WILLIAMSON -- "We have declared war on drug dealers and no case will be too small for our attention," Mingo County Prosecuting Attorney C. Michael Sparks said in the wake of the Grand Jury's return of a record-setting 69 felony drug indictments. Fifty-nine of the felony drug indictments returned to Chief Circuit Judge Michael Thornsbury Thursday were sealed and suspects have yet to be taken into custody for arraignment on felony drug charges. Besides those true bills, 10 other felony drug indictments are among 22 unsealed indictments contained in the grand jury's report. [continues 1109 words]
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- West Virginia's largest teachers union has filed a lawsuit challenging random employee drug testing of Kanawha County school employees. The West Virginia Education Association and the American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit Friday in Kanawha Circuit Court. A similar lawsuit was filed late last month by another union, the American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia. The WVEA argues that the school board's policy violates employees' rights and is a waste of taxpayer dollars that will not improve student safety. School board member Pete Thaw, the most vocal advocate of random drug testing, said he had expected the WVEA to intervene. [end]
PIKEVILLE, Ky.- Williamson Fire Department Chief Jerry Mounts has obtained a new attorney. Charles Stanford (Butch) West, the Williamson attorney that had represented Mounts since the charges of tampering with physical evidence first surfaced, has filed a motion in Pike County Circuit Court to withdrawal as his counsel. The order, signed Aug. 3, 2006, by Circuit Judge Steve Combs, was filed by West July 31. The grounds for withdrawal, states that Mounts has retained other counsel for this case, and lists Attorney W. Thomas Ward, of Ward and Associates, also of Williamson, as his choice for new representation. [continues 503 words]
