http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/index/ Gilmer County, WV en tellus@gilmerfreepress.net Copyright 2013 2013-05-21T07:45:09-05:00 http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/gsc_criminal_justice_summer_camp_being_planned/ http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/gsc_criminal_justice_summer_camp_being_planned/#When:06:45:09Z With summer just around the corner, final preparations are being made for the annual Glenville State College Criminal Justice Summer Camp. The four-day event will take place June 24 through June 28, 2013. Organizers say it is a perfect opportunity for students in grades eight through twelve to get an in-depth look at what goes on at crime scenes and in the criminal justice system. “The 2013 Glenville State College Criminal Justice Camp will teach the students a basic understanding of crime scene investigation. Hands-on activities will allow them to process a crime scene, develop suspects, and prosecute the suspects in a mock court proceeding.” said GSC Center for Criminal Justice Studies Lab Director Ron Taylor. Other activities include observing real-world cybercrime investigations, using of state-of-the-art forensics lab, and processing evidence for fingerprints. In addition, the camp will conclude with a trip to the Huttonsville Correctional Center where students will get a chance to view a real parole board hearing in process. Taylor says the camp is popular because of criminal investigation shows such as NCIS and CSI that draw a large number of people to the television each week to witness crime scene investigations and crime solving skills. “Students attending the camp will have the opportunity to experience what they see on television first hand,” said Taylor. Tuition is $350 and will cover food, housing, camp supplies, and the field trip. To register or for more information, contact Taylor at Ronald.Taylor@glenville.edu or 304.462.3090.   Community, Gilmer County, Glenville, Education, Events | Announcements, Activities | Announcements | Registrations 2013-05-21T06:45:09-05:00 http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/glenville_mayor_allman-duval_will_not_seek_third_term_as_mayor/ http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/glenville_mayor_allman-duval_will_not_seek_third_term_as_mayor/#When:06:44:47Z Community, Gilmer County, Glenville, Events | Announcements, Activities | Announcements | Registrations, Politics | Government | Election, Local 2013-05-21T06:44:47-05:00 http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/wv_receives_federal_approval_on_education_flexibility_waiver_nclb/ http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/wv_receives_federal_approval_on_education_flexibility_waiver_nclb/#When:06:44:41Z The West Virginia Board of Education has received a stamp of approval from the U.S. Department of Education on a proposal seeking relief from certain provisions of federal education law. The West Virginia Board of Education and West Virginia Department of Education sought permission from the U.S. Department of Education to free West Virginia public schools from certain federal rules and deadlines so the state may focus more on improving learning and instruction. Those rules fell under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as the No Child Left Behind Act. The waiver allows West Virginia to use its own accountability system to more effectively identify struggling schools and to efficiently direct resources to struggling schools. “This is an exciting time for education in our state,“ said Governor Earl Ray Tomblin. “Quality education is the doorway to a vibrant, healthy economic future for our state. The flexibility schools now have will allow them to focus on achievement and improvement so that all students are prepared for college and career success.“ The U.S. Department of Education developed the flexibility process in 2011. In exchange for flexibility, states must show detailed plans for preparing all students for college and careers, targeting federal aid to students most in need, and pushing for better evaluation and support of teachers and principals. The state Board of Education submitted its waiver request in September 2012 in collaboration with several education stakeholders, including the West Virginia Governor’s Office and teacher organizations. “With this approval, we believe our schools will have the flexibility they need to increase the quality of instruction and enhance student achievement,“ said West Virginia Board of Education President Wade Linger. “Our plan gives schools, especially those struggling with low performance, the ability to focus on continual improvement in every classroom and at every programmatic level.“ The ESEA Flexibility Waiver provides West Virginia with the flexibility needed to fully implement the Next Generation Content Standards and Objectives. The request also allows for the establishment of a high-quality accountability system that values individual student academic growth, supports schools, and expands the Educator Evaluation System pilot. The request still holds schools accountable for student achievement results but shifts from a large number of schools not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress to a smaller number of schools flagged for targeted support. As part of the new West Virginia Accountability Index (WVAI) proposed in the ESEA Flexibility Waiver, schools will fall into five rankings: priority, support, focus, transition and success. Schools identified for targeted support will receive resources and support from various entities, districts, Regional Education Service Agencies (RESAs), WVDE and others as appropriate. “While we are excited about the opportunities that gaining flexibility gives our schools, we know the hard work is just beginning,“ West Virginia Superintendent of School Jim Phares said. “Our goal is to ensure that all West Virginia students graduate from high school truly prepared for college and career success.“ Education, Events | Announcements, Activities | Announcements | Registrations, Politics | Government | Election, State-WV 2013-05-21T06:44:41-05:00 http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/hawaii_preschool_bans_teachers_assistant_from_eating_homemade_lunches_in_fr/ http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/hawaii_preschool_bans_teachers_assistant_from_eating_homemade_lunches_in_fr/#When:06:44:32Z A teacher’s assistant could be excluded from school because she brings in her own homemade lunches. Every day Carissa Lee O’Connell’s husband lovingly prepares organic food for his wife, who suffers from severe nasal allergies. But Hawaii Kai school has told the 24-year-old she must stop eating her own food in front of the children at lunchtime. Rick O’Connell, age 53, says that since he started making the healthy organic lunches for his wife four months ago her allergies disappeared. While her allergies may be gone, Mrs Lee O’Connell has started to have trouble sleeping after a warning from KCAA Preschools of Hawaii, where she has worked for the past year. ‘I definitely haven’t slept well and I can’t really focus on my work all the time because I’m always thinking about what my director might see, and how she’s going to use that against me,‘ Mrs. Lee O’Connell told KITV4. The teacher’s aide was given a verbal warning about her lunches In April, but last week she received written notice saying that if Mrs. Lee O’Connell continued to defy school administrators, she would be summarily fired. ‘I really enjoy being with the kids, having fun and seeing them every day,‘ Mrs. Lee O’Connell said. ‘They’re making me eat my lunch away from everybody else just because my director feels uncomfortable about the situation.‘ Christina Cox, president of KCAA, which has seven preschools in Oahu, said the teacher’s assistant was allowed to eat homemade lunches during her paid break, or when the children are having a nap. She said the school was trying to create a family setting during lunch, where teachers and staff tell the children about the food being served. The preschool prides itself on its school dinners, which have been praised for ‘best practices’ in nutrition by national accreditation standards and the USDA Child and Adult Care Food Program. It adds on its website that children and staff are offered a varied menu that caters for vegetarians and those with food allergies. Mr. O’Connell believes his wife is being targeted unfairly by the preschool, which takes tax dollars through the USDA Child Nutrition Program. ‘Her tax dollars can go into a programme that [children] are being fed with, but she can be ostracised for eating a certain way to maintain her health,‘ he said. ‘She’s got a choice to either keep her job, or keep her health. That’s just a horrible choice for anybody to have to make.‘ Mrs. Lee O’Connell fears she may lose her job after sharing her story with the media. OddlyEnough™ 2013-05-21T06:44:32-05:00 http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/honoring_ems_responders_during_national_ems_week/ http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/honoring_ems_responders_during_national_ems_week/#When:06:44:31Z This week, our nation honors emergency medical service (EMS) professionals for their dedication to public service. As the HHS assistant secretary for preparedness and response, I know how important their role is in disasters. As a primary care physician, I know how important their work is every day. People rely on EMS in disasters and other public health emergencies, as well as for personal emergency care. We know that our health care system must be ready at a moment’s notice to respond to threats to the public’s health. Time and time again, disaster after disaster, EMS responders across the country have risen to that challenge, whether the community is impacted by a hurricane, wildfire, flood, bombing, chemical plant explosion, or pandemic flu. In recent disasters, we have witnessed EMS responders providing triage on the scene in Boston after the bombing, helping evacuate nursing homes in New York state after Hurricane Sandy, and caring for injured or ill patients as they were transported to hospitals in Texas after a plant explosion. Dozens of EMS responders give their lives every year in the service to our communities and our nation. Those who remain continue to take pride in being the people we can depend on even in difficult and dangerous situations. To become better prepared, the nation is moving increasingly toward building coalitions bringing together EMS providers, public health agencies, hospitals, nursing homes, dialysis centers, health care providers, home health agencies, emergency management agencies, and local businesses. EMS is a critical partner in our health care system, so I encourage EMS professionals to take an active role in helping communities forge and strengthen these partnerships. Given the regular interaction EMS responders have with these organizations in the community, EMS is uniquely positioned to bring potential partners together to plan for and minimize the impact that disasters have on health. Disaster response and recovery requires a whole community working together. It’s one mission, one team. EMS is a crucial part of that team, there when every minute counts. Events | Announcements, Greetings | Thank You | Congratulations, Holidays | Occasions, Living, Health, Politics | Government | Election, USA 2013-05-21T06:44:31-05:00 http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/county-by-county_unemployment_rates_tell_the_story_april_2013/ http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/county-by-county_unemployment_rates_tell_the_story_april_2013/#When:06:44:22Z West Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined four-tenths of a percentage point to 6.6% in April 2013. Unemployment rates declined in 52 counties as well. Two counties, Pocahontas and Monongalia, reported increasing unemployment rates, while Jefferson County reported no change in the monthly rate. Three counties reported an unemployment rate above 11%. These included Pocahontas (11.3%), Clay (12.2%), and Webster (12.7%). Three counties recorded an unemployment rate of less than 5%. These included Pendleton (4.9%), Jefferson (4.3%), and Monongalia (4.2%). County Total Unemployed   Unemployment Rate APR-13 MAR-13 APR-12 APR-13 MAR-13 APR-12 Braxton 510 580 520 9.1% 10.3% 9.2% Calhoun 270 340 280 9.8% 12.0% 10.4% Doddridge 180 210 190 5.6% 6.6% 6.1% Gilmer 190 210 210 5.7% 6.4% 6.4% Lewis 450 510 470 5.4% 6.2% 5.7% Ritchie 270 320 280 6.1% 7.3% 6.4% WV 53,100 57,500 57,100 6.6% 7.2% 7.1%     County Total Nonfarm on Payroll   Goods Producing Employees   Service Providing Employees APR-13 MAR-13 APR-12 APR-13 MAR-13 APR-12 APR-13 MAR-13 APR-12 Braxton 4,170 4,170 4,250 540 540 510 3,630 3,640 3,750 Calhoun 1,610 1,600 1,580 ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... Doddridge 1,510 1,490 1,280 ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... Gilmer 2,540 2,550 2,620 ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... Lewis 7,600 7,600 7,570 2,070 2,040 2,020 5,530 5,560 5,550 Ritchie 3,610 3,540 3,510 ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... Business | G-Biz™, Community, Braxton County, Calhoun County, Doddridge County, Gilmer County, Lewis County, Ritchie County, Financial & Economy | G-Fin™, Living, Home, Politics | Government | Election, State-WV 2013-05-21T06:44:22-05:00 http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/division_of_natural_resources_seeks_input_from_stonewall_jackson_anglers/ http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/division_of_natural_resources_seeks_input_from_stonewall_jackson_anglers/#When:06:44:21Z The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources will be conducting an angler survey at Stonewall Jackson Lake, according to Bret Preston, assistant chief of the Wildlife Resources Section. The survey is part of the agency’s effort to evaluate two proposed fishing regulations. Currently, a catch-and-release regulation is in effect for black bass (largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass), and a 30-inch minimum size limit with a two fish daily creel limit is in place for muskellunge. DNR proposes to allow a six fish daily creel limit for all black bass, one of which may be 18 inches or greater; and a one fish daily creel limit with a 52-inch minimum size limit for muskellunge. A stamped, self-addressed postcard containing questions about the proposed regulations will be placed on windshields of vehicles parked at the following public fishing and boating access areas: State Park, Vandalia, Little Skin Creek, Jacksonville, and Pen Run.  Anglers are encouraged to complete the brief survey and mail the postcard to the Division of Natural Resources. Community, Lewis County, Environment, Wildlife, Fishing, Events | Announcements, Activities | Announcements | Registrations 2013-05-21T06:44:21-05:00 http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/wv_resort_offering_help_to_drug-convicted_women/ http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/wv_resort_offering_help_to_drug-convicted_women/#When:06:44:15Z Women are daughters, each of us. That’s how Tammy Jordan, inspirational author, agriculturist and business owner, views it. So much so, she’s sharing her bounty with women unaccustomed to walking through doorways to opportunity. Jordan is calling on her culinary experience and agriculture expertise in developing a curriculum to teach drug-convicted women valuable skills in food management and agriculture. The skills are intended to serve the women positively both in the job market and personally as they move out of a place of barrenness and into a place of fruitfulness. She has gained agreement to pilot the program in cooperation with the Greenbrier County Drug Court this summer. “This is under the ‘training’ part of the Training and Retreat Center,“ explains Jordan of the sister companies to primary endeavor Fruits of Labor Inc. “The program will last eight weeks and will offer two nationally recognized certifications — ServSafe Food Handler and ServSafe Manager — to eight women.“ Two additional certifications offered to the women at her facility in Dawson will include West Virginia Welcome guest services (for frontline foodservice employees) and a county food handler’s certification. Following the success of the initial eight students, Jordan is committed to growing her concept by scheduling classes throughout the year. As she relates her life to that of the ladies she seeks to serve, she does so not to count her own blessings, but to make her blessings count. Using what you have to benefit others is just one lesson she took from her parents — in particular, her mother. You’d think Jordan had a hidden crew to help her maintain both her busy catering business, Fruits of Labor Inc., and her 218-acre Training and Retreat Center, “a place of sustainability in agriculture, lifestyle principles and spiritual growth.“ But there is just one other inside her industrial kitchen in the quiet Dawson countryside most days: Jordan’s mom, Dyanna. Together in business for 12 years, the two have provided excellent food and beverage services to mark key events in lives — weddings, anniversaries, carrying off the large and the small together, without falter. Their biggest crowd to feed, with additional help called in only for service, numbered over 1,500 people. As Fruits of Labor Inc.‘s vice president and a talented cake decorator for over 40 years, Dyanna has served as both mentor and lead support to her daughter in growing her business and her mission. Jordan is quick to offer her gratitude for an ideal upbringing. “I am one of those rare people blessed with a family where the parents have been able to stay together and they’ve poured their lives into their children.“ Planting was a large part of what knit the family together. Still today, Jordan grows the food she prepares for her businesses and for distribution to food programs in her community. “We grew because it tasted better. And what you got from what you grew was sometimes exponentially more than you expected.“ For classes during the growing seasons, Jordan will teach her students using produce she’s grown on her own farm at The Retreat in Spring Dale, which she also uses extensively for women’s retreats and church groups. Near the program’s end, she plans to organize a dining service there during which farmers, chefs and others will get to network with the new trainees as potential, willing employers. She also has as a goal to host several train-the-trainer programs for others wanting to help the women in the drug court systems of their counties. Greenbrier County Drug Court will help select the appropriate candidates, women who have demonstrated seriousness about getting their lives back on track and who have achieved a measurable level of sobriety to match their commitment. Jordan is hoping to make her program a model for others like it throughout the state, region and beyond, but it will only work to the extent each woman is ready for change. “They are coming voluntarily. They’re not being forced. We’re starting with a group that has the highest potential for success,“ states Jordan. As part of the curriculum, author Jordan will employ her debut devotional, titled “The Door to Fruitfulness,“ and her second book, available to the general public in September, titled “The Seed Sower,“ a 40-day personal journey into sowing “positive seeds into the lives of others.“ Both are available through ShadeTree Publishing (www.shadetreepublishing.com). When students put on their chef’s coats, says Jordan, it provides them a feeling of professionalism, excitement and changes in attitude toward opportunity. “This is about getting them back on track and helping them to develop self-confidence,“ she says. “They’ll be able to hold down a regular job while building on their current resume and developing their people skills. They’ll also learn what it’s like to prepare and to eat nutritious food.“ The cost of the program is $150 per week for each participant — not a cost for profit, but to provide the resources needed to fulfill each certification. “We’re looking for churches and private donors to sponsor a week for the ladies in the program,“ appeals Jordan. So far, she has received donations enough to cover a full week of instruction for the first eight ladies. Her goal, with the cooperation of her community, is to provide scholarships for all. “You look at the whole problem of drugs in our community and it can be overwhelming. Donating to this program is for those who say ‘Yes, I can do something.‘“ For more information about the program or for information on how to contribute, email fruitsoflaborinc@hotmail.com or visit www.fruitsoflaborinc.com. Business | G-Biz™, Events | Announcements, Program | Travel, Politics | Government | Election, State-WV 2013-05-21T06:44:15-05:00 http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/grants_can_help_landowners_create_habitat_in_west_virginia/ http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/grants_can_help_landowners_create_habitat_in_west_virginia/#When:06:44:12Z West Virginia landowners who want to apply for grants to improve wildlife habitat have until June 14, 2013 to contact the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The agency is currently considering projects for Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program, funded by the federal farm bill. They will be ranked and considered for funding in July. West Virginia State Conservationist Greg Kist says the program funds activities that increase food, shelter and nesting habitats for various species. Landowners can create habitat by cutting back woodland borders, fencing sensitive areas, restoring streams and planting warm season grasses, among other things. Species targeted for help include the cottontail rabbit, grouse, mussels, trout and various songbirds, including the Golden Winged Warbler in West Virginia. Environment, Nature, Wildlife, Financial & Economy | G-Fin™, Politics | Government | Election, State-WV 2013-05-21T06:44:12-05:00 http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/thank_you_gilmer_public_library_-_05.15.15/ http://www.gilmerfreepress.net/index.php/site/thank_you_gilmer_public_library_-_05.15.15/#When:06:43:18Z Community, Gilmer County, Glenville, Entertainment, Books | Magazines | Newspaper, Events | Announcements, Greetings | Thank You | Congratulations 2013-05-21T06:43:18-05:00