Category: Uncategorized
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After nearly 70 years of riding, motorcyclist still enjoys the open road
This story was originally published in the Charleston Daily Mail on Friday, Sept. 26, 2014. Pat Long came to West Virginia on a motorcycle. He almost left on one, too. It was Groundhog Day 2012 and Long, who was 84 at the time, was riding his 1984 Harley-Davidson Sportster along on W.Va. 34 in Hometown. […]
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Boone town still dealing with explosion that killed 11 men
This story was originally published in the Charleston Daily Mail on Nov. 6, 2013. NELLIS, W.Va. — William Gunnoe noticed his safety lamp had stopped burning. Gunnoe, a section foreman at the Nellis No. 3 Mine in the Boone County with 19 years’ experience, knew a darkened lamp meant one of two things. Either the […]
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Roots Town Radio goes silent after internal struggles
This story was originally published in the Charleston Daily Mail on Oct. 28, 2014. A little more than six weeks after it went on the air, Charleston’s first community radio station is nothing but static. The community radio station collapsed in a heap of dysfunction. Burr Beard, 95.7 FM WXDB’s vice-president and station manager, moved […]
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Logan County bat maker is fueled by his love of the game
This story was originally published in the Charleston Daily Mail on Oct. 22, 2014. MAN — Drive down Main Street, and it’s easy to tell what people in this small Logan County town have on their minds. Painted bedsheets and poster boards hang on fences and front porches, proclaiming support for the Man Hillbillies football […]
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Real-life ginseng hunts are more satisfaction than reality show drama
This story was originally published in the Charleston Daily Mail on Oct. 14, 2014. If you watch reality shows like the History Channel’s “Appalachian Outlaws” or the National Geographic Channel’s “Smokey Mountain Money,” you know hunting ginseng is a dangerous business of greed and guns. But if you’ve ever gone into the woods looking for […]
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Final rest for forgotten victims of industrial tragedy
This story was originally published in the Charleston Daily Mail on Friday, Sept. 7, 2012. SUMMERSVILLE, W.Va. — History doesn’t have much to say about Roosevelt Singleton. We do not know where he was born or where he lived before moving to Gauley Bridge to work in the Hawks Nest Tunnel. We do not know […]
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Farnsworth, a band born under a bad sign
This story was originally published in the Charleston Daily Mail on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014. “Live it” has become a mantra for Charleston blues-rock duo Farnsworth. It’s the name of group’s first full-length album, which will be released this Saturday. But “Live it” is also what guitarist Chris Vance and drummer Jason Reese tell one […]
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Friends keep jazz musician’s memory alive with nonprofit group
This story was originally published in the Charleston Daily Mail on June 19, 2014. Bryan Boyd remembers everything about the last gig he played with Derick Kirk. Boyd had booked a gig at Soho’s at the Capitol Market and asked Kirk to come along and play keyboards. He showed up looking white as a sheet, […]
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Miseries now preoccupy city protesters
This story was originally published Nov. 29, 2011 in the Charleston Daily Mail. It won second place in the news feature category of the 2012 West Virginia Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. Morale is running low in the Occupy Charleston camp. The protesters are cold and muddy. Recent rains turned their Shrewsbury Street campground – their […]