·Oct. 31 pm Busy afternoon for law and the ambulance service. Around 2pm came a 911 call requesting badges and EMS for a person shot and setting in a car at a Big Otter convenience store. At first, it came that it was an accident but when they called for 3 gunshot residue kits, maybe something was up. An on scene nurse told EMS to load quickly and start an IV.

·Oct. 31pm At 3:16  a call came in of a 12 year old female driving a white car with a signal 10 (a drunk) first on Punkin Ridge and later on Blue Knob Rd. Halloween starting a little early.

·Oct. 31 pm This morning Magistrate King was to have heard the Rhonda Adams vs Thomas Childers civil trial. The jury was called in and everything looked like a go until a fast walking Wayne King showed up moments before the trial and said he had another commitment. What's it cost to call in jurors and then send them home? $554.48. After Magistrate King sent the jurors home, attorney Wayne King said he would pay the jury cost himself.

·Oct. 31 pm That was the last duty for this batch of jurors. They saw a lot! Gerald Thompson convicted for operating a meth lab and a murder conviction for Larry Thomas.

·Oct. 31 pm Before Magistrate Boggs Tuesday Nov. 1st , State vs: Isiah Stephenson; James F Smith; Hollis Brown; Ronnie Hamrick; Bruce Nichols; John Scott; Lawrence Eagle; Michael Thomas; Kelly Mullins.

·Oct. 31 pm Tonight's the night to listen for Halloween scanner traffic. Should be fun!

·Oct. 31 pm The Communicator came out Friday afternoon around 3pm. Didn't take long to get a reaction to the County Commission meeting coverage. Green shirt detachment commander Sgt Cox gave us a call over remarks made by Sheriff Holcomb during that meeting. According to Mr Cox, true, they are one man down BUT: one Badge stays at the barracks after hours thru the work week; another badge is there much of the time during the week; his staff works the same hours as the Sheriff department; and, he didn't want anybody to get the wrong idea from that article. The new Sarge said his staff is ready to perform whenever called and with one Badge living in the county, another spending week day off duty hours in the county; and another fella there after hours a great deal of the time, they are ready willing and able to respond.

·Oct. 31 pm Also from the last edition, we asked Sheriff Holcomb about the positive drug tests over at Clay High last week. Holcomb didn't think the problem was as wide spread as we indicated in the newspaper and did confirm two juvy arrests from the bust.

·Oct. 31 am  Halloween is tonight from 6 to 8pm county wide and 6 to 7 for those inside the municipality. With the weather cooperating this year, motorists beware. If there is ever a night NOT to be on the roads, it's tonight!

·Oct. 31 am This is also one of the best night's to listen to the scanner. You never know what young thinking minds may come up with to keep the Badges busy.

·Oct. 31 am   Here's a great web site on carving those fancy punkins. Works best on high speed connection to click on it at work and follow the directions.

·Oct. 31 am With the new month kicking off Tuesday, lots of public meetings to keep us amazed.

·Oct. 31 am  Clay Town Council meets Tuesday at 6pm. By the way, Council will hold their meeting minus the 3 day posting of agenda requirement mandated by state code. Shoot, if the school board can operate without giving public notice, why not Town Council!

·Oct. 31 am  Also Tuesday, 6pm, the Central Appalachia Empowerment Zone gathering.

·Oct. 31 am Thursday at 5pm the Clay County Business Development Authority will come together in the CCC room at the Courthouse.

·Oct. 31 am Plenty of meeting fun coming this week. Get out and enjoy a public meeting.

·Oct. 30 pm  Gae Rogers, 90, of Nebo,  see FUNERAL page

·Oct. 30 pm  Some weeks are very quiet in Clayberry and twisting by this web writer enhance the postings. Not so this week.

·Oct. 30 am  Wrap Up time...

·Oct. 30 pm We're finishing the 10th month of the year. This year the fall colors just haven't come. The brilliant golds, reds and yellows fizzled. We've gone from 85 degree days to freezing winter nights. Last weekend's Fall Foliage event was rained out.

·Oct. 30 pm Our man at the top had a tough week. Just hate it for Dubbya. Indictments came. More are anticipated. W's lap dog nominee for the Supreme Court bailed out, Rove is in trouble, and  the death toll in the Corporate Oil war topped 2000. Washington looks little different than our leadership challenged  Clayberry.

·Oct. 30 pm Our County Commissioners met this week. Sheriff Holcomb asked for another Deputy to handle the  ever growing home confinement and probation population. With Sept's jail bill topping $40,000, the elected folks have their hands full.

·Oct. 30 pm The School Board tried to sell off Ivydale Elem school for $100,000. No bids came for the still in use block structure. Instead, the inside, fast track deal to sell to a church group became more apparent. Before the special meeting, some in the community asked: If the Southern Baptist group buys the still in use public school, how much of their religious literature, teachings, and theory be allowed during the two year period it takes to build a new schoolhouse up the road? Christmas trees and Halloween are about as pagan as it gets, maybe the new owner would not allow such items in the building? Certainly, Democrat fund raisers and political dinners would be disallowed.

·Oct. 30 pm  With any luck, other county leaders will step up to  the plate and secure the building for a multi use building for economic development.

·Oct. 30 pm Locally, Prosecutor Jim Samples and side kick Carson Bryan showed their metal this week securing a guilty without mercy conviction for Larry Thomas. Samples was able to accomplish this feat without benefit of anyone seeing Thomas pull the trigger and without anyone seeing him at Nancy Nelson's home the morning she was murdered. Ditto for no DNA evidence, no gun, no fingerprints, and no trace blood found. With sentencing set for Dec, we have closure. With this out of the way, the Nelson family can get back to waging their family feud.

·Oct. 30 am  Back in the Spring, Clay Roane PSD Chair Melissa Postelwait slapped the crap out of fellow Boardster Susan Beard after a monthly meeting of the 2 county water provider. Thursday morning Ms Postelwait was found guilty of battery and sentenced to 6 months in the slammer. Citing anger management issues, Magistrate Jeff Boggs suspended the sentence pending her completion of anger management classes. She still has to pay $325 in court costs and fines.

·Oct. 30 am If past practice is any indication of promises to pay fines, it won't happen. This week, a lien was placed on Ms P's property for failing to pay  fines from an earlier court appearance. We won't even mention the promises made to pay back pay advances she took from the PSD.

·Oct. 30 am   Friday night, Coach Sirk's Panther team pulled out a win against Webster County, 26 to 23. The last home game for the retiring coach went well.

·Oct. 30 am Unlike last weekend, yesterday and today are beautiful. Sun shining brightly and blue skies. W e are hopeful that the planned warm temps will finally pull out those Fall colors. Keep your fingers crossed clickers. We may have a Fall after all.

·Oct. 30 am Birds  of a feather flock together and crap on your  car.     When  I'm feeling down, I like to whistle. It makes the neighbor's dog run to the end of his chain and gag  himself.    If  you can't be kind, at least have the decency to  be vague.   Don't  assume malice for what stupidity can explain.    A  penny saved is a government oversight

·Oct. 30 am A husband had just finished reading the  book, 'MAN OF THE HOUSE'.  He stormed into the kitchen and  walked directly up to his wife.  Pointing a finger in her face,  he said, "From now on, I want you to know that I am the man of  this house, and my word is law!  I want you to prepare me a  gourmet meal tonight, and when I'm finished eating my meal, I expect a  sumptuous dessert afterward.  Then, after dinner, you are going to draw  me my bath so I can relax.  And when I'm finished with my  bath, guess who's going to dress me and comb my hair?"
     His wife replied, "The funeral director would be my guess".

·Oct. 30 am  Q: If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"? A: One thousand

·Oct. 30 am    Q: What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?  A: All invented by women.

·Oct. 30 am  Q: If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"? A: One thousand

·Oct. 30 am    Q: What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?  A: All invented by women.

·Oct. 29  am Man it's chilly this morning. 29 degrees on the mountain tops. With a clearing trend and warmer temps predicted this weekend, come out and enjoy the mountains of Clay County.

·Ocr 29 am Two months ago a jury found Richard Cummings innocent of shooting (12 gauge blasts)  Tommy Young. In that case, Badges had the gun, blood samples, the victim's testimony and more.  This week, a jury found Larry Thomas guilty of murdering Nancy Nelson. In this case, they had no blood evidence, no gun, no DNA, and no one saw him there the morning of the killing.

·Oct. 29 am Read all about it in the latest edition of The Communicator on the news stands now. Pick up a copy before they're gone!

·Oct. 29 am Last night the Clay Panthers nipped the Webster County football team at Bradley/Schoonover Field, 26 to 23. Without a doubt, the best played, most evenly matched meeting of the season.

·Oct. 29 am When Hurricaine Katrina came ashore in New Orleans, 1/3 of the 1200 member police force skidaddled. Nearly one hundred have either quit or been fired.

·Oct. 29 am   Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) rewrote the corporate record books Thursday as the oil company's third-quarter earnings soared to almost $10 billion and it became the first public company ever with quarterly sales topping $100 billion.

·Oct. 28 am Happy Friday morning. We told you nw new posts until after we get The Communicator out the door later today. Well... since you're here.

·Oct. 28 am   Tonight is the last home game for the Clay High Panthers. Kick off is 7:30pm. Come out and support our athletes. Be sure to take a portable radio and listen to play by play on 101.7FM

·Oct. 28 am Will Melissa Postelwait appeal her battery conviction? She told Magistrate Boggs she would not and was happy with the outcome.

·Oct. 28 Doctor Dave had slept with one of his patients and felt guilty all day long. No matter how much he tried to forget about it, he couldn't.    The guilt and sense of betrayal was overwhelming. But every once in a while he'd hear an internal, reassuring voice in his head that said:  "Dave, don't worry about it. You aren't the first medical practitioner to sleep with one of their patients and you won't be the last. And you're single.  Just let it go..  But invariably another voice in his head would bring him back to reality, whispering:......

 
 
 
 

Dave.............

.................you're a vet".

·Oct. 27 pm  Melissa Postelwait can now be called a past Clay Roane PSD Chairperson, a PSD Board  member and a convicted criminal.

·Oct. 27 pm After eyewitness testimony from Commissioner Peter Triplett,  a witness to the April 2005 slapfest, Magistrate Jeff Boggs found the Chair guilty of battery and sentenced her to 30 days in the slammer and fined $200 plus court costs. Don't look for her mug shot on the Central Regional Jail web site. The sentence was set aside pending Postelwait completing anger management classes.

·Oct. 27 pm Another chapter in the saga of Clayberry chronicles is complete. Next chapter comes in Nov. when the County Commissioners try to get the control challenged board member removed from the Clay Roane PSD.

·Oct. 27 pm Carson Bryan handled the Prosecution duties for the state.

·Oct. 27 pm  All right, get back to work. Trial's over. No new posts until we get the Communicator out the door Friday afternoon.

·Oct. 27 am   A couple weeks back we had a report of  a norweigin dog missing from big sycamore area.  If that was your dog, we've got a lady that found one. Here's her address:  opal1020@frontiernet.net

·Oct. 27 am For all us old pot heads, there's a reason we don't have cancer. Yelp smoking pot reduces cancer. Read all about the new study and see for yourself. We may not have as many brain cells but they're not full of cancer either! THC turns down the carcinogenic potential.

·Oct. 27 am Marsha Kay Nichols will spend the next 6 months in the slammer for attempting to extort $ from her boyfriend after he sexual relations with Ms Nichols young daughter. The sexual abuse occurred in Kanawha and Clay Counties. The Roane Times Record has the story online.

·Oct. 27 am We're going into typing mode as we get the next edition of the Communicator out the door Friday afternoon. If this morning's (9 am) State vs Postelwait trial ends with a decision, we'll do a quick post. Other than that, nothing new until Friday late.

·Oct. 26 pm    How about Midget Football for the county? Interested in crop insurance for peaches and apples? Read the ADVISORY page now.

·Oct. 26 pm Thursday morning, beginning at 9 am, the State vs Melissa Postelwait case comes before Magistrate Jeff Boggs. Ms P is accused of slapping the snot out of fellow Clay Roane PSD board member Susan Beard last April. Battery charges can include jail time.  Clayberry has had some colorful public meetings over the years. The April 2004 Clay Roane PSD gathering stands out as a shining example of why Clayberry is in the stagnant mess we are today.

·Oct. 26 pm   More recent meetings in the county of little have been.. well, a little dull. Seems the excitement has floated down stream to our Southern border colony of Clendenin. Down there instead of just yelling or slapping one another, they go the costly route with lawsuits. Between suits over out of control police and Judge tactics and warring  administration court actions, we count 21 suits before the Circuit Court.

·Oct. 26 pm At the center of the most recent suits is none other than Elk River Rat Bob Ore a one time Clayonian. By getting elected to the Mayoral post in June 2005, Ore peed off the local blue bloods and the war began. During recent Clendenin Council meetings, Ore supporters, we named them Oreos, showed up in support of Ore's attempts to clean up the mess.

·Oct. 26 pm Monday evening at 7 pm, Clendenin Town Council gathered in the Community Building next door to Town Hall. The place was packed. The Oreos came out in force outnumbering ousted Mayor Donna Gillenwawa's team of hecklers. During the meeting, Mayor Ore made public his visit to the State Auditor's office in Charleston. Oh man!!!!

·Oct. 26 pm Gilenwawa team pivot man TJ Edmonds didn't like that one bit. On and on Edmonds (and others) went on. Something about going behind Councils' backs!  Did we mention on and on?

·Oct. 26 pm After being asked several times and with the gavel pounding, Mayor Ore had patrolman Burkhammer remove TJ Edmonds from the meeting. Tossed his hiney out !!!!!!!!!! Yanked from the game in mid stride!!!

·Oct. 26 pm  The Oreos went wild with thunderous applause. Gillenwawa supporters sheepishly retreated from their bad behavior techniques.

·Oct. 26 pm So what's going on down there? Money problems. Where did the money go? Who did what with $? With no recent state approved audit in place, the questions grow. We understand that the State folks have since sent a letter to the Prosecuting Attorney's office. Does that sound like a good thing? It's not.

·Oct. 26 pm With Clendenin Council fighting over farming out audit duties, the state Auditor's office just notified the elected folks, instead of allowing Council to handle their own audit duties, the state will come in and take a good look see at the books.

·Oct. 26 pm And there's more. Just like all municipalities do; Clendenin tacks on a municipal excess tax to customer utility bills. It came to light Monday evening that the town may have been double dipping that tax to the tune of $13,000.00 on the sewer bills.

·Oct. 26 am Communicator comes out this Friday!.  Deadline for community notices, classifieds, announcements and obits (but who's hurrying that) is Thursday morning at 9 am.

·Oct. 26 am HELP HELP HELP   Behind the old Ginos building at Two Run, a couple chickens and rooster have been turned loose. With stray dogs about and the chill of winter here, can somebody grab these animals and give em a good home or big stew pot?

·Oct. 26 am For those afar, higher elevations in Clayberry got the first dusting of snow yesterday morning. State Road salt shakers were seen Tuesday doing road duty. The smell of burning oak and hickory is in the air. Did you know there are 36 varieties of oak in WV. True

·Oct. 26 am We'll get a full post later today on  our Southern border colony and more. Here's some info to keep you busy this morning.

·Oct. 26 am  It's nothing to celebrate Click "defense of freedom is worth our sacrifice" from CNN.

·Oct. 26 am OK all you WW II history buffs, here's an accounting not talked about from a Nazi terror camp. Pretty good reading.

·Oct. 26 am  A federal judge in the United States has ruled that a confession by a man accused of plotting to kill President Dubbya is admissible in court. And this is America?

·Oct. 26 am We've got a long history of indicting Washington insiders. Here's a few from the last 35 years.

·Oct. 26 am  Word Scrabble: DESPERATION When you rearrange the letters:  A ROPE ENDS IT

·Oct. 26 am ELECTION RESULTS   When you rearrange the letters: LIES - LET'S RECOUNT

·Oct. 26 am MOTHER-IN-LAW   When you rearrange the letters:  WOMAN HITLER

·Oct. 25 am The bean pole turns 40 today. Happy Birthday wishes to attorney Kevin Duffy.

·Oct. 25 am Cold cold rain covered Clayberry last night. Yesterday afternoon motorists on Rt. 4 saw sleet on their windshields. Last night temps dropped into the mid 30s. Winter is right around the corner.

·Oct. 25 am Larry Thomas never flinched when the guilty verdict came around 2pm Monday. A few sobs and sniffles were heard in the peanut gallery but no outbursts from either family. Badges were at every door and surrounding Thomas just in case some one tried anything. No one did. Thomas returned to his orange jumpsuit and shackles for the trip back to CRJ. One more story for the history book on Clay.

·Oct. 25 am Full write up in this Friday's Communicator.

·Oct. 25 am Ivydale Elem. remains under School Board control. Last night's sealed bid sale of the still in use school netted no $100,000 offers. A Southern Baptist  group headed by Ric Canfield was expected to be the lone bidder in the hurried up process. Didn't happen. Instead another idea came to the table. Elizabeth Sampson thought the building could be put to use as a training center or business incubator site that could generate jobs and training opportunities.

·Oct. 25 am  Look for a buy as you go attempt by the Baptist group to emerge during the next School Board meeting.

·Oct. 25 am  Much of the County Commission meeting time last night was spent dealing with a group from the Summers Fork area of the county. About 6 weeks ago, the group asked the CCC for assistance with flooding in their area due to a nearly plugged up 7' tall culvert.

·Oct. 25 am Last night they received little encouraging news. Despite efforts by the Commission, the only remedy appears to be civil action. Culvert and property owner Frank Murphy sent a rep to the meeting who said the culvert met all state and Fed permit demands when installed in the early 90's.

·Oct. 25 am The Summers Fork delegation was no happier when they left than when they entered.

·Oct. 24 pm GUILTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

·Oct. 24 pm Without Mercy

·Oct. 24 pm  The jury took just an hour and 15 minutes ( and that included a lunch break) to render their verdict. By 2pm Larry Thomas stands convicted of murder in the first degree of Nancy Nelson.

·Oct. 24 pm Mary Gene Fitzwater of Bickmore, WV, see FUNERAL page

·Oct. 24 pm Mary Freda Moore, 76 of Duck, see FUNERAL page

·Oct. 24 pm Tonight the school board meets in special session to open bids selling the currently in use Ivydale Elem school. Minimum bid is $100,000.00.  Has anyone ever purchased a piece of property and then told they couldn't assume ownership for two years? Might be a good meeting to attend tonight.

·Oct. 24 pm  In the murder trial State vs Larry Thomas, the case was sent to the  jury at 12:40 today. Both Prosecutor Samples and Defense man John Mitchell Sr made strong arguments for their respective sides. Based on  a very informal survey done in the peanut gallery after the jury retired, this case and the fate of Larry Thomas could go either way. There were no clear cut "moments" when the case was won or lost.  We'll post as soon as we know.

·Oct. 23 pm Here's s few highlights from the week that was

·Oct. 23 pm  There have been 2,187 coalition troop deaths, 1,989 Americans, 98 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, two Danes, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Hungarian, 26 Italians, one Kazakh, one Latvian, 17 Poles, one Salvadoran, three Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians in the war in Iraq as of October 21, 2005.

·Oct. 23 pm Isn't that wonderful! Only 15 more American men and women in the last seven days in W's oil war. Will we celebrate when the losses top 2000? It's time to rethink Dubbya's war.

·Oct. 23 pm During Monday night's School BOard, all were smiles. Not one whimper on why they were losing their community school and not one whimper on why their school was being auctioned off 2 years before the new facility would open. Not a peep from anyone as the parents smiled in happiness as they lost one more bit of local infrastructure and community identity.

·Oct. 23 pm The State vs Larry Thomas murder trial got underway on Tuesday. Each day more details were made public. The gun seized by Badges was not the gun (38 Special) used to murder Nancy Nelson Sept 13 2004. The murder weapon has never been found and the cabinet Ms Nelson used to hide her 38 was not checked by the investigating officer. No fingerprints were taken that day and no one other than Mr Thomas was questioned as a suspect. No one saw Thomas at the scene but two locals saw a car resembling the suspect's Escort that morning not far from the ridge top home.

·Oct. 23 pm Witness after witness came. The expert witnesses looked and talked like robots. They were well trained. The family and neighbor witnesses came and went. Many looked coached ahead of time. For others it was almost as if nods from the peanut gallery provided the most appropriate responses.

·Oct. 23 pm Adding to the details, semen was noted on Ms Nelson's body the morning of her killing. The one married guy that admitted to a sexual relationship with Nelson claimed no sex the night before. The DNA testing did not link Larry Thomas in anyway! The question: Who spent Sunday night Sept 12th with Ms Nelson? The state rested its circumstantial only case Friday afternoon. It's time for defense counsel to go to work.

·Oct. 23 pm So what about that jury???? None feel asleep during the four days of testimony. Many took notes. None looked bored and most paid close attention to the proceedings. So... is the thinking jury the defense team's worst nightmare? When they come out of deliberation early next week, Prosecutor Samples will know the answer to that last question. If Thomas is found not guilty,who is the real killer and is he still walking amongst us.

·Oct. 23 pm We saw the temps go from short pants weather to winter over night. It was like we never had a Fall.  The autumn, the reds, golds, and yellows just haven't been as brilliant.

·Oct. 23 pm Friday night Ravenswood  put it all over the Panther football team. With Coach Sirk announcing his retirement, some are saying, "And it's none too soon!" Others are hearing of backroom plans to keep ole droopy drawers around in a paying "advisory" capacity. If that happens, it would be just more example of the good ole boy club alive and well in Clayberry.

·Oct. 23 pm The final chapter was added to the Filcon debacle on Thursday. As workers were tearing down the beam and concrete panel structure, an upright buckled sending a worker to the ground 30 feet below. The man sustained serious injuries and was helicoptered to CAMC. Will the Filcon nightmare ever end?

·Oct. 23 pm Saturday morning the young Josh Pierson's pick em up truck failed to negotiate a turn going out of Clay and wiped out a camper and  4 parked vehicles. Police later returned the uninjured Pierson to the scene.

·Oct. 23 pm  The big Fall Foliage Weekend, Found It , Clay, was a bust. With rain off and on all day Saturday, the yard and craft sales didn't have a chance. One guy set up his booth at the Courthouse and stayed just an hour or so before leaving. That makes two years in a row the fall tourist attraction was washed out.

·Oct. 23 pm As we age, our priorities change ....... The other day I came home and was greeted by my wife, dressed only in very sexy underwear and holding a couple of short velvet ropes. "Tie me up," she purred, "and you can do anything you want".  So I tied her up and went golfing.

·Oct. 23 pmSomething to think about with Halloween just around the corner.  A couple were invited to a swanky family masked fancy dress Halloween party. The wife got a terrible headache and told her husband to go to the party alone.  He, being a devoted husband, protested, but she argued and said she was going to take some aspirin and go to bed and there was no need for his good
time to be spoiled by not going. So he took his costume and away he went. The wife, after sleeping soundly for about an hour, woke without pain and as it was still early, decided to go to the party. As her husband didn't know what her costume was, she thought she would have some fun by watching her husband to see how he acted when she was not with him.
     So she joined the party and soon spotted her husband in his costume, cavorting around on the dance floor, dancing with every nice "chick" he could and copping a little feel here and a little kiss there.   His wife went up to him and being a rather seductive babe herself, he left his new partner high and dry and devoted his time to her. She let him go as far as he wished, naturally, since he was her husband.  After more drinks he finally he whispered a little proposition in her ear and she agreed, so off they went to one of the cars and had passionate intercourse in the back seat.  Just before unmasking at midnight, she slipped away and went home and put the costume away and got into bed, wondering what kind of explanation he would make up for his outrageous behavior.
     She was sitting up reading when he came in,  so she asked what kind of time he had. "Oh, the same old thing. You know I never have a good time when you're not there." Then she asked, "Did you dance much?"  He replied, "I'll tell you, I never even danced one dance. When I got there, I met Pete, Bill Brown and some other guys, so we went  into the spare room and played poker all evening."  "You must have looked really silly wearing that costume playing poker all night!" she said with unashamed sarcasm.
    To which the husband replied, "Actually, I gave my costume to your Dad, apparently he had the time of his life."

·Oct. 23 pm  Monday night at 6pm, the Clay County Commission meets. A month ago the elected folks promised taxpayers in the Summers Fork section of Clayberry, something would be done about flooding in their area. Bet is, the Summers Fork folks will hold the CCC to their promise and show up in force for Monday night's public meeting.

·Oct. 23 pm The murder trial resumes Monday morning at 9 am.

·Oct. 22 am  NOTE: Web glitch with updating the home page this morning. New pictures ASAP.

·Oct. 22 am It's a wet quiet Saturday morning. Our Fall colors are yet to hit peak. Last night Ravenswood snuck past our Clay Panthers 48 - 12.  2 games left this year, Webster Oct. 28th and Sissonville, another away game. So far its been a 2 and 6 season.

·Oct. 22 am Here's our update from Friday's State vs Larry Thomas murder trial. Yesterday the tears came.

·Oct. 22 am  Up to then the sanitized police reports and clinical terms kindled few emotions. That changed as family members and friends gave first hand reports of blood, blood splatters and the gurgling sounds of Nancy Nelson's final moments. With 40 or so in the peanut gallery on the 21st, sniffling and crying was heard as Nancy's sister recalled what she saw that morning around 11 am.

·Oct. 22 am With each witness came more questions. Who's telling the truth? Why didn't the Prosecutor ask about this or that? Why weren't the 911 tapes played from the 13th. Who was the "other" person there the night before her death? How could it be there was a big birthday party the day and evening prior and yet a close family member couldn't remember one bit about the party? Her lover admitted to having sex but testimony didn't bring out his marital status and any heated exchanges between the guy's wife and Nancy Nelson. How could Larry Thomas have shot Nelson sometime around 8 am, changed his clothes, cleaned off the blood from his person, ran to his car a quarter mile away, hid the weapon, and make it to a Corridor G Wall Mart before 9:30am that same morning?

·Oct. 22 am A couple things stand out from Friday's court dealings. A married guy admitted to having sex with Ms Nelson two days before her death but not the night before. With sperm present the morning of her murder, who was her partner the night before her death? Maybe the most damaging for Larry Thomas came from two witnesses who verified seeing a black or dark colored car parked a short distance from the Nelson home early on the morning of the 13th. One identified the vehicle as a Ford Escort. Thomas owns a  late model Ford Escort, black in color.

·Oct. 22 am During the Defense's cross, the finger was pointed at a family member who also owned a 38 Special hand gun.  Questions on why a ballistic check wasn't done on the family member's handgun? Questions came on why DNA wasn't taken from the family member? Questions came on why the lead investigator didn't open a blood stained kitchen cabinet door  where Ms Nelson kept her 38 pistol? Why was her box of ammo there and unopened, full.  How has the family feud played into the testimony provided?

·Oct. 22 am The state rested their case Friday afternoon. If Larry Thomas is convicted of murdering Nancy Nelson, it will happen with circumstantial evidence alone. Monday, the defense goes to work presenting their side.

·Oct. 21 am  HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY TO ALEXIA SCOTTLIN TANNER

·Oct. 21 am  So bad is the Filcon word, the Business Development Authority banned any reference to the name.

·Oct. 21  am Our BDA gang sold ($11,000) the partly finished shell building to a Clendenin business man last month. This week a contractor came in to remove the concrete and steel structure from the road side site. With most of the concrete walls already removed, around 1pm Thursday,  a steel roof truss collapsed. A worker  standing on the roof truss went down when the beam buckled. We understand the 40ish man sustained two broken ankles.

·Oct. 21 am Filcon  and Filcon owner Manfred Kuentzer cost the county $100,000's and set economic development back for years to come. Yesterday's industrial accident cost us even more $ not to mention the long term consequences of such a serious injury to the construction worker. Filcon was a bad from the get go and it got worse yesterday!

·Oct. 21 am Tonight Clay High takes on the Ravenswood Red Devil team in away game action. WYAP-LP will be doing the play by play. You can listen to the game any place there is an internet connection and a computer. Go to our home page and click YAP radio button. Once you get to their web site, click the blinking ON AIR button. Go Panthers!

·Oct. 21 am It's not often (well maybe too often) we have a murder trial in Clay. We've got one in progress now! Here's our update from Thursday action.

·Oct. 21 am  Thursday proceedings went about 2 1/2 hours. Judge Facemire explained that he had something very urgent that mandated him leave court around 11:30am. Our guess: Some kind of family medical emergency. He didn't explain and no one asked.

·Oct. 21 am Remember our coverage of Wednesday's butt chewing? With that done behind closed doors, we were just guessing at what was really going on. We must have been close to accurate. Thursday morning, first thing, Judge Facemire gave a big long explanation for his actions. Not exactly an apology but more along the lines of after you yell at your kid for breaking a window and then find out it wasn't your kid that threw the ball.

·Oct. 21 am From Thursday's testimony, an expert witness testified that only one particle of gun shot residue was found on the right hand of the accused shooter, Larry Thomas, on the day Nancy Nelson was murdered, Sept 13 2004. Under cross examination by the portly defense barrister, the jury learned that a particle of gun shot primer residue could have come from handling ANY gun, could have come from handling a gun magazine, or even from just handling the container (a paper bag) Thomas' 9mm pistol was concealed in.

·Oct. 21 am Prosecutor Samples showed some gonads (got testy) by reeling in some of the defense tactics employed during the first couple days.

·Oct. 21 am  One of main ones used by attorney Mitchell was to keep yelling I CAN'T HEAR!! during key parts of testimony. After getting dressed down by the Judge, Tuesday, Mitchell cut back on the tactics. Thursday morning, he was at it again....  move the microphone closer, look into the mic when your talking, and/or hold the mic closer to your mouth. Often he would ask Prosecutor Samples to speak up.

·Oct. 21 am Here's a cute one. After using those ploys while the Prosecutor worked his points, Team Mitchell seemed to have greatly improved hearing when it was his turn to ask the questions! He seemed to hear just fine when a soft spoken forensic expert answered his questions.

·Oct. 21 am On day three of the trial, the jury continued to pay attention, listen intently, and take notes. True it was a short day for them, but, to date, none have been snoozing! Lots more witnesses yet to be called  and a lot more to learn. Who else was in Ms Nelson's home around Sept 13? What happened to the murder weapon? Did Nancy own a 38 pistol? Did anybody see Thomas there on the morning of the 13th?

·Oct. 21 am Don't forget, this is the Saturday for yard sellers and crafters to set up on the Courthouse square and fleece tourists! With a little luck and some dry weather, you might just pull in some yankee bucks! Good Luck.

·Oct. 20 am This loss of privacy thing is growing. Here's a web site that will display information including a photo, of any driver's license in the USA. If you know the first and last name and the state, Boom! Type in your own name and see for yourself.

·Oct. 20 am Tonight at 7pm WYAP is broadcasting a live debate covering local and national topics. The show will be moderated by 2005 Clay County Man of the Year, Fred Sampson. Tune in, should be fun!

·Oct. 20 am If you're one of those 14 jurors on the murder trial panel, STOP reading RIGHT NOW!!! For the rest of us ...

·Oct. 20 am We've been following the State vs Larry Thomas murder trial that got underway Tuesday morning. Thomas is charged with the shooting death of one time wife, Nancy Nelson.   By Wednesday's end, only three witnesses have been heard from a list of about 15. Green Shirt Wiles, Dawna Leigh ( Larry Thomas's daughter), and Carolyn Rogers.

·Oct. 20 am  Remember yesterday's post about defense attorney's John Mitchell using the " I can't hear squat tactic" about a gazilion times Tuesday?  Judge Facemire had heard about all of that he could take by 10 am Wednesday.  Right after the Court reamed him out, Prosecutor Samples went over and turned the witness stand microphone back on.  Samples grinned as he walked back to his table.  Maybe Samples wanted it to come to a head early!

·Oct. 20 am  There was a couple reeeal pluses added to the defense column Wednesday. Those rumors of Thomas confessing to the murder... well, they played that confession audio for the jury. Basically, Thomas said, " I snapped.. I couldn't take it any more."  That's a far cry from some juicy confession. Also a big plus for the defense, Mitch got the lead investigator to admit: No one had seen Thomas at Nelson's home the morning of the murder; the gun used to murder Nelson was a 38 caliber; the gun secured from Thomas' apartment was a 9mm; Thomas did not own a 38; and, DNA (sperm) found on Ms Nelson was NOT Larry Thomas generated!  Someone else had been with Ms Nelson the evening before or the morning of the murder.  Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

·Oct. 20 am One more tidbit. Police did NOT investigate any person other than Mr Thomas. He was the lone target of the investigation.

·Oct. 20 am  It ain't over for the state! Another audio CD was played. The recording was a statement from Dwana Leigh, Thomas' daughter, taken late late on Sept 13 2004. On the recording, Leigh told Wiles , her Father said he had shot Nancy, Nancy was driving him crazy and he couldn't take it any more. Oh Man!!! If this was a ball game instead of something very serious, that recording would have been a home run!

·Oct. 20 am And now for the best part for us in the peanut gallery.  Time for a good old fashion butt chewing! Does anyone else think a shark sort of looks like he's smiling just before he bites? That's the look Judge Facemire had just before the butt chewing.  Here's what we saw. Big Mitch stepped close to Prosecutor Samples, bent over closer to Samples  and said something like "This is a prejudicial hearing".  Oh Man  Facemire heard it, put on that shark face, and went ape S*** mad,  "BRING THE RECORDER AND COME TO MY CHAMBERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

·Oct. 20 am Either prejudicial means the Judge was screwing up or means some other slam on the court. Whatever, Facemire didn't like it one bit! A few minutes later Team Mitch returned to the Court room with about 6 pounds less hind end. He even sat kind of loop sided after that.

·Oct. 20 am The trial resumes this morning at 9 am sharp. Lots more testimony to come. Who was the other person at Nancy's that day? Was any blood found on Thomas? Did anybody see his car anywhere that morning? What did the neighbors hear?  Did Nancy Nelson own a 38 pistol?  Many many more questions to be answered.

·Oct. 20 am And.. up there at the top, the driver's license thang,, GOTCHA !

·Oct. 19 am Happy hump day. This is day two of the State vs Larry Thomas murder trial. When court resumes today at 9 am, Green Shirt Wiles will continue testimony in the shooting death of Nancy Nelson from Sept. 13 2004.

·Oct. 19 am  Many felt a jury could not be seated. WRONG!  It took several from the jury pool but by noon Tuesday, our 9 men, 3 women jury (plus two alternates) were ready for opening statements. Right after lunch, Prosecutor Samples provided the jury  his opening statement. Defense Attorney John Mitchell Sr. didn't.  The rotund barrister from the Kanawha Valley, deferred his remarks.

·Oct. 19 am Right after Jim Samples gave his opening remarks, Court headed over to the scene of the crime. Badges everywhere! The public was kept away from the house and property on Maysel hill near the new park. Sheriff Holcomb called in extra green shirts for road trip duty. Jurors made the 3 miles trip in a school bus driven by Deputy Belt. Cruiser escorts were provided Judge Facemire.

·Oct. 19 am  Dressed in his finest coat and tie, Larry Thomas showed little emotion while seated at the defense table.

·Oct. 19 am  Mitchell worked court land hard with objection after objection. He used another trick too. Yes, he's an old crust and might be hard of hearing BUT...

·Oct. 19 am During the proceedings, Big Mitch would throw off the Prosecutor's timing with calls to speak up or repeat statements. With Sgt. Wiles on the stand, sly Mitch got the officer to direct comments into the mic instead of eyeballing the jury. Green Shirt personnel are taught to give any and all answers while looking at the jury.

·Oct. 19 am  Court room security was tight. Kevin Bean Pole Duffy was patted down and even had his pockets checked. Jay Carper had a 1 inch long swiss army knife as a key fob and was denied entrance with it in his possession.

·Oct. 19 am With a veteran attorney pitted against our newbee Prosecutor,it's a good one to watch. Around 15 or so sat in during parts of the trial on Tuesday.

·Oct. 19 am Do you use Google for web searches? You might be interested in how they use data they collect from their users.

·Oct. 19 am Old Harriet Miers isn't quite conservative enough? Think again. Here's her stance on abortion rights for poor people from 1989 while running for Town Council in Texas.

·Oct. 19 am Someone asked for that WV jail web site link. Here it is one more time.

·Oct. 19 am  How about a quiz?  Which country makes Panama hats?

·Oct. 19 am  What is a camel's hair brush made of?

·Oct. 19 am  What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane?

·Oct. 19 am  Ecuador,  squirrel fur, and orange!

·Oct. 18 am According to Sheriff Holcomb, security is going to be tight during the State vs Larry Thomas murder trial. No purses, no back packs, no pocket knives, no nothing will be allowed inside the courtroom.

·Oct. 18 am Last night's school board meeting lasted about 15 minutes. Nothing earth shaking happened. Held at Ivydale Elem., before, during and after the all ayes time, suction was applied big time.

·Oct. 18 am Yesterday was motion day before Judge Jack Alsop. Mostly the usual stuff, bond reductions, dates set and reset, etc. Details tonight.

·Oct. 18 am  And then came the Billy Truman vs Tom Auxier civil case. Auxier fenced off several feet of a county road restricting traffic by hammering in metal fence posts cutting off about 3 feet of road bed.  This feud has been in the courts before. In 96 Judge Cline ordered the road open and allowed  9 or 10 foot wide road bed plus the ditch line.

·Oct. 18 am With the skinnier road making ambulance and fire truck travel next to impossible, Billy Truman took the matter back to court. With his attorney trying to win over the Judge to their side, things weren't going to well. Alsop said something about not overruling the earlier court's decision. Attorney Novobilski kept working with little progress made.

·Oct. 18 am And then and then... Judge Alsop asked the swaggering in his chair Tom Auxier if he had anything to say. Tom responded with something along the lines "The road is terrible... The Judge said 9 or 10 feet... There's nothing YOU can do about it!"

·Oct. 18 am Oh boy...... Talk about a change!  Staring right at the mouthy Tom Auxier: When the bond is posted, the fence posts are to be removed..... it appears the fence posts to be in the travel path...YOU will remove the posts!" By coming across reaaal cocky, Auxier blew his own case when it was in the bag. A full hearing on the matter will be held Feb 24th at 9 am.

·Oct. 18 am Our lesson from Monday Oct. 17: Don't tell a Judge what he can't do!

·Oct. 18 am  With dry weather predicted this Saturday, the Found It Clay Fall Foliage Weekend might be a great time for groups and individuals to earn  some extra $.  The plan calls for crafters and yard sellers to set up tables on the Courthouse square Saturday Oct. 22nd. The event is an attempt to lure in out of county and state tourists and fleece them of their $ during our peak fall colors weekend.    The space is first come, first served on the 22nd. If you need more info, call or stop by the County Clerk's office or the CAEZ on Main Street.

·Oct. 17 am Happy Birthday wishes extended to 4 year old Caleb Boggs Tuesday.

·Oct. 17 am  Happy Birthday wishes to  6 year old Hannah Casto

·Oct. 17 am Hello to Fred Dalliet wherever you are this chilly morning.

·Oct. 17 am  Tonight the School Board meets at Ivydale Elem. Agenda items include: Accept the resignation of Dale Mullins as Bus Operator, effective immediately; Accept the resignation/retirement of Bruce Cunningham as Teacher at CCHS, effective October 18, 2005;   Approve the transfer of Pam Douglas from Custodian at CCHS to Custodian at Valley Fork Elementary;  Approve the transfer of Vercel Douglas from Bus #2, O'Brien/Ivydale to Bus #42, Little Laurel/Hansford Fork;  Approve the employment of a Custodian at CCHS, job posted through Monday, October 17, 2005; Approve the employment of Micki Boggs as After School Teacher Theatrical Instructor (paid through 21st Century Grant);  Conduct a hearing to determine the status of a middle school student. Discussion items include: Update on Boxing Club

·Oct. 17 am We've got a full week ahead of us. Motion Day followed by Tuesday's State vs Larry Thomas murder trial.

·Oct. 17 am  The Communicator made it out the door Friday. 20 pages of great news and views on the county of Clay.

·Oct. 17 am  Parents and others are told what a remarkable school system we have. Today a state education crew is coming into Clay Middle to find out why the school has flunked adequate yearly progress for the last three years. WOnder if that will be discussed during tonight's School Board meeting?

·Oct. 16 am  Belated first anniversary wish to Ernie and Diane Evans

·Oct. 16 am  Happy Birthday wishes to Pam Mullins, Jeff Krauklis, and Mat Gillespie

·Oct. 16 am Our week in Clayberry was quiet. The temps cooled down with people wondering when the first killing frost would hit.  Some are still trying to get the last green beans and tomatoes to mature a little quicker. Little ole ladies are readying old newspapers and sheets to cover the summer flowers to get them to last a little longer. Fall is here. It's already snowed in the Mountains of Pocahantas County. Is this the winter that we'll tell our grand children about?

·Oct. 16 am  There have been 2,169 coalition troop deaths, 1,974 Americans, 96 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, two Danes, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Hungarian, 26 Italians, one Kazakh, one Latvian, 17 Poles, one Salvadoran, three Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians in the war in Iraq as of October 14, 2005.

·Oct. 16 am 200 Americans lost in the oil war and few even notice. Maybe the next 2000 should come from Congressional family members.

·Oct. 16 am  Around the country:  Saturday's vote on Iraq's new constitution took place nearly six months after the country's first elected government took power, and during that period at least 3,663 Iraqis have been killed in war related violence .....  The Louisiana attorney general is investigating whether staff at a New Orleans hospital may have euthanized frail patients in the days after Hurricane Katrina flooded the city.....   Hurricanes Katrina and Rita helped make energy prices soar in September at the fastest rate on record, contributing to the highest monthly consumer price inflation in 25 years, .......  A senior United Nations official has accused US-led coalition troops of depriving Iraqi civilians of food and water in breach of humanitarian law......  In this country many still say Dubbya is a good man.

·Oct. 16 am  With many of us grinning from ear to ear, Puppeteer Carl Rove may be in deep doo doo as well as Tom Delay. Couldn't happen to a couple more deserving guys.

·Oct. 16 am Closer to home....   After years of waiting, the awarding of the Lizemores/Tuckers Bottoms water extension project went without fanfare. $5.7 million in new infrastructure coming to Clayberry without even a celebration.

·Oct. 16 am While the CAEZ works to develop a tourism base in the county of little, a group of senior citizens showed up during last Monday's County Commission meeting to complain about conditions at the county's only river side picnic spot, Spread Park. We've got a long way to go in attracting tourist dollars into our feeble economy.

·Oct. 16 am With their sights still set on attracting a Toyota, our Business Development Authority folks got to work on  a new access road at the old Filcon site near Ovapa.

·Oct. 16 am  Our coffeehouse openly wondered why next week's State vs Larry Thomas murder trial hadn't been moved to another location. After several delays, the trial should get underway Oct. 18th.

·Oct. 16 am   In our rural county, men and boys along with some adventuresome ladies can be seen dressed in camo clothing. The fall hunts are here. Little squirrels and Bambi's (with bow) are the targets of choice.

·Oct. 16 am Saturday night we experienced a full moon. With the dogs barking outside, we added a blanket to our beds. Fall's golds, yellows, and red are just starting to creep along the hillsides.

·Oct. 16 am It's a great time to be in Clayberry West Virginia!

·Oct. 15 pm Doyle "Dickie" Brown, 74, of Walton, see FUNERAL page

·Oct. 15 pm The  Communicator made it to the news stands around 3pm yesterday. 20 pages of news and views from the land of Clay. For those frustrated with slow dial up connections, the front page article may be just your cup of tea.

·Oct. 15pm Friday was the last day for retiring County Clerk, Judy Moore. After 11+ years trying to shepherd the County Commission into an organized body, Moore heads to the land of playing with grand children and working the flower beds.  Doesn't get any better than that! The noon time invitation only going away party raised some eyebrows.

·Oct. 15 pm With the clerk's office locked down and white plastic covering the Commission room door, others at the Courthouse were peed big time.

·Oct. 15 pm  Do something fun this weekend. Tonight is a Bingo fundraiser in Lizemores. A good cause and great fun!

·Oct. 14 am  James Edward Mosley, Sr., 55, of Ovapa, see FUNERAL page

·Oct. 14 am  We're still trying to put the Communicator to bed. No updates except...

·Oct. 14 am  A guy was in New York on a business trip and decided to head to a local bar for a drink. Standing outside the bar was a nun holding a tin cup. As the man threw a few bucks into her cup the nun launched into a long tirade about the evils of alcohol. She went on and on about how alcohol was tearing apart the fabric of society and how it was the root of all the city's problems. Slightly ticked off at having to listen to this, the guy said, "Listen sister, I work hard for my money and sometimes at the end of a long day I like a drink or two That doesn't make me a bad person. I have a wife I idolize and two wonderful kids at home. I provide for my family, I volunteer my time to several local service clubs and I contribute regularly to various charities. Yet you stand here and condemn me just because I drink the occasional glass of scotch!"
       The nun was slightly taken aback and replied, "I see your point my son and I apologize if I offended you but the alcohol is such a powerful demon that all who consume it are doomed..." "Look there you go again," said the man. "How can you make such a sweeping statement. Have you ever even TRIED alcohol?" "Of course not!" gasped the nun, "The evil alcohol has never touched my lips."
    "Do you really think that one glass of booze can change you from a devout nun to some kind of evil degenerate?" "Well, I really don't know .."   "I'll tell you what, come into the bar with me and I'll buy you a drink. One drink. I'll prove to you that "evil" is not inside the glass, it's inside the person." "Oh, I could never be seen going into such a den of inequity, it's out of the question. However, your comment about evil  residing in the person rather than the glass is quite intriguing. I must admit you've aroused a curiosity in me." "Well let's go inside and settle this!"
    "No my son, I could never enter such a place... but how about this. Take my tin cup with you and fill it with this "scotch" you mentioned. Bring it out to me and I'll try it."  "You're on!" said the guy.  The nun removed all the change and handed him the tin cup. He went into the bar and said to the bartender, "Two scotch on the rocks, and could you put one of them in this tin cup please?"
    The bartender sighed and asked, "Is that nun out there again?"

·Oct. 13 am  We're going into typing mode to get the Communicator out the door on Friday. Unless there's an emergency, like an elected official doing something dumb, no new posts until we get the paper out around 4pm Friday. Get your Classifieds, community events and such in NOW.

·Oct. 13 am  Belated Birthday wishes to 14 year old Jordan McGlothlin from Denise.

·Oct. 13 am Clay Roane PSD meets tonight in the Commission room beginning at 7pm. Melissa Postelwait. Melissa Postelwait. Just had to type the name. Nope, don't know if Ms P will be in attendance tonight but her Court date for last Spring's Slap Fest is slated for Oct. 27th at 9 am. Might be a good one to watch.

·Oct. 13 am Yesterday we presented pictures of flooding on the site of the county's new Elementary school.  At month's end, the School Board plans to auction off the still in use Ivydale Elem. The question comes, if they need money to start building the new school, why not auction off both community schools, Ivydale and Valley Fork? Why just IvyDale?

·Oct. 13 am Friday night the Clay Panthers take on Greenbrier West at Charmco. Not going? Listen to the play by play on 101.7FM or around the globe on the world wide web. Easier now too. Use the YAP radio button on our home page, once you get to clayfm.com, just click the blinking "ON AIR" button. If window prompts to open or save, click open. Go PANTHERS!!!

·Oct. 13 am  Everything's a go with the Lizemore's/Tucker's Bottom water line extension. Full details and $ amounts in Friday's paper including the latest on the additions from contingency funds.

·Oct. 13 am   During yesterday's County Commission poop was the big topic. Yelp the stinky kind! Several ladies addressed the CCC about stinky toilet conditions at Spread Park. Promises made on doing a better job next summer. Details Friday you know where.

·Oct. 13 am  For those yearning for a feel of the Mountains, we have a few trees starting to show fall colors. Just a tinge of yellows and reds here and there. Peak time for Fall colors in Clay County is around the 19th. There is a Found It Clay Fall Foliage Weekend planned for Oct. 22 and 23. Big time yard and craft sale at the Courthouse on the 22nd as well as around the county. For those wanting details on visiting Clayberry then, see EVENTS page. Don't forget, we have a full hook up camp ground in the county! Great time to come back home.

·Oct. 13 am  Wonder where Clay's Sexual Predators live? Here's a site with names, addresses, pictures, and map. You might be surprised who lives in your neighborhood! Just type in state, zip and town for a detailed look see.

·Oct. 13 am Add up your debts.  Friday is the last day to file for bankruptcy protection under the old Chapter 7 law. Come Monday, getting out from under those bills will be much much tougher to do.

·Oct. 13 am  From Robin Williams: "Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place."

·Oct. 13 am   From Oscar Wilde:  Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same

·Oct. 12 am 8:10pm Tuesday evening, the County went dark.  8:27 pm  Elk Power Head Honcho Leonard Williams was seen heading into the Main Street Office. 8:44pm  Sheriff Holcomb identified the problem as a tree down in the Hartland area and called for Miles Slack to direct traffic. Sometime around 2 am Wednesday morning, power was restored.

·Oct. 12 am  Man it felt odd without power. The house was too quiet. Sort of made your ears hurt to hear nothing. With lights, TV, and computers down, Clay went to bed early. Bet there'll be an increase in population in nine months!

·Oct. 12 am  Clay County Commission meets this morning at 10 am. Two page agenda should make for an interesting public meeting.

·Oct. 12 am Update coming ASAP.

·Oct. 11 am When you see Ruth Simmons today, tell her, Happy 84th Birthday.

·Oct. 11 am FOUND a A Redbone lookin hound in the Procious area. Yours? Dial 548-6622

·Oct. 11 am Today at Noon Clay County PSD meets in regular session. After waiting years on end, it looks like the contractors will be given the go ahead on the Lizemores/Tuckers Bottom water line project. Wonder if Mr. happy will even smile.

·Oct. 11 am   Wed at 10 am is the County Commission meeting at the Courthouse.

·Oct. 11 am Here's the full background on the last Clay Roane PSD water rate hike. Remember not one person showed up to protest the increase. Of course that would have been hard to do since the public hearing notice wasn't printed in the paper of record until AFTER the hearing was held.

·Oct. 11 am  On Oct. 6th the WV Public Service Commission told Queen Shoals PSD what they could do with their free money from the Legislative Budget Digest $. Basically: IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the requirement that the District must obtain express Commission approval for a specific expenditure made from the grant funds is hereby rescinded.

·Oct. 11 am  For all your dumb bunnies that think one person can't make a difference, ask Larry McLaughlin about that. On the 6th the WV PSC ordered Clay County PSD to install a $2000 pump to increase water pressure to McLaughlin's home at the district's expense. It took him over two years, but Larry won with the PSD crying and moaning the whole time.

·Oct. 11 am   On Saturday, October 8, 2005, Alexia Scottlin Tanner and Jillissa Nicole Ryan competed in the Beautiful Faces "Halloween Bash" held at the Nitro Community Center (a benefit for victims of Hurricane Katrina).  Alexia was chosen as 2005 0-12-months Queen, Best Halloween Costume, Most Photogenic, Most Beautiful and Best Personality.  Alexia is the 11-month old daughter of Crystal Tanner of Ivydale.   Jillissa was chosen as 2005 16-18-year old Queen, Best Halloween Costume, Most Photogenic, Most Beautiful and Best Personality.  Jillissa is the 16-year old daughter of Jimmy Ryan of Ivydale and Alyssa Ramey of Nitro.

·Oct. 10 am  Lets start the week off right.  Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He concludes by saying, "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed in an accident."  "OH NO!" the president exclaims. "That's terrible!"   His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the president sits, his head cradled in his hands. Finally, the president looks up and asks,"How many is a Brazillion?"

·Oct. 10 am Feel better already!

·Oct. 10 am  For Banks and Government workers, to day is a holiday, Columbus Day. The day Columbus Ohio was first discovered.

·Oct. 10 am   Lets do some web surfing on this quieter than most Mondays. Note: Use a right click and open in new window for quickest return to this site.

·Oct. 10 am   Since we started with Dubya, how about some family.  Jebby Bush managed to get arrested in a mall parking lot with steamed up SUV windows. And on Sept 16th 2005 Jebby Bush managed to get polluted and arrested. And then there was the President's daughter Jenna arrested in 2001. Of course twin sister Barbara Bush got nailed drinking with the secret service outside in an armored HumVee.

·Oct. 10 am  Talk about the apple not falling far from the tree. Here's W's drunk driving credentials from Maine.

·Oct. 10 am  Think you have any privacy? Not if you've been injured on the job. The Feds have you name, place of employment and what happened to ya.

·Oct. 10 am  And for our history buffs and for educational purposes, here's all 23 911 tapes from Sept 11th 2001.

·Oct. 10 am And you thought we were taking a nap!

·Oct. 10 am Clay County PSD meets Tuesday at noon. Last week the Clay County Commission appointed Earl Elliot to the Board. Mr Elliot declind the headache. During Tuesday's nooner, the thumbs up will be given to the contractors on the Lizemores/Tucker Bottom water line extension project... we think

·Oct. 10 am   Thursday night is the Clay Roane PSD meeting in the County Commission room.

·Oct. 10 am We'll keep you posted as the week moves along.

·Oct. 10 am  And some tidbits: A newborn's first breath requires 50 times the suction of an ordinary breath.   An infant breathes about three times faster than a 20-year-old.   Most men's pupils get 1/3 bigger when looking at pictures of sharks, but shrink in reaction to pictures of babies.   The muscles in the average eye move up to 100,000 times a day. One square inch of your skin has over 600 sweat glands and 90 oil glands.  In a hot climate, a person can perspire up to 3 gallons of  sweat a day.

·Oct. 10 am And the one we all needed to know: An average person releases nearly a pint of intestinal gas by flatulence every day. Most is due to swallowed air. The rest is from fermentation of undigested food.

·Oct. 9am Mid week we were in shorts and tee shirts. Last night we put on jackets and built a fire in the stove. The rain came down adding to the chill. Maples and poplars are showing color. It is Fall in the Appalachian Mountains of Clayberry.

·Oct. 9 am This past week Dubbya nominated a crony to the Supreme Court. She's a born again attorney but without any judicial experience.  Carl Rove returned to the Grand Jury to cover more tracks. Blacks in New Orleans continued to suffer. There have been 2,147 coalition troop deaths, 1,953 Americans, 96 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, two Danes, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Hungarian, 26 Italians, one Kazakh, one Latvian, 17 Poles, one Salvadoran, three Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians in the W's war in Iraq as of October 7, 2005

·Oct. 9 am  Closer to home, the checks came. Time to pay bills, buy gas, and play scratch offs. The town bustled. Below the surface, the affects of higher fuel costs were felt. Instead of the entire bill paid, only a portion was covered. With higher heating bills expected this year coupled with out of control gasoline prices, instead of the checks lasting three weeks of the month, we're struggling after two weeks. A record number of people  opted for Bankruptcy protection before the Oct. 14th deadline for tighter rules change. Life in Clayberry was never easy and it's getting tougher with each rate increase.

·Oct. 9 am  Monday night the School Board hurried the auction of the still being used Ivydale Elem School. They need the $100,000 minimum bid and more!

·Oct. 9 am  On Tuesday the CAEZ voted in Connie Lupardus to replace retiring Director Jerry Sizemore. Lupardus takes charge Jan 1 2006.

·Oct. 9 am Around 4:15 Tuesday, Town Council went secret to discuss a recent break in , actually two break ins, at the gazillion dollar sewer plant. The norm is to let Badges handle such work. Not so this time.

·Oct. 9 am What happened?  Over a fence and entering thru a broken window, the youth swiped lab equipment. Second trip netted the kid power tools like a saws all. After the secret time, Council voted to have Deputy Slack talk to the lad.

·Oct. 9 am Council person Billie Zegeer resigned her post.

·Oct. 9 am Just back from a week's worth of training, Morgan Gibson and Fran King provided nearly new ideas during the CAEZ meeting. Committees were set up to explore ideas like training our own for existing work opportunies. Private citizen Mike Boggs provided insight for federal grants that could grow wireless high speed internet service to rural Clayberry. After 10 years of lack luster performance, our lead economic development group, the Business Development Authority, appeared ready to do something right.

·Oct. 9 am Down in our Southern border colony Clendenin, where lawsuits run rampant and suits results in countersuits, an update.  Two weeks ago a group of men filed a petition to remove the Town Recorder and four Councilmen from office. This week Linda Abbott, Eleanor Bird and Vickie Mahaney filed a petition to remove Clendenin Mayor Bob Ore from office. The ill wind of petty politcs continues to divide the tiny community.

·Oct. 9 am Behind the storm is a small group of bitter people still smarting from the June 2005 election which removed their Mayor from elected position and sent their Judge packing. Ditto for the Police Commissioner.

·Oct. 9 am Our 2005 Apple Festival Chili Champ made it to Omaha Nebraska for the National Competition. It didn't go well for Ronda Dennis. She heads back to Clayberry today without the $25,000 top prize.

·Oct. 9 am In the great scheme of things, just another week in small town America.

·Oct. 8 pm The rain continues. It is a blah Saturday with everything lookin gray and overcast.

·Oct. 8 pm Coach Sirk's Panther team took it on the nose last night as Roane County  won 14 to 6. Unlike the Herbert Hoover and Calhoun County  blow outs, the Panthers stayed in the game until the final quarter.

·Oct. 8 pm Around the county, people are cutting and splitting firewood. Loaded down pickups can be seen hauling driveway fixin gravel. The last of the apples are being canned.  A few gardens still have late planted green beans not quite big enough for pickin. Fall is a busy time for rural America.

·Oct. 8 pm OK OK here it is again. Here's the link to Google Earth.  If you have high speed internet, this is a very cool satellite imaging system that allows the cyber cadets to zero in any place .... including Clayberry. Try it, it's free and safe as far as we can tell.

·Oct. 8 pm On Thursday we posted a home page photo of a class project that went wrong. The photo showed a hand painted and glazed flower pot produced by little kids. With the addition of a cactus plant, the finished product was well.. a lewd looking.  For most of our clickers, a laugh came or an utterance, "That's awful!" before quickly moving to some other page on this site.

·Oct. 8 pm Not so for the small band of detractors working against the free exchange of information. How best to cripple a for profit web site? Work on the advertisers. For our buddy "Where Do U Stand", didn't work. Try harder. And you might want to work on your spelling too, one advertiser had trouble figuring out what you were trying to say. We didn't.

·Oct. 8 pm By the way, the web volume on Wednesday night and Thursday went well above the average 1200 hits per day. For our advertisers, if you're wanting to target buyers interested in Clay WV, this site is the way to go.

·Oct 8 pm A man died and went to heaven. As he stood in front of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him.  He asked, "What are all those clocks?"   St. Peter answered, "Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a Lie-Clock. Every time you lie the hands on your clock will move."  "Oh," said the man, "whose clock is that?"  "That's Mother Teresa's. The hands have never moved, indicating that she never told a lie."  "Incredible," said the man. "And whose clock is that one?"  St. Peter responded, "That's Abraham Lincoln's clock. The hands have moved twice, telling us that Abe told only two lies in his entire life."   "Where's Bush's clock?" asked the man.  "Bush's clock is in Jesus' office.  He's using it as a ceiling fan."

·Oct. 8 pm Weekend wrap up coming late tonight. Thanks for your support, tell a friend, and come back often.

·Oct. 7 am Tonight our Clay High Panthers take on Roane County at Bradley/Schoonover Field. Kick off , 7:30pm. Hear play by play on WYAP-LP 101.7FM or on the internet anywhere on earth. Use the YAP radio button on the home page.

·Oct. 7 am Special Note:  Clay Family Resource Network will be collecting gently used coats this week thru Friday. If anyone can donate a coat, drop it off at the Clay County Health Department.

·Oct. 7 am  Happy 2nd Birthday to Serena Neal of Indore; Missy Duffield in Procious; and Alisha Neal of Indore on October 8th

·Oct. 7 am  Happy 59th Wedding Anniversary to Bernard and Marjorie Lane.

·Oct. 7 am Before we get to the web updates.... If you have had trouble listening to YAP radio on the internet, here's a secret. Walk over to the clayfm.com web site. Once you get there, on the home page, there is a flashing "ON AIR" light. Click it. If you have speakers hooked up to your puter and have listened to other music in the past, the internet broadcast should start playing in a few seconds. NOTE: There might be a drop down window that prompts you to open. Do it. Join 5 million other internet listeners around the world and now, even easier with no downloads.  OK back to the real news

·Oct. 7 am  For that think free speech is important, Find out how wearing a potty mouth anti Dubbya shirt can get you booted off a commercial airline.

·Oct. 7 am  Right now the internet, the names, services, the whole thang is operated by the US Sept of Commerce. That's changing. Soon a group of nations will be in control of the web.

·Oct. 7 am   For the 49.92% of America that voted for somebody other than Dubbya ( not you LJ), Carl Rove is in deeper doo doo. Read about his third trip back to Grand Jury questioning.

·Oct. 7 am  And the latest on getting American troops out of W's oil war from Senator Feingold.

·Oct. 7 am  We had a real interesting Business Development Authority (BDA) last night. 10 years ago when the original BDA convened, one of the earliest discussions was on supporting local business & finding out what they needed to grow and prosper. During those first meetings, the discussion centered around it being cheaper and easier to grow an existing business than importing a new one. IE: Filcon.

·Oct. 7 am Last night Morgan Gibson brought those same words to the gathering and this time, the BDA appeared to listen. They plan to set up a committee to explore training locals with skills needed in the county.

·Oct. 7 am The old Filcon building ( Yelp even Leonard Williams called it Filcon) has been sold for $11,000.00 to Bill Naylor. It is to be removed in 60 days. Preparations for an access road to the site are suppose to start today.

·Oct. 7 am And our BDAers are again trying to figure out a  way to get tenants in the old State Road garage at Two Run and do so legally (under the terms of their lease). The BDA may turn part of the space into an office complex for their organization. One of potential clients is a wood working shop.

·Oct. 7 am The biggy for the evening came from businessman Mike Boggs of Maysel who made a presentation on securing wireless high speed internet for rural Clayberry. Boggs handed out paperwork on US Dept of Agriculture grants available for such use. Get this, the much more energetic Morgan Gibson pushed to set up a committee and get started.

·Oct. 7 am Our School Board tried a wireless internet plan 18 months ago ($70,000) and fell flat on their faces. Today our rural schools have high dollar (but worthless without high speed connections) computer labs ready to do distant learning but setting idle.

·Oct. 7 am Let's see now... tearing down the old Filcon building, building an access road, supporting local business, and working on wireless internet for the county. What happened to these people?????

·Oct. 7 am One more item from last night's BDA meeting. In attendance, RT Sizemore provided info on developing fish hatcheries (arctic char) in the county using free flowing mine water. Get this, the BDA didn't poo poo the idea and asked RT to furnish them some more information.

·Oct. 7 am Here's some.... in Widen, according to a published WV Dept of Health study, there are between 2 and 3 million gallons of fresh, pure, drinkable water flowing daily from a mine site. The report, done four years ago, said the water was 100% drinkable and only suggested fluoride be added!

·Oct. 7 am Remember any of that? It's all true. Back then a group of locals tried to gather support for a small holding tank and use it for a municipal water supply. After being told the entire system (gravity fed) would work great and cost them $0 per month, the locals got in a whizzing contest, decided to go in with Birch River PSD,  and pay upwards of $60 per month for the same service. Widen is still waiting for clean water while that 3 million gallons a day goes in a  creek.

·Oct. 7 am Only in Clayberry !

·Oct. 7 am Weekends are the slow times for web clicking on this site. Instead of 1200 to 1400 daily, we end up with around 800 clickers. Don't miss Saturday's post on Clay Roane and Clay County PSDs.

·Oct. 6 am Those home page advertisers help keep this web site alive. With over 1200 people a day walking over to this site, those folks know about exposure. When you get a chance, tell them you saw their ad on the Clayberry site.

·Oct. 6 am Harrison, WV's Norman Johnson is one of those savvy ole guys that knows the value of advertising. No he's not too pretty to look at but boy does he know Stihl outdoor products. If you look just above (quit looking at your ceiling) on this page, there's  a link to Mr. Johnson's web site. There's even a Stihl TV clip to watch while the boss is away.

·Oct. 6 am As soon as we figure how to, we'll put a Country Short Stop button on the home page.

·Oct. 6 am Tonight is the Clay Middle School Homecoming Football game at Bradley Field. Action starts at 6:30pm. Go Mustangs!

·Oct. 6 am A little over 7 days ago, three men in the Clendenin community filed a suit to remove four Town Council members and the Town Recorder from elected office.   We have an update....

·Oct. 6 am   The Supreme Court entered an Administrative Order on October 3, 2005, appointing the three-judge panel as follows:  Judge David W. Nibert of the 6th Judicial Circuit (Jackson, Roane, Calhoun & Mason Counties)   Robert L. Holland, Jr., of the 3rd Judicial Circuit (Pleasants, Doddridge & Ritchie Counties)   John L. Cummings of the 6th Judicial Circuit (Cabell County)    The Panel is to be headed by Judge Cummings and is to be convened on October 21, 2005 at 1:00 p.m. or on an alternate date set by the three-judge panel

·Oct. 6 am Don't ever under estimate the power of the taxpayer!

·Oct. 6 am  Has you wa wa been tasting a little odd clickers? Taste a little acidic? Taste a little chewy? Think about it. All the "city" water in this county comes from the Elk River. Yes they treat it a little , but all from the mighty Elk.    With Earnie Sirk's cremated remains floating down the Elk, there is a chance your drinking Wide Glide's butt or arm pit.

·Oct. 6 am Nothing tickled Earnie Sirk more than to get the last laugh, to twist the knife a little more. Wide Glide now has the last laugh. I'm going to go brush my teeth!

·Oct. 6 am Two weeks ago, BnA Produce left Main Street. They said they just weren't making enough $

·Oct. 6 am After  a two year run. last week, Town and Country Restaurant bit the dust.

·Oct. 6 am Now comes word that Fitzwater's Garage at Two Run has closed its doors. Scotty Fitzwater headed over to the coal mines for gainful employment. One less business license for the county of Clay.

·Oct. 6 am  More this afternoon

·Oct. 5 pm  Lets do some tidying up....

·Oct. 5 pm One time bank Prez and State School Board Chairman, JD Morris, sold his nice big  home out Ovapa way and will be returning to his much smaller downtown Clay digs behind Clay Middle School later this month.

·Oct. 5 pm Our School board folks are pushing to quickly sell Ivydale Elem by month's end. With a $100,000 minimum bid, expect a Southern Baptist Conference to make good an offer to turn the aging building into a faith based community center. The money is needed post haste to cover the cost of excavation at the new ValleyDale Elem. school site.

·Oct. 5 pm  We are spending $1.6 billion per day fighting Dubbya's wars in Iraq and Afghan.

·Oct. 5 pm  Without comment, Billie Zegeer's resignation was accepted by Clay Town Council. No replacement was named with Mayor Jarrett commenting that he didn't have any candidates in mind.  To note on your calendars, Council meeting times have been changed from 4pm on the first Tuesday of the month to 6:00pm.

·Oct. 5 pm For  Town of Clay water customers.... take a look at your wa wa bill. According to Town Recorder Dwana Murphy, the bills have been estimated several times (instead of read) over the last few months. With Council person Morris saying he had personally read the meters in the Two Run personally, Dwana added, she would not allow round of billing with estimated readings. Mayor Jarrett raised an eyebrow stating that he had received complaints from several customers with high high bills. You might want to check your statements clickers.

·Oct. 5 pm  Who will replace Central Appalachia Empowerment Zone (CAEZ) Director Jerry Sizemore? Answer: Connie Lupardus. During their Tuesday meeting, the CAEZ voted in the new Director (starts Jan 1 2006) without advertising the job to the public.

·Oct. 5 pm  With the Apple Festival just over, the Golden Delicious Committee starts planning the 33rd annual event Thursday, Oct. 6 at 6pm in the Lion's Club Casino on Main Street. Did you have fun during the Big Apple?  Might be time for you to get on board and help plan the next one? All new volunteers will get paid four times the amount the old volunteers received.

·Oct. 5 pm We have a reaaal interesting NOTICE NOTICE over on the Classified page.

·Oct. 5 pm Oh those nasty ACLU thugs are at it again. Now those !!**!! Commy's have sued a county for limiting hunting on private property. What a bunch of cruds!!!

·Oct. 4 pm Belated Happy 1st Birthday to Gracie Eagle on October 2nd Of Ivydale From Aunt  Donna

·Oct. 4 pm Happy Birthday to Indore's Phyllis Gray

·Oct. 4 pm Mujibar was trying to get into the USA legally through Immigration. The officer said, "Mujibar, you have passed most of the required tests, but there is one more compulsory test. Unless you pass it you cannot enter the States   Mujibar said, "I am ready."
     The officer said, "Make a sentence using the words yellow, pink and green."    Mujibar thought for a few minutes and said, "Mister officer, I am ready." The officer said, "Go ahead."     Mujibar said, "The telephone goes green, green, green, and I pink it up, and say, 'Yellow, this is Mujibar.'"Mujibar now lives in a neighborhood near you, and works at a Verizon help desk.

·Oct. 4 pm  The upstairs hallway was packed wall to wall Monday for Motion Day before Judge Facemire. Little kids to old ladies, all with a story to provide the Court. Here's some of the goings on from Oct. 3rd.

·Oct. 4 pm Neatly dressed Roger Dale Rogers was determined to be competent to stand trial. Look for a plea agreement to be worked before the Nov term of Court opens.

·Oct. 4 pm    Charged with operating a meth lab, Carrie Stewart got her bond reduced from $80,000 to $30,000.

·Oct. 4 pm    In the DV case with Chris Samples, continued until Jan 3rd 06. Turns out the lady involved doesn't want to pursue the criminal case.

·Oct. 4 pm Convicted on three counts of delivering  a controlled substance, out on bond James Cottrell ain't free no more. Judge Facemire ordered incarceration fro more diagnosis and evaluation.

·Oct. 4 pm   Last month Gerald Thompson was convicted on having a meth lab. Thompson remains out on bond until an appeal on the law being unconstitutional is heard or tossed.

·Oct. 4 pm Jamie Morris stood before Judge Facemire charged with a seat belt violation and  a loaded firearm in a vehicle. He was fined $1 for the seat belt charge. Trial set for Dec 2 but a plea is expected.

·Oct. 4 pm Notice was not given Leslie White's attorney. Back to jail she did go until Dec 2 at 9:30am.

·Oct. 4 pm  More coming this evening late.

·Oct. 4 am Belated Happy Birthday greeting to Dixie Love Jarvis.

·Oct. 4 am Today at 4pm Clay Town Council meets at the water plant on Main Street.

·Oct. 4 am the Board of the Central Appalachia Empowerment Zone convenes this evening at 6pm. The CAEZ meets in their Main Street digs beside the Welfare Dept. office. Both meetings are open to the public.

·Oct. 4 am Tonight at 7pm Bill Triplett and friends will do their  live Tuesday Jam show on 101.7FM  For those more than 5 miles from the Two Run station, listen online. The YAP Radio link is on the home page, this site.

·Oct. 4 am  Yesterday was a  full day over in Circuit Court land. It was motion day. We'll get to all the happenings ASAP. First, lets get to the butt chewing.

·Oct. 4 am Most of the stuff yesterday went pretty much as scheduled until late afternoon when Judge Ric Facemire called for the parties in the BJ Bird Jr.  sentence reduction hearing to take their places. With Facemire on the bench, Prosecutor Samples representing the state and Jerome Novobilski representing young Mr. Bird, it all went to H in about 2 seconds. Putting it together as best we can: Jerome was to have turned in the proper paperwork 10 day prior. He didn't. As a matter of guess, it sounded like paralegal Llyn Drake added the item to the schedule at the last minute and filed the paperwork just minutes before the hearing was to take place.

·Oct. 4 am As soon as the Judge found out proper procedure was NOT followed, Oh Boy. Novobilski got his hind end turned into pulp. With a real frowny look and in loud, firm tones, stuff like: I WON'T TOLERATE THIS!!!.. I WON'T HEAR THIS!!!  .... NEXT TIME I WILL SANCTION YOU!!!...

·Oct. 4 am Some things you learn the hard way. Stuff like, when you're getting your arss chewed it's best not to say anything. Attorney Novobilski relearned that lesson yesterday when he tried to say the Prosecutor had OKed the late filing and everything was ok dokey.   But it wasn't.

·Oct. 4 am  Facemire : I DON'T CARE WHAT THE PROSECUTOR SAYS!!!!!!!! ....... THE PROSECUTOR DOESN'T HAVE THAT AUTHORITY!!!!!!!!!!!!    Either A, someone crapped in the Judge's oatmeal Monday morning or B, he meant what he was saying to veteran attorney Novobilski.  B would be the correct answer clickers.

·Oct. 4 am  Team Novo tippy toed out of the Court room with itty bity pieces of his hiny left scattered around the floor. With Mr. Novobilski out of the room, someone asked Bailiff Gene King if he needed help sweeping up the shredded pieces. Laughter was heard. Well,... not from Team Novobilski.

·Oct. 4 am  How about one small snipit to get you come back for the next update. A tall nice looking Douglas Craig Mitchell came to the table and the Judge OKed Barbara Schamberger withdrawing as his defense attorney.   Who did the poor guy get as a replacement? None other than Daniel Grindo. That poor guy might as well grab his toothbrush, some KY jelly and report to Central Regional Jail!

·Oct. 4 am  Q. What's the definition of macho? A. Jogging home from your vasectomy.

·Oct. 4 am Q: What's the difference between a boyfriend and a husband? A: 45 minutes

·Oct. 4 am  Q: Why do men find it difficult to make eye contact?  A: Breasts don't have eyes

·Oct. 3 am WHo knows where the year has gone. Fall is here. Last week smoke was seen in a few chimneys. Weather guessers say warm and dry thru Wed night.

·Oct. 3 am  Our School board meets tonight beginning at 6 pm. Excerpts from the non posted agenda include:  Approve the transfer of Wanda Walters from Preschool teacher aide to Kindergarten teacher aide at Lizemores Elementary  School. Approve the employment of a Preschool teacher aide at Lizemores Elementary School.    Approve the employment of Joanne Exline and Anita Stephenson as Co-Character Education Coordinators at CCHS (jobs funded through a Character Education Grant).    Approve the employment of Garland Tenney as Substitute Teacher.   Approve the employment of Justin Ashley as Assistant Wrestling Coach at Clay Middle School.      Approve the out of state travel for Mary Ann Triplett to the National Middle School Conference in Philadelphia, Pa. (funded by the Gear-Up Program).    Approve the amount of $.44 as the standard rate of reimbursement per each mile traveled.     Approve the advertisement and auction of the Ivydale School and surrounding property.   Discussions: Update on status of boxing club  and Doctor Mann to appear before the board concerning the trip to France.

·Oct. 3 am On Tuesday Clay Town Council will be replacing Billie Jean Zegeer who has resigned for health reasons. Earlier this year, Jacob Nichols asked to be  on Town Council. With his departure from Clay, who will they pick? Find out Tuesday , 4 pm, at the water plant.

·Oct. 3 am Charles Darwin:  The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.

·Oct. 3 am  And thinking of Dubbya: By knawing thru a dyke, even  a rat may drown a nation.

·OCt 3 am And finally, Pray to God for a good harvest but don't stop hoeing

·Oct. 3 am It's the summer of 1957 and Harold goes to pick up his date, Peggy Sue. Harold's a pretty hip guy with his own car and a  duck tail hairdo. When he goes to the front door, Peggy Sue's mother answers and invites him in. "Peggy Sue's not ready yet, so why don't you have a  seat?" she says. That's cool. Peggy Sue's mother asks Harold what they're planning to do. Harold replies politely that they will probably just go to the malt shop or to a drive-in movie. Peggy Sue's mother responds, "Why don't you kids go out and screw?  I hear all the kids are doing it."
                 Naturally this comes as quite a surprise to Harold and he says "Wha...aaat?" "Yeah," says Peggy Sue's mother, "We know Peggy Sue really likes to screw; why, she'd screw all night if we let her!" Harold's eyes light up and he smiles from ear to ear. Immediately, he has revised the plans for the evening. A few minutes later, Peggy Sue comes downstairs in her little poodle skirt with  her saddle shoes, and announces that she's ready to go. Almost breathless with anticipation, Harold escorts his date out the front door while Mom is saying, "Have a good evening  kids," with a small wink for Harold.
           About 20 minutes later, a thoroughly disheveled Peggy Sue rushes back into the house, slams the door behind her and screams  at her mother   Dammit, Mom! The Twist! The Twist! It's called The Twist!"

·Oct. 2 am For newbees, each Sunday we provide a wrap up fro our web clickers. Here's the highlights, sometimes low points for the week just passed.

·Oct. 2 am  There have been 2,131 coalition troop deaths, 1,936 Americans, 96 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, one Dane, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Hungarian, 26 Italians, one Kazakh, one Latvian, 17 Poles, one Salvadoran, three Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians in the war in Iraq as of September 30, 2005.

·Oct. 2 am One of Clayberry's most notorious politicians left Ivydale and headed for the great couch in the sky. Earnie Wide Glide Sirk died sometime Monday afternoon.

·Oct. 2 am The murder trial, State vs Larry Thomas, was delayed while veteran barrister John Mitchell Sr recovers his health. Trial was reset for Oct. 18th.

·Oct. 2 am After a year of speculation on who shot who, we have the answer. Nobody shot anybody on Murder Mountain 11 1/2 months ago. Richard Cummings was found not guilty of everything. The case stemmed from an OCt 6 2004 shoot out on Oil Field Road in Ovapa, AKA Murder Mountain

·Oct. 2 am Connie Workman was sworn into office by Judge Ric Facemire replacing long time in service and ready for retirement, Judy Moore. Moore's last day on t he job will be Oct. 17th.

·Oct. 2 am Veteran school teacher Bruce Cunningham hung it up Friday. With time served and a happy 55th birthday, he's heading to Ivydale and retirement from pimple faced teeeny boppers.

·Oct. 2 am Friday evening, the community of Clay came together for a fundraiser to send our local Golden Delicious Festival Chili champ, Ronda Dennis, to the nationals in Omaha NE. The $1200 raised is just about enough to rent a dependable car, gas money, meals, and five nights in motels for Ms Dennis.

·Oct. 2 am A front yard fight between two women in the Big Otter section of the county resulted in the stabbing death of Clorissa Fields.

·Oct. 2 am By mid week, smoke rose from few stove pipes. Thursday evening the temp dropped to around 40. We put on our sweaters and jackets. The dread of winter is here. Snow, ice, higher heating bills, and the like, are right around the corner.

·Oct. 2 am The first week of each month is always a busy one in Clay. Public meetings are numerous. School Board meets Monday evening, CAEZ and Clay Town Council met on Tuesday, and the Business Development Authority meets on Thursday. We'll keep you posted as best we can as we go along.

·Oct. 1 am  Solid ,hard hitting, news second to none, that's the Communicator now on the news stand .

·Oct. 1 am An  end to an ear. He threatened to retire several times. Several have said he didn't retire cause the kids would have been to happy.

·Oct. 1 am Friday was the last day for long time Clay High teacher Bruce Cunningham. Bruce had his time in and hung it up.

·Oct. 1 am Over the years we've asked high school students what they thought of Mr. C. We thought we'd get some kind of nasty remarks. Never once did we hear: He's a horse's butt. Each response came: he's a hard teacher and makes us learn.

·Oct. 1 am  We have an update on Earnie Sirk. No funeral service, that's the way Wide Glide would have liked it, and his ashes will be tossed over the bridge in Ivydale.

·Oct. 1 am Bet the ashes weigh 50 pounds!

·Oct. 1 am   Obrion Motor Speedway ends the season today. Come out and  see some great racing action in Clay County West Virginia! Have some fun this weekend.