Berkeley County briefs

August 09, 2005

Auction nets county close to $10,000

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - An auction of old and unwanted property last week netted the Berkeley County Commission around $10,000 in proceeds, Commissioner Ron Collins said Thursday.

Altogether, $12,245 was made, but after paying expenses, including an auctioneer's fee, the county's proceeds should be about $10,000, Collins said.

"I was ecstatic, I really was," Collins said of the amount raised, saying it exceeded his expectations.

The highest-grossing item was a 1994 Chevrolet Camaro that was seized by police. It sold for about $2,000.

Other items sold included furniture, restaurant equipment and old police cruisers.

Winning bidders have 10 days to pick up their merchandise, with several items still not collected. Old computers were an especially poor seller.

Collins said a man paid $5 for a large table full of computer equipment, but only wanted one item and left everything else.

What is not picked up will be recycled, destroyed or given away, Collins said.

The county acquired many of the items, including restaurant equipment, when it bought the former Blue Ridge Outlet Center in Martinsburg more than three years ago.

The former three-building shopping center is being renovated to house county offices.

Arts Centre requests $25,000 for supplies

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - It has one of Martinsburg's most architecturally interesting buildings, a staff and eager artists of all ages, but The Arts Centre still needs one crucial element: money.

On Thursday, Donnie Pomeroy, executive director of The Arts Centre, and Hannah Geffert, president of the center's Board of Directors, made a one-time funding request of the Berkeley County Commission.

The Martinsburg City Council has agreed to contribute $25,000, and another $25,000 from the County Commission would help, they said.

The money is needed to buy supplies and allow classes to get under way.

The funding will help supplement money collected during a fundraising campaign, with $500,000 dollars collected last year, Geffert said.

The commissioners said they would provide a response to the request this week, but mentioned the possibility of forwarding proceeds from a recent auction of surplus county property to The Arts Centre.

Around $10,000 was made at the auction.

"I think the commission's in favor of supporting you and helping you out," Commission President Steve Teufel told Pomeroy and Geffert.

For more information about The Arts Centre, go to www.theartcentre.org.

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