Multiple complaints have been filed with the West Virginia Department of the Environment, resulting in multiple inspections and the issuing of multiple notices of violations. See the inspection reports, including pictures below. View the complaints by selecting each file below:
Violations include, among others, no corrective action for construction areas and no provision for temporary seeding and mulching. In other words, soil will continue to run off during construction, unless this is corrected. “The majority of the sediment trapping structures on the site had been removed and converted to permanent storm water management ponds. Other trapping structures that were not converted had been removed. However, the site remained disturbed…”
Still, to this date, the violations have not been remediated to the satisfaction of the Virginia Department of the Environment. Yet, no stop work orders have been issued, and no fines have been levied. These regulations need teeth, in the form of stop work orders and hefty fines.
This project is a bellwether for what we can expect if other solar projects are built in Jefferson County. The solar text amendment needs to be repealed. It is not in accordance with our current Comprehensive Plan.
A thoughtful solar plan could allow solar development on brownfield areas, such as the county dump or the Millville quarry site, not on prime farmland. Perhaps much smaller solar projects could be built on existing substation land plots owned by power companies. But in no way is this carte blanch approach of allowing solar farms anywhere in urban zoned areas and as a permitted use anywhere else good for Jefferson County or its citizens.
It is only “good” for a few large landowners, and some real estate developers who will reap a large profit windfall, at everyone else’s’ expense.
Richard: Good afternoon, and welcome to this edition of the Richard Urban Show. We present news and views from God’s point of view. Today, May 29, we’re very happy to have Bill Wooten on. He’s running for the Supreme Court of Appeals in Division 2. So please introduce yourself.
“Thank you Richard. My name is Bill Wooten I’m a small town lawyer, in Beckley and I’m a candidate for the Supreme Court of Appeals.”
Richard: What are the main reasons you’re running for the Supreme Court of Appeals? Why did you decide at this time to run?
“Primarily I’m running because I sincerely believe I am the best qualified candidate for the job. I think I can be of real service to my fellow West Virginians by serving on the Supreme Court.”
“Now, to add more to that, my first job out of law school was law for to the Honorable John A. Field Jr., he was a judge of United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the fourth circuit. That’s one level before the US Supreme Court. Judge Field is one of my heroes. He’s the hero of lot of people that have come into contact with him. And I think, like a lot of people, you want to grow up to be like your hero, and he was the judge.”
“So that early on, gave me a start. But as a lawyer practicing law for a long time, I’m aware of how the court works. I’ve dealt with the court on a lot of occasions, and I sincerely believe that I have the ideal qualification, to serve effectively on the court and if I may, I’d like to add to that.”
“I think the Supreme Court is a scholarly operation. Trial court judges deal with witnesses and objections and factual questions. The Supreme Court is more scholarly. It just reviews written records of hearings. It reviews written arguments and briefs. It does listen to oral arguments, but the oral arguments all relate to some proceeding that occurred at a lower level. So it’s really more an academic exercise than a trial court. Academically, I’ve got, I’m confident, the most outstanding record of any candidate in division 2. I was editor in chief of the law review, graduated at the top of my class, Order of the Coif.”
“So I think I have the qualifications, but more important than academics, I have a breadth of experience that no other candidate has. I have been involved in virtually every type of legal proceeding that’s possible for a West Virginia lawyer to be involved in. one of the other candidates is a prosecutor, has been, I believe, a prosecutor, that’s the only job that that candidate has ever had. Well, I spent a few years as a prosecutor and gained a lot of experience there.”
Richard: Have you served on a bench position before, or are most of your experiences are as a prosecutor or practicing private law?
“The experience that gives me the greatest advantage for Supreme Court is all from practicing law. Because I’ve involved in literally every type of legal proceeding that you have that you could do in West Virginia. Now, I don’t have significant bench experience. I was a municipal judge, which gives you a little bit of insight, but just taste of it. I think judicial experience is important. I think I gained comparable experience, I served 10 years in the legislature, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.”
Richard: regarding the impeachment proceedings in 2018 at the Supreme Court of Appeals, do you think that the legislature overstepped its authority or do you have an opinion on that?
“I believe in the separation of powers, and I believe the legislature has the absolute ability to impeach a Circuit Judge or a Supreme Court justice in fact any public official, at the state level. And I think that there were some significant Constitutional infirmities in the procedure followed by the legislature. I think they were pointed out, and clearly the legislature could have gone back and corrected those.”
Richard: I saw in the West Virginia Court election site, you mentioned that “a Supreme Court justice must not be dogmatic. A rigid and inflexible pattern of thinking would prevent a justice from grasping new arguments, or novel applications of various legal principles.” I was wondering if you want to expand on that. Sometimes you hear the term ‘strictly interpreting the constitution’ or strict construction or something like that. And I’m wondering if you want to explain a little more what you meant. You said you’re opened to novel interpretations. How does that kind of juxtapose with the idea of strictly following the Constitution?
“Let we tell you what I was trying to get to. I’m a practicing attorney and I don’t mean to be disrespectful of any judges. But there are some judges I’ve dealt with that have been on the bench especially a long time. People my age, if you will, and they’re what I would call, dogmatic. They’ve heard everything they know everything. And don’t want to listen to you because they’ve heard everything. And sometimes I think as a jurist, you have an obligation to at least listen and consider what someone offers. That’s what I was trying to get to in the response you read.”
Richard: Well in somewhat the same vein, would you care to elaborate on your judicial philosophy in the sense of your interpretation of the constitution. Would you consider yourself more strictly sticking to the constitution? For instance I was reading one case of one of the judges that’s running. And I saw that in that case, without getting into exact details, he had a somewhat novel interpretation. I know different judges can interpret things in different ways. Would you want to talk about that general topic?
“First off I believe very strongly in the separation of powers, I think public policy in this state is made by the voters, the citizens, through their elective representatives in the legislature. I think the executive branch carries out those public policies I think the judicial branch, the third branch of our three type of government, the third leg of our triumvirate, if you will, its job is not to make public policy and not to execute public policy. I think the judicial branch’s job is to ensure that the public policy that’s embodied in law, is fairly and correctly applied. Correctly, if it says something, that’s what you’ve got to do. You also, if constitutional arguments are raised, you have to ensure that the public policy embodied in the law, or the way it was enacted or enforced by the executive branch, is in compliance with the Constitution. You cannot deviate from the Constitution. But the court does not have the ability to rewrite the Constitution. Likewise it has no ability to rewrite statutes. If as a Justice I think this was a terrible idea, the legislature should not have done that. I can have that as a private opinion, but as a justice my job is, does it conflict with the Constitution? If not, was it correctly, and fairly applied? If so, you uphold it.”
Richard: I’m involved with youth education and helping to strengthen families. Some communities have community marriage policies. Different churches will get together and say, things like, Okay, if you like to be married then you should take some training, a class or course that we prescribe or we’re not going to marry you. One of the cities is Kansas City, Kansas. It’s not to say they can’t go elsewhere to be married. But I think these kinds of policies as far as I know, they have strengthened families and reduced divorce. So do you think that kind of approach generally, is that a good approach, bad approach, or do you have any opinion about it?
“I have no data for, what’s to determine if it works or not, I think, in my judgment, clearly the prerogative of the church if they want to do that. And if they do that, I would hope they would have some data that would support it. And frankly, I would hope it worked.”
Richard: it has work definitely to reduce divorce in communities where it’s in effect. So I think that’s a good thing.
“And in any community if you don’t want to get married in that church, you can always have a civil ceremony or go to a different church.”
Richard: Looking at the fact that you have three other opponents, how would you differentiate yourself versus the other opponents? Would you care to say about that?
“I’m the only veteran in the race. I’m the only person in the race who’s not on a public payroll.”
“I have more experience in more different areas of the law than any of the other candidates. One candidate’s experience is exclusively as a prosecutor. I’ve done that, but there’s a whole lot more to the law, than just being a prosecutor.”
“Another candidates’ focus is overwhelmingly in the area of domestic relations. I’ve done just about every type of domestic relations case you can do, but there’s a whole lot of the law, that’s beyond domestic relations. Another candidate’s practical experience as a lawyer is insurance defense work. I’ve done a little bit of that, mostly have been on the other side, but there’s a lot more to the law than just that. To her credit, as circuit judge she’s been exposed to other areas, but I’ve done every possible thing that a lawyer in West Virginia can do. I think that breadth of experience is what really distinguishes me from the other candidates.”
Richard: I think that’s a good summation unless there’s anything else you’d like to share. Any other thoughts you have, closing thoughts?
“One, I want to thank you for this opportunity and commend you on your preparation. I didn’t realize you’d read all those questionnaires. I’m impressed”
Richard: thank you very much. Thank you for joining us today.
Good and evil is defined by whether an action leads towards
fulfilling God’s Purpose of Creation or not.
Let’s look at three points about the current Covid-19 crisis.
1. Does the decisions or do the decisions that are being
made allow freedom of conscience? Because
we know that God created each of us, we must honor freedom of conscience. If we don’t recognize that God is our Creator,
then we were lost.
2. Secondly, are those making the calls or decisions honest
or are they involved in corruption and obfuscation. We talked in the last video about the H1N1 pandemic
in 2009, and how there was misreporting, obfuscation, and lying regarding the
statistics about that pandemic.
Another example is that no vaccine has ever been proven to be more safe then
deadly. We see that the Pharmaceutical industry never tests any vaccines. There have also been many, many corruption
scandals involving Big Pharma, like the Vioxx scandal and the opioid addiction
crisis that was caused by the pharmaceutical industry.
Big Pharma and the US government have colluded together at the detriment of the
health of all citizens.
3. Thirdly, do those making these decisions rely on a
fear-based model? Yes they do. Death
statistics are promoted without giving the proper context of similar types of
deaths in the past and at present. Where
did this whole thing start? It started in communist China, and there it is, a
godless state clearly. And we’re relying a lot on their information, but can it
be trusted? No. ABC have you been over there to fact check the Chinese Communists
to see if their numbers are right?
Government officials have created a completely false
narrative.
I wrote this editorial five years ago, but it is till very applicable today, as well, and applies equally to the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary where I used to affiliate.
Fundamentally, we need to look at “Church” in a new way.
Richard
Blessed Central Families are the core of the Providence
6/2/2013
I believe that this is the era for Tribal Messiahs to take the lead. The substantial work of the providence cannot be done by the Family Church or Family Federation. It is done by individual Blessed Central Families and small groups of Blessed Central Families who do ministry in their local communities. So, in essence, the purpose of the Family Federation is to raise up and support Tribal Messiahs who will carry out the mission of teaching and helping individuals and families move toward the goal of being Blessed Central Families.
The Family church in each community should be looking at how to support the ministries of the Blessed Central Families. Ideally, each Blessed Central Family should have its own ministry. Then the Family Church should ask each family how it can assist and support in that family’s ministry.
The Family Federation should look to find projects that educate and raise people up towards the Blessing. These may not always be Family Federation projects. For instance, they could be nonprofits or businesses that support the mission of the Family Federation. Donations and education can flow toward the Blessed Central Families doing the work, not just from them. If a Blessed Central Family is holding meetings or programs that help people move toward the Blessing, why not encourage and even financially assist that work?
When models are found that work, then they should be made available locally and nationwide. Blessed Central families can give their testimony of what is working at Sunday service. The national Family Federation can support by brining successful Blessed Central Families to Regions other than their own. In this way, these models can be duplicated and nominal funding given to those families willing to try these models.
So rather than only getting those we know to come to Sunday Service, we can assist with the education of their children toward abstinence before marriage and successful family formation
True Father says in the Cheon Sung Gyung p. 1505:
In the future, the Sunday service of the Unification Church should be in the format of a report, not a sermon. The contents of the report should be about something a family can be proud of. Therefore, the whole family would need to attend the service. In this way, the other families can model themselves after the exemplary families and be guided by them to the right path. In such a manner we can establish the heavenly kingdom for the family, on earth. You should bear in mind that before this is done God’s Kingdom on earth cannot be established. (23-63, 1969.5.11)
The reason I’m not currently constructing any church buildings is because I have plans of my own. The number of people in the church is not important. The Kingdom of Heaven does not begin from the church; it originates from the family, that is, the bride and groom.
Woman was born to meet man, and vice versa. When a baby wakes up, it looks for its “mama.” The husband should call his wife more than the baby calls its mother. A person who fails to do so is truly pitiable. The wife should also call her husband more than he does her. They should become such a couple. As husband and wife enjoying the happiness of conjugal harmony, they should call out to each other all the time. If they can live in such a manner forever, they would not envy the young even when they grow old. In the future, I will arrange a world tour for those blessed couples that reach the age of eighty. (23-55, 1969.5.11).
So True Father relates the loving relationship of Blessed husbands and wives to church growth. One way to grow is to learn from exemplary couples at Sunday Service. Another way is through the loving example of Blessed Central Families.
I suggest that an excellent way to help families in our communities is to promote abstinence-centered sexual health education. Furthermore, by teaching about absolutely good sex, we can further help families in our communities, as well as our own families. I don’t know why every family would not want to assist young people at their local middle or high school by providing Relationship Intelligence abstinence-centered education. Furthermore, meetings with both parents and their children can be held for further education. I would like to see many testimonies about families helping other families in their community in this way, including their children.
Update; March, 2020. I was able to meet with Senator Unger in December 2019, which was a definite improvement from the situation described below. He indicated that he may be ready to vote for vaccine choice, as well, but this has not yet been tested by any Senate vote or co-sponsorship of a vaccine choice bill.
John Unger, Democrat, is the current West Virginia State Senator representing all of Jefferson County and part of Berkeley County. He was first elected in 2010.
When I contacted Senator Unger by email multiple times int he fall of 2017, he never bothered to respond. When I tried to schedule an appointment with his office in January, 2018, while my wife and I were visiting Charleston during the legislative session, I was told that he does not make appointments with constituents. When I tried to contact Senator Unger by telephone, I could never reach him.
I had to hunt like a detective to find him at the State Capital building, and was able to find him on the floor of the State Senate before the session began. I asked him if he supports the right of a parent to choose not to vaccinate their child for a certain vaccine for either conscientious or religious reasons. He did not answer that question. However, during an education committee meeting on that topic one March 18, 2017, Senator Unger wondered if those seeking religious exemptions were sincere in their religious beliefs.
Why is Senator Unger running for reelection when he does not even respond to his constituents phone calls or correspondence? Furthermore, in the 2018 session, Senator Unger only sponsored two bills, while most senators sponsored around 20 bills.
Furthermore, why does Senator Unger not support the right of a parent to choose not to vaccinate their child for conscientious or religious reasons? A total of 47 other state have conscientious or reliaghous exemptions, or both.
A much better choice for State Senator in the 16th District in West Virginia is the Republican candidate, Michael Folk (http://folk4wv.com/) a current West Virginia State Representative who was first elected n 2012. Mr. Folk is a clear advocate for personal freedom, including the right to choose not to vaccinate your child, second amendment rights, and constitutional freedoms, in general.
Often, state and local elections are decided by a small number of votes. I urge you to not sit this one out and to get our and vote for Michael Folk for West Virginia State Senate on November 6, 2018.
Rod of Iron Kingdom by Hyung Jin Sean Moon helped me to better understand the meaning of the essential three elements of the Nation of God, or Cheon il Guk that Rev. Sun Myung Moon Teaches about. Those elements are people, land and sovereignty.
The first nine chapters outline a clear apologetic for why the ownership of firearms is a basic human right, the responsibility of Christians and an essential ingredient of a free society. The book introduces the Feb. 28th, 2018 Book of Life Blessing at the Sanctuary Church in Newfoundland, Pennsylvania. This marriage blessing caused a firestorm of interest from the media, on the heals of the Parkland Florida school shooting.
The dangers of Facism and Political Islam are outlined. The clear view of the Founding Fathers about the importance of the right to bear arms, and of the danger of a standing army are delineated. We learn that the confiscation of firearms has preceded all of the democides (killings by the government) of the 20th Century.
We also learn that gun contral started as a way to keep guns out of the hands of blacks. Furthermore, we learn that areas where citizens are armed are much safer.
For me, as a Unificationist who has been a member of Rev. Moon’s Unification movement for 43 years, the last two chapters are the most revealing.
I have undertood that God wants a nation, but yet that cherished hope has not yet come to fruition. Could it be that God is devolving the idea of a nation to a more local level? Every nation must be able to protect the sovereignty of its territory. Let’s consider that the people of God’s nation, or Cheon Il Guk are families who have received the Blessing of marriage from Rev. Moon and his appointed inheritors, the land being land owned by these couples.
In this case, what would the sovereignty of God’s nation be? The sovereignty is determined by the ability of these couples individually and corporately to defend their land. So the Crowns and Rods of Iron (AR-15 Rifles) that these couples brought to the February 28th Tree of Life Blessing symbolically and substantially represent the sovereignty of God’s nation. Furthermore, these couples become good citizens, ready to defend their neighbors.
To understand the Rod of Iron Ministry I think that you have to understand the importance of the Bundy Ranch standoff, covered in Chapter 10 of the book. Pastor Moon interviewed Larry Pratt and covered this in that interview, as well.(see the link below). This was a crucial turning point where armed citizens were ready to defend land unjustly being taken by overreach of an overzealous Federal Government. Many mostly armed citizens came to support the Bundys. This was an important point in United States history. After all, the right to bear arms is ultimately to protect against tyrannical government, as the Founding Fathers were well aware. It is not only about the right to self defense or sportsmanship.
With the crucial understanding of sovereignty as protected by the Second Amendment that is explained in Rod of Iron Kingdom, we can see the way forward for protecting God’s children and protecting His Kingdom in the future. I recommend Rod of Iron Kingdom as an essential read for all of those who cherish freedom and want to understand more about the debate about gun ownership and the Second Amendment
I also recommend viewing Pastor Sean Moon’s three interviews with Larry Pratt, President Emeritus of Gun Owners of America to better undersand about the Rod of Iron Kingdom.