Latest news with #BillArcher
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Bluefield Memorial Day Ceremony honors those who have been lost
BLUEFIELD, WV (WVNS) – The City of Bluefield hosted its annual Memorial Day Ceremony on Monday to honor those who paid the ultimate cost for our freedom. Light rainfall and cooler temperatures were not enough to keep the citizens of Bluefield from showing up to pay tribute to those who lost their lives while fulfilling their duty to their country. This year's ceremony featured several veterans who addressed those in attendance, as well as a powerful, patriotic musical performance from Mercer County Commission President, Bill Archer. Members of the Mercer County Veterans Honor Guard were on hand for the proceedings, reminding folks to look past holiday celebrations and commercial campaigns to recognize the true reason we observe Memorial Day each and every year.'I hear a lot about picnics and sales and things like that. If you start off the day right, for the main purpose of Memorial Day, and that's to take a moment to remember the people that gave it all in combat,' said retired U.S. Army Sgt. Paul Dorsey. 'They're the ones that didn't come home.''We're only one generation away from losing our freedom,' said Mercer County Veterans Honor Guard Chaplain, Tom Helton, paraphrasing President Ronald Reagan. 'We're trying to carry on that legacy and perpetuate that legacy for generations to come.'Nearly 600 American flags were placed throughout the field at Chicory Square to honor the 585 Mercer County veterans who lost their lives in the line of duty since 1835. One noticeably larger flag representing what Sgt. Dorsey called the unknowns – those who were not identified at the time of their passing. The willingness of local residents to brave the less-than-ideal weather conditions to pay tribute to these brave men and women speaks to the patriotism of the community, according to U.S. Army veteran and Bluefield City Manager, Cecil Marson. 'I think it's very symbolic of Bluefield and our citizens here in West Virginia, how much they care about this country and care about our veterans,' said Marson. 'It's just another great example of why this is the best place in the world to live.' The Mercer County Veterans Honor Guard is currently recruiting and encourages anyone interested in donating or getting involved to reach out to MCVHG Commander, Bob Christian at (304) 800-7018 for more information. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Memorial Day service coming to a former poor farm's cemetery
princeton – Two of the graves have markers and the others are marked only by indentations in the earth. Many factors brought around 300 people, likely more, to a poor farm's cemetery, but they will be remembered on an appropriate day, and that's the Sunday before Memorial Day. This year's Poor Farm Cemetery Memorial Service will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 25 at the Gardner Center off Exit 14 of Interstate 77 near Princeton. A golf buggy will be available to help visitors unable to walk from the center's parking lot to the cemetery. Located a short walk from the Gardner Center, the Mercer County Poor Farm's cemetery had been forgotten for years. Overgrown and abandoned, the many souls interred there had been lost to memory. This started changing around 2019 when the Mercer County Commission acquired the former U.S. Department of Forestry Laboratory in Gardner and converted it into offices and a meeting center. Mercer County Commission President Bill Archer and Everett Cole, the Gardner Center's maintenance director, spent a couple of days this week clearing away branches brought down by recent storms. They were preparing for Sunday's Memorial Day service at the cemetery. 'We've had pretty large crowds and we've had small crowds,' Archer said. 'We did it in heavy rainfall one time and we still had several people gathered under umbrellas to come see it. Usually when people are aware of it, there's people who come and participate. Of course, we have our handicap conveyance to take them up to the cemetery for people.' The Mercer County Poor Farm was a place where homeless people who had nowhere else to go could settle and earn a living by farming the land. 'The cemetery was started in 1920,' Archer said. 'It's possible some people from World War I who, because they didn't have anything after they returned from the war, may have been there; but I don't know. That's just speculation on my part.' There are times when poor farm's records hint at the tragedies which struck families in the coal mining communities. 'We do think about all those people who were there and when you look through the record books – which I keep them at Gardner now –when I look through the record books you can see, like for example, it's always been touching to me that sometimes you can almost trace mine disasters by all of a sudden you have additional population coming out to the poor farm,' Archer said. 'I assume it's because they lost a loved one, lost a spouse. They had no other place to turn. The county was even back then was nice about.' Archer got out a long list of around 300 poor farm residents who are interred in the cemetery. Their ages range from infant to elderly. One, Rebecca Kinzer, died on Dec. 15, 1944, of pneumonia when she was 2 months old. Another grave is that of Lutica Daniel, 22, whose cause of death on Oct. 9, 1924, was listed as 'homicide, gunshot wound.' Further down the list is a grave belongs to 99-year-old Margia Marshall Clendenon, who passed away on Jan. 5, 1922, of old age. In many other cases, the cause of death is unknown. And there are still many graves that have not been identified, Archer said. 'And we know, I can tell you by sections where, for example, where children are buried,' he said. 'Their graves are usually smaller than the other ones. There are only two markers that identify the two people and both of them were United Mine Workers, and so the United Mine Workers gave them (markers).' Pastor Craig Hammond, who is the Bluefield Union Mission's executive director, will present the service's keynote message. 'It's just a memorial service for all those who lived and died at the farm, many who are not known because their identities have not been discovered, but many are known. Bill did a wonderful job in identifying people there, but there are lots who are still not known to anybody,' Hammond said. 'That is something that is not uncommon even to this day. There are many people that are deceased, but with no one to claim them; so we just try to remember these folks, the lives that they lived. Many of them were at the farm for reasons beyond their control.' Memorial Day will be a time for recalling people who were once forgotten entirely. 'We look forward to that every year,' Hammond said about Sunday's memorial service. 'It is a time to remember those who were unfortunate. Even if they are unknown to us, we know that they are known to the Creator.' Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mercer County Commission looks at keeping jail bill paid
princeton – Mercer County's share of money from a court settlement against the company making the medication Lipitor is being used to help keep the county's regional jail bill paid until its new budget is prepared. The daily cost of keeping an inmate in West Virginia's regional jail system recently grew from $45.97 to $57.46, an increase of almost $12. To meet the extra cost, the Mercer County Commission met Thursday in special session to see how to pay the county's April jail bill in full. In March, the county's jail bill was $127,474.81. By April, it had grown to $146,985.60, according to county records. 'We had already fixed our budget for the previous year based on the previous rate,' County Commission President Bill Archer said. 'We've already worked on our budget for the coming year, but that increase was not included in it immediately, so now we have to make some adjustments in order to get through this one month and the coming months will be in better shape in terms of that.' On April 30, West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey announced that cities and counties were sharing nearly $3.5 million from a settlement agreement with Pfizer, Inc., Ranbaxy, Inc. and related companies concerning the cholesterol drug Lipitor. The lawsuit alleged the two companies conspired to delay the introduction of a cheaper generic Lipitor for 20 months. Mercer County received $50,000 from this settlement. Archer said that unlike money from settlements against opioid manufacturers, the counties are not limited by how they can spend it. Archer proposed using that money to help pay the jail bill. 'We can use those to plug a hole immediately, and that's what we decided to do,' Archer said. Commissioners Brian Blankenship and Greg Puckett voted with Archer to use $43,000 of the Lipitor funds to help pay off the April jail bill. Paying the monthly jail bill will be addressed in the new county budget which starts July 1, he said. This new budget will be adjusted with the new daily inmate rate in mind. Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mercer County looking at paying bigger jail bills
princeton – Seeing the daily cost of housing an inmate jump by $12 is leading to a special Mercer County Commission meeting Thursday about how to keep the county's regional jail bill paid until the fiscal year ends this July. The Mercer County Commission's special meeting starts at 2 p.m., Thursday at the county courthouse. The commission will discuss the regional jail bill for April 2025 and the Glenwood Lake Dredging Project. Last March, the West Virginia Regional Jail system was holding 163 Mercer County inmates. In April, there were 129 county inmates. The daily cost of keeping each inmate started growing in April when an increase the Legislature passed in March 2023 went into effect, County Commission President Bill Archer said Tuesday. 'Because of the increases, the jail bill has gone up astronomically,' Archer said. In March, the county's jail bill was $127,474.81. By April, it had grown to $146,985.60, according to county records. 'So it's just been climbing constantly and we're having to look at some of the potential other funds in order to be able to do it,' Archer said. Archer flipped through an inmates list. 'It's all the people from around this area whether it was inmates taken in from the state police, from the county deputies and both the cities of Princeton and Bluefield,' he said. 'The county is responsible for those inmates. I understand it's a major increase but they (regional jail authority) are having space challenges there and that kind of thing and, of course, they went through that lawsuit of the inmates against the regional jail system.' The special meeting is for discussing how the county commission can pay the jail bill until the current fiscal year ends on June 30. Archer said a recent settlement in an antitrust lawsuit between West Virginia and a drug manufacturer could provide extra funding. Mercer County was among the counties and municipalities across West Virginia that shared nearly $3.5 million raised as part of a settlement agreement involving the cholesterol drug Lipitor, according to West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey announced May 1. The settlement was from an antitrust lawsuit against Pfizer Inc. and related companies and Ranbaxy Inc. The lawsuit alleged the two companies conspired to delay the introduction onto the market of a cheaper generic version of Lipitor for 20 months. Lipitor's original patent expired on March 24, 2010. Mercer County received $50,000 from the settlement. Raleigh County also received $50,000 from the settlement while McDowell County and Fayette County each received $30,000. Unlike funds raised by West Virginia's settlements with opioid manufacturers, counties have flexibility with how they spend their Pfizer settlements, Archer said. This means the funds could help cover the county's jail expenses for the rest of the fiscal year. Adjusting the county's budget is on the commission's May 13 meeting agenda. The budget is still being compiled Tuesday. 'It's really difficult times and that kind of hit us,' Archer said about the jail bill. 'That's expected, but unexpected in how draconian it is. Thankfully we've got good people in the county clerk's office who are constantly looking at the funds we have coming in and constantly looking at ways we can make adjustments so we can meet our requirements. It's a day-to-day right now. We're having to clamp down on stuff. This is a challenge; again, we'll talk about that next Tuesday.' Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Yahoo
Glenwood Park ready to reopen April 18 after suffering damages from severe weather
PRINCETON, WV (WVNS) – On Friday, April 18, 2025, Glenwood Park will be fully reopening. However, it will look a little different. Concord University joins 'Concord Cousins' for the Concord250 Patriots' Day in Massachusetts Its iconic putt-putt course and boardwalk were among the attractions damaged in the February flooding. There will also not be any paddleboats for the time being. Bill Archer is the Mercer County Commission President. Despite all the things Glenwood will not have this year, Archer tells us the crew there has worked extra hard to get the park ready to open by April 18 with new additions. The shelters and campsites that were damaged in Helene and the February flooding are now repaired. Workers have also been modernizing the bathrooms. 'We had a lot of timber that dropped over during both Helene and the flooding event. We are using some of those boards in order to work on some of the structures. We are out of boards now, but we are going to be cutting some more soon – to be able to use the timber that was lost here in order to rebuild and refurnish the activities,' said Archer. Archer explained they are planning to relocate the putt-putt course in the future to get it away from flood prone areas. They are also planning on bringing paddle boating back at some point in the not-too-distant future. One project that he is looking into is the possibility of opening a visitor center at Glenwood in the old Clay Cabin that has not been used in a while. 'Every generation for the past 50 plus years has enjoyed Glenwood Park. It is almost a vacation spot for a lot of people who have limited travel opportunities,' added Archer. Replacing the reservoir is one project that will be pushed back for a few years. The buildup of excess algae is one thing that continues to be a problem for this lake. Why is Easter hardly on the same Sunday? 'Glenwood Public Service District has already got out and started the fight against the algae that grows on top of it. So, we are getting an early start on it this year as we haven't done that in the past,' said Archer. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
