
heard through the grapevine that had nothing to do with his sickness
only a 3% pay increase would take that is preventing him from work-
place July 1, 1990 across the board ing.
for all employees. We are hurt that Officers Wills, McCallister and
the l~yor did not have the courtesy Moody could not be reached.
to i~rt that knowledge to us per- Plumleyalso saidhehad noknowl-
sonally." edge of a pay dispute in the depart-
With a City population of about ment. =They have never presented
~5,000 =there is one officer per 1,000 any formal complaint about that to
people,~ the officers say. "Now, the me,~ he said. ~l'hey got a 3% across
Chief of Police is alone responsible the beard. The very same thing that
for 5,000 individuals, their homes everybody else got. They say they
and their businesses... We, the can't work because they are sick.
undersigned, needyourunderstand- Until I learn otherwise as far as rm
ing and support. We ask you to flood concerned they are sick.~
received free health insurancebene- that money from the General Fund, Responsibilities due to Summer
ary in that our jobs were just as fits. Currently, employeesmustnow whichisusedforPoliceDepartment tourism are not included in this
hazardous and important. Council- pay 50% of health insurance costs, salaries, was utilized to keep City survey.
manKefferagreed. The Mayor asked 2) City employees originally re- Sidetrack Park out of the red. We We, the undersigned, need your
ustowaituntilthelstoftheyearfor ceived a number of holidays with ask how many expenditures are understandingandsupport. Weask
pay raises, holiday pay. Currently, approxi- listedundermiscellaneousexpenses, you to flood the Mayor's office with
In January 1990, the situation matelyhalfoftheholidayshavebeen Ismoneythatcouldbe used for sala. your calls and letters in support of
continued with the Mayor statinghe cut out. ries being wasted? our cause. The City of Hinton has
was unable to work pay raises into 3)Cityemployeasoriginallycould TheMayorandCouncilareelected great potential. It is the City of
the budget at this time. He asked us accumulate sick days per year. All officials, representing the people of three rivers. It has significant his-
to allow him time to work pay raises sick days have been cancelled, the City of Hinton. We ask the torical impact. We are not asking
into the City budget which, would 4)ThePoliceDepartmenthasbeen citizensiftheyareawareofhowthey the sacrifice of Hinton's future to
take effect July 1, 1990. We agreed working understaffed for some time are being represented. Maybe it is meet our needs. But, we are asking
to wait until then. which resulted in officers working time you should start asking for an for a more realistic achievement of
On Monday, June 18, 1990, the more than 40 hours per week. Cur- accountability, goals. A City and its citizens always
City police officers heard through rently, all officers have approxi- In the past, when City Council need police protection of life and
the grapevine that only a 3% pay mately four weeks of overtime hours has voted on items which caused an property. Without this, there can be
increase would take place July I, accumulatedwhichtheCityisrefus- uproar within the city departments, no growth in future advancements.
1990acrosstheboardforall employ- ingtopay. Traditionally, thesehours the Mayor has left town thus avoid- All growth derives from a steady
ees. We are hurt that the Mayor did .wereusedfortimeoffwithpaywhich ingfacing the consequencesofsuch foundation. The police are there to
not have the courtesy toimpart that the Mayor is now refusing to honor actions. Once more, the Mayor has protect and maintain that founds-
knowledge to us personally, while this dispute is going on. He again left town to keep from dealing tion- which is the citizens of the City.
Pay raises were discussed at the has stated he would fight this in with adverse reactions, as WVVA. of Hinton. '.
June Council meeting at which time court for years to come before he TV found out Saturday, June 30,
pay raises were not an agenda item. would honor such requests, and reported on the eleven o'clock Thank You, "
The Chief of Police as our depart- It is our claim that inequality program. Cpl. B. B. Angell
mentheadwasnotifiedhispresence prevailsthroughouttheCitydepart- Our primary responsibility is to Ptlm. J. R. Wills
was not required at that meeting, ments based upon salaries within serve the citizens of the City of Ptlm. B. E. McCaUister i..
We deem such secrecy as inappro- the fire department and other ad- Hinton. Our secondary responsibil- Ptlm. F. W. Moody ~r
J
Will Rq
James Reed, owner ofthe Tobacco
Leaf building in Downtown Hinton,
said he will restore his building us-
ing Historic Preservation incentives
learned during a conference for
managing historic sites held late last
month.
Reed said he will use the federal
and state tax credits to off set the
cost to rebuild and will be meeting
with the state's Historic Preserva-
~ion Office and the Hinton Historic
Landmark Commission at the build-
ing next Monday to begin his reha-
bilitation process.
=That conference," Reed said,
=convinced me that this is the direc-
tion for me to go. I had a good
business on the corner and I want to
go back there. TbJ s will help me and
atthe same time it will be an asset
for Hinton.~
It will cost about $20,000 to re-
build, Reed said, but the 20% federal
Building
tax credit and 10% state tax credit
will return $6,000 to him cutting the
total cost to only $14,000.
Reed said he will not rebuild at
the former Hair Station location and
leave =this area vacant to be used as
a loading zone to prevent parking on
the street." The former office for
Nationwide Insurance is also ex-
cluded from the plans. =We plan to
repair this part of the buildinglater.~
The main building, he said, will
be returned closer to its original
design by removing the first floor
=mansard roof and wood aiding~
which will be replaced by a retract-
able awning and brick that will
match the original brick.
The building was gutted by fire
early May and suffered extensive
damage on the inside; however the
brick walls remained sound and are
repairable.
Ahospital management cornpany,
Appalachian Regional Health Care
(ARHC) out of Lexington, Ky., Thurs.
day night, entered into a three year
contract to manage the Summers
County Hospital, Norman Wright,
senior administrator for ARHC said,
and yesterday he announced that
the hospital does not have full time
emergency room coverage.
For the past week, or more, people
have been turned away from the
emergency room because no physi-
cians were working. This is a prob-
lem Wright said they will be trying
to correct by recruiting new physi-
cians for the hospital.
Wright, along with Kathy Bflskie
who will be working to recruit doc-
tors, arrived yesterday where both
will assume management responsi-
bilities until a full time administra-
tor is placed in the position.
"The contract includes placing a
full time administrator,~ Bilside said.
~W'e hope to place an administrator
here within two months.~
Wright saidin the meantime they
will perform those duties and ~nost
of the time she and I will both be
here ."
Any administrator, Wright said,
must be approved by the Hospital
Board of Trustees. ~We are here to financial problems that the hospita]
help as much as we can. We're not has been facing because they have
here to take over the hospital, but to encountered ~similar problems with
help the board, the employees and other rural hospitals.~ At this time
the community.~ the hospital does not have any
The financial terms of the con- ~emergencyroomcoveroge,~heeaid,
tract were not disclosed. =We don't and a doctor that specializes in sur-
mind telling you this," Wright said, gery is needed.
"but I would rather have this come qt is difficult to recruit physi-
from the president of the Board." clans to a rural area,~ Wright said.
Board president Lonnie Mullins "Kathy will be trying to do that. In
could not be reached, fact she already has a surgeon inter-
Both said they understood the eared in coming to this area.~
Nineteen hundred and eighty- 20.5 miles ofimprovemente.
nine was a record year for highway Statewiderecorde were also setin
improvements in W.Va., according the following areas:
to figures compiled by the Project .Roadresurfacing, approximately
Control Division of the Division of 2,458.71miles, costingabout$77.405
Highways. million.
A record 4,137 miles of improve- .343bridgesreplacedorimproved,
ments were brought about in 1989, $123.458 million.
breaking 1978'samountof3,879.All . Installation or improvement of
of this work totalled an estimated 690,000 linear feet of guardrail (
$293.4 million, which/ssignificantly more than 130 miles), $8.5 million.
less than the amoun~spent in 1978, . Interstaterenovation, almost$40
$381.1 million, million.
An estimated $2,439,000 was A comparison of the DOH's per-
spentin Summers County alone, for Continued on page 5
BILL DILLON
Senior member of the Sum-
mere County Board of Educa-
tion, John William "Bill" Dillon,
became president of the School
Board during a Statutory Meet-
ing held last night.
Dillon, a six year member and
former president of the Board,
was elected to the position fol-
lowing a motion hy Bill Matbews
and a second by nearly elected
member Charles Neely.
Both Dillon and Neely were
elected to a six year term on the
Board last May. Earlier in tlm
meeting School Superintendent
Jim Taasos administered the
Oath of Office to each of them.
Dr. Bill Mathews was elected
to serve as vice-president ofth0~
Board following a motion by
Dillon and a second from Nelly.