Sunday, May 11, 2014

IT AIN'T PRETTY -- CURRENT STATE OF THE COUNTY!



11 MAY 2014, Vol.1, No.48 > IT AIN’T PRETTY – CURRENT STATE OF THE COUNTY!

The POCAHONTAS CRIER
‘When the Righteous succeed the people rejoice,
But when the bad govern, men groan!’ – Proverbs 29:2
[New Email address: pocahontascrier88@gmail.com]

IT AIN’T PRETTY – CURRENT STATE OF THE COUNTY!

Has anyone wondered just WHY those living in Elkins in Randolph County to the north, and those living in Lewisburg in Greenbrier County to the south, all seem to be thriving with Progress & Prosperity – while the over-whelming majority living here in Pocahontas County – in the middle – are living in Poverty & Pauperism? The comparison is appalling!  Is it because Randolph & Greenbrier have fewer Senior Citizens on a ‘fixed-income’?  NO!  Is it because they have fewer employees on ‘minimum-wages’?  YES!  And is it because those counties have more modern conveniences – like Cell-Phones & Broadband – than we do?  YES!  A drive through Elkins, or Lewisburg, explains it all – compared to a drive through Durbin or Marlinton!  Seeing is Believing!  Like it or not, Deny it or not, the ‘STATE OF THE COUNTY’ at the present time is DEPLORABLE…and getting worse by the day!  IF ONLY folks in this county had been wise enough to KEEP THE RAILROAD between Elkins & Lewisburg!

Randolph County has ITS OWN county development authority that caters to the needs of its Citizens – does Pocahontas County?  NO!  And while Greenbrier County is linked into the cursed ‘Greenbrier Valley Economic Development Corporation’ (GVEDC), a private-corporation allegedly serving Monroe, Greenbrier & Pocahontas County – the bulk of its efforts is in GREENBRIER COUNTY – to the point that the GVEDC claims it has to build a ‘bigger-parking-lot’ for itself – while the least of its efforts for ‘development’ is here in Pocahontas!  Besides, in Lewisburg there is a strong ‘business association’ that takes care of itself independent of the GVEDC unlike here in this county where the Chamber of Commerce is a hand-puppet of the GVEDC and does about as much for Pocahontas County as the GVEDC – which is nothing!  Here in Pocahontas, the GVEDC takes all our county-rental-income – about $250K a year – back to Greenbrier for its own private ‘corporate-use’ – but it doesn’t touch the funds of Lewisburg as it does here from both the County Commission & Marlinton – so the GVEDC theft & plunder of Greenbrier County is not as noticeable as it is here!  That’s why we wallow in Poverty & Pauperism while others around us thrive!

A COUPLE OF CASES IN THE PAST

As stated several times, our dear-ole Phillip Cain – once president of the First National Bank (FNB) before it was ordered sold by the Federal Banking Commission for its nefarious activities – was on the Pocahontas Development Authority (PDA) when it first formed over 25 years ago and one of his first acts was to transfer about $128K of federal funds earmarked for Cranberry Glades to the PDA.  Norman Lee Alderman was a county commissioner at the time and stopped the illegal transfer.  Then along came the ‘Dean-Callison Group’, i.e., Summers Dean & Joel Callison, et al., with relatives on the BOD of the First National Bank, and they allegedly bought the former Denmar State Hospital for $20K (that’s all they could prove they paid), and sold it back to the State of West Virginia seven months later in excess of $770K.  Selling 'Denmar' was supposed to be money for the COUNTY – and that’s why THE POCAHONTAS CRIER has labeled Phil Cain as the ‘titular-head’ of the Pocahontas County ‘Poverty Preservation Society’ (PPS) since he’s been grabbing what he can for over three decades so far – taking as much as possible FROM those of low-income and transferring it TO the rich & infamous in the county – starting with ‘you-know-who’ first!  

But while always masquerading as favoring ‘economic development’, it was the same Phil Cain of the FNB & PDA, along with Dana Moyers as a county commissioner, and Jerry Dale as county sheriff, that went to the late Carlos Jones and forced Carlos to ‘lock-out’ & prevent Patti Heinemann from operating her new Durbin Sewing Works in a vacant building that Carlos had in Durbin that once housed a dress-making business.  For over three-months Carlos & his wife encouraged Patti to move her sewing enterprise from Edray to Durbin.  So The Durbin Sewing Works’ began making T-Shirts for a silk-screen company, employed 15 workers @$5 per/hour when the ‘minimum-wage’ was only $3.50 in 1993, and Patti offered free health insurance after 3 months – and she was training 15 more women for a second shift whose husbands were truck drivers and didn’t return home until after midnight!  Since no other businesses in the county were offering $5.00 p/hour wages, let alone ‘health benefits’, and since many of the county business owners sat on the BOD of the FNB – Phil & Dana & Jerry all came and told Carlos to ‘lock-out’ Patti and stop her new business in Pocahontas County – or Phil’s bank would accelerate the mortgage on Carlos & put his ‘OMT-Mart’ out-of-business!

The irony is that since Carlos did ‘lock-out’ Patti, she in turn contacted the U.S. Department of Labor, and within 24 hours a representative was here interviewing Patti and all her employees, and then made Carlos & Eagle Point Sportswear pay in excess of $8000 in wages to all the employees, plus Carlos had to take all the sewing machines & equipment back to Charlotte, North Carolina, from whence it was being leased-purchased!  So much for economic development under Phillip Cain in Pocahontas County as the ‘titular-head’ of the Pocahontas County ‘Poverty Preservation Society’ (PPS)!  A further irony ensued as Dana Moyers was removed as a county commissioner by public petition, when he stood trial before a three-judge panel; and Jerry Dale as county sheriff was removed as a witness in the second trial of Jacob Beard, for giving false-testimony in the first trial.  Beard was accused in the Rainbow Killings – upon his acquittal in the second trial, Beard received in excess of $4-Million for his time incarcerated & the false charges against him.

Why mention this now on the eve of a county commission election?  Because at least TWO CANDIDATES know first-hand the dirty-tricks, deception, and outright ‘Lies’ told by those within the ‘Poverty Preservation Society’ who want to keep things as they are for themselves – with a handful owning everything at the expense of everyone else!  But these (greedy) ‘codicioso-bastardos’ don’t seem to realize a second after their last-breath – they can’t take anything with them!  In fact, in ‘Dante Inferno’, he consigned banker/usurers to the Seventh Circle – the very bottom – along with blasphemers & sodomites!  Check it out:

Release from debt was revolutionary in Biblical times because it took power from the hands of rulers and became a sacred popular commandment.  Deuteronomy directed that the laws on cancellation of debts be read aloud in public every seven years, so that the population would know that they were to be freed from bondage, this at a time when anyone unable to repay a debt became a slave…[but since banker/usurers hated freeing people of debt]…the Biblical tradition of canceling debts was lost.

The ancient law in Exodus that forbids the charging of interest on a loan to a fellow Israelite was breached when the Israelites came in contact with a wider world.

Thus, in Deuteronomy, interest was permitted when dealing with a foreigner - identical to Islamic practice.  Thereafter, outside our Christian tradition, usury was forbidden by Aristotle and Mahomet, and within it by St. Thomas Aquinas and Dante. 
When Virgil takes Dante on his tour of Hell, the poet looks on the shades of usurers seated with the Sodomites on the burning sand.  An old commentator observed that the Sodomites and usurers are classed together because Sodomites ‘make sterile those natural instincts which should result in fertility, while usurers ‘make fertile what by its nature is sterile’, that is, they make money ‘breed’ when it should not.” 
< http://martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/dec2008/dante-usury-hell.html >

Our County Records shows that Commission Candidate, Norman Lee Alderman (Rep-SD), fought against the GREED of Phil Cain, the PDA & the GVEDC and won when he was a former commissioner!  And Commission Candidate, Patti Heinemann (Dem-ND), also knows firsthand when she brought new ideas, cottage-sewing-employment, and a sewing-enterprise to Durbin, before the same PPS shut it down for fear of economic competition!  Now Norman & Patti are working as a TEAM & if ELECTED will make a Positive Difference for this county starting in January 2015 at the first meeting of the new county commission!

NOW LOOK AT THIS RECENT SCENARIO

The PPS has had a dream since 1986 to build an ‘earthen-dam’ on the Greenbrier River about 3 miles north of Marlinton, flood the valley from there to just south of Cass, wipe-out 174 farms, cut down all the trees & enrich themselves as set forth in a special report written for them in 1987 by K.W. Poore Associates, Richmond, Virginia.  That report created the GREENBRIER VALLEY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (GVEDC), on which Phil Cain has his dirty fingerprints, as well as the GREENBRIER INVESTMENT CORPORATION (GIC), on which Joel Callison finds his dirty handprints!  When the Denmar State Hospital became such a scandal, both Phil Cain & Joel Callison jumped from the PDA to the GVEDC and have remained there for the past two decades so far.

Those within Marlinton calling for a ‘dam’ were opposed by two – three times as many others outside of Marlinton that DID NOT WANT A DAM – nevertheless the question of feasibility lingered for the past three decades to the point that the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers finally said that building a dam would NOT be feasible since the cost would exceed $150-Million for an area (Marlinton) worth less than $10-Million (before the FIRE)!  It’s all about COST-TO-BENEFIT-RATIO!  Nevertheless, the State Legislature set aside about $8-Million should a ‘floodplain-wall’ around Marlinton ever be undertaken!  Such a plan would destroy 40% of the current buildings (prior to the fire) since the ‘Wall’ would be 15’ – 17’ high, 14’ across at the top & 60’ – 70’ wide at the base!  The dirt was to come from the saddle in the mountain behind Stillwell Park as a new opening for Knapps Creek.  BUT the dirt is mostly SHALE and thus not feasible!

So the $8-Million just sat there until last summer when the State Legislature took it back to cover the short-falls for various state-government-agencies – but left $500,000 in place to assist Marlinton pursuant to its FIRE!  Yeah, that’s what was intended UNTIL our very own Phil Cain & the GVEDC found out, GOT HOLD OF THE FUNDSand redirected the $500,000 to Boxley in Mill Point for their stone-quarry expansion!  You all remember Ike Morris of Boxley, don’t you?  Isn’t he the same one that wanted to BLOW-UP BROWN’S MOUNTAIN in Minnehaha to mine dangerous ‘Silica’?  Oh, but his best buddy, Walt Helmick, now has a water bottling facility in the same area – following the same suggestion raised in the 2002 commission campaign!  And since WATER TRUMPS DIRT – Morris took over the Mill Point stone-quarry from former State Senator Mike Ross and Boxley is now expanding thanks to Phil Cain, David Fleming & William Beard, Jr. – all happy members of the GVEDC, – as for the folks in Marlinton – WELL, what can we say:  ‘Money trumps Poverty every time when its in the hands of the GVEDC – for themselves, of course!’

We here at The POCAHONTAS CRIER only have one question, “Was Bill Beard, as a member of the GVEDC, made a member of the board of Phil Cain’s Pendleton Bank, BEFORE or AFTER the $500,000 was given to Boxley instead of going to Marlinton?”  After all, both Fleming & Beard, Jr. are board members of the GVEDC, along with Phil Cain & Joel Callison and some other erstwhile & ersatz residents of this county!  Come to think of it, let’s take a look at the current crop of candidates for county commission:

For the Northern District:

            PATTI HEINEMANN > has a Masters Degree in Public Administration, experienced, and has set forth 15 POINTS, as Steps, to restore Pocahontas County to Progress & Prosperity – including making Bottling Pure Water the #1  Business for Pocahontas County for all those with Natural Spring Water on their land – and first & foremost, FIRE THE PCSWA, END ALL LAWSUITS, EXPUNGE ALL JUDGMENTS & LIENS, & EXEMPT all persons on a ‘fixed-income’ as allowed by State Law!  And as for Snowshoe Mountain Inc. (SMI), let them pay for their own new sewer-treatment-facility since they created the problem, keep all the profits, and give little back as ‘minimum-wages’!

            DAVID FLEMING > In six-years what has he done for this county?  NOTHING but peripheral window-dressing, nothing of substance!  He has never mentioned a word about the massive & illegal lawsuits filed by the county solid waste authority upon hundreds of county landowners!  But he has DECEIVED us all as to where he actually lives – in the Central District – not in the Northern District as required by law!  And like father, like son, after David divorced his wife & three children, he moved in with Tom Shipley in the Central District – then Fleming filed FALSE CHARGES against Norman Lee Alderman, editor of The POCAHONTAS COMMENTATOR, after Norman inquired at a public meeting as to an actual address & telephone number since NOT EVEN THE COUNTY CLERK had any record as to how to get in touch with Fleming; let alone all those within Green Bank angered over Fleming agreeing IN SECRET to give the GVEDC public-land so the GVEDC could give it to Jacob Meck in a ‘99 year lease’ that placed ALL LIABILITY upon the Citizens of this county – and then have Meck not pay any property-taxes for his seven business fronts!  Fleming claims he ‘enjoys listening’ yet ignored over 300 signatures opposing his giveaway of public-land to the GVEDC!

Last, but not least, as a member of the GVEDC, Fleming  along with Bill Beard voted to give the $500,000 of state-funds allocated to Marlinton following the FIRE, instead to Boxley at Mill Point!  Yet another ‘dumb-idea’, while on the commission, Fleming & Bill Beard voted to GRANT A WAIVER to the Marlinton City Council so they could GRANT A WAIVER to allow a local business destroyed in the FIRE to BUILD AGAIN WITHIN THE FLOODPLAIN, instead of above the ‘floodplain-mark’, as required by law, and now EVERYONE in Marlinton will have to pay HIGHER INSURANCE RATES!  How’s that for listening to Folks with an ‘open ear’ as Fleming claims?  

            DAVID McLAUGHLIN >  A small farmer who would like young-couples to rent farms from Senior Citizens, but then does not explain how monthly rent can be paid whether growing crops or raising livestock while waiting until the one month at ‘Harvest Time’ – as if a small farm can make one year of expenses in one month!  As to other issues, he has only copied what others have either posted or said on public forums.  In private discussions, po’-David is ‘clueless’ as to the Duties & Responsibilities of being a county commissioner!     

            KENNETH ‘BUSTER’ VARNER > Claims to already have ‘MULTIPLE-JOBS’, logging, construction, restaurant & several franchise businesses, etc.!  Currently a member of the Chamber of Commerce that supported six-open-pits to hold upwards to 50,000 gallons EACH of raw-human-toxic-sewage plus a ‘tank farm’ with 100,000 gallon storage tanks – right across the road from the Green Bank Senior Center & Community Medical Center!  Then claims he wants to ‘protect our Health & Safety’!  He also wants US-Citizen-Taxpayers to build a new sewer treatment plant for Snowshoe – even though Snowshoe Mountain Inc. (SMI) ships over $50-Million out of this county each year in profits!  Is that why the Slaty Fork folks are receiving ‘sewer-bill-estimates’ in excess of $300 per/month tied in with SMI & Durbin?

Buster claims to be a ‘Past Master of Masonic Lodge #124’, plus a ‘Shriner’ at the same time claiming to be a member of a ‘Christian Church’!  Isn’t each degree in Masonry a different ‘priesthood’ in the ancient fertility cults, and are not those in the ‘Eastern Star’ the ‘Daughters of Isis’ of ancient Egyptian mythology?  We wonder what Jesus would do!

Lastly, Buster was a member of the POCAHONTAS COUNTY SOLID WASTE AUTHORITY (PCSWA) and Buster voted to SUE HUNDREDS of his neighbors for not paying what the PCSWA calls a ‘mandatory assessment green-box fee’ – whether you use it or not – contrary to existing State Laws – and the PCSWA refuses to exempt folks on a ‘fixed-income’ for fear of losing money although MANDATED BY STATE LAW!  Does this sound like a person that would put THE COMMON GOOD before his own SELF-INTERESTS or those of SPECIAL INTERESTS if he could make a buck or two?  We didn’t think so either!

     
For the Southern District:

            WILLIAM S. ‘BILL’ BEARD, JR. > A Cattle farmer fortunate enough to have a contract with a corporate meat packing company – thus has a market outside of the Marlinton livestock auction.  While on the county commission Bill has never inquired as to why as much as one-third (1/3) of all property-owners in this county are being sued by the PCSWA, county solid waste authority! 

As a member of the GVEDC, like Fleming, Bill too voted to give the funds allocated to Marlinton instead to Boxley at Mill Point – as if Boxley needed the funds as much as Marlinton!  Like Fleming, Bill also voted to GRANT A WAIVER to Marlinton so Marlinton City Council could GRANT A WAIVER to the owner of one of the stores destroyed in the fire TO BUILD AGAIN WITHIN THE FLOODPLAIN – and thereby RAISE THE INSURANCE RATES FOR EVERYONE ELSE IN MARLINTON!  And then we wonder why this county is steeped in Poverty & Pauperism!  Following the 1996 Flood, FEMA offered funds to relocate the entire town to higher ground – but guess who objected the most?  Yep, the same ‘titular-head’ of the ‘Poverty Preservation Society’ and then look at the miserable shape that Marlinton is in now – compared to Lewisburg or Elkins – Ah, but the GVEDC needs a new ‘parking-lot’ – in Greenbrier County!

            SHAY HUFFMAN >  Comes as a candidate with 40+ years in Community Service as a Nurse & Midwife who has delivered hundreds of babies to the women of this county!  Where are those children now?  Don’t ask, since most have moved away for a job that pays a little more than ‘minimum -wages’!  Really, who wants to work at Snowshoe for ‘life’ since no one really retires from there anyway – some even got terminated in their last month before retirement, remember?  Besides SMI is the lowest paying ‘resort’ in the whole ‘Resort Industry’ – and just wait until ‘magnanimous -Donald Trump’ takes over!  Meanwhile, Shay, like Norman & Patti, has more than any other candidate, offered plenty of Common Sense solutions to the problems facing this county at this time!  And Shay has placed a great deal of emphasis upon Seniors & Children Causes – especially since the ‘Radical Republicans’ in the State Legislature did away with ‘Meals-on-Wheels’ for shut-in Senior Citizens!

            SARAH (BURT-KINDERMAN) RILEY > A ‘Real-Harvard-Drama-Queen’ and then some, having claimed to have ‘conquered’ Harvard in Drama!  Perhaps she should be in stage & theater after all for her self-adulation at the public events during this campaign.  Her claim to fame is being, along with her mother, an ‘executive director’ of the High Rocks compound that caters to a handful of young- women only, at any given time, yet has received over $275,000 from the county commission for the past six-years under Fleming – and over $155,000 in 2013 & 2014 combined thanks to Fleming & Beard – yet the High Rocks compound also claims to have a budget in excess of $750K from various groups & ‘limousine-liberals’ who like such novelties & fantasies! 

However, short on details, Sarah’s proposed polices are simple clichés, rhetorical, and non-existent while continually calling for a ‘wait & see’ procrastination – taking no stand has become her position!  Since the High Rocks compound gets FEDERAL GRANT FUNDS – Sarah may soon find out that she is in violation of the HATCH ACT which forbids anyone working for any NGO that receives federal funds from engaging in ‘politics’ – and that may also include her father, Gibbs Kinderman, who reportedly has been making phone calls on her behalf, but not giving his name – albeit his ‘voice’ is recognizable from his time at radio station, WVMR!  If indeed she’s in violation of the Hatch Act, then Sarah’s boasted career of using the four-year term on the county commission as a ‘stepping-stone’ to the WV House of Delegates, and beyond, may be doubtful indeed!  Perhaps she should become a ‘stand-up-comic’ at the Marlinton ‘Opera-House’…as an added ‘tourist attraction’ for the county!     

               

In closing, as this campaign for county commission comes to a close for the PRIMARY ELECTION – the Choices we make to restore a Moral & Righteous local government is more crucial now than ever before since this is the first time in our lifetime that we can elect TWO CANDIDATES at the same time and thereby directly effect the direction of this county beginning in January 2015! 

Of all the candidates, only TWO, NORMAN LEE ALDERMAN (Rep-SD) and PATTI HEINEMANN (Dem-ND) have as early as January 2014 set forth 15 POINTS, as Steps, to bring this county OUT OF Poverty & Pauperism and BACK INTO Progress & Prosperity!

The fight for SOCIAL JUSTICE is never-ending – and those that fight are always ‘Brothers-in-Arms’!
May Our Creator Bless your Choices according to what is deserving for Righteousness Sake!
  
THAT’S WHY…

THIS TIME…there’s no excuse…
 IT’S YOUR CHOICE…
TO CHANGE FOR THE BETTER!

Just say ‘NO’ to those who want to keep this county in Poverty & Pauperism
– and –
Just say ‘YES’ to real Progress & Prosperity for the future!

On Primary Day – YOU have a chance to elect two persons that will always put YOU first!  They know that:

THE GREATER COMMON GOOD ALWAYS COMES BEFORE SELF OR ANY SELF-SERVING SPECIAL INTERESTS!

Keep up to Date – Stay tuned to these Websites:




  IF YOU are registered to vote as a Republican, you can
       Vote for Norman Lee Alderman in the Primary Election
       on 13 May 2014;
  IF YOU are registered to vote as a Democrat, you can
      Vote for Patti Heinemann in the primary election on
      13 May 2014;
  If you are registered to vote, but with no party
      affiliation, then you must request Loud & Clear either
      a Republican or Democrat ballot on Primary Day when
      you go to the polls;  &
  Since Norman is unopposed, he recommends that you 
      request a Democrat ballot to vote for Patti so that this 
      county can again have an Honest & Just county 
      commission!
   Early Voting is from 30 April 2014 to 10 May 2014 – so
       Vote Early & avoid the rush!

The Pocahontas Crier is an independent Internet News Service that has so far endorsed two candidates for County Commission
       one a Republican & the other a Democrat   
in addition to providing in depth news reporting on important issues directly affecting the Citizens of Pocahontas County!

Email comments & suggestions to: pocahontascrier88@gmail.com  
[Our apologies for any & all inconveniences for NEW EMAIL]

If you wish to financially assist, kindly send all campaign contributions to: The United Campaign for County Commission (UCCC), c/o Citizens for Common Sense Alternatives (CCSA), a registered Political Action Committee, 7837 Wesley Chapel Road, Green Bank, West Virginia 24944-9063 
Phone: 1.304.456.4565 or 3282 (also fax)

[The Pocahontas Crier is part of The Crier Coalition of Internet News Services comprised of The Pocahontas Commentator, The Pocahontas Crier, Signal Fires of WV, Rolling Thunder &  Echoes from the Holl’r.]


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