Timeline West Virginia
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1748 Lord
Fairfax, Virginia land owner, commissioned a survey of the Patterson
Creek Manor, which later became part of West Virginia. The surveyor was
accompanied by the nephew of Lord Fairfax and the nephew’s best friend,
George Washington (16). The survey was unusually erroneous.
(WSJ, 4/21/06, p.R8)
1781 Aug 22, Col. William Campbell
(36), West Virginia Patriot militia leader, died of an apparent heart
attack during the siege of Yorktown. Campbell had led his militia in
the Patriot victory on October 7, 1780, at the Battle of King's
Mountain in South Carolina
(ON, 12/07, p.7)
1794 George Washington established
the first national armory at Springfield, Mass. He also authorized the
arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Md. (W. Va), where the Shenandoah flows into
the Potomac.
(WSJ, 9/12/97, p.A20)(SFEC, 4/25/99, p.T7)
c1800 Father Demetrius Gallitzen
(1770-1840), a Russian-born Catholic priest, was directed by bishop
John Carroll to investigate spirits in the home (Wizard's Clip) of Adam
Livingstone in the Shenandoah Valley.
(WSJ, 10/30/03, p.W17)
1861 Apr 27, West Virginia seceded
from Virginia after Virginia seceded from the Union.
(HN, 4/27/98)
1861 May 23, Pro Union and pro
Confederate forces clashed in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
(HN, 5/23/99)
1861 Jun 11, Union forces under
General George B. McClellen repulsed a Confederate force at Rich
Mountain in Western Virginia.
(HN, 6/11/98)
1861 Jun 19, Loyal Virginians, in
what would soon be West Virginia, elected Francis Pierpoint as their
provisional governor.
(HN, 6/19/98)
1861 Jul 4, Union and Confederate
forces skirmished at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
(HN, 7/4/98)
1861 Sep 10, Confederates at
Carnifex Ferry, Virginia, fell back after being attacked by Union
troops. There were 170 casualties. The action was instrumental in
helping preserve western Virginia for the Union.
(HN, 9/10/98)(MC, 9/10/01)
1861 Oct 24, West Virginia seceded
from Virginia.
(MC, 10/24/01)
1861 Nov 26, West Virginia was
created as a result of dispute over slavery with Virginia.
(MC, 11/26/01)
1861 Dec 13, Battle of Alleghany
Summit, WV.
(MC, 12/13/01)
1861 Dec 17, The Stonewall Brigade
began to dismantle Dam No. 5 of the C&O Canal near Martinsburg,
W.Va.
(HN, 12/17/98)
1861 Ardent Confederate Isabelle
(Belle) Boyd became one of the Civil War's most notorious spies. When
only 16, she fatally wounded a Union soldier who entered her family's
home in Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia). During the next
year, she regularly provided intelligence to Rebel commanders. She was
arrested several times and twice served sentences in Washington, D.C.,
prisons. When captured aboard a Confederate blockade-runner in 1864,
Belle was banished to Canada. While traveling in England to further the
Southern cause, she created a sensation by marrying Sam Hardinge, a
Union officer. A widow with one child by war's end, Boyd published her
memoirs, returned to America and later earned a living by acting and
lecturing on her wartime experiences.
(HNPD, 1/16/99)
1862 Jan 10, Battle of Romney, WV.
(MC, 1/10/02)
1862 May 15-17, Battle of
Princeton, WV.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1862 Sep 12, The Battle of
Harper’s Ferry took place in West Virginia.
(MC, 9/12/01)
1862 Sep 14, A contingent of
Federal troops escaped from the beleaguered Harper's Ferry.
(www.nps.gov/hafe/jackson.htm)
1862 Sep 15, Confederates captured
the Union weapon arsenal at Harpers Ferry, WV, securing the rear of
Robert E. Lee's forces in Maryland.
(HN, 9/15/99)
1862 Dec 10, U.S. House of
Representatives passed a bill creating the state of West Virginia.
(HN, 12/10/98)
1862 Dec 31, President Lincoln
signed an act admitting West Virginia to the Union.
(AP, 12/31/97)
1863 Mar 26, Voters in West
Virginia approved the gradual emancipation of slaves.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1863 Jun 20, West Virginia became
the 35th state.
(AP, 6/20/97)
1863 Aug 26, Battle of Rocky Gap,
WV, (White Sulphur Springs).
(MC, 8/26/02)
1863 Oct 18, Battle of Charlestown
in WV.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1863 Nov 6, A Union force
surrounded and scattered defending Confederates at the Battle of Droop
Mountain, in West Virginia.
(HN, 11/6/99)
1863 Dec 8, Averell’s cavalry
destroyed railroads in the southwestern part of West Virginia.
(HN, 12/8/98)
1864 May 21, Gen. David Hunter
took command of Dept. of West Virginia.
(MC, 5/21/02)
1864 Jul 3, At Harpers Ferry, WV,
Federals evacuated in face of Early's advance.
(MC, 7/3/02)
1864 Jul 11(Jun 11), Battle of
Laurel Hill, WV.
(MC, 7/11/02)
1864 Aug 7, Union troops captured
part of Confederate General Jubal Early’s army at Moorefield, West
Virginia.
(HN, 8/7/98)
1864 Sep 18, Battle of
Martinsburg, WV.
(MC, 9/18/01)
1864 Oct 13, Battle of Harpers
Ferry, WV (Mosby's Raid).
(MC, 10/13/01)
1864 Nov 28, Battle of New Creek,
WV, (Rosser's Raid, Ft. Kelly).
(MC, 11/28/01)
1865 Jan 11, Battle of Beverly, WV.
(MC, 1/11/02)
1877 Jul 17, Riots and violence
erupted in several major American cities stemming from strikes against
railroads in protest of wage cuts. Strikes started against the
Baltimore & Ohio, and quickly spread west, with riots erupting in
Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Chicago and St. Louis. Nine were killed when
Federal troops were sent into Martinsburg, West Virginia.
(HNQ, 12/11/98)
1877 Jul 21, In West Virginia 26
railroad strikers were killed and the Union Depot and machine shops
were burned down.
(HNQ, 12/11/98)
1882 Aug 7, Hatfields of south
West Virginia and McCoys of eastern Kentucky re-engaged in a feud that
dated back to 1865. Some 100 were wounded or died. In 2007 medical
evidence indicated that many of the descendants of the McCoys suffered
from an inherited disease that leads to hair-trigger rage and violent
outbursts.
(www.tugvalleychamberofcommerce.com/tour.html)(SFC,
4/6/07, p.A16)
1887 Warwick China Co. was
incorporated in Wheeling, West Virginia. The company closed operations
in 1951.
(SFC, 1/4/06, p.G2)
1892 The Central Glass Co. of
Wheeling, W. Va., made a pattern of glass called Coin based on real US
coins. After 8 months of production the US Treasury Dep. ruled that
using the coins was a form of counterfeiting money and the pattern was
discontinued.
(SFC, 3/28/07, p.G7)
1896 Oct. 1, The U.S. Post Office
established Rural Free Delivery, with the first routes in West Virginia.
(AP, 10/1/97)
1897 Sep 11, A strike by some
75,000 coal miners in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia ended
after 10 weeks. Concessions included an eight-hour work day,
semi-monthly pay, and the abolition of company stores (which were
famous for over charging workers). The day before, about 20 miners were
killed when sheriff's deputies opened fire on them in Pennsylvania.
(AP, 9/11/97)(MC, 9/11/01)
1905 The First National Bank of
Keystone was founded.
(SFC, 10/21/99, p.AA4)
1907 Sep 1, Walter Reuther, labor
leader, was born in Wheeling, W.Va. He merged the American Federation
of Labor with the Congress of International Organizations
(HN, 9/1/99)(AP, 9/1/07)
1907 Dec 6, The worst mining
disaster in U.S. history occurred as 362 men and boys died in a coal
mine explosion in Monongah, W.Va.
(AP, 12/6/07)
1908 May 10, The first Mother's
Day observance took place during church services in Grafton, W.Va., and
Philadelphia.
(AP, 5/10/97)
1911 Sep 20, Frank DeVol (d.1999),
composer and actor, was born in Moundsville. He wrote scores for over
50 films and the TV shows that included "My Three Sons" and "The Brady
Bunch."
(SFC, 10/30/99, p.C2)
1914 Apr 28, At Eccles, WV,
181 died in coal mine collapse.
(MC, 4/28/02)
1915 Frankie Yankovic (d.1998) was
born in Davis, W. Va. He later became the Polka King from Cleveland.
(SFC, 10/15/98, p.C6)
1917 Mar 27, Cyrus Vance (d.2002)
was born in Clarksburg. In 1980 President Carter accepted the
resignation of Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who had opposed the
failed rescue mission aimed at freeing American hostages in Iran.
(AP, 4/28/97)(SSFC, 1/13/02, p.A27)
1921 May 3, West Virginia imposed
the first state sales tax.
(AP, 5/3/97)
1921 Aug 1, Sid Hatfield, police
chief of Matewan, WV, was murdered on the steps of the McDowell County
courthouse by alleged company goons. Hatfield had been a long-time
supporter of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). This soon led
to the Battle of Blair Mountain, a labor uprising also know as the Red
Neck War.
(http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj66/newsinger.htm)
1921 Sep 2, At the Battle of Blair
Mountain in West Virginia an army of 15,00 miners and their families
faced state and federal troops. The fledgling US Air Force dropped a
few bombs as a demonstration meant to overawe the labor organizers and
in the event.
(Econ, 5/26/07,
p.32)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain)
1921 The Eureka Art Glass Co.,
later renamed Blenko glass Co., opened in Milton, West Virginia under
William Blenko.
(SFC, 10/22/08, p.G3)
1924 Jul 21, Don Knotts (d.2006),
later film and TV star (The Andy Griffith Show, Matlock, Three’s
Company), was born in Morgantown, West Virginia.
(SSFC, 2/26/06, p.B7)
1924 Congressman Samuel Brashear
was killed by lightning.
(SFEC, 4/20/97, Z1 p.5)
1926 Sep 26, John Knowles
(d.2001), author of the 1959 novel “A Separate Peace,” was born in
Fairmont, W. Va.
(SFC, 11/30/01, p.A27)
1928 Jun 13, John Forbes Nash, Jr.
American mathematician, was born in West Virginia. He shared the 1994
Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences (also called the Nobel Prize
in Economics) with two other game theorists, Reinhard Selten and John
Harsanyi.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Forbes_Nash)
1942 Robert C. Byrd of West
Virginia began winning elections when his local chapter of the Ku Klux
Klan picked him as its leader. He was elected a US Senator in 1959.
(Econ, 11/15/08, p.36)
1950 Feb 9, In a speech at the
Republican Women's Club in Wheeling, W. Va., Sen. Joseph McCarthy,
R-Wis., charged the State Department was riddled with Communists and
that he had a list of them. He asserted that Sec. of State Dean Acheson
knew this and refused to do anything about it.
(AP, 2/9/99)(WSJ, 12/6/99, p.A32)(WSJ, 2/9/00, p.A26)
1950 Jul 5, Private Kenneth
Shadrick of Skin Fork, West Virginia, became the first US serviceman to
die in the Korean War.
(AP, 7/5/00)
1956 Jan 28, Iva Toguri D'Aquino
(1916-2006), a Japanese-American suspected of being wartime radio
propagandist "Tokyo Rose," was released from prison at Alderson, W.
Virginia. In 1949 she had been tried in San Francisco and convicted for
having spoken “into a microphone concerning the loss of ships.” She was
pardoned in 1977 by President Ford.
(SFC, 9/28/06, p.A18)(AH, 10/02, p.28)
1956 Cecil Underwood (1922-2008),
was elected governor of West Virginia becoming at age 34 the state’s
youngest governor.
(SFC, 11/25/08, p.B4)
1960 May 10, John F. Kennedy won
the primary in West Virginia.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1964 Senator Jennings Randolph
(d.1998 at 96) of West Virginia helped create the Appalachian Regional
Commission. The commission funneled millions of federal dollars into 13
Appalachian states for public works and economic development. It was
supposed to expire in 1979.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A21)
1967 Dec 15, In Point Pleasant,
West Virginia, it took less than 30 seconds for the Silver Bridge to
tumble into the Ohio River, killing 46 people and leaving towns on
either side stunned and bereft. The bridge had linked Point Pleasant
and Kanauga, Ohio, since 1928.
(AP, 12/15/07)
1968 Jan 24, Mary Lou Retton,
gymnast (Oly-gold/2 silver/2 bronze-84), was born in Fairmont, WV.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Lou_Retton)
1968 Aug 10, In West Virginia 35
people were killed in the crash of a Piedmont Airlines Fairchild FH-227
at Kanawha County Airport.
(AP, 8/10/08)
1970 Nov 14, The Marshall
Univ. football team of Huntington, West Virginia, was wiped out in air
crash of a Southern Airways DC-9 at Kenova, WV. All 75 people on board
were killed.
(www.super70s.com/Super70s/Tech/Aviation/Disasters/70-11-14(SouthernAir).asp)
1972 Feb 26, A coal sludge spill
killed 125 people and swallowed 500 homes in Buffalo Creek, W. Va. Over
132 million gallons of water and mud hit 17 little towns along Buffalo
Creek.
(WSJ, 10/16/01,
p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Creek_Flood)
1972 In West Virginia the Augusta
Heritage Center of Davis & Elkins College was founded as a unique
program for the promotion of traditional music, arts, and crafts.
(SFEC, 6/7/98, p.T1)(http://tinyurl.com/5cpecu)
1974 Apr 3, A series of 148 deadly
tornadoes struck wide parts of the South and Midwest before jumping
across the border into Canada; some 330 people were killed in 13 states
(Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi,
North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West
Virginia. Total property damage was estimated at $600 million. In 2007
Mark Levine authored “F5: Devastation, Survival, and the Most Violent
Tornado Outbreak of the 20th Century.”
(AP, 4/3/99)(WSJ, 9/13/01, p.B11)(SSFC, 9/4/05,
p.A7)(WSJ, 6/16/07, p.P10)
1976 Nov 2, In West Virginia’s
race for governor Democrat Jay Rockefeller (b.1937) defeated former
Gov. Cecil Underwood (1956-1960). Rockefeller was re-elected in 1980.
(SFC, 11/25/08,
p.B4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Rockefeller)
1976 Charles Gibson (d.2006), an
ordained minister, founded the Gibson Glass Co. in Milton, W. Va. The
company was in business for one year when Gibson returned to the
pulpit. He re-opened the business in 1983 and it became best known for
cruets.
(SFC, 12/12/07, p.G5)
1977 Oct 22, In West Virginia the
New River Gorge Bridge was opened to traffic.
(www.officialbridgeday.com/facts.html)
1977 Patsy Paugh was crowned Miss
West Virginia. In 2006 Patsy Ramsey (b.1956), former Miss West Virginia
(1977) and mother of JonBenet Ramsey (1990-1996), died in Roswell, Ga.,
following a long battle with ovarian cancer.
(SSFC, 6/25/06,
p.A2)(www.marquette.edu/org/axd/history.htm)
1978 Apr 27, In West Virginia 51
construction workers plunged to their deaths when a scaffold inside a
cooling tower at the nuclear Pleasants Power Station on Willow Island
fell 168 feet to the ground.
(AP,
4/27/98)(http://historicmonroe.org/corp/willow-island.htm)
1980 Nov 8, In West Virginia
Bridge Day began when parachutists began jumping from the 876-foot New
River Gorge Bridge over the New River. It became annual and was
scheduled on the 3rd Saturday of October. The New River is second
oldest river in the world. Only the Nile is older. It is also one of
only two rivers in the world which flows south to north.
(SFEC, 10/18/98,
p.A3)(www.officialbridgeday.com/facts.html)
1987 Dec 23, Lynette "Squeaky"
Fromme, serving a life sentence for the attempted assassination of
President Ford in 1975, escaped from the Alderson Federal Prison for
Women in West Virginia. (She was recaptured two days later.)
(AP, 12/23/97)
1987 Dec 25, Authorities
recaptured Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, who had escaped two days earlier
from the federal prison in Alderson, W.V., where she was serving a life
sentence for her attempt on the life of President Ford.
(AP, 12/25/97)
1990 Mar 21, Elkins, West
Virginia, reported a record national low of minus 16 degrees.
(SFC, 3/21/09, p.D10)
1990 In West Virginia Republican
former Gov. Arch Moore pleaded guilty to five corruption-related
charges, including one that alleged he spent $100,000 in unreported
campaign cash during his successful 1984 campaign.
(AP, 6/20/05)
1990s Sen. Robert C. Byrd forced
the FBI to locate its fingerprint facility in Clarksburg. This led to a
biometrics program at West Virginia Univ.
(WSJ, 3/11/02, p.A20)
1996 Cecil Underwood (1922-2008),
was elected governor of West Virginia a 2nd time becoming the state’s
oldest governor.
(SFC, 11/25/08, p.B4)
1997 Aug 12, Steel workers in West
Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania ended a 10-month strike at
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. with a new contract. It was the longest
strike by a major steel company.
(SFC, 8/13/97, p.A3)
1997 Nov 21, A house fire in
Weston left 5 children dead. It was later discovered that the fire had
been intentionally set for an insurance claim. In 1998 parents Janette
Ables and Barbara and Ricky Brown were indicted on 15 counts.
(SFC,12/12/97, p.B10)(SFC, 9/18/98, p.A3)
1999 Aug 2, The Clinton
administration declared West Virginia and parts of 5 other eastern
states agricultural disaster areas due to heat and drought.
(SFC, 8/3/99, p.A3)
1999 Sep 1, In Keystone the First
National Bank of Keystone was taken over by federal examiners after
they found that $500 million worth of mortgages did not exist. The
bank's failure would cost the FDIC an estimated $750 million.
(SFC, 10/21/99, p.AA4)
1999 Oct 18, In Keystone Terry
Church, president of Keystone Mortgage Co., was arrested. Federal
agents had unearthed thousands of pages of mortgage documents secretly
buried on her ranch.
(SFC, 10/21/99, p.AA4)
2000 Jan 3, Pres. Clinton opened
peace talks between Syria and Israel in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.
(SFC, 1/4/00, p.A1)
2000 Jul 7, In West Virginia 2
teenagers (17) in Grant Town confessed to killing Arthur Warren Jr.
(26), a gay man. They beat him to death and then drove over his body
several times to make it look like a hit-and-run.
(SFC, 7/8/00, p.A4)(SFC, 7/24/00, p.A3)
2000 Aug 25, The new $75 million
Robert C. Boyd Green Bank Telescope, the world’s largest fully
steerable radio telescope, was dedicated following almost 10 years of
construction.
(WSJ, 8/28/00, p.B11E)
2000 In West Virginia Democrat Bob
wise defeated Gov. Cecil Underwood (1922-2008).
(SFC, 11/25/08, p.B4)
2001 Jul 8, In West Virginia Gov.
Bob Wise declared a state of emergency due to flooding in 8 counties.
(SFC, 7/9/01, p.A4)
2001 Oct 9, Dagmar (Virginia Ruth
Egnor), who parlayed her dumb blonde act into television fame in the
early 1950s, died at age 79 in West Virginia.
(AP, 10/9/02)
2001 In West Virginia DuPont’s
Spelter smelter closed. During more than 90 years of operation, the
smelter produced more than 4 billion pounds of slab zinc and 400
million pounds of zinc dust for use in rustproofing products, paint
pigments and battery anodes. By 1971, a toxic waste pile stood 100 feet
tall and covered nearly half of the 112-acre site. Dust often blew from
the site into homes in nearby communities. In 2007 10 plaintiffs won a
class-action lawsuit against DuPont over long-term exposure to toxins
from the site.
(AP, 7/30/09)
2002 Mar 20, Heavy storms and
severe flooding extended to West Virginia. Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton
declared 12 counties emergencies.
(SFC, 3/21/02, p.A3)
2002 May 3, Flash flooding in
Appalachia killed 4 people. Virginia, W. Va. and Kentucky were hit at
their intersection.
(SFC, 5/4/02, p.A3)
2002 Jul 23, William Pierce
(d.2002), white supremacist author of the 1978 “Turner Diaries,” died
in Hillsboro, West Virginia.
(WSJ, 7/24/02, p.A1)
2002 Dec 25, Andrew Whittaker of
Hurricane, W. Va., won the Powerball lottery ticket for $314.9 million.
(SFC, 12/30/02, p.A2)
2003 Jan 1, More than two dozen
surgeons stopped working in West Virginia to protest the high cost of
malpractice insurance.
(AP, 1/1/04)
2003 Aug 15, West Virginia
officials suspected that a single sniper had killed 3 people in recent
days near Charleston.
(SFC, 8/16/03, p.A4)
2003 West Virginia Gov. Wise
admitted to an extramarital affair and planned not to seek re-election.
(USAT, 2/4/04, p.9A)
2004 Mar 22, West Virginia Gov.
Bob Wise wrote to Michael Jeffries, head of Abercrombie & Fitch, to
stop selling shirts with the logo “It’s All Relative in West Virginia.”
Jeffries refused.
(Econ, 4/3/04, p.33)
2004 May 11, In West Virginia it
was reported that some 2,000 bats and 200 birds were likely killed by
whirling blades at a Tucker County wind farm.
(USAT, 5/11/04, p.10A)
2004 Nov 2, Joe Manchin (D) was
elected governor of West Virginia.
(SFC, 11/4/04, p.A18)
2004 Federal investigators
revisited Logan County, West Virginia. The sheriff and a city police
chief resigned and pleaded guilty to exchanging money for votes. Three
other people were convicted on related charges.
(AP, 6/20/05)
2005 Jul 4, President Bush, during
an Independence Day visit to Morgantown, W.Va., urged resolve in the
war in Iraq and said that "the proper response is not retreat. It is
courage."
(AP, 7/4/06)
2005 US Rep. Alan Mollohan,
D-W.Va., partnered with the head of a small defense contractor to
purchase a 300-acre farm on the Cheat River in West Virginia. The
contractor had won a $2.1 million contract from funds that the
congressman had added to a 2005 spending bill.
(WSJ, 4/25/06, p.A1)
2006 Jan 2, In Tallmansville, West
Virginia, an explosion at the Sago coal mine trapped 13 miners more
than a mile underground. After 1½ days 12 miners were found
dead. Randal McCloy (27) was the lone survivor.
(AP, 1/4/06)
2006 Jan 19, In West Virginia 19
miners escaped after a conveyor belt caught fire inside Aracoma Coal's
Alma No. 1 mine. The bodies of 2 others, who failed to escape, were
recovered Jan 21 and Gov. Joe Manchin said he planned to introduce
legislation dealing with rapid responses in emergencies. In September 2
miners with safety responsibilities at the mine committed suicide.
(AP, 1/22/06)(WSJ, 9/27/06, p.A1)
2006 Jan 21, Rescuers in West
Virginia found the bodies of two miners who'd disappeared after a
conveyor belt caught fire deep inside a coal mine.
(AP, 1/21/07)
2006 Jan 23, West Virginia
lawmakers passed a bill requiring mines to use electronic devices to
track trapped miners and to stockpile oxygen to help keep them alive.
(SFC, 1/24/06, p.A4)
2006 Jan 25, Konami Digital
Entertainment reported that West Virginia school officials had struck a
partnership to use Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution video game in all of
its 765 public schools to attack a youth obesity problem.
(SFC, 1/25/06, p.C1)
2006 Feb 1, In West Virginia the
deaths of 2 mine workers prompted Gov. Joe Manchin to call for all coal
companies in the state to halt production and perform safety checks.
(SFC, 2/2/06, p.A5)
2006 Apr 7, Republican leaders
called on Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., to step down from his ranking
post on the House ethics committee because of allegations that he
provided legislative earmarks benefiting companies and individuals who
helped make him a millionaire.
(SFC, 4/8/06, p.A4)
2007 Jan 13, In Huntington, W.Va,
9 people were killed in an apartment building fire.
(AP, 1/13/08)
2007 Jan 13, In McDowell County,
W.Va., 2 miners were killed when a roof collapsed inside the Brooks Run
Mining Company's Cucumber coal mine.
(AP, 1/13/08)
2007 Jan 30, A propane tank
explosion leveled the Little General Store in Ghent, W.Va., killing
four people.
(AP, 1/30/08)
2007 Feb 7, Blowing snow and
intense cold was blamed for two more deaths, a total of 13 nationwide
since the cold settled in, and kept schools closed for a second and in
some cases a third day across much of Ohio and West Virginia.
(AP, 2/7/07)
2007 Mar 29, West Virginia beat
Clemson, 78-73, for its first NIT title in 65 years.
(AP, 3/29/08)
2007 Sep 8, Deputies in Big Creek,
West Virginia, found Megan Williams (20), who was sexually abused,
beaten and stabbed while held captive for at least a week. She was
repeatedly called a racial slur during the attacks in Big Creek, about
35 miles southwest of Charleston. Six people, all white, including a
mother and son and a mother and daughter, were arrested in connection
with the alleged abduction of the black woman.
(AP, 9/11/07)(SFC, 9/11/07, p.A9)
2007 Dec 1, Roger Lee Dillon (22)
and his girlfriend, Nicole N. Boyd (24), were arrested in West Virginia
for the disappearance of $7 million in cash and checks from an Ohio
armored car company. The disappearance of the money was discovered Nov
26.
(AP, 12/1/07)
2008 Jan 17, The US EPA said
Massey Energy, the country’s 4th largest coal producer, had agreed to
pay a $20 million fine as part of a settlement over allegations that it
routinely polluted hundreds of streams and waterways in West Virginia
and Kentucky.
(SFC, 1/18/08, p.A7)
2008 May 13, Hillary Clinton won
with 67 percent of the vote in the West Virginia primary.
(AP, 5/14/08)
2008 Nov 24, Cecil Underwood
(b.1922), former 2-time governor of West Virginia, died. He won his
first term in 1956 to become the state’s youngest governor. In 1996 he
was elected again and became the state’s oldest governor.
(SFC, 11/25/08, p.B4)
2009 Jan 30, In West Virginia a
small plane crashed in snowy weather killing all six on board.
(SSFC, 2/1/09, p.A8)
2009 Apr 19, The annual Goldman
Environmental Prize was awarded to 7 activists from 6 nations. Rizwana
Hasan (40) of Bangladesh was awarded for exposing environmental damage
and exploitative practices used in the country’s ship dismantling
industry; Marc Ona Essangui (45) of Gabon, the founder of Brainforest,
was awarded for exposing secret agreements for a Chinese mine project
that threatened Gabon’s rain forests; Yuyun Ismawati of Indonesia was
awarded for designing environmentally safe waste management systems for
poor Indonesia n communities; Olga Speranskaya (46) of Eco-Accord in
Russia was awarded for her efforts to control and store chemicals in
Russia and former Soviet republics; Wanze Eduards (52) and Hugo Jabini
(44) of Suriname, leaders of the maroon community, were awarded for
their efforts that led to a landmark ruling ending tribal exploitation
by the government. Maria Gunnoe (40) of West Virginia was awarded for
her fight against the practice of removing of the tops of mountains and
filing valleys below with tailings.
(SSFC, 4/19/09, p.A18)
2009 May 23, It was reported that
millions of bats in at least 7 US states (Connecticut, New York,
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia) have
died from white-nose syndrome, a fungal diseases.
(Econ, 5/23/09, p.36)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = West Virginia
End of file.