Huntington West Virginia Blog

I have opened up a new Huntington West Virginia chat room for the community. The software is advanced and full featured. I like to think of it as Huntington's Best Chat Room.

Give it a try: http://sheck.com/chat/

Open forum will be the rule when hosted chat is not being held.

Monday 7-9 PM Familiarization and how to use the chat software. It is fairly basic but it takes a few minutes to learn how to use it correctly. General Hosted Chat along a concensus model.

Tuesday 7-9 PM Local Cabell County and Huntington Issues.

Wednesday 7-9 PM State and federal issues. Debate on the Iraq War and the direction the administration is leading the country.

Thursday 7-9 PM Democrats V. Republican's debate on social issues and the social agenda. Knock Down... drag out rowdy politics. No place for lightweights.

Friday 7-9 PM: Open Chat: Constructive intelligent dialogue is encouraged in a moderated atmosphere.

Weekends: Recovery time.

The chat room will be open 24/7 for those of you who wish to use it to chat with remote family members during the holidy season. There are several private rooms you can use to talk to remote fmily and this is especilly good if you have family overseas in the military.

The chatroom is at the link below.

Warm Regards
Happy Holidays
Stephanie Heck

I have used my polling software to create a poll for my readers. The topic of this poll is the Iraq War. There are a variety of choices offered in the iraq war poll. I am trying to learn more about my readers.

Here is the poll link Iraq War Poll poll participation is optional.

The Execution of inmate Stanley Tookie Williams took place this morning, and the execution was carried out and the inmate was declared dead at 12:35 AM this morning by the California Department of Corrections.

Stanley Tookie Williams was sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection by the state of California after being convicted of four murders over 24 years ago.

" Tookie " was one of the original founders of murderous Crips street gang. Numerous celebrities have asked Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for clemency, but clemency was denied and the execution proceeded as scheduled. The State of California's execution teem took no less than twelve minutes to find a vein to insert the needle and made numerous attempts for twelve minutes according to eyewitnesses.

On one hand I have compassion for the relatives of an executed inmate. I also have compassion for the victims of the condemned inmate. It is alleged that Tookie did much good during his time behind bars and this was evidence of reform and redemption that merited the commutation of the death sentance.

I believe that reform is possible, however the execution penalty remains the same in California.

I am really glad that we do not have the death penalty and there are no execution teams in West Virginia prisons. I am not soft on crime, but mature enough to understand that vengance by state sanctioned infliction of death does not equate to justice.

POLL: DID TOOKIE DESERVE EXECUTION?

Huntington Business News :

A well known face in Huntington West Virginia, Russell Alexander, has opened a Meeting and Event Planning busines after retiring from the legal profession. The Name of his business is ALX Meeting and Event Planning. He has planned many bar association events and conventions in the past and has decided to take up the Meeting and Event Planning profession as a second career. I wish him well in the meeting and event planning business. He will be a professional seminar and conference planner and provide onsite management for conventions and tradeshows.

His website is located at http://alxmeetingandeventplanning.com

His website can also be reached at http://conferenceplanner.us

I wish to congratualte Russell Alexander for contributing to the diversity of the growing Huntington WV business community.

Stephanie Heck

The large warehouse located at 733 Rear Seventh Avenue in Huntington WV burned this evening in a huge fire of currently unknown cause. The Huntington Fire Department did a valiant job in keeping the fire from spreading to adjacent structures. The warehouse at one time housed the Polo Club in its basement, a local bar serving the local gay community. The Polo Club relocated elsewhere last year to the best of my understanding.

I was driving on 9th Avenue about a mile from the location of the fire when?I saw the huge smoke plume coming from downtown Huntington. I went closer to see what was on fire and wanted to take some pics for the local news section of this blog.

The warehouse bordered the railroad tracks on the south side of the building and was directly to the rear of Macintosh's lounge (a straight bar) on the corner of Seventh Avenue and Eighth Street in Huntington West Virginia. The building that houses Macintosh's Lounge did not appear to have any damage and the bar and its dedicated thirsty patrons did not evacuate in spite of the blazing inferno next door. I briefly walked over to Macintosh's bar and stepped inside the door just to see if the place was still open during the blaze. I was amazed that the fire department did not order an evacuation due to the fact that the rear of Macintosh's is only twenty feet from the burning warehouse. The power was off in the nightclub and there were candles lit on the bar. I quietly stepped back outside and took a few more pictures of the fire.

The vivid picture below will show the extensive damage that rendered the building to be an apparent total loss and it also shows the Huntington Fire Department in action. God Bless those guys.

I recently went out for a few drinks with friends at Macintosh's. Macintosh's is one of the better nightclubs in Downtown Huntington West Virginia. Most of the regulars know each other, and it is Huntington's version of Cheers. It is a safe place for women to go without fear of abuse or obnoxious drunks. The place is well managed and controlled and prices are reasonable. Macintosh's is a small nightclub located next door to the viaduct on Eighth street and Seventh Avenue in downtown Huntington West Virginia. Many female professional people from the Huntington Community go to Macintosh's as it is one of the safe places for local professional women to relax. Visitors to Huntington are advised that most of the Bars and nightclubs on fourth avenue in Huntington WV are primarily inhabited by college kids from Marshall University.

No Need to Click Here - I'm just claiming my feed at Feedster feedster:c88699f5d26e3c3ea067372d458e2bac

No Need to Click Here - I'm just claiming my feed at Feedster

Emergency assistance is needed for the Mason County Animal Shelter in Point Pleasant West Virginia. A fire has destroyed the shelter today and numerous animals are in need of foster care or adoption. Make Donations to the Mason County Animal Welfare League at:

MCAWL

PO Box 285

Point Pleasant, WV 25550

I recently drove through Ashland Kentucky, a small city about 18 miles from Huntington West Virginia, just across the state line. Population about 25,000. I was amazed and flabbergasted at the differences between Ashland Kentucky and Huntington West Virginia. There was not a single crack dealer or crack addicted prostitute on any corner or alley in sight. I did not see any dilapidated crack houses, and the downtown streets were clean and free of thugs, panhandlers, and homeless wino's. It definitely was not Huntington. I really wish it was. I commend the Ashland Police Department for their efforts.

Ashland is doing an excellent job of keeping the dope problem under control, in stark contrast to Huntington. I strongly suggest that Mayor David Felinton of Huntington get in the car and drive through Ashland and look at the differences for himself just to see what Huntington could be if we had efficient law enforcement.

It has been six months since the prom night murders in Huntington and still no arrests. We need new leadership in the Huntington Police Department. The police chief in Ashland has an excellent track record of getting the job done right. I have never met the gentleman, but it seems clear to me that the Ashland Police Chief would be an excellent candidate to replace "Bummy" and bring a measure of efficiency to Huntington's municipal law enforcement efforts against the dope trade.

Today is the thirty fifth anniversary of the Marshall University Plane Crash. On November 14, 1970 an airliner carrying the Marshall University Football Team crashed into a hillside near the Tri State Airport in Huntington WV.

I was a ten year old child at the time. I was at the roll-o-rama skating rink in Huntington WV when we got the news of the Marshall University football team plane crash. Several of the children at the skating rink started screaming because they had parents, relatives, and family friends on the airplane. An off duty Huntington policeman who came to pick up one of the children at the skating rink tried to comfort some of the kids who were very upset. When the news of the crash came over the radio from WSAZ, we did not know if there were any survivors from the plane crash or not. The skating event started about 7 PM and the news came over the radio of a plane crash at Tri State Airport came over the radio just a little after 8PM. It was announced that it was unknown if tthere were any survivors at that time. It was also announced over WSAZ radio that the plane in question was carrying the football team. Thats when several children started screaming and crying. The lady that ran the concession stand at the skating rink got some change from the concession stand cash register and helped some of the smaller kids call home on the payphone. Phone calls were only a dime on a payphone at that time. My mother was out of town and my father was at work that evening. My babysitter called my uncle to come and fetch my younger brother and myself.

No person who was actually in the City of Huntington on the evening of that Marshall University plane crash will ever forget that evening. As I look back over the thirty five years that have passed, the evening that the Marshall University Plane Crash happened was just like yesterday in my mind. The whole town of Huntington was severely traumatized. I remember that several weeks after the Marshall University Plane Crash, some of the local churches held prayer vigils for the departed near the crash site. The earth at the crash site was scorched and blackened due to the intense heat from the fire.

Stephanie Heck

Huntington WV

The following is intended as free computer technology advice for our many readers in the Huntington West Virginia area about how to keep your computer free of spyware and protect your online privacy. When you download a program from the internet, you will be confronted with an End User License Agreement commonly known in the internet industry as a EULA. It will ask you if you agree or disagree with the terms of usage of the EULA as a condition of allowing the install to go forward. As a programmer who has been victimized by software piracy in the past, I think Eula's are a pretty good tool to establish who owns what. However all tools can be abused. EULA's are merely tools that were originally intended to establish the conditions of usage and to determine who owns what rights as it relates to the software. Most internet users do not read the EULA because many of them are written in legalese that your average computer user does not understand. In today's digital online environment, tools are frequently abused by unscrupulous programmers and software companies against the consumer by adding spyware to the program to monitor the consumers actions. Most ethical people see this as patently unethical and it is unlawful in some jurisdictions. For the record I wish to state emphatically that I have never included spy ware in anything I have written for others. Whenever you download and install a new program, read the EULA ( End User License Agreement ) carefully. Some programs include a notice that the software reports the user use of the software to the software company or author. If you use a software program with such a notice, it report on your online activities and you have consented to have your machine monitored. Many of the so called "file sharing" programs that are on the market for kids to share music with each other have spyware built into them. Most of them do. When a teenager installs these programs on mom and dads computer it often times reports on the user actions of all users of the machine. Some of these spyware applications ride "piggyback" on the installed programs download from the net. You do not always know when spyware is there. If something is downloaded from a gambling or adult website it is a high probability that spyware is included, as many of these websites are operated by people with the ethics of snakes. There is a type of cookie that is called a tracking cookie intended to monitor your internet habits that can be loaded on your computer by simply visiting the wrong website. In short there is a plentiful supply of spyware on the internet. Many different types of spyware will report to its programmer the default e mail address on the e mail program on the users machine. The harvested data / information that is gathered by spyware is often sold to spammers and this is where much spam comes from. If you download a spyware laden program, there is a good possibility that you will be up to your rump in spam two weeks later if not sooner. There is a free program called Spybot Search and Destroy that removes all kinds of spyware and some well known Trojans, password stealer's, pop up downloads, porn dialer's, and browser hijackers from your machine. It removes some pretty nasty stuff if it finds it on your machine. This program is frequently updated to keep up with the evolution of malefic software. I highly recommend this free program to all of my customers. More info can be found here at the this link.

Spybot   A download link is on that page.

Disclaimer: I am NOT the author of the free program and I am not compensated by any entity to promote that free program. I advocate this program for free. The program and its included updates are free. I would be interested to how many of you use this program to clean the malefic garbage out of your machine. It works... and the price is right.

Stephanie Heck / Huntington West Virginia

I recently changed my cell phone provider from Sprint PCS, to Cingular Wireless, after being with Sprint for several years. I did this in September 2005 because Sprint PCS service is not that good in the Huntington West Virginia area.

Sprint also outsources its customer service overseas and it is horribly hard for me to understand the English language skills of Sprint's Customer Service people with a thick oriental accent who dos not seem to understand what I am trying to say because their English Skills are not that good.

I speak typical English for my area of West Virginia, and Sprint as a cell phone provider needs to hire people who understand the language spoken by the West Virginia customers who have absolutely no idea how to speak Chinese or pigeon English. When I cancelled my account with Sprint, that is when the nightmare began because after I paid what they told me was my final billing, they kept billing me.

I could not make the foreign woman with Sprint Customer Service understand why I was displeased because her English was so bad. I just paid a seventy dollar billing today to a company that has not provided me service since September. I paid the bill because I was afraid it would affect my credit rating if I did not. I am trying to get my credit in good shape to buy a car. So Now I have paid the second allegedly final billing to a company (Sprint ) that I am rapidly growing to profoundly detest. Exporting jobs and outsourcing is not my idea of loyalty to ones country.

So I ponderously dumped Sprint PCS as a cell phone provider service and trashed the crummy Sprint phone and got myself signed up with Cingular Wireless as a cell phone provider in September 2005. The cell phone I purchased was made by Motorola and called a V3 Razr and it works great and I have yet to have a single dropped call in the Huntington West Virginia area. The Customer service people at Cingular Wireless speak fluent English like American Citizens because they are American citizens and this makes communication much less frustrating, after all is said and done that is what cellular technology is all about...communication.

So my nightmare with Sprint as a Cellular Phone Provider is over I hope, my cellular service has never been better since I dumped Sprint. Anyone who signs up with Sprint is well advised to take a college course in foriegn relations and foreign languages before talking to Sprint Customer Service.

Stephanie Heck

Huntington West Virginia

I hear that a large Halloween block party, attended by numerous Marshall University Students in Huntington was broken up by the Huntington Police Department. There were allegations of misconduct and excessive force by Huntington?police. I encourage Mayor David Felinton to have this matter investigated by the West Virginia State Police from an outside perspective rather than have an internal investigation by the HPD. I feel that this will preserve the integrity of the investigation by having it done by a responsible police agency ( WVSP ) that is beyond the control of local politics.

Stephanie Heck

Opinion by Stephanie Heck:

My mother is a member of the local Buford Chapter of the D.A.R. ( Daughters Of The American Revolution ) here in Huntington West Virginia. Some of the West Virginia women I have encountered from that group give new definition to the word "pompous". The Members of the WV D.A.R. claim to be the descendants of those who fought the American Revolution against the hereditary monarchy of England.

The buford chapter of the D.A.R. here in WV is an ancestral pride organization, I do not know what D.A.R. is like in the rest of the country. I have never understood just what drives the need that some people have to elevate themselves above others based on genetic linage. After all is said and done, that is exactly what ancestral pride is based on, is it not.?....genetics.

History teaches us that it was was none other than Elanor Roosevelt who resigned from the D.A.R. in 1939 because of the overt bigotry that she witnessed the organization practice against the Afro Americans. The Roosevelt family had a clear historical record of being "somewhat opposed" to those who claimed genetic or ancestral privilege in this country and elsewhere in the world.

Our only biological connection to our ancestors is our DNA. The revolutionary soldiers, and founding fathers, who rebelled against the kings government in 1776 were opposed to any government that was based upon the inheritance of privilege and authority via a bloodline (Kings). The founding fathers rebelled against the British nobility and their hereditary rights, because they wanted to live in world where people rose and fell because of their own deeds rather than their ancestry. They believe that all men were created equal at birth and that concept did not allow for expanded rights by hereditary birthright. The Members of the local D.A.R. here in West Virginia seem to think they have some special pompous claim to patriotic purity because of the deeds of their alleged ancestors based upon the flawed logic that patriotism is hereditary. Ancestral Genetics does not equate to a hereditary monopoly on patriotism.

In the state of West Virginia we have laws that prohibit discrimination on the grounds of ancestry and gender. Yet D.A.R. is a mono-gendered group that restricts membership on the grounds of ancestry. Many people whom are eligible for membership will not join them for precisely this reason. There are many good people who share he beliefs of the founding fathers and want nothing to do with any group that confers membership based on a bloodline or ancestry because they respect the "rule of law". Pedigrees are far more appropriate to farm animals, and canines, than human beings. The founders of this country intended people to be judged on their own actions as opposed to the actions of their ancestors.

I have witnessed this myself by watching my mothers associations with these people. I had ancestor who fought in the revolution as well as my mother, presuming we share linage, but the difference between myself and the absurdly snobby women in the Burford Chapter of the D.A.R. in West Virginia is that I do not feel that it makes me any better than anyone else. Ancestral snobbery is the blatantly illegitimate offspring of common decency.

It is because I do respect the founders of this country and the fight they waged for freedom that I do not desire to condone genealogical or genetic pride of the WV D.A.R. as a ruse for pompous ancestral snobbery. I hope my mother sees the light and gets out of that genetic cult. I am somewhat disturbed that a member of my family is involved in that pompous D.A.R. group.

I am a decendant of Captian John Savage of the well known Savage land grant that now makes up most of Cabell County. The Savage Land Grant is the original land deed to the property that Huntington now sits upon. However that does not make me any better than anyone else, because genetics and linage is not relevent to quality of personage. I refuse to be a blue blooded snob and I strongly advise the Buford Chapter of the D.A.R. to follow my good example.

Stephanie Heck

Huntington West Virginia

What would happen if the West Virginia Legislature granted those persons addicted to narcotics, the expedited right to?litigate agaist?the drug dealers who exploited thier addiction?

Drug dealers would quickly find themselve in well deserved litigation hell completely?surrounded by a ponderous horde of greedy lawyers.

If the State of West Virginia wants to fight against the flood of dope in our streets. We should unleash the power of the civil courts as well as the criminal courts on drug dealers. If this were done, the civil process server would be just as much feared by drug dealers as the DEA is currently feared.

In the State of West Virginia, it is all too easy to litigate against your boss, and all too difficult to sue the drug dealers who entice our youth into chemical bondage. The legislature needs to change that.

Stephanie?Heck

I first started this internet blog about one year ago with the intention of providing an alternative news resource for the Huntington west Virginia area. it has generated much more traffic than I ever anticipated. This has been quite rewarding to me on a personal level. At the local level, I am famous or infamous depending on just who you're talking to.

The Huntington WV news paper is quite profoundly controversial in our community and therefore a variety of alternative sources insures that the news will be reported from a wide diversity of perspectives. The advent of internet technology has strongly affected the manner which Americans get their news. There are a great diversity of credible websites publishing news in a responsible manner that collectively constitute a new form of media

Some people in Huntington West Virginia question the legitimacy of internet news in contrast to the traditional media. This is an overt replication of a 500 year old historical argument that happened when Mr. Gutenberg's neighbors questioned the legitimacy of dubious books that were printed on the printing press , as opposed to those highly credible books that were copied by hand by the scribes as had been customary for centuries. The definition of media has changed in the last fifteen years due to the evolution of information technology, In much the same way that Mr. Gutenburg and his printing press changed the definition of media 500 years ago with the invention of the printing press.

http://sheck/com/serendipity Huntington WV news blog

As I see more and more new business enter the city of Huntington WV, I wonder how long the city of Huntington will see glimmers of economic recovery.

I sincerely feel that this is long overdue after three decades of Urban Renewal that resulted in the Huntington WV Mall being placed in Barboursville WV.  The city of Huntington is long overdue for a break. I feel the cities residents are more ready for progress than their leaders.

It seems that personal blogs are becoming very popular online, over 10 million personal blogs exist globally. I started out with a personal blogs site last year and expanded it to a multiple category blog that goes beyond a personal blog to the point it becomes a popular local news and commentary site. I still keep one section of the blog as a personal blog.  A place for a few profound and whimsical thoughts that are near and dear to me. I talk about personal events and professional events. There are many types of personal blogs on many topics. Some personal blogs are on hobby topics, and some personal blogs are on technical matters. You can find personal blogs on almost any topic from A to Z.

There are many online providers that provide free personal blogs for their users, however these free personal blogs have limited capacities, and frequently have a lot of ads posted by the blogging provider. Full fledged blogging is best accomplished by using a full featured blogging program installed on a web server under an domain name owned by the blogger. Most of these sites are owned by companies or personal blogs that seek to do a first class job. I recommend a free personal blogs software called Serendipity. The link to this personal blogs site is below.

http://s9y.info/ Serendipity Personal Blogs Software

There are also professional blogs written by members of various professions, where the blogger will give advice from their particular profession or area of expertise. Not all blogs are personal in nature, some blogs will be of a professional nature. The majority of professional blogs are reputable, however I suggest you get your medical and legal advice from licensed professionals in your own home state. Medical and legal blogs are a good source of generic educational information, but let your local doctor or lawyer make the final call.

Personal Blogs rely on a technology called RSS ( Really Simple Syndication ) that developed in the late 1990's. Personal Blog owners allow their content to be syndicated to multiple sources that make for massive capacity to get the word out about a particular news event. Yahoo, Google and MSN all collect postings from blogs as an alternative news source. Personal Blogs are indexed by the search engines much more frequently than standard web sites because the RSS technology makes indexing much more easier to do. Personal Blogs and Professional Blogs are sometimes referred to as RSS FEEDS as opposed to your traditional news feed via wire service.

As the traditional national media is trusted less and less by your average American , who no longer believes what they hear on TV and radio, Personal Blogs have arisen from relative nerdy obscurity to constitute a form of home grown journalism by average people who are a bit more articulate than most. This gives the news consumer a choice if they want to get news of a particular event from a national news source, or get the news from?the personal blogs?guy who lives just up the street from where the event happened.

10 million bloggers globally constitutes the biggest news network in the history of the world. There are specialized search engine to index blog postings and these are important in the syndication of blog news.

The bloggers call their collective writings the "BLOGOSPHERE". The blogosphere is a network of networked syndicated blogs

Nowhere have personal blogs (RSS FEEDS) had more impact than in the field of politics. Millions of dollars were raised by bloggers of all different political persuasions in the 2004 election by large numbers of grassroots personal blog owners and personal blog readers. As the 2006 election approaches, it promises to be an interesting year for personal blog owners who are homegrown activists. Somewhere between 30 and 60 million dollars was raised by bloggers and their readers in the 2004 election. Personal Blogs have made an impact on American politics but nobody is sure at this point what that impact is. The blog phenomenon is still developing and the technology of syndication of blogs is still developing. There is a new type of blog technology called ATOM and OPML that has great potential.

Some large corporations are using a premium version of personal blog software to distribute information throughout the company rapidly to all employees. There are some advantages to using blogs to circulate company newsletters and corporate memo's and therefore increase the efficiency of business communications exponentially. Even religious institutions are getting into blogs as a means of decreasing printing costs and decreasing paper usage and thus being environmentally sensitive.

Stephanie Heck

stephanie@sheck.com

Huntington Cabell County West Virginia

Hurricane Rita in Texas

As we witness Hurricane Rita heading for anticipated landfall at Galveston Texas. Let us be very mindful of those who refused to leave New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Rita promises to be a huge hurricane storm of category 4 or category 5 intensity. Hurricane winds of category 4 or 5 strength are quite lethal and produce huge property damage and loss of life. It is my sincere hope that the residents of Galveston Texas have the common sense to evacuate according to mandatory evacuation orders. I understand the authorities have issued evacuation orders. The seawall in Galveston will protect against storm surge of 15 to 17 feet. However the potential hurricane storm surge from a category 5 is anywhere from 20 to 50 feet creating massive coastal flooding along the coast of Texas.

Anyone left on Galveston Island in Texas is a good candidate for a body bag if they fail to evacuate. In light of the fact that it is a certainty that the seawall WILL NOT protect Galveston or Galveston Island. I strongly urge President Bush to order mandatory evacuation by executive order. It is a crime to disobey a direct order from the President in time of war or emergency. This would make evacuation orders mandatory and non optional. Persons refusing to leave could be lawfully forced to evacuate. Short Term Martial law declared by the Governor of Texas may well be a viable option to prevent looting in the aftermath of the storm.

The problem with Hurricane Katrina was that we as Americans were caught off guard and FEMA failed in many critical areas. There is no excuse for foulups this time around. This time we are forewarned and know exactly what we are facing in advance and how to plan to minimize Human catastrophe's due to recent malefic experience with Hurricane Katrina. It is my strong desire that all be safe from the eminent danger posed by Hurricane Rita. Many in the Galveston Island area of Texas are moving away from areas threatened by Hurricane Rita toward Huntsville Texas along the hurricane evacuation route. Well over a million people are in various states of evacuation

There is a potential for storm surge flooding in Houston Texas in low lying areas. I have friends in the area and I am concerned for them in light of the danger posed by Hurricane Rita.