The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

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  • Charlotte Hutchens, Raleigh County Board of Education superintendent, from left, Richard Snuffer, board member, Larry Ford, board member, Bo Webb, of Naoma and Scott Raines, assistant director of architect services for the state School Building Authority, look over one of the possible land sites off Dry Creek Road for the new Marsh Fork Elemetary School in Dry Creek. The land pictured belongs to Bob Daniels. F. Brian Ferguson

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May 15, 2010

SITE SEEING

Officials look at properties for new school

By Andrea Lannom Register-Herald Reporter

The Raleigh County Board of Education has narrowed its search for a site for a new Marsh Fork Elementary School after touring three possible properties Friday.

Board president Richard Snuffer said the Jarrell site in Naoma was crossed off the list because of the size of the property.

That left two other properties, the Daniels site in Dry Creek and one property on the Cantley site at Rock Creek. Both sites are about 3.5 miles away from the current elementary school that sits in the shadow of a coal silo and slurry pond at Massey Energy’s Goals Coal.

“We need at least 10 acres of land for the building and these sites all have at least 10 acres,” he explained.

With these sites in mind, the next step will be taking geometric studies on the properties to see if the land is suitable to build on. The tests, Snuffer said, should take about three to four weeks to complete.

“We need to hire someone to do some core drilling to make sure the property is good and we’re going to run some tests on them as well,” he said. “We won’t purchase anything until the results come back in.”

Both property owners are willing to sell, but no offer has been made. Right now, Snuffer said, the board will look toward completing legal work while tests results are pending.

“We’re hiring an architectural firm right now and we need to do some deed searches for the property owners,” he said. “We’re moving forward as fast as we can and we should have everything nailed down by the end of the month.”

The main problem encountered in the search for land was finding a piece of property out of the flood plain. This, he says, has severely limited options.

“There’s just not a lot of land out here to build the school, but we’re lucky to have the sites that we’ve found,” he said. “Whichever site we choose will be beautiful for the school.”

Several groups have come together to fund the construction of the new school.

The School Building Authority pledged $2.6 million. The Annenberg Foundation, based in Los Angeles, put up $2.5 million, hours after both the Raleigh County school board and Massey Energy, owner of the silo and coal waste impoundment, upped the ante on their original $1 million pledges by half a million more.

Charles Weingarten of the Annenberg Foundation said he was watching the finals of the NCAA basketball tournament when he learned of the explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine.

“A chord really struck deep in my heart and I really felt connected and wanted to come to West Virginia to figure out a way I could help,” he said, so he came to Marsh Fork.

As he drove up and down the road in the aftermath of the mine disaster, he said, the people of West Virginia impressed him.

When he learned of the SBA’s decision to provide $2.6 million, leaving the proposed school about $4 million shy, he decided to intervene.

“This grant is a gift to the spirit of the miners who brought me here,” he explained. “This gift is to all the beautiful inhabitants of this area.”

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Today's Front Page
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