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From: "Kyfran" <>
Subject: [ANDERSON-L] Fw: [KYGEN-L] [STATE-COORD-L] FYI
Date: Sat, 27 Jun 1998 07:14:41 -0400

-----Original Message-----
From: Nancy Trice <>
To: <>
Date: Saturday, June 27, 1998 2:43 AM
Subject: [KYGEN-L] [STATE-COORD-L] FYI

>Followup on the earlier posts about the WV records that
were destroyed.
>nt
>
>
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>>Resent-Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 21:52:00 -0700 (PDT)
>>Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 21:48:02 +0000
>>From: Linda Lewis <>
>>Organization: USGenWeb Archives, VAGenWeb
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>>Subject: [STATE-COORD-L] FYI
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>>From: "Pam Mullinax" <>
>>To: Multiple recipients of list
<>
>>Subject: THIRD NEWSPAPER STORY ABOUT MARION COUNTY
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>>
>>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 t=
>>wo
>>stories. It was, as follows:
>>
>>* * * * *
>>By Theresa Haynes=20
>>Times West Virginian Staff Writer
>>
>>FAIRMONT -=20
>>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 a=
>>ny
>>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outdated files and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and outdated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 stor=
>>ed
>>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. =A0=A0"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 fireproo=
>>f
>>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 t=
>>o
>>restore the Jacob's building so we could have a place to
put the permanen=
>>t
>>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 t=
>>he
>>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-Civ=
>>il
>>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 wan=
>>t
>>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."
=A0=A0Starcher 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 abandone=
>>d
>>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."=20
>>* * * * *
>>
>>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. =20
>>
>>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 wha=
>>t
>>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. =20
>>
>>It was Cody Starcher's secretive actions that raised the
suspicions of th=
>>e
>>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 acte=
>>d
>>in the spirit of the early American Revolutionaries (many
of our ancestor=
>>s)
>>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 pressur=
>>e,
>>that is up to you. An address list of the Marion County
Commissioners is
>>below:
>>
>>
>> BOARD OFCOMMISSIONERS
>>
>>PRESIDENT, James E Sago (304-367-5400) =09
>>200 Jackson Street / Fairmont, WV 26554 =20
>>
>>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:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>***********************************************************
*******************
>
> Nancy Trice / Hopkins County, Ky /
> Nominee for USGenWeb National Coordinator
> Election Page:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/nominee.html
> Homepage: http://www.vci.com/~trice/
> KyGenWeb: http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/
> KyGenWeb Archives:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ky/kyfiles.html
> Hopkins Co Ky: http://www.rootsweb.com/~kyhopkin
>
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• [ANDERSON-L] Fw: [KYGEN-L] [STATE-COORD-L] FYI by "Kyfran" <>