Thanks goes to Jack W Ralph for this UPDATE on the subject message sent out earlier today. --------------------------- > Even though the story is certainly no hoax, perhaps it has been blown out of > proportion somewhat. I don't know who to believe yet. Here is the third > article on the subject. > > >Please bear with me for this last, long email. There was a third story > >published today, June 26, by the WV Times about Marion County, and to be > >fair, it should be available to the same people who have read the first two > >stories. It was, as follows: > > > >* * * * * > >By Theresa Haynes > >Times West Virginian Staff Writer > > > >FAIRMONT - > >Local genealogists searching for an old marriage record or birth > >certificate do not need to go sifting through the trash. > > > >Marion County Clerk Janice Cosco said her department did not throw away any > >permanent records from the Jacobs building earlier this month when > >maintenance workers cleared away six BFI Dumpsters of outdated files and > >papers from the historic building. > > > >"Everything we are charged by law to keep was not thrown away," she said. > >"No permanent records, that I know of, were thrown away." > > > >Cosco, who has been the county's clerk for 18 years, said she still has > >original copies of wills, birth certificates, death certificates, deeds, > >marriage certificates, land transfers, voter registration records and > >county commission records dating back to the county's inception in 1842. > > > >She said her department discarded old fiscal records, pieces of paper > >recording every penny spent at the county clerk's office, and outdated > >universal consumer code slips, which record credit transactions. > > > >Cosco said she is legally responsible to save the receipt books for 10 > >years and the consumer code slips for seven years, but she boxed and stored > >the records for at least two decades. > > > >For years the Jacobs building housed these outdated records, but earlier > >this month Cosco gave maintenance workers permission to trash the papers > >including some receipt books dating back to 1920. > > > >The county clerk said she would have liked to save everything but there > >just was not room to house it all. "The public needs to understand that > >in order to keep their precious records we have to have a place to put > >them," she said as she stood inside one of the courthouse's many fireproof > >vaults filled with old wills and birth, marriage and death records. > > > >"(Marion County Commissioner) Cody Starcher has gotten all kinds of flak > >over this, but Cody should get an award," she said. "He found the money to > >restore the Jacob's building so we could have a place to put the permanent > >records." > > > >Last year Starcher was instrumental in getting the state to approve > >transferring $330,000 from the jail improvement fund to renovate the > >dilapidated Jacobs building. > > > >When renovations are complete, the old building will be used for office > >space and record storage. > > > >Starcher, who is also overseeing the Jacobs building cleanup, said he did > >not sort through the five floors of piled papers and books, but allowed the > >county clerk, circuit clerk, prosecuting attorney and assessor to walk > >through the building and take what they wanted. Everything else was > >discarded. > > > >Local historians believe some records, including 10 leather-bound pre-Civil > >War Justice of the Peace books, were thrown away because no one in the > >courthouse set them aside to be kept. > > > >Because Justice of the Peace books are not considered permanent records, > >Starcher said the county could have thrown them away years ago. > > > >But the former Justice of the Peace said he does not know for sure if the > >Justice of the Peace books dating back to 1842 were destroyed because he > >does not know what the historical books look like or why anyone would want > >them. > > > >"I don't know why anyone would want to look at those anyway," he asked. "I > >guess it is all in the eye of the beholder." Starcher said even if > >historians thought the information in the books was valuable, the books > >themselves were damaged from years of sitting in a dusty, nearly abandoned > >building. > > > >"That building was burned three times and everything in there was rained > >on. Some of the windows were broken out," he said. "Anything in there was > >scarred, scratched or torn up." > > > >The county commissioner said the Jacobs building still is in such poor > >condition he is afraid to allow genealogists and historians to search > >through the remaining records at the old building. > > > >"We couldn't keep all five floors of junk and garbage and renovate that > >building," he said. "We thought we would do something better for the town > >and the county and renovate the building. That took precedence over a > >couple of books that might have been thrown away." > >* * * * * > > > >MY COMMENTS: > > > >First of all, thank each of you who have contributed your emails and > >letters in protest of the actions by the Marion County Commissioners. I > >was amazed at how quickly the masses responded despite our physical > >separation (this 'ole Internet is pretty good, eh?). The pressure we > >created was felt by all the local government, citizens and especially the > >county commissioners of Marion County. > > > >The jury is still out on whether all the materials that were dumped were, > >indeed, unrelated to the object of genealogy or historian researchers. I > >don't feel comfortable that their "definition" of what was thrown away > >excludes materials that would be of benefit to some! We imagined the > >worst, since Mr. Cody Starcher admitted there was not an inventory of what > >was tossed. With no inventory, we were all free to imagine what was in > >that pile, and Mr. Starcher can not prove us wrong. He has no idea he > >didn't toss some historical or cultural treasure, no matter how minor it > >may have been to him. > > > >This is a democracy, and we do have a right to be told before public > >records are thrown away. Our outrage continues to be about our paid > >officials making unilateral decisions such as was made. They should not be > >allowed to decide who to invite in to "take what they want" and then to > >decide to have the rest hauled away before anyone else could see it. > > > >It was Cody Starcher's secretive actions that raised the suspicions of the > >local Marion County historians and, eventually, the newspapers and then > >each of us. We were all outraged over Commissioner Starcher's arbitrary > >exercise of power, and we've done well to spotlight it! We have all acted > >in the spirit of the early American Revolutionaries (many of our ancestors) > >who demanded public officials be accountable to the public. As a friend > >said, "we showed up with Email pitchforks, and Cody didn't like it." > > > >Hopefully, our actions this week will serve to keep records that are left > >in Marion County and elsewhere preserved. Thank you again for helping to > >spotlight a wrongful action. If you should want to continue that pressure, > >that is up to you. An address list of the Marion County Commissioners is > >below: > > > > > > BOARD OFCOMMISSIONERS > > > >PRESIDENT, James E Sago (304-367-5400) > >200 Jackson Street / Fairmont, WV 26554 > > > >Commissioner Cecily Enos (304-367-5400) > >200 Jackson Street / Fairmont, WV 26554 > > > >Commissioner Cody Starcher (304-367-5400) > >200 Jackson Street / Fairmont, WV 26554 > > > >Assessor Thomas Davis (304-367-5410) > >200 Jackson Street / Fairmont, WV 26554 > > > >Circuit Clerk Barbara Core (304-367-5360) > >PO Box 1269 / Fairmont, WV 26554 > > > >County Clerk Janice Cosco (304-367-5440) > >PO Box 1267 / Fairmont, WV 26554 > > > >* * * * * > > > >Pam Mullinax > >E-Mail: > > [email protected] > >