This is continuing coverage of the Connecticut school shootings tragedy by our colleagues at Digital First Media. In West Virginia, our prayers are with these victims and their families.
Sandy Hook school shooting: Profiling the children, adults killed
December 15, 2012 by bradmcDawn Hochsprung, Sandy Hook principal, and the school photos she shared with the world
December 15, 2012 by bradmcOur colleagues at Digital First Media have been reporting on the school shooting at Newtown, Conn. This is a look at Sandy Hook Elementary before the tragedy. It was compiled by Mandy Jenkins of Digital First:
WV thoughts and prayers going to Newtown, CT
December 14, 2012 by bradmcA tragedy so senseless it was hard to put into words.
Unspeakable shootings in Connecticut
December 14, 2012 by bradmcTragic story out of Connecticut, where a gunman opened fire in an elementary school.
Our colleagues at the Connecticut newspapers that are part of Digital First Media have been providing regular updates. Click below for their coverage:
History of Blenko Glass Co.
December 13, 2012 by georgehohmannHere’s the history of Blenko Glass Co. Inc., as provided in the company’s plan of reorganization filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court:
IN THE BEGINNING
William John Blenko, born in London in December, 1854, was an English glassmaker who came to the United States to manufacture glass for stained glass windows. He made several attempts to establish a lasting business, but was forced to close several times due to business recessions and then the intervention of World War I. He had four children, Grace, William Henry, Walter John, and Gertrude. In the spring of 1922, at the age of 67, he began again by setting up a small factory in Milton, West Virginia. In 1923 his older son, William Henry joined him. In the early 1930s, they expanded the product line to include tableware and decorative glass pieces. In November 1933 William John died leaving William Henry to carry on the business as a sole proprietorship. Blenko Glass was incorporated as a West Virginia corporation on April 29, 1947.
The business continued to prosper and expand as it developed new markets and new products. William Henry was ably assisted by his wife Marion who acted as Treasurer, Secretary and Retail Sales Manager for the Company. Their son, William Henry Blenko Jr. (“Bill”), joined the Company after discharge from the Army Air Corps at the end of World War II following several years of overseas service. Bill became president on Jan. 13, 1967. Bill had two children, William Henry Blenko III (now deceased) and Richard Blenko (“Richard”). After completing his education Richard joined the Company. William Henry died in 1969 and Marion died in 1989, leaving Bill and Richard as the two family members owning and controlling Blenko Glass. Richard became President of the Company on Oct. 15, 1996.
Walter John Blenko had two children, Walter John Blenko, Jr. (“Walter”), and Don B. Blenko. One of Don B. Blenko’s children is Don B. Blenko, Jr. (“Don”). Until the summer of 2005, neither Walter nor Don had any financial interest in Blenko Glass, nor had either of them participated in the management of the Company. Walter’s primary occupation has been as a patent attorney with the law firm of Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC, in Pittsburgh, Pa., and Don’s primary occupation has been as a real estate entrepreneur throughout Europe.
In the 90 years that Blenko Glass has been in Milton, the Company has achieved a national and international reputation for the excellence of its products – hand-made and hand-blown glass. It is well known for a large range of colors in its glassware and for the boldness of its designs of tableware and decorative glass. For many years, Blenko Glass was the authorized manufacturer of reproductions of glassware for Colonial Williamsburg. It has been recognized by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Its glass has been used in many places for stained glass windows and for architectural purposes. Notable installations include the windows of the Chapel at the Air Force Academy, the rose window at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., glass brick for a wall at the new library at the United States Military Academy, windows at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, windows installed in a Christopher Wren church which was burned out in London during World War II and then dismantled and re-erected at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., to mark the site of Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech, windows of the Heinz Chapel and Stephen Foster Memorial at the University of Pittsburgh, glass panels used in reconstruction of the Rainbow Room in New York City, and glass inserts set in the edge of station platforms in the Washington D.C. Metro System.
Each year the Company produces a new and unique piece to commemorate West Virginia Day. One piece is produced for each year of statehood and each piece is individually numbered. The pieces are sold at the Company’s visitor center in the order in which customers arrive at the visitor center. People commonly spend two nights waiting in line to ensure purchase of a piece with a low number. This year, Blenko Glass produced One Hundred Forty-Nine (149) pieces of a 12-inch turquoise vase designed by Arlon Bayliss. The first numbered piece was sold to an individual who started the line on Wednesday evening, June 20. The last numbered piece was sold to a late comer, who joined the line at 5:23 a.m. on West Virginia Day, Saturday, June 23rd.
Blenko Glass serves customers throughout the United States as well as foreign countries as far away as Japan. Signatures in its guest book at the visitor center show visitors from throughout the United States and beyond.
I-77 reopens with amazing speed. Here’s how it happened
December 12, 2012 by bradmcWith Interstate 77 crumbling and impassable after a massive gas fire, crews from West Virginia Paving and the West Virginia Department of Transportation went to work. Here’s the miracle they pulled off overnight.
PSC expert spoke about pipeline safety in W.Va. after deadly accident in California
December 12, 2012 by georgehohmann( EDITOR’S NOTE: David Hippchen, senior engineer and director of pipeline safety at the state Public Service Commission, spoke about pipeline safety in West Virginia 1 1/2 years after a pipeline explosion in San Bruno, Calif., killed eight people. Here’s the story as published in the May 5, 2011, edition of the Charleston Daily Mail):
Official says state’s gas pipes safe
By George Hohmann, Daily Mail Business Editor
West Virginia is crisscrossed with pipelines ranging from big transmission lines that move huge quantities of natural gas from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast to small pipes that distribute gas to homes.
The state has 3,955 miles of transmission pipelines, 10,114 miles of distribution lines, 549 miles of gathering lines and 145 miles of hazardous liquid lines that carry petroleum products and natural gas liquids, according to the state Public Service Commission.
Pipeline safety comes to the public’s attention when there’s a spectacular accident like the rupture of a large pipeline last September in a San Bruno, Calif., neighborhood that resulted in an explosion that killed eight people.
But pipeline safety is a top priority every day for David Hippchen, senior engineer and director of pipeline safety at the state Public Service Commission. The commission, under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation, oversees pipeline safety in West Virginia.
“We inspect the largest pipes down to the smallest,” Hippchen said. “We inspect interstate pipelines and facilities owned by utilities like Mountaineer Gas. We also inspect and regulate intrastate pipelines like the Cranberry Pipeline (which runs from the Logan area to South Charleston.)”
In addition, Hippchen and his staff inspect some segments of pipelines known as “gathering segments,” built by producers to get gas from wells to processing plants, and so-called “master meter systems” that typically take gas from a distribution system like Mountaineer Gas and transport it in a defined area such as a housing development or mobile home park.
The Public Service Commission has a field-certified staff of four, including Hippchen. He hopes to add one more inspector within the next month.
Following the San Bruno explosion, National Transportation Safety Board investigators found that although the records of pipeline operator Pacific Gas and Electric Co. indicated that the pipeline in the area of the rupture was constructed of seamless pipe, it was instead, at least in part, constructed of seam-welded pipe. In addition, some of the seams were welded from both the inside and the outside of the pipe while others were welded only from the outside.
The safety board said, “Because it is critical to consider all of the characteristics of a pipeline in order to establish a safe maximum allowable operating pressure, the NTSB believes that these inaccurate records may lead to potentially unsafe maximum allowable operating pressures.”
As a result, the safety board ordered Pacific Gas and Electric to conduct an intensive records search. In March the company said it could not prove it had performed key safety tests on miles of its pipelines.
Hippchen said, “Some of the questions that arose after San Bruno were about what records were available and how they used those records to establish the maximum allowable pressure (in pipelines).” In West Virginia, “that type of review or inspection has been ongoing, even before San Bruno.
“San Bruno highlighted some things and pointed us in the direction to not overlook the obvious,” Hippchen said. “Those are things we normally look at. I won’t tell you we look at every record but we will pull random samples of operation, design and maintenance records. I think they are a well-regulated industry in that they are required to keep a lot of records. We incorporate a review of those records in our inspection.
“A lot of what we find are what we consider to be minor violations,” he said. “We try to work with the operator and say, ‘This needs changed or corrected.’ We don’t see continuing patterns of violations.”
Public Service Commission spokeswoman Susan Small said she recently spent a day in the field with an inspector who found half a dozen minor infractions. “By the time we left that site, the company had repaired all off the concerns and were anxious for the inspector to come back to see what they’d done,” she said. “They really have a strong intent to do a good, safe job.”
The last major natural gas pipeline failure in West Virginia occurred in 2002 when a 30-inch pipeline owned by Columbia Gas Transmission exploded near the community of Lanham on the Kanawha-Putnam County border. The explosion sent a cyclone of orange flames billowing hundreds of feet into the air, left a crater in a hillside south of the Pocatalico River and left a 40-foot length of pipe twisted like tinfoil. No one was injured.
“I believe a contributing factor was some of the fluctuations in pressure, creating a fatigue effect in the steel itself,” Hippchen said of the failure. “There were also some external factors involved, such as the land slippage along the Pocatalico River that had some effect on the pipeline itself.” The pipe had been in service since the 1960s.
Hippchen said that for big transmission lines in rural areas, “probably the biggest concern is external corrosion. The coating on the external pipe degrades and the pipeline itself begins to rust.” When that happens the pipe loses some of its thickness and, therefore, some of its strength.
“In certain portions of pipeline there can be internal corrosion from water and bacteria which eats the pipeline itself,” he said. “And there can be material defects in the steel.
“The difference between transmission lines and distribution lines is, transmission lines operate under tremendous pressure and the steel is under tremendous stress. Typically when a transmission line fails you have a rupture.” In contrast, distribution lines operate under low pressure and typically when there’s a failure you have a leak.
Encroachment on pipeline rights-of-way also is a concern. One of the biggest pipeline accidents in the Kanawha Valley occurred in 1983 when a backhoe broke a natural gas line owned by Columbia Gas near what was then known as the Davis Creek Foodland. Highway construction work was going on at the time. Natural gas began seeping into the store. An explosion leveled all but the store’s facade and a fire ensued.
No one was killed but 17 people were injured, including eight Foodland employees, according to an account in the Oct. 18, 1983, Daily Mail. The grocery store was subsequently rebuilt and is now known as the Oakhurst IGA.
Hippchen said he would love to have more inspectors but there are no plans to hire more, other than the one expected to be added within the month.
“Over the last 10 years the states have been asked to do a lot more intensive inspections by the federal Department of Transportation,” he said. “They’ve been rolling out a lot more initiatives. They’re good but they require a more intense level of inspection and require a lot more maintenance on the part of operators.”
The state’s pipeline safety program operates on an annual budget of about $600,000. Last year about 35 percent came from fees paid by pipeline operators and 65 percent came from the federal Department of Transportation.
Contact writer George Hohmann at business@dailymail.com or 304-348-4836.
Slideshow of #KanCoblast photos shared on social media
December 11, 2012 by bradmcA massive gas line explosion on Dec. 11 destroyed several homes, caused multiple fires and shut down Interstate traffic between Charleston and Jackson County. The fire made the interstate crumble. Here’s the story in pictures.
Major explosion near Sissonville
December 11, 2012 by Zack HaroldAround 12:50 p.m. on Monday, calls came over the scanner of a possible explosion in Sissonville. The Daily Mail’s Paul Fallon and Ry Rivard headed out to the scene.
Have coffee with me
December 4, 2012 by Zack HaroldHere’s the thing, dear reader. We have a wonderful relationship, it’s something that means a lot to me, but something has to change.
Perhaps you’ve noticed it, too. Our relationship is mostly one-sided. I write things, the newspaper publishes them on paper or on a website and then you read them. That’s how our conversations go. I talk, you listen. But that’s not going to be very good for our friendship in the long run, is it? Since I can’t hear you, I’m going to assume you agree with me.
We here at the Charleston Daily Mail are trying to change how newspapers work. Most of that work involves changing our relationship with our readers, since you’re the reason we get to do this job in the first place. As I hope you’ve seen, we want to connect with you through blogs, on Facebook, Twitter and even Pinterest.
But our goals aren’t limited to the interwebs. We want to meet you in person and hear your ideas and concerns. We figure that’s the best way to learn what you want from us.
So mark your calendars.
This Friday, Dec. 7, Daily Mail business editor George Hohmann, city/county reporter Paul Fallon and I will set up shop at Taylor Books in downtown Charleston from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Stop by and see us. We’ll probably be tapping away on laptops (you think our bosses would actually let us go to a cafe for an hour and not get some work done?) but feel free to interrupt. You are the whole reason we’re doing this.
We’ll be posting reminders about the meetup throughout the week, so follow us on Twitter at @ZackHarold, @PaulBFallon and @GeorgeHohmann. Hope to see you there.