Judge Jennifer Bailey To Participate In Drug Addiction Summit Monday June 1

I don't know Kanawha 13th circuit Judge Judge Jennifer Bailey so when I heard she would be a panelist at tomorrow's West Virginia Addiction Summit I didn't know if she's going to be the 13th circuit judge who shows the others how to engage with the stakeholders or if I was simply seeing the unofficial start of her re-election campaign. She's been quoted using the words "prison" and "alternatives" in the same sentence so I followed her on Facebook. Yeah, she has her "follow" button turned on. But I can't find her on Twitter.

I'll tell you who I did find on Twitter: Judge Carrie Webster. Well, sort of. I found an account in her name. It says it's run by the committee to elect Carrie Webster. That account hasn't tweeted since 2010 when Webster had to actually get elected to the seat to which she had been appointed. I don't know if Judge Webster even knows she has a Twitter account.

Speaking of 13th circuit judges on social media, I have high hopes that Judge Joanna Tabit (who replaced the retired Paul Zakaib) plans to be engaged with stakeholders. I'm actually connected to her on Linkedin. I got a thank you letter from her after I served jury duty in February and March.

Judge Tabit is also on Twitter @JoannaTabit.

If you have social network info about Kanawha County 13th Circuit judges please share that info in the form of a comment.

The summit is being held 5:30 PM at the Culture Center Theater at the Capitol Complex, Monday 1 June. For more information, go to ::

http://wvpublic.org/post/delegate-host-substance-abuse-forum for more information.

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Higginbotham At Large does not read or publish pseudonymous or anonymous comments. When you click the "submit" button your comment is not yet published it is merely sent to me for my approval or deletion. Commenters who hide behind "handles", nicknames or other pseudonyms will not see their comments published here. If readers won't know who you are, I will delete your comment. No Ring of Gyges for you. I like email addresses that include the submitter's actual name like mine does: JosephHigginbotham@gmail.com.

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Breaking News: Local TV Station ALMOST Reports On The Sentence Judge Carrie Webster Gave Timothy Basham

Until she read the email I sent to local media after I published Wednesday's post about Timothy Basham's sentencing on drug charges, the TV reporter who called me didn't know Basham had been convicted. Ahem, I renew my insistence that the 13th circuit judges - who have to win re-election if they wish to remain on the 13th circuit - need to hire a PR person. 

The reporter said her station wanted to get a story ready for the 5PM news and asked me if I could give her 5 minutes of my time for an on-camera interview. I told her I was at work and couldn't meet her on such short notice. She offered to come to my office. I countered by referring her to St. Albans city councilwoman, Cheryl Thomas and SAPD's media guy, Captain James Agee. 

If the 13th circuit had a media person I would have happily sent the reporter to the courthouse. 

There was nothing about Basham's sentencing in their 5PM and 6PM news. 

On a personal note, a reporter from this same station used to call me at 4AM and ask me to meet her for on-camera interviews about neighborhood watch at 7. I always agreed because my neighborhood watch was young and I was willing to go almost anywhere at almost any time to get some free media for the group. I've met reporters at the police station, at Roadside Park and in several St. Albans neighborhoods. 

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Higginbotham At Large does not read or publish pseudonymous or anonymous comments. When you click the "submit" button your comment is not yet published it is merely sent to me for my approval or deletion. Commenters who hide behind "handles", nicknames or other pseudonyms will not see their comments published here. If readers won't know who you are, I will delete your comment. No Ring of Gyges for you. I like email addresses that include the submitter's actual name like mine does: JosephHigginbotham@gmail.com.

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Timothy Basham Sentenced to 1 - 5 years in South Central Regional Jail

13th Circuit Judge, Carrie Webster, has sentenced St. Albans' most notorious Opana dealer, Timothy Basham,  to 1 - 5 years in South Central Regional Jail. 

Basham will get credit for the 279 days he already served awaiting trial and conviction.

Members of the media may remember that Basham slipped through  the court's fingers on a previous drug charge when the Kanawha County Prosecutor botched the case against him. 

The sentence was entered March 23 2015 on case 14-F-402. I want to, once again, thank Rhonda Cavender, Linda Allen and "Jenny" at the Kanawha Circuit Court for mailing and emailing copies of the sentence to me.

I want to thank St. Albans Police Chief, Mike Matthews, St. Albans Police Captain, James Agee, Lieutenant Marc Gilbert and other members of the SAPD for patiently and professionally gathering the evidence and building the case against Basham.

I want to thank Ward 4 councilwoman, Cheryl Thomas. It's no secret that city departments get things done when city council members want them done. The squeaky council member gets the law enforcement grease. The SAPD has no better ally on council than Cheryl Thomas who worked closely with the police who expertly built the case against Basham. Had Basham lived in a ward with a less involved council member, I think Basham would be selling Opana out of his father's garage right now. I feel lucky to live in a ward that is represented by Thomas. 

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Higginbotham At Large does not read or publish pseudonymous or anonymous comments. When you click the "submit" button your comment is not yet published it is merely sent to me for my approval or deletion. Commenters who hide behind "handles", nicknames or other pseudonyms will not see their comments published here. If readers won't know who you are, I will delete your comment. No Ring of Gyges for you. I like email addresses that include the submitter's actual name like mine does: JosephHigginbotham@gmail.com.

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Thank You, Linda Allen, Rhonda Cavender and a Kanawha Circuit Court Employee I Only Know As "Jenny"

I want to thank Linda Allen, Rhonda Cavender and a Kanawha Circuit Court employee I only know as "Jenny." Linda and Rhonda emailed me copies of the sentence Judge Carrie Webster handed down in the Timothy Basham drug dealing case and "Jenny" snail-mailed it to me.

By the way, Webster sentenced Basham to 1 to 5 years in prison with credit for the 279 days he has already served. 

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Higginbotham At Large does not read or publish pseudonymous or anonymous comments. When you click the "submit" button your comment is not yet published it is merely sent to me for my approval or deletion. Commenters who hide behind "handles", nicknames or other pseudonyms will not see their comments published here. If readers won't know who you are, I will delete your comment. No Ring of Gyges for you. I like email addresses that include the submitter's actual name like mine does: JosephHigginbotham@gmail.com.

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When Will Newspapers Figure Out That The Way To Keep Subscribers Is To Report News Readers Can't Get Elsewhere?

Yesterday I emailed the 13th circuit court to find out why I can't find the exact text of the sentence Judge Carrie Webster handed down to local drug felon, Timothy Basham, on the internet. A few hours later I received a phone call from someone who only identified herself as "Jenny." Jenny told me she could either fax or mail me a copy of the official sentencing information. I asked her to email it to me. She said she couldn't do that. 

If I were a 13th circuit judge like Carrie Webster and I wanted to be re-elected to the bench, I would hire a a PR person to publicize the convictions of drug dealers like Timothy Basham. A PR person would probably put up a website, start a blog and do some tweeting to publicize the sentencing of drug dealers by Carrie Webster and other judges with a "soft-on-crime" reputation. Now that former legislator, Suzette Raines, no longer has her $75,000 job with AG Patrick Morrissey, maybe she would work cheap. 

If I were a local newspaper editor like Rob Byers at The Charleston Gazette or Chris Dickerson at The West Virginia Record, I would assign a reporter to hang out at the courthouse and report all the stuff that happens after the arrest - court dates, attorneys, sentencing.  

Perhaps if Kelly Stadleman had planted reporters in Putnam and Cabell County courthouses and given her target markets the news nobody else will give them, her excellent small newspapers would still be in business. I don't know Ms. Stadeleman and I didn't live in one of the counties her papers covered, but I was sad to see The Cabell Standard and The Putnam Standard go out of business after she did so much to improve them. When Stadleman took over The Putnam Standard it looked like an overgrown church bulletin. Stadleman improved the look, the writing and the reporting. It wasn't enough.

West Virginia's judicial opacity is West Virginia newspapers' opportunity squandered. When will somebody in the news business figure out that the way to save themselves from bankruptcy is to report news that readers can't get anywhere else? 



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Higginbotham At Large does not read or publish pseudonymous or anonymous comments. When you click the "submit" button your comment is not yet published it is merely sent to me for my approval or deletion. Commenters who hide behind "handles", nicknames or other pseudonyms will not see their comments published here. If readers won't know who you are, I will delete your comment. No Ring of Gyges for you. I like email addresses that include the submitter's actual name like mine does: JosephHigginbotham@gmail.com.

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