Thursday, February 26, 2015
Midland wrestlers compete in regional, Page 12 50 Cents Volume 117 Issue 8
Board may face challenges with Charter Schools By Amanda Smythers amanda@theputnamstandard.com
Senate Bill 14, known as the West Virginia Public Charter School Act, may face challenges in implementation around the state. The first challenge, however, is passage by the state legislature. On Monday the Charter Schools bill died in Senate Finance Committee meeting Monday after Sen. Jeff Kessler (D-Marshall) made a motion for the “indefinite postponement.” The 8-6 vote was down party lines. Republicans breathed new life to the bill on Tuesday when a motion to dismiss it from the committee and move it directly into first reading on the floor passed 18-16. The bill will be read three times before a vote can be taken. Cabell County Schools Superintendent William Smith said his biggest concerns with the bill are monetary, as charter systems historically drain financial resources. “Financially, from what I’ve read about it, if you try to implement you might have a drain on
“I don’t see that as a viable thing for small counties to do because it is a drain on resources,” Smith said. “Larger counties would have to really think very hard before they would do something like that because it is a drain on resources.”
William Smith Cabell County Schools Schools Superintendent your resources because the money follows the child,” he said. He said that if a school in the county became a charter, the children who attended would take away their associated state funding from their home school to use for the charter. In cases like Culloden Elementary, where the school is already losing teachers due to decreasing enrollment, the loss could See Charter, Page 7
Angie Fletcher, owner of AllyK at Cafe in Barboursville, prepares a homemade crust for a sugar-free apple pie.
AllyKat Café is family affair By Amanda Smythers amanda@theputnamstandard.com On Feb. 29, 2012 Angie Fletcher, an employee of Kindred Communication of Huntington, was in a car crash that changed her life. “It really took a toll on my life,” she said. “It changed my whole life. I didn’t feel like I could handle going back to what I was doing before.” After a long and tenuous rehabilitation, she was at a doctor appointment with her daughter, Ally, when she saw a listing on Craigslist for café equipment in Barboursville. The next day, AllyKat
Café was born. “It really was an act of my heart and I just felt like it was a door that God opened for me,” Fletcher said. “I felt so strongly about it that I knew I had to do it. There was no way I could not do what was right there and what seemed so big in front of me.” Located at 640 Brady Street, AllyKat Café serves homemade sandwiches and old-fashioned meals, along with a cookies, cakes and pies. Originally only open for lunch, the café has expanded to dinner and has seen significant growth since See AllyKat, Page 6
Record low temperatures close businesses, schools By Amanda Smythers amanda@theputnamstandard.com
Wintry weather and record breaking low temperatures kept plows and public works departments busy last week as 18 inches of snow combined with artic temperatures covered roadways across the county. “It could have been a lot worse,” said Gordon Merry, director of the Cabell County office of emergency management. “Truly, in my opinion and from the EMS side, we looked ahead.
“We have four trucks with plow blades. We were proactive getting equipment to be able to handle storms like this. There were no surprises. We knew it was going to snow and we had the equipment to deal with it.” Merry said that for the most part, local residents heeded the warnings and stayed off the roads. Monday, Feb. 16 was the worst day as 10.9 inches of snow created a winter wonderland across the county that plows just could not keep up with. “Monday was a major challenge for us,” he said. “We had worked
preparing and trying to get ready all day Sunday and really and truly, obviously we got stuck here and there, but really it was not that bad. The biggest issue was on Monday that when we got that snow, there was so much of it, no one could keep up with it. That caused some See Weather, Page 3 A week filled with large snowfalls and historically low temperatures kept shoppers at home instead of on Main Street in downtown Barboursville.
INSIDE THIS EDITION: n
Calendar of Events, page 2 n At the Capitol, page 8