gov truancy policy all jf

CyanMagentaYellowBlackR-H A

■ NEWS HOTLINE: 304-255-4400 ■ TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 304-255-4444 or 800-950-0250

ALLERGY INJECTIONS IN SCHOOLS STATE | Page 3A

UNICARE HOSTING BABY

SHOWERLOCAL | Page 2A

SHADY’S THOMPSONGETS FINAL SHOT

AT RECORDSPORTS | Page 1B

THEREGISTER HERALDThursday, October 17, 2013 Beckley, West Virginia ◆ Single copy: 75 cents

Volume 134Number 120

BRIDGE . . . . . . . . . 6B

CALENDAR . . . . . . . 5A

CLASSIFIED. . . 8B-12B

COMICS . . . . . . . . . 7B

DEAR ABBY . . . . . . 6B

DEATHS . . . . . . . . . 6A

HISTORY . . . . . . . 11A

HOROSCOPES . . . . . 7B

NEWS OF RECORD 12A

OPINION . . . . . . . . . 4A

SPORTS . . . . . . 1B-5B

STATE & REGION . . 3A

STOCKS . . . . . . . . 10A

TELEVISION. . . . . . . 6B

INSIDE TODAY

Cloudy. 90% chance of

rain.High 62. Low 60.

Details, Page 12A

WEATHER

■ SEVERAL AGENCIES WILL COOPERATE ON ENFORCEMENT

New Raleigh County truancy policy begins todayBy Jessica FarrishREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

Last year, more than 50 per-cent of Raleigh County stu-dents met the strict definitionof truancy at certain parts ofthe school year, a RaleighCounty Circuit Court judgesaid Wednesday as a new tru-ancy policy was unveiled.

Judge John Hutchison was

joined by school and other judi-cial officials as a new school at-tendance policy was explainedin detail. The new policy will beenforced beginning today.

The new policy involves co-operation among Hutchison,the sheriff’s department, theprosecutor and public defenderoffices, Raleigh magistrates,juvenile probation officials andthe Department of Health and

Human Resources.“The change in the program

is a recognition that these kindof cases need to be handledquickly,” Hutchison said in hiscourtroom Wednesday.

The new policy will expeditethe process of ensuring thatparents and truant students re-ceive notifications of truancy.

Sheriff’s deputies will deliv-er the truancy notifications to

the parents — somethingRaleigh Sheriff’s Capt. SkeeBarley said deputies havebeen doing for several weeksnow — and prosecutors andmagistrates will file juvenilepetitions and petitions againstparents more quickly.

The public defender’s officewill defend those who don’thave attorneys, and DHHR of-ficials will offer assistance andresources in cases where cer-tain supports are needed forthe family.

Criminal complaints will befiled against parents, wherewarranted, Hutchison said.

Fall color pile upDrug sweepleads to arrestof 20 Beckley residentsBy Jessica FarrishREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

Law enforcement officers arrestedabout 20 Beckley residents on felonydrug charges in a citywide sweepWednesday.

Beckley Police Department Chief TimDeems said every charge involved thesale of illegal drugs like prescriptionpills, cocaine and methamphetamine.

He added that his office will releasesuspects’ names today.

The investigation led to a total of 69warrants issued Wednesday on bothstate and federal charges.

“We do these types of sweeps a coupletimes a year, but these types of investi-gations can take several months,” saidDeems.

The suspects were arrested and takento BPD for processing. Each appearedbefore a magistrate and most were re-manded to Southern Regional Jail inlieu of bond, reported Deems.

The majority of the warrants, 35, in-volved the illegal sale of prescriptiondrugs.

Deems noted a small increase in war-rants for cocaine and “crack” cocaine ar-rests, 19, while the remaining 15 war-rants were for the sale of marijuana,methamphetamine and other drugs.

The sweep was a collaborative effortof BPD, Raleigh County Sheriff’s De-partment, West Virginia State Policeand the U.S. Marshal Service’s FugitiveTask Force.

“We were able to serve the warrantswithout any incidents or problems,”added Deems.

— E-mail: [email protected]

■ CITYWIDE INVESTIGATON■ LEWISBURG

Proposedsewer ratescould haveripple affect,mayor warnsBy Tina AlveyREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

LEWISBURG — A Roncev-erte ordinance proposing asubstantial boost in sewerrates will have a ripple effectthroughout eastern Greenbri-er County, Lewisburg MayorJohn Manchester warns.

While the initial raise beingfloated is a modest 15 percenton average, Ronceverte’s ordi-nance includes a second phaseof hikes to take effect once anew wastewater treatmentplant is in service. Expected tokick in as early as 2016, thatsecond phase is projected tomore than double current sew-er rates, both for city customersand for Public Service DistrictNo. 1, which pays Ronceverte abulk rate that forms the basisfor PSD customer charges.

PSD No. 1 serves the Lewis-burg/Fairlea area, a serviceregion that was expanded justthis year to include the EcholsAcres subdivision.

Bringing his city council upto date on the sewer rate situ-ation during a Tuesdayevening meeting, Manchestersaid if Ronceverte officials ap-prove a second reading of theproposed ordinance, as ex-pected, PSD No. 1 customers“are looking at a significantrate increase.”

Ronceverte approved thefirst reading of the two-phaserate hike ordinance Oct. 7.The second reading — cou-pled with a public hearing —is scheduled for Nov. 4.

Manchester used figuresfrom his own bill from PSDNo. 1 to roughly extrapolatethe impact the second phaseof the proposed rate increasewill have on Lewisburg andFairlea customers. He empha-sized he could only offer an es-timate, however, because PSDNo. 1 has not yet announcedthe exact amount of rate in-creases its customers will bepaying if Ronceverte’s pro-posed 115 percent hike comesto fruition.

■ OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Congress votes to end shutdown, avoid defaultBy David EspoAP SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

WASHINGTON — Upagainst a deadline, Congresspassed and sent a waitingPresident Barack Obama leg-islation late Wednesdaynight to avoid a threatenednational default and end the16-day partial governmentshutdown, the culmination of

an epic political drama thatplaced the U.S. economy atrisk.

The Senate voted first, a bi-partisan 81-18 at mide-vening. That cleared the wayfor a final 285-144 vote in theRepublican-controlled Houseabout two hours later on thelegislation, which hewedstrictly to the terms Obamalaid down when the twin

crises erupted more thanthree weeks ago.

The legislation would per-mit the Treasury to borrownormally through Feb. 7 orperhaps a month longer, andfund the government throughJan. 15. More than 2 millionfederal workers would bepaid — those who had re-mained on the job and thosewho had been furloughed.

After the Senate approvedthe measure, Obama hailedthe vote and said he wouldsign it immediately after itreached his desk. “We’ll beginreopening our governmentimmediately and we can be-gin to lift this cloud of uncer-tainty from our businessesand the American people.”

RICK BARBERO/THE REGISTER-HERALD

Tony Calfee, maintenance worker at the Raleigh County Courthouse, rakesleaves on the courthouse lawn.

register-herald.comWatch video

See VOTE, 12ASee SEWER, 12A

See TRUANCY, 12A

23-inch CyanMagentaYellowBlackR-H Page XX Jumps

The following is a list of incidents re-ported to police agencies Oct. 15;however, the call may have resultedin something other than what wasoriginally reported.

Beckley Police Department Not available

Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department

4-wheeler complaint: Glen Morgan Animal problem: Beckley, Bradley,Grandview Attempted breaking and

entering: Beaver Attempted burglary: Mount Tabor Burglary: Fitzpatrick, Crab Orchard Check welfare: Bradley, Midway,Harper Heights Fraud: Lester, Beckley Motor vehicle accident: TolleyTown, Shady Spring, Beckley,Ghent, Glen Morgan Noise complaint: Shady Spring

Possible DUI: Harper Reckless driver: Beaver Shoplifting: Glen Daniel, MacArthur,Bradley, Shots fired: Bolt Stolen vehicle: MacArthur Suspicious vehicle: Glen Morgan Threats: Bradley Unwanted presence: Glen White

NEWS OF RECORD

FromPageOne12A THE REGISTER-HERALD

Thursday, October 17, 2013 www.register-herald.com

Yesterday’s high 65°Yesterday’s low 54°Record high 82° in 1908Record low 21° in 1907

Precipitation (period ending 6 p.m. yesterday)

Sunrise today 7:35 a.m.Sunset today 6:44 p.m.

• For statewide fishing reports on-line, visit: www.wvdnr.gov/fishing/weekly_fishreport.shtm

• For the latest river and stream reports, which are updated at 8 a.m. each day

by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, phone the following numbers:

Bluestone Lake 304-466-0156Lake, New River, Greenbrier River information

Summersville Lake 304-872-5809Lake, Meadow River information

R.D. Bailey Lake 304-664-9587Lake information

• SIX-DAY FORECAST • W.VA. FORECAST

• SEVERE WEATHER, ROAD CONDITIONS

• LAKES, STREAMS, FISHING LOTTERY

To report severe weather, call the National Weather Service toll-free

at 877-633-6772

Current weather and alerts on-line:www.WVVA.com

West Virginia road conditionswww.transportation.wv.gov or

877-WVA-ROAD

www.register-herald.com

• NATIONAL FORECAST

• ALMANACLast 24 hours

Traceinches

For year32.16inches

For month0.47inches

Daily 3: 1-5-7 Daily 4: 5-4-7-0Hot Lotto:7-9-15-36-37Hot Ball: 4Est.: $1 million

Powerball:3-26-28-34-42Powerball: 28Est.: $156 million

O1SUD451

Manchester estimatedthe 2,000 gallon-per-month customer’s annualincrease would be around$263, if PSD No. 1matches Ronceverte’s115 percent hike. Goingup one notch, the mayorsaid an average monthlyusage of 3,000 gallonswould cost the customer$375 per year more thanthe current charge.

Manchester noted thatthe revenue needed tosupport the debt and op-erating expenses associ-ated with the new $28million plant could turnout to be lower than esti-mated, which would, pre-sumably, lower the feesRonceverte will chargebeginning in 2016. ButManchester predictedthe cost of the plant and,therefore, the rate in-crease will remain “closeto projections.”

He warned such a hugejump in the sewer ratewould affect not only in-dividual households, butalso businesses and in-dustry, creating a rippleeffect throughout the re-gion’s economy.

“It would adversely af-fect a lot of things in ourarea,” Manchester said.“It is a major game-changer in many ways.”

Manchester said he as-sumes “many people” willattend the Nov. 4 Roncev-erte City Council meet-ing, noting that whileLewisburg cannot directlycontest the rate hike,PSD No. 1 “surely will.”

Public Works DirectorMark Carver, who servesas Lewisburg’s represen-tative on PSD No. 1’sboard, said the agency’sengineer believes Roncev-erte could address itsquality problems by retro-fitting improvements onthe existing plant. Thatwould be a much cheaperproject, he pointed out.

The River City’s posi-tion on the need for a newtreatment plant wassummed up during a pub-lic meeting in Septemberof last year by Roncev-erte’s consulting engineerFrederick L. Hypes, whosaid, “The (existing)plant’s simply worn out.”

Hypes said Ronceverteofficials “made a wisechoice” in selecting thevertical loop reactor de-sign for the new plant,which is slated to be con-structed near the site ofthe existing treatmentfacility on the banks ofthe Greenbrier River.

Carver said the plant’scustomer base — whichlast year was estimated

by PSD engineer CrissHaynes at just over 3,400individuals and business-es, 1,600 of whom arewithin the Lewisburg citylimits — is simply notlarge enough to absorbthe kind of debt Roncev-erte is taking on with theconstruction of such anexpensive new plant.

Carver acknowledgedthat the PSD would passalong to its customersany rate increase Ron-ceverte ultimately ap-proves.

“We have to work inconjunction with (Ron-ceverte) to raise ourrates,” he said.

Thus, the PSD’s ratesare expected to bump upslightly when Roncev-erte’s immediate 15 per-cent hike goes into effect,about a week beforeChristmas, and wouldtake a big jump in 2016when Ronceverte’s ratescould double.

Printed material hand-ed to newspaper re-porters at RonceverteCity Council’s Oct. 7meeting outlined onlythe rates proposed totake effect 45 days afterthe ordinance’s secondreading, alluding to “fu-ture rates” without speci-fying any amounts.

Those future rates —which are specified in theordinance up for adoptionat Ronceverte’s Nov. 4meeting — are based onprojections of the cost of thenew sewer plant, accordingto the printed material.

“While it is impossibleto determine exactly whatall the costs will be, theCity is required to projectthese in advance of theproject and must considerthe highest estimate,” theinformation sheet indi-cates. “Additional grantfunding could lower thisrate as well as (certaintargeted state) fundingwhich is unknown untilthe bonds are sold.”

The printed materialincludes the reasons thecity is undertaking sucha project: “to meet cur-rent permit limits, tocomply with DEP OrderNo. 6550, to protect theplant from flood eventsand to replace antiquat-ed and worn equipment.”

The order referenced inthe material was issuedSept. 15, 2008, by theWest Virginia Depart-ment of EnvironmentalProtection, describing sev-eral violations at Roncev-erte’s wastewater treat-ment plant and instruct-ing the city to take correc-tive action. The proposednew treatment facility isexpected to address DEP’scontinuing concerns.


SEWERContinued from 1A

Later, in the House,Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., said, “After two longweeks, it is time to endthis government shut-down. It’s time to take thethreat of default off thetable. It’s time to restoresome sanity to this place.”

The stock marketsurged higher at theprospect of an end to thecrisis that also hadthreatened to shake con-fidence in the U.S. econ-omy overseas

Republicans concededdefeat after a long strug-gle. “We fought the goodfight. We just didn’t win,”conceded House SpeakerJohn Boehner as lawmak-ers lined up to vote on abill that includes nothingfor GOP lawmakers whohad demand to eradicateor scale back Obama’s sig-

nature health care over-haul.

“The compromise wereached will provide oureconomy with the stabil-ity it desperately needs,”said Senate MajorityLeader Harry Reid, de-claring that the nation“came to the brink of dis-aster” before sealing anagreement.

Senate Republicanleader Mitch McConnell,who negotiated the dealwith Reid, emphasizedthat it preserved a roundof spending cuts negoti-ated two years ago withObama and Democrats.As a result, he said,“government spendinghas declined for twoyears in a row” for thefirst time since the Kore-an War. “And we’re notgoing back on this agree-ment,” he added.

Only a temporarytruce, the measure set atime frame of early nextwinter for the next likely

clash between Obamaand the Republicansover spending and bor-rowing.

After weeks of grid-lock, the measure hadsupport from the WhiteHouse, most if not allDemocrats in Congressand many Republicansfearful of the economicimpact of a default.

Boehner and the restof the top GOP leader-ship told their rank andfile in advance theywould vote for the meas-ure. In the end, Republi-cans split 144 againstand 87 in favor. All 198voting Democrats weresupporters.

Final passage came inplenty of time to assureObama’s signature be-fore the administration’s11:59 p.m. Thursdaydeadline.

That was when Trea-sury Secretary JacobLew said the govern-ment would reach the

current $16.7 trilliondebt limit and could nolonger borrow to meet itsobligations.

Tea party-aligned law-makers who triggeredthe shutdown that beganon Oct. 1 said they wouldvote against the legisla-tion. Significantly,though, Texas Sen. TedCruz and others agreednot to use the Senate’scumbersome 18th-centu-ry rules to slow the bill’sprogress.

The shutdown initiallyidled about 800,000workers, but that soonfell to about 350,000 af-ter Congress agreed tolet furloughed Pentagonemployees return towork. While there waswidespread inconven-ience, the mail was de-livered, Medicare contin-ued to pay doctors whotreated seniors andthere was no interrup-tion in Social Securitybenefits.

VOTEContinued from 1A

The goal of the new pol-icy is to get students whoare out of school back inclasses more quickly,Hutchison added.

The judge added thatthe policy is aimed atproviding resources tostudents and keepingthem in school, ratherthan punishing them fortruancy.

About 80 percent ofthe prisoners in the pe-nal system didn’t gradu-ate high school.

“There lies the prob-lem,” said Hutchison.“The ultimate situationwe’re trying to avoid.”

Similar policies in oth-er counties have shownthat about 95 percent ofthose who appear beforea judge on a truancycharge one time neverhave to be served a sec-ond petition.

Attendance DirectorMillard Francis said thepolicy aims to help stu-dents stay in school andto identify factors in thefamily or the school thatmay pressure or enablethe child to skip school.

“We’re here to help thechildren in any way theyneed,” said Francis,adding that clothing

needs and other issuesmay come to light in thenew process.

The new policy will re-quire students to presentan excuse within 48hours of missing school.

After five unexcusedabsences, Sheriff’sdeputies will serve par-ents a CA2 form, whichrequires them to meetwith school officials andwork out a plan to pre-vent further truancy.

If the truancy contin-ues, petitions will befiled, and they will quick-ly appear before a judge.

Barley said many tru-ant students come from

transient families, andschool officials often don’thave the correct address.

Deputies are able to lo-cate the families andserve the forms morequickly than school offi-cials can mail them.

“When we show up atthe door with a letterfrom the BOE ... thatadds some seriousness toit,” Barley said.

Raleigh Prosecuting At-torney Kristen Keller saidshe’s requested an extraassistant attorney and ex-tra staffing to meet theadditional workload thatthe new policy is likely tocreate in her office.

Hutchison said thepublic defender’s officeand magistrate court arefacing similar chal-lenges.

Schools Superinten-dent Jim Brown saidFrances and AssistantSuperintendent CharlesPrice worked forabout eight months todevelop the policy.

He praised Hutchisonfor working with school of-ficials to enact the policy.

Hutchison said hisgoal is to reach studentswho are truant quicklyso that they can returnto school before they losetoo much instruction.

TRUANCYContinued from 1A


Raleigh County Circuit judge John Hutchison, right, speaks about the newtruancy policy. Listening, from left, Shelly Moore, secretary, Raleiegh CountySchool Attendence, Patty Bryant, assistant attendance director, Jim Brown, super-intendent, Raleigh County Schools, Millard Francis, director of attendance andKristen Keller, Raleigh County Prosecutor. See a video at www.register-herald.com

CyanMagentaYellowBlackR-H Page 1A


SALSAOVERTAKING

KETCHUP!BUSINESS | Page 10A

GIRLS PREP SOCCER

THOMPSON’S RECORDWILL HAVE TO WAIT

SPORTS | Page 1B

DRUG SWEEPNAMES

RELEASEDLOCAL | A

THEREGISTER HERALDFriday, October 18, 2013 Beckley, West Virginia ◆ Single copy: 75 cents


BRIDGE . . . . . . . . . 9B

CALENDAR . . . . . . . 9B

CLASSIFIED . . . . 1C-8C

COMICS . . . . . . . . 10B

DEAR ABBY . . . . . . 9B

DEATHS . . . . . . . . . 6A

HISTORY. . . . . . . . . 9B

HOROSCOPES. . . . 10B

NATION & WORLD . 9A

OPINION . . . . . . . . . 4A

SPORTS . . . . . . 1B-8B


STOCKS . . . . . . . . 10A

TELEVISION . . . INSIDE

INSIDE TODAY

Mostlysunny

High 59. Low 42.Details, Page 11A

WEATHER

Raleigh County’snew truancypolicy receivesmixed reviewsBy Jessica FarrishREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

Raleigh County Circuit Judge JohnHutchison opened the first day of a newcounty truancy policy Thursday with 15 stu-dents and their parents appearing beforehim on truancy charges.

In the initial hearings, Hutchison ex-plained new county truancy guidelines toparents and set bond for them.

The policy, aimed at serving truancy let-ters and getting truant students and theirparents in front of a judge more quickly, re-ceived mixed reactions among local residentsThursday.

Some, like Raleigh teacher Natalie Coots,praised the policy.

“I hope the courts follow through,” saidCoots in a Facebook comment. “If they aren’tin the classroom, we can’t teach them.”

Raleigh BOE member Richard Jarrellwrote, “If students go to school, there will beno need to worry, but ... we had over 1,300students miss over 20 days last year.

“We do have a problem, and hopefully thiswill go a long way towards a solution.”

Some parents were concerned that thepenalties and the many agencies involved inenacting the new policy — the school system,law enforcement, the judicial system and De-partment of Health and Human Resources —will unfairly expand the presence of govern-ment in residents’ lives.

Students must not have more than five un-excused absences per semester and mustpresent their excuses to school officials with-in 48 hours of the absence, according to thepolicy guidelines.

Cecil Massey, 42, of Beckley, said that twoof his four children attend school in RaleighCounty.

“I would say, that’s too much governmentintrusion,” said Massey. “We are the parents.Not the government, not the school, not thecommunity.

BRANDI UNDERWOOD/THE REGISTER-HERALD

Trap Hill Middle School seventh-grade trumpet players Aaron Shrewsbury, left, and Mike Anguiano show off their skillson their shiny new trumpets, provided by the VH1 Save the Music Program, while performing “America the Beautiful.”

VH1 ‘Saves the Music’ at local schoolsBy Brandi UnderwoodREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

T he vibrant sound ofmore than 100 new in-struments sounded

throughout the region Thursdayduring several school presenta-tions, all part of the VH1 Savethe Music Program.

Representatives of the VH1Save the Music Foundation keptthe roads hot, bouncing fromTrap Hill and Beckley-Strattonmiddle schools in Raleigh Coun-ty, Summersville Middle Schoolin Nicholas County and Sum-mers Middle School in SummersCounty, to recognize each schoolfor recently joining the ranks of

43 other schools in the state al-ready sharing the distinction.

Each school partaking in theVH1 Save the Music Programreceived 11 clarinets, eightflutes, six trumpets,four trombones, threealto saxophones, abass drum and stand,one bell kit, onesnare drum and stand, one set ofbass drum mallets, one set ofbell mallets, 16-inch hand cym-bals and one set of cymbal strapsand pads worth a total of morethan $30,000, according to apress release distributed by theWest Virginia Division of Cul-ture and History.

At the Trap Hill presentation,

Raleigh Schools SuperintendentJim Brown was overwhelmedwith admiration for the TrapHill Middle School band andchoir members, who comprised a

nearly equal ratio tothe students cheeringthem on in thebleachers.

“That tells methere’s great leadership here inthe music program and choirprogram,” Brown said.

“What a great gift that youguys have,” Brown said to theband and choir, explaining thatmusical ability is a lifelong as-set.

F. BRIAN FERGUSON/THE REGISTER-HERALD

Taking in the view at the Canyon Rim Visitors Cen-ter Thursday, Connie McAlpine holds 2-month-oldEphaim Maaske as Jennifer Maaske walks her prizeGreat Danes, Prophecy and Glory, along the over-look trail. The visitors center at the New River GorgeNational River reopened Thursday after the federalgovernment shutdown ended late Wednesday night.

Visitors encouraged to useshuttle buses to get to bridge

The best way to get to thebridge on the big day to seethe activities or sample thewares of about 175 vendors isto take one of the shuttles.Again this year, Oak Hill Ro-tary, with sponsorship helpfrom Hometown Subaru, willprovide those shuttles. Parkyour car at designated loca-tions, and $2 will secure you aseat on a shuttle that willdrop you off outside the evententrance and bring you backto your parking area later.

Shuttles to the bridge willrun from 8:30 a.m. until 1:30p.m. To avoid crowds, it is rec-ommended participants takethe shuttle back before 3 p.m.

A handicapped-accessiblebus will operate on each sideof the bridge.

Shuttle stops are listed be-low:

South side■ Oak Hill Kroger — The

bus stop will be located onthe Kroger side of the medianbetween Kroger and the oldKmart, at the far end of themedian from the store.

■ Fayetteville Wal-Mart —The bus stop will be locatedat the far left side of Wal-Mart.

■ Fayetteville High School— The bus stop is right at theentrance to the gravel parkingarea. The buses turn aroundin front of the school and stopto pick up at the entrance tothe upper gravel area.

■ Fayette County Court-house, Fayettevil le — Thebus stop will be in front ofGumbo’s.

Transportation, metrodesignation discussedat third plan workshopBy Wendy HoldrenREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

Transportation and Beckley’s newdesignation as a metropolitan areawere two major topics at the third offour workshops this week for the Com-prehensive Plan.

Poggemeyer Design Group consultantRandy Mielnik said his crew is abouttwo-thirds of the way through the plan-ning process, and all the informationcollected at these workshops will helpshape the Comprehensive Plan.

This plan will provide a roadmap forthe city of Beckley for the next 10years.

Two Parsons Brinckerhoff represen-tatives, vice president David W. Hafleyand supervising planner JeanneStevens, also attended this session toshare their thoughts on city transporta-tion.

■ BECKLEY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN ■ BRIDGE DAY 2013

See PLAN, 5A

See MUSIC, 11ASee POLICY, 11A

Visitorscenter reopens

Shuttle stops listed

See SHUTTLE, 11A


FromPageOne 11ATHE REGISTER-HERALD

Friday, October 18, 2013www.register-herald.com

Yesterday’s high 65°Yesterday’s low 59°Record high 84° in 1938Record low 22° in 1952, 1907













at 877-633-6772



877-WVA-ROAD




0.31inches

For year32.47inches

For month0.78inches

Daily 3: 9-6-0 Daily 4: 3-1-3-8Cash 25:08-09-10-19-21-22

Hot Lotto:Est.: $1.05 million

Mega Millions:Est.: $37 million

Powerball:Est.: $186 million

O1SUD451

“Music enhances yourlife so much. Whateverform of fine arts you maydecide to go into, younever get too old to enjoyit,” said Delegate LindaSumner, R-Raleigh. “Allof the gifts of the finearts bring blessings toour lives and to all ofthose that you share itwith.”

Brown said that whileBeckley-Stratton’s bandwas small in number, itwas mighty in sound. Hechallenged the studentbody to become more ac-tive in an organization,whether in band, choir,athletics or a vocationalprogram.

“Whatever you’re do-ing, you need to be doingsomething,” Brown said,explaining that studentswho participate in ex-tracurricular activitiesbecome more engaged in

their academics as a re-sult.

“Keep living thedream,” Brown told theRaleigh County students.

“We could not havedone this collaboration inRaleigh County withoutthe Beckley Area Foun-dation,” explained Ran-dall Reid-Smith, commis-sioner of the West Vir-ginia Division of Cultureand History.

“Giving leaves a legacyfor those who follow,”said Sharon Lilly, pro-gram director of BeckleyArea Foundation.

Lilly explained thatThursday’s presentationwas the result of a verysuccessful collaborationof many people.

“VH1 had the dream ofawarding these (instru-ments), CommissionerReid-Smith brought thatto the community and wehave individuals thatstepped up to the plate,”Lilly said.

While the VH1 Savethe Music Foundation

provided $15,000 to eachschool, the school was re-sponsible for coming upwith $15,000 to fund theother half of the pro-gram. Lilly explainedthat the Beckley AreaFoundation, The CarterFamily Foundation andthe Word funds at BAF

were instrumental inmaking the RaleighCounty effort successful.

After Park MiddleSchool’s addition to theVH1 Save the Music Pro-gram next year, RaleighCounty will be the firstin the state with everymiddle school represent-

ed in the program. In Summers County,

the matching funds forthe VH1 Save the MusicProgram were providedby the West Virginia Di-vision of Culture andHistory and SummersCounty Band Boosters.

Each school showcased

its new instruments andtalents during the pre-sentations. Trap Hill sev-enth- and eighth-gradeband members per-formed “America theBeautiful” and “Eye ofthe Tiger,” while thesixth-graders performed“Hot Cross Buns.”

The Beckley-StrattonMiddle School Bandplayed Queen’s “We WillRock You,” and the Sum-mers Middle SchoolBand played “Accidental-ly In Love,” a CountingCrows song, as well astheir school fight song.

Jennifer Buckland,Summers MiddleSchool’s band director,said the new instru-ments have already“made a world of a differ-ence” in her school’s mu-sic program.

“I had students shar-ing instruments who nowhave their own,” Buck-land said. “It’s just won-derful.”


MUSICContinued from 1A

“The community is notmy children’s parents.”

Massey said he under-stands the goal of thenew policy — to preventtruancy — but that hebelieves there are toomany “extenuating cir-cumstances” that couldland the average familyin trouble with the legalsystem under the newguidelines.

“A lot of times, ourkids will stay home be-cause they don’t feelgood, and you don’t runto the ER just because

they don’t feel good.“You try to home-doc-

tor it,” he said, addingthat it would be easy forthe average family tohave more than five le-gitimate absences thatwould be classified asunexcused per semester.

On Facebook, parentGreg Kessler wrote thathis child was an honorroll student and didn’tmiss school but that hebelieves the policy is in-trusive.

“I hate big brother gov-ernment,” Kessler statedon Facebook, adding,“We all know how whengovernment gets a littlecontrol, they go over-board.”

Another parent ex-pressed concerns that,without parental knowl-edge, some students failto give teachers their ex-cuses.

Developed by RaleighSchools Assistant Super-intendent Charles Priceand Attendance DirectorMillard Frances, thenew guidelines mandatethat after five unexcusedabsences in a semester,deputies from theRaleigh Sheriff’s Depart-ment will deliver CA2letters to parents, alert-ing them that they mustschedule a meeting withschool officials to resolvethe truancy problem.

If the student remains

truant, the Raleigh pros-ecuting attorney’s officemay file juvenile peti-tions against them.

Prosecutors may alsofile petitions againstparents, including crimi-nal petitions in somecases.

The public defender’soffice will provide attor-neys to defendants.

Hutchison, Frances,Raleigh Schools Superin-tendent Jim Brown andothers said Wednesdaythat the goal of the newpolicy isn’t to punish stu-dents and parents, but toget students back inschool more quickly.

To meet that goal,Frances explained,

DHHR caseworkers mayget involved in truancycases if students andparents report a needsuch as clothing or if offi-cials notice a problem,such as addiction in thefamily, that can con-tribute to the truancy.

Frances said if bully-ing is keeping kids out ofschool, school officialswill address that prob-lem.

Hutchison pointed outthat last year, more thanhalf of Raleigh studentsmet the legal definitionof truancy at some pointduring the school year.

The judge also notedthat several countyagency officials — in-

cluding magistrates andRaleigh Prosecuting At-torney Kristen Keller —have stated that the newpolicy is likely to createheavy caseloads for theiragencies.

Keller said Wednesdaythat she’s expressed aneed for at least a part-time assistant prosecu-tor and additional staffsince hearing of the newpolicy.

Raleigh commissionersPat Reed and Dave Tol-liver were not immedi-ately available Thursdayafternoon for commentson any potential increaseto the county jail bill.


POLICYContinued from 1A

BRANDI UNDERWOOD/THE REGISTER-HERALD

Beckley-Stratton Middle School percussionists keep the beat while performingQueen’s “We Will Rock You” during Thursday’s VH1 Save the Music Program.

North side■ Milroy Grose Road —

Parking is at the New RiverCampground.

■ Smales Branch Road— In front of the Light-house Worship Center.

■ ■ ■In order to prevent

you from being stoppedfrom entering the areaaround the bridge, notethat none of the follow-ing are allowed: back-packs (check-in stationsat both north and southentrances); coolers; fold-ing chairs; large hand-bags; dogs (except serv-ice animals); bicycles(Fayette Plateau Minis-terial Association will

conduct check-in sta-tions at both north andsouth entrances to theevent); strollers (um-brella strollers are OK);skates; skateboards;wagons; weapons; fire-works; i l legal drugs;and alcoholic beverages.

For more informationon any of the activities,call 304-465-5617 or800-927-0263 or visitwww.officialbridgeday.com.

For questions onsiteSaturday, stop by theofficial Bridge Daybooth near either end ofthe bridge. The BridgeDay poster will be avail-able for sale at thebooth, as well as othermerchandise, in addi-tion to event informa-tion being disseminat-ed.

SHUTTLEContinued from 1A

New River Gorge Nation-al River, Gauley River Na-tional Recreation Area andthe Bluestone NationalScenic River reopened tovisitors Thursday.

Visitors can access allpublic areas and facilitiesincluding visitor centers,restrooms, river accessesand campgrounds. Thethree parks were closedOct. 1 due to the lapse incongressional appropria-tions.

October is the secondbusiest month for visitorsto the area, particularlywith Bridge Day eventstaking place on Saturday.Canyon Rim Visitor Center

will be open to the publicduring the event, and visi-tors can enjoy anotherview of the bridge from theoverlook. Employees arehappy to be back at workto welcome visitors to theGorge and continue thepark's fall education pro-grams in the localschools.

Updates will be postedto the park's website atwww.nps.gov/neri. Youcan also find updates onthe park's Facebook pageat http://www.facebook.com/newrivergorgenpsand the park's Twitter pageat https://twitter.com/NewRiverNPS.

Local National Park areas reopen to visitors

David “Bugs” Stover,West Virginia storytellerand Wyoming Countycircuit clerk, will speakTuesday at 6 p.m. atthe Shady Spring Li-brary. The original pro-gram with staff story-tellers will be incorpo-rated in also.

■ ■ ■WVU Extension is of-

fering “Five Love Lan-guages,” along withdinner, for couples whoare married or in acommitted relationship.The two-session pro-gram is based on Dr.Gary Chapman’s book,and will allow partici-pants to find out whattheir love language isand how to use this asa communication tool

in their marriage.At the first meeting

on Nov 1, participantswill have dinner and re-view the program. Thegroup will meet againDec. 6 for dinner andevaluation.

The first meeting willbe held at the Moun-taineer ConferenceCenter and the secondwill be held at the Holi-day Inn ConferenceCenter. Both dinnersare from 6 to 8 p.m.and you must attendthem both.

You must pre-registerto attend by contactingTerrill Peck at 304-255-9321 or [email protected], and both peo-ple in the relationshipmust attend.

The program is limitedto 10 couples.

■ NEWS BRIEFS

CyanMagentaYellowBlackR-H Page 1A


A MONTH IN, 10 THINGSWE’VE LEARNED ABOUT

HEALTH INSURANCE REFORMNATION | Page 9A

WVU steady inexhibition winover Fairmont SPORTS | Page 1B

RED CROSSISSUES CALL FORBLOOD DONORS

LOCAL | Page 3A

THEREGISTER HERALDTuesday, November 5, 2013 Beckley, West Virginia ◆ Single copy: 75 cents


BRIDGE . . . . . . . . . 6B

CALENDAR . . . . . . . 6B

CLASSIFIED. . . 7B-10B

COMICS . . . . . . . . . 5B

DEAR ABBY . . . . . . 6B

DEATHS . . . . . . . . . 6A

HISTORY. . . . . . . . . 6B

HOROSCOPES . . . . . 5B

NEWS OF RECORD . 7A

OPINION . . . . . . . . . 4A

SPORTS . . . . . . 1B-4B


STOCKS . . . . . . . . . 8A

TELEVISION. . . . . . . 6B

INSIDE TODAY

Sun withhigh

cloudsHigh 56. Low 41.

Details, Page 10A

WEATHER

Roncevertesewer ratehike planpostponed

Officials believetruancy oftenan indicator of larger problems

By Jessica FarrishREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

Recent hearings under RaleighCounty’s new truancy policy havebrought to light what Circuit CourtJudge John Hutchison and otherofficials have known for some time: Truancy is of-ten an indicator of a much larger problem withina family.

“There are lots of families out there that needhelp in other areas, and all the truancy does ispoint out that they’ve got problems,” said Hutchi-son, who developed the policy with help fromRaleigh Schools Superintendent Jim Brown, At-tendance Director Millard Francis and others.

“We need to help them start addressing theseother problems.”

In October, Hutchison heard 22 cases involvingtruancy, and he said the new policy is helpingkeep students in school.

The goal of the policy is to make sure familiesget help they need and reduce truancy rates.

The stakes are high, according to statistics. “Eighty-five percent of people who plead guilty

for crimes in my court do not have a high schooldiploma,” Hutchison reported, adding that theannual cost to taxpayers of keeping incarceratingone prisoner for a year is $38,000.

By Tina AlveyREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

RONCEVERTE — Citing new-ly-obtained legal advice, Roncev-erte City Council voted unani-mously to withdraw a proposedsewer rate hike from considera-tion Monday evening.

The controversial proposal,which was introduced at lastmonth’s council session, called foran immediate sewer bill raise av-eraging 15 percent, followed upon“substantial completion” of con-struction of the city’s new waste-water treatment plant by a dou-bling of rates. The $28 millionplant is expected to be operational

sometime in 2016.The rate hike

measure, alongwith a companionordinance chang-ing the city’s sew-er use regulationsto prevent cus-tomers fromflushing sub-stances that coulddamage the sys-

tem or could not be adequatelytreated before discharge into theGreenbrier River, were both tak-en out of play Monday.

Both ordinances were originallyscheduled for a public hearingand second, final reading at Mon-day’s meeting.

Mayor David Smith explainedthat the ordinances were with-drawn on the advice of counsel.He said the city’s legal firm —Spilman, Thomas & Battle —“had some adjustments theywanted to make” to the ordi-nances.

“We knew after the last meet-ing that (the rate hike) was goingto have to be withdrawn,” Smithsaid.

“We will offer (the ordinances)again whenever the attorneys fin-ish doing their thing,” he said.

Even though both measurespassed a first reading in October,the city will now have to begin theprocess anew, re-doing the firstreading and vote, followed by apublic hearing and second read-ing and vote.

Although the changes recom-mended by the attorneys were notspecified, they are not expected tobe substantive, as Smith referredto the review now under way as“fine-tuning” the ordinances.

As originally proposed, thecharge for city customers wouldrise from the current level of$13.08 to $15 immediately andthen to $28 in 2016 for the first1,000 gallons of usage and from$8.61 to $10 and then on to $20for each subsequent 1,000 gallons.The “bulk rate” that the citycharges Greenbrier County PublicService District No. 1, servingLewisburg and Fairlea, wouldrise in two steps by a similar per-centage.

If the new plant comes in underbudget, or if grant funds arrive inhoped-for amounts, the 2016 rateincrease will not be as steep, ac-cording to Smith.


Fall frolic


Vincent Colo, 3, son of Dustin and Kimberly Colo, plays in the dry, au-tumn leaves in his front yard on Vine Street in Beckley. Dry weather is ex-pected to continue through tomorrow with high temperatures around 60and lows in the 40s. See the six-day forecast on Page 10A.

By Vicki SmithASSOCIATED PRESS

MORGANTOWN — Someof West Virginia’s biggest In-ternet providers said Mondaythey’re working hard to reachthe 9 percent of peoplestatewide who still lackbroadband access, but hur-dles remain and one officialcalled complete access a loftygoal.

At a Morgantown summithosted by U.S. Sen. JayRockefeller, officials with

Suddenlink Communica-tions, Frontier Communica-tions, Comcast and Verizonall said they’re aggressivelyexpanding their networks,and most are creating low-cost options for low-incomefamilies.

But the challenges go be-yond geographic isolationand the high costs of extend-ing into tough, sparsely pop-ulated terrain. They saymany people who could bene-fit most, including the elderlyand the poor, have yet to see

the relevance of the Internet.Frontier committed to

bringing broadband to 85percent of its West Virginiamarket by the end of 2014,and Executive Vice PresidentKathleen Quinn Abernathysaid it exceeded that goal twoyears ahead of schedule. It’sinvested $360 million in thepast three years and will usestimulus funds and othergrants to continue expand-ing, she said.

Some 85,000 homes had ac-cess for the first time by the

end of 2012, and another67,000 will have it soon,Abernathy said. But it willtake much longer to reachthe remaining 3 percent inthe targeted area, or about20,000 households.

“It’s a dollars challenge,”she said. Frontier strugglesto balance “the highest of thehighest costs” of getting intothose hard-to-reach areasagainst the need to deployservice as widely as possible.

Providers: Broadband access across state a lofty goal

By Brandi UnderwoodREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

Statewide customers ofWest Virginia American Wa-ter will be parting with a lit-tle bit more cash this monthwhen their water bill comesin the mail — 6.7 percentmore cash, to be exact.

Residents of Fayetteville,on the other hand, will noticetwo rate increases slipped in-to their mailboxes. Like therest of West Virginia Ameri-can’s customers, they will no-tice the same water hike. Buton top of that, Fayetteville

residents connected to thepublic sewer system will seea 14 percent rate increase ontheir sewer bill.

The rate change, whichwent into effect Oct. 11, in-creased the average monthlyFayetteville residential sew-er bill 14 percent from $35.78to $40.92.

Approximately 1,100households connected toFayetteville’s public sewersystem are affected by thehike, which will help offsetcosts invested by West Vir-ginia American Water intoupgrading the town’s anti-

quated sewer system to becompliant with West VirginiaDepartment of Environmen-tal Protection requirements.

This rate increase repre-sents the first wastewaterrate increase since West Vir-ginia American acquired theTown of Fayetteville’s waste-water system in 2008.

By the end of 2013, WestVirginia American will havemade investments totaling$1.36 million in the Fayet-teville wastewater systemover its five-year span ofownership. Among 1,100households, the firm’s invest-

ments averaged to be morethan $1,200 in sewer systemimprovements per customer.

“Many of these improve-ments were upgrades neces-sary to modernize the Townof Fayetteville’s wastewateroperations and to complywith applicable environmen-tal laws and regulations.Others have been necessaryto maintain service levelsand the system’s overall op-erations,” said Laura Jordan,external affairs manager forW.Va. American Water.

Goal of Raleigh’s new policy isto get families the help theyneed and keep kids in school

Fayetteville sees increase in water and sewer bills

See TRUANCY, 10A

See FAYETTEVILLE, 10A

See BROADBAND, 10A

Smith

On Page 7A

■ Details of recent truancy hearings


FromPageOne10A THE REGISTER-HERALD

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 www.register-herald.com

Yesterday’s high 53°Yesterday’s low 31°Record high 79° in 2003, 1918Record low 11° in 1954













at 877-633-6772



877-WVA-ROAD




noneFor year33.86inches

For month0.66inches

Daily 3: 6-4-6 Daily 4: 5-4-4-3Cash 25:07-08-10-15-17-23

Hot Lotto:Est.: $1.3 million

Mega Millions:Est.: $99 million

Powerball:Est.: $70 million

N1SUD414

While the improve-ments have come at ahigh cost, Jordan ex-plained that they werenecessary to bring thesystem’s operations upto today’s standards.

“In 2011, then-actingGov. Earl Ray Tomblinand the WVDEP hon-ored West VirginiaAmerican Water’s envi-ronmental stewardship

with recognition ofFayetteville as one ofthe most improvedwastewater treatmentplants in the state,”Jordan said.

While some membersof other communitieshave become concernedthat the sewer systeminvestments in Fayet-teville have impactedtheir household waterbill , Jordan assuresthere is no connection.

“Investments inFayetteville sewer sys-tem upgrades have no

bearing on any rate in-creases outside ofFayetteville,” Jordansaid.

The 6.7 percent waterincrease statewide wasrelated to the approxi-mately $85 million ofsystem improvementsthe company has madeto general facilities andinfrastructure acrossthe state since 2009,Jordan explained.

West Virginia Ameri-can Water made invest-ments in upgrades tothe water distribution

system, water treat-ment facilities, storagetanks, pumping sta-tions and computer sys-tems.

In a press release,West Virginia AmericanPresident Jeff McIntyrestated, “These prudentinvestments were nec-essary to enhance cus-tomer service andmaintain water quality,service reliability andfire protection for ap-proximately one-thirdof the state’s populationthat we serve.”

The good news is thatthe company agreed notto file another generalrate case for water orwastewater prior toJan. 1, 2015, so cus-tomers can be assuredthat their current ratewill be static until wellinto 2015.

■ ■ ■In an effort to lessen

the impact of rate in-creases for customersstruggling to make endsmeet, West VirginiaAmerican launched aprogram in May that

provides a 20 percentdiscount on residentialwater rates for certainlow-income households.

The company also of-fers utility assistancethrough its sharehold-ers’ support of the Dol-lar Energy Fund, whichprovides one-timegrants to eligible cus-tomers.

To learn more aboutthese programs, visit www.westvirginiaamwater.com.


FAYETTEVILLEContinued from 1A

Suddenlink spokesmanMichael Kelemen saidcompanies also needmore accurate coveragemaps. Some, he said,show Suddenlink servesan entire area, when infact it serves only part ofit.

In the short term,Kelemen said, 100 per-cent coverage might beoverly ambitious.

“We still don’t havewater and sewer to 90

percent of our homes,”he said, “so it’s a loftygoal.”

Mark Reilly, a vicepresident with Comcast,said tougher federal reg-ulation won’t get the jobdone any sooner. After100 years of highly regu-lated telephone service,for example, not every-one in the U.S. has serv-ice.

“Regulate what?” heasked. “We’re still verymuch in the early in-nings of this game.”

Reilly said the indus-try is investing billionson its own, and he wor-

ries regulation couldhave a chilling effect.

Rockefeller, D-W.Va.,was an early championof extending broadbandto rural America to en-courage economic devel-opment, education andcommerce, and to im-prove public safety,emergency services andhealth care.

At his last summit fouryears ago, less than 72percent of West Virgini-ans had access. Today,that’s up to 91 percent.But Rockefeller said thejob isn’t done untileveryone has access.

“I want to do every-thing possible so that allWest Virginians are onthe right side of the digi-tal divide,” he said. “Nowis not the time to cutback on investments incritical infrastructure.”

Debbie Goldman of theCommunication Workersof America said thatwhile the growth so far

is laudable, her unionhas found that 40 per-cent of consumers aren’tgetting the speed of ac-cess they were promised.The CWA launched aSpeed Matters initiativetwo years ago to helpconsumers put providers’claims to the test.

Those promises mustbecome reality if busi-nesses are going to lo-cate in West Virginia,Goldman said. Living ina wired home increasesthe likelihood of landinga job, she said, and evenlong-established indus-tries like agriculture

now need to be online tomonitor everything frommarket prices to weatherreports.

But Comcast’s Reillysaid many of those farm-ers didn’t want or needcable TV in the 1990swhen that industry wasgrowing, so they lack thelines to support broad-band service today.

“So we built a largelyresidential networkwhere people were de-manding it,” he said. To-day, “it’s hard to get tothat farm, and it can behard to get to that indus-trial park.”

BROADBANDContinued from 1A

Studies show thataround 80 percent of theUnited States prison pop-ulation didn’t finish highschool or get a generalequivalency diploma(GED) and that 70 per-cent of the prisoners whodropped out of highschool are functionally il-literate.

Raleigh County’s newtruancy policy allows fiveunexcused absences. Ex-cuses for absences mustbe submitted within 48hours.

Raleigh sheriff’sdeputies serve letters toparents of truant juve-niles. Then, parents andsometimes juvenilesmust appear beforeHutchison.

If the truancy contin-ues after several offens-es, parents may serve jailtime, and juveniles maybe placed under a juve-nile petition or, in an ex-treme case, sent to a fa-cility where they mustattend school.

Of those 22 childrenwhose parents appearedin court, Hutchison said,13 are back in school.

The rest are bringingto light problems withinthe county that must beaddressed by school ad-

ministrators or the De-partment of Health andHuman Resources andother agencies.

“Bullying is a big com-plaint, and it’s somethingwe have to look into,”Hutchison said. “TheBoard of Education hasbeen ordered to do an in-vestigation into thosetypes of cases and reportback on what they’refinding.”

In some of the cases,Hutchison said, the stu-dents first reported thebullying following a tru-ancy hearing.

Hutchison said somekids reported that theyhad panic attacks incrowded hallways whenthey had to change class-es.

In those cases, he said,educators are developingplans under the federalAmericans with Disabili-ties Act to allow the stu-dents to change classesat times when the hall-ways aren’t crowded.

Truancy can some-times point to serious is-sues within families, hereported.

“There’s more to thefamily dynamic than justthe kid not going toschool,” he said. “We ex-pected to find that.”

Hutchison said he wasimpacted by one motherwho testified that herteenage son “cusses” her

when she tries to get himto attend school.

“That’s a symptom of adeeper problem and is go-ing to need some re-sources put in place totry and help that parent,but also figure out what’sgoing on with the kid,”said the judge. “What isthe dynamic that’s caus-ing that?”

Hutchison acknowl-edged that socioenomicsplay a role in truancy.Some parents face eco-nomic challenges. Someneed help breaking gen-erational cycles that maycontribute to not makingeducation a priority.

“I have seen some kidsthat are just being sillyand stupid and ditchingschool, but I’ve also seensome kids who are infamilies that have needs,and the needs are morethan forcing the kid toget out of bed and go toschool in the morning,”he said.

“There are underlyingproblems that have to beaddressed, and we’reworking diligently to ad-dress those kinds of is-sues.”

Hutchison said onecurrent goal of prosecu-tors is to find a way tohold both parents ac-countable for truancy, re-gardless of their maritalstatus.

“I made it clear to the

prosecutor and board ofeducation that we’ve gotto try to start figuringout how we can create asituation where non-par-ticipating parents startgetting the message that... they’ve got an obliga-tion,” said Hutchison.“Why should that (unin-volved parent) be walk-ing around free and clearand feel like he has noobligation to help supportand manage and helpraise his children?

“It takes two to tango,and it takes two to raisea child.”

The new truancy policygives Hutchison moreleeway in helping thosetruant students who re-ceive Social Security dis-ability checks.

County governmentsmust certify each yearthat the eligible studentsare enrolled in school inorder for the checks to beissued.

Some of those students,said Hutchison, haveshown up at the start ofthe school year in orderto “be certified.”

Although they didn’tofficially drop out, theystopped attending classesafter they were certified.

The new truancy policyis a safety net so thatthose students don’t “slipthrough the cracks.”

“We’ve got to let themknow, you can’t come for

the first week or so, getyour certification thatyou’re enrolled for yourSocial Security, then quitcoming,” said Hutchison.“It’s better for them toget in school because anyeducation they get hasgot to improve their fu-ture possibilities.

“That’s what our goalis.”

In extreme cases inwhich juveniles won’t co-operate with parents andauthorities who are mak-ing reasonable efforts toget them to school, puni-tive action may be need-ed.

“In that case, we’re go-ing to put juvenile proba-tion in it,” he said,adding that children mayalso be removed from thehome if they refuse to co-operate.

The judge said thatmany agencies —Raleigh Sheriff’s depart-ment, prosecutor’s office,Department of Healthand Human Services, ju-venile probation office,public defender’s officeand others — have pulledtogether, with agents vol-unteering their time andeffort, to make the newpolicy successful in help-ing students.

Hutchison approvedthe hire of an assistantprosecutor to focus on thetruancy cases due to anextreme need, he said,

but the cost of enactingthe new policy has beennegligible due to themany agents who are vol-unteering.

“Whether you likeHillary Clinton or not,her comments, ‘It takes avillage to raise a child’are absolutely correct,”said Hutchison. “We’retrying to be that commu-nity in this way.

“I hope this program isone method to try tobreak that cycle.”

Hutchison said thecourt won’t be “rollingout the red carpet” be-cause it’s expected thatparents and students willdo their part to correctany truancy problem.

“I want to give them ahand up, not a hand out,”he said. “They need tostart working as hard aswe’re going to help them.

“It might be a littletough to start, but we’vegot to figure out a way toget involved.

“If we don’t, we’re justcreating another genera-tion that’s going to justcontinue the cycle.”

The numbers of ab-sences in county schoolsfor the month of Octoberaren’t yet available, butHutchison said he ex-pects to see a “signifi-cant” decrease in unex-cused absences.


TRUANCYContinued from 1A

ONLINEW.Va. Broadband Deployment Council:http://bit.ly/AiCQ5o

gov truancy policy all jf

Documents