September 24, 2025 • 36 mins
Mon Health President and CEO David Golgberg on advancements across the Mon Health/Vandalia Health network
Thoughts from the host on the Civilian Police Review and Advisory Board
Thoughts from the host on the Civilian Police Review and Advisory Board
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
This is the Talk of the Town from Morgantown to Klucksburg.
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 (00:31):
A good Monday morning, and welcome to Talk of the Town.
Just a few clouds and seventy two degrees in the
University City Metro Newsaki Weather says might get some more
of some much needed rain across the area today. There
is a chance of a shower or thunderstorm this afternoon.
Partly sunny and a high temperature of eighty two degrees.
(00:54):
And as a matter of fact, we'll get to this
just a little bit later, but as a matter of fact,
there's a pretty good chance of rain more than fifty
percent each day this week. Well, welcome to Talk of
the Town. Mike Nolton. You find me out on X
says your news guy producing the program. This morning, we
have Sophia Wasick. You'll find Sophia at eight hundred seven
(01:17):
six five eight two five five. And of course you're
a portal into the program to provide input, questions or
anything that you'd like. That number. It's a text line
three oh four Talk three oh four. This morning, we'll
speak with president and CEO of mon Health and the
executive vice president of Vandelia Health, David Goldberg, will join
(01:39):
us this morning to talk about developments, editions, and advancements
across their healthcare system. Plus I have an update on
the mon Health Marion Neighborhood Hospital. That's the first small
format hospital in their system that was built in Whitehall.
I believe that was is now just about three years old.
(02:02):
Then I got to talk just a little bit this
morning about the Morgantown Civilian Police Review and Advisory Board.
We've got to recap their recent meeting, what they're looking
for and maybe how just the average Morgantown resident could
get involved and really make a difference. We'll get to
(02:24):
that at just about nine thirty I'll pop up. Thunderstorms,
let's see, rumbled through the area Saturday and Sunday. On
Saturday left more than a thousand people without electricity. Most
of those affected were in Westover and the Granville areas
of the county. A Metro ne Newzaki weather meteorologist says
(02:44):
that rainfall Totals across the area associated with that event
varied from just about a half inch of rain to
more than two inches in some areas of the county,
and of course, forecasters do say there is just about
a fifty percent or better chance of rain more rain
(03:05):
through the end of the week. More than three hundred
members of the West Virginia National Guard remain on deployment
in Washington, d C. The Guard members are part of
President's President Trump's assigned mission Operation DC Safe and Beautiful
to help assist the DC Police in deterring criminal activity.
They've been deployed now for more than a month. Metro
(03:28):
News recently asked Guard spokesman via email about the length
of the deployment that we were told for the For now,
the deployment is expected to last through late November, but
as with any deployment, that could change based on operational needs.
All the Mountaineers set it two and two overall and
(03:50):
zero to one in conference play after the Kansas Jayhawks
worked the Golden Blue over forty one to ten David
Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium Saturday night. The defense kept things
manageable in the first half, but ninety four yard kickoff
return to start the second half of Kansas kind of
(04:11):
set the tone for the second half and the remainder
of the contest. A troubling road stat for the Mountaineers
is they have two touchdowns and four scoring drive on
twenty seven possessions. Now that is away from the friendly
confines of Mylon Pushcar Stadium. That's just this year. I'm
(04:34):
gonna tell you that again the Mountaineers. They only have
two touchdowns and four scoring drives on twenty seven possessions
away from home this year. Now, next weekend, the action
shifts back to Mylon Pushcar Stadium. The Mountaineers will welcome
Utah for a three point thirty kick coming up on Saturday.
(04:55):
West Virginia Lottery officials say there are three outstanding winning
tickets unclaimed from recent drawings. Those include a one hundred
thousand dollars ticket from early September bought through the Iplay app.
And remember that fifty thousand dollars ticket that was sold
at the Cheat Lake Price Cutter store. Hmm, I wonder
(05:17):
who has that one. That'd be nice to know. Uh.
Coming up next, we'll spend some time with mon Health
President and CEO David Goldberg is also the executive vice
president of Vandelia Health going to get an update of
some improvements and advancements across their system. That's coming up
next on Talk of the Town AM fourteen forty FM
(05:40):
oneh four point five w AJR.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Now back to the Talk of the Town.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Well, good Monday morning, a few cloud seventy two degrees
on the phone. We have the president and CEO of
Mon Health, the executive vice president of Vandelia Health System,
David Goldberg. Good morning, David, how are you sir?
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Good morning, Happy Monday.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
That's right, and welcome to Fall.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
I might dad, is today the first day already?
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Oh my lord, I know here we go right. Well,
it's bringing the rain, it is, and rain that we
could certainly use, that's for sure, without doubt. Yes, Now
let's see, David, a lot happening across the Vandelia slash
Mon Health System. Why don't you bring us up to speed.
(06:41):
Let's start over in Preston County maybe.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yeah, we're very excited. You know, it's buck Wheat Festival
this week. Can't wait to get out there and get
my buckwheat. We're also celebrating the seventieth anniversary of Vandalia
Health mon Preston Memorial Hospital seventy years of service to
greater Preston County. But more exciting is part of that
is we've grown significantly in Preston. We received a grant
(07:06):
under the Justice Administration, we receive federal funds. We're expanding
at Preston. We're breaking ground this fall on a few
thousand square feet of ambulatory space connected to the hospital
where we'll have more dedicated space for our growing oncology program,
physician clinic, and other services, with shelf space for further
(07:26):
growth over time. So we're very excited for the people
at Preston. We all know care close to home is
what it matters, and many people don't drive far if
they need extended care. So we at Vandalia are all
about keeping care clothes to home, and we're excited about
our Preston expansion.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
And that expansion will do just that. It will allow
people to get that cancer care that they so desperately
need right there in Kingwood in Preston County and they
don't have to drive to Morgantown or wherever else that
might be.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Yeah, we've seen a significant I mean, we launched this
program a few years ago then Congressman McKinley, along with
our senators, we're able to secure a grant for us
to start an oncology program to do chemotherapy in advanced
infusions there in Preston County. And the program has grown
and we've outgrown the space we had in Legacy Preston
Memorial and now this expansion will give us dedicated rooms,
(08:21):
dedicated bays to keep growing with the community. And unfortunately
we're seeing growth in oncology presentation, so this is a
much needed expansion.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Okay, now we've got the president and CEO of Mond Health,
Executive vice president of Vandlia Health, David Goldberg with us.
And now you know the very first small format hospital
in the state in Wide Hull, the mon Health Marion
Neighborhood Hospital, that's what about three.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Years old now, unbelievably so, yes, nothing like opening a
brand new hospital. Let me add to that, Mic, it
was the first freely constructed, freestanding hospital facility in the
state in over twenty years when we opened it.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, it's really an amazing story. And then just to
see how busy and what a part of the community
that it's become.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Without doubt I had the privilege in other health systems.
I worked out before coming back home to West Virginia
to build these in Texas and Pennsylvania, and it really
has been embraced by the greater Marion community. We see
about forty to forty five emergency room visits a day.
We maintain there's ten medical beds, and we maintain people
in the medical beds. We started doing MRI and CT
(09:33):
outpatient along with inpatient MRI and echoes and other diagnostics.
And we do infusion, not chemotherapy, but other infusions to
name a few services. So it's a full service hospital
and it has grown dramatically over the three years, so
much so as you're going to lead into we broke
round and the steal is up on Armand Neighborhood Hospital
(09:56):
in Harrison County, right next to Minards. We're thrilled with
the progress. That will be open and operational by August
of twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Wow, that's really exciting now, David. We all know that
the focus is on quality of care, but the speed
of which you can get that quality care at these
small format hospitals is unrivaled. It really is.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
It's a model that we adopted here in West Virginia.
One you know, in our state, as you know and
many of our listeners know, we're an economically fragile state.
So we want to make sure when we build things,
they lead with quality, they lead with service, but then
we can financially support them. And you know, to build
these facilities is less expensive than the big hospital like
the Mond Health Medical Center or Ruby Memorial or UHC.
(10:47):
They're bigger, they're broader, they're needed for expanded care, but
some of these don't need that much. And yeah, we
want to bring surgical capacity close to home, and we
do have that with our hospitals I mentioned, So we're
being very responsible with dollar. We're also making sure I
always say a person's emergency is our urgency. Mond Marion
(11:07):
was ranked as the fastest emergency room in the state
of West Virginia, in the top ten in the country
and continues to do that and we're going to see
that same response over it when we open Harrison. And
may I add that since we opened Mond Marian, we
have not had one hospital acquired infection, hospital acquire condition,
or anything in over twelve hundred days. That's an astronomical
(11:30):
Kudos to the staff for being laser focused every patient
every time.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
And you know, I might add you take a look
at the last three years and take a look at
the growth over there at the Mond Marian Neighborhood Hospital,
and you have to consider the fact that when that
was built, the patients really had to come to the
hospital because they were accustomed to the Fairmont Medical Center. However,
(11:55):
your new facility in Harrison County, you're building that right
in the midst of where all the people are.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
It is, and we've scoured Harrison County for the right
location to put that hospital because there's great healthcare being
offered in the region already, but we wanted to make
sure access is improved, the opportunity to compete. I think
competition improves all outcomes. And I give a shout out
to Genesis Partners and Jamie Cordon and Jennifer and the family.
(12:26):
They donated land for us to build the hospital right
there at Charles Point, and then we bought land next
to it to expand over generations as more care is needed.
So we're trying to be very patient, very appropriate, work
with stakeholders to build the right level at the right place.
Same thing with mon Marian. We're incrementally adding services as
the community needs it and as we have the infrastructure
(12:48):
to support it, like twenty four hour hospitalists that round
along with our emergency room physicians, the radiology procedures, the infusion, telemedicine,
and other services that we'll be adding over time.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Do you see the same opportunities for growth except for
maybe even more in Harrison than there were in Marion.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
I think yes. I absolutely believe that there's a need
for more. I mean, as you've seen the population grow
in Greater Harrison County, more homes are being built. I
know the B of four family announced building over one
hundred apartments. There's new home constructions, some new businesses, expansion
at the airport, the bridge, the sports complex is growing.
(13:31):
All of those services and people and locations need enhanced
access to care. And we think we're just adding at
the appropriate time to what the community needs. As it's growing,
infrastructure has to grow with it, and that includes healthcare, education, roads, etc.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Now tell us what's happening right here in Mont County
with mont Health.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Yeah, so we about four or five months ago we
traded property with the county. A big shout out to
our County Commission, the Mecca and IE when one building
on our campus became a part of our Mond family
and when Mecca moved out to the Industrial Park for
their emergency center. So we're going to be using that
(14:12):
building for infrastructure, information technology, and other services. But in
the Mond Health Medical Center building, we've been doing strategic planning.
We're building a new hybrid O R which allows more
minimally invasive procedures to occur with our interventional cardiologists, vascular surgeons,
hard surgeons, pulmonologists. We are building another electric physiology lab.
(14:35):
I call that the electricians of the heart need more
toys and more technology to be able to deal with
the electrical system that the heart deals with. So new
room there, new roofs above the CALF lab, expanding our
CALF labs, some operating room expansion. Our urology practice that
(14:55):
has been sought after for decades is a little dated,
so we're rebuilding that suite and more clinic space in
our medical park as you enter our campus. So a
lot of growth here at Mono Medical Center as we
properly grow for the future.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Now, are there any other medical devices or such things
that are in the pipeline that could be produced by
non health and patented in the future.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Great question. As you know, a few years back we
launched a partnership with Intermed Labs, and yes, we have
had success with some doctor here and Intermed to be
able to come up with a device. Yes, we have
expanded that relationship across all of Vandalia. And to remind
our listeners, Vandalia Health is the marriage of Charleston Area
(15:42):
Medical Center Health System, Monolsystem, and Davis Health System. So
seventeen hospitals strong, thirteen thousand employees now have access to Intermed.
And yes, we have many different devices in robotic surgery
and other types of devices that we are advancing. Heyre
that we hope patent move out, sell, commercialize, but also
(16:03):
improved patient outcomes and bring the ingenuity and expertise of
West Virginia out to the world. So we're very excited.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Now, give us an update on the Stonewall Jackson Memorial
Hospital if you would.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Yeah, I'm glad you asked, because last week there was
some reporting out by another news media that kind of
slanted the story in my opinion, And what happened is
we had our time with the Supreme Court, and as
everyone whoever follows it, I'm a nerd, I'm a political
science guy. The Supreme Court deliberates over decisions. They had
(16:37):
our perspective, they had the state's perspective, they had our
opponent's perspective shared in front of the justices. They asked
questions of all three sides or both sides, depending on
the issue, and then they deliberate over the briefs filed
by the lawyers as well as what was asked and
answered in the room, and they take time. There was
no slanting of the Supreme Court. They asked questions, they
(17:00):
didn't lean one way or the other, and we're hoping
we'll get an answer by the end of the calendar
year on our appeal to replace and rebuild Strowall Jackson
Memorial Hospital on land that we've had for more than
a decade right there at Exit ninety nine on Route
thirty three frontage. So we're excited. I think the people
and Vandalia believes the people of Greater Lewis County deserve
(17:22):
a state of the art facility that's more current to
deliver the care that we're known for, the care the
community needs in a new building. So We're completely committed
to build that building and to keep growing in Lewis
County and talk.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
About the need to replace that building. It's got some
age on it.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Well, I'm about the same age as the building, so
you know a fifty somethings. You know, if you've died,
an exercise and take care of yourself. Things last hopefully,
But the building is dated. It was built at a
time when more care was delivered inpatient. That isn't the
case anymore. A lot of what we do is outpatient
or ambulatory. Heck, you get a knee or a shoulder
(17:59):
replaced her in it out in a day. You're not
there for a couple of days. So we need a
building that reflects current technology and current ways that we
deliver medicine.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
And I think that the people of Lewis County would
certainly appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Without doubt, and they have been just fantastic partners. I mean,
everyone's frustrated with the process, but it also you know,
it's a process. I call it. It's a marathon, not
a sprint. We want to be judicious with the dollar.
We want to make sure we build for the future,
but we build responsibly. I joke with my staff all
the time. You can build yourself into bankruptcy very quickly
by overbuilding, overextending the way you spend your money. We
(18:36):
want to be appropriate, but buildings don't treat people. Treat people,
and we have the best people across Vandalia and at
Stonewall and the hospitals we've mentioned, and we're going to
keep investing and keep recruiting doctors and other clinicians here
to take care of our friends and neighbors in the
communities we serve.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
David Goldberg, president and CEO of mon Health than the
executive vice president of Vandelia Health. David, we really do
appreciate your time this morning.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Thank you, Oh, thank you. As you could hear, we
just had a baby born, so it's another positive day
here at MARN so thanks for the opportunity and let's
go Mountain Ears.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Hey that's great, really seriously, baby just born.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Yeah, right behind me. I don't know if you can
hear it. We play a little Kenny g song when
a baby's born. So that's our eightieth baby so far
for the month.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Hey, that's great. That's great. David. Always a pleasure.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Thank you, Thank you, sir.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Absolutely you take care and have a great day. Baby
born at nine twenty nine of Talk of the Town
on the twenty second of September, we.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Are talking about your town. Now back to the Talk
of the Town.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Well, good Monday morning. It is nine thirty four, just
a few clouds and seventy two degrees in the University city. Now,
the Morgantown Citizen Police Review and Advisory Board that came
into existence shortly after the George Floyd tragedy in the
state of Minnesota. Now, the board itself provides for citizen
(20:24):
participation in reviewing police department policies, practices, and procedures. Plus,
they promote the availability of data relating to police practices
and those same procedures. Now, the board doesn't have the
power to investigate specific incidents of police misconduct. They look
(20:47):
at the overall policies and practices of the police department
and how the officers within that department enact and handle
the policies. Now, there is one open position on that
nine member board. Now, if you maybe thinking that you'd
like to be a member of that board, the members
(21:09):
should be residents of the city or an active member
of an organization that works within the city to promote
purposes consistent with the purpose of the board, And I
guess you could refer to paragraph number one as the
purpose of the board being to review department policies, practices,
(21:32):
and procedures and promote the availability of data relating to
those practices and procedures. Well, you can get more information
about that board if you're considering that at morgantownwv dot gov.
But last week the board met and reviewed some police data,
(21:54):
some arrest statistics. Now, the Advisory Board, they talked about
some updated stats they received from the police department. Now
that information provided details on three thousand, six hundred and
eleven arrests that were reported between two thousand nineteen in
(22:14):
twenty twenty four. Now that number included about six hundred
and fifty larcenies, it's about eighteen percent of that total.
Next on that list of arrests were simple assaults and
driving under the influence. Those are second and third and
(22:34):
the most and were the most the third, second and
third most common arrests made by the Morgantown Police. Now,
clearance rates, that's something that's worth talking about. That means
the actually solving a crime, the clearance the clearance rates
for reported crimes of larceny and simple assaults were very
(22:58):
close to state national average, which I think is right
a thirty percent or maybe just a little bit above
our drug and narcotic offenses. This is what surprised me.
They accounted for approximately eight percent of the arrests over
the past five years. That's two hundred and eighty seven arrests. Now,
(23:19):
disorderly conduct arrests accounted for just about six percent of
those made during the same timeframe, or that's just about
two hundred and fifteen. Now the text line would love
to get maybe some of your thoughts on the topic.
Three h four to talk threeh four now. Second word.
(23:39):
Councilor Jody Hollings said, had some questions during that public
meeting that was held at the center relating specifically to
the racial demographics within those numbers. Now, one area in
particular that wasn't concerned to Councilor Hollings had was seventeen
(24:00):
percent of the total arrests over the past five years
were African American people, while the total population in the
city is just about five percent. Now, there are plans
for Morgantown City Council to meet with Cheap Pal in
the near future, and Hollings had hopes to talk to
(24:22):
police leadership about those numbers and the fact that there
were no formal complaints over that same period that were
filed against the police department over the past ten years. Now,
she said that she's relatively familiar with the policing and
crime trends in Morgantown. However, there are some glaring numbers
(24:44):
in that data, particularly the democratic and think that that's
something that we need to look at. That's a quote
from Holling said. As a result of that public meeting
that was held last week at the Ascend Center, now,
the residents who attended the meeting got chance to listen
to the board members and get a feel for what
the board does, how they do it, and who is
(25:06):
doing it now. There was one resident who elected to
address the board. That gentleman's name was Cory Anderson. Now,
Corey told the members of the board that his interactions
with the police have been positive and reflected back to
I believe it was a situation revolving around the backyard brawl.
(25:28):
Now Anderson told the board, you know, it's nice to
know what's going on. He's had several positive interactions with
the police lately, and it's nice to know that is
not a typical. Now the police actually are engaging in
good things and behaving according to the rules of police
(25:48):
responsibility and what you have what okay? And of the
rules regarding police responsibility, was Anderson's comment to the board.
Now during that meeting, not that meeting, I'm sorry. We
got to go back to May of twenty twenty five
(26:13):
May of this year when there were other concerns about
complaints to the Morgantown Police Department and complaints about their activities,
lack thereof, or maybe over policing, maybe we'll call it that.
At that time, the board members took a look at
(26:34):
the website and said that, you know that the complaint
process was too difficult to access. Now, there was a
gentleman that came to a meeting that said he had
a bad encounter with the police. So he went down
to the Public Safety building at the corner of Spruce
and Walnut, went inside and had to talk to a
(26:56):
woman behind a thick bulletproof lass in order to get
a complaint form. He said that that process was intimidating
and really didn't promote a free interaction between the police
department and the community. The board then took that and thought, well,
a couple of things, we need to maybe make the
(27:19):
complaint procedure just a little bit easier to access and
put a button on the website. Well there was a
matter of fact, a button added to the website. They're
doing some things to help the complaint process. At the
most recent regular meeting of the board, there was another
resident that came in that said that he had been
(27:42):
pulled over that he felt wrongly by what he thought
was an unmarked police car, and that complaint was brought
to the board. The board kind of wrestled with that
just a little bit. But you know, in reality, once
an arrest has made, the police officer is a cent
out of it. He becomes a witness and it becomes
(28:03):
a matter of the court, and at that point, to
really complain about an arrest, or complain about a ticket,
the only way to successfully do that is to argue
that through the court. However, as we think about complaints
in the police department, I mean, if I've been pulled
(28:26):
over by the police, and I got to be honest
with you, I've never really had a bad interaction with police.
Make it a point to do what I'm told, when
I'm told to do it, and how I'm told to
do it, and I try to I try to understand
their part of the job as well as reminding myself
(28:50):
or remembering what my rights are. However, I think that
when we take a look at the city of Morgantown,
the best thing that we could do is residents is
you know what, we could file a complaint slash compliment.
You know, we could make our thoughts known about our
(29:11):
police department, about our police officers. And I'm sure, look,
they're not perfect. There's no doubt about that. They are
not perfect. However, I think that a lot of times,
especially in a situation like this, when we're looking at
arrest data, those are just numbers. Those aren't actual incidents.
(29:34):
They are actual incidents. However, when we look at the numbers,
all we see are the numbers. All we know seventeen
percent of those arrests were African Americans. There's a lot
that we don't know about. That's seventeen percent that I
agree we most certainly do need to find out. But
(29:55):
to key in on that as a potential problem as
a race disparity, I think that is jumping the gun
and certainly very short sighted. And I think that that'll
be something that comes out of this process and the
(30:16):
effort to get more information from the police. And I
think that they're definitely moving in that direction, and the
police department is certainly willing to provide this data. And
I think that the FBI crime data that the board
goes over quite a bit. A lot of that data,
(30:39):
I believe is skewed. However, not necessarily in a bad way,
but on a national scale that makes it maybe a
little bit more difficult for that to apply to the
city of Morgantown. Well, when we come back, we're going
to talk just a little bit about arrests and arrest data.
(31:03):
It's coming up next on Talk of the Town AM
fourteen forty FM oneh four point five WAJR.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Join the conversation at one eight hundred and seven sixty
five eight two fivey five. This is the Talk of
the Town.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Good Monday morning. It is nine point fifty in the
University City And for your planning purposes, a Civilian Police
Review and Advisory Board. They meet on the second Thursday
of the month at noon. They do that at the
Morgantown Public library, the downtown location in meeting Room B.
(31:54):
Once again, the arrests that we want to take a
closer look at, I think, or I think that's worthy
of taking a good close look at, because you know what,
they sometimes interpret things like this as evidence of maybe
systemic bias. I think that's what they call it in policing.
(32:17):
And then you know, maybe others will talk about the
socioeconomic factors that might be active in neighborhoods, poverty, neighborhood conditions,
and access to resources, some things like that. But I
think it is really vital to not confuse arrests with
the offenses committed, because even though seventeen percent of those
(32:43):
arrests in that data were African American people, it doesn't
mean that one hundred percent of those seventeen people that
were arrested were officially charged or even went to court.
I think that when we talk about arrests, that we
need to understand that that's an interaction on the scene
(33:05):
of an incident and that will be adjudicated at a
later date by the court system. And you know, many newspapers,
many other media outlets don't print arrest data anymore, just
for that simple purpose because when you're arrested, you're innocent
(33:29):
until proven guilty. So the arrest has really kind of
lost its importance in a lot of ways in today's world. Now.
A key point is, you know, arrest data, it's not
the same as crime data. It doesn't necessarily mean of
(33:49):
it's not indicative of any type of an act, or
maybe it's not something to point at in order to
say that we've got a problem here, or you can't
really use it to say that we don't have a
problem maybe in another area. I think that a lot
(34:10):
of times today, especially when we look at arrests, we
have tools that we didn't have even five years ago.
And one of the most important tools that we have
that we didn't have five years ago is surveillance video.
And surveillance video can certainly answer a lot of questions
(34:32):
and prevent a lot of we'll just say, unnecessary debate.
For example, you could go back to the murder of
WVU student Eric Smith Seandarius reader Terrell Lanier were involved
in that particular killing, both convicted of first degree murder
in that case. They're very clear surveillance footage of Lanier
(34:59):
and re in several areas of downtown and in this
particular case, Reader had a pink firearm and that pink
firearm was was visible in all of those surveillance images
that came from downtown. Additionally, more surveillance video at the
(35:21):
walmart there at University Town Center where the pair were arrested. Again,
a lot of information that you know, maybe five ten
years ago wouldn't have been available. But now that we
have that information, we can take a look at it
and we know exactly why some arrests happened. We know
exactly what happened leading up to a situation, things that
(35:46):
we didn't have maybe in twenty nineteen when some of
this data was beginning to have been collected. We'll see
how that all works out now. This week, that is
Narcan Day is coming up later this week and tomorrow
will be welcoming a couple of representatives from the Mont
(36:06):
County Health Department to talk about NARCAN Day and why
you should keep narcan maybe carry it around with you.
And then also the state Democratic Party they're involved in
what they're calling a kitchen table tour and we're going
to welcome i believe, Delegate Evan Hansen to the program
this week. We're going to talk about what the Democrats
(36:29):
are doing and what they would like to hear, and
when maybe the next kitchen table talk is coming so
you can participate. Just a few clouds seventy two degrees
be back to wrap things up after this on Top
of the Town AM fourteen forty FM one four point
five WAJR
This is the Talk of the Town from Morgantown to Klucksburg.
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 (00:31):
A good Monday morning, and welcome to Talk of the Town.
Just a few clouds and seventy two degrees in the
University City Metro Newsaki Weather says might get some more
of some much needed rain across the area today. There
is a chance of a shower or thunderstorm this afternoon.
Partly sunny and a high temperature of eighty two degrees.
(00:54):
And as a matter of fact, we'll get to this
just a little bit later, but as a matter of fact,
there's a pretty good chance of rain more than fifty
percent each day this week. Well, welcome to Talk of
the Town. Mike Nolton. You find me out on X
says your news guy producing the program. This morning, we
have Sophia Wasick. You'll find Sophia at eight hundred seven
(01:17):
six five eight two five five. And of course you're
a portal into the program to provide input, questions or
anything that you'd like. That number. It's a text line
three oh four Talk three oh four. This morning, we'll
speak with president and CEO of mon Health and the
executive vice president of Vandelia Health, David Goldberg, will join
(01:39):
us this morning to talk about developments, editions, and advancements
across their healthcare system. Plus I have an update on
the mon Health Marion Neighborhood Hospital. That's the first small
format hospital in their system that was built in Whitehall.
I believe that was is now just about three years old.
(02:02):
Then I got to talk just a little bit this
morning about the Morgantown Civilian Police Review and Advisory Board.
We've got to recap their recent meeting, what they're looking
for and maybe how just the average Morgantown resident could
get involved and really make a difference. We'll get to
(02:24):
that at just about nine thirty I'll pop up. Thunderstorms,
let's see, rumbled through the area Saturday and Sunday. On
Saturday left more than a thousand people without electricity. Most
of those affected were in Westover and the Granville areas
of the county. A Metro ne Newzaki weather meteorologist says
(02:44):
that rainfall Totals across the area associated with that event
varied from just about a half inch of rain to
more than two inches in some areas of the county,
and of course, forecasters do say there is just about
a fifty percent or better chance of rain more rain
(03:05):
through the end of the week. More than three hundred
members of the West Virginia National Guard remain on deployment
in Washington, d C. The Guard members are part of
President's President Trump's assigned mission Operation DC Safe and Beautiful
to help assist the DC Police in deterring criminal activity.
They've been deployed now for more than a month. Metro
(03:28):
News recently asked Guard spokesman via email about the length
of the deployment that we were told for the For now,
the deployment is expected to last through late November, but
as with any deployment, that could change based on operational needs.
All the Mountaineers set it two and two overall and
(03:50):
zero to one in conference play after the Kansas Jayhawks
worked the Golden Blue over forty one to ten David
Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium Saturday night. The defense kept things
manageable in the first half, but ninety four yard kickoff
return to start the second half of Kansas kind of
(04:11):
set the tone for the second half and the remainder
of the contest. A troubling road stat for the Mountaineers
is they have two touchdowns and four scoring drive on
twenty seven possessions. Now that is away from the friendly
confines of Mylon Pushcar Stadium. That's just this year. I'm
(04:34):
gonna tell you that again the Mountaineers. They only have
two touchdowns and four scoring drives on twenty seven possessions
away from home this year. Now, next weekend, the action
shifts back to Mylon Pushcar Stadium. The Mountaineers will welcome
Utah for a three point thirty kick coming up on Saturday.
(04:55):
West Virginia Lottery officials say there are three outstanding winning
tickets unclaimed from recent drawings. Those include a one hundred
thousand dollars ticket from early September bought through the Iplay app.
And remember that fifty thousand dollars ticket that was sold
at the Cheat Lake Price Cutter store. Hmm, I wonder
(05:17):
who has that one. That'd be nice to know. Uh.
Coming up next, we'll spend some time with mon Health
President and CEO David Goldberg is also the executive vice
president of Vandelia Health going to get an update of
some improvements and advancements across their system. That's coming up
next on Talk of the Town AM fourteen forty FM
(05:40):
oneh four point five w AJR.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Now back to the Talk of the Town.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Well, good Monday morning, a few cloud seventy two degrees
on the phone. We have the president and CEO of
Mon Health, the executive vice president of Vandelia Health System,
David Goldberg. Good morning, David, how are you sir?
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Good morning, Happy Monday.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
That's right, and welcome to Fall.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
I might dad, is today the first day already?
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Oh my lord, I know here we go right. Well,
it's bringing the rain, it is, and rain that we
could certainly use, that's for sure, without doubt. Yes, Now
let's see, David, a lot happening across the Vandelia slash
Mon Health System. Why don't you bring us up to speed.
(06:41):
Let's start over in Preston County maybe.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yeah, we're very excited. You know, it's buck Wheat Festival
this week. Can't wait to get out there and get
my buckwheat. We're also celebrating the seventieth anniversary of Vandalia
Health mon Preston Memorial Hospital seventy years of service to
greater Preston County. But more exciting is part of that
is we've grown significantly in Preston. We received a grant
(07:06):
under the Justice Administration, we receive federal funds. We're expanding
at Preston. We're breaking ground this fall on a few
thousand square feet of ambulatory space connected to the hospital
where we'll have more dedicated space for our growing oncology program,
physician clinic, and other services, with shelf space for further
(07:26):
growth over time. So we're very excited for the people
at Preston. We all know care close to home is
what it matters, and many people don't drive far if
they need extended care. So we at Vandalia are all
about keeping care clothes to home, and we're excited about
our Preston expansion.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
And that expansion will do just that. It will allow
people to get that cancer care that they so desperately
need right there in Kingwood in Preston County and they
don't have to drive to Morgantown or wherever else that
might be.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Yeah, we've seen a significant I mean, we launched this
program a few years ago then Congressman McKinley, along with
our senators, we're able to secure a grant for us
to start an oncology program to do chemotherapy in advanced
infusions there in Preston County. And the program has grown
and we've outgrown the space we had in Legacy Preston
Memorial and now this expansion will give us dedicated rooms,
(08:21):
dedicated bays to keep growing with the community. And unfortunately
we're seeing growth in oncology presentation, so this is a
much needed expansion.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Okay, now we've got the president and CEO of Mond Health,
Executive vice president of Vandlia Health, David Goldberg with us.
And now you know the very first small format hospital
in the state in Wide Hull, the mon Health Marion
Neighborhood Hospital, that's what about three.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Years old now, unbelievably so, yes, nothing like opening a
brand new hospital. Let me add to that, Mic, it
was the first freely constructed, freestanding hospital facility in the
state in over twenty years when we opened it.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, it's really an amazing story. And then just to
see how busy and what a part of the community
that it's become.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Without doubt I had the privilege in other health systems.
I worked out before coming back home to West Virginia
to build these in Texas and Pennsylvania, and it really
has been embraced by the greater Marion community. We see
about forty to forty five emergency room visits a day.
We maintain there's ten medical beds, and we maintain people
in the medical beds. We started doing MRI and CT
(09:33):
outpatient along with inpatient MRI and echoes and other diagnostics.
And we do infusion, not chemotherapy, but other infusions to
name a few services. So it's a full service hospital
and it has grown dramatically over the three years, so
much so as you're going to lead into we broke
round and the steal is up on Armand Neighborhood Hospital
(09:56):
in Harrison County, right next to Minards. We're thrilled with
the progress. That will be open and operational by August
of twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Wow, that's really exciting now, David. We all know that
the focus is on quality of care, but the speed
of which you can get that quality care at these
small format hospitals is unrivaled. It really is.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
It's a model that we adopted here in West Virginia.
One you know, in our state, as you know and
many of our listeners know, we're an economically fragile state.
So we want to make sure when we build things,
they lead with quality, they lead with service, but then
we can financially support them. And you know, to build
these facilities is less expensive than the big hospital like
the Mond Health Medical Center or Ruby Memorial or UHC.
(10:47):
They're bigger, they're broader, they're needed for expanded care, but
some of these don't need that much. And yeah, we
want to bring surgical capacity close to home, and we
do have that with our hospitals I mentioned, So we're
being very responsible with dollar. We're also making sure I
always say a person's emergency is our urgency. Mond Marion
(11:07):
was ranked as the fastest emergency room in the state
of West Virginia, in the top ten in the country
and continues to do that and we're going to see
that same response over it when we open Harrison. And
may I add that since we opened Mond Marian, we
have not had one hospital acquired infection, hospital acquire condition,
or anything in over twelve hundred days. That's an astronomical
(11:30):
Kudos to the staff for being laser focused every patient
every time.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
And you know, I might add you take a look
at the last three years and take a look at
the growth over there at the Mond Marian Neighborhood Hospital,
and you have to consider the fact that when that
was built, the patients really had to come to the
hospital because they were accustomed to the Fairmont Medical Center. However,
(11:55):
your new facility in Harrison County, you're building that right
in the midst of where all the people are.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
It is, and we've scoured Harrison County for the right
location to put that hospital because there's great healthcare being
offered in the region already, but we wanted to make
sure access is improved, the opportunity to compete. I think
competition improves all outcomes. And I give a shout out
to Genesis Partners and Jamie Cordon and Jennifer and the family.
(12:26):
They donated land for us to build the hospital right
there at Charles Point, and then we bought land next
to it to expand over generations as more care is needed.
So we're trying to be very patient, very appropriate, work
with stakeholders to build the right level at the right place.
Same thing with mon Marian. We're incrementally adding services as
the community needs it and as we have the infrastructure
(12:48):
to support it, like twenty four hour hospitalists that round
along with our emergency room physicians, the radiology procedures, the infusion, telemedicine,
and other services that we'll be adding over time.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Do you see the same opportunities for growth except for
maybe even more in Harrison than there were in Marion.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
I think yes. I absolutely believe that there's a need
for more. I mean, as you've seen the population grow
in Greater Harrison County, more homes are being built. I
know the B of four family announced building over one
hundred apartments. There's new home constructions, some new businesses, expansion
at the airport, the bridge, the sports complex is growing.
(13:31):
All of those services and people and locations need enhanced
access to care. And we think we're just adding at
the appropriate time to what the community needs. As it's growing,
infrastructure has to grow with it, and that includes healthcare, education, roads, etc.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Now tell us what's happening right here in Mont County
with mont Health.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Yeah, so we about four or five months ago we
traded property with the county. A big shout out to
our County Commission, the Mecca and IE when one building
on our campus became a part of our Mond family
and when Mecca moved out to the Industrial Park for
their emergency center. So we're going to be using that
(14:12):
building for infrastructure, information technology, and other services. But in
the Mond Health Medical Center building, we've been doing strategic planning.
We're building a new hybrid O R which allows more
minimally invasive procedures to occur with our interventional cardiologists, vascular surgeons,
hard surgeons, pulmonologists. We are building another electric physiology lab.
(14:35):
I call that the electricians of the heart need more
toys and more technology to be able to deal with
the electrical system that the heart deals with. So new
room there, new roofs above the CALF lab, expanding our
CALF labs, some operating room expansion. Our urology practice that
(14:55):
has been sought after for decades is a little dated,
so we're rebuilding that suite and more clinic space in
our medical park as you enter our campus. So a
lot of growth here at Mono Medical Center as we
properly grow for the future.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Now, are there any other medical devices or such things
that are in the pipeline that could be produced by
non health and patented in the future.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Great question. As you know, a few years back we
launched a partnership with Intermed Labs, and yes, we have
had success with some doctor here and Intermed to be
able to come up with a device. Yes, we have
expanded that relationship across all of Vandalia. And to remind
our listeners, Vandalia Health is the marriage of Charleston Area
(15:42):
Medical Center Health System, Monolsystem, and Davis Health System. So
seventeen hospitals strong, thirteen thousand employees now have access to Intermed.
And yes, we have many different devices in robotic surgery
and other types of devices that we are advancing. Heyre
that we hope patent move out, sell, commercialize, but also
(16:03):
improved patient outcomes and bring the ingenuity and expertise of
West Virginia out to the world. So we're very excited.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Now, give us an update on the Stonewall Jackson Memorial
Hospital if you would.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Yeah, I'm glad you asked, because last week there was
some reporting out by another news media that kind of
slanted the story in my opinion, And what happened is
we had our time with the Supreme Court, and as
everyone whoever follows it, I'm a nerd, I'm a political
science guy. The Supreme Court deliberates over decisions. They had
(16:37):
our perspective, they had the state's perspective, they had our
opponent's perspective shared in front of the justices. They asked
questions of all three sides or both sides, depending on
the issue, and then they deliberate over the briefs filed
by the lawyers as well as what was asked and
answered in the room, and they take time. There was
no slanting of the Supreme Court. They asked questions, they
(17:00):
didn't lean one way or the other, and we're hoping
we'll get an answer by the end of the calendar
year on our appeal to replace and rebuild Strowall Jackson
Memorial Hospital on land that we've had for more than
a decade right there at Exit ninety nine on Route
thirty three frontage. So we're excited. I think the people
and Vandalia believes the people of Greater Lewis County deserve
(17:22):
a state of the art facility that's more current to
deliver the care that we're known for, the care the
community needs in a new building. So We're completely committed
to build that building and to keep growing in Lewis
County and talk.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
About the need to replace that building. It's got some
age on it.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Well, I'm about the same age as the building, so
you know a fifty somethings. You know, if you've died,
an exercise and take care of yourself. Things last hopefully,
But the building is dated. It was built at a
time when more care was delivered inpatient. That isn't the
case anymore. A lot of what we do is outpatient
or ambulatory. Heck, you get a knee or a shoulder
(17:59):
replaced her in it out in a day. You're not
there for a couple of days. So we need a
building that reflects current technology and current ways that we
deliver medicine.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
And I think that the people of Lewis County would
certainly appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Without doubt, and they have been just fantastic partners. I mean,
everyone's frustrated with the process, but it also you know,
it's a process. I call it. It's a marathon, not
a sprint. We want to be judicious with the dollar.
We want to make sure we build for the future,
but we build responsibly. I joke with my staff all
the time. You can build yourself into bankruptcy very quickly
by overbuilding, overextending the way you spend your money. We
(18:36):
want to be appropriate, but buildings don't treat people. Treat people,
and we have the best people across Vandalia and at
Stonewall and the hospitals we've mentioned, and we're going to
keep investing and keep recruiting doctors and other clinicians here
to take care of our friends and neighbors in the
communities we serve.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
David Goldberg, president and CEO of mon Health than the
executive vice president of Vandelia Health. David, we really do
appreciate your time this morning.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Thank you, Oh, thank you. As you could hear, we
just had a baby born, so it's another positive day
here at MARN so thanks for the opportunity and let's
go Mountain Ears.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Hey that's great, really seriously, baby just born.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Yeah, right behind me. I don't know if you can
hear it. We play a little Kenny g song when
a baby's born. So that's our eightieth baby so far
for the month.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Hey, that's great. That's great. David. Always a pleasure.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Thank you, Thank you, sir.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Absolutely you take care and have a great day. Baby
born at nine twenty nine of Talk of the Town
on the twenty second of September, we.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Are talking about your town. Now back to the Talk
of the Town.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Well, good Monday morning. It is nine thirty four, just
a few clouds and seventy two degrees in the University city. Now,
the Morgantown Citizen Police Review and Advisory Board that came
into existence shortly after the George Floyd tragedy in the
state of Minnesota. Now, the board itself provides for citizen
(20:24):
participation in reviewing police department policies, practices, and procedures. Plus,
they promote the availability of data relating to police practices
and those same procedures. Now, the board doesn't have the
power to investigate specific incidents of police misconduct. They look
(20:47):
at the overall policies and practices of the police department
and how the officers within that department enact and handle
the policies. Now, there is one open position on that
nine member board. Now, if you maybe thinking that you'd
like to be a member of that board, the members
(21:09):
should be residents of the city or an active member
of an organization that works within the city to promote
purposes consistent with the purpose of the board, And I
guess you could refer to paragraph number one as the
purpose of the board being to review department policies, practices,
(21:32):
and procedures and promote the availability of data relating to
those practices and procedures. Well, you can get more information
about that board if you're considering that at morgantownwv dot gov.
But last week the board met and reviewed some police data,
(21:54):
some arrest statistics. Now, the Advisory Board, they talked about
some updated stats they received from the police department. Now
that information provided details on three thousand, six hundred and
eleven arrests that were reported between two thousand nineteen in
(22:14):
twenty twenty four. Now that number included about six hundred
and fifty larcenies, it's about eighteen percent of that total.
Next on that list of arrests were simple assaults and
driving under the influence. Those are second and third and
(22:34):
the most and were the most the third, second and
third most common arrests made by the Morgantown Police. Now,
clearance rates, that's something that's worth talking about. That means
the actually solving a crime, the clearance the clearance rates
for reported crimes of larceny and simple assaults were very
(22:58):
close to state national average, which I think is right
a thirty percent or maybe just a little bit above
our drug and narcotic offenses. This is what surprised me.
They accounted for approximately eight percent of the arrests over
the past five years. That's two hundred and eighty seven arrests. Now,
(23:19):
disorderly conduct arrests accounted for just about six percent of
those made during the same timeframe, or that's just about
two hundred and fifteen. Now the text line would love
to get maybe some of your thoughts on the topic.
Three h four to talk threeh four now. Second word.
(23:39):
Councilor Jody Hollings said, had some questions during that public
meeting that was held at the center relating specifically to
the racial demographics within those numbers. Now, one area in
particular that wasn't concerned to Councilor Hollings had was seventeen
(24:00):
percent of the total arrests over the past five years
were African American people, while the total population in the
city is just about five percent. Now, there are plans
for Morgantown City Council to meet with Cheap Pal in
the near future, and Hollings had hopes to talk to
(24:22):
police leadership about those numbers and the fact that there
were no formal complaints over that same period that were
filed against the police department over the past ten years. Now,
she said that she's relatively familiar with the policing and
crime trends in Morgantown. However, there are some glaring numbers
(24:44):
in that data, particularly the democratic and think that that's
something that we need to look at. That's a quote
from Holling said. As a result of that public meeting
that was held last week at the Ascend Center, now,
the residents who attended the meeting got chance to listen
to the board members and get a feel for what
the board does, how they do it, and who is
(25:06):
doing it now. There was one resident who elected to
address the board. That gentleman's name was Cory Anderson. Now,
Corey told the members of the board that his interactions
with the police have been positive and reflected back to
I believe it was a situation revolving around the backyard brawl.
(25:28):
Now Anderson told the board, you know, it's nice to
know what's going on. He's had several positive interactions with
the police lately, and it's nice to know that is
not a typical. Now the police actually are engaging in
good things and behaving according to the rules of police
(25:48):
responsibility and what you have what okay? And of the
rules regarding police responsibility, was Anderson's comment to the board.
Now during that meeting, not that meeting, I'm sorry. We
got to go back to May of twenty twenty five
(26:13):
May of this year when there were other concerns about
complaints to the Morgantown Police Department and complaints about their activities,
lack thereof, or maybe over policing, maybe we'll call it that.
At that time, the board members took a look at
(26:34):
the website and said that, you know that the complaint
process was too difficult to access. Now, there was a
gentleman that came to a meeting that said he had
a bad encounter with the police. So he went down
to the Public Safety building at the corner of Spruce
and Walnut, went inside and had to talk to a
(26:56):
woman behind a thick bulletproof lass in order to get
a complaint form. He said that that process was intimidating
and really didn't promote a free interaction between the police
department and the community. The board then took that and thought, well,
a couple of things, we need to maybe make the
(27:19):
complaint procedure just a little bit easier to access and
put a button on the website. Well there was a
matter of fact, a button added to the website. They're
doing some things to help the complaint process. At the
most recent regular meeting of the board, there was another
resident that came in that said that he had been
(27:42):
pulled over that he felt wrongly by what he thought
was an unmarked police car, and that complaint was brought
to the board. The board kind of wrestled with that
just a little bit. But you know, in reality, once
an arrest has made, the police officer is a cent
out of it. He becomes a witness and it becomes
(28:03):
a matter of the court, and at that point, to
really complain about an arrest, or complain about a ticket,
the only way to successfully do that is to argue
that through the court. However, as we think about complaints
in the police department, I mean, if I've been pulled
(28:26):
over by the police, and I got to be honest
with you, I've never really had a bad interaction with police.
Make it a point to do what I'm told, when
I'm told to do it, and how I'm told to
do it, and I try to I try to understand
their part of the job as well as reminding myself
(28:50):
or remembering what my rights are. However, I think that
when we take a look at the city of Morgantown,
the best thing that we could do is residents is
you know what, we could file a complaint slash compliment.
You know, we could make our thoughts known about our
(29:11):
police department, about our police officers. And I'm sure, look,
they're not perfect. There's no doubt about that. They are
not perfect. However, I think that a lot of times,
especially in a situation like this, when we're looking at
arrest data, those are just numbers. Those aren't actual incidents.
(29:34):
They are actual incidents. However, when we look at the numbers,
all we see are the numbers. All we know seventeen
percent of those arrests were African Americans. There's a lot
that we don't know about. That's seventeen percent that I
agree we most certainly do need to find out. But
(29:55):
to key in on that as a potential problem as
a race disparity, I think that is jumping the gun
and certainly very short sighted. And I think that that'll
be something that comes out of this process and the
(30:16):
effort to get more information from the police. And I
think that they're definitely moving in that direction, and the
police department is certainly willing to provide this data. And
I think that the FBI crime data that the board
goes over quite a bit. A lot of that data,
(30:39):
I believe is skewed. However, not necessarily in a bad way,
but on a national scale that makes it maybe a
little bit more difficult for that to apply to the
city of Morgantown. Well, when we come back, we're going
to talk just a little bit about arrests and arrest data.
(31:03):
It's coming up next on Talk of the Town AM
fourteen forty FM oneh four point five WAJR.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Join the conversation at one eight hundred and seven sixty
five eight two fivey five. This is the Talk of
the Town.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Good Monday morning. It is nine point fifty in the
University City And for your planning purposes, a Civilian Police
Review and Advisory Board. They meet on the second Thursday
of the month at noon. They do that at the
Morgantown Public library, the downtown location in meeting Room B.
(31:54):
Once again, the arrests that we want to take a
closer look at, I think, or I think that's worthy
of taking a good close look at, because you know what,
they sometimes interpret things like this as evidence of maybe
systemic bias. I think that's what they call it in policing.
(32:17):
And then you know, maybe others will talk about the
socioeconomic factors that might be active in neighborhoods, poverty, neighborhood conditions,
and access to resources, some things like that. But I
think it is really vital to not confuse arrests with
the offenses committed, because even though seventeen percent of those
(32:43):
arrests in that data were African American people, it doesn't
mean that one hundred percent of those seventeen people that
were arrested were officially charged or even went to court.
I think that when we talk about arrests, that we
need to understand that that's an interaction on the scene
(33:05):
of an incident and that will be adjudicated at a
later date by the court system. And you know, many newspapers,
many other media outlets don't print arrest data anymore, just
for that simple purpose because when you're arrested, you're innocent
(33:29):
until proven guilty. So the arrest has really kind of
lost its importance in a lot of ways in today's world. Now.
A key point is, you know, arrest data, it's not
the same as crime data. It doesn't necessarily mean of
(33:49):
it's not indicative of any type of an act, or
maybe it's not something to point at in order to
say that we've got a problem here, or you can't
really use it to say that we don't have a
problem maybe in another area. I think that a lot
(34:10):
of times today, especially when we look at arrests, we
have tools that we didn't have even five years ago.
And one of the most important tools that we have
that we didn't have five years ago is surveillance video.
And surveillance video can certainly answer a lot of questions
(34:32):
and prevent a lot of we'll just say, unnecessary debate.
For example, you could go back to the murder of
WVU student Eric Smith Seandarius reader Terrell Lanier were involved
in that particular killing, both convicted of first degree murder
in that case. They're very clear surveillance footage of Lanier
(34:59):
and re in several areas of downtown and in this
particular case, Reader had a pink firearm and that pink
firearm was was visible in all of those surveillance images
that came from downtown. Additionally, more surveillance video at the
(35:21):
walmart there at University Town Center where the pair were arrested. Again,
a lot of information that you know, maybe five ten
years ago wouldn't have been available. But now that we
have that information, we can take a look at it
and we know exactly why some arrests happened. We know
exactly what happened leading up to a situation, things that
(35:46):
we didn't have maybe in twenty nineteen when some of
this data was beginning to have been collected. We'll see
how that all works out now. This week, that is
Narcan Day is coming up later this week and tomorrow
will be welcoming a couple of representatives from the Mont
(36:06):
County Health Department to talk about NARCAN Day and why
you should keep narcan maybe carry it around with you.
And then also the state Democratic Party they're involved in
what they're calling a kitchen table tour and we're going
to welcome i believe, Delegate Evan Hansen to the program
this week. We're going to talk about what the Democrats
(36:29):
are doing and what they would like to hear, and
when maybe the next kitchen table talk is coming so
you can participate. Just a few clouds seventy two degrees
be back to wrap things up after this on Top
of the Town AM fourteen forty FM one four point
five WAJR
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