The Montgomery HeraldSERVING THE UPPER KANAWHA VALLEYMontgomery, West Virginia Wednesday, February 27, 2013 50 cents

Index

Calendar 12Classified 13

Opinions 4Church 6

Sports 8-10Schools 7

Community 11-12Obituaries 6

Proposal: Bridgemont administration would run merged CTCsBY C.V. MOORE

THE REGISTER-HERALD

MONTGOMERY —Thoughdetails have yet to be an-nounced, discussions about amerger between two communi-ty and technical colleges in theKanawha Valley are well un-der way.

Leaders at Bridgemont Com-munity and Technical College(CTC) and Kanawha ValleyCommunity and Technical Col-lege are reportedly working ona plan that would save on ad-ministration costs by creating“efficiencies and economies of

scale,” ac-cording toD e l e g a t eDavid Perry,D-Fayette.

Though legislation has yetto be introduced, Perry saysthe proposal would create amulti-campus school forBridgemont.

Kanawha Valley CTC, whichrecently moved into a buildingat the West Virginia RegionalTechnology Park in SouthCharleston, would be sub-sumed under Bridgemont’sbranding and leadership.

Administration would re-

main in Mont-gomery, whereBridgemont isc u r r e n t l ybased. Pro-grams at bothschools wouldbe preserved and the SouthCharleston campus wouldcontinue to operate.

Dr. Joseph Badgley an-nounced his ret irementfrom the presidency of

Kanawha Valley CTC lastDecember.

“It appears this is a natu-ral year for an administra-tion change to occur,” saidPerry.

Bridgemont also has pro-grams at the SouthCharleston tech park, andthis would greatly expandits operations there.

Perry said legislation is“forthcoming” but he didnot know exactly when abill might be introduced.

The merger is being pro-moted by the chancellor ofthe Community and Techni-cal College System (CTCS)of West Virginia, JamesSkidmore, according to Per-ry.

Laird Perry Harris

Cemetery vandalizedFire was set at the Rich Creek Cemetery on RichCreek near Jodie on Saturday, and burned abouthalf the community cemetery before firefighters

from Gauley River Volunteer Fire Department were able to extinguish the flames.

For more, see Page 2.

CHERYL KEENAN/THE MONTGOMERY HERALD (2)

Tech celebrates TRIO programsBY C.V. MOORE

THE REGISTER-HERALD

Casey Orndorff came toWVU Tech’s campus as afirst-generation college stu-dent from Hampshire Coun-ty. When he failed his firstmath test, he says he wentinto panic mode.

“I thought I was going tofail out,” he says.

But then he attended oneof the school’s Student Sup-port Services (SSS) work-shops on test-taking skillsand learned to keep hiscalm, keep track of time andgo for partial credit. Hescored over 100 percent onhis next test.

Targeting kids who are at

high risk for academic fail-ure, SSS and its sister pro-gram, Upward Bound, serve305 first-generation, low-in-come and disabled studentsin the WVU Tech region.They are both part of agroup of federal programsknown collectively as TRIO.

Wednesday, the school willmark National TRIO Daywith an event from 11 a.m.to 3 p.m. on the third floor ofOld Main.

It will be an opportunityfor the WVU Tech communi-ty to stop by and talk aboutcareers, grad school, studyskills and a host of other is-sues that TRIO addresses.

Dooley honored by United Bank for 50 years of serviceBY STEVE KEENAN

STAFF WRITER

MONTGOMERY — Fordecades, Guy S. Dooley Jr. hasbeen a bedrock of the greaterFayette County community inwhich he’s lived and worked.

He retired as president ofUnited National Bank inMontgomery on Oct. 31, 1994,but has remained on the job atUnited since then.

Some of those who havecrossed paths with Dooley overthe years gathered at UnitedBank last Tuesday to celebratehis 50th year of working forUnited and its predecessors.He was presented gifts andsentiments from D.F. Mock,United’s Beckley-based mar-ket president for the SouthMarket, and Betty Gilkerson,United’s assistant vice presi-dent/office manager in Mont-gomery.

Mock praised Dooley’s workwith the bank as well as hiscommunity involvement, andhe said Dooley has been “veryhelpful and instrumental” inmaintaining loan and mort-gage relationships.

Gilkerson told Dooley the

presence of many former em-ployees Tuesday “stands wellfor the leadership you’ve givenus.”

Dooley said he was “flabber-gasted” and “so humbled thatyou folks were here.”

Dooley, a veteran of WorldWar II, was born in Page onMarch 8, 1925. A resident ofAnsted and a longtime mem-ber of the Ansted Baptist

Church, he was married for 51years to the former Anna LeeDorsey, now deceased. He isthe father of four and grand-parent to many children.

Dooley began working as atrainee in different depart-ments at Montgomery Nation-al Bank on Feb. 18, 1963.Stints as assistant cashier,vice president and trust officerand executive vice president

followed before he was electedbank president on June 30,1972.

Sandy Huddleston, who suc-ceeded Dooley as United’sMontgomery president, hasnothing but praise for him.

“Guy came to the bank in1963 and I came a year later,”said Huddleston, who was

president until 2001. “It was aprivilege to watch him becomean excellent, well-respectedbank administrator. He led byexample. He was always ontop of all the changing bankregulations, and, althoughthat took a great deal of his

Commission considers water woes;Armstrong Creek PSD gets grant

BY C.V. MOORETHE REGISTER-HERALD

FAYETTEVILLE — Apublic service district innorthern Fayette Countysays it is being “held hostage”by West Virginia AmericanWater and can’t make anymore progress toward provid-ing its residents with wateruntil a dispute with the com-pany is resolved.

Several rural areas nearSaturday and Sunday roadsin New Haven District lack

access to public water andwant to apply for publicfunds to build water line ex-tensions to their homes.

But the New Haven PublicService District (NHPSD)says it lacks the operationand maintenance support fornew projects that were prom-ised from West VirginiaAmerican Water when it en-tered into a public-privatepartnership with the compa-ny.

STEVE KEENAN/THE FAYETTE TRIBUNE (2)

Guy Dooley, longtime Fayette County businessman and civicleader, was honored in Montgomery last week for his 50-year ca-reer with United Bank. Here, Dooley chats with Montgomery res-ident Gene Hess.

Fayette County Commissioners Denise Scalph, left, and MattWender were among those present to help Dooley celebrate.

See DOOLEY on 3

See WATER on 2

See TRIO on 3

See CTCs on 3

The Montgomery Herald www.montgomery-herald.com Wednesday, February 27, 2013 ■ 3

time, he was never too busyto be compassionate andfair to his employees.”

“He has certainly beenmy mentor, as well as agood friend to me and myfamily,” she continued. “Iam sure many other em-ployees will agree with thisassessment.

“The fact that he contin-ues to come to the bank fourdays a week attests to hisloyalty and his caring forthe bank, its employees andits customers.”

Dooley recalls bank offi-cials telling him he could“come here and learn bank-ing on the job.” The compa-ny has been “very nice tome. I’d like to thank themanagement of United forletting me stay involved,”

he added. “I enjoy my work,I enjoy the team I workwith, I enjoy the customers.It’s been a privilege.”

“The banking industryhas drastically changed,”Dooley added, primarily be-cause of the expansion ofelectronic means of bank-ing. “In likelihood over timethere will continue to bedrastic changes.”

In addition to his variouschores in the banking in-dustry, Dooley has alsobeen an integral cog inmoving Fayette County for-ward over the years. He hasbeen president and memberof the Upper Kanawha Val-ley Chamber of Commerceand the Upper KanawhaValley Economic Develop-ment Corporation, as wellas serving on other govern-ing boards such as theFayette County PlanningCommission, the FayetteCounty Urban Renewal Au-thority and the Fayette

County Transition Team.In addition, he has been

treasurer of Tech Founda-tion, Inc. As a strong sup-porter of West VirginiaTech and WVU Tech, hejoined with attorney Gor-don Billheimer, dentistCarl Lee Kennedy and thelate Tech basketball coach-ing legend Neal Baisi tohelp establish the TechAthletic Scholarship Fund.During their time in raisingfunds, the quartet played apivotal role in securingmore than $2 million for theschool’s student-athletes.For their efforts, the menknown collectively as “TheFinal Four” were inductedinto the WVU Tech AthleticHall of Fame in 2006.

Dooley still joins withKennedy and Billheimer fordaily workouts at Tech.

His work with the localeconomic development or-ganization, which wasformed in 1985, was also in-

tegral in steering theMount Olive CorrectionalComplex to the area.MOCC officials recentlyhonored Dooley for 13 yearsof service on the institu-tion’s citizens advisoryboard.

Also, Dooley and otherson the UKVEDC helpedoversee the construction ofthe UKV Technology Com-munity on Third Avenue inMontgomery. The facilitywas built to serve as a cata-lyst for technical innovationand to provide a quality en-vironment for business andindustry. Dooley continuesto serve on the UKVEDCboard of directors.

He says he has no plansto slow down any time soon.

It means “having a reasonto get up every morning,”he said. “I want to continueto work as long as I can andnot become complacent.”

— E-mail:skeenan@register-herald.com

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Now almost 50 yearsold, TRIO is an outgrowthof the Johnson adminis-tration’s War on Poverty.It originated with threeprograms, which inspiredthe name. Upward Boundwas one of those.

There are currently 29TRIO programsstatewide, according toPatricia Hopkins, interimdirector of Tech’s SSS pro-gram.

■ ■ ■Before students ever

make it to college, the Up-ward Bound program pre-pares them to make themost out of high school.

They help students findfunding and resources forcollege through scholar-ships, grants, free tutoringand test preparation.

Low-income and first-generation college stu-dents from seven targethigh schools — ClayCounty, Fayetteville,Meadow Bridge, Midland

Trail, Oak Hill, Riversideand Valley — are eligibleto participate.

Students start in theninth grade and carrythrough their senior year.

“We follow them all theway through,” explainsJennifer Bunner, programdirector. “We are gettingthem to think beyond theweek that they are in,planning in the long termfor what they want to do.”

The goal is for 65 per-cent of high school gradu-ates in the target area toenroll in college and for 30percent to complete an as-sociate’s or bachelor’s de-gree.

A full-time academiccounselor offers mini-workshops at schools ontopics like note-taking andgoal-setting and worksone on one with studentson their specific academicneeds.

Monthly sessions on theWVU Tech campus givestudents a chance to getmore comfortable with thecollege environment.

To help them gain expo-sure to the range of localcolleges and universities,

the program offers 15 col-lege visits over the courseof four years.

The centerpiece of Up-ward Bound is a six-weeksummer residential pro-gram during which stu-dents attend enrichmentclasses in Montgomery,mimicking a college sched-ule.

Jordan Thompson, asenior at WVU Tech andeditor of the school news-paper, hails from just upthe river in Boomer. Shecomes from a low-incomebackground and is a first-generation college-goer.

Helping out during Up-ward Bound’s summerprogram, Thompson saysshe recognizes somethingof herself in the highschool students.

“You can tell they arenervous and unsure,” shesays. “I had no idea what Iwas supposed to do aboutthe application process. Iwas so confused. My momcould help a little bit, but Iwish I had had the chanceto be involved in UpwardBound because I don’tthink I got enough help inapplying to schools.”

But by the time the pro-gram ended, Thompsonsays she saw a change. “Isaw the fact that thesekids were getting seriousabout wanting to go to col-lege.”

“Especially for low-in-come students, sometimesthere’s not a lot of positiveinfluence that tells themto reach for more andpush themselves,” Thomp-son added. “I think (Up-ward Bound) does a reallygood job instilling confi-dence in these kids, and Ithink confidence is themost important thing forgoing to college.”

■ ■ ■Once they’ve made it tograduation and if they ap-ply and are accepted atWVU Tech, the school’sSSS program picks themup and tries to get themthrough their four-yeardegree.

“From my experience,when you come out of highschool, especially in WestVirginia, you think youknow the world, but at thesame time when you hitthat first test cycle, you re-alize you need help,” says

Orndorff. “That’s whereSSS comes in. They helpyou prepare for the transi-tion and help you gainconfidence.

“If I hadn’t had it fresh-man year, I could havebeen a statistic anddropped out.”

Now Orndorff holdsdown a 4.0 GPA and ispreparing to go to gradschool. He tutors his peersin math and engineering.

SSS offers counseling onstudy skills, test-takingand time management, aswell as free tutoring andexposure to cultural activ-ities like visits to NewYork City for a musical orNASA’s facilities in Flori-da.

Hopkins says that one ofthe most important as-pects of SSS is helpingfirst-year students maketheir transition from highschool into a college set-ting.

“We see a big change instudents from the timethey are freshmen to jun-iors and seniors, especiallyhow they develop socially,”she says.

The program is totally

voluntary and requiresdocumentation of eligibili-ty to enroll.

■ ■ ■Bunner says there’s

been a continued push toget more West Virginiansto go to college or finishtheir degrees, whichmakes the possibility of a5.1 percent cut in TRIO’sfederal budget all themore alarming.

Upward Bound at WVUTech is currently fundedby a five-year, $1.8 milliongrant received in 2012.The SSS received $1.7 mil-lion for five years in 2010.

But March’s proposedfederal budget cuts couldimpact the program’s fu-ture funding scenario.

“The way for us to con-tinue to get funding is forthe general public to reachout to their elected offi-cials and continue to letthem know that these pro-grams are essential,” shesays. “When areas arelooked at to be cut, educa-tion is a critical piece thatthe state and the countrythinks is important.”

— E-mail: cmoore@register-herald.com

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Sen. William Laird, D-Fayette, saidhe and other legislators met withBridgemont’s president, Dr. Jo Harris,several weeks ago to broach the topicand called the discussion “preliminary.”

“She wanted us to be aware in gener-al that those discussions are underway. (...) She seemed to indicate thatthere were collaborative opportunitiesto link (Kanawha Valley’s) curriculumwith that of Bridgemont,” said Laird.

“Obviously we are concerned aboutthe impact of the Bridgemont Commu-nity and Technical College on the com-munities in the Upper Kanawha Valleyand certainly I think we will continueto monitor that with great interest.”

When asked for comment, Harrissaid simply that no legislation has beenintroduced at this time.

Neither Chancellor James Skidmorenor the president of Kanawha ValleyCTC could be reached for comment Fri-day.

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