West Virginia Human Rights Commission’s new website

I was recently contacted by Josh Brown, a housing investigator with the West Virginia Human Rights Commission, who told me the commission has a new website, www.hrc.wv.gov.

Brown said the new website contains “a lot of information concerning rights that tenants have under the WV Fair Housing Act (WV Code 5-11A) regarding discrimination as well as other resources that some may find helpful. Individuals can find information on our site concerning their rights as well as how to file a complaint if they feel that they have been the target of discrimination in the rental or sale of housing.”

On the main page there’s a list of the commission’s most popular forms:

• Five basic steps of the complaint process
• Complaint Forms
• Investigatory Process and Procedure

There’s even a page to explain how you can file a complaint.

The West Virginia Human Rights Commission deals with issues relating to discrimination not only in housing, but in employment and places of public accommodations. There’s definitely some interesting information on there, so I suggest checking it out if you have a chance.

– Leann

Local news round-up May 7, 2012

Classes and finals may be over, but people in Morgantown are still setting fires. According to the Morgantown Police Department, three suspects were arrested for throwing items into fires over the weekend. According to the press release:

On May 5, 2012, Mark David Euga Jr., 20 years of age was arrested at the corner of North Spruce Street and Fife Street as he was throwing combustible items on a street fire. Mr. Euga was also charged with underage consumption at the time of this incident.

On May 5, 2012, Kyle G. Whelen, 20 years of age was arrested at the corner of Dallas and Forest Street as he was throwing a couch on a street fire. Mr. Whelen was also charged with underage consumption at the time of this incident.

On May 5, 2012, Justin David Myers, 21 years of age was cited for throwing combustible material onto a fire that was burning in a dumpster at the corner of 3rd Avenue and McClain Alley.

This reminded me to check in with West Virginia University officials to see when they would be releasing the numbers of expulsions and suspensions for this year. The numbers will be ready next week. According to Assistant Dean of Students Melanie Cook, the numbers will show total violations and sanctions for academic and behavioral violations.

In other words, they won’t state how many students were expelled specifically for fire-related activity. When I asked how that would risk identifying students, Cook responded, “Our University counsel has advised us against doing so; they think it could be possible for others to identify them.”

Recently the Dominion Post has published a couple updates on stories I’ve been following.

• Most High St. Apartments get fire inspections – Following a fatal fall from a High Street apartment last month, the Morgantown Fire Department is performing inspections on approximately 20 apartments on the street. After the incident, the fire department found the platform outside the window where the student fell was not up to code. These inspections are for risk-management, and mostly involves identifying issues that could present problems during the event of a fire.

• Landlord ordered to pay $20K – In February 2008, Morgantown landlord Gary Walden settled a civil lawsuit by agreeing to pay $175,000 to tenants he was accused of sexually harassing or groping, and a $50,000 fine for violating the West Virginia Fair Housing Act. As part of the settlement, Walden was barred from nearly all contact with tenants for eight years, and if he had to make contact with a tenant he was required to fill out an incident report within 12 hours for the West Virginia Human Rights Commission to review. In September 2008, the Human Rights Commission alleged that Walden violated the terms of the settlement by harassing tenants, having contact with tenants when he wasn’t supposed to, and by not providing or filing some documents required by the settlement. The hearings were held between September and December 2008, but the judge has just recently ruled Walden to be contempt of the settlement agreement in four areas: 1) Intentionally initiated direct contact with tenants and improperly entered leased dwellings; 2) Failed to maintain complete and timely records related to tenant contact and dwelling entry; 3) Failed to maintain and provide tenant information; 4) Failed to provide notices of Fair Housing Rights to tenants. Walden was ordered to pay $5,000 for each violation to the Human Rights Commission. In February 2012, Walden was charged with conspiracy and entering without breaking after a tenant woke up to find him sitting on her bed and rubbing her leg while she slept. According to the DP’s article, that case is still pending.

And if anyone is interested, I have completed my Master’s research project, “Inspecting Sunnyside” – Creating a Blog About Off-Campus Student Housing and Student Issues. It’s now available to view on wvuScholar. Also, I’m graduating. Finally.

– Leann

Wrapping things up…

I’d like to apologize for the lack of posting this week. I am defending my Master’s project tomorrow, and I’ve been busy with a little of this…

… and a whole lot of this…

For those interested, my defense is public, and will be 2 p.m. Thursday, April 26 in Room 301 of Martin Hall. My project focused on how blogging and social media affect investigative journalism.

If all goes well, I should FINALLY be finished with everything by Friday, and will be receiving a lovely diploma in May.

Will I continue with this blog? Well, I hope to. I’ve really enjoyed writing about this topic, but it really depends on the whole job situation. (Will write for money and/or food.)

– Leann

West Virginia University’s number of expulsions in 2003 vs. 2005

While doing research for my thesis tonight, I found an article that I’ve been trying to find for a long time.

I remembered when I was in undergrad a freshman’s car was flipped and destroy as part of some celebrations after a big win. However, I couldn’t remember which time. I was in undergrad from 2002-2006, and there were at least three times I can remember fires being set. After West Virginia University’s win at Virginia Tech in 2002, fires were set in Morgantown. In 2003, there were fires set again when WVU beat Virginia Tech at home. And then in 2005 there were fires after a big basketball win. I don’t keep up with sports, so I couldn’t remember what game it was.

So tonight I found the golden article from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review – “West Virginia expels 11 for rowdiness.”

Following the 2003 Virginia Tech win, more than 100 fires were set in Morgantown. More than 40 students were identified as being a part of those fires, but WVU only expelled 7, according to the article.

In 2005, 16 students were arrested or cited by Morgantown police and fire officials for violations such as illegal burning and public intoxication. Telephone poles were scorched and four cars were flipped.

(In the photo below, the person marked “me” is not actually me, but the person who took the photo.)

(Photo credit: http://www.rhythmism.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20828)

Of those 16 students, 11 were expelled. The other five were expected to face suspension or probation.

The article also mentioned that following the 2005 incident Morgantown considered a 17-step plan to deal unruly crowds, such as purchasing a traveling temporary holding facility so officers are not taken off the streets when making arrests.

Last month when city officials met with WVU officials, Morgantown Police Chief Ed Preston said the main reason why they have to try to get rid of the large crowds instead of just starting to arrest people is because it takes officers off the street for 1.5 to 2.5 hours for one arrest.

What happened to that 17-step plan? Now I’m wondering what the other 16 steps are. I can’t find anything right now, but I’m going to keep looking. Does anyone remember anything about the plan?

– Leann

Morgantown fire chief says apartment platform not up to code

Earlier this month, a West Virginia University student, Brian Weithenauer, died after falling from an apartment window. Weithenauer climbed out of the apartment’s bathroom window onto a platform to smoke a cigarette. The wooden platform had no railing.

The apartment is located above the High Street nightclub Rain. This is the second person to fall from the apartments above Rain within the last eight months – Brianna Smith fell from a window in August and foul play wasn’t suspected. Smith survived, but had several injuries.

It has still not been reported if they fell from the same window or apartment. However, according to an article originally published in the Dominion Post in August, “Mark Sanger, manager of Rain, said the area where the woman fell is behind the building in an alleyway only accessible through Rain.” They both fell into the same alley, but Smith was reported as falling from a back window at 240 High Street. All reports of Weithenauer say he fell from 250 High Street.

The alley is between Rain and the Monongalia Magistrate Court. From the street, the platform and ladder don’t seem to be visible.

In today’s Dominion Post, Morgantown Fire Chief Mark Caravasos said the platform and wrought iron ladder outside the bathroom window where Weithenauer fell do not meet fire code as a fire escape. The platform should not be made of wood, and he said the ladder seemed to have been built when the building was built in the 1920’s.

The Dominion Post also had records of the last code enforcement inspection of the apartment from Dec. 20, 2010. The article stated there were only three minor items on the list, none of which included the platform. Code enforcement is required to inspect an apartment once every three years.

Caravasos said the fire department had no record of inspecting the apartments because they are registered as a duplex with the city. The fire department doesn’t inspect single-family residences and duplexes. This is something I’m going to have to look into, because it doesn’t make sense. There’s no information about fire code on the city of Morgantown’s website, and it directs people to call someone for more information. Morgantown follows fire safety regulations set forth by the National Fire Protection Association.

In a previous post, a commenter questioned why code enforcement didn’t catch the platform after Smith fell in August. I’ve searched through all the stories I could find about her fall, but nothing mentions a code enforcement or fire inspection. The stories at that time seemed to focus mostly on identifying Smith and the status of her recovery. Maybe because she had such a high alcohol content at the time of the fall, officials blamed that and not the window/building?

– Leann