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businessSOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA: FOOTPRINTSYEARBOOK

2013THEREGISTER HERALD

Saturday, September 28, 2013 Beckley, West Virginia ◆ Single copy: 75 cents

Volume 134Number 101

BRIDGE . . . . . . . . 11B

CALENDAR . . . . . . . 6A

CLASSIFIED . 13B-16B

COMICS . . . . . . . . 12B

DEAR ABBY . . . . . 11B

DEATHS . . . . . . . . . 6A

HISTORY. . . . . . . . . 2A

HOROSCOPES. . . . 12B

NATION & WORLD . 5A

OPINION . . . . . . . . . 4A

SPORTS . . . . . . 1B-9B

STATE & REGION . . 3A

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INSIDE TODAY

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High 72. Low 45.Details, Page 14A

WEATHER

BRANDI UNDERWOOD/THE REGISTER-HERALD

Brothers Caleb, 16, and Zack, 14, Radcliffe treat guests of the School of Harmony to a cello and piano rendition of “Ocome, O come, Emmanuel” at Friday’s All-Steinway School of Distinction Initiative “kick-off” event.

RICK BARBERO/THE REGISTER-HERALD

Brittany Holt, left and Katlyn Webster, both fourth-graders, look over a dis-play of Little Jimmy Dickens in the traveling West VIrginia Music Hall of Fameexhibit at Ghent Elementary School Friday. PHOTO, 3A

Traveling museum brings state’stuneful history to local studentsBy Jessica FarrishREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

Ghent ElementarySchool students said “lat-er” to the classroom Fri-day, headed out to theparking lot and jumped ona music tour bus that hadpulled up to the schoolcurb.

Parents shouldn’t yell attheir offspring for skip-ping class to get a slice ofthe rock ’n ’roll life,

though. The 28-foot trailerhouses the West VirginiaMusical Hall of Fame’sTraveling Museum — acollection of music-relatedmemorabilia, photographsand documents that areall part of the MountainState’s musical history.

The visit was hosted byGhent Principal BeckySmith and funded by agrant from the BeckleyArea Foundation.

“We certainly want to

make the children awareof the arts ... and showthem there are other op-tions for careers,” saidSmith. “I would hope itwould inspire many of ourchildren to explore musicopportunities.”

Raleigh County musi-cians featured in the Trav-eling Museum and the In-teractive Map include Lit-tle Jimmy Dickens, The

By Wendy HoldrenREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

A Fairdale man was sen-tenced Friday to 15 years inthe penitentiary for the vol-untary manslaughter of 66-year-old Frank Acord.

Charles William Young,

41, entered a Kennedy pleain July and Judge John A.Hutchison sentenced him tothe maximum of the poten-tial three- to 15-year sen-tence.

Young was taken into cus-tody in September 2012 af-ter a lengthy investigation

conducted by the RaleighCounty Sheriff’s Depart-ment Detective Bureau.

Raleigh County Prosecut-ing Attorney Kristen Kellersaid Acord’s body was foundat an abandoned mine siteMarch 3, 2012, and the med-ical examiner determined he

had been shot three times inthe head.

Acord also had “abovetherapeutic levels of oxy-codone” in his system. Kellersaid this was yet anothernarcotics-related homicide.

■ RALEIGH COUNTY COURTS

■ WEST VIRGINIA MUSIC HALL OF FAME

Young sentenced to 15 years in 2012 shooting

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHARLESTON — A federaljudge has dismissed a lawsuitseeking to preserve benefits forbankrupt Patriot Coal Corp.’sactive and retired miners.

U.S. District Judge JosephGoodwin on Friday sided withSt. Louis-based Peabody Energyand Arch Coal.

The class-action lawsuit wasfiled last year on behalf of theUnited Mine Workers of Ameri-ca and eight active and retiredminers.

The lawsuit claimed the com-panies set up spinoff companiesto rid themselves of their bene-fits obligations. It argued thecompanies were still responsiblefor those benefits under the fed-eral Employee Retirement andIncome Securities Act.

But Goodwin ruled the lawdoesn’t protect a pension fund’sfinancial stability.

UMW President Cecil Robertstold The Charleston Gazette theunion plans to appeal.

“We believe the decision failsto recognize the purpose ofERISA, which is to protect thebenefits employees haveearned,” Roberts said. “Ourmembers who are at risk of los-ing the retiree health care bene-fits Peabody and Arch promisedthem clearly earned those bene-fits. We will continue to fight forthem in every possible venue un-til those benefits are secure.”

Peabody spun off Patriot in2007, and Patriot later acquiredmines that Arch spun off intoMagnum Coal. Patriot declaredbankruptcy last year.

Last month, UMW membersratified a settlement with Patri-ot that would restore most wagecuts that Patriot had sought aspart of its reorganization. It alsoreduces the restoration of somebenefits and the continuation ofothers. Pension benefits forthousands of current retireeswould be maintained, and activeemployees would continue earn-ing pension credit.

Benefits suitdismissedagainst Arch,Peabody

■ UMWA

See MUSEUM, 14A

School of SteinwaysBy Brandi UnderwoodREGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

The red carpet was rolledout Friday along the en-trance to the School of Har-mony for a very monumentaloccasion, as the day markedthe beginning of the school’sAll-Steinway School of Dis-

tinction Initiative.Although the event was

less focused on black tiesand more focused on blackkeys, there was a special airof sophistication in the room,as only appropriate for aSteinway & Sons-themedevent.

Steeped in tradition and

renowned for their un-matched quality, Steinwaypianos have a history datingback 160 years. The Schoolof Harmony hopes to join theranks of the 150 distin-guished institutions thatcurrently possess the covet-ed All-Steinway School dis-tinction in the coming years,

an almost unfathomable featfor a community fine artsschool in southern West Vir-ginia.

The process of School ofHarmony’s consideration asan All-Steinway School ofDistinction began in early

See SHOOTING, 14A

See STEINWAYS, 14A

IN SPORTS l SECTION B

The School of Harmony begins the process of becoming an All-Steinway School of Distinction

July after Director ofMusic Jacob Womackcontacted Patricia Neep-er, of the Steinway PianoGallery in Pittsburgh.

Womack explained toNeeper the school’s mis-sion and vision, soon con-vincing her to come downand visit the school.

As soon as she walkedinto the door, Neeper re-alized that there wassomething very specialgoing on.

“I’ve never seen any-thing like this,” she said,thinking back on herfirst visit to the school.

“This school is theposter child for a commu-nity arts school. It iseverything that any com-munity arts school hasever dreamed of,” shesaid.

After her experience,Neeper called her Stein-way contacts in NewYork and got the ballrolling on the school be-coming an All-SteinwaySchool of Distinction.

“We want every stu-dent that walks throughthe door to be challengedand have their talentsdeveloped to their fullpotential,” said Womack.

“We have excellent fac-ulty, we have the desire,

the heart, but we needthe instruments,” ex-plained Womack.

While the school hasgrown leaps and boundsin the past decade, tran-sitioning from a little redbuilding to the formerShady Spring JuniorHigh School building,and from a handful ofstudents to now morethan 400, the staff andfaculty have growing am-bitions that can be betterserved by upgrading andgrowing their instrumentcollection, explainedSchool of Harmony Presi-dent Charles Lee Hicks.

“We believe that theopportunity that Stein-way has provided us

with is our key to grow,”said Jacob Womack.“Simply, it will providethe best musical oppor-tunities to the childrenin our region.”

Beyond supplyinggrowing musicians withthe best possible instru-ments to learn on, theAll-Steinway School Dis-tinction is multifacetedand creates opportuni-ties for connections andactivities around theworld. The program willcreate opportunities forstudents to see profes-sional orchestras, visitthe opera in Pittsburgh,the John F. KennedyCenter for PerformingArts in Washington,

D.C., and bring profes-sional pianists to south-ern West Virginia andwork with School of Har-mony students one-on-one in master classes.

“Whether they’re pi-anists, vocalists, stringplayers, horn players, allof the school and, I be-lieve, all of this commu-nity will benefit from theAll-Steinway School Ini-tiative,” said Neeper.“The philanthropy of thecommunity to supportthis school, which hasdone so much to supportthe community, is veryimportant to make thisproject a success.”

— E-mail: bunderwood@register-herald.com

STEINWAYSContinued from 1A

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FromPageOne14A THE REGISTER-HERALD

Saturday, September 28, 2013 www.register-herald.com

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Young was identifiedas a suspect and policefound video footage ofthe two together atRick’s Supermarket onthe last day Acord wasseen alive. When Acord’sbody was found, he waswearing the same cloth-ing he was seen wearingin the video.

Police also discoveredbullet holes in an old ve-hicle on Young’s proper-ty that matched bulletsfound with Acord’s body.

Young maintained hisinnocence throughoutthe proceedings, but hedecided a Kennedy pleawas in his best interestinstead of going to trial,in which a jury couldhave found him guilty offirst degree murder andgiven him a life sen-tence.

Young’s attorney, JohnMize, asked the court togive Young a lesser sen-tence, but the state re-ceived its request for themaximum.

■ ■ ■

A bond hearing wascanceled for GastonSmith III, who is ac-

cused of the first degreemurder of Darien MiguelBlaney.

Keller said the defenseattorney canceled thehearing and Smith, 19,will remain in jail with-out bond.

Smith allegedly shotBlaney, 20, on July 30 atthe corner of CanadayStreet and MulberryStreet.

During a preliminaryhearing Aug. 9, testimo-ny indicated the disputebetween the men mayhave started over an 18-year-old girl who waspregnant by Smith.

A new date for a bondhearing has not yet beenscheduled.

■ ■ ■

Chastity Dawn Hens-ley, 21, of Princewick,pleaded guilty Friday be-fore Judge Hutchison todelivery of oxycodone.

Keller said Hensleywas an employee at apharmacy and she stolepills to give to hercousin.

Hutchison sentencedher to one to 15 years inthe penitentiary, butsuspended that sentencewhile she serves twoyears of probation.

Hensley’s employerwrote a letter of recom-

mendation for a lessersentence and Hensleyhad no prior criminal ac-tivity.

Hutchison said hewould have zero toler-ance for violations of herprobation. Keller alsonoted that Hensley ispregnant.

■ ■ ■

Two of three individu-als involved in a scrapmetal theft scheme weresentenced Friday byJudge Hutchison.

David Eric Williams,30, of Surveyor, pleadedguilty to conspiracy tocommit a felony, trans-ferring stolen property.

He was sentenced toone to five years in thepenitentiary, but thatsentence was suspendedwhile he serves twoyears’ probation.

Keller said he was or-dered to make an imme-diate payment the resti-tution, which is over$30,400.

Williams is also re-quired to pay $1,500 inattorney’s fees. He wasalso on probation for an-other case for one year,so he will be now on pro-bation for a total of threeyears.

John Tessaro, 35, ofGlen Daniel, pleaded

guilty to transferringstolen property, onfelony and misdemeanorlevels.

Hutchison sentencedTessaro to one to 10years for the felonycharge and one year forthe misdemeanor. Bothof those sentences arebeing suspended whilehe serves three years’probation. The first sixmonths of his probationwill be served on homeconfinement with a GPStracking device.

Tessaro was also or-dered to pay restitutionto the victim, as well as$1,500 in attorneys’ fees.

The third individual,Marty Browning Jr., in-volved in the schemewas set to be sentencedFriday also, but thecourt expressed someconcern about a state-ment made from a troop-er.

Keller said the state-ment suggested thatBrowning “may havebeen an innocent by-stander.”

She agreed to reviewthe report and the nextcourt proceeding is setfor Nov. 1.

— E-mail: wholdren@register-herald.com

SHOOTINGContinued from 1A

Lilly Brothers, Bill With-ers, Charles Lilly, RussHicks, Art Simmons,Brandon Green, MarionMeadows and Dwight“Spyder” Turner, accord-ing to Michael Lipton,who founded the Hall ofFame.

The exhibits showcasethe variety of music thathas come from the Moun-tain State, from opera,jazz and gospel to tradi-tional, country, blue-grass, blues and rock ’n’roll, added Lipton.

The presentation alsoincludes a session withthe WVMHoF’s innova-tive Interactive Map, acounty-by-county, touch-screen map of West Vir-ginia that includes bios,photos and videos/sound-clips of 200 notable musi-cians from the MountainState.

On board the TravelingMuseum is theWVMHoF’s unique“make your own CD” stu-dio. The recording studioallows selected studentsto record a song andleave with a CD of theirperformance.

Christian Shumateand Kaden Taylor, both10-year-old fifth-gradestudents, said the travel-ing museum was a hit.

Christian, a self-de-scribed Korn fan, ex-plained that he’s reallyinto music, with rock andalternative being his fa-vorite genres.

“The tour bus prettymuch excited me,” hesaid. “Especially the partabout George Crumb(famed composer, beingfrom West Virginia).”

Kaden added that helikes music and some-times even uses it as away to fall asleep.

He said he was sur-prised to learn the histo-ry of one very famoussong.

“I didn’t know that‘Frosty the Snowman’

came from West Vir-ginia,” Kaden explained.

Keyser native Walter“Jack” Rollins wrotelyrics for “Frosty,” “HereComes Peter Cottontail”and “Smokey the Bear.”

Beckley Area Founda-tion Executive DirectorSusan Landis said BAFboard members are al-ways pleased to promotearts integration in ele-mentary schools and thatshe is hopeful that learn-ing the history of famousartists from RaleighCounty will inspire andencourage all kids whoshow musical talent.

“I think that’s reallyexciting, for young peopleto see that (the artists)did pursue their dreamsand made it big, nation-ally,” Landis said.

The mobility of thetraveling museum was adrawing point, too, sinceit brings music to thestudents instead of mak-ing the students go to themusic.

“It’s mobile, so they cantake this to every school,”said Landis. “That’s somuch easier for teachersand administrators.”

Landis pointed outthat jazz musician Mari-on Meadows, who grewup in Slab Fork andwhose mother lives inBeckley, is featured onthe museum tour.

Meadows returned toBeckley recently to playat the annual Labor DayConcert hosted by BAF.

Landis said she travelsextensively and that,thanks to Meadows, anyjazz station might re-mind her of Beckley.

“You always hearsmooth jazz stations,anywhere, play MarionMeadows,” she reported.

The traveling museumwill tour Raleigh Countyelementary schoolsthrough Oct. 16. The tour is a collabora-tion with the West Vir-ginia Department of Ed-ucation, according to Lip-ton.

— E-mail: jfarrish@register-herald.com

MUSEUMContinued from 1A

RICK BARBERO/THE REGISTER-HERALD

Ted Harrison, with West Virginia Music Hall of Fame,shows off the traveling music exhibit at Ghent Elemen-tary School.

BRANDI UNDERWOOD/THE REGISTER-HERALD

PatriciaNeeper,of the Steinway Piano Galleryin Pittsburgh,and Directorof Music Jacob Womacklook on asSchool ofHarmonyPresidentCharles LeeHicks signsthe All-Stein-way SchoolInitiative certificate.