By Theresa Haynes
Times West Virginian Staff Writer
WHITE HALL -
The Go-Mart rape controversy has sparked interest in legislation requiring
24-hour convenience stores in West Virginia to provide security cameras.
For the complete story, click here or see Story 1
below.
22 workers from Philips win $100,000
By Theresa Haynes
Times West Virginian Staff Writer
FAIRMONT -
Twenty two employees of Philips Lighting in Fairmont will have a little extra
cash to spend this holiday season. The group won $100,000 in the Powerball
lottery Wednesday.
For the complete story, click here or see Story 2
below.
By Jim Bissett
Times West Virginian Staff Writer
NUTTER FORT -
A collision between a van and a cement truck on Route 20 near here Friday
afternoon sent six men to United Hospital Center, as area emergency crews
scrambled in the aftermath following the accident.
For the complete story, clickhere
By Theresa Haynes
Times West Virginian Staff Writer
WHITE HALL -
The Go-Mart rape controversy has sparked interest in legislation requiring
24-hour convenience stores in West Virginia to provide security cameras.
The
town of White Hall plans to introduce a new ordinance Monday which would require
such stores in this Marion County town to install security cameras and provide
robbery prevention courses for their evening employees.
Rep. Mike Caputo has
already pledged to introduce state-wide legislation requiring convenience-store
owners to install security cameras in 24-hour businesses throughout West
Virginia.
White Hall Mayor Jesse Corley said the Oct. 19 rape of a female
convenience store clerk working alone has prompted the new ordinance.
According
to West Virginia State Trooper Mike Lynch, the 32-year-old clerk was approached
by a clean-cut, college-age, white male customer who pretended to need help.
When the clerk went to assist the man, he grabbed her wrist and took her to the
store's back room where he beat and raped her.
Lynch said a security camera
could have deterred the rapist or at least helped officers apprehend him.
The
rapist fled the scene on foot and police currently have no solid leads or
suspects in the case, Lynch said.
Mayor Corley said the proposed ordinance will
affect approximately four businesses in White Hall which sell gasoline and
prepared food through the night.
Corley said the ordinance would not affect
fast-food restaurants or other businesses which conduct around-the-clock
operations.
Monday will be the first reading of the ordinance, and a public
hearing will follow on Dec. 22, Corley said.
The mayor said the proposed town
ordinance is almost identical to an ordinance already on the books in
Jacksonville, Fla.
The ordinance also spells out safety precautions for money
in cash registers and drop boxes.
"This could grow into a much bigger thing,"
Corley said.
The White Hall mayor said he hopes to see the law adopted for the
whole state.
The White Hall Town Council meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday in
the Teamsters Hall.
The mayor said the Go-Mart rape shocked the community, in
part, because it was the first major crime to occur in White Hall since it became
a town in 1992.
"Hopefully we can get something done and get something worked
out because this is a situation which should have never happened," Corley said.
By Theresa Haynes
Times West Virginian Staff Writer
FAIRMONT -
Twenty two employees of Philips Lighting in Fairmont will have a little extra
cash to spend this holiday season. The group won $100,000 in the Powerball
lottery Wednesday.
The employees' gamble proved lucky when the winning lottery
numbers matched the group's combination, 9-14-18-42-47.
Thursday, the employees
went to Charleston to cash in. After taxes the group received a check for $65,500
-- a little less than $3,000 for each of the 22 players.
Brenda Ayers, who
bought the winning lottery ticket at the Dairy Mart on the corner of Morgantown
Avenue and Suncrest Boulevard, said she was not expecting to win when she bought
the ticket.
"We have been doing this so long, I didn't expect anything," Ayers
said.
Ayers said the group of 22 employees, comprised of office staff and plant
workers, play $5 each when the Powerball jackpot reaches $20 million or more. The
Powerball jackpot is drawn twice a week.
Wednesday was the first time the
employees have won since they started playing together four years ago.
Becky
Baker, who went to Charleston to collect the money, said she doesn't want to know
how much the group has spent over the last four years. Like other employees at
Philips Lighting, she was just excited to be a winner.
But the 22 employees
could have been luckier.
Had the employees selected the winning Powerball
number they would have hit the $35 million jackpot.
Baker said the group has
already purchased their tickets for tonight to try their hands at the $40 million
jackpot.
By Jim Bissett
Times West Virginian Staff Writer
NUTTER FORT -
A collision between a van and a cement truck on Route 20 near here Friday
afternoon sent six men to United Hospital Center, as area emergency crews
scrambled in the aftermath following the accident.
"It was busy, to say the
least," Nutter Fort Fire Chief Tom Rohrbough said. "When we got on the scene,
there were four men on the ground, one in the van and one in the truck. I was
busy with the radio, trying to call in additional ambulances."
The 2 p.m.
collision occurred near the Harrison County community of Quiet Dell, around six
miles from Nutter Fort.
"The van was in the wrong place at the wrong time,"
Rohrbough said. "That's really all there was to it."
A van carrying five
workers from a Philippi-area construction project was attempting to pass a cement
truck near the Bell Meadow Country Club, the chief said.
At the same time,
Rohrbough said, the truck, owned by Central Supply Co. of Clarksburg, was in the
act of making a left turn into the Overlook subdivision -- causing what the chief
described as a "T-bone" collision between the two vehicles.
The van slammed
into the side of the truck, Rohrbough said, with truck's side-mounted gas tank
bearing the brunt of the impact.
"Thankfully, there was no fuel leakage or
fire," he said. "Then there would have been real trouble, because all the victims
were close by both vehicles."
The driver of van, the chief said, was entrapped
for a time in the wreckage. All the men, he said, suffered chest, neck and back
injuries.
All six victims were being evaluated in the United Hospital Center
emergency room Friday night, a hospital spokeswoman said.
One man Barbour
County man, Scott Mayle, was listed in stable condition at UHC, the spokeswoman
said. Another, Michael Miller, was treated and released.
Identities and
conditions of the other accident victims were not immediately known.
Rohrbough
said that particular stretch of Route 20, with a minimal passing zone, is one
that could easily invite such an accident.
"It's kind of a 'funny' area," he
said. "You have a long straightaway with lots of homes and businesses. The
passing zone just cuts off."
Rohrbough praised the quick actions of the
responding agencies on the scene, including the West Virginia State Police and
emergency crews from nearby Clarksburg, Stonewood and Anmoore.
Weather
conditions had grounded HealthNet's medical helicopter in Morgantown, he said,
and LifeFlite, based in western Pennsylvania, "was an hour away -- we had to get
these people to the hospital."
The nature of their injuries, he said, required
all six victims to be placed on back boards and stabilized with neck braces.
And everyone contended with the blustery, 30-degree cold, he said.
"We were
on the scene in seven minutes," Rohrbough said. "We were out there for at least
an hour and fifteen minutes. Nutter Fort had two more additional calls while we
were there. This was teamwork in action."
The accident remains under
investigation by the West Virginia State Police.