BY HOPE ROUSHHROUSH@MYDAILYREGISTER.CO

M

POINT PLEASANT —Education is important forstudents and adults.

And during Tuesday’smonthly luncheon of theMason County AreaChamber of Commerce,Ron Huiatt of the ClayCenter for the Arts andSciences of West Virginiagave a detailed presenta-tion of what the ClayCenter provides to the

state and local community.Huiatt said that one of

the Clay Center’s goals isto reach communitiesbeyond the borders of theKanawha Valley.

“We serve about 10 per-cent of your schools’ pop-ulation on an annual basisand would like to increasethat,” Huiatt said, addingthat school trips are amajor part of the ClayCenter’s education pro-grams.

According to Huiatt, theClay Center caters to

50,000 school children ayear. In addition to open-ing the museum for schoolgroups, Huiatt said theClay Center hosts severalprograms for students.

“We do a lot of off-siteprograms for kids,” headded.

Things such as musiclessons in various commu-nities around the statehave been implementedthrough the Clay Center,and the Town of Masonhas benefited from theeducation programs

through the offering ofguitar lessons for children.

In addition, Huiatt saidthe Clay Center practicesdistance learning, which iswhere the museum offers aprogram with studentsthrough telecommunica-tion or video casting, andhas made it an even biggerpriority for the future. Healso emphasized that theeducation programs coin-cide with the state’s edu-cation plans such as learn-

BY DIANE POTTORFFDPOTTORFF@MYDAILYREGISTER.COM

POINT PLEASANT —A former Mason volunteerfirefighter appeared in cir-cuit court Tuesday andentered a guilty plea ontwo charges of arson.

Brent Donovan Kapp ofMason appeared before

Judge David Nibert inMason County CircuitCourt and entered pleas ofguilty to first-degree arsonand second-degree arsonfor at least two fires inwhich he was involvedwhile serving the MasonVolunteer FireDepartment’s coveragedistrict.

According toProsecuting AttorneyDamon Morgan, who readthe complaints in court,Kapp, along with Jamal“J.J.” Cuthberson ofHartford, was involved inthe willful and malicioussetting of an outbuildinglocated on Ohio RiverRoad in West Columbia

Sept. 29, 2007. On Oct. 15of that same year, Kapp,along with Kim Blake ofMason, allegedly set fireto an abandoned mobilehome located on FrontStreet.

All three were arrestedJan. 11, 2008 on chargesof arson following aninvestigation by the West

Virginia State FireMarshal.

Following preliminaryhearings, Cuthberson andKapp were indicted by thegrand jury in May 2008.Charges against Blakewere dismissed in magis-trate court after a subpoe-

Details on Page A2

WEATHER

50 CENTS • Vol. 116, No. 220 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2009 www.mydailyregister.com

Point Pleasant, West Virginia

Wohelo CEOS Clubdiscusses projects, A2

Collecting for acause, A2

INDEX2 SECTIONS — 12 PAGES

Annie’s Mailbox A5

Calendars A5

Classifieds B3-4

Club News A2

Comics B5

Editorials A4

Obituaries A3

Sports B Section

Weather A2

© 2009 Ohio Valley Publishing Co.

INSIDE

• Toddler, 6 others shot on Mardi Gras parade route. See Page A6• Anglers’ help sought in policing Ohio River.See Page A3• Manchin pitches $215M in stimulus road projects. See Page A3• A separation is inevitable in this marriage. See Page A5

SPORTS

• High school wrestling action. See Page B1

OBITUARIES

Page A3• Ronnie G. Smith• Lila Allison• Sarah Fisher• Claud Joins Jr.• Helen Myers• Darrell J. Huffman

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

Please see Arson, A3

Please see Chamber, A3

Former firefighter pleads guilty to arson

School boardupdated oncurriculum

BY DIANE POTTORFFDPOTTORFF@MYDAILYREGISTER.COM

POINT PLEASANT —Beginning July 1, a differenttype of the No Child LeftBehind Act will be imple-mented in local elementaryschools.

For two years after that, thenew version of the programwill be started in the middleschool and high school gradesto help students with theirlearning.

The issue was addressedduring Monday’s specialmeeting of the Mason CountyBoard of Education, whereTom Nunnery, president ofthe board, addressed rumorsthat the school system is twoyears behind in its curricu-lum.

“If this is true, we need tofind out why. I have heardfrom around the county thatwe are not on the same page,but we are on the same sidefor the children,” Nunneryadded.

He said there are at leastthree reasons the board hasheard these statements, two ofwhich are lack of training andturnover among the CentralOffice staff. So a six-memberpanel of Central Officeadministration and teachersexplained to the board thepurpose of the Response toIntervention (RIT) program,which will encompass read-ing, math and writing as wellas 21st century technologyskills. The program will beused in grades K-12.

“We are here to learn,”Nunnery told the panel’sadministration and staff fromeach school. “This is notgoing to happen over night,but we want to get a goodstart and do it right.”

Curriculum DirectorStephen Kingery told theboard that he and Dr. KarenBare Oldham, coordinator ofsecondary curriculum, areworking as a team in theirdetermination of where thecounty is in curriculum.

Instead of starting fromscratch, Kingery said hebelieves the schools need tobegin where they are now andimprove on curriculum.

“We have excellent pro-grams, but there is alwaysroom for improvement,” hesaid.

Two of the panel’s recom-mendations are to target train-ing and do a curriculuminventory. Kingery said theschool system wants to pro-vide quality training forteachers for the programsthrough RESA and the stateboard of education.

To get a better understand-ing of RIT, several teachersand administrators recentlyvisited Winfield ElementarySchool to see the program inaction, and they agreed thatthe trip was beneficial, addingthat the program, when com-bined with proper training,could be effective in MasonCounty.

Nunnery said he asked forthe panel’s input because hewanted the board to have anupdate on the curriculum inthe county.

Charred remains

Officials are continuing their investigation ofMonday’s fire in the tavern at Fort

Randolph. The fire caused heavy damageto the roof and interior of the building, but

members of the Fort Randolph Committeeare optimistic that the walls are salvage-

able. Approximately $40,000 worth of quilts,animal hides and other donated items were

lost in the blaze. Anyone who saw suspi-cious activity at the fort early Monday is

asked to call the arson hotline at 800-233-3473.

Submitted photos

Educational center highlighted at Chamber luncheon