bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com The footprint of the old Wood County Jail in downtown Parkersburg where the Wood County Commission is looking to build a new county building to house its maintenance department, for record storage and to have a large meeting space. (Photo by Brett Dunlap) The existing building that houses the Wood County Maintenance Department and used to house the Wood County Sheriff’s Department. County officials are looking to build a new facility next door on the footprint of the old Wood County Jail. Once the new building is completed, the old building would be torn down and turned into parking spaces. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)
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PARKERSBURG Officials with the Lubeck Public Service District are worried about the laying of broadband fiber cable over its water and sewer lines.
Lubeck PSD Manager Rocky McConnell and Board Member David Lawson appeared before the Wood County Commission on Thursday to express those concerns and to look for help in addressing it with state officials.
The PSD representatives showed the commission plans from the Zayo Group to lay lines of fiber cable through the Lubeck area along W.Va. 892 and across the Blennerhassett Bridge into Ohio. The project ties into other line work being done throughout the area.
bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com Todd Boggess, of E.T. Boggess Architects of Princeton, discusses ideas Thursday with the Wood County Commission for a new 911 Center that would be built on the grounds of the old county jail in downtown Parkersburg. The commission met with three firms Thursday to discuss ideas. (Photo by Brett Dunlap) Architect Greg Martin, of Williamson Shriver Architects of Charleston, interviewed with the Wood County Commission on Thursday. The commission is interviewing different firms this week and next Monday to design and build the new Wood County 911 Center in downtown Parkersburg. The building would also house the county maintenance department and more. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)
bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com
PARKERSBURG The Wood County Commission approved over $200,000 to be made out to local attractions/nonprofits who were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
During its Thursday meeting, the commission unanimously approved $235,383.38 for 17 local entities to help with expenses and other things incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since many of these venues had to close down due to health regulations, they did not see the income they usually do in a given year and because of a lack of tourism dollars overall, their portion of the county’s hotel/motel tax was also reduced.
“For some of these agencies, (the hotel/motel tax) is their lifeline,” Commission President Blair Couch said. “That is basically the funds they use to operate.
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The family grave plot of a Revolutionary War veteran. Unfortunately it is an example of what nature, and modern times, have allowed many rural cemeteries to become. Though this cemetery has been “cleared” several times, it is the lack of help with routine maintenance that allows Mother Nature to quickly reclaim what should be sacred grounds. The photo will be identified next week. (Photo Provided)
May is Remember a Rural Cemetery Month.
In 2013, in an effort to help the Wood County Rural Cemetery Alliance and the Wood County Historical and Preservation Society preserve and restore rural cemeteries, the Wood County Commission resolved that the month of May would be “Rural Cemetery Remembrance Month.” We will again use items in Look Back to draw attention to the scores of “forgotten” cemeteries that dot the countryside throughout Wood County, most of which are unkempt. Unfortunately, those interred in these neglected cemeteries, have, for the mo