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Thursday, June 15,  2006

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ASL OFFICIALS learned this week that the law school has been granted full accreditation. From left, (front) are Retired Judge Nicholas Persin, outgoing chairman of the board of trustees; President Lu Ellsworth; Incoming Chairman of the Board of Trustees/Grundy Mayor, Roger Powers; and (back) Charlie Ellis, Roger Rife and Dawneda Williams, trustees.

ASL Earns Full Accreditation
Law School Learns Its Application Is Approved; Community Applauded

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor

    The Appalachian School of Law got the news it was hoping for Monday when Dean Jeffrey Kinsler received a call from the American Bar Association informing him ASL has been granted full accreditation.
  "Obviously, this is the most important day in the law school’s history and it gives us something to continue to build upon for the future," Kinsler said. "It’s all due to the hard work of countless people . . . students, faculty, staff, the community. It’s been a long process and it’s very, very good news."
  The news was what law school officials had been hoping for after learning in late April that the ABA Accreditation Committee had recommended ASL be granted full approval.
  Still, the recommendation did not become official until this past weekend after a vote was taken by the ABA’s Council of the Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. On Sunday, the decision was finalized and accreditation for the Southwest Virginia school became official.
  Within moments of learning the news via telephone, it was posted on the ASL website. The message was simple: "We are very pleased to announce that the Appalachian School of Law was granted full accreditation by the American Bar Association on June 12, 2006."
  What it means is that ASL, which has been provisionally accredited since academic year 2000-2001, is fully accredited and as a result, any bar association in the country looking at an ASL graduate’s transcript knows that graduate has completed a course of study in accordance with ABA guidelines and requirements.   
  Further, full accreditation is a sign that the institution as a whole meets ABA guidelines in many different categories upon which law schools across the country are judged as well.   
  It is viewed as a mature and stable step that law schools take and puts them in the category of becoming nationally rated and recognized by national employers and law firms, according to Joe Wolfe, a member of the ASL board of trustees.
  "We’ve now got that stamp of approval, Wolfe said, adding that achieving full accreditation was "really a dream come true."

For more of the story, see the print edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at newsstands now.  To subscribe to the Mountaineer, call 276-935-2123 today.


3 Coal Companies File Suit Against DMME
Action Alleges Agency Hasn't Followed Its Own Rules

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor

  Three area coal companies have filed suit against the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy seeking a writ of mandamus and injunctive relief related to a discharge permit filed by CONSOL now pending before that state agency.
  The complaint, filed Tuesday afternoon in Buchanan Circuit Court by Ben Street for Buchanan Coal Company LLP, Sayers Pocahontas Coal Company LLP and Yukon Pocahontas Coal Company LLP, asks the court to compel DMME and the Division of Mined Land Reclamation (DMLR) to discharge their statutory and regulatory duties.
  At issue is the manner in which the permit was filed and subsequently, the manner in which a May informal conference on that permit was conducted by the state agency.
  The complaint filed Tuesday suggests DMLR has failed to enforce its own rules and regulations by allegedly failing to require CONSOL to file a complete copy of its permit application with the Buchanan County Clerk’s office and by failing to require CONSOL to file all amendments.
  "The absence of these documents at the local level, combined with the DMLRs failure to file copies of previously submitted written objections, has rendered the informal conference conducted on May 23, 2006, a procedural nullity and wholly ineffective for the purpose for which it was intended," the complaint alleges. "The DMLR is required by law to record the informal conference. . .; it is required by law to file copies of written objections with the local clerk’s office; it is mandated by law to require applicants to observe and obey its regulations, including filing complete applications, as amended with the local clerk’s office. The DMLR has failed and/or refused to perform its duties."
  Specifically, the complaint filed asks for the court to compel DMME to "properly advertise and reconvene the informal conference in the permit application process at issue."
  It also requests that CONSOL be required to file a complete copy of its permit application, as amended, with the local clerk’s office prior to the informal conference and for DMME to be compelled to record, in its totality, the reconvened informal conference.   Further, it asks the court to require DMME to file a copy of all written objections filed with DMLR within 30 days of the conclusion of the initial four-week public notice period at the Buchanan County Clerks office.

For more of the story, see the print edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at newsstands now.  To subscribe to the Mountaineer, call 276-935-2123 today.



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ATTENTION: ASL Students, 
Parents, Community Members . . .

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