Here is a online poll of the Cabell County Sheriff Candidates who are running in the May election.

Cabell County Sheriff Candidates

I just put the poll up so it works but the page is not yet pretty. I programmed the poll software so that it only allows one vote per IP address. No IP outside of the USA is allowed to vote. There are a number of controls to prevent results tampering by foreign bot networks. The results are instantly available as they are calculated by the machine. Overt attempts at cheating by using contiguous IP's will be deleted.

Nobody claims this poll is in the least bit scientific. But the small number of safeguards against digital ballot box stuffing A.K.A. cheating make it more reliable than a poll of the candidates friends, conducted by a candidate.

There is a company called AFNI (Anderson Financial Network Inc.) that has been sending out bogus Verizon bills to West Virginia residents, and especially those in the Huntington West Virginia area. It does not matter to these people if the bills are legitimate or not, it is basically a matter of paying these scam artists to get them to leave you alone.

AFNI is well known for frequent computer generated phone calls that are designed to annoy and harass.

In many instances the alleged bills that AFNI is trying to collect are older than the statute of limitations.

In many instances the alleged bills are not owed at all, and or the product of identity theft. 

AFNI refuses to provide documentation from the original creditor.

AFNI can and will report you to the credit reporting agencies to gain money that they are not entitled to in violation of the fair credit reporting act.

If you are contacted by AFNI do not talk to them by phone but call your attorney or the police immediately. A police report filed at the onset of harassment can help your lawyer preserve your rights at a later date.

Under no circumstances give AFNI any personal or banking information.

The West Virginia Attorney Generals office has an excellent track record for shutting down abusive bill collectors and scam artists. Pick up the phone and call the consumer protection division of the West Virginia Attorney Generals office. 1-800-368-8808.

The best way to deal with AFNI is to give them what they deserve...lawyers.

Some have suggested that West Virginia revive Capital Punishment.

I am no fan of criminals and I have no sympathy for those who murder for the fun of it.

I am opposed to the death penalty in West Virginia and in the United States to boot.

Why am I opposed?

If we stop the executions of killers in the U.S. Then we wont look like hypocrites when we ask that other countries stop executing people for things that are perfectly legal to do here.

In short if we stop executing people for major capitol offences. Then we are not going to look like hypocrites when we ask Saudi Arabia to stop executing women for adultery. Then we are not going to look like hypocrites when we ask Iran to stop hanging gay people. In Kuwait a woman can be executed for driving a car.

In many nations, one can be executed for converting from Islam to Christianity.

If we stop executing people, we wont look like hypocrites when we demand that other nations refrain from doing so also.

In short if the criminals in this country are given life without parole as an alternative to the death penalty. Then it greatly increases the bargaining position of our diplomats who try to get other countries to stop executing political and religious offenders in other parts of the world.

In short I am willing to let some of the wicked animals on death row do life without parole if it enhances our ability to put pressure on third world countries to stop killing innocent people for petty reasons.

The French, Belgian, British, and Dutch diplomatic corps have intervened many times in the Moslem world where women are more likely to face capital punishment than men. In northern Europe capital punishment has been abolished. I wish American diplomats were leading the efforts. In some parts of Africa people (Mostly women) are still being brutally executed by stoning on occasion. It is a brutal world that we live in.

Americans have traditionally been people of great kindness and compassion and that is why we were once respected around the world. Remember the Kindness that President Truman displayed to our former German enemies during the Berlin Airlift. It was at that time the largest humanitarian campaign the world had ever seen and the world respected our kindness.

The current president of the United States has signed more death warrants and built more prisons than any other leader in American history and it does not work. Around the world Americans are no longer seen as kind humanitarian people who lead by example.

I want my country back.

I oppose capital punishment in the USA because its sets an example for developing countries to follow. No country can claim to be totally free as long as the government of that country has the capacity to (rightly or wrongly) kill its own citizens. Freedom for good people is what it is all about.

There is a group of telephone scammers working the Huntington West Virginia area known as NCO.

NCO claims to be bill collectors, but in reality NCO tries to collect on old accounts that are far outside the statute of limitation by using telephone harassment to wear the victim down, and to sometimes get them to pay a bill that they don't even owe at all. NCO has been known to go after people who merely have the same phone number that was once held by someone else, or to try to collect an alleged debt that was owed by a previous resident where the victim currently lives.

NCO was fined over 1.5 M by the Federal Trade Commission several years ago for shady collection practices so they are no strangers to federal law enforcement. Here is a link to the FTC website to verify this.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/05/ncogroup.shtm

If you are contacted by NCO you will most likely encounter an obnoxious NCO telephone solicitor demanding that you give them checking account or credit card information to pay a bill that you allegedly owe that is most likely more than ten years old.

Do not give them any banking information whatsoever, or you will be setting yourself up for identity theft. Do not confirm or deny your social security number to the NCO caller. They will start abusively calling you on a daily basis and they use automated computer equipment to call and hang up in many instances.

Pick up the phone and call the consumer protection division of the West Virginia Attorney Generals office. 1-800-368-8808. West Virginia has very stern laws against telephone harassment and abusive debt collection practices, and the attorney generals office will not hesitate to enforce those laws and prosecute violators.

The best way to deal with obnoxious bill collectors in my experience is to bypass the collection agency and contact the original creditor and pay what you legitimately owe, and or remind the original creditor that they can be held liable for the misconduct of their agent if the statute of limitations has expired. It worked for me. Talk to a lawyer to get better advice than I can give.

To the best of my knowledge NCO is not licensed to do business in West Virginia and this poses a severe danger when NCO harasses vulnerable people in their homes by telephone demanding banking information from our citizens.

If you are getting debt collection notices by U.S. Mail from NCO for bills that you do not owe. Contact the U.S. Postal inspectors. They are very interested in mail fraud. Charleston WV Postal Inspector James R. Hoke Telephone (304) 357-4140 Email JRHoke@uspis.gov

Abusive phone calls are not only contrary to law but phone company regulations as well. Call the business office of the phone company in West Virginia (304)-954-6200 and ask for help with phone harassment issues. They will try to help you block the calls as much as possible.

The citizens of this state should never live in fear of the abusive phone calls of predatory tele-scammers like NCO. I have given you some phone numbers to make NCO live in fear of honest people. The only way to drive abusive predatory business entities out of this state is to bury them in complaints to make the cost of harassing our citizens exceed the potential for return.

Stephanie Heck Huntington West Virginia

West Virginia's Chief Supreme Court justice Elliott E. 'Spike' Maynard agreed Friday, Jan. 18, 2008 to recuse himself from a pending case involving Massey Energy Co and Massey's President, CEO and Chairman Don Blankenship. The recusal happened after pictures of Don Blankenship and Spike Maynard became public. The pictures taken and made public were joint poses of Spike Maynard and Don Blankenship while vacationing in Monaco in July 2006. IN light of the role that Don Blankenship played in the election of Justice Benjamin in the last supreme court election in the state of West Virginia. Many in West Virginia are wondering when Justice Benjamin is going to follow Maynard's example and recuse himself as well.

It is a well known matter of common knowledge in the State of West Virginia that Don Blankenship is one of the most controversial and politically vindictive coal barons in the history of this state. Don Blankenship has promoted an extreme right wing agenda that makes most Conservatives republicans look liberal in contrast to Don Blankenship. The relationship between Don Blankenship and the West Virginia Democratic Party is one of extreme animosity. As the CEO of Massey Energy, Don Blankenship is a serious economic player.

It was an extreme lapse of judgement for Chief Justice Maynard to have pictures made with Don Blankenship that cause the citizens of West Virginia to question the integrity of the West Virginia Supreme Court. It was not illegal to have ones picture taken with Don Blankenship, however it was poorly thought out. Chief Justice Maynard should have known well that Don Hatfield would exploit any and all political angles.

What the citizens of West Virginia are afraid of, is a supreme court judiciary with extremely poor judgement.

WVU Vs. Oklahoma

football game

WE WON!

It is my understanding that the We Are Marshall Movie about the Marshall University football team plane crash in 1970 will be coming to cable TV soon. I still dont have the heart to see that movie.

I am wondering if computer technology jobs will ever come to Huntington West Virginia, or is this hometown of mine destined to become the call center capitol of the tele-spammer world.

Many of these computer technology jobs can be done from home by well trained workers. Many system administrators and programmers work from home to manage remote networks. In short it is possible to live in Huntington and work in California online.

Huntington and the Cabell County schools need to rise to the occasion, and start teaching computer literacy and lower level computer technology skills in the public schools. This is especially true in high school. 

I favor making basic computer literacy skills a mandatory requirement for graduation from high school. By basic computer literacy I mean the use of email and a web browser to learn how to find information and communicate online.

I also favor removing computers from grade schools with the exception of TAG programs and faculty. Grade school students are at least 7 years away from graduation, and the systems that are learned in grade schools will be massively obsolete by the time that the kids are ready to enter the work force. It is better to teach computer skills to high schools students and use the big money that was spent in grade schools on computer technology vocational programs that will result in jobs for graduates. If we spent as much money teaching computer skills to adults as we do to grade school kids, there would be much more technology jobs in this state.

Stephanie Heck

Leah Hickman's body has been found and removed from the scene of the murder crime on eighth avenue in Huntington West Virginia.

Her employer, Dress Barn on Merritt's Creek has closed for Weekend in memorial to the murdered co-worker Leah Hickman. Our entire community has been shocked by this crime and we as a city want the criminals who are responsible for this hideous crime to be brought to justice rapidly.

In retrospect Leah Hickman was the kind of young woman one would like to have for a daughter. She had a job in a dress shop and was going to school to improve herself. She was not known for any vices. Our community in Huntington WV is saddened by the fact that she is gone and hope the police do a good job of capturing the animal who killed her. I wish to express my condolences to her family and heartfelt sympathies to her friends and associates.

The local police are being tight lipped about the nature of the investigation. This is understandable under the grim circumstances.

Stephanie Heck

Huntington WV

I strongly feel that the Governor of West Virginia has made a serious mistake with the Fred Armstrong termination. If there is one thing to be learned in West Virginia politics from the events of the SEGO disaster, it is that the public perception of our governor is greatly enhanced by the public's perceptions of the governors humanity. In short the governor has more to gain by admitting to a mistake and reinstating Fred Armstrong than he does to get tough and stand by his decision. If the governor stands by a decision that is widely protested throughout the state, then he merely gains a reputation for being too stubborn to listen to the populace.

If the governor gets a reputation for arbitrarily firing long term state employees who have done well for many years, this will negatively effect and adversely impact the ability of the state of West Virginia to recruit and retain high quality people for state employment. I desire that the governor do what is in the best interest of the state and reinstate Fred Armstrong post haste, unless there is some credible reason that can be given to the public as to why this should not happen.

If the governor is intent on abolishing the job rather that its holder, the governor would enhance his position by offering Fred Armstrong a job teaching history at one of the states universitys. I feel that Marshall University or West Virginia University would do well to hire Fred Armstrong as a history professor.

There appears to be a water crisis in Milton WV. An unauthorized person has apparently tampered with the Milton WV water supply in Milton West Virginia and the health department has shut down the public water supply pending testing and investigation. There is a story on this at WSAZ. http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/11814441.html

Update: The water moratorium has been lifted.

The new Milton West Virginia Message Board and community blog is really doing well. It is a place where those in eastern Cabell county West Virginia can go and discuss community affairs. There is a section of Cabell County concerns for those who live in rural Cabell County.

Milton West Virginia Message Board and Community Blog

The message board software generates an RSS XML feed like a blog but for a group rather than an individual.

I recently replaced my cable TV replaced by Direct TV satellite TV at my home in Huntington West Virginia as part of a bundled package deal from Verizon.

I am very much unhappy with the satellite TV service that I get from Direct TV.

The receiver boxes that they installed by the DirectTV installers are called "standard" boxes. However the standard receivers are not capable of receiving HD signals. This is 2007 and not 1997 and I have an HD TV. High definition HDTV is the standard in 2007 and the standard equipment used by DirectTV is OBSOLETE. You have to pay more for the up to date receiver models. I feel that pawning off out of date equipment and charging more for the up to date models is very deceptive.

They promised me 180 TV stations and once it is installed I find out that a large number of the promised TV stations in this package are nothing more than crummy XM radio stations and not actual video content. If I subscribe to a TV service I expect TV and not a bunch of crummy XM radio stations playing some types of music/noise that I don't even like. I am quite disappointed that Verizon is pawning this third rate Direct TV satellite service off on their West Virginia customers.

DirectTV is pretty bad in West Virginia and I advise my West Virginia readers to avoid it like the plague and this is especially true with Verizon bundled packages to which Direct TV is a portion. I bought Direct TV as part of a packaged bundle deal from Verizon.

I have since discovered that Direct TV has made an unauthorized inquiry on my credit report last October. This abuse of my privacy has been done to me even though I do not have a direct financial relationship with direct TV. I have never applied for employment or credit from Direct TV. I never agreed to Direct TV fishing around in my credit history thats modestly good. I assume they intend to sell the information that they are harvesting from Verizons customers and that is why I am mad at Verizon. It seems Verizon has tarnished their otherwise good reputation by subjecting their vaunerable West Virginia customers to the obnoxious behavior of Direct TV.

I am buying the Direct TV service through Verizon, and Verizion is acting as a wholesaler for Direct TV and my financial relationship is only with Verizon. My account is secured by my relationship with Verizon. There was absolutely no reason for Direct TV to access my credit report.

In the days of the founding fathers things were much different than today. There were many people in that time who believed that the statement "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesars and unto God that which is Gods." meant that political allegiances and religious allegiances should and must be separate matters. It was widely believed at that time that politics was a thing of the world, and it was widely believed that ministers should refrain from politics and other vices and concentrate only on spiritual matters alone.

Political discussion was a rowdy affair in that era and commonly done in taverns and pubs.

It was commonly thought to be best if the clergy dedicated their pursuits to spiritual matters only at that point in history.

In short, in that era, politics was seen as having the potential to corrupt the morality of those involved. People did not want ministers practicing politics for the same reason that they wanted clergy to refrain from gambling and prostitution. At that time politics was seen as being beneath the dignity of a legitimate man of God. At that time it was not permissible to corrupt the affairs of god by contaminating religion with the practice of politics. At that point in history, any minister who preached politics from the pulpit would have been immediately denounced as a charlatan and a fraud and then promptly run out of town.

The separation of church and state is merely a byproduct of the prevailing mindset in the era in which this country was founded.

There is much to be said for a peaceful religion that keeps itself above political agendas. The Christians of that era demanded a high standard of morality from clergy. Political preachers like Past Robertson and Jesse Jackson would have never lasted more than a week in that era.

How does this effct us in West Virginia? West Virginia entered the union in 1863 with the understanding that the citizens of the new state would enjoy all legal rights that they previously enjoyed as citizens of Virginia with the notable exception of slavery. The Virginia Statute for religious freedom was in effect at the time that West Virginia became a state, and is therefore part of our common heritage with Virginia. The author of the statute was none other than Thomas Jefferson. A trucated version of this statute is replicated in Article Three Section Fifteen of the West Virginia State Consttution.

If one desires to know the mindset of the founding fathers as it relates to religious freedom, a review of Mr. Jefferson's statute for religious freedom is obligatory reading. The full text of the statute is written verbatim below.

Stephanie Heck

___________________

VIRGINIA STATUTE FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

[Sec. 1] Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy author of our religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as it was in his Almighty power to do; that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavouring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world, and through all time; that to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical; that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor, whose morals he would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness, and is withdrawing from the ministry those temporary rewards, which proceeding from an approbation of their personal conduct, are an additional incitement to earnest and unremitting labours for the instruction of mankind; that our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry; that therefore the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which in common with his fellow-citizens he has a natural right; that it tends only to corrupt the principles of that religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing with a monopoly of worldly honours and emoluments, those who will externally profess and conform to it; that though indeed these are criminal who do not withstand such temptation, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way; that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion, and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course judge of that tendency will make his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own; that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government, for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order; and finally, that truth is great and will prevail if left to herself, that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict, unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate, errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them:

[Sec. 2] Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.

[Sec. 3] And though we well know that this assembly elected by the people for the ordinary purposes of legislation only, have no power to restrain the acts of succeeding assemblies, constituted with powers equal to our own, and that therefore to declare this act to be irrevocable would be of no effect in law; yet we are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present, or to narrow its operation, such act shall be an infringement of natural right.

I had 73 kids come for trick or treat in Huntington West Virginia. I was very pleasantly surprised. I sat out on the front porch and handed out the candy bars to the kids. I usually give extra for the neighborhood children who had creative costumes. I had a can of Pepsi with me on the front porch. One little kid about 4 years old wanted my Pepsi, rather than candy. I went into the house and got him a can of soda. He was one happy camper. His mom was a wee bit embarrassed at his asking, but that's OK. I gave out about 2 lbs. of candy and a can of soda pop and had a good time doing it. So did the kids. Trick or Treat went well for the children of Huntington West Virginia.