Tuesday, June 16, Bill Raney and Sandi Davison had the honor of attending the West Virginia Scholar announcement at West Virginia Wesleyan College.  The Friends of Coal/WVCA, along with the WV Homebuilders Association, West Virginia Hospital Association, MVB Bank, Inc. and West Virginia MetroNews are all sponsors of this event. 

Ten finalists were selected out of a large group of scholars and Breaunna Haynes of Parkersburg South High School was the recipient of a four-year renewable tuition, fees and room and board scholarship to West Virginia Wesleyan College.  Margaret Lohmann of Bridgeport High School was First Runner-up with a $5,000 four-year renewable scholarship and Second Runner-up with a $2,500 four-year renewable scholarship was Khori Lowther of Lewis County High School.  The first and second runner-up scholarships can be added to other college scholarship programs.  These are endowed scholarships funded by the late Olive O’Dell Culpepper and C. Ross Culpepper and has been continued by the generous support of Marvin and Elaine Culpepper (all graduates of WV Wesleyan).  It was a rewarding day to see so many young, outstanding applicants and our future leaders.

WVCA Annual Meeting registration has been e-mailed, along with The Greenbrier’s room registration form with our special room rates.  To receive our special rates your reservations must be made by July 5^th.  The WVCA registration form must be returned to us as soon as possible so we can get a good count for each event at the Annual Meeting.  The meeting is scheduled for August 6 – 9^th and we will be celebrating our 100^th Anniversary. Our special photographers will be joining us so this will be the perfect time to get a formal photo of the family.

CHARLESTON – Industry and community leaders joined together with key lawmakers at the kickoff to a series of coal forums forum in Charleston Tuesday entitled “West Virginia Coal – 2015 & Beyond.”

The event was hosted by the West Virginia Coal Forum, which is an organization that represents both labor and management in the coal industry.

The program is the first in a series of events intended to bring attention to the impacts already created by potential impact of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposed Clean Power Plan.

In opening the event, Chris Hamilton, senior vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association and co-chairman of the Coal Forum, said clearly that the situation has now reached crisis level.

To address the issue, Hamilton said the Coal Forum plans to send a letter to Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to save those plants.

“I'm told that train has left the station,” Hamilton said. “Maybe it's too late, but we're going to ask."