News Articles

Town of Bath police chief James Minton said the town's new K-9 team had a busy, successful first week. The team consists of Corporal Craig Pearrell and Butch, the German Shepherd K-9 dog.

"Officer Butch" officially joined the police department in a ceremony on March 6 when Mayor Susan Webster presented him with a badge that is worn on the dog's collar.

The Morgan County Commissioners have scheduled a public hearing on a possible noise and nuisance ordinance for Friday, March 23, at 2 p.m.

Two noise and nuisance ordinances from neighboring counties will be considered separately for possible adaptation to Morgan County at the public hearing.

A Virginia man died when his 1993 Ford Explorer slid across the center line of U.S. 522 and ran into a tractor-trailer last Wednesday, March 7.

Kenneth Ray Zugel, 39, of Haymarket, Va., was killed in the accident which took place about 150 yards north of the West Virginia/Virginia line at 12:52 p.m. on March 7 during a snow storm, according to West Virginia State Police.

A 15-year-old male is a suspect in a malicious stabbing that took place last Thursday evening around 10:45 p.m.

The victim was a 47-year-old male living in a home on Luther Michael Road south of Berkeley Springs. The man received multiple stab wounds to the back and facial lacerations.

The Warm Springs Public Service District completed the loan closing on the long- planned wastewater treatment plant upgrade and line extension project on February 28.

Bonds have been issued in the amounts of $10,390,000 from the West Virginia Infrastructure & Jobs Development Council and $3 million from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. The remainder of the financing is a grant from the Infrastructure & Jobs Council for $2,450,000.

The Town of Bath Police Department has a new addition, a German Shepherd named Butch, a work dog imported directly from Germany.

Butch and his handler, Corporal Craig Pearrell, have been training during the past month at Battle Ridge K-9 and Kennel Services in Madison. Together they compose the new K-9 Unit of the Bath Police Department.

Calling the courthouse "the most important building in Morgan County," architect Tom Potts unveiled the current plans for a new county government center on Tuesday evening, March 6.

About 50 people attended the public meeting at Berkeley Springs High School cafeteria. Most seemed impressed by the designs put together by Potts, an architect with Silling & Associates of Charleston.

What looked like a scarcity turned out to be a surplus of candidates for Bath Town Council by the time the filing season for the town election closed on Saturday, March 10.

When it was over, ten candidates had filed for the five town council seats up for grabs in the June 12 municipal election.

Around 10 local building contractors asked the Morgan County Commissioners to establish a building inspection process in Morgan County. The request was made at a recent County Commission meeting.

Contractors had talked amongst themselves and informally as a group about the need to have building codes enforced, said Mike McKechnie of Mountain View Builders.

Betty Lou Harmison of Berkeley Springs has been named a History Hero for 2007 by the West Virginia Archives and History Commission.

Harmison was nominated by the Museum of the Berkeley Springs where she has served on the board of directors since she helped found the organization in 1984. She is currently vice president and chairs the Exhibits Committee.