Charleston Daily Mail (Newspaper) - May 31, 2007, Charleston, West Virginia Charleston West Virginia Thursday May 50 Half of Senate headed to Puerto Rico Seventeen senators eight delegates will attend legislative conference in San Juan O ANDERSON DAILY MAIL STAFF Half of the 34 members of the West Virginia Senate and eight House members plan to take a trip to Puerto Rico for a legislative conference The Council of State Govern ments is hosting the conference June 10 through 13 at the sprawling El Conquistador Re sort and Golden Spa in Fajardo on a cliff top overlooking the At Ocean State taxpayers will foot the for the lawmakers confer ence registration fees ranging from to airfare car service reasonable lodging and meals and up to a day for miscellaneous expenses A roundtrip coach flight from Yeager Airport to San Juan on Airways will run about A room at El Conquistador with a view of the El Yunque Rainforest costs about a night The resort features a full service spa golf course tennis seaside waterpark private is land sunbathing on the beach fine dining and a foot Caribbean casino complete with table games Last year El Conquistador which means The Conqueror was voted best resort casino and hotel spa by the Caribbean Travel and Life magazine If lawmakers can tear them selves away from the amenities they will be treated to informa tive seminars and workshops about issues in m Turn to brace as Pa slots to open WiVa operators tout diverse entertainment offerings greater number of available machines By JAKE STUMP DAILY MAIL STAFF West two Northern Panhandle racetrack casinos will finally face the inevitable next week On Tuesday The Meadows Racetrack Casino in Wash ington County is turning on its slots posing the first real competition for Moun Racetrack in Chester and the casino at Wheeling Is land The two West Virginia tracks are within an on Interstates 79 and 70 from the new Pennsylvania facility The Meadows has operated a thoroughbred racetrack since the 1960s but its now adding slots to the mix in a million project Racetrack officials there are announcing the casinos open ing in ads on television and ra dio stations and in newspapers throughout the Pittsburgh mar ket which dips into the Northern Panhandle and North Central West Virginia The facility plans to be the Turn to Inside Comics Crosswords Go Movies 8A Sports Vent Outside TOMORROW i sunny in tire upper 7 Charley West says loo bad theres no water in that pool over there Id love to make a run forit SOUTH CHARLESTONS Mayor CRAIG MAIL South Charleston mayoral candidate Mark Wolford left tries to drum up some support for his campaign in his garage The Democrat candidate and former Charleston deputy fire chief has been a drummer in local music groups since he was a teenager Republican mayoral candidate Frank Mullens and his trusty campaign sign stand outside the Little Creek Country Club poo in South Charleston the city s public works director got his start working for the South Charleston Community Center at age 19 By MATTHEW THOMPSON DAILY MAIL STAFF n paper Saturdays may oral election in South Char leston is a race between Republican Frank Mullens and Democrat Mark Wolford But for anyone who knows the backgrounds of both candidates the race could be labeled as the life guard versus the drummer Mullens 43 has spent his whole career with the city of South Char leston He began at age 19 as a life guard at the citys Community Cen ter He eventually worked his way up to become the citys public works di rector a job since 1992 Wolford 65 is a retiree and local mu whos devoted his entire career to public safety He worked 26 years in the Charleston Fire Department He also served as the citys homeland security director and was Kanawha Countys public safety director The winner will replace Richie Robb a man who has overseen the city for 32 years Mark Anthony Wolford was born and raised in Williamson His father and grandfather Julias Caesar Wol ford Sr and Julius Caesar Wolford both served as the towns police chiefs Wolford said the Roman names were never explained to him B Turn to COURTESY PHOTO Outdoor pools with bars are a feature of the El Con Re sort in Puerto Rico Sex abuser collapses during who assaulted daughter gets 5 to 15 years BY CHERYL DAliy MAIL STAFF PARSONS Indicted on five counts in 2006 A Charleston man wailed in shock and disbelief and col lapsed on the courtroom floor when a judge sentenced him to 5 to 15 years in jail for sexu ally assaulting his daughter four years ago Jaines Ray Parsons 36 of South Charles ton covered his face with Ms hands and sobbed loudly as the judge be gan to read his sentence Wed then fell on the floor screaming and shaking Ha was indicted in March 2006 on five counts of sexual abuse by a parent causing seri ous injury He pleaded guilty to the crime in April I dont really think you un the depth of the crime you Kanawha Cir cuit Judge James Stucky told Parsons at his sentencing hear ing Parents in a home are the absolute safety net for children Thats the parents obliga Stucky said A parent is to protect the child from the evils of society You miserably failed at took the op to violate the inno cence of your own Parsons wife Melissa Kay Parsons was indicted by a grand jury for child neglect creating substantial risk of se rious bodily injury She also has pleaded guilty and will be sen next week Before he was sentenced Parsons apologized to his fami ly saying he missed his chil dren a lot and hoped that some day in the future they would like to see him again Im sorry for putting them through Parsons said I know I made a mistake I also know Im a good person Ive had a lot of time to think about whats Parsons said bowing his head and not looking at the judge The couples children were removed from their custody B Turn to Forest pool will not open for summer faces permanent closure Costly renovations may prove unfeasible as only 1 percent of parks visitors use the pool By CHARLOTTE SMITH DAILY MAIL STAFF Cooling off in the swimming pool at Kanawha State Forest wont be an option this sum mer Park officials say budget cutbacks have put pool repairs on the back burner for the past several years and its simply not safe this year to operate the facility They say theyre not cer tain if the pool will reopen at all It was built in the 1940s and renovated in the Super intendent John Hendley said It is in need of another reno vation Today that would cost to Hendley said the primary reason the pool wont open this summer is because there are a couple of large voids under the pool deck and possibly some under portions of the pool There is an absence of he said The deck has been sinking for years Its a safety BOB MAIL The swimming pool at Kanawha State Forest is in need of major renovations and will not open this year Officials estimate repairs would cost more than
