Wva

A trash collection truck worker who died Thursday after he was struck by a pickup in the 800 block of Dominion Road near Gerrardstown was identified Friday as Jeremy Lee Tabler of Martinsburg, police said. Tabler, 30, was working as a driver for Apple Valley Waste when he was struck by a green Ford F-250, according to police and a Berkeley County Emergency Services supervisor. Tabler of Whitings Neck Road, was pronounced dead at City Hospital in Martinsburg, W.Va., where he succumbed to his injuries, police had said.

A 26-year-old man is accused of sexually assaulting a woman after a birthday party over the weekend, according to Berkeley County Magistrate Court records. Darryl Fountaine Clinksdale II, no fixed address, was arraigned Tuesday on one count of second-degree sexual assault by Magistrate JoAnn Overington, according to court documents. Clinksdale was allowed early Sunday into the residence where the victim was staying upon returning from the party, but another woman who lived there told police he wasn't supposed to stay, according to court documents.

A man wanted by the West Virginia State Police on six counts of sexual abuse of a minor was arrested last month by members of the Mountain State Fugitive Task force, a deputy U.S. Marshal announced Friday. Donald Freedman Graham, 29, of Kearneysville, W.Va., was arrested Feb. 27 after task force members converged on a mobile home where he was located, according to a news release from deputy U.S. Marshal Jon LaLiberte. The case pending against Graham was investigated by State Police Trooper W.R. Garrett and LaLiberte said in the news that additional victims were identified and interviewed after the man's arrest.

Firefighters responded to a fire at a log home Saturday afternoon in the 500 block of Zig Zag Lane, a Berkeley County 911 dispatcher said. The fire was reported at 5:15 p.m., and the last units cleared the scene at about 7:45 p.m., the dispatcher said. The South Berkeley Fire Co. could not be reached for further details Saturday night.

A Martinsburg woman was killed Sunday evening in a single-vehicle crash on W.Va. 9 east of Martinsburg, West Virginia State Police said in a news release. Elizabeth Ann Putman, 56, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, which was reported at 7:07 p.m., police said. Putman was the front-seat passenger in a Kia Sportage driven by Andrea Irene Hawkins, 20, which was traveling eastbound on W.Va. 9 near Opequon Lane, police said. The vehicle veered to the right and went off the south side of the roadway, struck a guardrail and came to rest on the shoulder of the road, the release said.

Authorities Friday arrested a 31-year-old fugitive from Virginia at an Inwood, W.Va., residence, the U.S. Marshal Service said. Fred Hasenbaughler III, who was believed to be living at Chantilly Lane, was wanted on charges of obtaining money on false pretenses in Virginia, Deputy U.S. Marshal Michael Ulrich said in a news release. Task force members from the U.S. Marshals Service, West Virginia State Police, Martinsburg Police Department and West Virginia Parole located Hasenbaughler in a residence on Tabler Station Road in Inwood, authorities said.

An early morning fire that destroyed a Berkeley County home off Buck Hill Road early Thursday was under investigation, Assistant State Fire Marshal Patrick Barker said Friday. The two-story structure at 26 Solarwood Court in Deerwood subdivision was destroyed by the fire, which was reported just before 3 a.m. Thursday, according to Barker. The Gerrardstown, W.Va., area residence was vacant, but had been a nice home that might have only been built in the last 20 to 30 years, according to Barker.  Due to the amount of damage, Barker said the cause of the fire was not immediately determined.

A Morgan County, W.Va., man has been charged with murder after admitting he woke up from a blackout earlier this month to find his girlfriend strangled in their apartment, according to the Morgan County (W.Va.) Sheriff's Department. James T. Zell Jr. was charged with murder, the sheriff's department said in a news release. His girlfriend, Kelly Elizabeth Butler, 29, was found dead Friday in a cabin in a remote part of Hampshire County, W.Va., where Zell told police he had taken her body, the sheriff's department said.

A fire Friday afternoon destroyed a small, ranch-style home in Bunker Hill, W.Va., displacing two adults and a child, the South Berkeley Volunteer Fire Co. said. No one was injured in the fire at 218 Budding Dogwood Road, which was reported at 1:37 p.m., according to fire company Deputy Chief P.J. Burroughs and a Berkeley County Central Dispatch supervisor. The homeowner said he had just started a fire in the woodstove before the flames apparently ignited the home off Rawhide Drive and Specks Run Road, Burroughs said.

Submissions are due Sunday, May 1, for the West Virginia Fiction Competition. The short-story competition is open to any West Virginia resident or student attending a school in West Virginia. Original, unpublished stories of between 500 and 2,500 words written by authors of any age are eligible. The first-place winner will receive the West Virginia Fiction Award and $500. The winning story will be read at the Appalachian Heritage Festival concert in September at Shepherd University.

The southbound lanes of Interstate 81 were shut down near the 23-mile marker Thursday night after two vehicles flipped into a concrete barrier wall, according to a Berkeley County 911 supervisor. The supervisor said he does not have any information about possible injuries. Southbound traffic was being routed off the interstate onto U.S. 11, the supervisor said at about 10:45 p.m.

A Falling Waters, W.Va., man  wanted on allegations of soliciting a minor for sex in October 2012 was captured Thursday by the Mountain State Fugitive Task Force, the U.S. Marshals Service announced. Peter Stankiewicz, 29, was captured in Martinsburg through a joint effort by the Marshals Service, and Maryland and West Virginia state police, according to a news release. Authorities believed that the defendant fled to Salisbury, Md., shortly after the alleged criminal act occurred, according to the news release.

Change the diaper. Feed the baby. Burp. Hold. Sleepy time. After babies are born, fussing often is a way of communicating some basic needs.  When they get a little older, it's not always that simple. Babies can point, or they can make some more insistent noise, but they might not get the message across every time. Then, when they do start talking, some of the words come out like gibberish. For Donna Day, 50, who reads lips and uses a hearing aid, she was uncertain how she would communicate with her grandchildren when they came into the world.

Berkeley County's longest serving elected office holder was honored for 56 years of dedicated public service on Thursday. More than 100 people, including elected officials as well as community and business leaders, gathered to recognize John W. Small Jr., the 79-year-old Berkeley County Clerk, for decades of public service. “I'm very humbled,” Small said about the recognition. A flag and flag pole, erected in front of the historic courthouse, were dedicated in his honor Thursday Martinsburg business owner MaryAnn Ferro and Berkeley County Council member Jim Whitacre purchased the flag and flag pole.

Name: Alicia Drumgoole writing under the pen name Agnes Jayne Age : 35 City in which you reside: Harpers Ferry, W.Va. Day job: English instructor at Hagerstown Community College Book title: “The Problem with Power”  Genre: Paranormal Synopsis of book :  When her aunt's death brings her home to her family's estate in upstate New York, Emily VonPeer meets Nicholas Flynn, who arrives on her doorstep...

The operator of a sewage treatment facility for a Falling Waters, W.Va., mobile home park has agreed to pay a $55,530 penalty for multiple water pollution violations, according to a proposed settlement announced Monday. The final settlement of an administrative consent order, which was signed last Thursday by Steven L. Rhoton of Williamsport, Md., is subject to comments received in a 30-day comment period that ends July 10, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection said in a public notice.

The operator of a sewage treatment facility for a Falling Waters, W.Va., mobile home park has agreed to pay a $55,530 penalty for multiple water pollution violations, according to a proposed settlement announced Monday. The final settlement of an administrative consent order, which was  signed Thursday by Steven L. Rhoton of Williamsport, Md., is subject to comments received in a 30-day comment period that ends July 10, the state Department of Environmental Protection said in a public notice.

Two-tractor trailers were involved in a crash on southbound Interstate 81 in Berkeley County around the 23-mile marker late Monday, according to a Washington County 911 supervisor. One of the rigs ended up on a concrete barrier wall and the other is in the roadway, the supervisor said. The accident occurred near the exit for Marlowe and Falling Waters, W.Va. An alert from Berkeley County 911 sent out at 9:59 p.m. said the interstate would be shut down for an extended period of time.

Heather Gayle of Hedgesville, W.Va., believes that music can bring people together. That's why Gayle, 19, and her group were selected to perform today at the Capital Pride event in Washington, D.C. The event is a celebration for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Gayle, who's a singer and rapper, is known as 1 Luv. Joining her onstage are her dancers, the 1 Luv Crew, younger sister Hope Gayle, and longtime friend Charice Washington of Shepherdstown, W.Va. “We go every year.

A trial for a West Virginia state trooper accused of fraudulent “double-dipping” while working with the law-enforcement agency's Martinsburg detachment has been set for Oct. 29 in Berkeley County Circuit Court. Johnathan D. Brand, who now resides in Morgantown, W.Va., was arraigned Monday by 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Christopher C. Wilkes on one felony count of fraudulent scheme. Dressed in a white shirt, dark blue tie, and dark dress pants, Brand, 25, appeared before Wilkes with his attorney, B. Craig Manford.