This story originally appeared in the September/October 2015 issue of West Virginia Focus magazine. The halls at Lily’s Place, an old Huntington podiatrist’s office turned infant drug withdrawal center, are almost noiseless. For drug-affected newborns, almost any kind of stimulus is unbearable. “Sometimes just talking…
This story was originally published in the Charleston Daily Mail on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014. My conversation with songwriter Todd Snider started off pretty normal. Normal, at least, considering Snider’s confessed love of psychedelic drugs. We talked about Snider’s upcoming appearance on this Sunday’s “Mountain…
This story was original published in the March/April 2015 issue of West Virginia Focus magazine. In late October 2011, storm winds brought down trees all around James Ball’s home near Danville, making the road to his home impassable. It was a terrible time to have a…
This story was originally published April 24, 2014 in the Charleston Daily Mail. On Aug. 6, 2006, Larry “Ace” Boggess walked into the McCloud Family Pharmacy in Lavalette dressed in a long black hood and cape, intending to steal some Oxycontin. He was armed with…
This story was originally published Jan. 9, 2014 in the Charleston Daily Mail. It won “Best Lifestyles Feature” at the 2015 West Virginia Press Association Awards. Fists wrapped and gloves tied, tomorrow night Zac Jones, the often-troubled son of Charleston mayor Danny Jones, will duck…