Yates Says CEDA Successes Through Years Have Been Many

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor
  As Charles Yates steps aside as the director of the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority at the end of this week, he leaves behind a trail of successes -- none of which he will take personal credit for, but which others can and will look back on and attribute in part to his leadership of the authority.
  Yates is retiring effective January 1 as CEDA's director, and deputy director Jonathan Belcher is poised to take over the reins.
  Leaving things in Belcher's capable hands after 19 years at the helm makes it a little easier, Yates said.
  Looking back on his 19-year history with the authority as its only director, he said without a doubt that the creation of CEDA for the coalfields was one of the most positive moves to have occurred in economic development history in the region. When CEDA was created by the General Assembly in 1988, it was with an eye toward helping the coalfield counties of the state get a leg up in the economic development arena.
  Nineteen years later, he said, it is evident that goal has been accomplished in part, but he added, there is still work to be done.
  "CEDA as an organization was created at absolutely the perfect time," Yates said. "There was a window of opportunity to create the organization and frankly, if it hadn't been created then, I doubt it would ever have been created."
  At the time the authority was organized, Yates said each of the member counties had a surplus of coal haul road funds and CEDA created a way for those funds to be put to good use to further opportunities in the region as a whole.
  The key to CEDA's original thinking was the preparation for a time in the future when coal would not necessarily be an economic force.
  "The authority structure turned out to be a very sound with a business-oriented foundation," Yates added.
  With the many resources it had, the authority has been able to secure diversification by bringing new job opportunities to the region.
  "The record established by the authority is outstanding by any measure," Yates said, continuing, "it's not that we've done everything perfect, but due to the challenges we've faced and continue to face, good decisions were made and the results are there for anyone who wants to look."

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2006: A Look Back at the News Which Made The Headlines

  Few topics captured local headlines in 2006 like Consolidation Coal Company's controversial plan to discharge mine water into the Levisa River near Poetown.
  The issue slid into the public's conscience more than a year ago after Buchanan County officials, including Grundy Town Council, the Grundy Industrial Development Authority and the board of supervisors passed resolutions condemning such action. The town IDA went as far as hiring an independent firm to conduct a study regarding possible consequences of the plan. And although the study found the water in question wouldn't be "toxic," as had been suggested, some aquatic life might avoid that section of the river.
  The portion of the Levisa that would be affected by the discharged water is approximately three-quarters of a mile in length.
  The plan was opposed locally, but was ultimately approved by the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy. That approval, however has been challenged and the issues now rest in the hands of a hearing officer who will consider whether DMME acted properly in granting the permit. That hearing and decision are not expected until March. In the meantime, a number of civil lawsuits are still pending on the case.
  The overall permit application also still lacks approval by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
  Among the year's other major local news events included DNA testing that proved what many Buchanan County residents never questioned -- that Roger Keith Coleman was in fact guilty of raping and murdering his sister-in-law in 1981.
  Discussion of the trial and its aftermath, which kept Grundy in the national media spotlight for years, rarely waned in the years following the murder. Though some who followed the case believed Coleman was sentenced to death and executed for a crime he didn't commit, Gov. Mark Warner's ordering of the testing put those questions to rest for good as the results reaffirmed the jury's guilty verdict.
  The year was not without its share of sadness with one of the more tragic events occurring in February, when North Grundy Supervisor Joe Keene and his Jewell Smokeless Coal Company co-worker, Robert Frank Goff, died from injuries sustained in a three-vehicle accident on Rt. 638 at Pilgrim's Knob. A month later, Carroll Branham was chosen to fill the vacated seat, a position he was re-elected to in November.
  There was good news throughout the year too, however, as advances were made in PSA water projects, construction related to the Grundy Flood Control Project continued and renovations were started on the old Garden High School building to turn it into a campus for the University of Appalachia College of Pharmacy. The Appalachian School of Law gained  full accreditation and work on the Poplar Gap-Lover's Gap project continued to hold great promise for the county for the future.
  Following is an account of some of the weekly headlines which appeared in the Mountaineer and made the news in 2006

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