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 The Petersburg City Council confirmed last week that this year’s Trick-or-Treat event will be held on Halloween night (Oct. 31) starting at 6 p.m.

The council asked that anyone interested in participating leave their porch lights on to let trick-or-treaters and their families know which households will be giving out sweets this year.

The announcement came during the council’s regularly scheduled Oct. 7 meeting.

 Construction is underway on the Grant County community pavilion that will soon sit on Virginia Avenue in Petersburg.

The pavilion has been a ongoing project in the county and will be named in honor of the late Becki Alt Lanhardt.

 Shentel (Shenandoah Telecommunications Company), a local internet provider, has officially completed construction on a broadband expansion project that will bring high-speed internet to over 140 Grant County addresses that previously struggled to have access to reliable internet.

The project includes over nine miles of fiber infrastructure and will hit 141 addresses in the North Fork Highway, Sunrise Drive and Corner Road area of the county.

However, the road from initial idea to construction was far from easy and included a close-working partnership between the Grant County Commission and Shentel.

The Grant County Board of Education heard a progress report on their infrastructure updates being performed by energy savings consulting and engineering firm, CMTA. 

The company appears before the board on an annual basis to give an update on the energy projects underway in the county, including the solar field at Petersburg Elementary School and the geothermal system at Union Educational Complex.

The infrastructure update projects that CMTA has assisted with are being completed across multiple phases. The first phase, which began in 2017, the company performed a districtwide lighting and controls update. This ultimately saved the school system enough money through reduced energy costs to fund the remainder of the projects in this phase. 

“That first phase was fully paid for by energy savings,” explained company representative Salvador Loc. “So, the money you were already spending towards utility costs were able to be diverted directly back into your facilities.”

Grant Memorial Hospital added an important piece of new technology to their hospital last week, one that could play a role in saving countless lives. 

Dr. Jong Kim, a radiologist with Grant Memorial Hospital and WVU Medicine, assisted in cutting the ribbon to the hospital’s new MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machine. MRI machines produce detailed images of the organs and tissues in the body and can be useful in the early detection of serious issues, such as cancer. 

Kim has been working as a radiologist at GMH for over 30 years.

“This is a big deal,” Dr. Kim said. “A small hospital this size does not typically have their own MRI on site. We have always had MRI services here, but the machine always came on a truck a few times a week. That is typically what a small, rural hospital can afford. But for us to have a full service MRI in-house is a big deal.”

 Grant County’s former ambulance director has filed a lawsuit claiming he was removed from the position due to whistle-blower retaliation and discrimination following an incident in which an ambulance driver illegally pulled a concealed firearm and physically punched a suspect during a domestic violence incident.

Robert Funk worked as the county’s Director of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) since August 2017 until February 2024 when he was removed from the position.

In the first section of his complaint, which was filed last month in the Grant County Circuit Court, Funk described an incident in 2020-21 when Grant County Ambulance was contacted by Grant Memorial Hospital and requested a mental hygiene patient be transported out of the county. After the transport, Funk contacted the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health, Office of Emergency Medical Services and was advised not to transport mental hygiene patients in the future.

 Grant County Schools will be hosting the Charleston Clay Center’s Clay2Go Outreach Exhibit, a large exhibit that offers interactive education and experience with scientific concepts.

Grant County Superintendent Mitch Webster said he saw the exhibit on display in another area and was impressed with the scientific interactivity and quickly began working to bring it to Grant County.

“There was a long wait list and a lot of work that goes into something like this, but I came back and went to Ms. [Linda] Carlson and asked if she would take this on and get it arranged, and she did, and I greatly appreciate that,” Webster explained.

 A local peer recovery coach and counselor was honored yesterday as a “Beacon of Hope” in the community, being awarded the 2024 Beacon of Hope award during a ceremony at Grant Memorial Hospital by the Mosaic Group.

Roger Dodd works not only with the Potomac Highlands Guild and the Russ Hedrick Resource and Recovery Center but also serves as a first contact for those hospitalized from overdose at Grant Memorial Hospital and Potomac Valley Hospital in Keyser.

“Roger’s commitment to patients is nothing short of extraordinary,” said Marla Oros, the CEO of the Mosaic Group. “He embodies the essence of a peer recovery coach, tirelessly dedicating himself to guide individuals on their path to recovery from substance abuse. Roger’s role is not just about providing support, it’s about promoting health and preventing harm. He stands as a guardian for those who may have lost their way.”