Catlett

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Police pursued a teenage driver for several miles along Interstate 81 Tuesday evening, eventually taking him into custody after his truck ran into a ditch across the Virginia line. Belcher Grady, also known as Bucky, 18, was wanted on felony warrants in Prince George's County, Md., on charges that included theft over $500. He was wanted in Berkeley County for minor misdemeanor warrants, said Sgt. Tim Catlett of the Martinsburg Police Department.

By DON AINES Staff Writer, Martinsburg MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - When Banner Cornell Catlett returns to Berkeley County, he will find himself facing another charge besides murder. On Tuesday, a grand jury meeting in Berkeley County Circuit Court indicted him for possession of a stolen vehicle for a theft he allegedly committed the day before the slaying of Andrew Mason of Hedgesville. Catlett, 21, of Hedgesville, last week waived extradition back to West Virginia from Los Angeles, where he was arrested Sept.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - R. Stephen "Steve" Catlett will tell you the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Parks and Recreation Board's success is due more to the committed staff than to his leadership of the organization since 1976. The park board was a fledgling organization when Catlett became its executive director. It had no steady stream of revenue and plenty of financial troubles, he said. In 1987, the initial round of enabling hotel-motel tax legislation was approved by the state Legislature, Catlett said.

A BMX/skate park that the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Parks & Recreation Board opened in December 2009 will close at the end of the month, officials said Monday. The lease with R.M. Roach & Sons Inc. (Roach Energy) for the former cold-storage warehouse space at 39 Kelly Island Road is not being renewed, according to Parks & Recreation Director Steve Catlett. Roach Energy notified the parks and recreation board recently that it is going to expand the ROCS store, which is next to the skate park.

Bids for the South Berkeley Recreation Center, a project made possible by Powerball jackpot winner W. Randy Smith, are scheduled to be opened on Jan. 31 after interested contractors asked for more time to submit proposals. Martinsburg-Berkeley County Parks & Recreation Board Executive Director Steve Catlett said Tuesday that he still hopes the 18,200-square-foot building designed by Vienna, Va.-based Helbing Lipp Ltd. will be completed and open for use by the end of the year. Having received interest from 17 general contractors who attended a pre-bid meeting this month, Catlett is hopeful the cost to build the steel metal structure on the campus of Musselman High School will be relatively contained.

Berkeley County has no public access to the Potomac River, so preserving the ecosystem of the fishing pond at Poor House Farm Park is important, says Martinsburg-Berkeley County Parks & Recreation Board Executive Director Steve Catlett. The parks and recreation board on Tuesday authorized Catlett to rent equipment to dredge the 5-acre pond without draining it. "It shouldn't affect the fishing much at all," Catlett said Tuesday evening. The decision to scrape silt from the bottom of the fishing site in the 137-acre park comes about two months after an estimated 200 to 250 catfish died in the pond.

A BMX/skate park opened nearly three years ago by the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Parks and Recreation Board has been on “shaky ground” financially, the board's Executive Director R. Stephen Catlett told members meeting Tuesday. The indoor 6,100-square-foot facility at 39 Kelly Island Road hasn't been generating enough revenue to cover the monthly rent for the former cold-storage warehouse, Catlett said. The parks and recreation board leased the warehouse space from R.M. Roach & Sons Inc. (Roach Energy)

Plans to build a public recreation center in southern Berkeley County are moving "full steam ahead" thanks to a financial commitment from Powerball jackpot winner W. Randy Smith. Martinsburg-Berkeley County Parks & Recreation Board Executive Director Steve Catlett told board members Tuesday that the project could cost as much as $1.5 million. Smith, who won a $79 million lottery prize in August 2010, said Tuesday that he has put more money into the endowment fund that he established with the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation to make the project possible.

In a special meeting Monday, the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation board of directors approved an additional $600,000 for the South Berkeley Recreation Center project, officials said Tuesday. The funding commitment for the project on the campus of Musselman High School in Inwood, W.Va., was made possible by the W. Randy Smith donor-advised fund, foundation Executive Director Amy Owen said. Smith, who established the fund after winning a $79 million Powerball jackpot in 2010 and previously had committed $1.5 million for the recreation center project via the foundation, could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

A BMX/skate park that the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Parks & Recreation Board opened in December 2009 will close at the end of the month, officials said Monday. The lease with R.M. Roach & Sons Inc. (Roach Energy) for the former cold-storage warehouse space at 39 Kelly Island Road is not being renewed, according to Parks & Recreation Director Steve Catlett. Roach Energy notified the parks and recreation board recently that it is going to expand the ROCS store, which is next to the skate park.

Delays in completing Berkeley County's public recreation center in Inwood, W.Va., have prompted officials to nix a plan to hold summer camps for children there this year. Martinsburg-Berkeley County Parks & Recreation Executive Director Steve Catlett said Tuesday that uncertainty about when the W. Randy Smith Recreation Center will be completed factored into the decision to  postpone until 2014 the launch of the camps at the center. Catlett said officials decided to make the announcement the month before people registered for the Berkeley Summer Energy & Explorer Camps at the new $2.1 million facility.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has approved a plan that would give a 4.3-acre park in Martinsburg a major facelift, but the release of HUD funding for a portion of the project is contingent upon final review, officials said Thursday. Improvements eyed for Ambrose Park included improving access to the green space along Mall Drive and Porter Avenue for the disabled through sidewalk improvements and restroom renovations, pavilion replacement, and construction of a new playground area and Berkeley County's first dog park.

A BMX/skate park opened nearly three years ago by the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Parks and Recreation Board has been on “shaky ground” financially, the board's Executive Director R. Stephen Catlett told members meeting Tuesday. The indoor 6,100-square-foot facility at 39 Kelly Island Road hasn't been generating enough revenue to cover the monthly rent for the former cold-storage warehouse, Catlett said. The parks and recreation board leased the warehouse space from R.M. Roach & Sons Inc. (Roach Energy)

Construction of the W. Randy Smith Recreation Center is under way, but public recreation officials are struggling to close a gap in funding that still is needed for the $2.1 million project. R. Stephen “Steve” Catlett, executive director of the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Parks & Recreation Board, told board members Tuesday that he still hopes to net additional private and state funding to close the gap, which has grown a bit larger because of change orders. “I don't know if anybody understands how tight this (project)

O. Georgia Franks Catlett, 83, of Martinsburg, W.Va., died Friday, June 15, 2012, at Berkeley Springs (W.Va.) Rehab and Nursing. The family will receive friends Tuesday from 1 to 2 p.m. at Central Chapel Church. The service will be Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the church, with Pastor Greg Alderman officiating. Burial will be in Central Chapel Cemetery. Arrangements are by Brown Funeral Home, Martinsburg.

The Berkeley County Parks & Recreation Board in a meeting Tuesday voted to accept a contractor's $2.1 million bid to build the South Berkeley Recreation Center. The project was awarded to W. Harley Miller Contractors Inc., of Martinsburg, which submitted the second- lowest base bid for the project on the Musselman High School campus in Inwood, W.Va. The lowest bid was submitted by Roy C. Kline Contractors of Smithsburg, but officials determined that the company failed to attend a mandatory prebid meeting about the project, Parks & Recreation Board Executive Director R. Stephen Catlett told board members.

In a special meeting Monday, the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation board of directors approved an additional $600,000 for the South Berkeley Recreation Center project, officials said Tuesday. The funding commitment for the project on the campus of Musselman High School in Inwood, W.Va., was made possible by the W. Randy Smith donor-advised fund, foundation Executive Director Amy Owen said. Smith, who established the fund after winning a $79 million Powerball jackpot in 2010 and previously had committed $1.5 million for the recreation center project via the foundation, could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

The unusually mild winter has scrambled the traditional end of the Berkeley County school year for students who will finish classes on May 22 before the seniors graduate, according to Schools Superintendent Manny P. Arvon. “This is the first time in Berkeley County (that I can recall) that we've haven't had at least one snow day,” Arvon said Tuesday, the official beginning of spring. In fact, the last day for teachers - May 25 - will come before Martinsburg and Hedgesville High schools' evening graduation ceremonies, Arvon said.