File photo
Grave markers at Mt. Zion Cemetery lay topped over due to landslides from heavy storms earlier this month. Gov. Jim Justice will visit the cemetery Thursday to present funds to help restore it.
Mt. Zion Cemetery, severely damaged from heavy storms earlier this month, will be getting a financial shot in the arm to being restored thanks to Gov. Jim Justice.
Justice will make a stop in Wheeling today to, among other things, present funds for the repair and restoration of Mt. Zion Cemetery.
Justice will visit the cemetery at 2 p.m. Thursday for the check presentation.
The cemetery was severely damaged by landslides during heavy storms in early April. Earlier this month, Charles Yocke, president of the Mt. Zion Cemetery Association, met with Delegates Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, and Diana Winzenreid, R-Ohio; Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke; Cody Straley and Jessica Eichlin with the West Virginia Arts & Culture Commission; and Nathan Allison and Craig Arthur of A&A Monument Services of Calhoun County, W.Va.
The group toured the damage and discussed what could be done to fix the cemetery. Yocke told the group that the mudslide, which initially happened on April 3, had continued to move. He said there is another area above the current one that appeared “ready to come down.”
Yocke had hoped the state could provide funding to fix the damage, which he estimated took out between 100 and 150 gravesites and tombstones, to date.
Justice also will be at Independence Hall in downtown Wheeling at 11 a.m. for an event with the West Virginia Coal Association. The topic of his talk, according to a release from Justice’s office, will be regarding federal changes that could destabilize the current energy grid, increase energy costs, and force shutdowns of coal and natural gas-fired plants.
