Letsen Joins Commonwealth Attorney's Office as Its New Assistant

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor 
  Michael Letsen has joined the Buchanan County Commonwealth Attorney's Office as an assistant commonwealth attorney.
  Letsen, a 2005 graduate of the Appalachian School of Law, will be responsible primarily for prosecution of cases in General District Court.
  A native of Northern Virginia, he is a son of Carl and Sally Letsen.
  A graduate of Liberty University, he holds a bachelor of science degree in government. He earned his juris doctor degree at ASL and passed the Virginia State Bar. He has also passed the Washington D.C. Bar and will be licensed to practice in D.C. within the next two months.
  After graduating from ASL, Letsen returned to northern Virginia, where he practiced family law in the Fredricksburg area. He also worked as a youth minister while there.
  "I like the area and the people are friendly," Letsen said about his decision to return to Buchanan County when the assistant's post came open.
  He is engaged to be married later this spring.

DMME Director Issues CONSOL Permit Review Decision
Hearing Will Be in Big Stone Gap; No Changes in Parties to Appeal

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor  
  A recent review of a Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy hearings officer ruling related to issues surrounding an appeal on the state agency's approval of a discharge permit for Consolidation Coal Company upheld the hearing officer's decision.
  The results of the review and reconsideration of the decision were issued by DMME Deputy Director Benny Wampler in a brief six paragraph letter February 9 in which Wampler indicated based on his review of the hearing record, "I cannot find that Hearings Officer Thomas J. McCarthy Jr. erred in his findings."
  As a result, Wampler affirmed and adopted McCarthy's ruling which will leave the location for the formal administrative hearing in Big Stone Gap and which denies Big Rock resident Wade McNeely status as either a party to the appeal or as an intervenor.
  When the hearing officer issued his decision in January, both McNeely and Buchanan County appealed the findings.
  The hearing officer's decision followed  a pre-hearing conference in Big Stone Gap and denied Mickey McGlothlin, Buchanan County Commonwealth Attorney Sheila Hale Tolliver and McNeely -- all three of whom filed timely appeals to the initial permit discharge decision as individuals -- either party or intervenor status in the case.
  In his two-page written opinion on the issues brought up at the November pre-hearing conference, McCarthy said McGlothlin, Tolliver and McNeely had not shown "an immediate, pecuniary or substantial interest in the litigation" and further that they "appeared to base their requests 'on a wish to redress some anticipated public injury when the only wrong (they) have suffered is in common with other persons similarly situated'."
  McNeely objected to the ruling when he received the decision in January.
  "I feel they they (the hearing officer and hearing coordinator) just want to silence the general public to what's going on with the permit application," McNeely said then.  "They banned me from speaking because I wasn't a lawyer, or that's what they say. Maybe it's because they don't want to have the facts about pollution brought out at the hearing.
  "I'm not representing any coal mining interest or have an economic interest or where I can make a profit like the majority of the ones that was at the pre-hearing who was against the permit," McNeely continued to note in announcing his intent to file an appeal. "I'm only out to stop this permit purely for the interest of the environment, which will be for the benefit of our children, grandchildren and future generations; we must leave something for them."
  He questioned if the discharge was planned for the Cheasapeake Bay area if it would "even be considered?"
  In his ruling, McCarthy stated that the only parties to the appeal of the DMME decision to issue the permit as it goes forward will be the Big Vein companies, the Town of Grundy, the Buchanan County Board of Supervisors, Wellmore Coal Company LLC,and Levisa Coal Company.
  Consolidation Coal Company asked to intervene in the case and its motion to intervene was granted.
  McCarthy, in his ruling, also limited the matters to be considered at the formal hearing to the application, with matters pertaining to previously approved applications not to be considered.
  Further, McCarthy ruled that the burden of proof would be on those seeking to set aside the DMME decision to grant the permit, instead of on the agency to prove why the action to grant the application was proper.
  McCarthy also denied requests to move the venue for the formal hearing to Buchanan County.
  No date for the hearing had been set at press time.

Bill Would Make Colleges More Affordable for Many

by Scotty Wampler
Staff Reporter  
  Virginia legislation that would make it more affordable for community college students to transfer to major universities is gaining support statewide.
  If approved, the Community College Transfer Grant (Senate bill 749, House bill 1681), would freeze the community college tuition rate for the junior and senior years of students transferring to public, four-year colleges or universities, or at reduced rates for private institutions.
  "This is a tremendous step forward as far as education in Virginia," said Jason Hayes, president of the Southwest Virginia Community College chapter of Virginia 21, a student lobbying group.
  If passed, the legislation would provide higher education grants to Virginia residents who have completed an associate degree program at any state community college and have been admitted to a public or nonprofit private institution.
  To be eligible, a student must have maintained a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 on a scale of 4.0, or its equivalent, while enrolled in an associate degree program at a Virginia community college. Also, he or she must have applied for financial aid, and have financial need, defined by  having a family income of equal to or less than 150 percent of Virginia median family income, or 150 percent of the median family income of their home locality, whichever is greater.
  "There has been a healthy, growing awareness of the importance of higher education to the future of both the Commonwealth and her citizens," Senator Walter Stosch (R-Henrico), co-sponsor of the legislation, said in a press release regarding the grant. "I am convinced that for the system needed to drive Virginia's economic engine to be successful it must be accessible and affordable for all. That will require extraordinary cooperation between the community college system and our four year institutions, public and private. This measure is one more step down that path."
  Delegate Vincent Callahan (R-Fairfax) is also sponsoring the bill.
  Dale Hayes, another SVCC Virginia 21 representative, is urging the local community to speak out in support of the proposed program, asking for state representatives to be contacted and for letters to be written to legislators and newspapers asking that the bills gain approval.
  "We need the community's involvement," he said. "The more support we have, the better chance we have of getting this thing passed."
  "We support this measure because it will reduce the cost for Virginia families who struggle to pay for a college education," said Glenn DuBois, chancellor of Virginia's Community College System. "We also believe this would encourage more Virginians to pursue a higher education by using the community college as the on-ramp to a four-year degree, saving themselves -- and Virginia taxpayers -- significant money."