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The
HINTON NEWS
(Continuing the Hlnton Dally News & The WNkend Leader)
I
Volume 97 No. 15 Hinton, West Virginia Tuesday July 27, 1999
Home of the W. Va. Water Festival
40 Cents
City Manager Resigns /
Former City Manager Rehired
By Fred Long
.:Hinton's newly hired city
ager, Brenda Bentley, after less
+tha+n two months, resigned earlier
this month and former city manager
Cindy Cooper was rehired to the
position Thursday night at the
+ regular meeting of the City Council.
Bentley,aid yesterday she
+ 'resigned on July 13 following a 20-
+minute meeting with Mayor James
Leslie where, she said, he began
.'ranting and raving at her and
• %lamming his hand on the desk"
when she questioned him about a
me+too she had received from him
earlier.
",ii had reque_ted the meeting,"
• etley said. "I just wanted some
i clfication," she said, about the
memo that ordered her not to
alate any city money without the
i MaYor's approval. "I wanted to
k/row if he felt I had been doing
tlat."
' eslie denied the allegation
' sa'ng the meeting lasted only "five
' minutes" and at the conclusion "she
+simply resigned. I believe the
iting was handled professionally
bloth ofns. If you have ever seen
"m'desk it would be hard to find a
pl to beat on it."
"We did not have a professional
+' meeting," Bentley said.
According to Bentley, Leslie
accused her of a number of things,
including not beJ.ng able to get along
with the other employees, not
having any communications skills
and arriving late for work.
Bentley said she had never had
anyprior altercation with Leslie and
the attack, she said, was
unpected. Ie wouldn't let me say
would pound his hand on the desk
screaming 'don't talk over me! I
don't want to hear this!"
She said this went on for about
20-minutes. "Finally I stood up and
said 'I'm sorry that's not me, its
never been me. I can't work like this.
I'm going to quit. This is exactly
what you have wanted from day
one."
Bentley was hired during an
emergency meeting of the City
Council on May 25 when Cindy
Cooper, after working for the city for
almost 14 years, resigned
unexpectedly on May 18.
Bentley, of Nimitz, had been hired
by a 3-2 vote with Leslie and
Councilman Larry Meador voting
against the motion. Leslie said his
vote against hiring her was nothing
personal, but he had someone else
in mind and was surprised when the
Council voted to hire her.
Bentley said following her
altercation with the Mayor s"ne was
so upset that "later that afternoon I
talked to an attorney." She said the
attorney advised her to return to
work the next morning. She said she
returned to City Hall and "left a
message on my desk saying I would
be back to work the next day."
But the next morning, she said,
"any trouble with anyone" at
I-Iinten's City Hall until the morning
of July 13.
"I made absolutely no accusations
towards her," Leslie said. "I thought
we had a very professional meeting."
Leslie said she requested the
meeting with him, in writing, and
after explaining to her that no
department head is authorized to
allocate any city money she became
upset when he made a comment
about her working relationship with
other city employees.
After making that comment,
Leslie said, "she stood up, and said,
'you have my resignation.' She went
to the door, opened it, and said, 'you
have my resignation and I think that
your staff has been very unfair to
me.
After that +he said she took an
hour to organize her desk in a neat
pile, with her keys on top, and left
the building.
Leslie said her employment got
off to a bad start to begin with
because of the 3-2 vote, but he was
trying to work with her and didn't
understand why she was making
these accusations. "If I'm made to
look the bad guy so be it. It's one of
those things."
Cooper was called back to City
the police chief met her at the door Hall to.helpmake the payroll and
and would not let her enter the
building. He handed her a letter
from the Mayor that stated that he
had accepted her verbal resignation.
"He just decided that he wanted
to get rid of me, + she said.
Bentley said she had worked in
the city clerk's office in Hampton, Va.
for seven and a half years without
any altercation and had resigned
voluntarily to return to Summers
was at the meeting Thursday night,
Bentley's resignation was accepted
and Leslie recommended that
Cooper be re-hired to the position at
an annual salary of $29,500 with no
break in her employment, thereby
allowing her benefits to continue as
if she had never resigned.
"Cindy is a great employee,"
Leslie said. "She does a great job.
I'm sure glad she was willing to come
ng. When I tried to talk he County. She said she didn't have back/
History of Pipestem Ruritan
By Charles Russell Keaton others. The club also received many
Guest Columnist donations from the generous people
!Phis ia brief history of the in and around tlfis community. As a
PJ estem Ruritan Club for the result we now have property worth
b efit of those people who have in excess of $200,000.00
m ed into the Pipestem area in the Although several people made
p thirty years, large donations to this project, there
'he Pipestem Ruritan Club was is one person whose name I want to
o mized in the year 1966 by a large mention in particular. She is Mrs.
gx of civic minded men from the Louis Tincher Spangler, the widow
.Pie+ stem area who were interested of John Spangler of the True area.
in,aaking their community a better After donating a large amount while
ply+ to live now and down through she lived, she left a generous gift of
the'years. Many of these men have $5,000 in her will. This gift enabled
n+oy passed on to their reward, the club to almost finish our
,'The club's purpose was to create building. The club was most
fe+']wship, goodwill and community grateful for that donation. Mrs.
ce. For the first few years we Spangler died on February 26, 1984.
h our monthly meetings in the There were also thousands of
Pistem School Building. Each hours of work donated to this
mthly meeting consisted of a meal project.
Wllich was prepared by different All money and labor donated was
laes groups of the different with the understanding that the
chmhes in the community. Pipestem Ruritan Club could not sell
ollowing is a list of some of the it or any part of it, but that it would
s the club has accomplished in always be used as a community
on to helping those who were center and recreational complex.
in ied in the community money Two of the clubs long range
: worked for and received better programs was to restore and
'c service, telephone service, maintnin the old log church on River
• ved road conditions, mail route Ridge as a historical place and to
sea, vice, beautification projects, organize the Pipeetem Volunteer
red and maintained the old log Fire Department.
h on River Ridge, cleaned up When the Pipestem Ruritan Club
t+emetery and built a monument organized the Pipestem Fire
atile grave of Drewry Farley, who Department, many ruritan
?born about the year 1760 and members beeame fire fighters. Iwas
v'was said to be the first white one of the charter members of the
to settle in this area. It was fire department and in later years
he lived under a rock diffwhile served as its president for several
heWas building his house. Many years, 1996 being my last year.
r civic projects were completed. The first few years was a struggle
.In the early years the Pipestem as we had one old pumper truck
Rttritan Club also invisioned a which was donated to us. The
community playground for the Ruritan Club gave the fire
: have a place to play and department much support.
a'unity center building where After the Ruritan Club purchased
family groups and others could meet. a tract of land on March 13, 1972
in addition to all the other and later constructed the
, we started raising money community center building, they
a community building and permitted the fire department to use
tional complex. Some of our it "RENT-FREE" for the past 25
f-raising projects was to raise years. For several months the
s corn, potatoes, trawberries, electric bill was shared by the fire
€fiand sold fire wood, sho0 dat and the ruritan club.
Christmas tree pse we. the until •
sr auction sales, sugar cane and few years ago when it was agreed
i + ++. + :
that the fire department would pay
the electric bill and the ruritan club
would pay for mowing the grass and
snow removal. The yearly cost was
about the same. The arrangement
worked well until the Fire Chief,
Doug Houchlns died and a new fire
chief was elected.
The new chief set up one of the
fire department members a living
quarters in the newly constructed
part of the building without the
permission of the fire department,
or the knowledge or approval of the
ruritan club who owns the building.
This building was not designed
for or was safe for living quarters.
The upper floor was not finished,
there were no lights in the stairwell
creating a very unsafe condition for
the fire department member and a
liability for the Pipestem Ruritan
Club.
The ruritan club objected to this
arrangement and ordered the
Pipestem Fire Department to move
him out. After about three months
and the man had not moved out,
after many requests to do so, the
president of the fire department put
a notice on his door saying he had
until a certain date to move out or
he would be charged with
trespassing. This got results but also
started the present trouble between
the firsdepartment and the ruritan
club. As a result, I am no longer the
president of the fire delmrtment.
At a business meeting of the fire
department on October 8, 1996, Lee
Bennett, the new fire chief, made a
motion for the fire department to
buy a tract of land and move out of
the ruritan building. The motion
was seconded and passed. They did
buy a 3/4 acre tract of land near the
Country Inn on Route 20 for
$8,125.00.
I, as president of the fire
department at that time, asked for
and received peon for the fire
department to stay in the Ruritan
building until they could build a
building, or up to one year.
The Pipestem Ruritan Club
that they could stay under
Continued on page 2
the Grand Jury, Tuesday.
Bruce Andrew Cole, 35, of Hinton,
was indicted on four counts of
delivery of a controlled substance,
marijuana. Twice to a confidential.
informant, on Feb. 5th and 19th, and
twice to an undercover police officer,
on Feb. 19th and March 25. The
inlictment was returned on the
testimony of Trooper First Class J.
C. Miller.
Cello Fleshman, 71, of Forest Hill,
was indicted on three counts of
delivery of a controlled substance,
hydrocod0ne, and one count of
conspiring to deliver a controlled
substance. According to the
indictment deals were made with a
confidential informant on Aug. 3,
1998, Aug. 31, 1998 and Sept. 30,
1998. The indictment was returned
on the testimony of Trooper First
Class J. C. Miller.
Lisa Fleshman, of Forest Hill,
was indicted on one count of delivery
of a controlled substance,
hydrocodone, and one count of
conspiring to deliver a controlled
substance, on Sept. 30, 1998 to an
confidential informant. The
indictment was returned on the
testimony of Trooper First Class J.
"C. Miller.
Richard L Yancey, 42, of Hinten,
was indicted on one count of
possession of a controlled substance +
with intent to deliver, marijuana,
and conspiring to deliver a
controlled substance on Jan. 1, 1999.
The indictment was returned on the
testimony of Assistant Hinton Chief
Bobby Cases.
Bobby "Pee Wee" Galloway, of
Hinton, was indicted on one count
of conspiring to deliver a controlled
substance on Jan. 1, 1999. The
indictment was returned on the
testimony of Assistant Hinton Chief
Bobby Cases.
Can Mehmet "Johnny" Crawford,
22, of Hinton, was indicted on one
count of possession of a controlled
substance with intent to deliver,
crack cocaine, onAug. 14, 1998. The
indictment was returned on the
testimony of Hinton Chief Timothy
Adkins.
Lori Ann Richmond, 34, of
Alderson, was indicted on eleven
counts of embezzlement. According
to the indictment, between April 26,
and May 22, 1999 she allegedly
embezzled $6,188 from Greenbrier
Nurseries while employed as a
Claude Johnson Scholarship Winner
Hinton Area Foundation Board of Directors announced
recently that Bret Crowder is the 1999 recipient of the
Claude Johnson Memorial Scholarship. Bret will receive
$500.00 to assist in his college education. Shown above at
the presentation of the scholarship are Bret Crowder and
Ann Gore, Hinton Area Foundation Board Member.
BOE Drafts 3-year Levy
By Fred Long
A workshop meeting with the
county school board, Tuesday,
resulted in a three-year levy
proposal that will go before the
Board for an official vote on Aug. 5.
The proposal is almost identical
to the one placed before the voters
last November and defeated by
51.7% ofthevote. It would generate
an .estimated $677,065 each of the
three years and, if approved, take
effect on July 1, 2000.
According to the proposal,
extracurricular and cocurricular
programs, including athletic
transportation, would receive
$70,000 from the levy each of the
three years. To eliminate student
door-to-door fund-raising and
provide for classroom and
instructional supplies the levy would
provide $90,000 each of the three
years.
The levy would provide $40,000
each of the three years to cover
school administration costs which
includes, for example, phone bills.
To pay the cost of substitute
personnel, $100,000 is allocated in
the proposed levy for each of the
three years.
The Summers County Public
Library and West Virginia
University Extension Service would
share $35,000 each of the three
years and to help pay for the
operation, maintenance, repairs,
capital outlay and security devices
for all the schools $342,065 is
included in the proposed levy for
each of the three years.
On change is the removal of the
Summers County Health
Department from the levy call. The
school system now provides most of
the services and staffthat the health
department once did.
New to the proposal is security
devices for the schools. This would
include surveillance cameras,
special door locks and door alarms.
A tentative date for the election
is Nov. 20.
bookkeeper. The indictment was
returned on the testimony of Senior
Trooper A+ S. Reed.
Donna Thombleson Gonzalez and
Jacques Gonzales, both of San
Antonio, Texas, were each indicted
on two counts of concealment of a
minor child from a person entitled
to visitation in Sept. 1996. The
indictments were returned on the
testimony of John Thombleson.
Morris Small, age and address
unknown, was indicted on one count
of obtaining money by false
pretenses in Nov. 1998 on the
testimony of Senior Trooper A. S.
Ree
Timothy M. Midkiff, 33, of
Hurricane, was indicted on one
count of obtaining money by false
pretenses in Jan. 1, 1999 on the
• testimony of HintonAdmnt Chief
Bobby Cales.
Bonnie Joe Fortner, 39, of Talcott,
was indicted on one count of child
abube resulting in bodily injury on
March 20,1999. The indictment was
returned on the testimony of Senior
Trooper S. Reed.
Thomas J. Chewning, 45, of
Hinton, was indicted on one count
of third offense drunk driving. The
indictment was returned on the
testimony ef Hinton Assistant Chief
Bobby Cases.
CORRECTION
In the Tues. July 20th. issue of the
Hinton News "Join The Parade"
article stated that the Little Miss
Bluestone Dam Celebrates
5Oth Anniversary
Fifty years ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers compelted the
Bluestone Dam on the New River. This year as part of the West Virginia
State Water Festival, an open house and other activities are being planned.
Bluestone Dam has long provided recreational opportunities and
enhanced fishing and boating/raRing - both onthe lake and downstream.
Since completion, the dam has also prevented $1.5 billion in flood damage
that'plagued Kanawha Valley.
Three of the more obvious benefits of the dam are Bluestone Lake,
Bluestone State Park and the Bluestone Wildlife Management Area.
Bluestone State Park features 25 fully equipped cabins (open year-
round), 87 tent/trailer campsites, beat rentals, swimming pool, hiking trails
and accessible fishing pier.
Working in association with the Army Corps of Engineers for the
anniversary celebration are the City of Hinton, Summers County
Commission, West Virginia Water Festival, Summers County Chamber of
Commerce, Bluestone State Park and Bluestone Wildlife Management Area.
For more information on anniversary events, you can call Water Festival
President Ralph Wilson at 466-5155.
i :!i
!i
Appalachian Wrestling Alliance tag team champions, The
Atomic Blonds (Joey Morton and "Bad Boy" Tony Perdue),
Mermaid Pageant would be held at will appear at the Hinton National GuardArmory on Sunday,
the Summers County High School. Aug. 1 as pro.wrestling comes to Summers Count3 Five
The +is slated to be held matches have been scheduled for the day with the first
at Central Baptist Church in beg/nningat 3 pm.
downtown Hinton.