Published: September 23, 2008 10:04 pm      

Mountain State honors local community leaders

For the very first time, Mountain State University is honoring local leaders who embody leadership characteristics, according to school officials.

“The awards recognize individuals who embody leadership characteristics such as modeling, inspiring, challenging, enabling and encouraging,” said Dr. Charles Polk, president of MSU. “We are priding ourselves in having a good leadership school. We want to promote good local leaders in the community to build on our image of our leadership school and its program.”

Five local leaders were honored during a living leadership reception held at the John W. Eye Center on South Kanawha Street in Beckley Tuesday.

“It shows MSU is a very positive school in this area and are leaders in recognizing what is going on in the Beckley community and southern West Virginia,” said Beckley Mayor Emmett Pugh, who attended the event. “These are living examples in our community. Why wait for someone to pass away to recognize all their accomplishments and what they have done for their community? These are people who are very active in the community and have made it a much better place to live. They deserve to be recognized right now for all that they do and continue to do for the community.”

“It is almost more than words can say,” said state Delegate Linda Sumner, R-Raleigh, who was one of the five honorees. “I am just so humbled by this honor.”

Sumner said being accessible to the community had been key to her leadership.

“I try so hard for my constituents while in Charleston,” she said. “I always try to be accessible to the community. I try to return their calls and e-mails and be there for them and listen to their concerns and issues.”

Bishop Fred Simms of Heart of God Ministries on South Kanawha Street in Beckley called the honor a childhood dream come true.

“Since 1971, when I graduated from high school, my hearts desire was to have something to do with Beckley College one day,” he said.

Beckley College is the former name of Mountain State University.

“To be honored by the university is one of the top honors I’ve ever received,” Simms said.

Simms said his church is doing many things in the community.

“We have a food pantry and a health and awareness clinic,” he said. “We’re also training people for job skills and doing more Christian education.”

Raleigh General Hospital president Karen Bowling was also honored.

“This has been very humbling for me,” she said. “I always try to focus on caring about individuals. I have tried to do that in my life. I attribute all of this to my friends, family and my work family to help me accomplish any of the things that I’m able to accomplish. I’ve been blessed in so many ways and this award warmed my heart.”

Beckley businessman Roy Shrewsbury said he was stunned when he received the news that he would be honored by the university.

“To be considered for this first-ever honor with the names on the list of honorees was very humbling for me,” Shrewsbury said. “I have always felt that if you are going to take from the community, then you need to give back. I try to give back financially and I try to give back by volunteering my time. To see your community grow and move forward makes it all worth the efforts.”

Beckley Newspapers Executive Editor Carl “Butch” Antolini said the honor also brings additional challenges.

“I know that I’m being honored for challenging the process,” he said. “That is part of the job of the media.”

Antolini says he has concerns with today’s media.

“I feel in many aspects, the media had gotten out of control,” he explained. “When you talk about challenging the process, we need to challenge ourselves to do a better job. There are a lot of rough journalists out there now. Gone are the days of verification and attribution. Those are the cornerstones of good journalism.”

Antolini says the media must get better.

“We just need to concentrate on verification and attribution and simple things like the correct spelling of a person’s name,” he said. “Those things were important and they need to become important again.”

Antolini says The Register-Herald is viewed as a constructive part of the communities it serves.

“We are a community newspaper and we must react, it’s our responsibility, to be constructive and help this community build and grow for our children and grandchildren,” he said.

MSU officials said the honors are expected to become an annual event.

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