November 12, 2025 • 38 mins
Lt. Gen. Bob Caslen, (Ret), member of the Board of Trsutees at Salem University, former Commandant of the West Point Military Academy, Marshal of the Clarksburg Veteran's Day Parade on his service and importance of this day.
State Senator Joey Garcia, D, Marion, 13, on the future of thre four state-run health care facilities that were recently sold.
State Senator Joey Garcia, D, Marion, 13, on the future of thre four state-run health care facilities that were recently sold.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is the Talk of the Town from Morgantown to Klerksburg.
If it's happening, we're talking about it. Call the show
toll free at one eight hundred seven sixty five eight
two fivey five. Now Here is your host for the
Talk of the Town, Mike notlting.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Good Tuesday morning. It is November the eleventh, Happy Veterans Day,
and welcome to Talk of the Town. This is your
program where we talk about things important to you and
your family. Now today producing the program, we have Ethan Collins.
You'll be able to get Ethan at eight hundred seven
six five eight two five five. Also have the text
(00:48):
line that's your direct portal to interaction with the host,
that number three oh four Talk three oh four. And
throughout the course of the morning, maybe you've got a
veteran who's a member of your family. We'd like to
hear about that, and we'd like to hear about their service,
and we would like to commemorate their efforts to keep
(01:08):
our country safe. Well, there will be parades and other
ceremonies across the state today. At eleven am. There'll be
a parade in Clarksburg at eleven am. A parade in
the city of Charleston as well. Morgantown Parade that will
be tonight High Street at six pm. Now at this
(01:29):
hour inside the Diversified Energy Terrace at Mylon Pushcar Stadium,
there is a Veterans Date breakfast going on. And Monday
marked the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the United
States Marine Corps down at the Culture Center at the
State Capitol. There was a cake cutting and ceremony there.
We've got the full story with some pictures at wvmetronews
(01:53):
dot com. Our Governor Morrissey, he'll be celebrating Veterans Day today.
He'll do it the small at Historic in the historic
Downtown Beckley Veterans Day Parade that'll be at eleven o'clock
as well. Then this afternoon he'll be motoring over to
the VFW Post ten sixty four and Huntington to honor
(02:15):
Medal of Honor recipient Woody williams Now. That is set
to happen at two o'clock this afternoon. This morning on
the program, we have the honor to welcome Lieutenant General
Bob Castlan to the program. He's at a forty three
year military career and among some of the stops. During
(02:37):
that forty three years, he was the commander of the
twenty fifth Infantry Division, did two tours in Iraq, served
in I'm sorry, two tours in Afghanistan, also served in Iraq,
and wound up his service as a Commandant of the
West Point of the Military Academy. At West Point, we'll
(03:02):
speak with Lieutenant General Bob mccaslan coming up at a
nine to fifteen. At nine point thirty, spend a few
minutes with State Senator Joey Garcia. We're going to dig
back into the sale of state run medical care facilities
to Mar's Development and find out maybe after that lawsuit
(03:23):
that has been defeated. Now that sale has been final
of the four health care facilities, we'll talk with Senator
Joey Garcia and find out maybe what some of his
concerns are moving forward. Let's take a look at a
couple of headlines, and then we'll welcome Lieutenant General Castlan
to the program of deputies from the Mont County Sheriff's
(03:44):
Department investigating a fatal Monday morning crash on I seventy
nine northbound that was at mile marker one P fifty
five in the Star City area. The accident was reported
just after six a m. Was between a tractor trailer
and passenger car. One passenger was killed. Four others were
hurt being treated at Ruby Memorial Hospital for unspecified injuries.
(04:08):
All The final beam setting ceremony was held at the
WVUI Institute Monday. The new facility will greatly expand their
ability to teach and treat at one hundred and fifty
thousand square foot two hundred and thirty million dollar facility
is set to be complete in twenty twenty seven. Of
The search continues for a minor trapped in the flooded
(04:30):
Rolling thunder mine in Nicholas County. Three dive teams have
been working on six hour shifts and Governor Morrissey says
several million gallons of water have been pumped out of
the search area out the miner has been trapped since
Saturday afternoon. Seventeen others were able to escape when that
wall gave way, leading to the flooding conditions. On the
(04:54):
Board of Education in Barbara County has voted unanimously to
close the middle schools there. They're going to send the
students to Philip Barber High School. That vote includes the
closure of junior elementary school as well, and of course
food insecurity has been at the top line of the
(05:16):
subject list for this program here in recent days and
on Monday, mon County Delegate David McCormick from District eighty
two came to the program and announced plans to provide
one hundred turkeys to those who have missed SNAP disbursements
in the month of November, or maybe you're a federal
(05:36):
worker that has not been paid for the last forty
plus days during the longest federal government shutdown in the
history of the country. Now I'll give you some details
about this, but we have them all at WAJR dot
com if you'd like. Now the giveaway is being done
through Scott's Run Settlement House, seven to fifty fair Chants Road,
(06:00):
and what you'll do is you'll take your proof of
SNAP eligibility and not getting those payments. You'll bring that
over to the Scots Run Settlement House. If you're a
federal worker, of course you'll bring that proof and the
fact that you haven't been paid for the last forty
days or so. Then they're going to give you an
orange card and you'll go right down the road to
(06:22):
the price cutter and go to the service desk and
present that orange card and they will provide you with
the turkey. But time is of the essence. You really
need to get this done by tomorrow, by the close
of business tomorrow. And we'll cover those details again later
in the program. I'm going to take a break. Cloud's
(06:43):
twenty seven degrees. Happy Veterans Day. By the way, we'll
be back right after this. On top of the town
Am fourteen forty f M one oh four point five WAJR.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Join the conversation at one eight hundred seven to sixty
five eight two finy five. This is the talk of
the town.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Good Tuesday morning. It is nine seventeen. Lieutenant General Robert L. Castlin, Junior,
as a Christian, husband, father, grandfather, warrior leader, and a
veteran of the US Army with forty three years of
decorated service. He began his military career back in nineteen
seventy one, and over that forty three years that was
(07:40):
spent mainly at the tip of the spear. He served
as the commanding General of the twenty fifth Infantry Division
and also the Commanding General of the Multinational Division North.
During Operation Iraqi Freedom now along the way. He served
as chief of staff of both the one hundred first
Airborne Division Assault in the tenth Mountain Division, where he
(08:05):
was the chief of staff during Operation Enduring Freedom. Ladies
and gentlemen, I welcome Lieutenant General Robert Castle in to
the program. Hey, good morning, sir. How are you.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Hey, I'm doing fine, Thanks, Mike. It's an honor to
be with you all.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Well, i'll tell you what. Let's see. Currently, General Castlan
serves on the board of trustees at Salem University, and
he has come to West Virginia to spend Veterans Day
Week and celebrate veterans with us. And we're very honored
to have you here in West Virginia. I'd like to
start off though, by asking you, you know, you graduated
(08:42):
from West Point nineteen seventy five, and when you go back,
that was kind of a tumultuous year in the history
of the country and of course the history of the
US Army. How does a first lieutenant or how does
the second lieutenant navigate that first assignment, that first year
and that era of our military.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Well, you know, the military in the Army was coming
out of Vietnam and there were a lot of issues.
There are racial issues and drug issues and stuff like that.
But what I saw as an infantryman at that particular
time was a great opportunity to put your arms around
these young men and women, to pull them in as
part of your team, to build that team, to build
(09:24):
that strength, to give them a lot of confidence, and
then to be given a mission and go accomplish that
mission and bring back great gratitude. You know, leadership is
all about building teams, and that's what the army was.
We took an army that was kind of broken and
worn down from Vietnam, and we had the opportunity to
rebuild it. We also took some strong policies against drugs
(09:49):
in the military and any racial incidences as well to
take action to fix that. So once we got our
arms around both of those problem sets, we started having
the right men and women in the military, and that
military took off. And a great example of what the
result of that military was was Desniet Shield and Desis
Storm and the defeat of the Iraqi Army and Desniet
(10:13):
Storm in four days.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Lieutenant General Bob Castlin is with us, and now, General
I would like to ask you about your trip over
to the Bridgeport Cemetery with about seventy area Scouts and
their parents to decorate some graves there. Talk to us
about that ceremony please, Okay.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Sir, you were broken up a little bit. This is
the ceremony yesterday where we had a chance to plant
some American flags. Yes, yeah, I was impressed. I mean
I was overwhelmed because the people that were out there
were not ware of all generations, the older folks, the grandparents,
(10:55):
the parents, the young and high school children and then
even smaller children were there. So when you talk about
the importance Veterans Day, you have people that have lived
it and are telling stories to the next generation that
will lock in those values and why service the country
was so important, And no didn't appreciation of what what
(11:18):
a veteran has done for the nation and for their
opportunity to reflect on that and see down down the
road whether or not something of service to your country
is worthwhile for them as well. I thought it was
a fantastic event and I was really really impressed, and
I salute this community for taking that on.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Hey, but general, I wondered if you might take a
minute or two and tell us about September eleventh, two
thousand and one.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Well, I lost you, sir.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Oh, sir, I wondered if you take a minute and
tell us a little bit about your experience with September eleventh,
two thou thousand and one.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Okay, Well, yes, sir, I was in the Pentagon, man,
and you know, it was just another day in the Pentagon.
I was on the Joint staff, and you know, when
the planes went into the and from the New York
City the towers, we were watching on on TV and
I said, well, the next plane is going to be
(12:24):
in some command of control center. Nineteen minutes later it
hit the Pentagon. It was a terrible day. We all evacuated.
I stood there watching the Pentagon burn, and I knew
life that we knew it was going to change. And
they told us to evacuate and to go home, and
I said, You've got to be kidd and there's no
way we're going home. We're going to find a way
to get back in and help out. So we try
(12:46):
to sneak back in and the guards wouldn't let us,
and we kept going around until we finally got around
the guards and we actually got in the building. There
was only about three or four of us, and we
started checking for smoking people that were around smoke and
get help assistant in evacuations. We hadn't turned off all
of the like at the cafeterias where hot oil was
(13:10):
burning and the hot dogs were still being cooked. We
had turned all that stuff off. Then we established the
communications to the White House and the communications to the President.
We've got that put in place, and then we started
putting plants together on how we're going to address the
issues up in New York and Pennsylvania, and then also
right there at the Pentagon. So we didn't we didn't
(13:33):
leave it there until almost ten eleven o'clock at night.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
You know, I was looking at your background and I
looked at that story, and you know, I gotta admit,
you know, you're you're pretty you're pretty modest about that
story because I think you hold a degree in industrial
engineering from Kansas State University, which we're not going to
hold that against you, by the way, and you're also
a member of the Kansas State Engineering College Hall of Fame.
(13:59):
And as I read that story about what you did
at the Pentagon that day, you reversed the HVAC system
to try to clean the building out. Is that true?
Speaker 3 (14:11):
When you're down that much?
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Is that you reversed the HVAC system in that building
to clean it out? Is that true?
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Yes? But I don't want to take all the credit
for that, because I was with a couple of colleagues
and they were from the Navy, and all everybody in
Navy is taught how to fight a fire, so they
were very good and they knew that the vacuum system
was going in the wrong direction. So all of us
together started figuring out what we needed to do to
(14:45):
reverse it so that we can push it out and
have them bring that stuff all the smoke and on
the fire in. That was one of the things that
we did. But I'm not taking credit for that because
these Navy guys really knew what they were doing and
they had the expertise to make it happen.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Lieutenant General Bob Castlin is with us, and now he
will be the parade marshall in Clarksburg coming at eleven
a m. This morning when their parade steps off. And
you've been here this week. You were able to go
to Lewis County. You were the keynote speaker there. There
was a great turnout there's just no denying the fact
(15:24):
that West Virginia is a staunch supporter of the military,
no matter what the branch.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Yes, Sir, I salute you all. You know, every time
I come here and visit, I'm currently impressed. Not only
am I trustee of Salem University, I'm also one of
their students going to night school. And every opportunity I
have to come here to West Virginia and to this community,
I loved it. I mean, I just feel at home.
(15:55):
Everybody so friendly. There's such cohesion among us, everybody in
the community so absolute all of you, and thank you
for your support for the military. And I can speak
on behalf of so many other military members when they
are own communities like your community, they just feel appreciated
and loved very much. So thank you for all that
(16:15):
you do.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Absolutely, Lieutenant General Bob Castlan, Sir. We really do appreciate
your time, and I wish that our connection would have
been better.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
I apologize, Yeah, well I'm sorry, but I think we
work it out, okay. So I appreciate the questions and
your support for all of us.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Absolutely. Lieutenant General Bob Castling, Sir, thank you very much
for your time and have a great day, enjoy the parade.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Okay, thank you too, appreciate it, Yes, sir.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
You take care. Lieutenant General Bob Castlan certainly a modern
day hero, served as a commander of the twenty fifth
Infantry Division, also the chief of staff of both the
one hundred first Airborne Division Air Assault and the tenth
Mountain Division. Just you know, what a hero, what a
(17:10):
living hero to be here in our area and participating
in our events. Coming up here now at this hour
as we have this conversation, there is a Veterans Appreciation
Breakfast that is going on inside Diversified Energy Terrace at
Mylan Pushcar Stadium. Now that is open to the public.
(17:31):
If you're a veteran, feel free to stop on buy
and also during the month of November. You know, there
are a lot of places where veterans can go today
to get a free meal. And you know what, you
can google that and look that stuff up. But there
are a lot of organizations that have stepped up to
offer veterans things that you know, you may not think,
(17:54):
like Huntington Bank they are going to cover certain closing
costs for the veterans in November. Now, they'll do that
up to fifty five hundred dollars if you're seeking a
mortgage and you happen to be a veteran. Now, of
course this is historic news. But also on Monday, the
(18:15):
WVU School of Dentistry held a full day of free
appointments for veterans from across the region. So we certainly
do appreciate their appreciation of the service of veterans. Mount
Near Middle School Assistant Principal Jennifer Potts, she was on
last week to talk about the program that they put
(18:37):
on with guest speakers Wilbur England and Terry Vance. They
were able to pull that program off yesterday just about noon,
so we certainly thank them for that as well. Coming
up next, the sale of four state run hospitals has
been finalized. There was a legal challenge to that sale
(18:59):
that was mounted by one of the residents of the
John Manchin Senior Medical Center in Fairmont. Joey Garcia, Fairmont
attorney also state senator, took that case. The judge ruled
in favor of the governor and against the resident, saying
that that sale could go through, and it did in
(19:20):
fact close I believe last Friday. Now that the sale
is closed, there are a new set of concerns for
both residents their families and a different set of concerns
for the lawmakers that are watching over the state run
health care system. When we come back, we'll spend a
few minutes with State Senator Joey Garcia and we'll hear
(19:42):
about some of those concerns and get an update.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Now back to the talk of the town.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Good Tuesday morning, Idiots nine thirty five, some clouds, twenty
seven degrees Metro Newsaki Weather says can't rule out a
snow shower today, but no accumulation expected at a high
temperature of thirty seven. On the phone, we've got State
Senator Joey Garcia from Marion County. Good morning, Joey. How
are you, sir?
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Hey, Mike doing good to be here.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Okay, good to have you, Joey. The sale of for
state run hospitals to Mark's Development for sixty million dollars
has closed, and now we're looking to the future. And
I think that as a state senator you've got a
completely different set of concerns as you did as maybe
(20:45):
litigating for one of the residents.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Yeah, Mike, that was something that it was a unique
experience to have an issue like that, which was the
John Manchet facility. One of the four facilities, was a
very important facility in Marion County, and it's something that
as a state Senator, as a House of Delegate member,
I think as a community member that I've been very
(21:11):
outspoken about wanting to continue that oversight and transparency under
the state of West Virginia. But I did happen to
have once this sale was announced back in August constituent
but also someone who wanted representation as an individual for
(21:31):
her mother who was in that nursing home and still
continues to be in that nursing home, to try to
fight what she thought was a sale that was beyond
the legal authority of the governor. And so we fought
very hard, and at the end of the day, the
judge in the case did not agree with us. The
(21:52):
sale went through. But now I think we've were seeing
not just we're hopeful about what will happen with the
John Mansion facility. When I say hope, there's nothing else
you can be. We hope that that facility is going
to continue under private care to take care of the
citizens of Marion County. In Marion County but there's other
(22:13):
things too along with holding them accountable that I think
this lawsuit and what's happened is going to spell for
the State of West Virginia and it's other facilities.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
State Senator Joey Garcia is with us, and Joey, I
think could be helpful if you could explain to the
listeners what it means when we transfer ownership, leadership, and
authority from the Department of Health to Mar's Development, a
private organization.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
That's basically, over the course of from August twelfth until
the closure of this private sale on October thirty first,
the State of West Virginia was working towards a transition.
A number of people who were employees, staff member, whether
they be medical professionals or other professionals. Many of them
(23:04):
were retained by this new private company and started work
for them on October thirty first. The patients who are
in again John Mansion, Lake and Facility in Mason County,
the facility Hopemont Up in Preston County, and Jackie witthrow
Down and Beckley are all supposed to stay there. And
(23:27):
so there's been a lot of promises made about three
facilities at least being built in the future that they
will be brand new facilities, but there's been basically no
promises about where they would be built, and there's not
been promises about whether people that aren't like the current
people that are in these facilities, the people that really
(23:49):
can't go anywhere else, whether those types of people with
maybe difficult medical issues will have a place to go
in the state of West Virginia. And now that this
sale is complete, you know a lot of the things
that we've had to hold the state accountable, including things
like Foyer Freedom of Information Act to have that information.
(24:10):
Now it's a private company, So that's a big change
right now, and they're still regulated by the state government
to some degree in the federal government, but we don't
have that control now over where they're going to be,
who they're going to take, and things like that.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Now, So a FOYA request, for example, if we hear
at Metro News would fill out a FOYA request MARS development,
they could just say, Nope, we're not answering it. Even
though they're involved in the healthcare of the public.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
They could Yeah, they could say, what's this, We're not
a government entity. Because Freedom information requests only applied to
government entities. Now if they are providing a document or
communication with state government in some way that's not deemed
to be exempt. You know, there are certain situations where
you might be able to find information from the state
(24:59):
government about out them. And also I will say I
think it's in the interest of majesticare who's running the
facility to be a good communicator, a good neighbor, But
they actually don't have to do that. So again, I
think right now, after we lost this fight to try
to try to tell the governor to no, you can't
(25:22):
do this, and the courts have let him continue with
this sale, even though again we didn't think he had
the authority to do so through statute. Now there's less
that we can do as state legislators, as community members,
but we still need to keep a watch a lot.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
What if any conversations have you had with folks at
Majestic or Marks.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
I have not had any conversations with them yet. I
don't know. They still may not want to talk to
me right now, but I think they will in the future.
I mean, I expect everybody to be adults in the room.
And again, as somebody who represents the community of Marion County,
it's important, and now they're successful with things like Meals
(26:08):
on Wheels, which is a program that the state helped,
you know, for a lot of seniors to make sure
people can stay in their homes, and that that program
has provided thousands of meals and they've made a promise
to continue to do that. I'm going to inquire and
make sure we're talking about how they plan to do
that and similarly with the people that they are taking
(26:30):
care of it, and hopefully the idea of building in
Marion County. I think that was a big part of
why we put the lawsuit in emotion, is because there's
been no guarantee that they would build in Marion County.
Nothing in their contracts suggested that they had to. So
but I you know, I offer my hand in support
for them to be successful at this point, and I
(26:52):
think that's part of my whole philosophy when it comes
to you know, if it's something I believe, and I
will fight for it, whether that'solitically, whether that's legally. But
I think altogether, you know, it's important for us to
work together so that people who are really at the
heart of this issue, which are patients resident of these
(27:13):
facilities and the staff members that work there that they're protecting.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
You know, Joey, you said that it's in Majestic's best interest,
of course, to provide good care, to be a good
community partner. But you know, maybe that starts with good
communications on the front end. So have they maybe communicated
with your client over that course of say August to October,
to let them know what, if anything, will change.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
There were communications, I think closer to the end of
that time period with residents. I think with employees of
John Mansion and other facilities, there were communications over time.
I think one thing that came out of the lawsuit
in some of the testimony that we had was how
(28:02):
much the State of West Virginia botched that and how
they were not good communicators. So so again, and I
think at this point, I think the ball is really
in Majestics court. Again. I know I have not had
much communication with them yet, but now they're the ones
(28:23):
that are the owners and operators of all these four facilities,
and certainly I'm hopeful that they will they will do
good by their residence, by their employees, and by the
communities in which they're working.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
In your estimation, what does this mean for the two
state run psychiatric care facilities.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
That's really interesting because you know, the judge basically provided
in his order that there there was language in the
Code that provided authority very broadly for the selling of
any basically any interest. Is kind of what the language
(29:06):
said in the statute. Once again, you know, that was
something that is our argument was if you read the
code section within the context of the requirements that the
Secretary had to run and operate maintain all the facilities
which were listed in the Code, that he couldn't just
sell them off. He could sell off a parking lot,
piece of land, whatever, but not a whole operation. But
(29:28):
the judge didn't rule for us. Judge ruled that it
was very broad and so broad that places like sharp Andbatement,
which are not long term nursing care facilities, those are
psychiatric facilities that those also are subject to the governor
being able to sell them off without legislative approval. And
I think there are huge issues with that, and that's
(29:51):
something as we go into the next legislative session. You know,
I think they're concerns because right now a lot of
people from the high genes to competency evaluations with the courts,
people who are having mental health issues. They go to
Sharp and they go to Bateman, and then many of
them still have to be diverted to other facilities that
(30:11):
are private, but ultimately they're there are not there's not
enough space at Sharp and Bateman sometimes, So if those
were sold, what do we do and do people start
going out of state? I think that's a that's a
huge question, and I would like to clarify that with legislations.
You're saying that the government does not have that authority,
(30:33):
particularly with the facilities, and make sure that if he
does want to sell them or change operation of them,
he has to work with the legislature to do so.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
And I think that when you take a look at
some of the things that have happened in the past
at the state run psychiatric facilities, that would require a
lot of due diligence on any private company's part because
of some of the lead legal encumberences that already exist.
Speaker 4 (31:04):
I think it would be difficult. And I think that's
why that was a part of the reason why we
fought with this lawsuit, is because there were bills out
there where the legislature provided specific protections. In the past.
The bills just did make it the finish line about
how you would transition the long term nursing care homes.
I mean, we had bills that provided protections for employees
(31:29):
and their pensions because a lot of people who you know,
with respect of this sale, a lot of people may
not have had ten years to be able to invest
in the pension system. And how were they affected. Some
of them were affected very poorly. Same thing with there
was a bill in twenty seventeen with Jackie Withrow that
passed the legislature but was vetoed by the governor Governor
(31:51):
Justice that would have said, if you transition or sell
this facility, then you have to build within five miles.
And again that was an other thing that we could
have done. So similarly with Sharp and Bateman, we can
provide parameters for anything that were that any sale that
could occur, and make sure that it's done not just
(32:13):
to get money for the state of West Virginia, not
just to release the state from certain liabilities, but to
make sure that the job of taking care of people
who are very vulnerable or in a very or in
some cases people that it's important that they're not out
on the streets, that they are provided you know psychiatric
(32:36):
services are going to help them get back to competency
or you know that those are important things as a
public policy for the State of West Virginia, we need
to make sure happen correctly.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
State Senator Joey Garcia is with us a last thing
and we didn't discuss this, and I don't mean to
ambush you, but coming up on Monday, November the seventeenth,
that will be a pe I a public hearing in
the City of Morgantown. I know that to you normally
attend those events and PEIA is something that's very important
(33:07):
to you.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
They're looking at another three percent increase coming up in
the next plan year.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
Yeah, it's it's it's like every year we do this
dog and pony show, because honestly, the PIA Finance Board
does not have that much power. This is something that
the Republican Legislature passed to build a couple of years ago.
I don't think any Democrats voted for it. That provided
(33:37):
for this eighty twenty situation that has tied the hands
of the finance Board, and we've seen masses and increases
every year, and then last year for a whole year
we heard about well, this isn't you know, this is
something we're going to have a special session. That was
the whole talk of the whole summer. We've never seen
a special session. The one time there was a discussion, actually,
(33:58):
I think it was leaked kind of way. Some of
the possible ideas were to quote unquote fixed pei A.
Those issues. None of them had to do with making
it better for the people who have it or making
it more affordable. It was all about how do we
save money for the state. And even I've always said
(34:21):
this last year, the lowest fruit, lowest hanging fruit we
have is sort of like we could help seniors by
basically providing twelve million dollars and not have any increases
for what their past premiums would be for their premium increase.
So you know, it's I you know, if I'm going
(34:44):
to try to get to this one. If not, I'm
going to try to make sure that I am still
seeing kind of what's going on and hearing from the public.
But when we've done our kitchen table tour for the
Westernia House Democrats and they allowed me to join this
last couple of months, this is a huge issue as
well as anything that increases the cost of living for
West Virginians. We have to be on top of that
(35:06):
and fight against it absolutely.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
State Senator Joey Garcia, Joey, go get a drink of water.
Thank you for your time. Thanks Mike, all right, you
take care. We're going to take a quick break Clouds
twenty seven in the University City. Happy Veterans Day. We'll
be back to talk about a couple of veterans in
some activities. Next Talk of the Town AM fourteen forty
FM one oh four point five WAJR.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
We are talking about your town. Now back to the
Talk of the Town.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
A good Tuesday morning and Happy Veterans Day.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
You know.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
The Saint Francis Alumni Association created the Lance Corporal Russell
Cizik Veteran Award back in twenty twenty one to honor
Rusty Sizik. He is a member of the class of
nineteen eighty one who was killed in the October nineteen
eighty three terrorists bombing at the US Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.
(36:10):
That attack killed two under twenty Marines, eighteen sailors, and
three Army soldiers. Now, just this year, Paul Masulo was
awarded the Lance Corporal Russell Saysick Veteran Award, and we
certainly thank Paul for his service, and we certainly thank
all veterans who have stepped up in order to serve
(36:33):
our country today. And of course, you know, don't forget
to get out if you are a veteran and take
advantage of one of the opportunities for a free meal
somewhere throughout the city over the course of today, and
of course the Veterans' Day Breakfast over at Diversified Energy
Terrorists that is wrapping up. But you know, if you
(36:57):
rush in and maybe you're nice, maybe they'll be able
to bury you a bagel or something like that. Right now,
cloud's twenty seven degrees for Veterans Day. Don't forget parade
in downtown Morgantown tonight. That lineup will start just about
five o'clock. The parade will let me back up. Parade
(37:18):
restrictions will begin to take effect just about five thirty.
Then that parade will step off at six. Now at
eleven am this morning, the Governor will be participating in
a parade in historic downtown Beckley. There will also be
a parade in Clarksburg where Lieutenant General Bob Castlan will
be the Grand Marshal there and then also a parade
(37:41):
in the city of Charleston at eleven am today. If
you know a veteran, thank that veteran for their service
and their efforts to keep us safe and make our
country one of the greatest in the world. We'll be
back to wrap things up coming up after this on
(38:01):
Talk of the Town AM fourteen forty FM one oh
four point five W. A. J R.
This is the Talk of the Town from Morgantown to Klerksburg.
If it's happening, we're talking about it. Call the show
toll free at one eight hundred seven sixty five eight
two fivey five. Now Here is your host for the
Talk of the Town, Mike notlting.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Good Tuesday morning. It is November the eleventh, Happy Veterans Day,
and welcome to Talk of the Town. This is your
program where we talk about things important to you and
your family. Now today producing the program, we have Ethan Collins.
You'll be able to get Ethan at eight hundred seven
six five eight two five five. Also have the text
(00:48):
line that's your direct portal to interaction with the host,
that number three oh four Talk three oh four. And
throughout the course of the morning, maybe you've got a
veteran who's a member of your family. We'd like to
hear about that, and we'd like to hear about their service,
and we would like to commemorate their efforts to keep
(01:08):
our country safe. Well, there will be parades and other
ceremonies across the state today. At eleven am. There'll be
a parade in Clarksburg at eleven am. A parade in
the city of Charleston as well. Morgantown Parade that will
be tonight High Street at six pm. Now at this
(01:29):
hour inside the Diversified Energy Terrace at Mylon Pushcar Stadium,
there is a Veterans Date breakfast going on. And Monday
marked the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the United
States Marine Corps down at the Culture Center at the
State Capitol. There was a cake cutting and ceremony there.
We've got the full story with some pictures at wvmetronews
(01:53):
dot com. Our Governor Morrissey, he'll be celebrating Veterans Day today.
He'll do it the small at Historic in the historic
Downtown Beckley Veterans Day Parade that'll be at eleven o'clock
as well. Then this afternoon he'll be motoring over to
the VFW Post ten sixty four and Huntington to honor
(02:15):
Medal of Honor recipient Woody williams Now. That is set
to happen at two o'clock this afternoon. This morning on
the program, we have the honor to welcome Lieutenant General
Bob Castlan to the program. He's at a forty three
year military career and among some of the stops. During
(02:37):
that forty three years, he was the commander of the
twenty fifth Infantry Division, did two tours in Iraq, served
in I'm sorry, two tours in Afghanistan, also served in Iraq,
and wound up his service as a Commandant of the
West Point of the Military Academy. At West Point, we'll
(03:02):
speak with Lieutenant General Bob mccaslan coming up at a
nine to fifteen. At nine point thirty, spend a few
minutes with State Senator Joey Garcia. We're going to dig
back into the sale of state run medical care facilities
to Mar's Development and find out maybe after that lawsuit
(03:23):
that has been defeated. Now that sale has been final
of the four health care facilities, we'll talk with Senator
Joey Garcia and find out maybe what some of his
concerns are moving forward. Let's take a look at a
couple of headlines, and then we'll welcome Lieutenant General Castlan
to the program of deputies from the Mont County Sheriff's
(03:44):
Department investigating a fatal Monday morning crash on I seventy
nine northbound that was at mile marker one P fifty
five in the Star City area. The accident was reported
just after six a m. Was between a tractor trailer
and passenger car. One passenger was killed. Four others were
hurt being treated at Ruby Memorial Hospital for unspecified injuries.
(04:08):
All The final beam setting ceremony was held at the
WVUI Institute Monday. The new facility will greatly expand their
ability to teach and treat at one hundred and fifty
thousand square foot two hundred and thirty million dollar facility
is set to be complete in twenty twenty seven. Of
The search continues for a minor trapped in the flooded
(04:30):
Rolling thunder mine in Nicholas County. Three dive teams have
been working on six hour shifts and Governor Morrissey says
several million gallons of water have been pumped out of
the search area out the miner has been trapped since
Saturday afternoon. Seventeen others were able to escape when that
wall gave way, leading to the flooding conditions. On the
(04:54):
Board of Education in Barbara County has voted unanimously to
close the middle schools there. They're going to send the
students to Philip Barber High School. That vote includes the
closure of junior elementary school as well, and of course
food insecurity has been at the top line of the
(05:16):
subject list for this program here in recent days and
on Monday, mon County Delegate David McCormick from District eighty
two came to the program and announced plans to provide
one hundred turkeys to those who have missed SNAP disbursements
in the month of November, or maybe you're a federal
(05:36):
worker that has not been paid for the last forty
plus days during the longest federal government shutdown in the
history of the country. Now I'll give you some details
about this, but we have them all at WAJR dot
com if you'd like. Now the giveaway is being done
through Scott's Run Settlement House, seven to fifty fair Chants Road,
(06:00):
and what you'll do is you'll take your proof of
SNAP eligibility and not getting those payments. You'll bring that
over to the Scots Run Settlement House. If you're a
federal worker, of course you'll bring that proof and the
fact that you haven't been paid for the last forty
days or so. Then they're going to give you an
orange card and you'll go right down the road to
(06:22):
the price cutter and go to the service desk and
present that orange card and they will provide you with
the turkey. But time is of the essence. You really
need to get this done by tomorrow, by the close
of business tomorrow. And we'll cover those details again later
in the program. I'm going to take a break. Cloud's
(06:43):
twenty seven degrees. Happy Veterans Day. By the way, we'll
be back right after this. On top of the town
Am fourteen forty f M one oh four point five WAJR.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Join the conversation at one eight hundred seven to sixty
five eight two finy five. This is the talk of
the town.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Good Tuesday morning. It is nine seventeen. Lieutenant General Robert L. Castlin, Junior,
as a Christian, husband, father, grandfather, warrior leader, and a
veteran of the US Army with forty three years of
decorated service. He began his military career back in nineteen
seventy one, and over that forty three years that was
(07:40):
spent mainly at the tip of the spear. He served
as the commanding General of the twenty fifth Infantry Division
and also the Commanding General of the Multinational Division North.
During Operation Iraqi Freedom now along the way. He served
as chief of staff of both the one hundred first
Airborne Division Assault in the tenth Mountain Division, where he
(08:05):
was the chief of staff during Operation Enduring Freedom. Ladies
and gentlemen, I welcome Lieutenant General Robert Castle in to
the program. Hey, good morning, sir. How are you.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Hey, I'm doing fine, Thanks, Mike. It's an honor to
be with you all.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Well, i'll tell you what. Let's see. Currently, General Castlan
serves on the board of trustees at Salem University, and
he has come to West Virginia to spend Veterans Day
Week and celebrate veterans with us. And we're very honored
to have you here in West Virginia. I'd like to
start off though, by asking you, you know, you graduated
(08:42):
from West Point nineteen seventy five, and when you go back,
that was kind of a tumultuous year in the history
of the country and of course the history of the
US Army. How does a first lieutenant or how does
the second lieutenant navigate that first assignment, that first year
and that era of our military.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Well, you know, the military in the Army was coming
out of Vietnam and there were a lot of issues.
There are racial issues and drug issues and stuff like that.
But what I saw as an infantryman at that particular
time was a great opportunity to put your arms around
these young men and women, to pull them in as
part of your team, to build that team, to build
(09:24):
that strength, to give them a lot of confidence, and
then to be given a mission and go accomplish that
mission and bring back great gratitude. You know, leadership is
all about building teams, and that's what the army was.
We took an army that was kind of broken and
worn down from Vietnam, and we had the opportunity to
rebuild it. We also took some strong policies against drugs
(09:49):
in the military and any racial incidences as well to
take action to fix that. So once we got our
arms around both of those problem sets, we started having
the right men and women in the military, and that
military took off. And a great example of what the
result of that military was was Desniet Shield and Desis
Storm and the defeat of the Iraqi Army and Desniet
(10:13):
Storm in four days.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Lieutenant General Bob Castlin is with us, and now, General
I would like to ask you about your trip over
to the Bridgeport Cemetery with about seventy area Scouts and
their parents to decorate some graves there. Talk to us
about that ceremony please, Okay.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Sir, you were broken up a little bit. This is
the ceremony yesterday where we had a chance to plant
some American flags. Yes, yeah, I was impressed. I mean
I was overwhelmed because the people that were out there
were not ware of all generations, the older folks, the grandparents,
(10:55):
the parents, the young and high school children and then
even smaller children were there. So when you talk about
the importance Veterans Day, you have people that have lived
it and are telling stories to the next generation that
will lock in those values and why service the country
was so important, And no didn't appreciation of what what
(11:18):
a veteran has done for the nation and for their
opportunity to reflect on that and see down down the
road whether or not something of service to your country
is worthwhile for them as well. I thought it was
a fantastic event and I was really really impressed, and
I salute this community for taking that on.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Hey, but general, I wondered if you might take a
minute or two and tell us about September eleventh, two
thousand and one.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Well, I lost you, sir.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Oh, sir, I wondered if you take a minute and
tell us a little bit about your experience with September eleventh,
two thou thousand and one.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Okay, Well, yes, sir, I was in the Pentagon, man,
and you know, it was just another day in the Pentagon.
I was on the Joint staff, and you know, when
the planes went into the and from the New York
City the towers, we were watching on on TV and
I said, well, the next plane is going to be
(12:24):
in some command of control center. Nineteen minutes later it
hit the Pentagon. It was a terrible day. We all evacuated.
I stood there watching the Pentagon burn, and I knew
life that we knew it was going to change. And
they told us to evacuate and to go home, and
I said, You've got to be kidd and there's no
way we're going home. We're going to find a way
to get back in and help out. So we try
(12:46):
to sneak back in and the guards wouldn't let us,
and we kept going around until we finally got around
the guards and we actually got in the building. There
was only about three or four of us, and we
started checking for smoking people that were around smoke and
get help assistant in evacuations. We hadn't turned off all
of the like at the cafeterias where hot oil was
(13:10):
burning and the hot dogs were still being cooked. We
had turned all that stuff off. Then we established the
communications to the White House and the communications to the President.
We've got that put in place, and then we started
putting plants together on how we're going to address the
issues up in New York and Pennsylvania, and then also
right there at the Pentagon. So we didn't we didn't
(13:33):
leave it there until almost ten eleven o'clock at night.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
You know, I was looking at your background and I
looked at that story, and you know, I gotta admit,
you know, you're you're pretty you're pretty modest about that
story because I think you hold a degree in industrial
engineering from Kansas State University, which we're not going to
hold that against you, by the way, and you're also
a member of the Kansas State Engineering College Hall of Fame.
(13:59):
And as I read that story about what you did
at the Pentagon that day, you reversed the HVAC system
to try to clean the building out. Is that true?
Speaker 3 (14:11):
When you're down that much?
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Is that you reversed the HVAC system in that building
to clean it out? Is that true?
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Yes? But I don't want to take all the credit
for that, because I was with a couple of colleagues
and they were from the Navy, and all everybody in
Navy is taught how to fight a fire, so they
were very good and they knew that the vacuum system
was going in the wrong direction. So all of us
together started figuring out what we needed to do to
(14:45):
reverse it so that we can push it out and
have them bring that stuff all the smoke and on
the fire in. That was one of the things that
we did. But I'm not taking credit for that because
these Navy guys really knew what they were doing and
they had the expertise to make it happen.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Lieutenant General Bob Castlin is with us, and now he
will be the parade marshall in Clarksburg coming at eleven
a m. This morning when their parade steps off. And
you've been here this week. You were able to go
to Lewis County. You were the keynote speaker there. There
was a great turnout there's just no denying the fact
(15:24):
that West Virginia is a staunch supporter of the military,
no matter what the branch.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Yes, Sir, I salute you all. You know, every time
I come here and visit, I'm currently impressed. Not only
am I trustee of Salem University, I'm also one of
their students going to night school. And every opportunity I
have to come here to West Virginia and to this community,
I loved it. I mean, I just feel at home.
(15:55):
Everybody so friendly. There's such cohesion among us, everybody in
the community so absolute all of you, and thank you
for your support for the military. And I can speak
on behalf of so many other military members when they
are own communities like your community, they just feel appreciated
and loved very much. So thank you for all that
(16:15):
you do.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Absolutely, Lieutenant General Bob Castlan, Sir. We really do appreciate
your time, and I wish that our connection would have
been better.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
I apologize, Yeah, well I'm sorry, but I think we
work it out, okay. So I appreciate the questions and
your support for all of us.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Absolutely. Lieutenant General Bob Castling, Sir, thank you very much
for your time and have a great day, enjoy the parade.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Okay, thank you too, appreciate it, Yes, sir.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
You take care. Lieutenant General Bob Castlan certainly a modern
day hero, served as a commander of the twenty fifth
Infantry Division, also the chief of staff of both the
one hundred first Airborne Division Air Assault and the tenth
Mountain Division. Just you know, what a hero, what a
(17:10):
living hero to be here in our area and participating
in our events. Coming up here now at this hour
as we have this conversation, there is a Veterans Appreciation
Breakfast that is going on inside Diversified Energy Terrace at
Mylan Pushcar Stadium. Now that is open to the public.
(17:31):
If you're a veteran, feel free to stop on buy
and also during the month of November. You know, there
are a lot of places where veterans can go today
to get a free meal. And you know what, you
can google that and look that stuff up. But there
are a lot of organizations that have stepped up to
offer veterans things that you know, you may not think,
(17:54):
like Huntington Bank they are going to cover certain closing
costs for the veterans in November. Now, they'll do that
up to fifty five hundred dollars if you're seeking a
mortgage and you happen to be a veteran. Now, of
course this is historic news. But also on Monday, the
(18:15):
WVU School of Dentistry held a full day of free
appointments for veterans from across the region. So we certainly
do appreciate their appreciation of the service of veterans. Mount
Near Middle School Assistant Principal Jennifer Potts, she was on
last week to talk about the program that they put
(18:37):
on with guest speakers Wilbur England and Terry Vance. They
were able to pull that program off yesterday just about noon,
so we certainly thank them for that as well. Coming
up next, the sale of four state run hospitals has
been finalized. There was a legal challenge to that sale
(18:59):
that was mounted by one of the residents of the
John Manchin Senior Medical Center in Fairmont. Joey Garcia, Fairmont
attorney also state senator, took that case. The judge ruled
in favor of the governor and against the resident, saying
that that sale could go through, and it did in
(19:20):
fact close I believe last Friday. Now that the sale
is closed, there are a new set of concerns for
both residents their families and a different set of concerns
for the lawmakers that are watching over the state run
health care system. When we come back, we'll spend a
few minutes with State Senator Joey Garcia and we'll hear
(19:42):
about some of those concerns and get an update.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Now back to the talk of the town.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Good Tuesday morning, Idiots nine thirty five, some clouds, twenty
seven degrees Metro Newsaki Weather says can't rule out a
snow shower today, but no accumulation expected at a high
temperature of thirty seven. On the phone, we've got State
Senator Joey Garcia from Marion County. Good morning, Joey. How
are you, sir?
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Hey, Mike doing good to be here.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Okay, good to have you, Joey. The sale of for
state run hospitals to Mark's Development for sixty million dollars
has closed, and now we're looking to the future. And
I think that as a state senator you've got a
completely different set of concerns as you did as maybe
(20:45):
litigating for one of the residents.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Yeah, Mike, that was something that it was a unique
experience to have an issue like that, which was the
John Manchet facility. One of the four facilities, was a
very important facility in Marion County, and it's something that
as a state Senator, as a House of Delegate member,
I think as a community member that I've been very
(21:11):
outspoken about wanting to continue that oversight and transparency under
the state of West Virginia. But I did happen to
have once this sale was announced back in August constituent
but also someone who wanted representation as an individual for
(21:31):
her mother who was in that nursing home and still
continues to be in that nursing home, to try to
fight what she thought was a sale that was beyond
the legal authority of the governor. And so we fought
very hard, and at the end of the day, the
judge in the case did not agree with us. The
(21:52):
sale went through. But now I think we've were seeing
not just we're hopeful about what will happen with the
John Mansion facility. When I say hope, there's nothing else
you can be. We hope that that facility is going
to continue under private care to take care of the
citizens of Marion County. In Marion County but there's other
(22:13):
things too along with holding them accountable that I think
this lawsuit and what's happened is going to spell for
the State of West Virginia and it's other facilities.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
State Senator Joey Garcia is with us, and Joey, I
think could be helpful if you could explain to the
listeners what it means when we transfer ownership, leadership, and
authority from the Department of Health to Mar's Development, a
private organization.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
That's basically, over the course of from August twelfth until
the closure of this private sale on October thirty first,
the State of West Virginia was working towards a transition.
A number of people who were employees, staff member, whether
they be medical professionals or other professionals. Many of them
(23:04):
were retained by this new private company and started work
for them on October thirty first. The patients who are
in again John Mansion, Lake and Facility in Mason County,
the facility Hopemont Up in Preston County, and Jackie witthrow
Down and Beckley are all supposed to stay there. And
(23:27):
so there's been a lot of promises made about three
facilities at least being built in the future that they
will be brand new facilities, but there's been basically no
promises about where they would be built, and there's not
been promises about whether people that aren't like the current
people that are in these facilities, the people that really
(23:49):
can't go anywhere else, whether those types of people with
maybe difficult medical issues will have a place to go
in the state of West Virginia. And now that this
sale is complete, you know a lot of the things
that we've had to hold the state accountable, including things
like Foyer Freedom of Information Act to have that information.
(24:10):
Now it's a private company, So that's a big change
right now, and they're still regulated by the state government
to some degree in the federal government, but we don't
have that control now over where they're going to be,
who they're going to take, and things like that.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Now, So a FOYA request, for example, if we hear
at Metro News would fill out a FOYA request MARS development,
they could just say, Nope, we're not answering it. Even
though they're involved in the healthcare of the public.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
They could Yeah, they could say, what's this, We're not
a government entity. Because Freedom information requests only applied to
government entities. Now if they are providing a document or
communication with state government in some way that's not deemed
to be exempt. You know, there are certain situations where
you might be able to find information from the state
(24:59):
government about out them. And also I will say I
think it's in the interest of majesticare who's running the
facility to be a good communicator, a good neighbor, But
they actually don't have to do that. So again, I
think right now, after we lost this fight to try
to try to tell the governor to no, you can't
(25:22):
do this, and the courts have let him continue with
this sale, even though again we didn't think he had
the authority to do so through statute. Now there's less
that we can do as state legislators, as community members,
but we still need to keep a watch a lot.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
What if any conversations have you had with folks at
Majestic or Marks.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
I have not had any conversations with them yet. I
don't know. They still may not want to talk to
me right now, but I think they will in the future.
I mean, I expect everybody to be adults in the room.
And again, as somebody who represents the community of Marion County,
it's important, and now they're successful with things like Meals
(26:08):
on Wheels, which is a program that the state helped,
you know, for a lot of seniors to make sure
people can stay in their homes, and that that program
has provided thousands of meals and they've made a promise
to continue to do that. I'm going to inquire and
make sure we're talking about how they plan to do
that and similarly with the people that they are taking
(26:30):
care of it, and hopefully the idea of building in
Marion County. I think that was a big part of
why we put the lawsuit in emotion, is because there's
been no guarantee that they would build in Marion County.
Nothing in their contracts suggested that they had to. So
but I you know, I offer my hand in support
for them to be successful at this point, and I
(26:52):
think that's part of my whole philosophy when it comes
to you know, if it's something I believe, and I
will fight for it, whether that'solitically, whether that's legally. But
I think altogether, you know, it's important for us to
work together so that people who are really at the
heart of this issue, which are patients resident of these
(27:13):
facilities and the staff members that work there that they're protecting.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
You know, Joey, you said that it's in Majestic's best interest,
of course, to provide good care, to be a good
community partner. But you know, maybe that starts with good
communications on the front end. So have they maybe communicated
with your client over that course of say August to October,
to let them know what, if anything, will change.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
There were communications, I think closer to the end of
that time period with residents. I think with employees of
John Mansion and other facilities, there were communications over time.
I think one thing that came out of the lawsuit
in some of the testimony that we had was how
(28:02):
much the State of West Virginia botched that and how
they were not good communicators. So so again, and I
think at this point, I think the ball is really
in Majestics court. Again. I know I have not had
much communication with them yet, but now they're the ones
(28:23):
that are the owners and operators of all these four facilities,
and certainly I'm hopeful that they will they will do
good by their residence, by their employees, and by the
communities in which they're working.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
In your estimation, what does this mean for the two
state run psychiatric care facilities.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
That's really interesting because you know, the judge basically provided
in his order that there there was language in the
Code that provided authority very broadly for the selling of
any basically any interest. Is kind of what the language
(29:06):
said in the statute. Once again, you know, that was
something that is our argument was if you read the
code section within the context of the requirements that the
Secretary had to run and operate maintain all the facilities
which were listed in the Code, that he couldn't just
sell them off. He could sell off a parking lot,
piece of land, whatever, but not a whole operation. But
(29:28):
the judge didn't rule for us. Judge ruled that it
was very broad and so broad that places like sharp Andbatement,
which are not long term nursing care facilities, those are
psychiatric facilities that those also are subject to the governor
being able to sell them off without legislative approval. And
I think there are huge issues with that, and that's
(29:51):
something as we go into the next legislative session. You know,
I think they're concerns because right now a lot of
people from the high genes to competency evaluations with the courts,
people who are having mental health issues. They go to
Sharp and they go to Bateman, and then many of
them still have to be diverted to other facilities that
(30:11):
are private, but ultimately they're there are not there's not
enough space at Sharp and Bateman sometimes, So if those
were sold, what do we do and do people start
going out of state? I think that's a that's a
huge question, and I would like to clarify that with legislations.
You're saying that the government does not have that authority,
(30:33):
particularly with the facilities, and make sure that if he
does want to sell them or change operation of them,
he has to work with the legislature to do so.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
And I think that when you take a look at
some of the things that have happened in the past
at the state run psychiatric facilities, that would require a
lot of due diligence on any private company's part because
of some of the lead legal encumberences that already exist.
Speaker 4 (31:04):
I think it would be difficult. And I think that's
why that was a part of the reason why we
fought with this lawsuit, is because there were bills out
there where the legislature provided specific protections. In the past.
The bills just did make it the finish line about
how you would transition the long term nursing care homes.
I mean, we had bills that provided protections for employees
(31:29):
and their pensions because a lot of people who you know,
with respect of this sale, a lot of people may
not have had ten years to be able to invest
in the pension system. And how were they affected. Some
of them were affected very poorly. Same thing with there
was a bill in twenty seventeen with Jackie Withrow that
passed the legislature but was vetoed by the governor Governor
(31:51):
Justice that would have said, if you transition or sell
this facility, then you have to build within five miles.
And again that was an other thing that we could
have done. So similarly with Sharp and Bateman, we can
provide parameters for anything that were that any sale that
could occur, and make sure that it's done not just
(32:13):
to get money for the state of West Virginia, not
just to release the state from certain liabilities, but to
make sure that the job of taking care of people
who are very vulnerable or in a very or in
some cases people that it's important that they're not out
on the streets, that they are provided you know psychiatric
(32:36):
services are going to help them get back to competency
or you know that those are important things as a
public policy for the State of West Virginia, we need
to make sure happen correctly.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
State Senator Joey Garcia is with us a last thing
and we didn't discuss this, and I don't mean to
ambush you, but coming up on Monday, November the seventeenth,
that will be a pe I a public hearing in
the City of Morgantown. I know that to you normally
attend those events and PEIA is something that's very important
(33:07):
to you.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
They're looking at another three percent increase coming up in
the next plan year.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
Yeah, it's it's it's like every year we do this
dog and pony show, because honestly, the PIA Finance Board
does not have that much power. This is something that
the Republican Legislature passed to build a couple of years ago.
I don't think any Democrats voted for it. That provided
(33:37):
for this eighty twenty situation that has tied the hands
of the finance Board, and we've seen masses and increases
every year, and then last year for a whole year
we heard about well, this isn't you know, this is
something we're going to have a special session. That was
the whole talk of the whole summer. We've never seen
a special session. The one time there was a discussion, actually,
(33:58):
I think it was leaked kind of way. Some of
the possible ideas were to quote unquote fixed pei A.
Those issues. None of them had to do with making
it better for the people who have it or making
it more affordable. It was all about how do we
save money for the state. And even I've always said
(34:21):
this last year, the lowest fruit, lowest hanging fruit we
have is sort of like we could help seniors by
basically providing twelve million dollars and not have any increases
for what their past premiums would be for their premium increase.
So you know, it's I you know, if I'm going
(34:44):
to try to get to this one. If not, I'm
going to try to make sure that I am still
seeing kind of what's going on and hearing from the public.
But when we've done our kitchen table tour for the
Westernia House Democrats and they allowed me to join this
last couple of months, this is a huge issue as
well as anything that increases the cost of living for
West Virginians. We have to be on top of that
(35:06):
and fight against it absolutely.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
State Senator Joey Garcia, Joey, go get a drink of water.
Thank you for your time. Thanks Mike, all right, you
take care. We're going to take a quick break Clouds
twenty seven in the University City. Happy Veterans Day. We'll
be back to talk about a couple of veterans in
some activities. Next Talk of the Town AM fourteen forty
FM one oh four point five WAJR.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
We are talking about your town. Now back to the
Talk of the Town.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
A good Tuesday morning and Happy Veterans Day.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
You know.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
The Saint Francis Alumni Association created the Lance Corporal Russell
Cizik Veteran Award back in twenty twenty one to honor
Rusty Sizik. He is a member of the class of
nineteen eighty one who was killed in the October nineteen
eighty three terrorists bombing at the US Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.
(36:10):
That attack killed two under twenty Marines, eighteen sailors, and
three Army soldiers. Now, just this year, Paul Masulo was
awarded the Lance Corporal Russell Saysick Veteran Award, and we
certainly thank Paul for his service, and we certainly thank
all veterans who have stepped up in order to serve
(36:33):
our country today. And of course, you know, don't forget
to get out if you are a veteran and take
advantage of one of the opportunities for a free meal
somewhere throughout the city over the course of today, and
of course the Veterans' Day Breakfast over at Diversified Energy
Terrorists that is wrapping up. But you know, if you
(36:57):
rush in and maybe you're nice, maybe they'll be able
to bury you a bagel or something like that. Right now,
cloud's twenty seven degrees for Veterans Day. Don't forget parade
in downtown Morgantown tonight. That lineup will start just about
five o'clock. The parade will let me back up. Parade
(37:18):
restrictions will begin to take effect just about five thirty.
Then that parade will step off at six. Now at
eleven am this morning, the Governor will be participating in
a parade in historic downtown Beckley. There will also be
a parade in Clarksburg where Lieutenant General Bob Castlan will
be the Grand Marshal there and then also a parade
(37:41):
in the city of Charleston at eleven am today. If
you know a veteran, thank that veteran for their service
and their efforts to keep us safe and make our
country one of the greatest in the world. We'll be
back to wrap things up coming up after this on
(38:01):
Talk of the Town AM fourteen forty FM one oh
four point five W. A. J R.
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