Thursday, November 27, 2014
The
Volume 145 Issue 47 50 Cents
Putnam Standard
Winfield scales back annexation
By Zach Cumberland zach@theputnamstandard.com
Putnam County football alumni from Buffalo, Hurricane, Poca and Winfield high schools relived their glory days on Sunday. Winfield won its game against Hurricane 6-0.
Putnam alumni relive glory days By Michael Circle michael@theputnamstandard.com
R
eliving the glory days of youth is not for the faint of heart as alumni from Putnam County’s four high schools learned in a pair of alumni football games at Laidley Field in Charleston. One man, Brad Wiseman, did not play to relive his youth, but to memorialize the youth of his son
who passed away in a motorcycle accident. “At this age, I wouldn’t be playing the game, but one of my sons, James Wiseman, played on the Poca team when they had three state championships in a row,” Wiseman said. “I’m doing this in tribute of my son with some of his classmates. I came out here to give it all I’ve got.” Late in the fourth quarter on a second-and-3, Wiseman, clothed
in his son’s high school jersey, broke through the Buffalo defense and took the ball 62 yards for a touchdown in his son’s honor. With tears and hugs, he made his way off the field with James’ teammates. James Wiseman was 25 when he was killed. James’ four-yearold son was there to watch his grandfather, Brad Wiseman, take the ball to the house in his dad’s See Alumni, Page 10
Poca bomb threat investigated By Amanda Smythers amanda@theputnamstandard.com Poca High School experienced déjà vu last week when a bomb threat caused the evacuation of the school and the use of two sheriffs’ departments. Putnam County Sheriff Steve DeWeese said Poca Principal Vic Donalson called him around 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21 after finding a bomb threat written in the school. DeWeese said the message was written in a similar fashion to the threat received at Poca in October 2013, of which a suspect was never apprehended. “It was a message on the bathroom door in the female bathroom last year,” he said. While specifics are unavailable due to the ongoing investigation, DeWeese said this message was also found in a bathroom.
Last year, the threat was written in lipstick. Unfortunately, he said, there is no video surveillance in this part of the building. Following the threat, DeWeese said the administration followed the school’s protocol by evacuating the student body first to the gymnasium then meeting at a preset destination outside. The threat was instantly made a top priority for the sheriff’s office. “The principal called me directly instead of calling dispatch,” DeWeese said. “The first two officers were on scene within five minutes and I was there in 15 minutes. I notified the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department because they have a bomb squad and a bomb K-9.” DeWeese said four deputies stayed at the school for two hours until the sweep was See Bomb, Page 5
Winfield City Council members voted to scale back annexation plans originally drawn in March and annex only to Little Hurricane Creek, leaving out mostly undeveloped land equal to more than half the original proposal. Initial plans were to incorporate 651 acres of land, which would extend the city boundary to U.S. 35 and increase the current size by more than 40 percent. “We’ve scaled it back now to the Little Hurricane Creek,” said Winfield Mayor Randy Barrett. “Going out to 817 and then just above Keith’s Kitchen, that’s kind of the boundary line right there and encompasses just what we need.”
The council wanted the original border proposed to the commission, but the commissioners didn’t consider it a minor boundary adjustment, he said. “We would have taken a bunch of woods which could be developed way down the road with a lot of acreage,” he said. “But they didn’t think that was a minor boundary adjustment.” However, Barrett said there’s no code in the state defining what is actually “minor,” so ‘what might be minor to me might not be minor to you,’ he said. There are three phases to annex land and the “minor boundary adjustment” is only one of them. It does not require a majority of votSee Winfield, Page 5
Hurricane Christmas events By Michael Circle michael@theputnamstandard. com Hurricane’s Christmas parade has always been a crowd-pleaser and the city of Hurricane is looking for new ways to make the event more enjoyable for both the crowd and participants. Vanessa Ervin, Hurricane’s new marketing and development manager, said the city has plans to give
the performers more time to shine. “We’re trying to keep whole parade groups together,” she said. “We want to spread the performers evenly throughout the parade.” The purpose of this new move is to give performers a chance to entertain the crowd throughout the parade route, not just at the Putnam County Bank, which is the unofficial stopping point for entertainers such as the Hurricane High School See Hurricane, Page 3
Buffalo Broadcast Club
Memebers of the Buffalo Broadcast Club include in front, left to right, Patrick Carte, Ashley Arthur, Kaylyn Brannon, Kassidy Shamblin, Emily Harmon, Kendra Gillenwater and Zack Elder. Back, Garrison Harrah, Ian Parsons, Hunter Allen, Chase Allen, Micheal Fortner, Kaleb Glandon and coordinator Jeremy Litton. Story on page 5.