mewithanie

[eopederson]

Abandoned Building, downtown Charleston, West Virginia, 2014.

[oldshowbiz]

1974-1975.

The Kanawha County Book Controversy.

The newly formed Heritage Foundation, today one of America's most influential far-right think tanks, assisted parents who wanted to ban books from the local school system in Kanawha County.

One parent described the rudimentary public school books as "filthy, trashy, disgusting, one-sidedly in favor of blacks, and unpatriotic."

Members of the PTA claimed, "Many of the books are literally full of anti-Americanism, anti-religion, and discrimination … [They] flout law and order and respect for authority. "

When the school board refused to buckle to those demanding Black history be banned, a series of bombs and dynamite were detonated inside the school.

The demands increased. Not only did the reactionary parents want to see Black history banned - they demanded the removal of all books in from the school system - from Plato's Republic to Moby Dick.

[oldhagposting]

Some things I didn’t end up purchasing from goodwill

[conandaily2022]

Charleston, West Virginia's Izak Surface arrested; What happened to Lora Farley?

Lora Beth Farley of Charleston, Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States has died. She was 36.

[brandonraykirk]

Lincoln County, WV (1928)

History provided for #LincolnCounty #WV (1928) #Hamlin #Appalachia #wvhistory #history

From West Virginians, published by the West Virginia Biographical Association in 1928, comes this profile of the Logan-Boone Highway in southwestern West Virginia: Lincoln County Lincoln County occupies a place in the southwestern section of the State, and is one of the few counties created by the State of which it is a component part. The organization of the county was authorized by an act of…

[jstor]

As we observe Banned Books Week, we are reminded that literature has always been more than just words on a page—it’s a battleground for ideas, identity, and the stories we tell about who we are. In 1974, Kanawha County, West Virginia, became the stage for one of the most violent textbook protests in American history. What began as a debate over school curriculum turned into a larger conflict over whose voices should be heard and whose stories should be silenced.

The power of the humanities lies in their ability to expose us to a multitude of perspectives, to challenge us, and to broaden our understanding of the human experience. But that power is also why literature and education have often become sites of controversy. The humanities ask us to grapple with life as it is—not life as we wish it to be. In the face of efforts to ban books or limit access to certain narratives, it’s essential to remember that the stories we read, discuss, and even disagree with are the foundation of critical thought.

JSTOR Daily explores the 1974 textbook battle, highlighting how this clash over curriculum foreshadowed many of the cultural debates we continue to face today. The article underscores the enduring importance of intellectual freedom and the need to safeguard the humanities against efforts to restrict access to diverse voices.

Read the full story on JSTOR Daily.

Image: Women from Boston and Charleston, West Virginia, holding signs, demonstrating against textbooks, Washington, D.C., 1975, via LOC.

[heavenlybackside]

Little Kanawha River at Falls Mill

Braxton County, West Virginia

[clove-pinks]

For as much as I've heard about Mothman on this, the monsterfucker site, until just now I had no idea Mothman was from Point Pleasant, West Virginia? Formerly regular Virginia, at the confluence of the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers, where Mason County raised Captain John Wilson's Company of riflemen attached to the Second Regiment and First Brigade of Virginia troops, in the war with Great Britain in 1812-1815? Do you think Mothman was aware of the War of 1812 on the northwest frontier? Was Mothman sympathetic to the Shawnee village that came before the settlers of Point Pleasant? Was Mothman aware of General Harrison's call for troops in Marietta? What is Mothman's stance on the competing British, U.S., and Indigenous stakeholders in the conflict

[beguines]

Union activities and correspondence from 1930 until 1933 clearly suggest that union leaders did not want to commit themselves to new organizing, especially in the South. They felt that anti-​union repression was so strong and labor market conditions so deplorable that it would be a waste of the dwindling resources of the union to make such an attempt. In 1930, as southern miners, particularly in Alabama, began to hold meetings and organize, District 20 (Alabama) director George Hargrove and President Lewis agreed that there would be no "bread wagon" (i.e., financial support) from the UMWA and no help for those discharged in such campaigns. They also agreed that organizing would have no positive effect at this time and would only result in discharges. As Lewis wrote to John Lillich of Carbon Hill, Alabama, "Under present circumstances the International Union is disinclined to spend any money in Alabama." Instead, union leaders' strategy in the early 1930s was to put their efforts into lobbying for support of the Davis-​Kelly coal bill, which they believed might make organizing coal miners easier. In attempting to mobilize such support, they also made appeals, and exposed the highly repressive conditions, to other AFL unions, which generally supported, at least on paper, the UMWA's legislative efforts. Lewis's lobbying emphasis switched, first in late 1932, to strengthening the labor provisions of the Black Bill, then to including 7(a) in the NIRA.

But a strange thing happened while the UMWA leaders were lobbying for their provisions. Miners throughout the country began to organize and form vibrant locals on their own. On May 27, 1933, Lewis appointed his loyal follower Van Bittner as the new president of District 17 (West Virginia), as well as other new districts in West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland. Lewis regularly informed Bittner of the progress of the NIRA and occasionally asked, almost incidentally, how things were going. At one point, Bittner replies that the miners have been organizing on their own, and there are no organizers to help and service them. Lewis telegrams back to say that he is reassigning organizers and that money is on the way. Van Bittner replies that miners have already organized a local in Ethel, the "heart of Logan County" (the most notoriously repressive of West Virginia counties). While Lewis was telling his officials that they would be in good stead to organize once the NIRA and 7(a) passed, the miners had already organized. Bittner describes this process in a report to Lewis on June 17. By June 22, 1933, Bittner writes to Lewis: "As I have reported to you heretofore, the work of organizing the miners in West Virginia is progressing more rapidly than I had ever dreamed of. The entire Northern field, as well as the New River, Winding Gulf, Kanawha field, Mingo and Logan are all completely organized. We will finish up in McDowell, Mercer and Wyoming counties this week." The same was true for Maryland and Virginia. "I feel that by the end of the week we can report a complete organization of these fields."

Michael Goldfield, The Southern Key: Class, Race, and Radicalism in the 1930s and 1940s

[offender42085]

Post 0542

Gavin Blaine Smith, West Virginia inmate 3658351, born 2004, incarceration intake December 2023 at age 19, sentenced to life; as an under 18 conviction, parole consideration December 2035

Murder, Use of a Firearm

Kanawha County Circuit Judge Kenneth Ballard says 18 year old Gavin Smith murdered his four family members “in cold blood” which is why he should spend life behind bars.  “This was a heinous crime,” Ballard told Smith during a sentencing hearing. “Your actions can only be described as an act of pure evil.”

Smith, who was 16 at the time of the Dec. 2020 murders at his Elkview home, received the maximum sentence — life in prison with mercy for three counts of first degree murder, 40 years for second degree murder and 10 years on a firearms charge, all to run consecutively.

A jury found Smith guilty of those charges.  Smith shot and killed his mother Risa Mae Saunders, 39, his stepfather Daniel Dale Long, 37, and his two younger brothers Gage Ripley, 12, and Jameson Long, 3, on Dec. 9, 2020. Their bodies were found by family members a few days later.

Ballard said the only reason why he gave Smith life with mercy is because it is required by state law since Smith was a juvenile at the time of the crime. He will automatically appear before the state Parole Board in 15 years because of the law.

“You will receive the harshest penalty that the law will allow me to give you,” the judge told Smith.

Smith’s ex-girlfriend Rebecca Walker (West Virginia inmate 3671373) testified during his trial that she encouraged Smith to kill his family so they could be together.  Walker, who is serving a 10 year prison term for being an accessory after the fact, helped Smith hide out at her grandmother’s home after the slayings.

“There was that peer pressure in place,” said defense attorney John Sullivan.

Walker was on a live video call with Smith during the murders and said “the screen went black” when he started shooting his family members in their sleep.

Sullivan said Smith lived in a home that was “basically a pressure cooker.” There were padlocks on doors including the refrigerator.

“He was basically trapped in his household from a combination of his family’s rules and COVID shutting down the schools. Gavin wasn’t allowed to leave the house,” Sullivan said.

The defense asked for an alternative sentence in the Anthony Correctional Center, but the judge denied that request.

Kanawha County Assistant Prosecutor JC MacCallum said Smith has shown no remorse and has acted selfish. “I think he regrets doing this. I believe he regrets the consequences that are going to come from it, but he’s also blamed others the entire way,” MacCallum said.

Smith, who spoke for the first time since his conviction, told the judge he felt bad about what he did.  “I do regret this and if I could, I’d take it back because it’s one of my deepest regrets,” he said.

3m

[lilithism1848]

In 1974 fundamentalist Christians in Kanawha County were so upset over "immoral" books like "Autobiography of Malcolm X" being introduced to local schools that they dynamited a school, attacked school buses with shotguns, and planted a bomb at a school board member's home.

[oldshowbiz]

1974.

The Heritage Foundation first made its name supporting a movement in Kanawha County to ban the teaching of Black history.

[iamtheweirdomister]

‘It’s Horrifying’: West Virginia Judge Revokes Bond of White Couple Who Reportedly Kept Their Black Adopted Children Locked In Shed In ‘Despicable’ Conditions with No Water, Lights and Little Food

Posted byBy A.L. Lee | Published on: June 24, 2024 CommentsComments (0)

A white couple from rural West Virginia is back behind bars after a judge revoked the initial bond and raised it to $500,000 apiece — more than double the amount they faced last year when police arrested the pair on charges of locking their adopted Black children in a barn and forcing them to work as “slaves.”

Donald Ray Lantz, 63, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62, both of Sissonville, were ordered to reappear in Kahanwha County Court on June 11, more than eight months after each posted a $200,000 bond following their arrests in October. 

The abused children were identified only as a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl.

A third child, identified as a 9-year-old girl, was confined to a loft inside the main house, away from the presence of the adults and isolated from her other siblings, police said, according to reports.

At the initial court hearing in October, Lantz and Whitefeather pleaded not guilty, and Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers set bond at $200,000 each.

The couple made bail in February, and they were released to await trial.

They remained free for several months, but in May, a grand jury indicted the couple on more than a dozen new charges, the most serious being human trafficking of a minor child, which prompted the judge to revoke the lower bond, ordering the couple held in lieu of a million dollars. 

“Along with human trafficking and neglect with serious risk of bodily injuries or death, I don’t find the bond to be sufficient,” Akers told defense attorneys during the second bond hearing.

The upgraded charges include alleged use of a minor child in forced labor, child neglect creating a substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death, as well as false swearing and potential civil rights violations based on color, race, or ancestry, according to court documents.

The indictment suggests that three of the five adopted children were Black and that the human rights charges stemmed from those children being specifically targeted and forced to work because of their race.

A small toilet seat torn from an RV was placed in the barn for the children to share whenever they had to go to the bathroom, police said.

During the second bond hearing, Whitefeather explained that the barn where the children were found was a “teenage clubhouse” and maintained that the children were not actually locked inside.

But neighbors disputed this claim, saying “the children were forced to perform farm labor and were not permitted inside the residence,” the indictment states.

When rescued, the 16-year-old girl informed deputies that they had been locked in the barn for approximately 12 hours and had last eaten around sunrise. According to Burdette, the children locked inside could not exit the shed and deputies had to force themselves into the shed.

Deputy H.K. Burdette entered the shed, and they immediately noticed a disturbing smell and a wave of heat due to the lack of circulating air.

Both children appeared feral and dirty, reeking of body odor, while the boy had “open sores on his bare feet,” according to court papers.

The children told investigators they were forced to sleep on a bare concrete floor with no mattress or covers.

Police remained at the house for three hours before Lantz arrived home with an 11-year-old boy.

When authorities checked the home for other potential victims, they found the 9-year-old holed up in the loft, and Lantz was placed under arrest.

About an hour later, Whitefeather returned home and guided deputies to another 6-year-old girl who was visiting with another couple from their church.

During the latest bond hearing, Kanawha County prosecutors argued that the couple’s original cash bonds were likely obtained through trafficking profits, pointing to the fact that the couple produced the $400,000 bond despite a lack of obvious means to do so.

At the same proceeding, Lantz and Whitefeather claimed they possessed no income or assets, raising questions about the source of the funds for their bond.

Kanawha County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Christopher Krivonyak characterized the money posted for the couple’s release as “contraband directly or indirectly used or intended for use” to violate human trafficking laws.

In early February, the couple sold an 80-acre ranch in Tonasket, Washington, for $725,000, and days later, Whitefeather’s brother, Marcus Hughes, posted two bonds for $200,000 to release the couple from the South Central Regional Jail.

Krivonyak said they have since sold the Sissonville home, where they were arrested for $295,000.

All those funds have been seized by the court as potential profits from human trafficking, rendering them inaccessible to the defendants. 

Prosecutors argued that even if the bond money came from legitimate sources, its use was intended to further human trafficking and forced labor operations.

Akers also remarked that the case was unlike any other she had heard during her entire career as a judge.

“It alleges human trafficking, human rights violations, the use of forced labor,” Akers said, according to reports. “Human rights violations specific to the fact that these children were targeted because of their race and they were used basically as slaves from what the indictment alleges.”

Both Lantz and Whitefeather pleaded not guilty to the new charges in the indictment, however, they remain in jail as they have been unable to meet the higher bond amount. 

Their next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 9.

“You heard in the testimony about what these children were going through and it’s horrifying and despicable,” Kanawha County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Debra Rusnak said, according to Metro News Television. “There’s no other way to describe it.”

[conandaily2022]

What Sissonville, West Virginia's Donald Lantz, Jeanne Whitefeather did to their adopted kids

[brandonraykirk]

Logan-Boone Highway in WV (1928)

#History for the Logan-Boone Highway connecting #Charleston and #Logan #WV #Appalachia #history

From West Virginians, published by the West Virginia Biographical Association in 1928, comes this profile of the Lincoln-Boone Highway in southwestern West Virginia: Boone County, south of Kanawha, has been opened up by a hard road from Marmet, across the Kanawha from the Midland Trail. A second connection with Charleston is offered by a highway on the south side of the Kanawha. The county was…