Thursday night, the Upper West Fork
country in Washington District was hit by a terrific
rain storm or cloud burst that inflicted great
damage to growing crops and washed out roads and
culverts.
One wing of a box culvert on Rt. 16, near the residence of
prosecuting attorney Bee Hopkins at Minnora, was washed out and a huge hole
washed in the road.
At Chloe, near the mouth of Walnut, it is said that water
invaded the store and nearby houses, causing much damage. The residence of
Samuel Witte, near Minnora, was flooded by a small stream that runs behind his
house.
The flood and its resulting damage is said to be the worst in
the history of the district.
An unusual drowning accident in East
Liverpool, Ohio, took the life of a Calhoun County
man last Sunday.
Cline Cogar, 21, of Grantsville, was swept away from the grasp
of the officiating minister while being baptized in the water of Beaver Creek.
Cogar, who was described as a husky 200-lb. man, was one of
about 40 persons said to be baptized that day in the Lord Jesus Christ Church by
Rev. Gallard McCartney of Akron. Cogar was the minister’s nephew.
Columbiana County chief deputy sheriff James Miller, who
investigated the drowning, reported that McCartney said he had just immersed
young Cogar in the water when the youth was swept downstream by the rain-swollen
current. While the minister and other church members looked on, Cogar
disappeared beneath the surface. The minister was so stunned, he was taken to an
East Liverpool hospital for shock.
The drowning was ruled as an accident because Cogar could not
swim.
According to West Virginia secretary of state A. James Manchin,
Calhoun County is in violation of the state’s election laws.
In certified letters addressed to commissioners David Barr,
Lloyd Vaughn and Glenn Hamlin, as well as county clerk Richard Stalnaker, the
officials were told they were not complying with the codes that require all
magisterial districts to be drawn according to population, not registration.
Manchin charged that “the Center Magisterial District . . .
contains a population of 2,233 persons. The Sherman District
. . . contains a population of 1,027. These two examples alone represent
magisterial districts of the county which are grossly and unconstitutionally
disproportionate in population, with a population deviation of 117.4%. The
populations of Sherman, Washington and Lee magisterial districts are nearly as
disproportionate. The census bureau records indicate that there has been no
re-apportionment of magisterial districts in Calhoun County for many years.”
According to Manchin, the redistricting must be accomplished no
later than Dec. 31.
Since Manchin’s order did not give population statistics for all
of the districts, Stalnaker wrote to Manchin to request more specific
information.