By Stephen Smoot
On the morning of last week’s meeting of the Pendleton County Commission, Jack Frost came for a brief visit, bringing temperatures in the 20s and a freeze to some areas. Inside, Roger Dahmer, commissioner, opened with the customary invocation that thanked God for the sunshine and also included, “Lord, we pray that you’ll be in the proceedings today.”
Carl Hevener, commission president, then led attendees with the Pledge of Allegiance and stated, “I’d like to welcome everyone here today.”
First, Edna Mullenax from the Pendleton County Family Support Center came with a proclamation from the office of Governor Patrick Morrisey for Family Strengthening and Child Abuse Awareness Month.
Dahmer read from the proclamation, including the statements “child abuse and neglect can be prevented by supporting and strengthening West Virginia families” and that “we must come together so families are uplifted, and those in need are no longer struggling to survive but given the opportunity to thrive.”
Mullenax stated that “we want to help the children of West Virginia to reach their full potential.”
Becky Yokum from Eastern Action came also to deliver the proclamation for Community Action Month, which is May. The proclamation marked 62 years of service from Community Action and touched on the broad spectrum of work done through the organization. It read in part that “Community Action builds and promotes economic stability as an essential aspect of enabling and enhancing stronger communities.”
She then explained that “new to us is veterans’ services” and shared a new program called “Heroes for Hire” that assists struggling veterans with finding grounding in safe housing, then growth with gainful employment.
“This is our only program serving all 55 counties,” she noted.
Mountain Heart, an organization that works with child care providers, also had a representative present to share their commitment to providing resources related to the needs of youth and their parents.
National Library Week was also recognized through a proclamation that read “libraries serve as vibrant community hubs, connecting people with knowledge, technology and resources” and also that “libraries provide free and equitable access to books, digital tools, and innovative programming.”
Next came the regular business of the county. Rick Gillespie, emergency services coordinator, shared that the office of emergency management hosted in its new General Services Building office an exercise called “Too Hot to Handle.” It simulated responses across the Eastern Panhandle to wildfires sparking in extraordinary drought conditions with the goal of covering “all manners of muster.” Gillespie noted that “it was the first use of the office of emergency management for its intended purpose.”
He also shared that West Virginia University Extension service had moved in. “Work on other offices is ahead of schedule. All is moving along quite well,” he stated.
Also moving along at a brisk pace is the work on constructing the courthouse annex. Karen Pitsenbarger, county administrator, noted that “everything is going along as scheduled” but that there are “a lot of details to work out,” such as furniture.
