Thursday, September 4, 2014
The
Volume 145 Issue 35 50 Cents
Putnam Standard
County denies bridge funding By Michael Circle michael@theputnamstandard.com
Running back Jordan Tucker ran for 191 yards and two touchdowns in the season opener against Parkersburg Catholic. The win snapped a 13-game losing streak for Buffalo.
Bison start season on right foot
By Trace Johnson For The Putnam Standard Now that many of the young Buffalo Bison have tasted victory for the first time, the goal is to repeat the feeling. Coming into its game against Parkersburg Catholic Friday night, Buffalo was in the midst of a 13-game losing streak. It had been nearly two years (Oct. 19, 2012) since the Bison could celebrate a victory, so that made the 13-12 victory over Parkersburg
Catholic that much sweeter. “We’re young,” Coach Mike Sawyer said. “We’ve got 27 kids, and 19 of them are sophomores and freshmen. This will be good for them.” Needless to say, it was an emotional night for a team that had been through so much adversity. A lot of Buffalo players experienced their first high school football win, including sophomore Jacob Hanshaw. When asked about some of the keys to the game, Hanshaw re-
sponded with a simple phrase that helps sum up this Buffalo football team, “Just don’t give up.” Sawyer said he was happy to get this season started out on the right foot. “It means a lot because we lost 13 in a row so we needed to get that W,” Sawyer said. “It was kind of an ugly win, but like I told them the good thing is we got the win and it’s something we can build off of.” See Buffalo, Page 4
The Putnam County Commission declined to provide funding for a replacement bridge at Hurricane City Park. Commissioner Andy Skidmore made a motion to allocate $25,000 in Tax Increment Financing to make the entrance bridge two lanes, but neither Joe Haynes nor Steve Andes seconded that motion so it died. “We brought the idea into the meeting on Tuesday to try to get the issue fixed,” said Ben Newhouse, Hurricane city manager. “It’s very unfortunate that the matter was not discussed more than
it was.” Newhouse requested $25,000 from the county to help with part of a deal cut with the West Virginia Department of Transportation. The DOT agreed to share in the construction on an 80-20 basis. Hurricane’s portion to cover is roughly $60,000. “I didn’t think $25,000 was all that much,” Newhouse said. “It’s not just a Hurricane thing, it’s an everyone thing. People from all over the county use that park, and the current bridge is a safety concern for all.” When put on the table, Skidmore moved to allocate TIF funds for the project. See Hurricane, Page 4
Center redirects patients By Amanda Smythers amanda@theputnamstandard.com
Valley Health in Teays Valley will be redirecting patients to its Milton office due to a fire that caused serious damages to the inside of the building. The fire, which happened around midnight Aug. 28, was confined to the attic of the building, something Teays Valley firefighters said saved the building from catastrophic damage.
“It started in the rear of the building,” said Capt. Jonathan Smoot, of the Teays Valley Volunteer Fire Department. “The attic is open so it basically burnt until we got it extinguished.” The building was equipped with a firewall in the attic, enabling the firefighters to get it extinguished quickly. “The firewall will hold the fire’s spread,” said firefighter Dan See Fire, Page 2
Poca High School students program news station By Zach Cumberland zach@theputnamstandard.com Back in 2002, a librarian and another teacher were able to bring in a camera, tripod and microphone with a grant from then-Gov. Bob Wise. That created the Poca High School TV station WDOT and the film/video program, which has been building ever since. “I’ve had the program for five years,” said Sonjia Richardson, the WDOT film/video program teacher. “We’ve been able to build up from the camera and microphone we received in 2002. Now we have a video and an audio mixer, and in the past couple of years we’ve added a sports desk, so
we’ve built the program as much as we can.” Last year, the WDOT film/video program received a $1,000 grant from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, and as a result the program was able to purchase a new video mixer. Grants aren’t the only way the program receives funds. Richardson said her fellow staff members have been very kind and they share faculty senate funds so the program can continue to thrive. “Several times, I’ve just appealed to staff members and said, ‘We need to update our equipment, I don’t have any funds. Would anybody be willing to share some of their faculty senate
funds?’ They’ve been very generous and I’ve been able to buy equipment, mostly with what the staff has given me, because they’re invested in the program too and they see it with their kids every morning,” she said. The program puts together a broadcast each morning which goes on air at 9:32 a.m. It is between six to eight minutes long, depending on the number of announcements. Sports and weather are included as well. The students not only do their own news stories during each segment, but do field reporting as well. “They have projects they
Cydney Mcgrew and Skyler Vealey prepare to broadcast See WDOT, Page 9 the Poca High School news.
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