West Virginia
WVSSAC: Helmet Safety Enforcement A Local Issue
![WVSSAC: Helmet Safety Enforcement A Local Issue WVSSAC: Helmet Safety Enforcement A Local Issue](https://gray-wsaz-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/X3SX5MAJC5GOJHUIVV2KGZP2X4.jpg?auth=aff19acd14d8e899e53870191a4a812edbe615d18e54cc640f92235710505875&width=1200&height=600&smart=true)
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – The West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission tells WSAZ that helmet certification is a responsibility of the individual school, adding that it has no mechanism in place to ensure that schools follow manufacturer standards.
SSAC leadership revealed that information in response to a WSAZ investigation, prompted by last month’s death of Madison Middle School football player Cohen Craddock.
Last week, the SSAC confirm Cohen’s helmet, a 2017 model that was recondition in April 2024, had a sticker showing it had been certified and met national standards.
Yet, WSAZ wanted to know what system is in place to make sure all helmets are being put through that process.
The station asked general questions that affect every family with a student playing football in West Virginia.
“How often does WVSSAC require helmets be recertified,” and “How does the WVSSAC keep track of which schools are in compliance with the regulation?”
WSAZ sent those questions multiple times since last Thursday to the executive director, David Price. He responded late afternoon Tuesday.
“Manufacturers recommend that varsity (high school) helmets be reconditioned every year and middle school every two years,” Price said in a written statement. “It’s up to the school to follow manufacturers guidance.”
So how does the WVSSAC make sure that schools follow the rules? Simply put, they don’t.
“Principals make up the WVSSAC,” Price added in his written response. “They are the local level of the WVSSAC and it up to them to ensure rules and guidelines are followed.”
The WVSSAC does not require schools to submit any data showing they are in compliance. So that means no one is tracking it at a state level, meaning helmet safety is on an honors system.
WSAZ asked both Price, the executive director, and Wayne Ryan, the associate executive director, for an on-camera interview about the issue, but neither have granted the station’s requests.
WSAZ also reached out to SSAC Board of Directors President Trent Sherman of Martinsburg High School, however, he also did not calls or emails for comment.
So, WSAZ’s Curtis Johnson took the issue to Gov. Jim Justice, a high school girls basketball coach, for his thoughts.
“Given the WVSSAC regulates so many aspects of the competitions that it sanctions, do you believe it should play a larger role in making sure every helmet is certified?” Johnson asked. “Shouldn’t there be some type of check and balance to make sure the emphasis on game rules is also put student-athlete safety?”
“Curtis, I don’t know how we remove local control and bring it into a Parkersburg control or a Charleston control,” he answered. “I don’t know how we make that. I mean, I don’t know how that makes things better.
“Now should they have oversight and should they investigate, I would be absolutely all for that, but we’ve absolutely have got to change rules or whatever it may be to put all of that in place because today it may be in place in a different way, but we need to be able to trust the folks at the schools.”
Last week, Justice was among those supporting a call for independent investigation when sports fatalities occur.
As for Cohen’s death, the WVSSAC says it does not have that authority, but says it is keeping tabs on an investigation ongoing at the local level.
Copyright 2024 WSAZ. All rights reserved.
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West Virginia
Virginia Directs Continued Study of W.Va. Coal Plant Closures – West Virginia Public Broadcasting
![Virginia Directs Continued Study of W.Va. Coal Plant Closures – West Virginia Public Broadcasting Virginia Directs Continued Study of W.Va. Coal Plant Closures – West Virginia Public Broadcasting](https://wvpublic.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Mitchell-Plant-scaled.jpg)
A Virginia utility regulator says Appalachian Power must continue to study the early retirement of two West Virginia coal plants.
Appalachian Power, for now, intends to operate the John Amos and Mountaineer power plants through 2040.
Appalachian Power’s Virginia customers receive power from the Amos and Mountaineer plants.
It had asked Virginia regulators for permission to stop studying if early retirement of the plants could save electricity customers money.
A senior hearing examiner for Virginia’s State Corporation Commission last week said no.
Michael D. Thomas ruled Friday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new rules on carbon dioxide emissions and wastewater treatment raise questions about the future operating costs of both plants.
The company, as well as the attorneys general of West Virginia and Virginia, have mounted a legal challenge to the EPA rules.
The mounting costs of operating the coal plants has come under scrutiny in both states. A third plant, Mitchell, supplies power to Kentucky and West Virginia customers.
The three plants operate less than half the time, and they lose money when they do, according to recent testimony to the West Virginia Public Service Commission.
The Sierra Club has sued the PSC over its 2021 directive for the plants to operate at least 69 percent of the time. They rarely come close, and few U.S. plants do.
Appalachian Power officials have told the PSC that they have too much coal on site at the three plants, and they’ve made the decision to burn it even when it was not economically justified.
Appalachian Power is asking its West Virginia customers for a 17 percent base rate increase. The PSC has put any potential rate increase on hold until next year.
Testimony in a federal court case challenging a more stringent wastewater treatment rule show that Appalachian Power has evaluated the cost of compliance.
Gary Spitznogle, vice president of environmental services for Appalachian Power parent American Electric Power, told the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the rule would force the retirement of Amos and Mountaineer in 2034. If the rule stands, the company would have to make a decision by the end of next year to upgrade the plants at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars or shut them down.
The rule’s opponents have asked the court to block it while it resolves the legal issues.
West Virginia
Curious about what's been going on at Armory Pharmaceuticals? Find out here.
![Curious about what's been going on at Armory Pharmaceuticals? Find out here. Curious about what's been going on at Armory Pharmaceuticals? Find out here.](https://www.mybuckhannon.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Feature-Image-Headshot-1.jpg)
BUCKHANNON – Buckhannon’s Armory Pharmaceuticals sells its products to all 62 dispensaries across West Virginia.A representative from Armory Pharmaceutical, Alys Freeman, attended the Sept. 3 Rotary Club of Buckhannon-Upshur meeting to discuss the state’s policies on medical marijuana and the […]
West Virginia
Morgantown City Council passes public camping ban targeting homeless people • West Virginia Watch
![Morgantown City Council passes public camping ban targeting homeless people • West Virginia Watch Morgantown City Council passes public camping ban targeting homeless people • West Virginia Watch](https://westvirginiawatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Morgantown-City-Council-20240903-scaled.jpeg)
Following more than five hours of public comment that stretched into early Wednesday morning, the Morgantown City Council approved a measure expanding its laws targeting homeless people who camp in public. Council members voted four to three in favor of the ban.
The ordinance prohibits camping on any public property — including streets, parks and trails — and also prohibits storing personal property in public areas. Second and third violations of the law are punishable by fines of $200 and $300 and/or 30 days in jail, respectively.
Morgantown already had an ordinance banning camping or temporary lodging within a park without the written consent of the city manager.
Councilwoman Louise “Weez” Michael originally proposed the ban during the regular July 2 meeting of city council, just days after a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding an Oregon city’s public camping ban. In the June 28 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that ordinances by the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, prohibiting homeless people from sleeping within the city limits do not violate the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
During the July meeting, Michael said she believes homeless people sleeping in public “has become an immediate and serious safety and health issue that we can no longer wish the issue to go away. … We need to send a message that this city will no longer tolerate nefarious behaviors.” A first reading of the legislation was approved with a 4-3 vote on Aug. 20.
The vote, which took place around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, followed public comments from more than 25 speakers, all but a couple of who opposed the ban. Molly Kennedy, a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia, told the council that the human rights organization would be watching closely if the ordinance passed. An attorney for the organization told West Virginia Watch in July that despite the Grants Pass decision, there are other constitutional challenges that could be made against camping bans.
Elrick Rose, of Morgantown, was one of at least two homeless people who spoke against the ban during the meeting.
“When I heard about this ordinance, it made me feel afraid,” he told the council. “More afraid than I normally do every night. Being homeless isn’t a choice. We’re not out there because we want to shoot up. We’re not out there because we’re lazy.”
He went on to say that the ordinance being discussed makes him feel like he’s not valued or welcome in the city and that the ordinance would make challenges against him “insurmountable.”
Dozens of cities across the country have passed or considered similar camping bans in the two months after the Supreme Court’s decision. The new bans come after the United States saw an increase of 12% last year, the highest reported level since the US started doing “point in time” counts of homeless people in 2007.
The cities of Wheeling and Parkersburg also passed ordinances banning public camping last year.
Morgantown’s law is effective 30 days after the bill passes, provided the city has an emergency shelter that’s open and accepting new people.
A representative of Mountain State Justice said Tuesday there would be a petition for a referendum on the ordinance to have it either repealed or put to a vote during the city’s election next year.
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