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ENDURING WALMART BLOG December 4th, 2006: I attend the Hurricane City Council meeting to complain about the excessive construction noise. Mayor F. Raymond Peak is apparently in Orlando and Silly Scott Edwards is apparently on a honeymoon with his (third) wife. The remaining members listen, nod their heads, Recorder Linda Gibson thanks me for coming... And I wonder if they will do anything to fix the problem... I doubt it, but time will tell. December 23rd, 2006: I contact Hurricane Mayor F. Raymond Peak and complain about the excessive noise. He promises to call me back “Thursday or Friday.” I ask him to deal with the issue sooner. Peak declines. December 24th, 2006: Family members arriving for Christmas Eve comment about how ugly the Walmart site is. What used to be beautiful woods is now barren dirt. Ugly tractors sit on top of a mound of dirt facing our house. There are 25-plus acres. Why don’t they park the tractors out of sight? Christmas Day, 2006: It used to be a nice, quiet neighborhood. Instead, we now hear noise from Interstate 64 and train whistles. Merry Christmas from the PCDA, Walmart, and Cleveland Construction! Dolores tells me that this is the first year that she doesn't spend any money at Walmart for Christmas gifts. December 26 th 2006: I wake up to bright lights shining into my upstairs window. It’s only 6:35 a.m. There is no reason to shine lights into my window. I wait 45 minutes to call Mayor Raymond Peak to complain. He doesn't appreciate my courtesy. "Why the hell did you call?" asks Peak as he slams down the telephone. I call Scott Edwards. "I was sleeping," says Edwards as he hangs up. Funny how Mayor Peak and Edwards want their sleep but do nothing when construction crews interrupt my sleep. Later in the day I call Michael Shaw of Walmart. He says Cleveland Construction told him the lights are coming from service vehicles, not tractors. I advise him I have pictures that prove differently. He

Transcript of The "Enduring Walmart" blog in chronological order

Page 1: The "Enduring Walmart" blog in chronological order

ENDURING WALMART BLOG

December 4th, 2006: I attend the Hurricane City Council meeting to complain about the excessive construction noise. Mayor F. Raymond Peak is apparently in Orlando and Silly Scott Edwards is apparently on a honeymoon with his (third) wife. The remaining members listen, nod their heads, Recorder Linda Gibson thanks me for coming... And I wonder if they will do anything to fix the problem... I doubt it, but time will tell.

December 23rd, 2006: I contact Hurricane Mayor F. Raymond Peak and complain about the excessive noise. He promises to call me back “Thursday or Friday.” I ask him to deal with the issue sooner. Peak declines.

December 24th, 2006: Family members arriving for Christmas Eve comment about how ugly the Walmart site is. What used to be beautiful woods is now barren dirt. Ugly tractors sit on top of a mound of dirt facing our house. There are 25-plus acres. Why don’t they park the tractors out of sight?

Christmas Day, 2006: It used to be a nice, quiet neighborhood. Instead, we now hear noise from Interstate 64 and train whistles. Merry Christmas from the PCDA, Walmart, and Cleveland Construction! Dolores tells me that this is the first year that she doesn't spend any money at Walmart for Christmas gifts. December 26th 2006: I wake up to bright lights shining into my upstairs window. It’s only 6:35 a.m. There is no reason to shine lights into my window. I wait 45 minutes to call Mayor Raymond Peak to complain. He doesn't appreciate my courtesy. "Why the hell did you call?" asks Peak as he slams down the telephone. I call Scott Edwards. "I was sleeping," says Edwards as he hangs up. Funny how Mayor Peak and Edwards want their sleep but do nothing when construction crews interrupt my sleep. Later in the day I call Michael Shaw of Walmart. He says Cleveland Construction told him the lights are coming from service vehicles, not tractors. I advise him I have pictures that prove differently. He

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declines to provide me with an email address leading me to believe he doesn’t want to see the evidence. A call to James Davis of Walmart is not returned. Later I call Scott Edwards of the Hurricane City Council. He says he doubts anyone else on council will be receptive to adopting a noise ordinance that outlaws noise outside of construction areas. I publish a story on PutnumLIVE.com about the lights. One reader sends me a note complaining about the Walmart stories but declines to give his last name so that I can publish the note in our letters section. I purchase a digital camera at one of Walmart's competitors with some Christmas gift money. It's time for me to punish Walmart by spending money at its competitors. December 27th, 2006: The lights are back. This time between 6:45 and 7:00 a.m. But the tractors still are not moved. I call up the corporate ladder. A Patrick Hamilton and Robert Bray offer to contact the construction company but try to convince me that construction noise and lights in my window are “part of construction” and are “reasonable.” WRONG! Peace and quiet on your own property and in your home is reasonable. Construction noise and lights are invasive. Most of us learned in kindergarten not to disturb our neighbors. December 28th, 2006: No lights, and quiet in the morning. Could Walmart and Cleveland Construction finally be getting the message? Later, more noise returns. I talk to Putnam County Prosecutor Mark Sorsaia who says he believes the motor vehicle noise ordinance will get laughed out of court. I invite Sorsaia to simply prosecute the law and let the judge and jury decide. Sorsaia says it is a civil issue and that he is worried that prosecuting contractors for making too much noise will guibut (sic) more unacceptable noise during the day. I want to go out and enjoy my hammock in our yard, but the tractor noise is prohibitive. I call Scott Edwards with the PCDA Board of Directors, also a Hurricane City Councilman. Again, he is sympathetic about the noise but says he is one councilman and that no one else on council will do anything. Again, I ask him to have the city or PCDA that created this mess buy us out. He declines. He offers to instead pay for my “psyche exam.” I advise him that the only nuts are those that put a Walmart next to homes and expect people to tolerate noise every day. I tell Edwards he has 24-hours to get an acceptable resolution to the noise issue or I will go public with how bad things are. I contact the WVDEP and learn that Walmart was written up five times for environmental violations on the site this past fall. Edwards tries to downplay the violations. “That’s old news,” he says. December 29th, 2006: Mayor Peak has not fulfilled his promise to call back. I call Ben Newhouse at Hurricane City Hall. “That’s the price of progress,” he snaps, then hangs up. I call back but when a receptionist transfers me, no one picks up. Not even Newhouse’s voice mail. He is ducking the issue. The man doesn’t even live in Hurricane but expects longtime residents to put up with noise from a Walmart that he wants and we don’t. Unbelievable! I call back an hour later. A lady gives me his home number and says “I can’t stand Newhouse.” A woman at Newhouse’s home says my call for him is "an invation (sic) of privacy.” If she thinks ONE phone call is bad, try living next to noise from construction for a Walmart for months! Scott Edwards won’t take my call. Walmart’s Patrick Hamilton says that I must live with the noise. That his neighbor’s car makes noise when it starts. I point out that there is a huge difference between a car starting and a group of tractors. I call Walmart executive John Menzer. His “assistant” hangs up on me a couple of times. Menzer never calls back. I call a couple of hours later and his “assistant” says that the construction department is who I must speak with. I advise her that I am not satisfied. She hangs up again. Menzer never calls. Walmart needs to learn how to treat its customers and people that live next to a construction site. Edwards never returns my call. I decide to start publishing this “Living with Walmart Construction” diary.

January 2nd, 2007: I go to take a shower. But workers for the City of Hurricane have accidentally cut the water line leading into our neighborhood. They were working on a water tap into the Walmart construction site. So we are without water for some time. People need water more than a Walmart. Calls to Hurricane City Hall for City Manager Ben Newhouse and Mayor Raymond Peak are not returned. I'm guessing they have water at their

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homes and offices. I contact Michael Shaw, a construction manager from Walmart. He blames the city workers. What Shaw doesn't seem to realize is that if he wasn't building a supercenter in a neighborhood, the water line would not have been cut.

January 3rd, 2007: It's 6:45 a.m. and a train whistle wakes me up. I am sure the whistle blows every morning, but there used to be a hill in front of our home with thousands of trees protecting us from the noise. Now the train whistle wakes me up. I guess this is what Hurricane City Manager Ben Newhouse sarcastically calls "The price of progress." At 7:09 another train whistle blows. I never used to hear them. At 7:25 add the noise of tractor reverse-alarms. It's a symphony of noise to greet me in the morning. I can hear all of this noise in my bedroom with my window shut. The PCDA and City of Hurricane need to buy out all of us living next to this mess. They created the problem, they need to fix the problem! I call Pam Nixon of the DEP who says the state needs to pass noise legislation. Bill Timmermeyer of the DEP returns a call made to his office last week and confirms that the DEP has not been given the authority by the state to take action for loud construction noise. I send an e-mail to every member of the Putnam County delegation asking them to pass a bill restricting construction noise to job sites. I am not hopeful that they will take action on the issue.

January 4th, 2007: More tractor noise that I can hear inside my home. I come home from a hearing and discover a huge tank has been moved onto the property near the road. It's tall, it's ugly, and it should have been put elsewhere on the property where we don't have to look at it every day. At night I notice Cleveland Construction has lit up the front of their field office alongside Hurricane Creek Road. I don't understand what they have to be proud of, disturbing a neighbor inside his home?

January 5th, 2007: More tractor backup alarms that I can hear with my windows shut. And I still haven't heard word one back from the Putnam County delegation about a state noise ordinance. Do they care about their constituents? Apparently not enough to respond to an email. When I come home late Friday night, parked in back of my home, I can smell smoke coming from the Walmart site where they are apparently burning trees that were torn from what was a beautiful wooded area and is now the construction site. I am standing in back of my house. It's hypocritical how the City of Hurricane doesn't allow residents to burn tree debris and trimmings but allows this at a construction site. Also, with all of the air pollution coming from I-64, the last thing we need is more smoke from trees. Better to grind the trees into mulch and donate that mulch to the school system or homeowners. Walmart claims to be eco-friendly but trees are being burned at its construction site. This doesn't make sense to me.

January 6th, 2007: I purchase an XM Satellite radio unit from one of Walmart's competitors. I am sure multi-billion dollar Walmart won't miss the $100 purchase, but I refuse to spend money at a company that treats me and my family so rudely.

January 7th, 2007: The tractors wake me up about 7:30. Loud engines and reverse alarms pierce what was a quiet Saturday morning. Most of Putnam County has the right to sleep in on a Saturday morning. But not us. My wife's two-year-old grand niece is staying with us. I worry the noise will wake her as well, but she is sleeping in a back bedroom. Our bedroom is in the front part of the upstairs portion of our home. I go downstairs to let my dog out for his morning "business" and the noise is terrible. Also, I can smell more of the smoke. It's a Saturday morning. Construction crews should give us a break on Saturday morning. Of course, City Hall is closed and so is the office of Cleveland Construction giving us no recourse to complain.

January 8th, 2007: Another visitor to our home comments about the ugly property across the road where the Walmart is being constructed. Several times over a gathering in our kitchen we are interrupted in mid-conversation by tractor engine noise and reverse

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alarms. Perhaps Walmart executives would like to rent our kitchen as a conference room and see how many meetings are interrupted by tractor noise. I place another call to Walmart executive John Menzer and make the offer. His assistant, a woman named Terry, hangs up on me. I guess Walmart doesn't want to hold meetings in a noisy kitchen-even when the noise is caused by the construction company that Walmart hired. Later in the day, my wife, Dolores, is taking a nap in our remodeled living room. Blasts from the job site shake the house, the sofa, and rock her world. Her mother, Margaret, is startled as she is loading the dishwasher. This is a terrible way to treat people, but when I call Hurricane City Councilman Scott Edwards and Kanawha Stone President Art King, they tell me we should expect more noise, more blasts, and have to live with it. Pretty lame excuses from people that claim to have integrity. Both turn down offers to buy our home. Neither will put their money where their mouths are. When I pull into my driveway at 11:15 p.m., I nearly choke on smoke from burning trees. I look up and smoke is drifting over our property from the Walmart construction site. So now we can add air pollution to the noise and light pollution. I stay up and watch the end of the Florida-Ohio State game and hope I will be allowed to sleep in during the morning.

January 9th, 2007: It's 7:10 a.m. and I am awakened by more tractor noise. So much for my plans of sleeping in and enjoying my morning. Later in the evening I read about a North Carolina town that bans Walmart because they say it will ruin the small-town atmosphere. It's too bad Hurricane Mayor Peak and the Hurricane City Council don't have as much integrity as Waxhaw, North Carolina. The leaders of that town know the difference between right and wrong. All Hurricane understands is greed.

January 10th, 2007: Shortly after 7:00 a.m. more bright lights are being shined into my upstairs bedroom window by a tractor parked on the hill on the Walmart property. There is no reason to shine tractor lights into someone's bedroom window to build a Walmart.

January 11th, 2007: Shortly after midnight I am arrested by Hurricane PD on a misdemeanor telephone harassment charge. I am released several hours later on my own recognizance. In the afternoon I walk out of my house and choke on smoke blowing over from the property. Why don't they burn the trees away from neighbor's homes? I hope a spark doesn't fly onto someone's roof. There are ashes on our cars parked in back of our home. There are 25 acres to the Walmart site. Move the trees somewhere else. Or better yet, grind them into mulch and donate the mulch to the Putnam County Parks and Recreation Department or Putnam County Schools. More tractor noise heard indoors is overriding our TV. It's pretty sad that construction workers are so inconsiderate of their neighbors. AEP workers ARE considerate. They are moving electrical poles for the Walmart project. A VERY NICE man knocks on our door and asks when it will be convenient for us to have our power cut for an hour or two. He stops at every house and actually works around the neighbor's needs. Construction workers need to take lessons in how to be polite from these AEP workers. As I am typing this a blast rocks the whole house. It reminds me of an earthquake in Los Angeles. How in the world can anyone justify shaking a two-story home in order to make a buck? There are plenty of flat -land areas in Putnam County that don't need to be blasted. The house rocked from the blast. These guys take rude to a new level.

January 12th, 2007: More tractor noise and more smoke. I find more ash on my car from trees being burned on the site. At about 1:35 the house rocks with another blast. I'm getting tired of feeling like I live in a war zone. Fred Teel of the West Virginia DEP stops by later in the afternoon after he is called because of the excessive smoke and ash coming from the site. He shuts down the burning and orders crews to move the apparatus. Neighbor John Clay shows me ashes all over his home and truck. I photograph them for an upcoming story and evacuate my 81- year-old mother-in-law because of the smoke. Teel has to cover his ear to make a phone call while on our property because of the noise from the burning machine.

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January 13th, 2007: Finally some peace and quiet. Because Teel has ordered crews not to burn on Saturday, the burning machine's blower is silenced. And construction crews don't run tractors in the morning. I am gone most of the day. Sometimes it is easier to leave than deal with the noise. Pretty sad when inconsiderate construction crews are allowed to drive you out of your home. But such is life in the "People's Republic of Hurricane" where the government doesn't believe in the freedom of individuals.

January 14th, 2007: My pastor tells me a neighbor is experiencing cracks in his foundation from the blasts. This is the second person that I know of. The other has been sending me anonymous e-mails. I hope they both come forward so we can tell their story. I am STILL waiting for Art King from Kanawha Stone to provide me the blasting schedule that he promised me last year. He blames Cleveland Construction for banning him from speaking with PutnumLIVE.com. January 15th, 2007: It's Martin Luther King Day, but construction crews aren't celebrating. Instead my chance to sleep in is ruined by noise. They wake me up before 8:00 a.m. The WVDEP refers me to the West Virginia Fire Marshal's office about the blasting. I call and leave a message.

January 16th, 2007: Another day, more tractor noise that I can hear inside our home. It is ridiculous that the City of Hurricane refuses to enforce its noise ordinance. Unfortunately there is no recall system to get rid of the deadbeat "leadership" in Putnam County. I leave another message with the Fire Marshal's office about the blasting. I am still waiting for a return call. Our tax dollars appear to be hard at work.

January 17th, 2007: More tractor noise. I contact the West Virginia Fire Marshal's office about blasting issues. I am told that because an inspector's state car is in the shop that he cannot come out to the site until late in the week. However, the office has other vehicles that he can drive. Then they hit me with the punch line. "How will he get to work?" I suggest that he use his own vehicle to drive to the office just like millions of Americans do every day. I am hung up on. I call back and leave a message for Fire Marshal Sterling Lewis, Jr. He returns my call and tells me to call Governor Joe Manchin as Lewis "runs his department as I see fit." I will send the governor a letter. At 12:20 another blast goes off shaking our home. I don't hear a warning whistle which I am told is required by law. Of course the tractor noise may have drowned out the whistle. In 30-plus years of living in Southern California I wasn't shaken as much by earthquakes as I am being shaken by these blasts. Lewis needs to get off his backside, check his obnoxious attitude, and send an inspector. Our Fire Marshal is an embarrassment (sic) to West Virginia. We all remember when his office cited a middle school teacher for having a classroom door open.

January 18th, 2007: At 6:30 a.m. tractor lights are shining through our upstairs bedroom window. What happened to common courtesy? I see no reason to shine lights into people's windows before sunrise. At 6:49 a.m. I hear workers banging with what sounds like a hammer on metal. Some people would like to sleep in their homes. But we can't. This is what we have to put up with "in the name of progress." The Walmart should be built in a retail zone away from homes-such as next to the Home Depot. Later in the day I receive an E-mail from the Anthony Carrico, Deputy West Virginia Fire Marshal confirming that one of his inspectors issued a citation to Kanawha Stone for using a blaster with an expired license. Everything else is in compliance, claims Carrico. But we still don't get warnings about the blasts. I file a Freedom of Information Act Request asking for a copy of the citation for future publication.

January 19th, 2007: We start our day with more lights shined through our upstairs windows shortly after 7:00 a.m. Tractor noise including engines and reverse alarms follow shortly thereafter.

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January 20th, 2007: I receive a pair of anonymous E-mails criticizing my coverage of the Walmart project and construction noise. Neither person has the guts to sign their name. Neither offers to buy our home and live across the street from all of the noise. I guess they want us to put up with all of the noise so that they can shop at a Walmart. Buy us out and move us and I won't have to do a blog called "Living With Walmart Construction." January 21st, 2007: A light snowfall covers the future Walmart site. But it can't hide the ugly of bare land where beautiful woods used to be. This Walmart should have been built next to the Home Depot where land was already cleared.

January 22nd, 2007: More early morning tractor noise that I can hear indoors. This noise is a nuisance.

January 23rd, 2007: Shortly after 7:00 tractor noise wakes me up. Including reverse alarms. It isn't even sunrise yet but crews are disrupting our peace.

January 24th, 2007: Snow is falling. It's a postcard day looking out my window. A great day to sit inside and sip hot cocoa while the snowflakes float silently to the ground. But not in my neighborhood. Starting early in the morning, tractor noise destroys the idyllic setting. And the noise continues into the day. In the past, the snow would cover the trees in the woods across our road. But they are gone now. A barren hillside crawling with machines has replaced the beautiful site that we moved here to enjoy. Some call this progress. We know what it really is: Civic greed to get more tax dollars.

January 25th, 2007: Another snowy morning, more loud construction noise. It amazes me that City of Hurricane officials expect longtime residents to put up with this racket. But then the City of Hurricane has sold out to tax revenue. City officials don't care about its citizens. This has become obvious.

January 26th, 2007: Tractor noise disrupts our peaceful morning at 6:44 a.m. It doesn't do any good to call Hurricane PD. I've been told construction noise is "necessary." Would someone please explain to me the "necessity" of running a tractor before sunrise? Later in the morning my wife points out a "gorgeous" sunrise to the east of our home and suggests I shoot a photo from our upstairs bedroom window. I would except for the fact that an ugly crane from a construction yard is blocking the view. Could someone please explain to me the necessity of parking a crane with its mast extended?

January 28th, 2007:I take my wife out on a nice date for a Sunday evening. But our enjoyment is shattered by a business manager that says a couple of customers are complaining about our coverage of the Walmart construction. Apparently these people are pressuring him not to support PutnumLIVE.com. I guess they would rather support a construction project next to homes that disrupt a neighborhood, a construction project that has been given six Notices of Violation by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and a project that was cited by the West Virginia Fire Marshal's office for using a blaster who did not have a license. Personally, I won't sell out my integrity to get a discount store into Hurricane. Even if a few people have sold out their integrity. If they don't like our legitimate complaints about noise and environmental pollution, they can buy our home and live with the problem. In other words, they need to put their money where their mouths are. Put up or shut up! I also find a story (and link it) about a Utah town that scaled down a Walmart at the request of nearby residents. Those residents still want a smaller store. They may not get what they want, but the city did respond by scaling it down by about 50,000 square feet from the original plans. I challenge City of Hurricane officials to do the same. Listen to the longtime residents that you are hurting in your greedy request for more tax dollars.

January 29th, 2007: Another beautiful morning. Snow blankets the ground, with a few

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flakes still falling. Construction noise interrupts the tranquil setting. Tractors, reverse alarms pierce the sky, ruining the picture-postcard day. A reader emails me saying I complain too much about construction noise. I invite him to meet me to buy our home. He says he can't make the "1,000 mile drive in 20 minutes." Imagine that. Someone that lives 1,000 miles away from the construction noise tells ME to stop complaining. Classic!

January 30th, 2007: Another morning, more construction noise. With another seven months of work scheduled. This is crazy! When I arrive home at the end of the day I find an e-mail from a listener questioning why I "rail" against the construction noise when the "community" has told me to stop. First of all, a FEW e-mails do not make a "community." Second, like the other e-mails, there is no offer to buy our house and live in it with the construction noise and other pollution. A FEW people apparently think it is OK for US to live with the noise but are not willing to move into the same situation. Oh the hypocrisy!

January 31st, 2007: At 6:15 a.m. tractor reverse-alarms wake me up inside my home. The sun isn't even up yet. What happened to common decency? Tractor engine noises join the chorus later in the morning. I receive two e-mails complementing me on my complaints about construction noise. Both are from people that lived near construction areas in Putnam County. Both say that Putnam County needs a noise ordinance. I agree. But here in Hurricane we have a noise ordinance. What we don't have is ethical city leaders that will enforce the noise ordinance.

February 1st, 2007: A new month brings us slightly closer to the projected September completion date, but also brings more disruption. At 6:15 a.m. a truck is shining its lights into our upstairs bedroom window. Later in the morning I discover (another anonymous) e-mail. It asks why I haven't disclosed that my mother-in-law owns the "$80,000 home..." And why I haven't disclosed a "$300,000 offer to buy the home." Several reasons" 1) My mother-in-law only owns PART of the home. 2) We have never been offered $300,000. 3) The home was appraised at $200,000 BEFORE the Walmart construction started. Now that we are next to a Walmart site, the commercial value of the land has increased. I don't know who starts these rumors. (City of Hurricane officials, perhaps?) But no one has made us ANY formal offer. Including the person that sent the anonymous e-mail... Another case of someone afraid to put their money where their mouth is! Shortly after 1:15 p.m. a huge blast rocks our home. No one should have to put up with this! I put in a call to Senator Mike Hall's office. I have been asking him for MONTHS to author legislation restricting construction noise to the construction site. I also speak to Senator Karen Facemyer who promises to speak with Hall. A voicemail message is left for Delegate Patti-Ann Schoen. I also call Dep. Fire Marshal Anthony Carrico. I am waiting for some action from any of them.

February 2nd, 2007: Another day, more construction noise. The Fire Marshal tells me that the blast from the other day was barely within allowed levels. I guess the only time a law is broken is when they knock your house down with you in it. Anything else is "acceptable" by a government that allows construction workers to run over people's rights. So much for living in a civilized society.

February 3rd, 2007: No construction noise today. What a relief! I still haven't heard back from the Putnam County state delegation about a noise ordinance. I feel like the lawmakers don't care because THEY don't live next to the construction site and only want more tax revenue. While doing our weekly housecleaning both my wife and I comment on the added dust since the construction started. Thankfully the snow on the ground helps that issue-but only temporarily. They should be required to build a wall around the construction site to stop noise, blast waves, and dust. Why should neighbors have to put up with all of this?

February 5th, 2007: It's frigid cold and we are hoping construction workers will show some common sense and take a day off. No such luck. Schools are closed from the Kentucky

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border past Charleston due to sub-freezing temperatures. But these guys are out working. I give them credit for their toughness. But not for common courtesy. We can hear the noise inside with our windows closed-again. When I return home at night, I see burning at the site. According to WVDEP Inspector Fred Teel burning is not allowed at night at the site. I can smell the smoke as I get out of my car parked in back of my home.

February 6th, 2007: As the sun rises, smoke continues to come from the construction site where burning occurred the night before. At about 1:40 another blast rocks our home. No one should have to live like this. I send an e-mail to West Virginia Deputy Fire Marshal Anthony Carrico, Senator Mike Hall, Senator Karen Facemyer, and Delegate Patti Ann-Schoen asking them to do something to cease the blasting or restrict the shockwaves to the construction site. It's a matter of property rights, common courtesy, and common sense.

February 7th, 2007: Another day, more construction noise that we can hear indoors. Calls to Senator Mike Hall and Senator Karen Facemyer about a noise ordinance are not returned. When I stop for breakfast at a local restaurant, two people approach me and thank me for reporting all of the problems with the Walmart project.

February 8th, 2007: At 6:40 a.m. more bright lights from construction equipment are pointed into our upstairs bedroom window. Once again, I ask, why, on a 25 acre project, can't the lights be pointed away from our window? Shortly after 1:00 p.m. our home is rocked by a blast. We don't deserve this daily abuse. The PCDA and City of Hurricane should buy our home and relocate us. But that would take ethics and common sense.

February 9th, 2007: At 6:24 a.m. the dogs start barking and run to the front of the house. I open the door and they are barking at construction workers on the hill shining lights at our house. Now they are even disrupting our dogs. I call and leave a message for PCDA Board of Directors President Linda Williams.

February 10th, 2007: It's Saturday, and surprisingly we don't hear any construction work. What a relief!

February 12th, 2007: It isn't even sunrise yet, but I can hear construction vehicle noise inside my home. Lights are shined through my upstairs window at 6:37. More construction noise coming into our home disrupts my morning. What happened to common courtesy?

February 13th, 2007: At 6:13 a.m. I am awakened by a construction vehicle making its way up the hill on the Walmart site. At 6:30 a.m. lights are being shined through my window. I send off an e-mail complaining about the situation to the City of Hurricane Police Department as well as Senator Mike Hall and Delegate Jeff Eldridge and Walmart Construction Manager Michael Shaw. But I doubt they will do anything about the noise/lights issue. Hall and Eldridge have not returned my calls about the noise issue recently. We need a state law restricting construction noise to the work site. I try to go back to sleep but the construction vehicle noise keeps waking me up. I stop by City Hall and run into Chief of Police Joe Sisk who whines about the negative comments in this column. It's very simple: Enforce the noise ordinance properly and I will have no complaints. I speak with City Manager Ben Newhouse who promises to look into the noise and light situation. I hope some positive action is taken. Go ahead and build the Walmart. Just don't bother the neighbors with noise, pollution, or lights. I call and leave another message for PCDA Board of Directors President Linda Williams. My last call to her office was not returned.

February 14th, 2007: Happy Valentine's Day. Now celebrate somewhere else. The construction noise that can be heard indoors makes celebrating at home out of the question.

February 15th, 2007: West Virginia Senator Mike Hall tells me that state lawyers have

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determined that a noise ordinance is unnecessary. Funny, I didn't see any lawyers in my home listening to the noise. Perhaps THEY will purchase our home. Since they don't believe the noise is a problem, it should be no problem for them to live here!

February 16th, 2007: More construction noise disrupts our morning. Shortly after 12:30 p.m. another blast rocks our home. This has to stop. February 19th, 2007: More construction noise heard inside our home disrupts my day. I place another call to Linda Williams. This time a man answers and says she won't take calls from PutnumLIVE.com because of our previous reporting about this issue. Obviously he doesn't like the truth reported. He refuses to put the call through to Linda Williams who is the head of the PCDA Board of Directors. He hangs up the telephone. One way to cover up problems is to refuse to answer hard questions about the issues. This seems to be a way of life with Putnam County officials. I stop by the office of our Real Estate Broker to find out what is being done to sell our home. The broker isn't in his office and does not return my call. I'd love to sell and move away from the construction zone.

February 20th, 2007: I take a break from the incessant construction noise to go to the Post Office. There I run into Hurricane Mayor Raymond Peak. But when I attempt to talk with him about a tougher noise ordinance, his son, Doug, keeps interrupting. Doug is on the Hurricane payroll. Instead of earning his living at city hall, he keeps interrupting my conversations with the mayor. Doug needs to get off the city payroll and get a job in the real world.

February 21st, 2007: Another morning, more construction noise before sunrise. More lights are shined into our upstairs windows. This is rude no matter how you cut it. People deserve peace and quiet inside their homes. I contact new delegate Ted Ellis who promises to look into a state noise ordinance. When I call Commissioner Steve Andes, he says the commission decided not to do anything about a countywide noise ordinance because I live in Hurricane. Because he is not at the commission office during business hours I have to reach Andes at his other job. Then Andes does something incredible. He objects to my call at his second job. Commissioner Andes needs to serve the people that elected him and be in his commission office during business hours. After all, he just accepted a $6,000 a year raise as Commissioner.

February 22nd, 2007: More construction noise disrupts our day. I place another call to our Real Estate Broker. Once again I reach voice mail. If we could sell this place we could move away from the construction zone. My pregnant wife takes the day off from work because she is feeling ill. The construction noise can be heard in our bedroom where she is trying to sleep. I e-mail a letter to Walmart's construction company asking them to contain the noise to their work-site so she can get some rest. But the noise continues. I CC the letter to Putnam County Senators, Delegates, and Governor Joe Manchin so they realize how bad the situation is. We will see if they respond.

February 23rd, 2007: Another typical day of disruptive construction noise. I speak with Senator Hall who promises that he will get me information about a Clarksburg case where a nuisance law was applied to a construction site.

February 26th, 2007: At 6:13 a vehicle driving across the Walmart construction site sends noise into our home. Why is it necessary to disrupt a neighborhood at 6:13 a.m.? It isn't even light outside!

February 27th, 2007: More construction noise disrupts our morning. Senator Mike Hall returns a call saying the politicians at the Capitol won't vote for a noise ordinance. I contact Putnam County Administrator Brian Donat and learn that Putnam County Commissioners declined to put the issue on the agenda. I invite all of them to buy us out and

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live with this noise.

February 28th, 2007: It's before 7:00 a.m. and construction workers are already making noise that I hear indoors. When are these people going to start showing some basic consideration for neighbors?

March 1st, 2007: We are entering our sixth month of enduring excessive construction noise. Again, we can hear the tractors and the alarms inside our home. So far, the City of Hurricane, its police department, Putnam County Commissioners, and the West Virginia lawmakers have been derelict in their duties to enforce or pass stricter noise ordinances to protect neighbors against this abuse. The PCDA also continues to refuse to buy out the homeowners living next to the project that this unethical agency created. Voters need to remember this in the next election and vote out the Hurricane City Council members and Commissioners Steve Andes and Raymond "Joe" Haynes. All are incompetent and unfit to serve in public office. They have sold out their constituents for a Walmart. There is no reason why they can't pass and enforce noise ordinances to build the store and protect the neighbors at the same time!

March 2nd, 2007: More construction noise is too much to bear. For the first time since the construction began, we leave town for the weekend. My wife bought our home 15 years ago. She liked the quiet neighborhood. She hung a hammock in our front yard between two large trees. But the enjoyment is gone. Thanks to the unethical PCDA, Commissioners Jim Caruthers, Steve Andes, and Raymond "Joe" Haynes, as well as Hurricane Mayor F. Raymond Peak and City Manager Benjamin Newhouse, our quiet neighborhood is gone. All should be recalled or fired! We leave town for the weekend. I hope these unethical leaders are proud of themselves. They sold out their constituents for a Walmart! Voters took care of Caruthers in November. Peak isn't running again. Andes and Haynes need to resign as well as Newhouse.

March 5th, 2007: After spending a peaceful weekend visiting family, we are back to the disruption of construction noise. Tractor sounds are in our living room, our kitchen, and our bedrooms. If you stand in our front yard you can't carry on a conversation. I call Senator Karen Facemyer on her cellphone and ask about the noise ordinance issue. Facemyer threatens me with a harassment charge if I call her cellphone again. Of course she has never returned a call to her senate office. Facemyer needs to spend more time protecting her constituents instead of threatening them. Voicemails left for Senator Mike Hall and Delegate Patti-Ann Schoen have not been returned.

March 6th, 2007: More construction noise disrupts our morning. I don't know how any reasonable person expects a neighborhood to put up with six months of this noise. We told our broker, John Deitz, to make presentations to the Hurricane City Council last night and the Putnam County Commission today about buying out the neighbors. Deitz refused. If our home isn't sold by March 15th we will find a more aggressive broker.

March 7th, 2007: Another day of construction noise. I will continue to look for an attorney to file a nuisance lawsuit. Neighbors should not have to put up with all of this noise just so construction companies can build a project. I contact Congresswoman Capito's as well as Senator Byrd and Senator Rockefeller's offices. Since the local politicians won't do the right thing, maybe the feds will find a way to adopt a noise ordinance that will protect residents. It's a long shot, but something needs to be done. Rockefeller's aide contacts Cleveland Construction. He says they politely tell him nothing can be done. He refers me to the EPA which promises to look into the issue.

March 8th, 2007: I receive an e -mail from a national web site, www.WalMartWatch.com/battlemart. They are adding a link to this blog to their web site. This means the issue will get some national attention. It's about time the country knows how

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bad Hurricane and Putnam County allows its citizens to be treated by construction crews. Meanwhile the construction noise continues. At 4:30 p.m. a huge blast rocks our home. I call the WV Fire Marshal's office but they closed at 4:00. How convenient is that? Massive blasts after business hours so people can't complain until the next day! It seems nothing will stop these crews from disrupting our neighborhood.

March 9th, 2007: I am interviewed on the Tom Roten Show on 800 WVHU/1600 AM about the Walmart construction. I extend an invitation to Tom to attempt to do his show from our front yard so listeners can know how bad this noise really is. Later I send a similar invitation to the Putnam County Commission, PCDA, Putnam County Health Department Board state delegation, Governor Manchin, and Senator's Rockefeller and Byrd as well as Congresswoman Shelley Moore-Capito to hold their committee hearings in our front yard. Once these lawmakers realize how bad this construction noise is (and have to move their meetings inside-where it is ALSO noisy) they will have a clue as to what we are putting up with. Time will tell if they have the integrity to show up and hear the noise.

March 10th, 2007: It should be a peaceful Saturday but more construction equipment noise disrupts our home.

March 12th, 2007: Construction equipment noise wakes me up in the morning. At 1:44 p.m. another large blast rocks our home. This is ridiculous! Build your Walmart but leave us alone! I immediately change the name of this blog to ENDURING Walmart construction. Because you can't live with it, you must ENDURE it! It's been several months since I appeared before the Hurricane City Council to complain about the noise. The incompetents have done nothing to solve the issue. It's time to throw them all out in the spring election! My wife comes home from work at 5:30 p.m. She's three months pregnant in a high-risk pregnancy. (We have had one stillborn and miscarried three babies). She can't sit in peace and quiet in our living room at 5:30 p.m. because of all of the noise. She bought our home because it was in a quiet neighborhood. Now that neighborhood is destroyed. She isn't the type to call city hall and complain but she has finally had enough.

March 13th, 2007: For six months we have endured the excessive construction noise. My wife has remained quiet. But, finally, she has had enough of the abuse. She calls Hurricane City Manager Benjamin Newhouse, (who doesn't live in Hurricane) and leaves him a voice mail complaining about the noise. She is furious. We will see if Newhouse has the integrity to return her call. And if he has the integrity to finally enforce the Hurricane noise ordinance. I doubt he will do either. If he had integrity he would have enforced the noise ordinance months ago. At 1:03 p.m. a huge blast rocks our home. I was talking to Bob Duff on the speakerphone. His reaction was, "What the hell was that?" THAT was more harassment by crews building the Walmart. Today I also learn that the Miller family is moving out of our neighborhood this week. This is the second family that has been driven out of our community by construction. It is sad to see nice people abused by the work of greedy politicians. Our home is also for sale. I hope it moves tomorrow. I can't wait to get out of this mess. I take pictures of what used to be the Fitzwater pond. A beautiful site is destroyed for a supercenter. It's a sorry site.

March 14th, 2007: It isn't even light outside, but noisy construction equipment is crawling up the hill destroying our quiet morning. My wife says Benjamin Newhouse hasn't returned her call. She is three months pregnant in a high-risk pregnancy but cannot sleep because of the noise. Newhouse won't even pick up the phone and call her back. However, a noisy machine that disturbed us yesterday has been moved away from a hill next to our home. I receive a pair of nasty e-mails from an anonymous person upset of my criticism of the construction noise. The e-mail speaks of how the person is looking forward to the convenience of a Hurricane Walmart. I invite the writer to cut us a check and buy our home. It is amazing how these chickencrap people send anonymous e-mails expect US to put up with the noise.

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March 15th, 2007: It's 6:30 a.m. and I was asleep after working past midnight. But construction machinery wakes me up, ruining my morning. It is still dark outside. There is no reason to wake up a neighborhood before sunrise. This is harassment by construction crews and the City of Hurricane which refuses to enforce its noise ordinance.

March 16th, 2007: For some reason there isn't any construction work today. The peace and quiet is wonderful! Of course there still is the added noise from I-64 because workers removed the hill that acted as a buffer from our neighborhood. Delegate Jim Morgan calls me and tells me that I won't get a noise ordinance. He says the construction industry has always been exempt. No kidding, Jim, that's the problem! I invite Morgan to come and listen to the noise. He declines. Morgan doesn't get it. Either he introduces a noise ordinance restricting construction and blasting noise to the work site or he is part of the problem. We don't need legislators that don't protect the rights of people on their property against disruptive businesses.

March 17th, 2007: Two quiet days in a row. This is almost too good to be true! But it is what we deserve EVERY day! We moved into this neighborhood because it was quiet. We should be able to keep our quiet neighborhood.

March 19th, 2007: The quiet is over. Construction noise disrupts our morning. I am home sick. I call Hurricane Chief of Police Sonny "Joe" Sisk and ask him to PROPERLY enforce both the noise and nuisance ordinance. I reach voice mail. A call to City Manager Benjamin Newhouse reaches silence when it is transferred to his extension. Apparently Newhouse believes that ignoring the noise problem is the best way to earn his $61,000 a year salary. Late in the day I receive a rather vulgar e-mail from an anonymous source. It seems a few people don't like our objection to construction noise. The same offer applies to everyone. If you don't like our objection to the noise, come buy us out and move us!

March 20th, 2007: I am home sick again and would love some peace and quiet-inside our home. But the noise coming through our closed windows makes sleeping impossible. I receive an e-mail from Delegate Morgan and a letter from Delegate Schoen. Both say they can't help us with a noise ordinance. Both are wrong. What they won't say in their correspondence is that they don't want to make the construction industry behave. No other industry would be allowed to disrupt the lives of neighbors. Morgan and Schoen need to pass a bill that simply restricts construction noise and blasting shockwaves to the work site. Until they actually promote such a bill and make an effort to do the right thing, their correspondence is a bunch of empty rhetoric. I receive an anti-Walmart book in the mail from a reader. We aren't the only people that have endured Walmart construction while local townships turn their back on constituents in order to make a fast buck!

March 21st, 2007: At 6:30 a.m., before the sun comes up, we are disrupted by the sound of trucks arriving at the Walmart site. They have built a road to the work area a few feet from the edge of the property. They COULD have the road on the other side, where there aren't any home, many acres away. But, no, they choose to drive within a few feet of the edge of the property, waking us up. We are beginning the interview process for a new Real Estate agent. We are looking for someone to aggressively sell this property and get us away from this mess. There seems to be a collective chorus coming from the agents: "You have a great location, but it could take a year to sell it." That's not what we need. We need this place sold NOW! One agent says he MAY have a buyer and will let us know today. Now THAT would be great news! But then he calls and says the prospect says we are too far from the Interstate and cannot be seen. However, once the Walmart parking lot is put in where the dirt hill is, we will be visible from the freeway. I am home sick all day listening to a chorus of construction noise. Miserable! There is SOME good news... This blog, along with the rest of PutnumLIVE.com's coverage of news and events has this web site setting readership records.

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March 22nd, 2007: A parade of trucks across the construction site at 6:45 a.m. disrupts our morning. The noise continues throughout the day. My wife is pregnant and not feeling well. I am still home sick. Yet we have to endure loud construction noise in our home with the windows shut all day. This is how the City of Hurricane and the PCDA abuse the citizens.

March 23rd, 2007: Apparently this parade of loud trucks and equipment before sunrise is going to be a daily thing. These crews are showing zero consideration for this neighborhood. All day we are disrupted by construction noise.

March 24th, 2007: It's the first Saturday of spring, 2007. A beautiful day to kick back in our front yard, lay in the hammock, and enjoy a peaceful day. Instead, the noise of tractors, reverse alarms, and other construction sounds ruin the day. My wife takes her 82-year-old mother elsewhere. The disruption of the construction noise is too much to put up with. They park an ugly tractor on the hill directly across from our property and leave it for us to look at all weekend.

March 25th, 2007: It's Sunday. Workers are on the site. You would think that on Sunday we would get a break.

March 26th, 2007: Workers are making noise before sunrise. It is amazing how rude these people are each day. They show zero consideration for our neighborhood. Shop at Target. The noise continues through the day. No one should have to live like this.

March 27th, 2007: At 6:30 in the morning, construction crews wake us up. It is still dark outside. There is no reason to wake up a neighborhood at 6:30 a.m. NONE! A Realtor looks at the property for a commercial venture. It's the right-sized property and a perfect location but he can't talk to his buyer until Friday. An emotional roller-coaster.

March 28th, 2007: Trucks parked on the dirt hill directly opposite our home wake me up at 6:27. There are 25 acres involved in this project. Park the vehicles somewhere else-not directly across from our home. Please show some consideration for the neighbors! Apparently that is too much to ask. There is some good news for the day. PutnumLIVE.com breaks our monthly record for readership, passing 19,000 readers for a month for the first time. March 29th, 2007: No construction noise this morning. Apparently workers are taking off for the day due to rain. I can actually hear the birds chirping outside our bedroom window. THIS is how a neighborhood is SUPPOSED to sound!

March 30th, 2007: They're baaaaaaack!!! The peace and quiet is over as construction crews return and disrupt the sanctity of our home. The noise is unnecessary and intolerable. Mayor Peak and Gary Walton should have to live here and listen to the racket that their project is causing! I talk with Putnam County Commissioner Gary Tillis. He says the county won't buy out homeowners, and won't pass a noise ordinance. Tillis doesn't get it. He and the commissioners are protecting an out-of-state construction company and an out-of-state retailer while ignoring the needs of Putnam County residents who should be protected against excessive noise.

March 3 1st, 2007: Add Hurricane City Councilman Scott Edwards to the list of politicians that don't take care of their constituents. He says Hurricane won't enforce its noise ordinance and won't buy out homeowners next to its beloved Walmart project. Edwards' refusal to enforce the noise ordinance allows businesses to trample on the rights of homeowners who want peace and quiet in their homes. This sounds like a liberal stance. Fortunately today's rain has construction crews staying away giving us peace and quiet-for

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day.

April 1st, 2007: My wife puts on a birthday party for her mother. Nothing is purchased at Walmart. We are voting with our wallets.

April 2nd, 2007: The construction equipment noise isn't as bad as in past days. But it still can be heard inside our home. This is unacceptable. If Walmart wants our business the company should make sure construction noise stays away from our home.

April 3rd, 2007: At 6:18 a.m. a construction vehicle driving on the work site wakes me up. It is dark outside, people are trying to sleep in their homes. There is NO REASON to wake up people at 6:18 a.m. Later in the morning my pregnant wife has to go to the emergency room. Doctors tell her to cut back on the stress. The construction and Walmart issue is a major cause of stress for her. I call Hurricane Mayor Raymond Peak and ask him "Which is more important to you, a baby or a Walmart?" The politician properly answers "The baby." So I ask him to simply properly enforce Hurricane's noise ordinance. He says "The police "feel" they are doing that." I remind him that "feelings" aren't the issue-noise is the issue. Peak says he will see what can be done.

April 4th, 2007: The evidence is in. For the City of Hurricane, a Walmart is more important than a baby. Mayor Peak's promise to do something about the construction noise is drowned out by the tractors in the morning. Peak has had since October to do something about this noise-and failed. I understand he is running for City Council under Scott Edwards for Mayor. They should put up signs all over town: "Welcome to Hurricane. Where Walmart Is More Important Than Babies!" These Hurricane politicians are sickening. All they care about is money. They don't care about their citizens! We never hear from Mayor Peak throughout the day. But we hear PLENTY of construction noise. There is some good news. We sign a Real Estate listing agreement with David Bledsoe of Family First Realty. The name is ironic since Hurricane doesn't put families first. Hopefully Bledsoe will get our house sold so that we can get out of here!

April 5th, 2007: Lights and noise from the construction vehicles invade our neighborhood before 6:30 a.m. The sun isn't even up yet but workers are disrupting our morning. "Another day in paradise" brought to us by Mayor Peak, Scott Edwards, Gary Walton, and the PCDA. All are poster children for a law to recall politicians!

April 6th, 2007: Before sunrise crews are tearing up the hill across the road from our home. There is no reason to do this before sunrise. Crews should wait for neighbors to wake up before making noise that penetrates our homes. The lack of consideration by construction crews is horrible. Shop at K-Mart and Target!

April 7th, 2007: Saturday brings us a break from the racket. Construction crews take the day off giving us some peace and quiet. I receive a copy of a lawsuit stopping Walmart construction in a town in another state. Someone sent it to me anonymously. It's an injunction using the nuisance law. This is very tempting. While I hate to stop jobs from coming to Putnam County, this project should be stopped because of the noise and other issues. I am strongly considering using the injunction to bring this project to a stop unless the crews start working without disrupting our neighborhood.

April 8th, 2007: This is probably our last Easter Sunday in this home. We have about a dozen family members over. Most comment about the ugly Walmart construction site. My wife bought this house about 15 years ago. There have been many Easter egg hunts in our yard. Today is the last one. That's more than a dozen years of Easter memories that will fade away thanks to Mayor Raymond Peak and the PCDA.

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April 9th, 2007: At 5:54 a.m. I am awakened by construction vehicles. It's time to review that injunction that was mailed to me and stop this project until crews show some consideration.

April 10th, 2007: More construction noise disrupts our day. The Realtor puts up the For Sale sign. I hope we can sell this place and get away from this mess. Mayor Peak, bring your checkbook!

April 11th, 2007: Another day of excessive construction noise brought to us by Mayor Raymond Peak, and the PCDA-poster children for recall laws that West Virginia should have. Crews are up early destroying our peace and quiet. Why don't politicians force construction crews to show consideration for neighbors? The construction noise for this neighborhood is destroying our neighborhood. Shop at Target, a company that supports communities instead of destroying communities!

April 12th, 2007: More excessive construction noise throughout the day. I get an anonymous e-mail accusing me of "whinning" (sic) about the Walmart construction. (Don't these anonymous people have spell-check?) I offer to sell the person our home. No response. Perhaps a local politician sent it? I speak with a local construction company. He advises that the Leslie Company sells tractor equipment that is "so quiet you can barely hear it when you are standing next to it." I leave voice mails for Senator Mike Hall, Delegate Pattie Schoen, and Commissioner Gary Tillis about this equipment. I reach Delegate Jim Morgan who says he is in Nashville this week and will look into it when he gets back. I invite Morgan to do something this week since he neglected to deal with the issue during the last legislative session. I reminded him that though he can't hear the noise in Nashville, we will be disrupted all week. Morgan rudely hangs up the telephone. Typical lame politician!

April 13th, 2007: Prior to 7:00 a.m. construction trucks wake me up inside my home. This is rude. But it gets worse. Construction workers are driving large trucks up the dirt road in front of our home. They are tearing up the gravel. For years we begged the City of Hurricane to pave this road. Mayor Peak promised pavement but only put down crushed gravel. Mud is also being tracked down onto Hurricane Creek Road. This is a mess that is getting worse, not better.

April 14th, 2007: A quiet Saturday. We actually get to enjoy our neighborhood for a day or two. It's too bad we aren't shown some proper consideration on the weekdays.

April 16th. 2007: Construction vehicle noise wakes me up before 7:00 a.m. With 25 acres they can bring the tractors and trucks onto another part of the property, off of Orchard Park Road near the businesses. They don't need to disrupt people in their homes! Later in the morning I am found NOT GUILTY of the telephone harassment charge filed against me by David Koon of Cleveland Construction and the Hurricane Police Department. This leaves the City of Hurricane with a lot of explaining to do for harassing me and my family!

April 17th, 2007: Morning construction noise wakes us up again. I can't wait until this project is finished. Meanwhile I am getting e-mails congratulating me on my victory in court yesterday. Now I am looking for a lawyer to sue the City of Hurricane and a few others that had me wrongfully arrested. Senator Mike Hall confronts me at the Teays Valley Speedway while I am getting gasoline for my wife's car. He says he is angry that I called him a "sellout" that he thought he was talking to a constituent - not a reporter. First I try to talk it out. When that doesn't work I go inside the store. Hall also heads inside because the gas pump doesn't work. I go back outside to avoid him. I get in my wife's car to drive away and close the window. In front of the clerk (who came outside) Hall comes to our car to confront me some more. I roll down the window and try to tell him that he had the chance to pass a noise ordinance but told me about a court case up north that could solve our problem-a court case that no attorney has been able to locate. (Speedway has cameras that caught Hall

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coming up to my car window.) Hall tries to tell me that HE didn't tell me about the case that he told me a STATE ATTORNEY told HIM about the case. There are several problem's with Hall's stand: 1) Does he tell constituents one thing and reporters another? 2) The "sellout" piece Hall refers to was NOT a news report but was CLEARLY LABLED "COMMENTARY" in TWO places. 3) Hall had the chance to sell our house for months and failed. This is why we changed brokers. 4) Hall had the chance to submit a noise ordinance bill and failed-he says because he "was told by a state attorney it wasn't necessary." 5) Hall is SUPPOSED to represent his constituents-NOT a state lawyer. 6) People have the right to peace and quiet on their property and in their homes. 7) No one is asking Hall to stop construction in West Virginia. We are only EXPECTING to have peace and quiet while construction projects are underway. If the construction industry would act in a responsible and sensitive manner to neighbors by keeping their noise to their worksites, we wouldn't complain and noise ordinances would not be necessary. 8) We have offered to sell our home to Hall. He has refused to purchase it while also refusing to pass a noise ordinance to protect us. Hall can't have it both ways. 9) We have offered to trade homes with Hall during the construction. He has refused that offer as well. 10) It was Mike Hall's political allies that shoved the Walmart construction into our neighborhood. 11) Hall has no one to blame but himself for our frustration with him.

In other news I notice the Mullins home has been removed from its site up the hill. Their home and acreage was sold so that the Hurricane Marketplace could be built. This will make our property more desirable as we are in between Hurricane Creek Road and the Hurricane Marketplace site.

April 18th, 2007: Construction vehicles driving up the hill wake me up at 6:13 a.m. There is no reason to wake neighbors so early in the morning! Scott Edwards calls me about his run for Mayor of Hurricane. I tell him that if he wants my support he needs to support the neighbors on this hill. He says he has been near the site and agrees that the noise is bad but only has one vote as a councilman. While I am taking out the trash a truck driver has his truck parked on the hill across the road from our home. He is working on the cover of the bed of his dumper. I ask him to move it elsewhere because the engine noise is so loud that I can't answer my cell phone when it rings. The truck driver gives me the "one minute sign," then goes inside the truck and shuts off the engine. He then shouts to me, "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you, the engine was too loud." No kidding! That is the issue!!!

April 19th, 2007: More early morning construction vehicle noise wakes me up. The noise continues into the day. Just a typical day of rude treatment by construction crews.

April 20th, 2007: The rude treatment continues. Starting early in the morning and lasting all day construction crews send excessive noise into our home and onto our property. Our Realtor, David Bledsoe, has added a for sale sign at the foot of our hill. When I call him to thank him he says there is quite a bit of interest in properties adjoining the Walmart site and that he believes he can sell our home. We hope so. We are sick and tired of living next to this mess created by the unethical PCDA and City of Hurricane! I receive an anonymous text message referring me to a Charleston-area Internet forum where the Walmart construction is being discussed. As if I would care about the opinions of a bunch of anonymous people who have never stood in my home and listened to the noise. Put your name on your opinion or don't bother!!! I contact the West Virginia State Police about the harassing text message.

April 21st, 2007: A quiet day on the construction site gives us the chance to enjoy a Saturday. I open windows and listen to the few birds that are still around. However noise from I-64 that used to be buffered by a hill drowns out much of the sounds of nature. Even when they are not working construction crews have managed to ruin the sanctity of our neighborhood.

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April 22nd, 2007: Another out-of-state company is doing soil tests for the Hurricane Marketplace project next to Walmart. It would be nice if these projects would use West Virginians to do the work.

April 23rd, 2007: At 4:09 a.m. air brakes from a truck on I-64 wake me up. I went to sleep with an open window. Before construction workers tore down the hill and tore out the trees, we rarely heard noise from I-64. But the sound buffer is gone. For a moment I think about calling Hurricane Mayor Raymond Peak, City Manager Ben Newhouse, Hurricane Councilman Scott Edwards and Gary Walton of the PCDA to complain-at 4:09 a.m. but decide that I don't want to sink to their levels. Unfortunately my consideration for their lives is not reciprocated as construction trucks on the work site wake me up again just a few hours later. When I go outside our cars and house are covered with dust blown over from the work site. I contact Kanawha Stone where a woman admits her workers kicking up dust. I ask for car wash vouchers. She refers me to James Davis at Walmart who doesn't return my call.

April 24th, 2007: Early noise wakes us up again as vehicles drive up and down the hill directly across from our home. With 25 acres of land, I see no reason why these trucks can't come across the site near Orchard Park Road.

April 25th, 2007: Once again early noise wakes us up and continues through the day. We take a break for a couple of hours to go to CAMC for my wife's ultrasound. We learn we are having a boy! Too bad he won't be able to hike in the woods across the road from our home. Construction crews tore them out. And he won't be able to canoe on the Fitzwater Pond. Construction crews destroyed the pond. And I would love to start decorating his room. But what's the point? We are selling because our neighborhoods have been destroyed by the Evil Empires known as the City of Hurricane and Putnam County Development Authority. I take the night off work to celebrate with my wife. But our celebration is interrupted by a blast from the site shortly after 5:20 p.m. These intrusions on our life must stop. Earlier in the day I scheduled an appointment with an attorney to start the lawsuit process. Since the politicians sold us out I will let the courts nail the City of Hurricane with a lawsuit and an injunction to stop construction until our home is sold and we move.

April 26th, 2007: Another day, more excessive construction noise. I can't wait for the next Hurricane election. We will finally have a chance to throw Mayor Peak and Scott Edwards out on their sorry backsides for screwing this neighborhood!

April 27th, 2007: I sign a contract with a prominent Charleston attorney to sue the people that had me falsely arrested in January. It has taken several months but I am finally going to get some justice for the harassment I and my family endured. Construction noise continues on the work site disrupting our neighborhood. If Scott Edwards wants to become Mayor of Hurricane he needs to start taking care of this neighborhood. I open a checking account with Huntington Bank. They are giving out $25 Target gift cards for account referrals. I will be referring a LOT of people to Huntington Bank. Anyone that supports a Walmart competitor is a good friend!

April 28th, 2007: It's a Saturday and we deserve peace and quiet in our home. But our weekend is disrupted by more construction noise coming from the Walmart site. April 29th, 2007: I wake up to the sound of birds chirping instead of tractors and trucks. Now THIS is how our neighborhood is SUPPOSED to sound! It's Sunday and workers have taken a deserved day off giving us a deserved break from their incessant noise! Oops! I spoke too soon. At 8:00 a.m. my day is disrupted by the noise and reverse-alarm of a construction vehicle. This is ridiculous! There is NO EXCUSE for disrupting a neighborhood on a Sunday morning! We take a drive to the Flatwoods Outlets in Braxton County. While there we find some beautiful patio furniture that we would love to buy. However, we are in a holding pattern until our house is sold. This construction is holding us hostage. We don't

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want to build a nursery until we move, we don't want to buy patio furniture until we move.

April 30th, 2007: The last day of April brings more construction noise. Both Dolores and I wanted to sleep in but the noise wakes us up-again.

May 1st, 2007: At 6:27 a.m. a truck on the construction site wakes me up with our windows shut. I want to go back to bed for a couple of more hours by by 7:30 a.m. a host of cranes, tractors, and trucks are sending excessive noise into our bedroom.

May 2nd, 2007: Another day filled with excessive noise. Several times while talking on the phone in my living room, people on the other line made comments about the noise.

May 3rd, 2007: Truck noise wakes me up again in the morning. Our windows are shut but I can't sleep in my own bed due to the excessive noise. I leave a voice mail for Hurricane City Manager Ben Newhouse. I contact Hurricane City Attorney Ron Flora's office. (The one in Milton). I am told he is on vacation and that no one is filling in for him. First the City of Hurricane allows excessive noise. And they hire an out-of-county attorney. Then they allow him to go on vacation without a fill-in. More bad management by the City of Hurricane. Mayor Peak and the council are poster children for why there should be recall processes in West Virginia.

May 4th, 2007: Another day, more construction equipment noise. Typical lack of consideration for our neighborhood.

May 5th, 2007: It's Saturday but crews are making noise anyway. We decide to go pick out baby cribs, strollers, car seats, etc. We are registering at Target and Toys R Us, -NOT Walmart. It's an exciting time planning a baby's nursery. But our excitement is ruined when we realize that we can't really take the furniture home since we are probably moving. Or are we? Our home is for sale, but so far no buyers because Gary Walton and the PCDA screwed up and allowed too many extensions so the Walmart that SHOULD have been done last fall won't be done until September. No commercial buyer wants to invest until the Walmart is about to open. And no one wants to buy our home to live in because of the excessive noise. The PCDA should be disbanded by the Putnam County Commission!

May 7th, 2007: At 3 :12 a.m. noise from Interstate 64 wakes me up. This was never an issue before construction workers tore down the hill for the new Walmart. By 8:00 a.m. construction workers are sending excessive noise into our home. I have to shut our windows but still hear the noise in our bedroom. Brenda Campbell of the City of Hurricane says she has been to the site and hasn't heard the noise. I invite her out right now. She says she may come out later. We will see. Maybe I will make a recording and play it back in her office. Meanwhile Campbell, Mayor Peak, and Councilman Edwards continue to allow the citizens of Hurricane to be abused by excessive construction noise. I never hear back from Brenda Campbell. Apparently she doesn't care enough about constituents to meet with them about excessive construction noise. May 8th, 2007: It was a quiet early morning, but by mid-morning the construction noise was out-of-control. At 12:11 a massive blast almost knocked me off my feet as I was walking to my car in back of my house. Nobody should have to put up with this abuse.

May 9th, 2007: At 6:27 a.m. our sleep is disrupted by construction equipment noise. At 7:30 a drilling machine directly across the road from our home sends noise into our bedroom. My wife, who is in the middle of a high-risk pregnancy (she has had several miscarriages and a stillborn) calls Ben Newhouse and leaves a message complaining about the excessive noise. I call for Brenda Campbell and am disconnected. I call back and leave Brenda a voice mail. I later call and speak to a woman that answers the phone. I express concern

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about the noise and my wife's pregnancy. She hangs up the phone. Apparently the City of Hurricane is more concerned about the construction of a Walmart than a woman's pregnancy. The arrogance of Hurricane city officials is beyond words. I receive a letter from Roy Vanater saying we should vote out the entire city council and mayor. I gladly publish Roy's letter. He understands the issue. Hurricane government must go! The noisy machine belongs to Kanawha Stone. I call and ask for Art King and am transferred to the voice mail of James Davis from Walmart. I leave a message. So far he has not returned my call. Does Walmart also consider their construction more important than someone's baby? I get word that the blast earlier in the week is within state standards. I speak with West Virginia Fire Marshal Sterling Lewis, Jr., a Putnam County resident who says he agrees the standard is too high. He suggests contacting Senator Mike Hall. I inform Lewis that Hall has had ample opportunity to fix the issue and has done little more than talk about it.

May 10th, 2007: More construction noise disrupts our home. Another huge blast rocks our home at 12:18. I contact Senator Mike Hall at Fire Marshall Lewis' suggestion. Hall calls the noise issue "important" but refuses to meet with me until after he returns from a pending trip. I ask him to call for a special session since he and the other members of the Putnam County delegation were derelict on the noise and blasting issue during the last session. Hall says the special session "isn't going to happen" and hung up. Senator, talk is cheap. We deserve some action. Either you are part of the solution or you are part of the problem. I also place a call to Senator Karen Facemyer's office. We will see if she responds or allows construction crews to stomp on the rights of residents who only want peace and quiet on their property and in their homes. At about 4:15 another blast rocks our neighborhood. There were three today, according to the WV Fire Marshal's office. I felt two. This is getting ridiculous!

May 11th, 2007: Another typical day of rude construction noise. I still haven't heard back from Senators Hall or Facemyer. I am not surprised. They have sold to developers. My wife is furious that Ben Newhouse has not returned her call. Why is she surprised? Newhouse told me to move. He won't do anything about the construction noise. To do something takes integrity. I can't wait until Sam Cole gets elected. He will clean up Hurricane City Hall. Construction workers chop down most of the hill that buffered our house from the work site. This is a double-edged sword. It makes us more vulnerable to noise from the work site (which is bad enough now). It also means we will be facing the store. The one possible positive is that our home is more desirable for a commercial site. Thousands of cars will be parked in front of our home. It's the perfect site for a restaurant or retail. This should help it sell so that we can get away from this mess created by the PCDA and City of Hurricane.

May 12th, 2007: Construction workers send noise onto our property during the morning. We should get a break on Saturday. But Raymond Peak and Scott Edwards as well as Sonny Sisk refuse to properly enforce the noise ordinance. June 12th is coming. We can send them packing! Hurricane Marketplace has put up a sign at the bottom of our hill. They will be building 30,000 square-feet of retail space. At least the PCDA sold their property honestly. When the PCDA sold the Walmart property Gary Walton tried to hide it from the public. Still, the traffic from the Walmart and the Hurricane Marketplace will further ruin this neighborhood. Mayor Peak should be forced to buy our home and live with the ugly monster that he is allowing to happen!

May 13th, 2007: It's Mother's Day, but we don't get a break from construction. Some sort of work is being done on the metal framework. They should call their moms and leave our neighborhood alone! Later in the evening more vehicles are crossing the work site sending noise onto our property. These people are showing NO CONSIDERATION for our neighborhood!

May 14th, 2007: At 6:05 a.m. I am awakened by a construction vehicle driving across

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the work site. I go back to sleep, but at 7:45 lots of noise from tractors digging at the site wakes me up. We are still waiting for Ben Newhouse to return our call from last week. But I am not holding my breath.

May 15th, 2007: Another typical day of excessive construction noise. Loud trucks, flying dust, major disruption in our home.

May 16th, 2007: More early morning construction noise disrupts our home. Another major blast shakes the house before 10:00 a.m. Senator Mike Hall returns my call and promises to talk with Fire Marshal Sterling Lewis, Jr., about regulations that reduce the size and scope of blast shockwaves to offer more protection to people living and working next to construction and blasting sites. I also call Senator Pressler who is the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. I ask that the law be passed immediately. People should not have to put up with the crap that we are dealing with every day. Pressler says it isn't an issue in his district and won't be "the flagbearer" on the issue. I inform him that this could be an issue every day and I expect him to support the issue. Pressler sounds like another wimpy politician that is only looking out for his issues. He gets one thing right: He blames the Putnam County delegation, including Senators Mike Hall, and Karen Facemyer, Delegates Patti-Ann Schoen, Troy Andes, Brady Paxton, Dale Martin, Ted Ellis, and Jeff Eldridge for failing to deal with this during the session. Had they done their jobs properly we would have a state noise ordinance. But they failed their constituents. During the day we are disturbed by trucks and construction equipment from Kanawha Stone and Joe Tolley. Calling Kanawha Stone to complain is a waste of time. They simply transfer the call to a Walmart spokesperson's voice mail. I leave a message for Joe Tolley. He fails to return my call.

May 17th, 2007: Prior to 7:00 a.m. a large truck from Peerless wakes me up. I call their office to complain but it is closed. Amazing how companies will wake you up inside your home but aren't even open to take the complaints. After 7:00 I speak with a dispatcher named Bill. When I ask to speak with a supervisor, Bill hangs up. First they wake me up, then I must wait until it is convenient for them to complain, then they hang up! I call back and speak to someone named Mary who says all of the company's executives are out-of-state or out of the office. I leave my name and number. I am still waiting for a return call. More trucks from Kanawha Stone are on-site as are heavy construction equipment. I go to my office to write this before 8:00 a.m. I will return home in a few minutes where it is usually too noisy to hold a conversation inside my home let alone try to go back to sleep. No one calls me back. When I call back after 8:00 the manager is not available. Eventually I have a nice conversation where I simply ask not to be disturbed in our home or on our property. Incredibly I am told they will not make that promise. They do say they will try to be quieter in the future. It's amazing that some people in the construction industry feels they have the right to disturb people's peace and quiet in order to earn a living. At 4:56 our home is rocked by a huge blast. It is incredible that the so-called leaders of West Virginia and Putnam County expect their citizens to put up with such abuse!

May 18th, 2007: Shortly after 7:00 a.m. construction equipment noise wakes me up. I feel like a prisoner in my home. I would call Hurricane City Hall and complain, but I get a phone number that says "the called party is currently not accepting calls." That's taking arrogance to a new level. It's time to send Hurricane a message and vote out Raymond Peak, Scott Edwards, and the others that shoved a Walmart into a neighborhood with no consideration for the people that live nearby. A drilling machine with a Kanawha Stone logo on the side sends loud noise into our home for much of the day. June 12th is coming. When I leave to run an errand I am nearly hit head-on by a tractor running down the wrong side of the road on Hurricane Creek Road. Apparently it is attempting to clean mud from the roadway that construction vehicles have tracked onto the street. I some better ideas: Don't track mud onto the road! At about 2:00 p.m. a huge blast rocks our home. This one even scares our dogs. My 80-pound golden retriever mix even crawls under our bed. In the seven years "El Oroso" has been in our family he has NEVER crawled under our bed in fear. I contact Terry Williams at the Putnam County Animal Relief Center. She suggests we contact

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our veterinarian and order sedatives for the dogs. I was hoping there was a statute that we can use to stop the blasting shocks from coming onto our property. Instead I am advised to give our dogs drugs. This is ridiculous!

May 19th, 2007: It's Saturday morning. Like many Americans I have worked hard all week and want to sleep in on the weekend. In the privacy of my home I am entitled to some peace and quiet. But not in Hurricane where F. Raymond Peak, Scott Edwards, and Gary Walton allow citizens to be abused for the sake of money. Shortly after 9:00 a.m. the first of several cement mixers from Arrow Concrete driving onto the Walmart site wake me up. I call the company and they blame Cleveland Construction. However, you can't ethically blame Cleveland Construction for the noisy trucks operated by Arrow Concrete. A supervisor from Arrow calls me back and demands that we move our house. Our house has been here for 30 years. Until now we didn't have a noise issue. Why should we move our house after 30 years so a company can make excessive noise? That's ridiculous! All we want is peace and quiet on our property and in our home!!! On June 12th, send Peak and Edwards packing. Citizen abuse in Hurricane must stop!

May 20th, 2007: I get an e-mail from a reader in Texas criticizing my Walmart construction coverage. I guess he can't hear the noise in Texas. We start to move furniture around in our baby nursery. Too bad all of the decorations must be mounted on the wall because of our pending move. We would have loved to paint a mural. But the PCDA and City of Hurricane have ruined our dreams. I see a commercial on television about Subaru and their Indiana plant. It brags about environmental sensitivity and how the "neighbors" (chirping birds) love the plant. Here in Hurricane hundreds of trees were removed, a hillside was blasted, and a pond was filled in. The neighbors have been abused by noise, pollution and blasting that is being allowed by the incompetent Mayor Peak and his sidekick Scott Edwards. I hope voters kick them to the curb on June 12th. Citizens in Hurricane have been abused by Peak and his cronies for too long!

May 21st, 2007: At around 7:15 a.m. the constant "beep, beep, beep" from a construction vehicle wakes me up. Another early -morning disruption from the Walmart construction site. There are at least a dozen locations where this store could have been built with flat land already graded and prepared. But Raymond Peak, Scott Edwards and the PCDA chose to put it here.

May 22nd, 2007: Another typical day of noisy construction equipment. My windows are shut but that doesn't make a difference. You would think the equipment is in our bedroom. At 12:54 p.m. our home is rocked by another blast. I can't wait until this project is finished. Of course, then we will be facing a 24-hour supercenter with tons of traffic.

May 23rd, 2007: Construction crews wake me up again. It is impossible live in peace and quiet while this Walmart is being built. There is no reason why they can't build this store and allow neighbors to have peace and quiet in their homes.

May 24th, 2007: Another day of excessive construction noise. Now we can add the noise of city officials. Hurricane City Manager Ben Newhouse is bragging about $600,000 - $800,000 annually in tax revenue that Walmart will bring. With all of that money, Ben, you can now put your wallet where your mouth is and buy out the neighbors that you have told to move! It's put up or shut up time, Newhouse! Pay up or resign! In addition a Charleston newspaper quotes a DEP spokeswoman as saying that inspectors did not find any environmental violations. WRONG! The WVDEP issued numerous Notices of Violations for stream pollution, permit violations, and illegal burning. Shortly after 6:00 p.m. another blast rocks our home. I wish there was a way of duplicating the shockwaves and playing them back in front of Hurricane City Hall.

May 25th, 2007: We start our Memorial Day Weekend with more excessive construction

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noise. Crews rattle our home at 7:00 a.m. and continue into the day. Shortly after 1:00 p.m. our home is rocked by another blast. I call Walmart's Construction Manager Mike Shaw to lodge a complaint. I reach voice mail saying he is out on vacation until next month. He signs off by wishing a "Great Memorial Day Weekend." Sorry, but it's hard to enjoy a holiday weekend when blasters are rocking your home. We continue voting with our wallets. Our baby is due in September and we register for gifts at Target and Toys R Us. Not at Walmart. Since Walmart refuses to keep its construction crews in line, we will have all of our friends and family members spend thousands of dollars at Walmart's competitors. Irresponsible corporations do not deserve customers. We will support responsible store including Target and Toys R Us!

May 26th, 2007: Construction workers take a Saturday off. Apparently we will FINALLY have a quiet holiday weekend. This is the calm before the storm. I am sure they will be disrupting us again on Tuesday, and once the Walmart and Hurricane Marketplace are built our formerly quiet neighborhood will be crawling with cars. May 27th, 2007: Cars are visiting the construction site. They aren't construction vehicles. Apparently people are getting curious about the new Walmart. You need a life if visiting a Walmart construction site is the highlight of your Sunday afternoon.

May 28th, 2007: Memorial Day brings a quiet construction site. I wish every day was so quiet.

May 29th, 2007: At 1:00 a.m. a flatbed truck delivering pipe to the construction site wakes me up. At 1:00 a.m.! I don't know why a truck needs to be on-site to make a delivery at 1:00 a.m.! No one was there to accept the delivery. I call Hurricane PD. Ofc. Chad Runyan comes out to investigate. I hope he cites the driver. Later in the morning a chorus of construction noise wakes me again before 9:00 a.m. The quiet of the weekend was short-lived. It's back to rude treatment for the neighbors. Drilling noise disrupts my home throughout the day. After 11:00 I talk with Capt. W.M. Mullins who confirms what I suspected all along: The truck driver wasn't cited. Once again the residents near the construction site get screwed so that Hurricane can have its Walmart. I have a better idea: Move Mayor Peak, Ben Newhouse and Scott Edwards into these homes and let them endure this construction crap every day. It won't happen. None of them have enough integrity to put up with what they are demanding of their citizens. I call Arrow Concrete to complain about their noisy trucks. No one returns my call. Typical. Walmart's Director of Construction does return my call when I am in a meeting. I leave him a voice mail. Hopefully tomorrow we can talk about the out-of-control construction noise. When I come home late at night a big-rig truck parked outside the entrance to the Walmart construction site is partially blocking the roadway leading to our home. This is the second-straight night I have had to drive around a big rig in the same location. These guys need to park at the truck stop-not block our road!

May 30th, 2007: At a few minutes after 6:00 a.m. Arrow Concrete trucks charge across the construction site and wake me up. This is the same company that refused to return my call yesterday. How rude of Arrow Concrete to disturb a neighborhood so early in the morning! While I am attempting to return a call to a Walmart construction director, our home is shook by a blast at 1:40 p.m. These guys are incredible! Later in the evening my wife says another blast was set off, shaking our home. There is no reason to shake our home to build a Walmart. The lack of consideration for our neighborhood is appalling!

May 31st, 2007: Before 7:00 a.m. construction crews wake me up. It will apparently be another noisy day in our neighborhood brought to us by inconsiderate construction crews.

June 1st, 2007: I spend the day out-of-state attending to some family business and other

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issues. It was NICE waking up in a quiet hotel room on my time without an early wake-up call from noisy construction.

June 2nd, 2007: It's a quiet Saturday morning. Crews are giving us a well -deserved break from construction noise early in the morning but return to send noise into our neighborhood around 10:00. In the distance I can see that the Walmart store is taking shape. I have mixed feeling about this: The sooner the store is finished the sooner the tractors go away and jobs were be created. But the noisy tractors will be replaced by 24-hour shoppers. We can't win!

June 4th, 2007: A Cummings Collection truck wakes me up shortly after 7:00 a.m. We have been Cummings' customers for 15 years. This is a terrible way to show appreciation for our patronage. Construction noise continues through the day, disrupting our home. My wife says the house is rocked by more blasting after 5:00 scaring her and the dogs.

June 5th, 2007: Another typical day of construction noise. It invades our bedroom, kitchen, and living room. We feel like prisoners in our home. The lack of consideration by crews and the City of Hurricane is horrible. No one cares about the citizens of this town, only the money Walmart will bring later. The City of Hurricane has sold us out to a Wally World!

June 6th, 2007: Construction vehicles from Arrow Concrete and Kanawha Stone send excessive noise onto our property and into our home. In the afternoon more blasting takes place rocking our home. Scott Edwards, Gary Walton, Ben Newhouse, and Raymond Peak should be forced to live here and endure the crap their project is putting us through. Water pressure is reduced because of the filling of a tanker truck with city water.

June 7th, 2007: Another day of excessive construction noise. I am woken up by a variety of vehicles while sleeping in my bedroom. This is abuse that is being allowed by Mayor Raymond Peak and Councilman Scott Edwards.

June 8th, 2007: More excessive construction noise wakes us up shortly after 7:00 a.m. It would be nice to be able to sleep in peace. The same week that the City of Hurricane is asking residents and businesses to conserve water, a tanker truck continues to spray water around the construction site. If the city wants people to conserve water, I know of one way to cut back: Stop wasting water spraying construction sites! The filling of this truck causes reduced water pressure on a daily basis to our homes.

June 9th, 2007: A quiet Saturday allows us to sleep in as we should be able to every day. Construction workers have apparently taken the day off. We spend our morning shopping at Target buying a crib for the baby we expect in August. We gladly spend hundreds of dollars at Walmart's competitor to punish Walmart for destroying our neighborhood. Targets are built in commercial shopping centers. Target doesn't wake us up every day. Target deserves EVERYONE's business everyday! Target is a responsible retailer!!!

June 10th, 2007: A quiet Sunday allows us to finally enjoy our neighborhood again.

June 11th, 2007: Shortly after 7:00 a.m. construction vehicles wake me up. Our windows are closed, but the noise is so bad that they wake me up anyway. The noise appears to be coming from the Hurricane Marketplace site-not the Walmart site. Either way, it is a rude awakening by construction workers. Later in the morning construction vehicles from the Walmart site send noise onto our property. Scott Edwards has the audacity to campaign across the street from my wife's employer. He isn't content with shoving a Walmart into our neighborhood. He isn't content with us being blasted nearly every day. And he isn't content with the disruption of hour home by construction noise. No, he campaigns across

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the street from where my wife is working. When I try to talk to him about it, he says, "F--- you, fat a--" and Hurricane police officers have to pull him away from me! I call Frank Sergent, who is also on council and running for mayor. When we are discussing the problem at 6:34, our home is rocked by another blast. Sergent says there is nothing he can do. WRONG! He can go to the workers and demand that they stop disrupting the homes of Hurricane citizens.

June 12th, 2007: Another 7:00 a.m. wake-up call thanks to construction workers at the Walmart site. You would think the Citizen's Party would have the brains to let us sleep in on election day! I will head to the voting booth to send Scott Edwards and Mayor F. Raymond Peak a message. Their rude treatment of citizens will not be tolerated any longer! Once again our water pressure is reduced because water is being used to fill up a tanker truck to spray for dust on the construction site. !

June 13th, 2007: I get some anonymous e-mail (and one signed) criticizing my feelings about the Walmart construction. I invite all of the anonymous wimps to come hear the noise and live in this neighborhood! I sign my name to my commentary and blog. The one person that DID sign her e-mail, I admire for her honesty. Though I disagree with her, I gladly published her letter. As for the excessive noise, it continues. Shamblin Stone is running large trucks up the road in front of our house, sending noise inside our house. They could drive them onto the construction site instead. If Scott Edwards does become mayor, after an investigation by the Secretary of State about voting issues, I know he will do nothing for the people in this neighborhood. He should buy us out and develop the rest of the hill. Then everybody WOULD win. We aren't against progress. We ARE against construction noise on our property and in our homes!

June 14th, 2007: At 6:31 a.m. construction trucks and equipment wake us up. I also have another e-mail from one of the anonymous wimps telling me that she used to live near a landfill and know about noise. So you would think she would understand the problem! She says we should move. I offer her an opportunity to put her money where her mouth is and meet with us at 10:00 and buy our property. We will see if "Miss Anonymous" brings a check. I am updating this at 11:30. "Miss Anonymous did not show up. Nor did any of the others that are happy to anonymously tell me to put up with the noise. Talk is cheap! The anonymous crowd isn't willing to put their money where there mouths are!

June 15th, 2007: Another typical day of excessive construction noise. Nothing unusual to report, just hours of noise on our property and in our home. Our water pressure is reduced again because they are filling up the water truck to spray for dust at the construction site.

June 16th, 2007: It's a Saturday morning and I am awakened by a construction vehicle on the Walmart site. Give us a break! We put up with excessive noise all week long. The least we should be able to do is have a peaceful Saturday!

June 17th, 2007: It's Father's Day. You would think construction crews would take the day off and spend time with their families. You would think they would give us a quiet Sunday morning to spend time with our families. WRONG! On Father's Day we are awakened at 6:38 a.m. by a tractor moving things across the Walmart construction site. This is incredibly rude! So much for Walmart and its crews allowing us to enjoy Father's Day!

June 18th, 2007: At 5:56 a.m. a Kanawha Stone truck wakes me up as it drives across the construction site. Kanawha Stone owns many of the vehicles that have made noise that we can hear in our home. Kanawha Stone also was involved in the blasting that rocked our home for months. Kanawha Stone's President, Art King, personally told me the noise would "only be an inconvenience." What an understatement! When I tell Councilman Scott

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Edwards about the truck showing up at 6:38 a.m. on Father's Day and waking us up, Edwards laughs. He just doesn't understand what we are dealing with here!

June 19th, 2007: Another early-morning wake-up call. At 6:18 a.m. a construction crew truck wakes me up as it drives across the Walmart construction site. I run into Ben Newhouse at Mayor Peak's retirement party. Ben repeats his order for us to "Move" away from the Walmart construction site when I tell him my wife wants him to return her call about the excessive noise. Ben Newhouse's sarcasm is rude and unprofessional. The new Hurricane Council should "Move" Ben Newhouse to a new job. I hear Burger King is hiring! One of the Hurricane policemen tell me the contractor is having to rebuild a brick wall at the cost of $70,000 because it wasn't put up correctly in the first place. That just "breaks my heart!"

June 20th, 2007: Construction vehicles wake us up shortly after 7:00 a.m. My wife and I later sit in our living room eating breakfast and are "serenaded" by the noise of tractors, reverse-alarms, horns, and a very irritating alarm that keeps going off. She is going to send a letter to the new city council members complaining about Ben Newhouse's comments last night demanding that we moved. Cut us a check, Ben! Newhouse needs to be fired. His arrogance and sarcasm have NO PLACE in city government! But we can't complain to Mayor Peak at City Hall, they have the day off-while we are stuck with the construction noise. As we retire to bed for the night, my wife informs me that I don't need to set the alarm in the morning because the tractors will wake us up.

June 21st, 2007: My wife was right. We didn't need the alarm this morning. The tractors and trucks woke us up shortly after 7:00 a.m. I meet with Hurricane Chief of Police Sonny "Joe" Sisk who repeats his assertion that "necessary" noise is exempt under the town's noise ordinance. But when he provides a copy of the ordinance, "necessary" isn't in the ordinance. "Unreasonable" is the word that is used. I feel noise on my property and in my home with the windows shut IS "unreasonable." Sisk invites me to get an injunction. I am strongly considering an injunction. The law is clearly on my side. This blog will provide evidence that we have been putting up with "unreasonable" levels of noise for months! June 22nd, 2007: Another morning of "unreasonable" excessive construction noise that "disturbs the good order and quiet of the community." Construction equipment sends noise into our home prior to 7:00 a.m. Again, we can hear this noise through closed windows and doors. I am strongly considering filing an injunction to force Hurricane to enforce its noise and nuisance ordinance against the Walmart construction site. We have waited more than six months for the city to do the right thing. Obviously the greedy leaders of Hurricane don't care about our neighborhood, they simply want Walmart's revenue. I call Brenda Campbell at City Hall to complain about the lack of water pressure. She promises to look into the problem and fax me a copy of the nuisance ordinance. Ronnie Woodall, one of the few good employees at Hurricane calls and tells me he has moved the water tap for the construction tanker truck. Thankfully, Ronnie knows how to properly treat citizens. Ben Newhouse should take notes from Ronnie Woodall. We leave town for a couple of days in Louisville. We are tired of the noise and are being run out of our own home.

June 23rd, 2007: Despite our hotel being located NEXT to Six Flags in Louisville and under the Louisville Airport flight path, it is MUCH quieter than living across the road from a Walmart construction site. We can't even hear the theme park in our room, and it isn't that noisy in the parking lot. Outside the jets can be heard taking off, but unlike tractor noise, it only lasts for a few seconds. And to think Mark Sorsaia compared our situation to the proposed Lincoln County airport. It's a rotten comparison on Sorsaia's part.

June 24th, 2007: I awake on a Sunday morning to discover that crews have parked the largest, ugliest tractors directly across from our home. There are 25 acres to park these beasts, but they put them in front of our home. They are an eyesore. Park them in front

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of Ben Newhouse's home. Let HIM look at them! Or in front of Scott Edwards' home. THEY are the ones that want this Walmart so badly. Let them and their neighbors look at these ugly tractors!

June 25th, 2007: Some of those tractors parked directly across from our home are turned on, apparently to "warm up" shortly after 6:00 a.m. There is no reason why they needed to be parked there. This is a 25 acre construction site. They could have been parked where they didn't wake us up-on the business side of the construction site. The construction equipment noise continues into the morning as the City of Hurricane illegally continues to refuse to enforce its ordinance against "unreasonable" noise that is disrupting my inside our home. As promised, I file a writ of mandamus asking the Putnam Circuit Court to order Hurricane to enforce its noise and nuisance ordinances. I have given Hurricane months to comply with its own laws. Now I will have the court order the city to do the right thing.

June 26th, 2007: Another morning of excess construction equipment noise. Crews are working on the Walmart entrance so trucks are driving up our road at a high rate of speed waking us up before 7:00 a.m. Then more noise begins as crews start their work. All we want is peace and quiet in our home. The law requires this but Hurricane won't enforce its noise ordinance. I can't wait for my court hearing.

June 27th, 2007: At about 6:45 a.m. a PCR truck wakes me up as it drives across the Walmart property. Later in the day, more excessive noise disrupts our home. It is too noisy to stand in the yard to have a discussion. I leave for lunch and return and a Brewer Industry truck nearly runs me off our dirt road. I call Brewer where a man says he doesn't understand why his driver is even in our neighborhood. Meanwhile I am waiting for a hearing for the noise ordinance issue. I have paid nearly $200 in filing and service fees but the Putnam Circuit Court won't give me a hearing date. If there was justice in this county I wouldn't have to file a Writ of Mandamus. But once I do I can't even get a hearing! This case should have been heard immediately upon its filing, not days later! It is apparent that the leaders of Putnam County want this Walmart so badly that they won't even let the neighbors get a court hearing. The people of this neighborhood are getting screwed!

June 28th, 2007: Before 7:00 a.m., a construction crew truck heading up our road wakes us up. We can't get any peace and quiet. And the court still hasn't set a hearing date on the noise ordinance filing. I am starting to believe that developers own the courts as well as the politicians in this county. Yes, we can file a suit, but if they won't hear the case in a timely manner-or at all, we don't get justice! When I called Judge Eagloski's office to get a hearing date, a woman that works for him rudely hung up on me! I faxed a letter to presiding Judge O.C. "Hobby" Spaulding, but he has not replied.

June 29th, 2007: A construction truck arriving at the work site wakes me up at 6:25 a.m. I am reminded of the fact that this is illegal "unreasonable" noise that I hear indoors with my windows shut. I am also reminded that the Putnam County court system has failed to provide me a hearing on my writ. I can see the strategy: Stall the hearing date until AFTER the Walmart is built! I speak with my neighbor, Sally McDonald. She says the noise is terribly disruptive to her family as well. I file a writ with the West Virginia Supreme Court to force Eagloski to set a hearing date. But they are on summer vacation. We are screwed no matter what! Eagloski should resign. I also ask the Supreme Court to move the case to Kanawha County. I don't feel we can get any justice with Eagloski.

June 30th, 2007: We still don't have a hearing date. Judge Norbert "Ed" Eagloski failed to do his duty yesterday. But at least we can sleep in this morning. Construction crews have taken the morning off, leaving us a peaceful Saturday morning. We will see how long this lasts into the day. I play telephone tag with Senator Mike Hall. I leave him a message about the IMMEDIATE need for a state noise ordinance. I also call Delegate Patti Eagloski-Schoen Schoen. She tries to duck the issue, saying she can't promote a noise

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ordinance while there is a court case. What court case? HER BROTHER, Judge Eagloski, has failed to set a hearing date! She rudely hangs up on me. I will vote for BOTH of their opponents in 2008. Pattii and Norbert Eagloski are turning their backs on our neighborhood. Where are their ethics? They should resign and give back their state salaries. I have to wonder: Do Patti and Norbert Eagloski own stock in Walmart and/or construction equipment?

July 1st, 2007: We are entering our ninth month of enduring Walmart construction noise. It is a quiet Sunday morning, and crews are staying home. But Mondays is coming, and with it, another month of noise. Thank you Gary Walton, Thank you Raymond Peak, Thank You Scott Edwards, Thank You Judge Norbert Eagloski. You have all sold out our neighborhood for a Wally World!

July 2nd, 2007: Our peaceful weekend is over. Construction crews disrupt our morning with excessive noise. I am on the phone in our living room and the caller on the other end comments about the noise. I wonder if Mayor Scott Edwards expects peace and quiet in HIS home! Tonight we will attend the Hurricane City Council meeting and demand that the noise ordinance be enforced and that Ben Newhouse be fired. Edwards doesn't have the votes to run Hurricane the way he wants. We expect the new council to do the right thing, even though Edwards doesn't understand that concept! When my wife and I speak before the council, Edwards pisses off my wife when he tells her to hire a lawyer. Somehow she refrains from slapping him. Edwards also made the comment about how one barking dog can be disruptive. My wife points out the hypocrisy about targeting one barking dog and allowing excessive construction noise and blasting. Edwards does publicly say that the noise ordinance will be enforced. A staff member shouts from the audience that construction noise is exempt. But this is a lie, and I quickly point out that lie. It is also said that the dirt moving will only last two weeks. Doesn't matter. We have put up with this noise since October. We want peace and quiet and we want it NOW! Council failed to pass a motion ordering that the noise ordinance be enforced. But, Edwards assures everyone that the ordinance will be enforced. We have his word on it. When we arrive at home I notice the water tanker truck has its lights on. I leave Scott Edwards a voice and e-mail informing him of this. As much as I hate the Walmart construction site, I would hate to see the guy come to work with a dead battery. I really would.

July 3rd, 2007: At 7:00 a.m, I hear construction tractor noise inside our home with the windows shut. But it is too early to call City Hall to complain. Once again our rights to peace and quiet are violated. I personally send Scott Edwards an e-mail. But when I call the police, Ofc. Campbell says he is waiting on a court order. I remind him that Edwards publicly stated the noise ordinance would be enforced and that I expect Campbell to meet with me and take action. Campbell does not show up. Talk is cheap in Hurricane! I call and leave messages for Chief Sisk and Captain Mullins and Mayor Edwards. None are returned. I telephone new councilwoman Lana Call. She also leaves messages with the expectation that this will be enforced. We will see if they respond to her. And, apparently, they do-for a few hours. Then at 12:45 I hear more construction noise in our master bedroom. I send an e-mail to City Hall asking for it to end. I am getting tired of having to ask for peace and quiet. I'll bet Ben Newhouse gets peace and quiet in HIS neighborhood without having to ask for it!

July 4th, 2007: While I am at Thomas Memorial Hospital for some medical testing, my wife is awakened on the 4th of July by construction equipment directly in front of our home. By ANY account, this is UNREASONABLE noise and directly violates the Hurricane noise ordinance. Mayor Scott Edwards, who promised a few days earlier that the ordinance would be enforced, doesn't answer his cell phone. I call Putnam County Dispatch but no police officer shows up. A site supervisor who says his name is "Mr. Nowhy" refuses to shut the crews down. He says it is "My right" to disrupt neighbors early in the morning on Independence Day. We call Councilwoman Lana Call but she says Chief of police Joe Sisk

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told her the noise ordinance cannot be enforced. Sisk does not return my call. Neither does Delegate Patti-Eagloski-Schoen. Nowhy says he is a Kentucky resident and doesn't have "Any problem" waking up West Virginians. He works for Cleveland Construction, an Ohio company building a store for an Arkansas company. Our Hurricane and Putnam County leadership has sold out its citizen's rights to out-of-state interests. Happy July 4th from Walmart, Cleveland Construction, Mayor Scott Edwards, Delegate Schoen, and Kangaroo Court Judge Norbert "Ed" Eagloski. I reach Senator Mike Hall who is on his way to Ripley. He agrees to call Mayor Edwards by cellphone and candidly says that early morning noise on July 4th is "a nuisance." Hall promises to promote a noise ordinance but admits that it will be too late for our neighborhood. I call Councilman Brian Ellis. He promises to come up later and look at the situation. More than three hours after I call Putnam Dispatch, Capt. W.M. Mullins and Officer Steve Lusher show up. Together they start making excuses. "It's a commercial area. It's construction" are their two favorite whines. However, as you can see from the noise ordinance, there is NO exemption for construction equipment or commercial areas. "Why don't you build a sound-proof wall if you want peace and quiet?" Why should WE build a sound -proof wall? It's the CONSTRUCTION CREWS that should bear that expense. It is painfully obvious that the City of Hurricane will do NOTHING to protect the rights of neighbors negatively affected by construction noise! Driven out of our home by noise, we spend the day in Buffalo and Milton attending July 4th festivities. When we return home after 5:30, the noise is STILL disrupting our home. That's nearly 11 hours of excessive construction noise on a holiday. And Mullins and Lusher want you to believe that this is REASONABLE?

July 5th, 2007: At 6:00 a.m., an Al Marino truck wakes me up as it drives across the Walmart construction site. By 6:30 a.m. it is joined by other vehicles that are sending excessive noise into our home. I consider calling the police, but that doesn't do any good. The Hurricane Police Department doesn't properly enforce noise ordinances, it only lies about the noise ordinances. I meet with new Councilwoman Patty Hager. She rants about it being a construction zone and how we have to expect noise and should be patient. Sorry, Hager, go read the law. YOU ARE WRONG! There is no exemption in the law for construction noise. You took an oath to uphold the laws of Hurricane. DO YOUR JOB! And quit using the lame excuse of "being new!" All you have to do is pick up the phone and order Ben Newhouse and the City Manager to enforce the noise ordinance! It takes less time than your lame excuses! I also meet with Scott Edwards. Not surprisingly, unethical Edwards says the City of Hurricane doesn't want to buy out the neighborhood. Edwards doesn't know anything about development, either. If he did, he would buy us out and start putting stores and restaurants where our homes are. This would bring jobs and tax revenue to the city that would benefit the community far more than a few homes. Edwards needs to take some ethics and business classes. His term is less than a week old and he is already showing to be a colossal failure as mayor. But no one around here is surprised! I spend much of the day at the West Virginia Supreme Court getting details of the writ filing finished. Hopefully we can have a hearing tomorrow and get a court order to have Hurricane enforce its noise ordinance. Thankfully, Judge Eagloski recused himself from the case. However the week delay that he caused is inexcusable! Eagloski should resign in shame for his incompetency! Now we can get a REAL judge to hear this case!

July 6th, 2007: Construction equipment wakes me up inside my home at 7:30 a.m. It looks like another day of illegal disruption! If this continues I will contact the police, who, in a waste of taxpayer's dollars, will likely do nothing. I wonder if I call Councilwoman Hager if she will be "patient" about getting woken up early in the morning? Surprisingly, the morning noise is most of what we hear all day. Crews seem to take the day off. I don't know if it is because of time off for a holiday week or whether Hurricane is FINALLY properly enforcing its noise ordinance. At any rate, the peace and quiet is appreciated. We switch Real Estate brokers. Our property is now listed with RealCorp, a commercial specialist. I hope they can sell our home! The WV Supreme Court still hasn't ordered a hearing about the noise ordinance. Every day I understand more why people complain about the court system in West Virginia. I feel like I have wasted hundreds of dollars on a corrupt court

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system that cares more about Walmart than people's rights!

July 7th, 2007: We actually are getting to sleep in this morning! It sounds like Hurricane is finally properly enforcing its noise ordinance. No crews wake us up early today! We enjoy a Saturday free of construction noise. It is nice to sleep in, nice to hear birds in our front yard, and nice to be able to hold a conversation in our living room without hearing tractors.

July 9th, 2007:I wake up in my quiet hotel room while doing business out-of-town. Not a tractor in sight. No noise, no problem! I have dinner on the beach. All I can hear is the sound of waves and children laughing. It sure beats listening to Walmart construction noise! I wonder if this is what Ben Newhouse had in mind when he rudely told me to move!

July 10th, 2007: I spend much of my day searching for a new house. I dread this. We have spent years remodeling our home with custom features. I doubt any new homes will have them. I don't like being forced out of our home by the PCDA and Hurricane's bad decision to put a Walmart in a neighborhood. During the day my mother-in-law who lives with us is disrupted by construction noise coming into our home.

July 11th, 2007: Though I am not home to hear it, my wife says she is disrupted by early construction noise. This is despite the fact that I personally sent Hurricane City Manager Ben Newhouse and Mayor Scott Edwards an e-mail telling them when she would be at work so that crews can work around her schedule and not disturb her. My wife is seven-months pregnant and does not need the stress of excessive construction noise! Hurricane's insensitivity to her pregnancy is appalling. But when you are dealing with Ben Newhouse and Scott Edwards, insensitivity pretty much describes them! I look at some model homes. This is going to be a major hassle replacing our custom-remodeled home. I hate to go through all of the choices and designs again!

July 12th, 2007: Another day, more home-shopping. Of course we still have to sell our home in Hurricane. And Mayor Scott Edwards and City Manager Benjamin "Just move" Newhouse continue to be derelict in their duties to buy out the Walmart construction site neighbors. I hope the new council blows out Newhouse in the next meeting. He has to go. Then Edwards will have one less "buddy" at City Hall!

July 13th, 2007: Our new Realtor complains to me that I have "pissed off" the mayor. Maybe. But it is Scott Edwards who is in the wrong. Had he and the PCDA not shoved a Walmart into our neighborhood and forced us to put up with excessive construction noise, there wouldn't be any problems. Any complaints should be directed to Scott Edwards and Gary Walton.

July 14th, 2007: At 3:29 a.m. my cell phone wakes me up with an incoming call from Putnam 911 Dispatch. Before I an answer the phone, it stops ringing, but the caller ID reads Putnam 911 Dispatch. I return the call, but am told that no one called me from that number. Of course, cops can make outgoing calls and have it go through Putnam 911 Dispatch. Guess which Putnam County Mayor is close friends with Hurricane police officers? Because I am in another state this morning, I file a police report. Whoever chose to call me at 3:29 a.m. may also have to deal with the F.B.I. It will also be interesting to see if Mark Sorsaia prosecutes this call as aggressively as he prosecuted my case in January. Or will this be a case of "double-standard" Sorsaia only choosing to prosecute laws that he agrees with while ignoring vehicle noise laws that he disagrees with? I'm betting this caller doesn't get prosecuted.

July 16th, 2007: We are gone most of the day. But at about 7:55 p.m., a blast rocks our home, waking my pregnant wife who was taking a nap. I call new Councilwoman Lana Call, but she says that due to the filing of the Writ of Mandamus that she cannot ask the City of Hurricane to enforce its noise ordinance. I ask Call to provide a statute that precludes her

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from enforcing an existing ordinance, but she fails to provide the code. In other words, someone at City Hall has lied to her. She hangs up on me. Silly Scotty Edwards doesn't return my message. Councilman Brian Ellis promises to look into the issue. However, the damage is done. Once again the sanctity of our home has been disrupted. This new council campaigned on a platform of change. However, only the names have changed. When it comes to the operation of the City of Hurricane it is the same old crap! The residents get screwed by a corrupt city that has sold out its people to build a Wally World!

July 17th, 2007: Another blast rocks our home, this time at about 7:00 p.m. Once again, my pregnant wife cannot sleep. What kind of Neanderthals think it is acceptable to blast the home of a pregnant woman? The leaders of Putnam County! Further proof that you don't have to have any intelligence to be a "leader" in Putnam County. "It's so easy a Caveman can do it!" I speak with Art King, the president of Kanawha Stone, which is doing the blasting. King tries to call nine months of excessive noise and blasting an "inconvenience." That is outrageous! King agrees to call my wife and work around her schedule. But, of course, he never calls her.

July 18th, 2007: Art King calls me back. He claims he "lost" my wife's cellphone number. I don't believe him. I give it to him again. He still hasn't called her. He continues his "inconvenience" spin about the excessive noise. I tell him he has no credibility. Once again I as King what gives him the right to earn a living while disrupting others. Once again King dodges the question.

July 19th, 2007: My wife confirms that Art King finally calls her. But she says he never apologizes for the relentless noise and blasting that have disrupted our lives since last fall. The audacity of these people is incredible!

July 20th, 2007: I have finally found a builder that can build us a home that is what we want. However, we haven't been able to sell our house. No one wants to buy a house to live in across from a Walmart and since the store isn't built yet no one is showing commercial interest. This is why the City of Hurricane and the PCDA should buy us out. No one wants to live here anymore. Our neighborhood is ruined. Greedy politicians have destroyed our way of life. I send a letter to the editor of The Daily Mail complaining about the noise. But I doubt the paper will run it as it is pro-business.

July 21st, 2007: I speak with new Councilwoman Patty Hager. She tells me business construction is exempt from Hurricane's noise ordinance. But despite repeated requests to show me the exemption, Hager fails to back up her empty claim. That's because there is no exemption for construction noise. Hager hangs up the phone> Hager needs to resign her Hurricane City Council seat since she refuses to enforce the town's laws that she took an oath to uphold. We don't need worthless, greedy politicians running Hurricane.

July 23rd, 2007: I do more work with a builder for our new home. I also investigate a neighborhood to build that home. My wife's doctor takes her off work. I tell her she gets to sleep in tomorrow. She says she doubts it as construction equipment will likely wake her up at 7:00 a.m. I send an e-mail to Ben Newhouse, Scott Edwards, Brian Ellis, and Patty Hager letting them know that we expect peace and quiet in our home as my wife is now on bedrest due to her high-risk pregnancy. I also call Art King of Kanawha Stone. Amazingly King refuses to guarantee that his workers will not disturb my pregnant wife on bedrest.

July 24th, 2007: Excessive construction noise starts before 7:00 a.m. and continues past 8:20 p.m. This despite the City of Hurricane, Kanawha Stone, Hurricane City Council members, and Mayor Edwards being notified in writing that my pregnant wife is home on bedrest! The rudeness of these people is just incredible! I get a letter today from my attorney notifying me that he filed suit against Cleveland Construction and

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David Koon over my false arrest in January. Maybe I will finally get some justice! We are hiring an attorney later this week to file suit against the City of Hurricane, PCDA, and other about all of the excessive noise they put us through. The Daily Mail still has not run my letter. I am not surprised. Too many people in this state are in love with Walmart.

July 25th, 2007: Another day of excessive noise and more blasting. My pregnant wife can't get any rest in our home. The Daily Mail finally prints my letter but leaves out the part about the Neanderthals disturbing a pregnant woman in her home. The DM missed the point.

July 26th, 2007: Excessive construction noise starts at 6:30 a.m. My pregnant wife, on bedrest, can't get peace and quiet in her home. The Neanderthal leaders of Putnam County and Hurricane refuse to enforce the noise ordinance. And the corrupt Circuit Court still has not set a hearing.

July 28th, 2007: We have discussions with an attorney to file a lawsuit over the excessive noise and other issues. He agrees to take our case. It looks like we will finally get justice.

July 30th, 2007: A rock-breaking machine runs all day long. My pregnant wife cannot get any rest. I sign paperwork to move forward with the lawsuit. I've had enough. I also file for an injunction. Workers tear up the road down the hill from our home. In order to leave our hill drivers have to drive across the lawn of Cross of Grace Church. Not only are we disrespected but so is the church. However, I care less about the church than our neighbors because the church refused to meet with neighbors before selling the entry area to Walmart. Normally I get pretty angry when a church is shown disrespect. However Cross of Grace's board showed us no respect. Now they have cars driving across the lawn with no one to blame but themselves.

July 31st, 2007: More construction at the entry way causes more inconvenience leaving our home. Noise throughout the day disrupts my pregnant wife on bedrest. Another blast is set off at about 6:00. Only Neanderthals would think it is OK to blast a pregnant woman's house while she is on bedrest. I call Senator Mike Hall and tell him I expect a state -wide noise ordinance to be passed immediately since the legislature failed to accomplish this months ago. He hangs up on me. That's Neanderthal behavior. I leave a message for Delegate Patti Schoen. So far she has not returned the call. More Neanderthal behavior. I call Councilman Brian Ellis. He also doesn't return the call. More Neanderthal behavior. I reach Councilwoman Lana Call. This time she doesn't hang up on me. She admits she hasn't read the noise ordinance. She promises to do so within a couple of days. I hope she does. She says the people at City Hall tell her businesses and construction sites are exempt. I promise her that there is no such exemption. When she reads the ordinance she will learn that the people at Hurricane City Hall have lied to her!

August 1st, 2007: Our water was cut off this morning. The City of Hurricane said a Kanawha Stone construction worker cut a main. First Kanawha Stone blasts our home, and sends excessive noise into the home, now they cut off our water. My pregnant wife can't even take a shower. I call Art King at Kanawha Stone who says he is "unaware" of the water issue. Ronnie Woodall with the City of Hurricane tells me they cut off Walmart's water supply because of this latest problem. That just break's my heart!

August 2nd, 2007: More water outages and more excessive construction noise make my wife's day miserable. She is supposed to be home on bedrest through the end of her pregnancy. However, she cannot get much rest with all of the construction noise. Crews have dug up around the neighborhood's mailboxes to the point that the Post Office won't deliver. We can't even get our mail properly!

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August 3rd, 2007: I finally get a chance to talk with Ben Newhouse. He spends about a half hour blaming everyone but the City of Hurricane for the Walmart construction issues. Newhouse's incessant whining is disgusting! Newhouse is disgusting! The snot-nosed Republican comes off as a whiney liberal blaming the world for problems that Hurricane created by approving the Walmart. He claims he didn't even know the blasting was continuing. Newhouse's ignorance and attitude is appalling. I invite the incompetent City Manager to resign. But he doesn't have enough integrity. They're paying him $60,000 a year and he doesn't even know what is happening at the biggest construction site in Hurricane! I hope the City Council fires him next month! I call Walmart and complain. They have Cleveland Construction call me. A nice guy named Day says he will work on all the problems. Too little, too late! My wife still had to go to the Post Office today to get our mail. Later in the day the mail box area is fixed. It sounds like Cleveland is finally deciding to be cooperative.

August 4th, 2007: I contact new Councilwoman Patty Hager. She tells me, "We all have had to put up with water outages. When I bring up the blocked mailboxes she hangs up after telling me, "It will be over soon." The arrogance of Hager, and her incompetence as a councilwoman are incredible! She took an oath of office to uphold the laws of Hurricane. But she demands that we tolerate excessive noise, water outages and mail stoppages so that she can get her beloved Walmart. Hager should resign! She should also be forced to live near a major construction site for nearly a year. It is amazing how people like Patty Hager put a Walmart construction site ahead of the health and welfare of a pregnant woman on bedrest! Later I receive a rambling letter from Hager criticizing my comments on this blog. Actually, I was nicer to Hager than she was to me. If Hager doesn't like this criticism, all she needs to do is enforce the laws that she took an oath to uphold. Since she can't handle the job of a councilwoman she needs to improve in that area before she attacks my blog! Hager claims to be a teacher. Did they forget to teach the part about the First Amendment and the part about commentary? It's really kind of funny when incompetent politicians criticize the media.

August 5th, 2007: I notice that Hurricane's official web site has a "quality of life" video. What the video DOESN'T show is all of the blasting, the excessive construction noise, the mayor yelling "F-off" in front of children, Councilwoman Hager hanging up on a constituent, the smoke pollution from the Walmart site, the WVDEP notices of violation, the water outages and the electrical outages. It DOES show shots of Putnam General Hospital. Does CAMC know about this? PGH no longer exists. I speak to our Realtor today. He tells me he could not get to our home recently because the road was blocked. So we can't even show our property for sale! I encourage him to go to the Hurricane City Council meeting tonight and sell it to them. Patty Hager said they all want us to move, let's see them put their money where their mouths are! During tonight's council meeting Hager says that large businesses need to be more considerate of neighbors. However, she doesn't vote to uphold the noise ordinance. When one of my neighbors complains about tall grass on a DIFFERENT neighbor's property, Silly Scotty Edwards asks if it is MY yard. Sorry, Silly Scotty, but we just cut our grass a WEEK ago. You're so Silly, Scotty! How tall is YOUR grass?

August 6th, 2007: I speak with Councilwoman Patty Hager. She is actually somewhat polite. Still, she refuses to have the City of Hurricane buy out the Walmart neighbors who have endured excessive noise and blasting under her "leadership." I pick out a home site about 20 miles from the nearest Walmart. Now, if we can only sell our home. I call Councilwoman Lana Call. She says the noise ordinance "Does not apply to your situation" because we are next to a business construction zone. I ask her to show me the exemption but "Clueless Call" hangs up the phone. It is time to recall Mayor Edwards and the Hurricane City Council for refusing to uphold the law! We don't need a bunch of deadbeat leaders on a power trip who screw constituents! They are a waste of taxpayer's money. Edwards and the rest should resign in shame!

August 7th, 2007: We finally get a court date for the noise ordinance. Next week. The

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legal system in Putnam County is a joke!

August 9th, 2007: Workers from the City of Hurricane come out to our home and harass my wife over brush on a hill in back of our home. She says they cite her and don't even sign the citation with their names. So she goes out with a camera. Where does she find high brush? ON THE Walmart PROPERTY next to their fence . In back of the home where John Clay's son lives. And it was JOHN that complained! As soon as I get a new photo software program I will publish the photos. Mayor Scott Edwards doesn't return my calls. Why not? Because he knows the city is harassing us and because he knows we have photgraphic (sic) evidence that they let Walmart get away with high brush alongside a road but harass a pregnant woman about high brush on a hillside behind her home! Meanwhile my wife tells me the tractors make noise all day on the Walmart construction site and the City of Hurricane does NOTHING to enforce its noise ordinance! Talk about double-standards!!! It is a good thing I am out-of-town on business. Otherwise I would picket Scott Edwards home and business with a sign demanding that he resign!

August 10th, 2007: I email photos to the City of Hurricane showing excessive brush on the Walmart property. Nothing is done about it. I am not surprised. This is the same city that allowed graffiti to stay on the former Fitzwater home for months. There is obviously a double-standard in Hurricane. Laws are enforced against citizens to harass them but not against out-of-state construction companies. Mayor Scott Edwards and City Manager Ben Newhouse have sold out to big business and turned their backs on citizens. I get a telephone tip that Doug Peak, the former Mayor's son, is no longer employed by the City of Hurricane. Now they need to get rid of Ben Newhouse-who doesn't even live in Hurricane!

August 11th, 2007: I find another home that would be perfect for our family. However, we have been unable to sell our house. No one wants to live across the street from a Walmart construction site. The City of Hurricane continues to refuse to buy out the neighbors that have been victimized by the excessive noise. Soon we will be victims of excessive traffic thanks to bad management by Ben Newhouse and Scott Edwards! Hurricane abuses its citizens in favor of out-of-state businesses! Once again I am asked about a rumor that we were offered $300,000 for our home. Not true! No such offer was made. The only offer made was a low-ball offer by Scott Edwards who tried to take advantage of us!

August 13th, 2007: More excessive noise including a water tank truck driving up and down our road means my wife can't get enough rest. Less than three weeks from having a baby and crews won't give her a break!

August 14th, 2007: The water tank truck makes more noise. Why can't it stay on the Walmart property and spray! Also, when is the City of Hurricane going to make Walmart cut the weeds alongside its fence? They are several feet tall!

August 15th, 2007: We finally get our noise ordinance hearing today. I hope the judge looks at the law for what it says and make s Hurricane enforce the law. Everyone is entitled to peace and quiet on their property. It's that simple! Unfortunately, at the hearing, our attorney advises us to withdraw the writ, as I apparently didn't "technically" file it properly. Nevertheless, he will file a complete lawsuit and ask for an injunction Friday. It's amazing how the courts protect people that destroy a neighborhood over the victims whose way of life is ruined!

August 17th, 2007: Ben Newhouse sends me a threatening letter promising legal action if I continue to call City Council members to complain about Hurricane failing to enforce its noise and nuisance ordinances. Ben doesn't get it. The United States Constitution allows people to redress grievances with their government leaders. Ben is very transparent. We are complaining about his poor management so he threatens us! We turn the letter over to our lawyer. He wanted the original ASAP. We can't wait to file a lawsuit.

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August 18th, 2007: We get a quiet Saturday. Crews still haven't finished the entry area next to Cross of Grace and have left some underground pipework exposed. A very dangerous situation if a car misses the curb. Someone could get hurt!

August 19th, 2007: I leave town for about 10 days. Our son will be born soon and I will be back then. Question is, will he be able to sleep over the construction noise?

August 20th, 2007: Councilwoman Hager is on Channel 8 news complaining about her workers compensation insurance rates. The same woman who has complained about my coverage of the Walmart construction debacle runs to he news media when she feels she is being treated unfairly. Oh, the hypocrisy! Maybe I should call Brickstreet and ask them to raise her rates even more! Nah, I'm nicer than her!

August 21st, 2007: I get an email from Councilman Hager. She claims she didn't "run" to the news media, that they were referred to her. Maybe. But she didn't "run" from the Channel 8 camera either. Instead Hager whined when she felt she was being treated unfairly. This is the same Councilwoman who allows her citizens to be treated unfairly. The same Councilwoman who protects out-of-state businesses instead of her citizens. The same Councilwoman who allows the noise ordinance to be broken at the expense of her citizens. The same Councilwoman that allows the home of a pregnant woman to be blasted for months! Hager also claims to be a former teacher. Yet her letter lacks basic sentence structure taught to fifth-graders. I hate to sound hard-nosed, but I don't feel a bit sorry for Councilwoman Hager. However, I have great news for her: When the new Walmart opens she won't have far to go to get some cheese to go with her whine! Here is the text of Hager's letter:

"mark you need to get your facts straight! i did not run to the media... one of your advertisers sent them down here in fact! want to know who it was? (edited) so don't say i ran to them mr. halburn. your commentary needs to have factual info rather heresay."

Hager claims to be a teacher. Now look back at the text of her letter. Note the lack of capital letters. Note the wording. Does that letter read like something a teacher would write? I will never allow my child to be one of Hager's students!

August 22nd, 2007: My wife is disrupted during the day by some sort of "hammering" machine making noise. She is in the last 10 days of her pregnancy but cannot rest due to excessive construction noise. Speaking of unnecessary noise, fortunately I don't get another email from Councilwoman Hager. I do, however, receive an email from a reader that points out the absurdity of Hager telling me to get my facts straight while she refuses to enforce the Hurricane noise ordinance because she believes construction work is exempt. As you can see by reading the ordinance posted above this blog, there is NO exemption for construction work or for businesses. Hager should resign as she has refused to enforce the law and, in doing so, violated her oath of office.

August 25th, 2007: We receive the draft of the lawsuit against Ben Newhouse and the City of Hurricane. I send it back to the attorney for a few minor adjustments. I cannot wait until the suit and injunction are filed.

August 27th, 2007: I review the lawsuit draft with the attorney. We also send some documents to him so that he can include the PCDA in the suit. August 28th, 2007: At 6:07 a.m. I am awakened by the first of several construction trucks speeding up our road. There is a posted 20 MPH speed limit, however the City of Hurricane fails to enforce it, just like it fails to enforce the noise and nuisance ordinances. Just before 7:00 a.m. those annoying reverse-alarms start. I would like to get some peace

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and quiet in our home. However, this is too much to ask for with the uncivilized management of the City of Hurricane. The Neanderthals don't care about their citizens! These alarms continue into the evening. This is in direct violation of the noise ordinance. I receive an email from "[email protected]" calling me a crybaby. I believe I know who this is and forward the email to my lawyer. Here is the member profile:

Name FRANK - CHIEF- DAD - DORK BY MY DAUGHTER Location ALMOST HEAVEN WEST VIRGINIA Gender Male Marital Status MARRIED WITH CHILDERN Hobbies & Interests HUNTING --FISHING-- PLAYING WITH FIRE Favorite Gadgets GUNS-- RODS -- FIRETRUCKS -- AMBULANCES Occupation PARAMEDIC -- FIRE CHIEF -- FULL TIME DAD Personal Quote GOT BALLS GRAB A HOSE I hope this person didn't write the email on a City of Hurricane or Putnam County computer! I filed our lawsuit against the City of Hurricane today. More details on that later. Hopefully we can finally get justice for all of the hell the city and construction crews have put my family through! All we wanted was peace and quiet. Instead we have been harassed with noise, pollution, electrical and water outages. Even our mail was interrupted AGAIN today. We hated to file suit. We gave the city MONTHS to do the right thing and protect its citizens. But the Neanderthals at City Hall sold us out to an Arkansas department store and an Ohio construction company! I hope the judge vacates the mayor and city council seats for gross dereliction of duties!

August 29th, 2007: It is the last day of Dolores' pregnancy and our 9th wedding anniversary. We "celebrate" these events with the "serenading" of construction vehicle noise. Reverse horns, speeding vehicles up our road, just to name a couple of problems. I hope we can get the injunction to stop this craziness in time for Matthew to come home to a quiet house! There are still plenty of weeds next to the Walmart site, even City Hall. Best yet-outside of Mayor Scott Edwards' business! I turn photos of them over to my attorney. Ben Newhouse needs to grab a weed-eater and clean up Hurricane!

August 30th, 2007: Excessive construction noise continues through much of the day. I discover tall weeds behind a business owned by councilman Brian Ellis. I turn in a list of weeds complaints at City Hall. A clerk is laughing when she hears that Scott Edwards' business is on the list. I receive a rambling email from a high school kid defending Councilwoman Lana Call. Written anonymously, of course. I invite Lana's fan to come spend a day listening to the noise in our front yard. I doubt I will ever hear from this person again. Lots of people say we complain too much but don't bother coming hear to listen to the noise. Hypocrites! For the third -straight day our mail isn't delivered. I have to go pick it up and stand in line at the Hurricane Post Office. They won't deliver mail to us because the Post Office says construction work next to the mailboxes makes for unsafe conditions. With a wife and baby in the hospital, I don't have time to drive to the Post Office every day because the City of Hurricane is allowing unsafe conditions at our mailboxes!

August 31st, 2007: At 6:20 a.m. a fire truck wakes me up crawling up the hill. No lights, siren, or apparent reason to use our road or be there at 6:20 a.m. I couldn't tell if it

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belonged to Hurricane, but who else would it belong to. Moments later the annoying reverse-alarm chorus starts. I can't wait for this to end! And today or tomorrow we will bring home our baby. Do you think the City of Hurricane will allow Matthew some peace and quiet? I doubt it! The Neanderthals that run City Hall didn't care about Dolores' pregnancy, I doubt they will care about our baby! After taking my car in for inspection, new tires, alignment, the shuttle driver takes me home and sees the Walmart construction. "This is crazy," he says. "They're right up against your house! You have a beautiful home, but the noise is terrible!" Exactly!!! It's scary when a shuttle driver shows more intelligence and common-sense than the Hurricane City Council, Mayor, and City Manager-COMBINED!!!

September 1st, 2007: It's Labor Day Weekend but we still don't get peace and quiet on our property. Though less workers are on the Walmart construction site, I can't sit on my front porch without being disrupted by the noise. Even in my living room the noise is disruptive-including those irritating reverse alarms. We bring our baby home. It would be great if he can live in a quiet home. But I can't count on that. Ben Newhouse and Scott Edwards aren't that considerate!

September 2nd, 2007: On Labor Day Weekend Sunday we are awakened by construction equipment at 8:00 a.m. Yet ANOTHER example of UNREASONABLE AND ILLEGAL noise brought to us by the corrupt City of Hurricane! They have ZERO consideration for my family and our new baby. The City of Hurricane is run by Neanderthals!!!

September 3rd, 2007: It's Labor Day and construction crews are sending excessive noise into our home. I am trying to get a newborn baby to sleep amidst the loud beeping of reverse-alarms. What kind of Neanderthals would wake a sleeping newborn? Scott Edwards, Ben Newhouse, and the Hurricane City Council should resign for gross arrogance, incompetence, and dereliction of duties!

September 4th, 2007: Before sunrise construction vehicles are sending noise into our home. Construction noise starts shortly after. They don't show any consideration to our newborn baby. In the City of Hurricane, getting a Walmart built is apparently more important than the well-being of a newborn baby. The management of Hurricane is disgusting! I have to take my wife to the emergency room due to complications from her c-section. On the way down the hill we nearly can't get out of our neighborhood because of construction trucks. During a store run for some baby supplies, a woman tells me she "can't wait" for the Hurricane Walmart as it will be "so convenient." I invite her to buy us out so that she can WALK to Walmart IF it ever opens. She declines. "I don't want to live THAT close to the store. The traffic will be a nightmare and I have heard about all the construction noise." NO KIDDING! It's sad how many people want a Walmart as long as WE have to put up with the construction and traffic issues. I advise this woman that with her attitude she would be a perfect candidate for Hurricane City Council. Her teenage daughter says, "Mom, you're embarrassing us!" She should listen to her daughter!

September 5th, 2007: After spending the night with my wife and our baby at the hospital, I come home to get some sleep and some items for my wife. I can barely get up the hill and am nearly run off the road from some dump trucks and a cement truck. Forget about decent sleep, I am awakened every few minutes by construction noise! This construction work and traffic is out of control. We receive a nice congratulatory card about our baby from two ladies that work for the City of Hurricane. I won't reveal their names, however we are touched by their kindness. Scott Edwards, Ben Newhouse, and the Hurricane City Council can take some lessons from these ladies who exemplify the proper way to treat Hurricane citizens!

September 6th, 2007: I come home for some rest before returning to the hospital where Dolores should be discharged. The construction noise is excessive. I send an email to our

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lawyer. When I bring my wife and baby home again today I want a quiet home. Why can't the Neanderthals that run Hurricane understand this?

September 7th, 2007: Truck noise on our road starts before 7:00 a.m. Arrow Concrete mixer trucks driving up our dirt road wake our newborn baby. Even our neighbor, John Clay chimes in by starting his motorcycle then leaving it unattended in his driveway. When I complain to John, he calls the police. Why doesn't he just show some consideration for a newborn baby? Noise from the work site continues through the day. I contact Senator Mike Hall about a noise ordinance. He says it won't happen in time to help us. Then he encourages us to sell at a residential price. I have a news bulletin for Putnam County politicians: PULL YOUR HEADS OUT OF THE SAND! WE ARE ON TO YOUR SCAM! WE ARE NOT SELLING CHEAP SO THAT YOU CAN MAKE MILLIONS OFF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD!!!! Mike Hall needs to resign! Like the others he has failed to protect his constituents against an out -of-state department store and an out-of-state construction company!

September 9th, 2007: I leave town for some business. I can't wait to have a peaceful hotel room where I don't hear tractors every day!

September 10th, 2007: I get another email from someone complaining about our noise coverage. I point out that it could be worse. He could have to LIVE with the noise. I am out-of-state on business, but when I call my wife at home, I can hear the tractors in the background over the telephone. What a horrible thing for a city to expect a woman who has just given birth and her infant to put up with! I was hoping my wife would attend the City Council meeting and give them grief for their incompetence, however, she says she isn't in the mood for their stupidity. Besides, when it comes to the City of Hurricane, "You can't fix stupid!"

September 12th, 2007: One of my sponsors, Dale Morton Studios, forwards me a scanned letter that they received trashing this blog and PutnumLIVE.com for reporting about the excessive noise. This PATHETIC attempt to STIFLE the TRUTH, was sent anonymously. No doubt it was written by a Walmart supporter who can't wait to see local Putnam County businesses crushed so that the writer can buy cheap products made in China. I refuse to be intimidated by anonymous cheap shots. The letter has been turned over to the West Virginia State Police as well as my attorney. I will publish it on PutnumLIVE.com very soon!

September 13th, 2007: Judge O.C. "Hobby" Spaulding sends the Hurricane mayoral suit back to the Hurricane City Council. Looks like we are stuck with "Silly Scotty" for at least a few more weeks. Hopefully the new council will send Edwards packing.

September 16th, 2007: I get an email from a reader living out-of-state ripping me for my Walmart noise coverage. Like he can hear the noise from South Dakota? Give me a break!

September 17th, 2007: Another day, another out-of-state email complaining about my complaints about noise. News bulletin: I live across the street from the construction site. YOU live across the country. What gives YOU the right to demand that my family put up with all of the noise?

September 20th, 2007: Construction work starts before 7:00 a.m. Reverse alarms from heavy equipment can be heard inside our home. Not a great environment for a baby that is less than a month old. However, the City of Hurricane allows this to continue.

September 21st, 2007: Another day of loud construction noise. Apparently workers are getting ready to pave. That's a double-edged sword. On the one hand it means the major outside work will be finished soon. On the other hand, it means major heavy equipment closed to our property sending major noise into our home. There is no respect shown for a

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family with a newborn baby. NONE!

September 22nd, 2007: I receive a nice letter of support from the James family of Winfield. Despite Pam James' love of Walmart, she correctly understands the issue that families deserve to have quiet in their homes. Thanks, Pam! Now please move to Hurricane and run for mayor. Hurricane needs leadership that makes sense! Their letter is now posted on this blog and in our Letters to the Publisher section.

September 24th, 2007: After spending much of the night feeding and changing a 3-week-old baby, construction workers wake me up before 7:00 a.m. with trucks speeding up our road, lights shined in our windows, and excessive noise. Scott Edwards, Ben Newhouse and the Hurricane City Council must resign for failing to enforce the town's noise ordinance. I may just demand this at the next City Council meeting! A large flatbed big-rig churns up our dirt road and wakes our baby. Then it backs down the hill, apparently because it can't make it up the hill to the construction site. My wife needs to leave for an appointment but cannot because the truck is blocking our road. During the day, a large truck traveling up our road shakes our home so much that my car alarm goes off-despite the fact that my car is parked BEHIND our home -about 150 feet from the road!

September 25th, 2007: I cannot get our mail because of work being done near the mailboxes. As I arrive home, the roadway is blocked by workers near the edge of Hurricane Creek Road and a construction vehicle coming down our hill. When will these workers understand that there is not enough room for all of them and for the people that live here?

September 26th, 2007: After trucks speed up our hill at 6:20, I contact BBL Carlton Construction who is building the Hurricane Marketplace. I speak with a VERY NICE, POLITE, AND UNDERSTANDING Dave Shell who says he will make sure vehicles abide by the speed limit and don't wake our neighborhood. He says that any company that fails will no longer be a subcontractor for his company. Dave says that he has three children and if construction workers were to speed in front of his home, he would be very upset. FINALLY, someone in the construction industry that gets it!

September 27th, 2007: Paving equipment sends noise into our home most of the day. Workers don't stop until after 5:30 p.m. This construction has ruined our formerly quiet neighborhood!

September 28th, 2007: We get word that the Hurricane Marketplace construction needs a new sewer line. Hurricane wants to shut off our water next week. I send a letter to our attorney, Mike Clifford, BBL Carlton, and Hurricane City Manager Ben Newhouse telling them that we oppose the cutoff. There is an alternative that can be used, but Hurricane's first thought is to cut off water to its citizens! What a horribly managed city! At 8:34 at night our house shakes as an arrow Concrete truck drives off the Walmart construction site. We're talking 8:34 AT NIGHT! Why they feel the need to disrupt our neighborhood at 8:34 AT NIGHT is beyond me!

September 29th, 2007: Our baby, Matthew, is one-month old today. He gets to "celebrate" his birthday when a construction truck rumbles onto the Walmart site at 6:15 a.m., waking us. There is NO REASON for a truck to be at a construction site at 6:15 a.m. on a Saturday! Trucks continue dumping gravel and a tractor spreads it around until about 2:00 p.m. Apparently workers were willing to wake us up early so that they could get off early on a Saturday. They should have simply taken the day off rather than disrespect our neighborhood!

September 30th, 2007: Construction workers have left a tractor parked on the front lawn of Cross of Grace Lutheran Church. This is COMPLETELY DISRESPECTFUL of a CHURCH! Of course, Cross of Grace disrespected our neighborhood when it refused to

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allow us to meet with its congregation prior to voting to sell land to Walmart for its entrance, however, the church still must be shown more respect than to have a tractor parked on lawn! The gawkers continue to drive up and down our road and across the Walmart property. The elderly guy in the Lincoln Town Car cracked me up. He drives a land yacht but is excited about a Walmart! News bulletin: If you spend a beautiful West Virginia weekend checking out a Walmart construction site, YOU NEED A LIFE!!!!!!!!!!

October 1st: After a 4:00 a.m. feeding, I put our baby to bed. However, our sleep is rudely interrupted at 6:15 a.m. by the first of several loud and speeding trucks to both the Hurricane Marketplace and Walmart construction sites. I leave Scott Edwards a voice mail (as he requested last night), and send an email to Edwards, Ben Newhouse, and BBL Carlton Construction. However, the damage is done. Our peace and quiet has, once again, been disrupted! Reverse-alarms continue into the morning. We can hear them inside our home with our door and windows closed! Who says there isn't a double-standard in this county? When Scott Edwards filed for an injunction to stop the council from voting on the mayoral dispute, Captain Kangaroo Norbert Eagloski suspended the process in 18 minutes. He set a hearing date later this month. However when I filed for writ of mandamus to enforce the noise ordinance, Captain Kangaroo refused to set a hearing date, and only after I filed in the WV Supreme Court to have his sorry backside removed from the bench did he recuse himself. Obviously Captain Kangaroo, who administered Edwards' oath of office, takes care of his Republican friends! I'm surprised Norbert can spell Eagloski because he cannot spell JUSTICE! Hey, Captain Kangaroo Eagloski: DO PUTNAM COUNTY A FAVOR! GO RUN A COURTROOM IN SIBERIA! YOU MIGHT BE APPRECIATED THERE! We're heading into a year of excessive construction noise and abuse. After I attend a City Council meeting and invite Mayor Scott Edwards and the entire council to resign (in front of TV news cameras) Edwards promises to enforce the noise ordinance. It's a lot late, but I will give Edwards a chance to prove himself. He says he has shut down work several times at the request of my neighbor, John Clay. too bad he hasn't responded to our complaints! I also ask Edwards to have the City of Hurricane with some trees to line the front of our property to buffer the noise both before and after the store opens, which is scheduled for December 13th. During the council meeting Lana Call has the audacity to ask me if I ever read the noise ordinance. Yes, Lana, I have. Unlike you, I actually understand the law! After the council meeting I have a conversation with Mayor Edwards. He promises to respond to noise complaints. I also ask him about the trees that Ed Norris promised us years ago as a noise/visual buffer to put between our property and the construction yard next door. I suggest we add some along the front edge of our property. We had planned this for our home, but why put the money into a property that we are selling? Edwards says he doesn't know about any budget money available for this. I tell Edwards this is the least the city can do for neighbors that are now living in a virtual war zone created by the city's crappy planning of building a Walmart in a neighborhood!

October 2nd, 2007: After receiving notice that our water may be cut off due to the local construction, Dolores and I spend the day away from our home. However, as soon as I arrive back, a Hurricane water worker hands me a letter saying that they will be working again tomorrow. The letter says we should not be affected but encourages us to stock up on water. As I stand behind our home where I am handed the letter, I am assaulted by excessive construction noise. This noise continues after 6:00 p.m., despite my call to Mayor Scott Edwards to complain and despite the fact that I am on the phone to Senator Mike Hall demanding a state -wide noise ordinance. This situation is a CLASSIC example of why we need a state ordinance-to protect citizens from cities that sell them out to developers! I advise the City of Hurricane that Ben Newhouse can wash our baby bottles if we don't have running water. It would give him time to listen to our complaints about his bad management and rotten attitude!

October 3rd, 2007: Before 5:00 a.m., I am awakened by a train rolling through Hurricane. Another train rolls through a few minutes later. Before construction crews blew up the hill in front of our home, the train noise was not a problem. Now, however, it sounds like it is

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next door. Again, had the stupid City of Hurricane not allowed a hill to be destroyed, this would not be a problem. Some trees along our property line would be a little helpful, but nothing can replace the hill that was destroyed in an act of environmental terrorism and civic stupidity! Hurricane's management is a classic case of how NOT to run a city!!! At 4:30 I come home from a pediatrician appointment with our son. However, I can't drive up the road to our house. A flatbed diesel rig with a tractor is coming down the road, followed by a half-dozen vehicles off the construction sites. We live here but we can 't get to our home! Councilwoman Hager calls me. Incredibly, I have to ask her for some peace and quiet in our front yard to take our baby outside. I want to lay in our hammock with him. You shouldn't have to beg your city council for peace and quiet. After all, there is a law in Hurricane legislating peace and quiet. However, Hager tells me to call her after 5:30 because "It's building hours." There ARE no "BUILDING HOURS" in the law. However, before I can ask Hager to show me any "Building hours" in the law, she hangs up on me! HOW RUDE!!! So, for Halloween, I will buy Hager a broom to fly to City Hall on!!!!! Shortly after 8:00 p.m., a big-rig flat bed charges onto the Walmart property and disrupts our evening inside our home. The driver, apparently oblivious to common sense and common-courtesy, starts some construction equipment. I leave voice-mail for Mayor Scott Edwards, but no police show up. It is outrageous how we are treated!

October 4th, 2007: Another early train wakes me up, and excessive construction noise continues throughout the day. Well after 5:00 p.m. work and excessive noise disrupts our home. I contact Hurricane Police, but my call is not returned. A pre-trial hearing date on our lawsuits is set for November 26th.

October 5th, 2007: One of our neighbors wakes the baby, my wife, and me, at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday with his loud motorcycle. This is the same guy that complained about the weeds on our hill and the dust from the Walmart construction site. However, I am sure the police won't do anything about his loud motorcycle. They don't enforce noise ordinances in Hurricane. At 6:40 a.m., construction workers charge up the hill, waking me up again. We get no peace and quiet thanks to this Walmart project!

October 6th, 2007: We've had enough of the excessive construction noise. So, driven out of our home by Mayor Scott Edwards, Ben Newhouse, and the incompetent Hurricane City Council, we drive out-of-town for the weekend. We spend much of the day looking at property, in beautiful, Walmart-free neighborhoods where citizens are actually respected by civic leaders!

October 7th, 2007: We return from our exile in Charlotte. As soon as I open the car door, a train whistle is overwhelming. It used to be a distant background noise. However, the hill in front of our home as well as the old Consolidated Freightways building have been torn down so now the train noise is assaulting. Again, the incompetent leaders of Hurricane are to blame for ruining our neighborhood!

October 8th, 2007: It's a holiday, and we would like to relax and enjoy our home. However, construction crews wake me early in the morning with their excessive noise. Those "reverse-alarms" are extremely irritating. I was sleeping upstairs with the windows shut, but was awakened anyway. NO ONE has the "right" to intrude on our home this way! We are in the second year of the daily assault of excessive noise. Later in the morning an Arrow Concrete truck charges up our dirt road, waking me again. We have asked them SEVERAL times not to use our road which was not designed for heavy vehicles. Furthermore, the truck was traveling in excess of the posted speed limit. SHOW OUR NEIGHBORHOOD SOME RESPECT!

October 9th, 2007: Excessive construction noise invades our home all day. At 4:45 p.m., two City of Hurricane Utility trucks speed up our road. One is carrying pipes. It would be nice if the City of Hurricane vehicles honor the 5 MPH speed limit, however, Hurricane usually throws

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integrity out the window and does whatever it wants. Why would anyone think the town's workers would honor something as simple as a speed limit? Well after 5:00 p.m. I hear reverse-alarms in my home. I can't enjoy a quiet evening with my wife and baby thanks to excessive construction noise! October 10th, 2007: It's 4:25 a.m. and I am awakened by loud banging of metal and a truck's reverse-alarm. I can't tell if it is coming from the Walmart construction site or down the hill near the entrance. I call Putnam County Dispatch. It is hard to believe that anyone would think it is appropriate to make loud noise at 4:25 a.m. I think of calling Scott Edwards, but I am not even that rude. The Daily Mail publishes an article that says Walmart won't be open until the first quarter of 2008. This is horrible news! It means more months of construction work and likely a delay in buyers interested in our home!!! I was HOPING Walmart would be open before Thanksgiving making our property more desirable to commercial buyers sooner. We want to get out of this mess! Later in the day I meet with Dave Shell of BBL Carlton. They are building the Hurricane Marketplace. Dave assures me BBL Carlton will continue to be a great neighbor and demand that his sub-contractors refrain from disrupting our neighborhood. The construction industry needs more people like Dave Shell and BBL Carlton! About an hour later I learn that a guard rail will be installed on our road tomorrow. This means that my wife and six-week-old baby will have to endure more noise while I am away at work. None of us are pleased!

October 11th, 2007: The second year of the assault on our neighborhood continues. Construction noise invades our home throughout the day. It doesn't stop at a decent hour. I come home after 5:00 p.m., dodge construction vehicles coming down our road, and hear the noise indoors until past 5:45 p.m. when I type this. My call to Mayor Edwards to take him up on his promise to stop excessive noise reaches voice mail. The noise continues. We are being abused and Mayor Edwards and his City Hall cronies refuse to enforce the law. I call Patty Hager and ask her to enforce the law. She hangs up on me-at 7:00 at night! Hager doesn't get reality. She took an OATH to ENFORCE THE LAWS OF HURRICANE! At 8:04 p.m., two trucks charge onto the Walmart property. They are so loud I can hear them in my living room with the television playing. WE DESERVE PEACE AND QUIET IN OUR HOME! THEY SHOULD ALL RESIGN!!!!!

October 12th, 2007: The assault on our neighborhood begins at 6:30 a.m. when construction worker vehicles charge up our hill. It isn't even daylight yet, but the workers are making excessive noise. I declined the opportunity to call Mayor Edwards or Councilwoman Hager at 6:30 a.m., not that they have earned any common courtesy. Mid-day, I call home from work. My wife is in tears because of all of the excessive construction noise. She is recovering from major surgery, is caring for a six-week-old baby, and also helps take care of her 82-year -old mother that lives in our home. I call Councilwoman Hager and ask her to enforce the Hurricane Noise Ordinance. Amazingly, Hager is more concerned about the different phone number that I am calling from (work) than enforcing the law. Despite NO exemption for construction work in the ordinance (see above) Hager says "They are allowed" to generate the excessive noise and hangs up the phone. I send a cease and desist e- mail to Hager, Mayor Edwards, Ben Newhouse, Hurricane Chief of Police Sonny "Joe" Sisk, Councilman C. Brian Ellis, Putnam County Prosecutor Mark A. Sorsaia, and the West Virginia State Police asking them to intervene and enforce the law. Maybe if the State of West Virginia gets involved we will get some justice. If not, the next step is a letter to the F.B.I. demanding a full investigation into the misconduct of the City of Hurricane. Someone has to make the city abide by its laws! When I arrive home at 5:30 p.m., I am dodging more construction vehicles coming down the hill. Until they reconfigure the entrance off Hurricane Creek Road, there simply isn't enough space for all of this traffic. Again, TERRIBLE PLANNING by the City of Hurricane! Fortunately, it looks like we will (FINALLY!) get a pretty peaceful night. As I come home, I don't see many workers staying around on the construction site.

October 13th, 2007: At 5:30 a.m. a train rolls through Hurricane, blasting its whistle,

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waking me up. Again, before the hill in front of our home was leveled, train noise was not a problem-in our neighborhood. However, the Walmart construction ruined this. We are now experiencing what most Hurricane residents have dealt with this for decades: Excessive If Scott Edwards and the Hurricane City Council want to help their constituents, they can: 1) Ask CSX to send trains through during the day. 2) Make Hurricane a "silent city." There are about 300 of these nationwide, I recently read. Two hours later, a construction machine on the Walmart site wakes me up again. The excessive noise is continuing as I type this at 8:09 a.m. It's Saturday morning. We deserve some peace and quiet! Recently, a reader suggested that I picket the homes and businesses of Mayor Scott Edwards and City Council members. This is a brilliant idea. More than one year of pickets, starting before sunrise, going until 8:00 p.m. I can chant RESIGN, RESIGN, RESIGN. It can't be more irritating than what they are allowing in our neighborhood! This is probably protected by The First Amendment's Freedom of Speech clause. Trouble is, I have to earn a living. I don't have a year of eight -hour days to do political protests! However, I might be able to squeeze in an hour per day! For the first time in our history, PutnumLIVE.com exceeds 200,000 readers for the year. There are people that say my stand against the Hurricane Walmart is bad. However, our readers are proving otherwise! In fact, we are on-target for our best month in history.

October 14th, 2007: As I am getting ready for church our home is invaded by excessive construction noise. I send an email to Scott Edwards, Brian Ellis, Patty Hager, Chief Sisk, and Ben Newhouse, as well as leave a message for Reggie Billups, yet the excessive noise continues. A tractor rolls down our road shaking our home. There is NO VALID REASON for invading a home with excessive noise on a Sunday morning! In the afternoon I decide to get out of our neighborhood. Tired of the noise and disrespect, I decide to go house -hunting on a beautiful day. Normally I would hang out in our front yard and admire the beautiful fall colors on the trees on the hill across the road. However, all of those trees have been destroyed by the environmental terrorists that authorized destroying a beautiful hillside, pond, and neighborhood for a Wally World. Rule number one about the new house: It can't be in Hurricane. We must live outside of the reach of The Evil Empire. For business reasons, I look around Putnam County. There is a great subdivision on a hillside outside of Eleanor. However, it is out of our budget. Dolores wants a home with a Low-Country look and a large porch. We need at least three bedrooms, two baths, and an office. I find one that has the criteria on a quiet cul-de-sac with a nice yard in Teays Valley-outside the reach of Hurricane's incompetent "leadership." It's a decent price, around $210,000. I call the owner. Sounds like a good match. It's on a street called Sweetbriar. After we sell our home, that might be a great house for us!

October 15th, 2007: At about 5:30 a.m., the train whistle wakes me. Again, before the hill and trees were destroyed, the whistle was never a problem. At 6:30 a.m., construction workers start arriving, sending excessive noise into our homes. One parks his truck or car shining lights into our windows. There are 25 acres on the construction site. There is no reason to shine lights into our windows! I try to call Hurricane PD to find out about picketing laws, but am cut off-twice. Finally, I am put through to Brenda Campbell who promises to research the issue and get back to me. She never calls back.

October 16th, 2007: Another early-morning train whistle wakes me up. Then our neighbor leaves at 5:00 a.m. in his noisy diesel duelly. Why does a retiree need to wake the neighbors at 5:00 a.m.? Construction workers wake me again at 6:30 a.m. as they start to arrive to work. This is ridiculous! Soon I will file a Freedom of Information Act Request about picketing laws so that I can protest outside the homes and businesses of Ben Newhouse, Scott Edwards, and the City Council. During the day workers start installing a new sewer line. There is nothing wrong with the current sewer line. It serves our neighborhood well. The new line is to support new retail stores in our neighborhood. And guess what? I come home from an errand and workers have torn up parts of our yard! A few phone calls later and I am on the phone with the GM of the Putnam Sewer District. I am actually having to explain to this guy that I

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have GOOD reason to not want our yard torn up, painted, and otherwise damaged. I also have a six-week-old baby and a wife that STILL is recovering from a c-section with complications. (She didn't get clearance to return to work from her doctor yesterday.) The PPSD GM is showing little sympathy for all of the problems that his crew is causing and my family's SIMPLE request for peace and quiet in our home. I suggest that he run the new sewer line from across the Walmart parking lot, not up our road. He agrees to look into things. I also contact BBL Carlton and talk to a guy named Les who doesn't show much sympathy for our plight. And I STILL have to tell the tractor not to block the road so that we can go to the store. THESE GUYS ARE INCREDIBLE! Someone from one of the construction crews asks my wife if I saw someone on the property last night. A welding machine was stolen. Honestly, I did not. I am torn between being angry at a theft at a "neighbor's" and laughing at the fact that the crews that have been SO RUDE to us had a valuable piece of equipment stolen. Truthfully, it's a bad thing. Crime is never good. Of course, neither is their stupidity!

October 17th, 2007: Our peace and quiet is disrupted at 6:20 a.m. when construction crews start arriving and wake us up. Both of us are gone most of the day. At about 8:00 I see a van driving around the Walmart property. I call the police. Who knows if it is another thief or just a gawker. Either way, no one has any business over there at night. This isn't the first time I have called the police about a trespasser. The truth is, I learned about some pretty valuable stuff over there many months ago and kept it under wraps in the interest of doing the right thing. I just wish the construction crews would do right by us. We are told the sewer line can't be put across the Walmart property by the PPSD as they don't trust the "fill" that Walmart put in when they graded the land. The PPSD has told Walmart that the company is totally responsible for their own sewer line. Still, I told them I don't want noise from sewer construction on our property and in our home.

October 18th, 2007: I speak with Mike McNulty, the General Manager at PPSD. He says there is no alternative but to lay the new sewer line below our road. I can't help but notice the irony of what he is trying to get me to believe and the discussion of a sewer line. There is a LOT in common between the two. I remind him that he SHOULD have done this while my wife and I were working-BEFORE our baby was born. The fact that she is recovering from major surgery-WITH COMPLICATIONS isn't enough to get McNulty to postpone his silly little sewer project. I ask to speak with his boss, however McNulty won't arrange that appointment until AFTER his crews do the work! I ask my lawyer about an injunction, but it seems all of the Putnam County Circuit Judges are in a little pow-wow this week at the Embassy Suites. Maybe I should picket there! The audacity of the so-called "leaders" in Putnam County is incredible! They don't give a DAMN about families, all they care about is buildings! I ask to be put on the next PPSD agenda and will demand that McNulty be fired. No pun intended, but I am tired of putting up with crap from Putnam County leaders. It's time for some public outcry in meetings. Later in the evening, I speak with PPSD Board of Directors Chairman Joe Miller. I advise him that I expect to have peace and quiet in my home and that the PPSD has several options: 1) Move the planned sewer line. 2) Install it without putting any noise into our home or onto our property. 3) Wait until my wife is cleared to go back to work and isn't home during the construction. 4) Install it now and rent our family a hotel suite while the work is done. 5) Buy us out and move us. He is rather frustrated at my expectations and says it is up to Hurricane to enforce the noise ordinance. I advise him that laws are broken every day and that whether or not they are enforced has nothing to do with whether or not they are actually broken. I expect the PPSD to abide by the noise ordinance as well as common sense and decency and not allow noise to be sent into our home from a crew installing a sewer line. Miller says he will get back to me. He also says that if it means a crew will be put out of work for a few days and if it means a negative impact on a business, he won't ask for the delay. I advise him that none of those issues are relevant to my legal and ethical right to peace and quiet in my home. The end DOES NOT justify breaking the law/means. Just because you are a business doesn't mean you have the right to invade someone's home with noise!

October 19th, 2007: The audio assault on our neighborhood starts shortly after 6:00

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a.m. Later in the day, around 4:00, I want to take our son outside and swing in the hammock and look at the fall colors. It is a glorious fall afternoon. In years past we could look at the breathtaking fall colors on the trees on the hill opposite our home. However, those days are gone. The beauty of fall has been replaced by an ugly construction site. Speaking of ugly, the noise is excessive from construction equipment, and in another ugly note, I get an email from PPSD informing me that they WILL NOT put off the sewer line installation for 10 days when my wife is cleared to go back to work. In Putnam County, a sewer line is more important to the PPSD than a woman recovering from major surgery while taking care of a baby! Joe Miller, the PPSD Chairman of the Board that sent the letter should resign! I forward his email on to my attorney. It is time for an injunction hearing Monday morning with a motion to clear out the Hurricane City Council and, now, the PPSD Board of Directors. They should be ashamed of themselves and should be removed from office!

October 20th, 2007: At 7:00 a.m., workers start arriving at the Walmart site, charging up the hill. We can hear the excessive noise in our home with the windows shut. We are in the second year of disrespect to our neighborhood! We were promised the store construction would be finished by September. We were lied to! I telephone PPSD Commissioner Calvin Hatfield. He says he reads PutnumLIVE.com regularly. Hatfield promises to look into the sewer line installation issue. Then he does something incredible. Hatfield asks me NOT to contact Commissioner Kelley because Kelley is recovering from surgery and needs his rest. Obviously, this is a reasonable request. MORE OBVIOUSLY: THIS IS WHAT WE ARE REQUESTING FOR MY WIFE: PEACE AND QUIET WHILE SHE RECOVERS FROM SURGERY! This makes it apparent that the PPSD Commissioners want peace and quiet for their OWN health concerns but are not willing to provide the same peace and quiet for the health concerns of their longtime customers! My wife complains that she "cannot sleep because of 'that mess' going on across the street. 'Those backup alarms are terrible' I can't get ant sleep in our house!" Therein lies the problem: Construction crews are destroying our peace and quiet in direct violation of Hurricane's noise ordinance! Once again we are driven out of our home by the excessive noise. We spend the day in Buffalo at the Octoberfest, then go to Point Pleasant for dinner at The Iron Gate. Along the way to Buffalo we pass AT LEAST five locations that are better-suited for a Walmart than our neighborhood, and NONE of them would have required blowing up a hill and filling in a pond. When I arrive home I receive a letter from the PPSD that they are postponing the meeting that I was going to appear at to demand the resignations of the commissioner, Joe Miller, that is putting a sewer expansion ahead of the health and welfare of my wife that is recovering from surgery. This postponement takes the PPSD's level of chickencrap to new heights! Let's save everyone some time. Joe Miller, turn in your resignation NOW!

October 21st, 2007: A pair of tractors start making excessive noise starting at 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning. They wake me up and wake our baby. There is NO REASON to wake people up at 7:30 on a Sunday morning to do construction work. This is in DIRECT VIOLATION of Hurricane's noise ordinance! I call Putnam Dispatch and ask that the State Police be sent as Hurricane refuses to properly enforce its noise ordinance. I also send an email to Ben Newhouse, Scott Edwards, Patty Hager, Brian Ellis, Chief Sisk, and, of course, my attorney. When I arrive home from church, the first thing I hear when I step out of my car is the "beep, beep, beep" of reverse alarms from tractors. We have guests over and it is a beautiful day. However, we can't enjoy the outdoors due to the excessive construction noise! Arrogant Patty Hager sends me a blank email in response to my legitimate complaint about the excessive noise. When I call her, she says she will look into the issue tomorrow (AFTER the damage is done!) and hangs up after I ask her to come and meet with my family. And she wonders why I have ZERO respect for her ability as a councilwoman! When we FINALLY get peace and quiet we spend much of our night answering interrogatories from the attorneys defending our lawsuits. This is amazing! First we are harassed with excessive noise, smoke, blasting and dust, then we are harassed with invasive questioning! What difference does it make where we lived and worked 10 years ago? I also receive a rambling letter from PPSD Commission President Joe Miller. He tries, in vain, to convince me that there is nothing that he can do to postpone the

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sewer line installation until my wife returns to work next month. Miller is fooling himself, but not me. He needs to protect his customers or resign! Miller is just another government official that likes to hear himself say what a great job he is doing while allowing the public to be screwed!

October 22nd, 2007: The assault on our neighborhood starts shortly after 6:00 a.m. when construction workers charge up the hill. It's a parade of excess noise. We can't sleep with this racket! Later in the morning I call Barbara Lawrence at BBL Carlton's corporate office in New York. She agrees that my request to delay the sewer line installation for another week is reasonable and promises to look into the matter. As a mother of a 17-month-old, she says she understands what the issue is all about. I hope she convinces her people to do the right thing! After all, these stores aren't scheduled to be opened until NEXT YEAR! One week isn't likely to hurt that issue! I receive an email indicating that Councilwoman Patty Hager has blocked my email address. This means only one thing: Councilwoman Hager is refusing to listen to my legitimate complaints about noise. She is turning her back on a longtime Hurricane citizen in favor of an Ohio construction company and an Arkansas department store. Hager's arrogance and incompetency proves she is unfit to hold office and should be removed as she refuses to resign! BBL Carlton's Human Resources Director calls me to inform me that he will leave it up to the City of Hurricane to decide when the sewer line will be installed. We know how that will go! No matter what, my family gets screwed! All they need to do is wait ONE WEEK for my wife to return to work! I arrive home from an appointment after 7:00 p.m. and have to avoid construction workers' vehicles as they leave for the day. Later, I have to drive down the hill to accompany a Suddenlink technician because he cannot find our home in the construction mess. What a pain!

October 23rd, 2007: The parade of construction vehicles onto the Walmart property starts shortly after 6:00 a.m. At 6:15 a.m. a truck is shining lights into our windows. This is rude treatment of longtime Hurricane residents! I call Scott Edwards during the day and he insists that "necessary" noise is exempt and that all construction work is "necessary." We lived hundreds of years without a Walmart so it is obvious that it is not "necessary" that we have one! Also, there is NO "necessary" noise clause exemption in the Hurricane noise ordinance. This is another example of Mayor Edwards LYING about something in order to distort an interpretation of the law to get his way. At 11:42 a truck wakes our neighborhood by spraying something at the Walmart site. I call Putnam Dispatch, but the spraying continues. No one in Putnam County leadership cares about doing the right thing! All they care about is getting their Walmart and they will hurt anyone along the way! With the trucks arriving shortly after 6:00 a.m. to the spraying lasting until about midnight, we endured about 18 hours of excessive noise in our neighborhood today!

October 24th, 2007: Shortly after 6:00 a.m. we are awakened by construction worker vehicles arriving at the Walmart site. The relentless assault on our peace and quiet is underway again. When I arrive home from taking our son to the pediatrician, I see a letter in our door about our mailboxes being moved. This is actually good news. The current location next to Hurricane Creek Road has always been dangerous. Now they will be next to the Ghiz building which I learn when I speak with John Day of Cleveland Construction. He doesn't know why there was a large truck on the property late last night but will look into the situation. Later, another Cleveland Construction project manager returns my call. I suggest that they chain the entrance at night and keep it chained until daylight. He agrees to look into this. Fortunately, apparently due to the rain, there isn't much construction work done today. Though we were rudely awakened at around 6:00 a.m., later in the day workers comply with the law and give us peace and quiet.

October 25th, 2007: Despite our reasonable request for no noise before sunrise, trucks wake our baby who then wakes us before sunrise. The assault on our home continues with those irritating backup alarms that penetrate our home.

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October 26th, 2007: My wife can't even get to our new mailbox because construction workers left pipes stacked in front of the new location. Captain Kangaroo Eagloski rules in favor of Scott Edwards despite tainted ballots because Sam Cole's letter notifying the City of Hurricane, including Edwards, of his intent to sue, wasn't sent directly to Edwards. Eagloski is a detriment to Putnam County. He is up for re-election in 2008. It's time to send Captain Kangaroo packing. Norbert should do society a favor and resign early!

October 27th, 2007: Before 6:00 a.m. on this Saturday morning, a large truck charges onto the Walmart site waking our baby who then wakes us. It is still dark outside and there is NO REASON for this truck to be on-site. There are no construction workers to meet the driver. This is in DIRECT VIOLATION of Hurricane's noise ordinance! During the WVU -Rutgers game we are constantly disrupted by the noise of trucks driving up and down the hill to the Walmart site as well as that irritating reverse-alarm. Our house vibrates when the big trucks go by and we can hear the alarm and engine noise indoors with the windows shut. We attend a Halloween party Saturday night. Two of the guests live behind the Hurricane Marketplace project. They tell us they are tired of the construction noise and the constant reverse-alarms. I make a note to follow-up with them next week. I will ask them to contact Scott Edwards and members of the Hurricane City Council who are fond of saying, "No one else is complaining!"

October 28th, 2007: It's a beautiful West Virginia Sunday. Blue skies and sunshine. We would LOVE to enjoy our front yard. Unfortunately, our home and property are being invaded with excessive construction noise-ON A SUNDAY! We can't enjoy our yard. My wife makes the comment that when she returns to work tomorrow she will not miss the reverse-alarm "beeps" from tractors that comes into our home each day! I leave a voice mail for Hurricane Mayor Scott Edwards on his cell phone but the illegal, excessive and unreasonable noise continues.

October 29th, 2007: At 6:15 a.m., long before sunrise, our home is rattled from the noise from a big-rig truck trying to get into the proper gear to charge up the hill to the Walmart construction site at the turn in front of our home. Though we were already awake, the noise scares our baby who starts crying. I attempt to go back to sleep but am awakened by more vehicles coming to the site. I call Putnam Dispatch and hope a police officer will be sent to stop the unreasonable, excessive noise. There is no reason f or trucks to be disrupting our neighborhood at 6:15 p.m. I also send an email to Hurricane Mayor Scott Edwards, Ben Newhouse, Chief Sonny "Joe" Sisk, Councilman C. Brian Ellis and Councilwoman Patty Hager. Excessive noise continues through the day. Incredibly, I get a nasty email back from Hager complaining that I called her at 9:00 a.m. to complain about the 6:15 a.m. noise. "I will tell you this...do not call my house before 10am from now on," Hager writes. She just doesn't get it. MORE THAN ONE YEAR OF EXCESSIVE NOISE IS UNREASONABLE! And it isn't for just a few hours! At 6:30 p.m., truck noise invades our home as vehicles are leaving. That adds up to more than 12 hours today of relentless, invasive noise! And that doesn't count all of the vehicles working down the hill that partially block the roadway. We have to dodge tractors and trucks every time we go somewhere! Hager says she hopes that we are getting interest in buying our property. Sorry, Patty, but the buyers are apparently staying away until your beloved Wally World opens. Meanwhile, Patty, YOU can buy us out! Then you will find out what it is like to live in the middle of this mess!

October 30th, 2007: Just 30 minutes after I put our baby to sleep after a feeding, at 4:58 a.m., trucks arriving at the Walmart construction site wake me and our baby. Bright lights are turned on in a corner of the work site. I contact Putnam Dispatch to send Hurricane Police. However, I doubt anything will be done. Besides the lack of proper noise ordinance enforcement, the damage of waking us up cannot be undone. I also send an email to my attorney, Mayor Scott Edwards, Councilwoman Hager, Councilman Billups, Councilman Ellis, City Manager Ben Newhouse, and Chief of Police Sisk. These

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people need to start protecting our neighborhood against excess noise! After noon, I call Ben Newhouse to complain. He rudely hangs up. Brian Ellis tells me that he "doesn't particularly" believe that noise at 5:00 a.m. is "unreasonable," then hangs up. Both are invited to buy us out. We don't want to be woken up by construction trucks at 5:00 a.m. Civilized people don't wake their neighbors! During the day Councilwoman Hager sends me a threatening email. I forward it to my attorney as another example of harassment from the City of Hurricane. All Hager and the other council members need to do is enforce the noise ordinance and I won't have a complaint! It is now 7:20 p.m. and I am STILL hearing motion alarms from construction equipment at the Walmart site. Once again, this is in VIOLATION of Hurricane's noise ordinance. The excessive noise has been happening since 4:58 a.m., which means we have been enduring the harassment of the excessive noise today for MORE THAN 14 HOURS! Make that 17 hours. I hear those annoying alarms at 8:40 and at 9:00, when I finally open my window for some fresh air, I hear one worker yelling at another. Give us a break!

October 31st, 2007: At 4:12 a.m. a train rolls through Hurricane and wakes me up. Before they chopped the hill down to build Wally World we rarely heard the train. Now it sounds like it's in our front yard. The assault on our neighborhood starts around 5:20 a.m. when construction workers start arriving. The noise wakes our baby and lights are turned on, spilling light into our windows. I call Putnam County Dispatch however they call back and inform me that Hurricane PD told them that Mayor Scott Edwards has informed them that it is OK to work that early even if it wakes our neighborhood. Therefore, we lose sleep so that Silly Scotty Edwards can have his Wally World. During the day construction crews block access to our driveway putting in a new sewer line to support the new retail stores. BBL Carlton PROMISED to be cooperative, however they repeatedly refused to allow me to drive onto our property, called the police, and said the City of Hurricane allowed them to do the project. When I produced a court order from Judge Norbert Eagloski that said Hurricane did not have jurisdiction on the street, BBL still refused me access. Silly Scotty Edwards showed up and refused to properly deal with the situation, even walking across the front of our yard when I ordered him off the property. The Hurricane Police, standing right there, refuse to arrest Edwards for trespassing! Both my wife and I had to park down the hill and carry our baby from her car into our home. This is an OUTRAGEOUS violation of our rights! Of course, the noise was out - of-control, but we know Edwards could care less about the noise ordinance as long as he gets his Wally World! BBL promised us access to our driveway by 5:00 p.m., however it wasn't until well after 7:00 p.m. that they allowed us to use our own property! At 11:01 the last construction truck exits the Walmart property. This means 17 hours of excessive noise. I get video of the day's events and show them to my attorney's assistant later in the evening. He tells my wife he is considering filing another lawsuit. My wife tells me that when we sell the house we are moving out of Putnam County, driven away by Scott Edwards and Company! Happy Halloween from the ghouls and goblins that run Hurricane City Hall.

November 1st, 2007: Another month of the assault on our neighborhood starts at about 5:00 a.m. when construction workers arrive on the Walmart site. I don't bother calling the police anymore. It doesn't do any good when the Mayor refuses to allow the enforcement of Hurricane's noise ordinance. His choice is clear: Greed over good. Scott Edwards wants more money for the town and doesn't care what he does to our family. I come home from an appointment at 5:30 p.m. and they are STILL working on that sewer line in front of our home. They work until about 7:00, sending excess noise into our home. This wakes our baby who was napping. Then the workers leave an UGLY tractor in front of our home. We don't want to stare out our front windows at an ugly tractor. Meanwhile the excessive noise continues from the construction sites. I am "serenaded" by motion alarms beeping from several pieces of construction equipment and our home vibrates as heavy trucks enter the Walmart area. We can also hear trucks banging metal together as they speed up the hill. This all, of course, is in violation of Hurricane's noise ordinance. However, we cannot get the city to enforce its laws due to its greed for Walmart and other business revenue.

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November 2nd, 2007: The tractors remain illegally parked in front of our home. This is an EYESORE and an obstruction to our road. The tractor belongs to the sewer construction crew. Additionally, excessive noise from construction crews at the Walmart site has been happening since before 6:00 a.m. This is a violation of Hurricane's noise ordinance. I call Captain Mullins of Hurricane PD to get the tractors towed. After all, he ordered that I move my car from in front of our home a few months ago. "You're kidding me!" was Mullins response. "No," is my response. If I am not allowed to park my small car in front of my home, then TWO tractors are even more of an obstruction. Mullins promises to call a wrecker. I also call BBL Carlton's corporate office as well as their West Virginia office in Charleston. I am bounced to voice mail at one and put on "perma-hold" at the other. Their subcontractor, Raynes and Sons doesn't return my call either. I don't appreciate two ugly tractors at the edge of my lawn, but the construction people don't seem to care! A woman with BBL Carlton agrees to ask the subcontractor to move the tractors up the road to the BBL construction site. We will see if she really does this. Hours later the tractors are still there. I get the feeling some of these construction people are simply trying to make me angry. It's working! Only the construction industry thinks it can ram their noise, dust, and equipment down people's throats so that they "can earn a living!" Later in the day I get another one of Hager's threatening emails. This time she threatens to turn me in to AOL if I continue to email her about excessive noise. I remind her that I COULD just knock on her door at 6:15 a.m. and that the First Amendment allows me to take my grievances to my government leaders. Hager should resign. How DARE she threaten me because SHE refuses to enforce the law! Eventually ONE of the ugly tractors is moved from in front of our home. However, the other ugly tractor remains. Thank you BBL Carlton as well as Raynes and Sons for parking your ugly tractor in front of our home. You are SO considerate of us!!!

November 3rd, 2007: A couple of construction vehicles enter the Walmart site about 7:00 a.m. and wake me up. This is in violation of Hurricane's noise ordinance - AGAIN. It is Saturday and we should have been allowed to sleep in and enjoy our Saturday. However, that basic right of peace and quiet has once again been violated! In addition, one of the tractors remains parked in front of our house, an ugly reminder that in Hurricane citizens have no rights because the city has sold its soul to construction companies from out -of-state! Councilwoman Hager sends me another threatening email. This time I publish her quotes. If Patty took a fraction of her time that she spends attacking me and used that time to properly enforce the noise ordinance, we wouldn't have an issue with this construction! She actually has the audacity to tell me she doesn't care about my First Amendment rights. Amazing! I won't tolerate her cheap intimidation tactics. Shame on Patty Hager! She needs to do her job properly or resign!

November 4th, 2007: Shortly after 8:00 a.m. we are awakened by those obnoxious motion beeps from the Walmart construction site. It is Sunday. You would think Walmart's construction workers would have some sensitivity for our neighborhood on a Sunday, but that isn't happening. I send an e-mail to Mayor Edwards and several city council members as well as City Manager Ben Newhouse and Hurricane Police Chief Sonny "Joe" Sisk advising them of this violation of Hurricane's noise ordinance! In addition, that ugly tractor remains parked in front of our home. MOVE IT IMMEDIATELY! I also receive another anonymous email criticizing my coverage of noise issues. I wonder if it was sent by a construction worker? If they don't sign their name they have NO credibility! Maybe a certain councilwoman sent it using a different email address! Well after 6:00 p.m. the last construction truck rolls off the Walmart site sending noise into our home. Another day of 10-hours of excess construction noise comes to an end.

November 5th, 2007: Before 7:00 a.m., excessive noise from starting tractors and workers arriving at the Walmart construction site invades our home. The ugly tractor still remains parked in front of our home, in total disrespect of our wishes! The arrogance of the construction crews and the Hurricane City Council is appalling. All they care about is getting their projects finished, no matter what it does to our neighborhood and peace and quiet! I call Putnam Dispatch and send an email to Mayor Edwards, council members, Chief Sonny

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"Joe" Sisk, and Ben Newhouse. However, I doubt they will stop the abuse on our neighborhood, they haven't yet! I go back to sleep. However, my peace and quiet is short-lived. Just after 7:30 a.m., they start moving the tractor but add another one as they work on the sewer line. The noise is deafening. I call the number that BBL provided to me for Raynes and Sons, the subcontractor, however they hang up on me. When I call back, a man threatens to arrest me. AMAZING! They can completely disrupt my peace and quiet, however, when I call to complain, they threaten to arrest me! I attempt to call PPSD, however, their office is closed, naturally! After 8:00, when I finally reach PPSD, they offer to "fill out a complaint form, that is our procedure." When I ask to speak to GM Mike McNulty, they give me voice mail. It is obvious PPSD doesn't care about their longtime customers. All they care about is getting a new sewer line installed no matter who it hurts! Eventually I reach McNulty who admits that he has not looked into quieter options and keeps saying that I want the job shut down. Nothing is further from the truth. I don't want the job shut down, I simply want peace and quiet in my home and on my property! A short time later I hear tree-cutters in back. Asplundh is cutting trees for AEP and they are working ON OUR PROPERTY! I go out and ask them NOT to work on our property and to keep the noise down, as I can hear it indoors with the windows shut. They ask which trees are ours, I point them out, they say they must cut a pine tree down behind our neighbor's building, then they cut one of OUR trees down, drop it on our property, and are working ON OUR PROPERTY! The invasiveness of these work crews is incredible! They say they are under contract for AEP which is putting in a new power line for the Hurricane Marketplace. I am getting excessive noise now from the road, the Walmart construction site, AND the rear of our home. It is terrible that the City of Hurricane is doing this to its citizens! When I come home after 5:00 from an appointment, I cannot drive up my hill. An employee from Joe Tolley Contracting stands in front of my car screaming to back up so that one of his trucks can drive down our hill. His truck can go around to the Walmart site. There is no reason for them to block traffic. I shoot a video of the employee who then grabs a cell phone and starts shooting pictures of me sitting in my car. Shortly after 7:00 p.m., I learn that Scott Edwards has demoted Chief of Police Joe Sisk. I am also told Edwards has appointed himself as Interim Chief of Police. Now Edwards can truly run the city. God help us all! After 8:00 p.m., a City of Hurricane tractor starts grating our road, going back and forth, up and down the hill. It blocks me in as I have to go to Rite Aid to get some Vicks Baby Rub for our sick two-month-old son. On my way back, workers refused to move the dump truck that is blocking our road for several minutes. The City of Hurricane is trying to play with my head. Scott Edwards needs to get his town's act together and quit screwing his citizens!

November 6th, 2007: The illegal excessive noise assault on our neighborhood starts about 6:30 a.m. when trucks start arriving on the Walmart construction site. We have a sick baby who has been up much of the night. However, this doesn't stop trucks from waking him. I send this info to Mayor/Interim Chief of Police Scott Edwards, Ben Newhouse, Councilwoman Hager, and Councilmen Billups and Ellis. Anticipating more sewer line work, I also email this to Mike McNulty of PPSD and Commissioner Joe Ellis. We expect COMPLETE peace and quiet on our property to allow our baby to recover. Workers have ALREADY violated the Hurricane noise ordinance. We hope they respect the law as well as our family and cease and desist from any more illegal noise! Shortly before 11:00 a.m., I receive an anonymous email asking me what times I feel construction is appropriate. The answer is and always has been ANYTIME-as long as the noise, dust, and lights do not disturb someone on their property or in their home! And as long as people can leave and enter their homes without disruption. It's very basic: You do your construction work ON YOUR PROPERTY and leave me peace and quiet ON MY PROPERTY! I talk to Rick Johnson from 58 WCHS. He wimps out and says he won't discuss the issue on-air because he doesn't think it will do any good, that the local politicians won't change their behavior no matter how embarrassed they are in a public forum. That's a sad commentary on politicians. Speaking of bad politicians, Councilwoman Hager sends me an email trying to tell me that I am breaking the law when I send out emails informing her about the excessive noise. Patty, READ THE FIRST AMENDMENT! The part about NO LAW restricting the Freedom of Speech! That means YOU ARE WRONG AGAIN! The obnoxiously excessive noise continues through the day as they work on the sewer line DIRECTLY in front of our yard. And past 8:00 p.m. we are still

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hearing motion "beeps" as workers on the Walmart site are working on the store front. This is more than 13 hours of excessive noise abuse today! Patty Hager needs to shut her face and move up here. THEN she would understand the issue!

November 7th, 2007: Another day of excessive, illegal construction noise. Today it started at 6:00 a.m. I call Putnam Dispatch, however, Hurricane PD doesn't show up. I call back and am told that "officers are on their way." I have a sick baby at home who needs his rest. So do his parents who were up much of the night caring for him. Tom Roten of 800 WVHU interviews me on his morning show about the excessive noise and other issues. Fortunately, Tom cares about Putnam County and property rights! I exercise my First Amendment rights and send an email to Mayor/Interim Police Chief Scott Edwards, Ben Newhouse, and city council members as well as my attorney advising them of this illegal activity. Excessive noise continues through the day. Our road is constantly blocked by men working on the sewer line. At one point when I leave and honk my horn to let them know that I need them to move the tractor that is blocking the road, the man operating the tractor threatens to drop the shovel on the roof of my car. After 11:00 p.m., the last construction worker drives his truck off the Walmart site shaking our home. This is 15 hours of illegal, excessive construction noise!

November 8th, 2007: At 4:00 a.m., a vehicle rolls across the Walmart construction site waking me and our sick baby. At 4:00 a.m.!!! This is definitely not "necessary" to use Mayor Edwards' favorite word. And it IS unreasonable to use the word actually IN the Hurricane noise ordinance! Other excessive noise starts around 7:00 a.m. and wakes our baby again. There is NO REASON to send excessive noise onto our property. I call new Hurricane Chief of Police Mike Mullins, however, he has not called back. I also call Putnam Dispatch but the ILLEGAL EXCESSIVE NOISE continues! So I send out ANOTHER email to the incompetent leaders of Hurricane, including the jerk that calls himself Mayor and his puppets on the Hurricane City Council and the out-of-town City Manager, Ben Newhouse. ALL OF THEM SHOULD RESIGN! They should be ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES!!!!!!!! Around 11:40 a.m. I get an email from a Joe Tolley Contractor employee asking me if we'd ever thought about moving. DUH! Every day! Unfortunately the "buyout offer" that she refers to in her email NEVER REALLY HAPPENED! The ONLY offer we ever received was an insulting LOWBALL OFFER from Hurricane Mayor Scott Edwards at a PRE-Walmart PRICE! "Hizzonor" even admitted he would then "flip" our property for double his LOWBALL OFFER! I advise the Joe Tolley employee who whined, "I'm just a secretary, I was told to send the email" that SHE was formally invited to bring a cashiers check for $350,000 at 1:00 p.m. and BUY US OUT and we would MOVE THIS AFTERNOON! She hung up the phone! I also extended the same offer to her in a reply to her email. We will see if she is willing to put her money where her mouth is! I am not holding my breath.

November 9th, 2007: Another day of typical construction noise. I come home at about 1:30 and our road has new gravel that hasn't been properly graded. Several times the bottom of my car is scraped, including when I turn into my driveway. I call BBL Carlton and they fix the problem, but I hope my car isn't damaged already!

November 10th, 2007: Construction crew trucks shake our home about 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. This is way too early to disrupt anyone on a Saturday! It is also my wife's birthday. She should ALWAYS be entitled to peace and quiet in our home, but ESPECIALLY on her birthday! I go out to get her breakfast at Tudors and watch Silly Scott Edwards roll through the stop sign. This is the same guy that attacked the Putnam County Commissioners that voted against Hurricane annexation and says "Shame on them!" Scott Edwards likes to allow noise ordinances to be broken, rolls through stop signs, walked across our grass on our property after being told to stay off of it, rolls a stop sign, and he has the AUDACITY to say "Shame on" the Putnam County Commission! Silly Scotty, do society a favor and leave the planet! Mid -day I have to interrupt a feeding of our baby son to take a phone call. UPS cannot find our home due to the construction confusion. City Hall has failed to put up street signs, another case of horrible management

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under Scott Edwards and Ben Newhouse.

November 11th, 2007: We finally wake up to a quiet morning. Crews have apparently taken Sunday off. Thank God. Literally! We get some well-deserved peace and quiet. Fog has covered the hideous construction site obscuring the ugly, rusty tractors in a natural white blanket. I wish every day was so peaceful! Unfortunately, our peace and quiet is short-lived. Shortly before 9:00 a.m., the "beep, beep, beep," of a motion alarm disrupts our home. I leave Mayor Scott Edwards a voice mail. However, the illegal noise continues. It is time for another email to my attorney, Edwards, Newhouse, and the incompetent city council that has sold out our neighborhood to Wally World and the Chinese! PutnumLIVE.com has its strongest week for readership, with more than 6,500 visits. So much for my critics!

November 12th, 2007: It's Veteran's Day, a holiday when we should be able to sleep in. Shortly after 6:00 a.m., our home is disrupted by excessive noise and lights coming from an area between the Walmart and Hurricane Marketplace construction sites. Instead of placing roses on veteran's graves, construction workers wake our baby as well as me. I call Putnam Dispatch, but when a HPD officer shows up, he says Scott Edwards has ordered that the noise ordinance NOT be enforced. Also, while he is standing in front of our home talking with us, a construction worker spins his wheels, screeches his tires, and sends excessive noise into our neighborhood as he arrives to work. We watch as the officer pulls over the driver. Perhaps that is the answer, HPD should do early morning patrols and cite each driver as they come to work for ANY motor vehicle violations! I exercise my First Amendment right to redress my government for grievances and send an email to Scott Edwards, Hurricane Council members, my attorney, Ben Newhouse, and new HPD Chief W. Mike Mullins to inform them of this ILLEGAL EXCESSIVE CONSTRUCTION NOISE! Despite the email and the illegal activity, that excessive noise continues throughout the day. We dub a video of just SOME of the illegal activity that we have recorded in preparation for our court hearing later this month. We are looking forward to getting some justice! BBL Carlton still hasn't moved the boulder-size chunks of concrete next to our property. They were left after the new sewer line was installed. Shortly after 5:00 p.m. I am pulled over by several Hurricane Police units at Forest Burdette Church saying Mayor Edwards is concerned that I am "stalking" him. No, I simply wanted to talk to him about a tip I'd received earlier in the day as well as the excessive noise coming from the Walmart construction site. Now, Mayor Edwards has used Hurricane PD to illegally harass and detain me. I will be forwarding this information, an audio recording, and photos to my attorney. The illegal excessive noise continues past 7:00 p.m., making today another day of more than 12 hours of excessive construction noise.

November 13th, 2007: Construction crews disrupt our neighborhood by arriving prior to 6:00 a.m. There is NO REASON to be coming to work in a neighborhood before 6:00 a.m. This is completely disrespectful to the people who have lived here for decades! Like the other illegal, excessive noise, I email this to Mayor Scott Edwards, City Manager Ben Newhouse, city council members, and my attorney. We will use this evidence in our injunction hearing later this month. I also contact Putnam County Dispatch, however, as long as Silly Scotty Edwards is playing "king of the hill" and intimidating his police officers, nothing will be done. I stop by City Hall to hand Newhouse another duplicate filing of the FOIA that was filed October 3 1st. Despite multiple emailed copies and a delivered original, Newhouse claims to "never have received it." Yea, right! He says MULTIPLE copies were not received! Can you say, "Incredible?" I knew you could! Newhouse says because of "zoning" and "Necessary" construction work that the Hurricane noise ordinance is not being enforced at the Walmart and Hurricane Marketplace. However, as you can see by the noise ordinance posted above, there ARE NO EXEMPTIONS FOR ZONING and the word "NECESSARY" is not even in the noise ordinance! When I point this out to Newhouse, the confused city manager rudely walks away! When I stop by Hurricane Police Headquarters to get a complaint form about my illegal detention yesterday, Secretary Linda Duncan

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repeatedly refuses to provide me with a form. She says I must get one from Chief Mullins who "will be here in a few minutes." More than 10 minutes later Mullins fails to show up. I ask that he stop by my home, however, as of this publication, Mullins is a no-show there as well. I meet with Senator Hall at the Putnam County Commission meeting and advise him of our suffering due to the lack of a state noise ordinance. He says "We are working on it." Too little, too late. By the time a noise ordinance MAY be passed for the state in January, the damage to our family's peace and quiet is done. The Putnam County delegation should be ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES for failing to protect their citizens against out-of-state construction companies that don't care about us! After I testify at the Putnam County Commission meeting that the City of Hurricane should be dissolved-for a number of reasons, Scott Edwards confronts me in the hallway. I ask him to resign, and he attempts to enter the chambers through the doorway which I am standing in. He makes contact with me then screams "Mark Hallburn tried to hit me, call the police, call the law!" I leave and call PCSD and file a report. At NO TIME did I try to hit Edwards. This is another example of harassment by Hurricane officials because I speak out about their bad management! Meanwhile, even as I testify against the City of Hurricane, excessive noise continues to assault our neighborhood. The noise and the bright lights at the Walmart construction site continue until 11:00 p.m., a clear violation of Hurricane's noise ordinance and a complete violation of common sense and courtesy! However, Scott Edwards allows this nonsense to continue! Of course no one is accusing Edwards of having either. I am still waiting on Chief Mullins to deliver that complaint form. Incredibly, the Putnam County Commission allows Hurricane to annex more land in Teays Valley. This is troubling because Scott Edwards and Ben Newhouse have proven that they mismanage the town that they have and abuse citizens. However, Commissioners Andes and Haynes pull a classic political flip-flop on the annexation issue and drop into lock-step with their Republican buddies! WSAZ runs a story on the 11:00 news that says Edwards accused me of pushing him, but they never contacted me for my side of the story, despite my cell phone number that is listed on every page of this web site. When I ask that they run the other side of the story during their newscast, they decline.

November 14th, 2007: The first worker arrives on the Walmart construction site at 5:23 a.m., far too early for a site that is in a neighborhood. The Charleston Gazette runs a fairly balanced story about the incident involving Scott Edwards. Unfortunately, her voice mail didn't come through until this morning. Unlike WSAZ she at least tried to get my side of the story. I call Putnam Dispatch about the excessive noise coming from the Walmart construction site this morning. They say they will call Hurricane PD which likely won't do anything because Mayor Edwards has illegally ordered them to ignore the noise ordinance. I send an email to my attorney, Edwards, Ben Newhouse, Chief Mullins, and several city council members exercising my First Amendment right to redress my government for grievances. Later in the morning Tom Roten of 800 WVHU interviews me on his radio show. At least Tom has some understanding of the crap we are having to tolerate at the hands of the City of Hurricane! An Internet forum misreports the Edwards incident saying police were searching for me. No, I was IN THEIR OFFICE providing the facts of the situation. I wonder if Scott Edwards posted those inaccurate comments. I also receive an ANONYMOUS voice mail criticizing me. Amazing how people don't have the guts to provide their name. I post my name. I was planning on posting a note here about a quiet evening with no construction noise, however, at 10:17 p.m., a large truck started revving its engine in front of the Walmart building disrupting our neighborhood. Tell me Scott and Ben, how is that "necessary" noise? I find that to be "UNREASONABLE NOISE" a clear violation of the Hurricane noise ordinance. I contact Putnam Dispatch, however, the illegal noise continues!

November 15th, 2007: Construction workers start arriving before 6:00 a.m., sending excessive noise and shining bright lights in the direction of our home and into our windows. This is harassment and is a violation of Hurricane's noise and nuisance ordinances. I call Putnam Dispatch and ask that the disruption cease. I also send another email to my attorney. Our injunction hearing is scheduled for the 26th. These violations are adding up and make the City of Hurricane look TERRIBLE for continuing to abuse its citizens

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EVERY MORNING! I also utilize my First Amendment right to redress my government for grievances and email this to Mayor Scott Edwards, City Manager Ben Newhouse, Chief of Police "Mike" Mullins, and several city council members. After the email is sent, the noise gets much worse throughout the morning and continues throughout the day. The volume level is horrendous! While covering the Business Expo, Scott Edwards, Patti Schoen, Ed Eagloski, and Raymond "Joe" Haynes, those that have turned their backs on our neighborhood, all give me "the cold shoulder." Karen Haynes actually has the audacity to give me the "progress" speech and tells me, "It will be over soon." I LOVE progress! I also love peace and quiet in my home and on our property. Karen needs to treat the people in this neighborhood with as much respect as she treats "pound puppies" at the Animal Relief Center. The dogs and cats there get more peace and quiet than the people of this neighborhood. The excessive noise continues into the night. At about 9:00, as I am picking up my mail, an RSC truck is entering the site. Why start work at 9:00 p.m.? In the mail is another anonymous letter that was mailed to a sponsor. Gutless! The good news of the day is that our readership is on-target to beat last week's record of more than 6,500 readers! The FEW anonymous critics are getting drowned out by thousands of people that appreciate truthful reporting.

November 16th, 2007: Construction lights were left on all night. Workers wake us up when they start arriving at 5:56 a.m., sending excessive noise into our home. By 6:45 the motion beeps are serenading the neighborhood. Of course, all of this is a violation of Hurricane law, but Mayor Edwards has proved that he doesn't care about his citizens, putting the interests of out-of-state retailers and construction companies ahead of us! I send out my daily morning email so that I have proof that Edwards and Hurricane are again failing to properly enforce the law. Horrible noise levels continue throughout the day. And those huge chunks of concrete, the size of boulders, still sit near the edge of our property complements of the sewer line project. I have asked BBL Carlton several times to move them and they have promised several times. I am still waiting to see the ugly things moved. If they need a new location, Scott Edwards' office would be a great place for them. In fact, they can put one in Scott's office and one in Ben Newhouse's office!

November 17th: It's my birthday, but we can't hold the party at our home. The excessive construction noise makes a celebration prohibitive, unless you want to celebrate the greed of a small town. This is ridiculous that we can't enjoy our home and property! We decide to spend the day elsewhere and hold the birthday party at the home of a friend in Charleston who shares my birthday. Normally we celebrate at our home each year. I resent being driven out of our home by excess construction noise! Even more, I resent the fact that my father called my home to wish me a Happy Birthday and I was not here to receive his call! Thanks, Hurricane, for continuing to allow your citizen to be abused by an out-of-state construction company and retailer!

November 18th, 2007: It's a Sunday, and we are entitled to peace and quiet in our home. However, throughout the day, we hear the "beep, beep," of a motion alarm or two as construction workers violate our peace and quiet. It continues past 8:00 p.m. I call Putnam Dispatch, however, the noise continues. Black Friday is less than a week away. Putnam County's "leaders" promised this store would be open by September. THEY LIED! Now it looks like it won't be open until NEXT YEAR! So if they have screwed up opening by the Holiday season, what is the point in subjecting us to the constant harassment of noise? I am sending this to Mayor Scott Edwards who lives in a peaceful home far from the Walmart site. No doubt he made sure of that! It also is being sent to my attorney, Chief Mullins, and various City Council members. STOP THE EXCESSIVE NOISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November 19th, 2007: The assault on our neighborhood starts at 5:00 a.m. with bright lights being turned on that light up our windows. Excessively loud trucks also start arriving. I call Putnam Dispatch, however, nothing is done. Supervisor Frankie Chapman is on vacation so they refuse to call him, but don't stop OUR home from being disrupted! The hypocrisy in

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Putnam County is appalling! This info is sent to my attorney as another example of Hurricane's management refusing to enforce the law. I can't wait to get into court and present the judge with HUNDREDS of violations and ask for punitive damages for EACH malicious violation! We will also ask the judge to vacate the mayor and council for dereliction of duties! The INCOMPETENT HYPOCRITES that run Hurricane need to be shipped out! These people make the Nitro council and mayor look like choirboys! Loud noise and motion beeps continue throughout the day. Bright lights are left on throughout the night for no reason. Another example of the ongoing harassment allowed by Scott Edwards and the City of Hurricane. Meanwhile PutnumLIVE.com reaches a new record level of readership, more than 235,000 readers for 2007. We continue to grow, speaking the truth and reporting news in Putnam County!

November 20th, 2007: The bright lights stay on all morning and a concrete truck wakes us up at 5:25 a.m. More vehicles rumble up the hill before and shortly after 6:00 a.m. There is NO reason to be waking our neighborhood before sunrise! They should drive up and down Carpenter Avenue in front of Scott Edwards' house and in front of Patty Hager and Don Chaney's house and in front of Reggie Billup's house and in front of Brian Ellis' house. Of course they would have to drive outside of Hurricane to drive in front of Ben Newhouse's house on Sweetbriar in Teays Valley. If Hurricane's so-called "leaders" had to put up with concrete mixers in front of their homes at 5:30 a.m. they would put a stop to this nonsense! Hurricane's council members and mayor are poster children for a recall. And they want to annex more land! They are complete screwups about managing what they have! I serve a subpoena on Hurricane PD to testify about Scott Edwards ordering officers to ignore the noise ordinance. Our hearing is Monday morning. Hopefully we can get an injunction to stop the excessive noise. NOT the work, just the noise and lights that are an everyday disruption of our lives!

November 21st, 2007: At 3:54 a.m. we are awakened by the motion alarm of a truck at the Walmart construction site. At 3:54 a.m. It gets worse: The truck is the CITY OF HURRICANE STREET SWEEPER! This is HARASSMENT by the City of Hurricane! There is NO REASON to be sweeping the Walmart construction site at 3:54 a.m.! I shoot video of the clearly-marked street sweeper including the driver waving at me! Is this retaliation for our coverage of all of the excessive noise? I believe so! I email this info to my attorney, Mayor Edwards, council members, Chief Mullins, and other media members. It is time for everyone to know how Hurricane harasses its citizens!

November 22nd, 2007: It's Thanksgiving. A day when people should be able to sleep in and relax with their families! However, that doesn't stop one very rude construction worker from waking us up at 4:23 a.m. That's right, 4:23 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning! I call Putnam Dispatch and they invite me to meet Sgt. Jason Moore at the construction site. The worker, who refuses to tell PutnumLIVE.com his name or company name, tells Moore he is picking up materials and equipment to take home. "Home" is apparently Pennsylvania, as that is where his license plate is from. His truck is un-marked. Moore refuses to divulge the man's name or company from his business card. Incredibly, but not surprisingly, Moore refuses to arrest or cite the man for violating Hurricane's noise ordinance at 4:23 a.m. This is the same cop that arrested me at about 1:00 a.m. in January on a trumped-up charge, yet he won't cite or arrest this man for committing a crime in Moore's presence! Obviously there is a double-standard in Hurricane! After I return to bed and wake up at a decent hour, I will publish the photos of this as our lead story. I am sure that even the Wally World lovers out there will agree that waking a neighborhood at 4:23 a.m. is incredibly rude and that refusing to cite the man is the latest example of a corrupt city in action! I CAN'T WAIT to show a copy of the video that I shot to the judge during our hearing Monday morning!!! Incredibly, as I type this, Walmart sends me an email promoting their Thanksgiving weekend specials. Does this company have no shame? Former Hurricane City Councilman David Boyles sends me an email defending the election results. That's his right. However, how does he defend our neighborhood being disrupted at 4:23 a.m. by a construction worker at the Walmart that Boyles helped make happen when he was a Hurricane City Council member?

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He also says, "I hear that none of the newly elected council members are wanting to run again.. .not 5 months into their 4 year term. I guess they never heard the saying " Watch out what you ask for.. .you might just get it." Hey, if they want to resign, that's OK with me. NONE of them are properly enforcing Hurricane's noise ordinance. Hurricane needs real leadership, which the town isn't getting now! The workers aren't satisfied with waking us up at 4:23 a.m., they are back a few hours later making excessive noise that disrupts our family holiday. As we are trying to celebrate in our home, we hear the "beep, beep," of construction equipment motion alarms as well as other construction noises coming into our home. Happy Thanksgiving from the turkeys that run Hurricane!

November 23rd, 2007: Once again, construction workers arrive very early and make excessive noise. It's a holiday weekend but in Hurricane we don't get any peace and quiet! Thank you Mayor Scott Edwards for your inept leadership and selling out your citizens to out-of-state companies! Do the world a favor and RESIGN! YOU ARE UNFIT TO HOLD OFFICE! The Walmart SHOULD have been open today, but Edwards and the other so-called "leaders" of Putnam County blew Black Friday! A reader tells me that one of the construction supervisors was recently in her home and complained about me. AMAZING! These guys come into our neighborhood, trash it with excessive noise, lights, dust, blasting, and smoke, and complain that I don't like them! What stupidity! If they would only show some COMMON SENSE AND CONSIDERATION FOR OUR NEIGHBORHOOD I WOULDN'T HAVE ANY COMPLAINTS! Monday is our court hearing. They move it to 3:00, which is bad because it gives the loud construction crews a few more hours to abuse us. However, if the judge simply reads the law for what it says, and ignores Silly Scotty Edwards' whining about the phantom "Necessary noise" and "zoning" that Edwards fantasizes is in the ordinance, the crews will be told, "Build all you want, just keep the noise away from the Hallburn property." We don't want to stop the Walmart, just the daily noise that disrupts our lives! Yes, the crews may have to buy better, quieter equipment, and they may have to (quietly) build a sound-barrier, but they brought that on themselves by being obnoxiously loud, arrogant, and inconsiderate! Hopefully the Judge will vacate Edwards as mayor for his BLATANT disregard for the noise ordinance and his arrogant abuse of this neighborhood! I can think of one place that he can be mayor: The dark side of Pluto! He can even build the first Walmart there!!! With no neighbors to bother, he'd have a GREAT time! November 24th, 2007: A nice quiet Saturday, until some geek on AndyandCompany.com, a radio talk show host's forum, decides to call me a "crybaby." This guy, called "Dogman," claims to live in Los Angeles, but his address doesn't check out. So I invite him to buy us out after he suggests that we move. "Puppyboy" never shows up. I anxiously await our court hearing Monday afternoon. Hopefully Judge Chafin will make Scott Edwards properly enforce the noise ordinance. We deserve peace and quiet! Puppyboy then tries to hide his email address. That email address is: brad [email protected]. Puppyboy needs to go back to his dog house!

November 25th, 2007: At 7:12 a.m., on this Sunday morning, we hear the first "beeps" of motion alarms coming from the Walmart construction site. It's Sunday, crews should take the day off and go to church and give us some peace and quiet! Mid-afternoon I receive a caustic email from one of my critics (who cannot be verified.) "He" objects to my latest editorial demanding that Putnam County's "leaders" personally work on the Walmart and Hurricane Marketplace projects to get them open by Christmas. In the commentary I point out that by blowing Black Friday, Putnam County has lost MILLIONS in spending that is going to Cabell and Kanawha Counties. This idiot that writes me just doesn't understand economics. Instead, he has run a background check, and in a blatant effort to intimidate me, mentions a couple places where I used to live or get mail in Southern California. Why doesn't this guy do something positive and get those stores open-quietly, without disrupting the neighborhood, and help Putnam County's economy? Because he would rather run his mouth! I spend part of the rest of the afternoon putting Christmas decorations in our yard. While doing this, I can hear construction noises coming off the construction sites. Happy Holidays from Scott Edwards and the City of Hurricane! I am looking into buying a giant green Grinch, having Mayor Edwards' face put on it, and having it point at the Walmart

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construction site! THAT would be a fun decoration to install in my yard!

November 26th, 2007: Construction trucks start arriving before 7:00 a.m. It is raining, so that should cut down on a lot of the noise through the day. However, between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. the noise from the arriving trucks is very loud. Our hearing is at 3:00 p.m. today. Hopefully Judge Chafin will order the City of Hurricane to properly enforce the noise ordinance. Then construction workers will be able to continue to do their work but will have to find quieter trucks and equipment to stay in compliance with Hurricane's noise ordinance. We aren't trying to stop progress, just have it properly managed! Mid-morning I receive a telephone call that our hearing has been postponed until December 6th because the City of Hurricane's attorney is sick. Yea right! Can you say stall tactic? I knew you could! Later I learn that the injunction hearing is set for December 20th. I've said all along that they would find a way to stall this until after the store is built. Now they are proving it! Let's see, the Presiding Judge of Putnam Circuit Court is Captain Kangaroo Eagloski who swore in "Mayor" Scott Edwards, then handed him a legal victory without deciding about the disputed battles. They are both members of the same political party. Edwards was on the PCDA Board of Directors, the agency that put together the Walmart deal. Coincidence? I THINK NOT!!! Just another example of Putnam County politics and "justice!"

November 27th, 2007: Construction vehicles rattle our neighborhood when they start arriving before sunrise, after 6:00 a.m. Another rude awakening at the hands of Hurricane's horrible management. I call Putnam County Dispatch, however, it won't do any good as Hurricane's horrible Mayor, Scott Edwards, has ordered that the noise ordinance be ignored. I also send an email to my attorney, Edwards, Chief Mullins, Ben Newhouse, and Hurricane City Council members advising them of yet another noise ordinance violation! Excessive noise continues through the day, sending noise and vibrations from trucks into our home. After leaving a message last week for West Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Thompson, he finally calls me back. Instead of properly dealing with the issue, Thompson tells me to contact my local delegates, that he will contact his "counsel" and hangs up on me. There is nothing worse than a rude politician! I also leave messages for Senators Mike Hall and Karen Facemyer as well as Delegates Jeff Eldridge, Lidella Wilson Hrutkay, Ted Ellis, and Patti Eagloski-Schoen. I doubt Schoen will call me back. Her brother is Captain Kangaroo Norbert "Ed" Eagloski, the Presiding Judge of the Putnam Circuit Court that postponed our injunction date and refuses to give us proper justice! These politicians need to "wise up!" Most are up for election next year. If they want MY vote and support they will protect my family with a state noise law that limits construction noise to the work site. One nice politician that DID take my call was Delegate Troy Andes. He agrees to come to our home, listen to the noise, and look into drafting legislation in January. I ask him to call a special session. He says he doubts that can be done, but will look into the issue. Dan Kimball, an attorney for Speaker Thompson, calls me and agrees that noise is a problem. His peace and quiet was recently invaded by noisy construction crews near his country-side home. Finally, I feel as if I MIGHT be getting somewhere! Kimball and I are interrupted but agree to discuss the issue later in the day. As I am speaking with Andes and Kimball I hear excessive construction noise coming through my closed window.

November 28th, 2007: Excessive construction noise continues through the day. Work on the road down the hill from our home turns our roadway into an obstacle course. Getting in and out of our home becomes a safety hazard. At 9:00 p.m., a large truck shows up sending excessive noise and shining its headlights at our home. With 25 acres there is no reason to sit so close to our property and shine headlights at our home. It can park elsewhere and shine its lights. After I flash my lights it cuts its lights, however it leaves its engine running all night long, sending noise into our home through the night.

November 29th, 2007: After a night of enduring excessive noise from the big-rig truck parked at the Walmart construction site, workers start arriving before sunrise. We don't get

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any peace and quiet. As I leave for work in the morning I have to dodge a couple of tractors working on the road which already has a hole in the new asphalt that is just a few days old. Obviously workers have been running heavy equipment over the road that tore it up. One worker tells me to "F-off" when I complain about the "obstacle course" that is now our road. It is ridiculous how construction workers abuse us as they invade our neighborhood and tear things up! I send yet another email to our attorney to use as evidence in our lawsuit about Scott Edwards ignoring the noise and nuisance ordinances. The email is also sent to City Manager Ben Newhouse, various city council members, and Chief of Police w. "Mike" Mullins about the illegal noise and nuisance!

November 30th, 2007: Excessive construction noise continues through the morning and into the afternoon. These people just don't get it! Every day they violate Hurricane's noise ordinance they are creating greater civil liability for themselves as well as the City of Hurricane! Scott Edwards is quoted in two newspapers as saying the delays of the Walmart opening are due to building code issues. "City of Hurricane code enforcement officers are really working well with them, but making them stick to the code. We're sticking to what we think is right and making them do it the right way," says Edwards in the Putnam Herald. So why won't he enforce the noise and nuisance ordinances? I guess it's because he doesn't "Think" it is "right" so he is ignoring City of Hurricane law! Edwards is so transparent! Some of the parking lot lights for the Walmart are turned on and left on all night. There is NO REASON to light up the store and parking lot which won't open for business until next March. This is Scott Edwards' way of PRETENDING the Walmart will be open by Christmas! However, it is a complete waste of energy and yet another way that Edwards is harassing our neighborhood! Scott Edwards, do society a favor, resign and move to the dark side of Pluto! You are a TERRIBLE mayor!

December 1st, 2007: Paving of the Walmart parking lot sends more unacceptable excessive construction noise into our property and home. Mayor Scott Edwards is quoted in another newspaper blaming the delays in Walmart's opening on tight inspections. He says Hurricane is making sure the building meets "standards." I want to know when Edwards' will bring HIS building up to "standards?" What we are REALLY talking about here is Scott Edwards' DOUBLE STANDARDS! His building has a bullet hole in a window, holes in siding, a broken window, and missing siding. But, by gosh, Walmart's building must be PERFECT for Silly Scotty! A reader suggests picketing the Hurricane Christmas Parade. It DOES sound like fun to walk beside the Mayor and Council's car or float with a sign saying, "Incompetents must resign!" However, I am NOT going to tarnish the Christmas Parade even if incompetent Mayor Edwards and his puppet council DESERVE a strong political protest... But it wouldn't break my heart if they get run over by a reindeer! While taking pictures of the parade, about 12 people come up and tell me to keep speaking out against the City of Hurricane and Scott Edwards for refusing to take care of its citizens. Conspicuously out-of-sight at the parade is Edwards himself, as well as most of the council. Only C. Brian Ellis and Linda Gibson come out for the parade. Apparently the Edwards and the rest of his incompetent puppets can't take the heat of facing the public! Later at night, the lights are left on at the Walmart construction site, needlessly lighting up our neighborhood and wasting energy, just like Hurricane water was wasted during the construction contributing to the shortage that Silly Scotty Edwards wants to surcharge us for! Edwards needs to resign. He is incompetent, arrogant, and selectively enforces the law while allowing his own building to continue to look terrible!

December 2nd, 2007: Finally, a reprieve from excessive construction noise! However, the bright lights in the Walmart parking lot were on starting last night and continued into tonight. There is NO reason to leave those lights on AT ALL! In a COLLOSAL failure of Scott Edwards and other so-called "leaders" of Putnam County, the Walmart won't open until March of 2008! So why light the parking lot? Just another way for Silly Scotty to harass the neighbors. We believe he is trying to push us into selling at his low-ball offer. We won't do that! When I call Councilwoman Hager to complain about the lights, she hangs up. Apparently she is more loyal to out-of-state companies than to Hurricane's citizens! I

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call Delegate Brady Paxton to ask what happened to the help he promised from Governor Joe Manchin's office. He tells me they are "looking into the situation" and will call us next week. Perhaps Manchin would trade homes until the construction finishes. I doubt it! Everyone is willing to tell US that "It will be over soon" but isn't willing to endure the daily onslaught of excessive construction noise. Their talk is cheap! Over the weekend we spent about $1,000 for Christmas gifts-at stores other than Walmart. So far, over the last two years, the bad behavior of construction crews has cost Walmart about $3,000 in lost holiday spending. That doesn't count other items that we purposely purchased elsewhere. A few thousand lost dollars obviously isn't very painful to the multi-billion dollar retail giant, but it's a matter of principle, something that is lost on the so-called "leaders" of Putnam County!

December 3rd, 2007: As I feed our baby at 3:00 a.m., a glow comes through our upstairs bedroom window from the lights at the Walmart parking lot. Walmart promised us the lights wouldn't spill into our neighborhood, however, they aren't properly shielded. No one has yet to explain to me why they need to be turned on all night for a store that won't open until March. This is just another way that Scott Edwards is allowing our neighborhood to be harassed! The first construction workers start arriving at 5:43 a.m., disrupting our neighborhood. It looks to be another long day of excessive, illegal construction noise that will be ignored by the bad mayor and management of Hurricane. They don't care about their citizens, only out-of-state retailers and construction companies! Construction noise continues throughout the day. I get an email from an aide to WV Senator Earl Tomblin with the typical laundry list of lame excuses as to why no state noise law can be passed until January. He also says he visited our neighborhood on a Sunday and understands the noise is probably worse during the week. Ya think? And what was your first clue! He suggests that we sue for damages. Ya think? What was your first clue? Sorry, politicians, but YOU have failed this neighborhood and it will be payback time for ALL incumbents in the next election! You COULD have been part of the solution. INSTEAD you are PART OF THE PROBLEM! Speaking of politicians who are PART OF THE PROBLEM, I file a three-part ethics complaint against Putnam Circuit Judge Norbert "Ed" Eagloski, II. He should have recused himself in the Edwards mayor case as he swore in Edwards. Eagloski has also denied PutnumLIVE.com the right to photograph him in court, singling out PutnumLIVE.com in front of other media representatives while allowing THEM to photograph him. Your failure to set a hearing date in my Writ of Mandamus case then blaming my contact of Patti Eagloski-Schoen (Who I was speaking with MONTHS before the writ was filed -along with many OTHER Putnam County representatives) was a blatant smoke-screen intended to cover -up your inept refusal to set a timely hearing while your buddy, Scott Edwards' Walmart continued to get built while my family is disrupted by excessive noise! Once again some of the parking lot lights are left on. The store won't open until March, so this is a colossal waste of electricity causing more air pollution from coal that is burned to make the electricity.

December 4th, 2007: Early morning excessive construction noise disrupts our home again. This daily illegal activity is allowed by the incompetent mayor and council of Hurricane. I contact Delegates Brady Paxton, Dale Martin and Troy Andes. All of them wimp out and say they won't do anything until January. Patti Schoen doesn't answer her phone. Neither does Senator Mike Hall. All of the delegates can kiss their seats goodbye in the 2008 election. West Virginia needs REAL leadership, not a bunch of wimpy politicians that refuse to protect West Virginia citizens against out-of-state lawbreaking companies! Later in the day I get a phone call from a rather rude Delegate Schoen. Ignoring the fact that she refused to introduce a bill during the last session, she babbles about not being able to introduce a bill now, arrogantly demands a "white paper" letter outlining what I want in a new law, and refuses to take the info by email or Fax. Join the electronic age, Delegate Schoen! You will get your "white letter" as you so arrogantly demanded. Then I expect YOU to get a special session called, and a bill passed and signed THE DAY YOU RECEIVE MY LETTER! Schoen even tried to tell me that she isn't my Delegate. No wonder she can't get a bill passed , she doesn't even know what area her district covers! Maybe I will run for her seat in 2008.

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December 5th, 2007: Despite the snow, we are still disrupted by excessive construction noise. One of the Charleston newspapers runs a VERY POSITIVE article about Councilwoman Hager's business and how she is using signs on Interstate 64 to promote her business. The article says Hager wants to take advantage of Walmart's traffic to build her business. Now we know why Councilwoman Hager won't enforce the noise ordinance. Can you say "Conflict of interest?" I knew you could! I pass the article on to my attorney to use in our court case against the City of Hurricane. I am sure he will find this fascinating. Meanwhile, the reporter who wrote the article hangs up on me when I ask her to listen to the issues about Hager and the noise ordinance. Shocking! It's no wonder Charleston media won't cover this issue. They have been snookered by the local politicians and business people who are chanting "We Love Wally-World! We Love Wally World!" Do they worship bright yellow smiley faces? Just asking! Well past 6:00 p.m., I can hear the motion alarms inside my home, with the windows shut, above the music from our baby's swing. This is RIDICULOUS!!! While I understand (and agree with) Hurricane's desire to get the Walmart finished ASAP, construction workers MUST be required to keep their noise away from our home! It's called COMMON SENSE AND COMMON COURTESY!!! When I go pick up some medical supplies one of the office ladies tells me a story about how Scott Edwards did one of his ex-wives wrong. I wish I had a dollar for every time someone tells a bad story about Scott Edwards!

December 6th, 2007: Another day of disruptive noise. Crews show little consideration for our family. We have the hearing today on Cleveland Construction's motion to toss my lawsuit over the false arrest and malicious prosecution. CC loses this round as Judge Chafin denies their motion. At one point CC's attorney tries to tell the court that we admitted blowing a horn in David Koon's ear over the telephone. However, we quickly catch that lie and he is forced to apologize to the judge. It will likely be months before we go to trial or get a settlement, however it is nice to FINALLY get some justice. There is more good news, make that great news: PutnumLIVE.com gets its 250,000th reader for 2007. This is a first for one year. We continue to grow despite those that walk in lockstep with Scott Edwards and his puppet council! We also are on-target for another record-setting month!

December 7th, 2007: Before sunrise our home is disrupted by the constant "beep, beep" of motion alarms. Once again, workers are showing complete disregard for our neighborhood. There is no reason to be making such noise prior to sunrise! This is another example of illegal excessive noise in violation of Hurricane's noise ordinance. We can hear the beeps indoors with our windows closed! Ron Allen of The Hurricane Breeze tells me that we should have to put up with the construction noise for "however long it takes." Ron, come live here for a week. THEN you will have earned the right to make such comments! We have been enduring this for MORE THAN A YEAR! HOW DARE YOU TELL ME THAT WE SHOULD PUT UP WITH IT FOR HOWEVER LONG IT TAKES!" The Walmart sign goes up. THIS makes sense. The City of Hurricane should have put up some temporary signage MONTHS ago that says, "Future site of Hurricane Walmart." EVERY week several people ask me where the store is being built. Now, with the Walmart sign, those that come up the hill will see it. Hurricane STILL should put a sign up on the Interstate 64 side of the store, however Hurricane's management isn't that smart! Shortly before 7:00 p.m., a fleet of large dump trucks arrive at the Walmart site to BEGIN work. They continue until about 7:30 p.m. when I call Putnam Dispatch. They advise the officers but I don't hold my breath. I know Hurricane PD has been advised TO ALLOW THE LAW TO BE BROKEN BY MAYOR SCOTT EDWARDS! I call Edwards' cell phone, as he instructed for after-hours noise, however, he does not answer. Not even voice mail. Instead, he shows up at the Walmart site. Edwards SHOULD be working to get the store open by December 10th. Instead West Virginia's WORST mayor stands around with several officers then drives away into the night. No wonder the store is behind schedule. NO LEADERSHIP IN HURRICANE!!! Large construction dump trucks continue to arrive and leave well past 9:00 p.m., rumbling up and down the hill sending excessive noise and vibration into our home.

December 8th, 2007: Construction workers continue past midnight disrupting our neighborhood with excessive noise into the very early morning. At 3:51 a.m. we are

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awakened by the "beeps" of a motion alarm. I don't know why anyone would be working at 3:51 a.m. Just a few hours later, more workers wake us up including a concrete truck lumbering up the hill in front of our home. Why it won't use the other road is beyond me. However, it is obvious that getting basic consideration and common sense from Walmart construction workers is far too much to ask! Construction noise continues into the night with bright lights coming from the area between Walmart and the Hurricane Marketplace. Of course, the Walmart parking lot lights are left on all night, an unnecessary waste of energy that shines light into our windows. My wife has to buy new kitchen curtains to replace the old curtains in order to provide us privacy due to the invasive bright lights.

December 9th, 2007: It's Sunday, but that doesn't mean we get peace and quiet. Some work continues with those very annoying "motion beeps." Late in the day I receive the following cop-out response from Delegate Jim Morgan to another request for a state noise abatement law: "I know you are having a battle and I don't think the legislature will help." Sorry Jim, but as long as legislators adopt your wimpy attitude, nothing WILL get done! You need to protect West Virginians against invasive excessive construction noise, not make lame excuses! At about 7:30 p.m., an SUV that looks very much like Mayor Scott Edwards' trolls through the Walmart parking lot. Whoever the driver was got a close-up look at Mayor Edwards' greatest political failure. An unfinished Walmart less than three weeks before Christmas. No shoppers, no money being spent for Christmas in Hurricane. Just an empty Walmart that screams "SCOTT EDWARDS IS A COLOSSAL FAILURE!!!!!!" What Edwards needs to do is get his fat backside out of his SUV, and GET TO WORK TO OPEN THE STORE BY DECEMBER 10th so that people can shop in time for Christmas and so that people can have the jobs that Edwards has so often promised! If he doesn't meet that deadline EDWARDS MUST RESIGN!!!!! Once again, for no reason at all, the Walmart parking lot lights are left on. A complete waste of energy that needlessly sends light into our windows. We were told the lights would be shielded so that they wouldn't bother us. Again, we were lied to.

December 10th, 2007: At 3:33 a.m., another street sweeper wakes us and our baby up. Matthew norm ally sleeps until 5:00-6:00 a.m., but the street sweeper wakes him at 3:33 a.m. While Dolores feeds him I call Putnam Dispatch who sends out Hurricane PD. The officers DO send the street sweeper home, however they don't cite him. When I ask them why not, I am told "officer discretion." That means they'll arrest me on a bogus charge at 1:30 a.m. but won't cite a street sweeper violating a noise ordinance in front of their very eyes at 3:33 a.m. I also wonder how I am going to explain "officer discretion" to a three-month-old baby. Those are awfully big words to a little baby. Just a few hours later construction crews start arriving giving us less than 3 hours of sleep since our last interruption due to excessive noise. I get an email from Delegate Jim Morgan whining about a legislative attorney that says a noise bill can't be drafted. And to think I showed Morgan the courtesy of not calling him at 3:33 a.m. when we were awakened. Jim: Fire your attorney, draft and pass a bill tonight! Your LAME excuses are falling on very angry ears! A note to politicians: The next time I am awakened at 3:33 a.m. I will consider CALLING YOU TO EXERCISE MY FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS TO REDRESS MY GOVERNMENT FOR GRIEVANCES... And the First Amendment doesn't preclude a call at 3:33 a.m. If you continue to allow my family to be disrupted at 3:33 a.m., I will consider calling you THEN and complain. If you don't like that, at least I am warning you IN WRITING, IN ADVANCE! Do something to prevent this and I won't have to call you. The situation is in YOUR hands! Later in the morning I speak with a Mr. Anderson in Walmart's construction department. He apologizes for the 14 months of abuse and assures me there will be no more late-night and early-morning noise. He also promises to put blinders on the lights to block light from hitting our property and home. He seems like a very nice man and I hope he keeps his word. Time will tell.

December11th, 2007: Workers leave the parking lot lights on all night again. This isn't necessary since the store won't open until March. All it does is waste energy and light up our neighborhood all night! At 6:12 a.m., a large construction truck rumbles up the hill and

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wakes us up. Excessive noise continues throughout the day. The entrance area down the hill was an obstacle course. Our mail wasn't delivered again because the letter carrier didn't feel comfortable driving through the mess. Just yesterday Walmart's construction man promised us no early-morning noise. It took less than a day to break that promise! Paving work and large truck traffic continues until after 9:00 p.m. In the July city council meeting Disputed Mayor Scott Edwards PROMISED the noise ordinance would be enforced. Since then it has been violated more than 100 times. Why does Edwards have such a problem with the truth? Because he SOLD OUT THIS NEIGHBORHOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

December 12th, 2007: Another day of excessive construction noise. We are invaded by noise from large trucks and motion alarms starting before sunrise. The excessive noise continues through the day. Once again, parking lot lights are left on throughout the night, for a store that won't open until March.

December 13th, 2007: At 5:42 a.m., the first construction truck arrives, sending noise into our home. We can hear this noise through double-paned windows that are closed. Shortly thereafter the street-sweeper arrives charging up the hill, sending more excessive noise into our neighborhood. Of course, there is little dirt to sweep because of the rain, but nothing has made sense about this project since they decided to destroy woods, a hill, a pond, and a neighborhood to build a Wally -World instead of putting it on nearby flat land. The politicians that planned and support this project put the "I" in "Idiot!" I'll send this email to Mayor Scott Edwards, my attorney, city council members, and Hurricane Chief of Police "Mike" Mullins as yet another case of a violation of Hurricane's noise ordinance. Our hearing is on December 20th. I can't wait to get some justice and a court order to restrict the noise from our property and home. While the Walmart may be nearly completed, there are other projects about to start nearby that the court can order noise enforcement for. A supervisor with BBL Carlton tells me the construction of the Hurricane Marketplace is "nearly complete. Meanwhile the Walmart construction won't be finished until early February, despite starting months earlier.

December 14th, 2007: At 5:41 a.m., construction vehicles start arriving. Trucks continue to rumble up the hill prior to sunrise, sending excess noise and vibrations into our home. Around 7:00 a.m., the motion beeps start. This disruption of peace and quiet is yet another violation of Hurricane's noise ordinance. Yet Scott Edwards fails to enforce the law! Around noon, a truck driving posts for a guard-rail sends excessive noise into our home and onto our property. At first the company workers, from M.P. Dory, in Columbus, Ohio, stops the noise. However, a few minutes later, they start up again and refuse to stop. I call a supervisor with the company, ironically located on "Integrity Drive" and ask that the noise be curtailed. "Jeff" (he refused to give his last name) tells me he HAS to complete the job. I ask him if there is a law that says he HAS to do the job and if he HAS to use a loud machine. Jeff eventually admits what I suspected all along. That Dory "chose" to enter into a contract and that to use a quieter machine or shovels (the way guard rails were installed for many decades) "would be too expensive." In other words, because of money, someone chose to sacrifice the peace and quiet of our neighborhood and home! After the truck with the post-drivers heads up the road, workers start putting up the guard-rails using loud power tools. This means more excessive noise inside our home! Obviously no one cares about our peace and quiet. All they care about is money! We don't need a guard-rail, we need a SOUND AND LIGHT BARRIER! While I video-record the excessive noise, a man wearing a Cleveland Construction hat takes pictures of me with his cell phone and makes several phone calls. Hey, DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE! FINISH THE Walmart THAT IS BEHIND SCHEDULE! Those guard-rail crews would have been better used finishing the Walmart. We have lived 15 years in this neighborhood without a guard-rail, we didn't really need one! The guard-rail is as useless to us as, well, Silly Scotty Edwards!

December 15th, 2007: The motion beep from a piece of construction equipment wakes my wife up at 3:30 a.m. A few hours later, construction crews wake us up early on Saturday morning. They won't give us any peace-even on the weekend. It is now 10 days before

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Christmas and the Walmart and Hurricane Marketplace remain closed. It is time for the so-called "leadership" of Putnam County to RESIGN! Your TOTAL FAILURE to get the Walmart and Hurricane Marketplace, as well as the Ames and Big Bear locations open in time for the 2007 Christmas shopping season is INEXCUSABLE! With power comes RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY. You are RESPONSIBLE AND ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE FAILURE OF THESE STORES TO OPEN! Do Putnam County a favor and RESIGN! We are invited to John Crist's Chateau to take Christmas pictures. My wife and I notice several things that we are missing from the pre-Walmart construction days. 1) Peace and quiet. 2) Deer in our yard. Our lifestyle has been ruined by the building of a Walmart across the street. The wonderful neighborhood that we used to enjoy is forever gone thanks to HORRIBLE PLANNING by Putnam County's "leaders" who are so screwed-up in their thinking and (lack of) abilities that they failed to get the store open by Christmas! I can't wait until the 2008 elections so that Putnam County voters can kick Steve Andes, Troy Andes, Patti Schoen, out of office as well as all of the other worthless politicians who created this debacle and allowed it to happen! Good riddance!!!!! Another Putnam County citizen stops me to tell me another negative Scott Edwards story from his past. Shocking! no one stops me to say anything nice about Edwards! The Walmart parking lot lights are left on all night long, for no apparent reason, wasting energy again. Winds blow down our Christmas inflatable yard decorations again. This was never a problem in past years when we had a hill across the street, however, construction workers were allowed to destroy the hill to build an empty discount store. Now we can't even put up Christmas decorations in our front yard! It looks like I will have to move them to the side yard instead. Another needless hassle due to this Wally World!

December 16th, 2007: Just a few more days left to shop for Christmas. However, you can't do it at Walmart, or Hurricane Marketplace. No, they are closed. They are HUGE testimonies of the FAILURES of Putnam County's "leaders" who farted away the last couple of years and failed to get the stores built and open for Christmas! Many of them want your vote in 2008. Instead, they SHOULD RESIGN over the MILLIONS of dollars that Putnam County residents are spending in Barboursville, Charleston, and Nitro! Scott Edwards and his cronies are FAILURES and should walk away from public office! Throughout the weekend people keep driving onto the Walmart site. Sorry, folks, store is closed. Scott Edwards blew the Christmas shopping season!

December 17th, 2007: One week left to do your Christmas shopping. However, you can't do it at Walmart. Putnam County's "leaders" failed to get the store open in time. Meanwhile the first construction workers start arriving at 5:34 a.m., disrupting our neighborhood long before sunrise. Excessive noise continues into the afternoon, clearly violating Hurricane's noise ordinance. However, under orders from Disputed Mayor Scott Edwards, Hurricane PD refuses to properly enforce the law. At 7:23 p.m., a flat-bed big-rig rumbles up the hill vibrating our home and sending excessive noise indoors. This means more than 12 hours today of excessive noise from the Walmart construction site.

December 18th, 2007: The parking lot lights are left on all night again, wasting energy and sending excessive light into our windows. At 4:43 a.m., a train rolls through Hurricane, waking us up. Before they blasted away the hill, we rarely heard the trains. Shortly after 6:00 a.m. a large big-rig parks in Walmart's road, waking us up. There are 25 acres on Walmart's property, this truck SHOULD have parked away from the homes. These people show NO consideration for our neighborhood! Excess noise continues through the morning and into the afternoon, needlessly disrupting our home.

December 19th, 2007: Just a few more days left to do your Christmas shopping, however you can't do it at Walmart or the Hurricane Marketplace. Disputed Mayor Scott Edwards and the other political failures in Putnam County failed to get the stores open in time for holiday shopping! At about 6:30 a.m., a construction truck wakes us up. Just for good measure, a train rolls through to keep us awake. The train noise wasn't nearly as loud before crews blasted down the hill to build the Walmart. Construction work continues

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through the day on the north side of the store, sending excessive noise into our neighborhood. Work is also starting down the hill at the old Consolidate Freightways depot site. We can hear it in our home with the windows shut. Here we go again! I cannot wait until our hearing December 27th when we can get the judge to order Hurricane to enforce its noise ordinance and restore peace and quiet to our property and home.

December 20th, 2007: At 5:45 a.m., the first construction crews start arriving and disrupt our neighborhood. Construction work brings excessive noise throughout the day. I call Senator Mike Hall who fails to return my call. A call placed to Delegate Patti Schoen reaches a very rude and arrogant politician who hangs up on her constituent. Schoen is up for re-election next year. She needs to learn to be polite to those that she is supposed to serve. Her rude behavior will not be favored when I cast my ballot in the spring! Grow up, Patti and take care of your people instead of protecting out-of-state construction companies and retailers! During the afternoon I notice a Walmart hiring center has opened in Putnam Village. I HATE to help the Hurricane Walmart, however, I am ALWAYS in favor of helping people find jobs. (unless they are loud construction workers that disturb neighbors!) In the interest of fairness I publish a headline article about the hiring center. Perhaps I should drop off applications in the names of all of the incompetent Putnam County politicians that failed to get the Walmart open in time for the Christmas shopping season. Scott Edwards can be the Chief Greeter. The Mayor isn't good for anything else! Hurricane PD Chief of Police "Mike" Mullins agrees to meet with me to discuss the noise issues and look at video that I've shot. My request is simple: I want peace and quiet in my home. That's what the law says. I also ask for no construction noise or construction vehicle noise before sunrise or after dark.

December 21st, 2007: Just a couple of shopping days left for Christmas. However, the Walmart, Ames, and Hurricane Marketplace store sites still are closed. Scott Edwards failed to do his job and should resign along with the rest of the Putnam County politicians. It's time for a housecleaning. Out with the liars, in with politicians that care about their constituents! Construction vehicles start arriving before sunrise, disrupting our neighborhood with early morning noise. During the day, Disputed Mayor Scott Edwards returns a call, then invites me to move back to California. I send him the following email response:

Mayor Edwards:

If you are serious about your demand that I move out of Hurricane, I offer the following win-win solution:

1) Our home is for sale. You can purchase it and the property for only $500,000-plus moving expenses.

It offers the following advantages over your current Netranom location:

1) As you well know, this is a GREAT location next to the new Walmart site.

2) Unlike your current office there is no missing siding. There also aren't any holes in the siding. The siding is less than five years old.

3) None of our windows are broken, nor do they have any bullet holes-another improvement over your current Netranom site.

4) You would be able to look-over the vacant Walmart store each day which will remind you of the failure of all of Putnam County's "leaders!"

Regards,

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Mark

So far, Edwards has failed to put his money where his mouth is. He talks a lot, however, his talk is cheap! The City of Ashland beefs up its noise ordinance. Hurricane should do the same. While the Ashland ordinance deals directly with the area around a hospital, when my wife was home from work during a high-risk pregnancy, then recovering from a C-section with complications, it would have been great to have enforcement of peace and quiet around our home. However, Scott Edwards and his puppets failed to enforce Hurricane's existing noise ordinance! December 22nd, 2007: Construction workers start arriving before sunrise, sending excessive noise into our homes. It's the Saturday before Christmas. They should give us peace and quiet and go home with their families. After all, they can't Christmas shop at the Walmart, it is closed! Scott Edwards failed to get it open in time for Holiday shopping! Because of this, Councilman "Reggie" Billups is spotted shopping at Elder Beerman. Billups SHOULD support HURRICANE businesses, however, he can't shop at Walmart (He has been seen shopping at the Barboursville Walmart as well) in Hurricane because Billups and the rest of the bad Hurricane council members have FAILED to get the Walmart opened in time for the 2007 holiday shopping season!

December 23rd, 2007: Just two shopping days left for Christmas. Head on down to your, well, don't head to the Hurricane Walmart. The total failure Putnam County politicians didn't get the store open in time! Look's like another trip to Teays Valley or Barboursville or Nitro is in order. Blame Disputed Mayor Scott Edwards for your long commute. He destroyed a neighborhood in order to build a Wally World that is closed for Christmas! Silly Scotty! At the suggestion of several readers I post a Construction Noise Survey in our commentary section. This invites people to make "on the record" suggestions about what should be done in Putnam County about construction noise and its regulation and impacts on neighbors. I invite anyone to send their comments for future publication.

December 24th, 2007: It's Christmas Eve, and construction workers take the day off-Thankfully! However, a few large trucks rumble up and down the hill, sending excessive noise and vibration into our home. Of course, the Walmart is closed, further proof of the horrible and incompetent "leadership" of Putnam County. Disputed Mayor Scott Edwards FAILED in his Wally World mission! The best Christmas present Edwards can give Putnam County is to resign and move back to Cross Lanes!!! Family members gather for what is likely to be our last Christmas Eve at our home. Once again, the ugly construction site is part of the conversation, as is the condition of the road. Our nephew could barely get his car through the mess left by Cross of Grace Lutheran Church. next year we hope to be in another home in a quiet neighborhood, driven out of the home with decades of memories by the greedy politicians of Putnam County who refused to put the Walmart where it belonged, next to Home Depot! Instead they destroyed our neighborhood!!!

December 25th, 2007: Merry Christmas! All is quiet on the Walmart front -so far. Unfortunately, the beautiful hill across from our home that was filled with pretty trees has been destroyed. Now we look at a vacant store front and ugly construction equipment that are vivid symbols of Scott Edwards' failure to lead Hurricane! A couple of curiosity-seekers drive onto the Walmart site around noon. If the best thing you have to do with your time on Christmas Day is look at Scott Edwards' vacant Walmart, you need a life! December 26th, 2007: It's the day after Christmas, a great day to go shopping! However, the Hurricane Walmart is closed. Disputed Mayor Scott Edwards blames construction problems and "issues" with the WVDEP. The real reason is his lack of leadership! "Liberal" Edwards screwed up and is blaming everyone but himself in a Gazette article this morning. Edwards is a RINO! The Walmart won't open until March 7th-if it makes that day. It was SUPPOSED to

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have opened last September! Edwards' lack of leadership is to blame. He is the worst mayor in West Virginia. About 300 jobs are delayed, millions of dollars will be spent elsewhere, and Hurricane's Disputed Mayor needs to resign for his incompetency! I drop off subpoenas at City Hall for former Chief of Police Joe Sisk and Recorder Linda Edwards for the noise ordinance hearing tomorrow. Electrical workers from North Carolina show up and obstruct the entrance to our neighborhood from Hurricane Creek Road. One truck almost backs onto my car, however I quickly back up, hit the horn, and avoid the accident. Of course, the truck driver doesn't apologize. Well after 5:00 p.m., crews are working on lines above the hill in back of our home sending excessive noise onto our property and into our home. I don't know why Walmart doesn't hire West Virginians for these high-paying jobs instead of people from out-of-state! Even the first General Contractor, Hudson Construction, was from Tennessee, and the current General Contractor, Cleveland Construction, is from Ohio.

December 27th, 2007: Construction crews start sending excessive noise onto our property around sunrise. Obviously they are trying to get as much done at the expense of our peace and quiet before the court hearing today. We hope the judge looks at all of our video and orders Hurricane to aggressively enforce the noise ordinance. The electric crews cut our power. Now I have to re-set all of our clocks. We go to court. In a maddening hearing, Judge Chafin rules that Hurricane's noise ordinance is "unconstitutional" because it is too vague. This means several things: 1) Construction crews can do whatever they want with noise in Hurricane. 2) I can sit outside Mayor Edwards' house at 3:00 a.m. and play an endless loop of The Carpenters Greatest Hits mixed over my recordings of the construction noise. Since excessive noise is no longer against the law, Edwards can't do a thing about it! 3) Anyone that has been cited for excessive noise by Hurricane under this ordinance can now go back and get the citations tossed out and then sue Hurricane for punitive damages! I love my lawyer's quote. "The city isn't even intelligent enough to draft a constitutional ordinance!" I call Senator Mike Hall and remind him that this is exactly why we need a state noise law. Hall fails to return my call. Another example of lack of leadership in Putnam County! When I get back home, electrical crews inform me that they plan to cut our power for 3-4 hours. When I object, they say tough! I call a supervisor and, so far, the power is still on! A few minutes after I type this, the power is cut off. No one cares about us, it's all about the construction project! Speaking of power, the Walmart parking lot lights are left on all night again. Later we learn that someone broke into the Walmart yesterday and did $5,000 worth of vandalism damage to sheet rock. That just breaks my heart! I'm sure Disputed Mayor Silly Scotty Edwards will blame the vandals for Walmart opening late instead of taking responsibility for his failed "leadership!"

December 28th, 2007: Taking advantage of the lack of noise ordinance in Hurricane, construction crews start arriving before sunrise again, shortly after 6:00 a.m. By 7:00 a.m. our bedroom is invaded by motion alarms. It's another "fun-filled" day in Hurricane, the town where out-of-state construction companies are given more consideration by City Hall than Hurricane citizens! Excessive noise continues throughout the day from the Walmart construction site. I send an email to Disputed Mayor Edwards and City Council members directing them to hold an emergency council meeting tonight at 7:00 p.m. to pass an IMMEDIATE new ordinance that restricts construction noise and lights to the work site. Should they fail to show up, I will start taking legal action to remove them from office. We have endured this noise and lights problem for more than a year. Either the noise and lights go or Edwards and the council goes. Not surprisingly, in a blatant display of arrogance of power, no one shows for the meeting. The answer is clear the so-called "leaders" that can't open a Walmart in time for Christmas and failed to secure its premises form vandals care more about out-of-state construction companies than Hurricane citizens. It's time for one-year council and mayor terms to run Scott Edwards, Lana Call, Donald Chaney, C. Brian Ellis, "Reggie" Billups, Patty Hager, and Linda Gibson off the council. They are a disgrace to Hurricane, common decency, and show NO common sense!

December 29th, 2007: Not much construction equipment noise today. Just the very irritating "motion beeps" throughout the morning as well as some loud hammering

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sounds. Traffic from Interstate 64 as well as train whistles are louder than they used to be due to the needless destruction of the hill and woods in front of our home. We will be asking the City of Hurricane to build a sound wall next to Interstate 64 to block some of that sound from penetrating our neighborhood. That will likely cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars, cutting into the Walmart revenues, however, that is Silly Scott Edwards' problem. He wants this Walmart, he can pay the cost of protecting his citizens. Councilwoman Patty Hager sends me a rude email. Why doesn't she just protect her citizens against excessive construction noise? Do something productive, Patty! Meanwhile, PutnumLIVE.com continues to do constructive things for our readers. And they have noticed. Once again we have doubled our annual readership. Last year PutnumLIVE.com had 135,000 readers. This year we passed the 270,000 reader mark. This means twice as many people are reading about Scott Edwards' constant screwups! While Silly Scotty and his minions want PutnumLIVE.com to fail, we doubled our readership. You can't stop success, Scotty!

December 30th, 2007: Just as I am getting our four-month-old baby back to sleep from an early-morning feeding, the train rolls through town and wakes him up again. The whistles weren't nearly as loud before the Hurricane City Council allowed construction workers to blast away the hill in front of our home to build the behind-schedule Walmart. Later in the morning, as I walk into church, in St. Albans, the greeter "congratulates" me on vandalizing the Walmart. I don't even know this person's name, however, he is joking with me about trashing the store. The truth is, learning about the vandalism was, well, "heartbreaking." However, I had NOTHING to do with it, have not even been contacted by the police as a suspect, and am disappointed that someone would delay the store's opening. At this point, we are in the "get it done and over with stage" and want to see our lawsuits move forward. We want out of the neighborhood that has been destroyed by Hurricane's incompetent Disputed Mayor Scott Edwards and his puppets on the city council. PutnumLIVE.com has held back on reporting crime at the construction site. (There has been far more crime than customers) because of the lack of security. We didn't want to tell the criminals that they could steal the site blind when hundreds of thousands of dollars of material was sitting unguarded. Despite our neighborhood getting the shaft by Edwards and his ignorant minions, we took the high road. Unfortunately, Edwards and company only travel low roads and have screwed our neighborhood. Someday their lack of integrity, common sense, and brains will bite them in the backside and I will be more than happy to tell all of you about their downfall. What goes around comes around and Silly Scotty Edwards and his cronies are cruising for a crushing! December 31st, 2007: It's the last day of 2007 and the Monday of a holiday weekend. We should be able to enjoy peace and quiet in our home. However, a tractor is doing some sort of dirt work just inside the Walmart property, feet away from our property line. Between the tractor noise and the "motion beeps" we can't get any peace and quiet! Meanwhile, on a day when shoppers are hitting the stores for the last of the "After Christmas Sales" the Hurricane Walmart remains closed, a huge testimony to the massive failures of Putnam County's so-called "leadership!" Workers from Mastec, a Florida-based company wake our baby while making excessive noise installing electrical wiring on the hill behind our home. Of course, you can't call City Hall to complain because it is closed for New Year's Eve. How convenient for the construction workers. They can make as much noise as they want and we can't do anything about it! Silly Scott Edwards and his puppets on the Hurricane City Council need to do society a favor and resign! PutnumLIVE.com doubles its readership again. In 2006 we had 135,000 readers. In 2007 we finished with more than 272,000. People turn to PutnumLIVE.com to get the truth about what is going on in Putnam County, not just the positive spin that politicians want people to read!

January 1st, 2008: There's no excessive construction noise today. Workers take the day off and allow us the peace and quiet that they have stolen from us nearly every day of 2007. At least 2008 is off to a decent start. A few gawkers waste their New Year's Day driving up the hill to get a look at Disputed Mayor Scott Edwards' biggest political failure: A

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vacant Walmart. These people need a life! Edwards' New Year's resolution should be to resign and allow a competent politician with integrity lead Hurricane into the new year!

January 2nd, 2008: Snowfall keeps construction workers indoors, and our neighborhood quiet. However, the day isn't without its moments. As I arrive home from an appointment, I notice one construction worker has driven his truck into a ditch. When you destroy people's neighborhoods, bad thing happen to you! Later I discover Silly Scotty Edwards has sent me an email soliciting my telephone business. Over my dead body! I only give my people to reputable businesses! Has Mayor Edwards no shame? Obviously not! This is the same mayor who allowed our home to be blasted for months, inundated with smoke and excessive noise, and demanded that my pregnant wife cut weeds on our hill while I was out-of-state-even though HIS business had weeds and STILL has broken windows and missing siding! Edwards needs to focus on getting the Walmart vandals arrested and getting that store open-not soliciting business from me that he will NEVER, EVER GET! Workers leave the Walmart parking lights on all night again. The reflection off the snow lights up our home even more than usual, another rude way to treat the neighbors! We are in our 16th-straight month of excessive construction noise! There is no excuse for disrupting a neighborhood for 16 months!

January 3rd, 2008: Our peace and quiet is over. Workers in large trucks drive across the Walmart site early in the morning sending excessive noise and vibrations into our home. With the continuing snowfall I hope they work indoors all day. Still, they should stop driving their loud trucks on the road in front of our home when they can drive up the east side of the Walmart property! A snow-plow on the Walmart site sends excessive noise onto our property and into our home. I can hear it through our closed, double-paned windows. Parking lot lights are left on again all-night, sending a "moon-glow" effect through our windows as light reflects off the snow and ice. There is no reason to light the parking lot as the store won't open until March, a failure of Scott Edwards' leadership.

January 4th, 2008: The glow of the Walmart lights off the snow and ice in the parking lot lights up our home all night. This is a colossal waste of energy and a rude way to treat the neighbors! The train rolls through about 2:40 a.m. and the whistles wake me up. Before the hill was blasted, the train noise wasn't a problem. I don't get back to sleep until well past 3:30 a.m., only to be awakened again before sunrise by construction workers driving up the hill who also wake our baby. One of them is spinning his wheels on the ice. Another rude awakening allowed by Silly Scotty Edwards and the incompetent Hurricane City Council! Speaking of the City Council, Councilwoman Patty Hager sends me a rambling nasty "personal" email where she attacks everything about me. I won't publish it-yet. However, all Patty needs to do is make sure that the people in our neighborhood get our peace and quiet returned and make sure the City of Hurricane follows its laws properly and she won't hear from me!

January 5th, 2008: It's Saturday, however we don't get relief from excessive noise. Workers installing electrical lines above our road send excessive noise into our home. You can hear the motion beeps indoors with our double-paned windows closed. Cars from curiosity seekers travel up and down the hill, a precursor to the excessive traffic and traffic noise that Hurricane's Disputed Mayor, Silly Scotty Edwards and the incompetent City Council have failed to plan for. I meet with a couple of Main Street business people who agree that the Walmart traffic is a disaster waiting to happen. Funny how Scott Edwards name and disaster tend to go hand-in-hand! He is a political failure and needs to resign along with the rest of Putnam County's leaders! Walmart's closure during the 2007 holiday shopping season made Hurricane a punch-line across the country!

January 6th, 2008: Rude construction workers disrupt The lord's Day and our neighborhood with motion alarms and pounding noise. Both can be heard inside our home

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with the windows closed. There is NO excuse for invading our neighborhood with excessive noise, especially on a Sunday!

January 7th, 2008: At 5:00 a.m., a big-rig truck charges up the hill, waking me and our dogs. A few minutes later there are three Hurricane Police cars in front of the Walmart. It isn't another break-in, according to Putnam Dispatch, just a traffic stop. It's too bad they don't cite the big-rig driver for felony rudeness waking a neighborhood at 5:00 a.m.! Excessive noise is sent into our home during much of the day. I return from an errand in Huntington after 5:00 p.m. and hear "motion beeps" inside my home at 5:21. I notice that AEP has planted several SMALL trees to replace the HUGE pine tree on the hill behind our home to protect us against any cars driving off the road. These "replacement" trees would get snapped in a millisecond compared to the large pine tree that was cut down with a stump that was about a foot wide. Adding more insult to injury, the Mastec crews that AEP hired to run new wiring last week, the same crews that woke our baby during the day and disrupted our home, left tire ruts on our hillside from where they parked trucks on our property-despite being specifically told not to do so. I call a supervisor, George Jones, who informs me that he will not deal with it until tomorrow-then hangs up. These crews are incredible. They damage our property-then tell US when THEY will deal with repairing the damage! After I return home from covering a story in Nitro at 7:32 p.m., I still hear "motion beeps" from construction equipment at the Walmart site. Later, as I am turning in for bed for the night, at 10:54 p.m., I can hear more of those beeps inside our home. That's about 17 hours of excessive, invasive construction noise! Thank you Silly Scotty Edwards!

January 8th, 2008: Construction workers arriving before 6:00 a.m. send excessive noise into our home. It isn't even sunrise-yet, though with the lights from the Walmart parking lot, and, now, the Hurricane Marketplace parking lot, there isn't much darkness left in our neighborhood anymore! Not long after 7:00 a.m., those irritating "motion beeps" start in. Sounds like it will be another long day of putting up with rude construction workers! I have to re-arrange my schedule to meet with Mastec Supervisor George Jones to show him the damage his crews did to our hillside. An AEP rep is with him who only identifies himself as "John" and says his last name is also "John." It turns out his last name is really Hudson. They refuse to fix the issue today. I take video into AEP's office in North Charleston. They agree their sub-contractor tore up our land, however, they provide a laundry list of excuses to put off the repairs. Several phone calls later, eventually, I reach a supervisor named Harold Wiseman. He refuses to meet with me even though he has not returned my calls. The bottom line is they will get our hill fixed, but not until they want to fix our hill. Forget about when it is important to us, the property owners and customers, it's all about AEP's schedule! And they wonder why people want a choice of utility companies! Here's the worst part: The pole that crews were working on was about 15-20 feet away from our property line! Even AEP admits there was NO reason to park the trucks on our hillside! So, there was NO reason to damage our property! Meanwhile, excessive construction noise continues.

January 9th, 2008: Excessive construction noise continues throughout the day. AEP fails to get the damage on our hillside fixed. One supervisor tells me, "What do you want me to do, get a Delorean and go back in time?" CLASSIC! Here's the punch line: My mother and I are on the cutting room floor of the scene where the Deloran (sic)"goes back in time." It was filmed at the Puente Hills Mall (AKA Twin Pines) a few miles from where my parents STILL live! We walked out of the J.C. Penney store in the background, and into the movie scene. It gets better: The high school in Back to the Future? It's Whittier High School My father is a graduate. So was Richard Nixon. Yes, THAT Richard Nixon. And I used to teach there. Bottom line, his "Back in Time" joke is worse than the service I am getting. AEP needs to fix the damage to our hillside immediately, not when they get around to it! January 10th, 2008: After leaving the parking lot lights on again all night, (A GlowIn-The-Dark Empty Walmart!) construction crews start arriving very early in the morning, disrupting our neighborhood before sunrise! Excessive noise continues throughout the day. AEP emails

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me a letter offering that they straw and seed our hill instead of replacing the grass that was ripped out with sod that matches the rest of the hill. Obviously, this is NOT acceptable. Their sub-contractors tore up my hill and should repair it to the prior condition or re-sod the entire hill so that all of the grass matches. I won't be intimidated by AEP and advise them that they MUST repair our property to OUR satisfaction - not in a sub-standard manner which they proposed. In addition to their insulting style of customer service, they misspell my name, "Halbrun" in their correspondence! All we want is to have our property restored to its prior condition or, if AEP refuses to do that, re-sod the entire hill so that it matches! Why doesn't AEP take care of its customers? January 11th, 2008: Construction workers arriving before sunrise send excessive noise into our home. One truck marked State Electric Supply is particularly noisy, using the road closest to our home on the Walmart property. Why it didn't use the road closer to Courts Motors so that we can have peace and quiet is a mystery to me. I file a complaint with the West Virginia Public Service Commission over AEP's failure to repair the damage that Mastec/AEP crews did to our hill. Why AEP won't step up and take care of its longtime customer is another mystery. Does AEP think it can intimidate me? I send a note to our attorney so that we can add AEP to our lawsuit. I won't roll over and take their "seed and straw" offer. Who knows if the seeding will take? There was grass on our hill before the crews tore it out and AEP should IMMEDIATELY replace that grass, not force us to wait for seed to (possibly) grow!

January 12th, 2008: Before sunrise construction workers disrupt our home with more excessive noise. At 8:00 a.m. I am awakened again by those terribly annoying "motion beeps." This is horribly rude treatment on a Saturday morning! The excessive noise continues throughout the day. When I attend the Furball at the Capitol, Delegates Brady Paxton and Patty Ann Schoen offer to help me with noise bills in the current session. That's a great start, however it is far too late to help our neighborhood which has endured excessive noise for 16 months. Still, I hope they really do introduce such bill and make heavily promote them. I ask Schoen to get me an invitation to speak to the committee handling the bills. She agrees to look into this. I dare the chairman to try to turn me down. If so, I will report his refusal right here so he can be properly humiliated! When I return home, for the first time in weeks, the Walmart parking lot lights are turned off. Construction workers either screwed up or decided to show a little consideration for our neighborhood. We will see how long this lasts!

January 13th, 2008: A light construction noise day. Not much going on. They turn SOME of the parking lot lights back on, the ones closest to the building. This is more logical and also more sensitive to those of us living across the street. However, I hate to see what it will be like when they turn all the lights on after the store opens. Workers have striped more of the parking lot and added a double-yellow-line up the parking lot entrance. It's going to take more than that to solve the traffic issues. When this store opens, expect traffic nightmares of epic proportions!

January 14th, 2008: Inconsiderate construction workers arriving at the Walmart site send excessive noise into our home before sunrise. We are in our 16th month of excessive construction noise. This insanity is brought to us by Gary Walton of the PCDA and Scott Edwards of the PCDA and the City of Hurricane. Walton should be fired, and Edwards should resign! I will be meeting with PCDA management this month to demand Walton's firing for the Walmart project as well as the PCDA's non - compliance with West Virginia Freedom of Information Act law. I speak with Senator Mike Hall on the telephone about a state noise ordinance and get the typical excuses plus an attack on my personality. This from the senator that has failed for more than a year to promote a bill to protect the peace and quiet that all West Virginians should be entitled to on their property and in their homes! Hall should focus on protecting his constituents and less on whether or not he likes their style! Delegates Troy Andes and Brady Paxton fail to return my calls about a state noise

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ordinance. This is an election year! They need to take care of their constituents! Meanwhile, excessive construction noise continues all day. Paving work is done on the entrance off Hurricane Creek Road making an obstacle course out of the roadway up the hill to our homes.

January 15th, 2008: Another morning of inconsiderate construction workers arriving before sunset. They need to stay away until daylight so that they don't disrupt our neighborhood! AEP STILL has not repaired the hillside that the Mastec/AEP crews ripped up a couple of weeks ago! Excessive noise continues throughout the day. I receive an email from Delegate Brady Paxton promising he will do what he can to get a better state noise ordinance. However, I do not hear back from Senator Mike Hall or Delegate Troy Andes who I contacted earlier in the week. Apparently Andes and Hall don't think 16 months of excessive noise is a problem. I invite THEM to buy our house and live here! So far, neither has taken me up on that offer!

January 16th, 2008: I am awakened at 5:00 a.m. from a construction worker arriving at the Walmart. It is still dark outside and far too early to be waking up people in their VERY nearby homes! This is another example of rude behavior by construction workers! I send off an email to the entire West Virginia/Putnam County state legislature delegation telling them about our rude wake-up call. For the past year they have whined, "We aren't in session!" NOW THEY ARE! It is time to PRODUCE and protect West Virginians against excessive noise! Delegates, this is an ELECTION YEAR! If you want to keep your office, pass a state noise law restricting construction and traffic noise to the work/business site EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY! Do you want a telephone call at your home at 5:00 a.m. when construction workers wake us up? If not, PROTECT YOUR CONSTITUENTS AGAINST THE ABUSE OF EXCESSIVE NOISE! During the day I get an email reply from Delegate Jim Morgan who, according to Delegate Dale Martin, killed a state noise bill last year. Morgan gave a bunch of lame excuses and apparently doesn't care about the rights of West Virginia citizens. I call Morgan and the arrogant politician hangs up on me. Another incompetent delegate who should be tossed out of office this year! Workers leave the Walmart parking lot lights overnight, however, the Hurricane Marketplace lights are left on overnight.

January 17th, 2008: Early morning construction work disrupts our home with excessive noise. The sound of vehicles arriving and "motion beeps" wake me up after I had put our baby back to sleep. This situation is intolerable and abusive to our home! Silly Scotty Edwards and his incompetent council have sold out our neighborhood for an Arkansas department store and an Ohio Construction company! Excessive construction noise continues through the day and well after sunset. Living here has become a nightmare thanks to the terrible "leaders" of Putnam County!

January 18th, 2008: It's the Friday before a three-day weekend and our home is being inundated by excessive construction noise! Workers start very early in the morning, firing up engines for outside equipment and sending "motion beeps" into our home. I can hear it all behind closed, double-paned windows! This is COMPLETELY INAPPROPRIATE for a 35-year-old neighborhood! Only MORONS would allow such construction to happen next to homes!

January 19th, 2008: It's Saturday during a holiday weekend. However, we cannot sleep in or enjoy our home. "Motion beeps" inundate our bedroom before 8:00 a.m. Loud trucks entering the property send excessive noise into our home, and a worker cutting asphalt with a power saw before 9:00 a.m. tops off the noise. He also revs the saw as he is walking away. Now what did THAT accomplish? This is a NEIGHBORHOOD, you idiots! Show some common sense and consideration! The noise continues... as workers send "motion beeps" into our home all day. At 3:30 p.m., as they work on exterior lights that SHOULD have been worked on during the week, we decide to leave town to visit a friend. It's pretty sad that we are driven out of our beautiful home by some very inconsiderate construction

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workers and Putnam County's INCOMPETENT, GREEDY politicians! When we arrive home at 9:30 p.m. after evacuating to save our sanity from all of the noise, we notice that EVERY parking lot light from the Walmart and Hurricane Marketplace are on. The stores practically glow-in-the-dark, giving Silly Scotty Edwards and Gary Walton new toys: Empty stores that glow in the dark! What a ridiculous waste of energy, causing more coal to be burned, causing more particulate pollution in a county that already has high levels! More examples of HORRIBLE Putnam County leadership!

January 20th, 2008: Workers with a "cherry-picker" send "motion beeps" into our home throughout Sunday on this holiday weekend. Another example of rude construction workers!

January 21st, 2008: It's Martin Luther King Day, however, construction workers aren't taking the day off. Very early in the morning they start arriving, sending excessive noise into our home. The noise continues throughout the day. I call Delegate Andes about the state noise law that we discussed months ago-before the session. Andes was arrogant and whined about hurting businesses. Never mind that it is OUT-OF-STATE contractors that built BOTH the Walmart and the Hurricane Marketplace. Andes needs to remember that he is a WEST VIRGINIA Delegate that represents Putnam County, not Arkansas and Ohio! Later I speak with Senator Mike Hall and Delegate Dale Martin who say they will try to get a good noise law passed to protect innocent people against excessive construction noise. They care about West Virginians. Andes doesn't!

January 22nd, 2008: We are awakened by rude construction workers arriving before sunrise. The are the rude people Troy Andes wants to protect! Andes doesn't care about his West Virginia constituents, he wants to help out-of-state construction workers! Andes is another failure politician who has sold out his citizens! Excessive noise continues throughout the day. I drive to Charleston to meet with one of the contractor's association after its president fails to return a call in a timely manner. He demands more time to research the issue. I agree under the one condition: Excessive noise ceases during his "research." He doesn't like that and has the police called. These construction people are amazing. They bombard our home with noise for 16 months, but if I stop by their office to complain once, they call the cops! Talk about hypocrites!

January 23rd, 2008: Hurricane Police Officers waste taxpayer dollars sitting in the Walmart parking lot all night, which is fully lit, wasting energy and creating pollution from burning coal to provide the electricity. If there is concern that burglars will strike the Walmart, then Disputed Mayor Scott Edwards and PCDA Executive Director Gary Walton should take turns guarding their vacant Walmart. After all, they created this mess, THEY should lose sleep guarding their failure! Workers start arriving before 6:00 a.m., long before sunrise, sending excessive noise into our home. As the sun comes up, the parking lot lights stay on until well past noon when I am writing this blog entry. What kind of fool burns parking lot lights in broad daylight? "Motion beeps" continue through the day, sending irritating noise into our home. As the sun set, workers left the parking lot lights on again at both the Walmart and the Hurricane Marketplace so that the world can see Silly Scotty Edwards and Gary Walton's huge, vacant failures!

January 24th, 2008: Parking lot lights are left on all night, wasting more energy and causing more unnecessary pollution. Workers arrive early, and we expect another day of being harassed with excessive construction noise. Of course, neither Walmart nor the Hurricane Marketplace will be open for business, more evidence of Scott Edwards' and Gary Walton's failures. The snow and cold weather keeps outside construction work to a minimum. The closed doors of the vacant Walmart and Hurricane Marketplace keep customers driving to Nitro and Barboursville to shop, sending hundreds of thousands of dollars outside of Putnam County.

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January 25th, 2008: More freezing weather means a mostly quiet day in our neighborhood. Customers continue to take their money out of Putnam County as Gary Walton and Silly Scotty Edwards' Wally World and Hurricane Marketplace remain vacant. This is costing Putnam County dearly and embarrassing our citizens who must wonder "what are they thinking?" when they drive past the vacant supercenter near Interstate 64. The excess construction time of the Walmart has become a Putnam County joke!

January 26th, 2008: Very little construction action today. We actually are getting a quiet Saturday. Of course, the stores are still closed. That means no traffic-yet. In a couple of months our neighborhood will be bombarded with cars, noise, and exhaust fumes. For some reason the lights are left on in the Walmart parking lot in broad daylight, wasting energy and creating more air pollution from the burning of coal and the transportation of coal to the power plant from coal trucks.

January 27th, 2008: When we come home from church, someone is spraying the sidewalks of the Walmart store. The generator sends excessive noise onto our property. We can't enjoy our front yard on a beautiful afternoon. Why they need to power spray the sidewalks on a Sunday afternoon when the store won't open until March 7th is a mystery! Later in the day, our home is invaded by those extremely irritating "motion beeps." I leave to look at a home for our family to move to across Putnam County. It will meet our needs wonderfully, despite some small, necessary renovation. The Realtor points out how quiet the neighborhood is. She doesn't know about the HELL that the PCDA and the City of Hurricane has forced us to endure! I CAN'T WAIT to move into a quiet neighborhood again! Gary Walton and Silly Scotty Edwards have ruined our neighborhood!

January 28th, 2008: Inconsiderate construction workers start arriving before sunrise, disrupting the peace and quiet of our neighborhood. Workers spend much of the day striping Hurricane Creek Road and the entrance to the Walmart/Hurricane Marketplace/Cross of Grace Church complex. This is a classic example of Silly Scotty Edwards' mentality. We are going to have THOUSANDS of cars, and they widened Hurricane Creek Road slightly, merged two small roads together at the mouth of the entrance, and slapped down some paint under new signals. What they SHOULD have done is have cars enter from Orchard Park Road, not Hurricane Creek. Instead they paint lines. This is "Doctor" Edwards putting his band aid on a cancer! Traffic is going to be HORRIBLE and Edwards has done NOTHING to meet with our neighborhood to craft a WORKABLE solution! The man is an INCOMPETENT mayor who doesn't have a CLUE about proper planning! Exhibit A: The Walmart and Hurricane Marketplace are STILL closed. Exhibit B: No proper traffic plan. Edwards needs to be out on Opening Day directing traffic! Oh, that's right. It doesn't happen until MARCH! Workers are on-site at Walmart until well after 10:00 p.m., meaning another day of 16 hours of disruption to our neighborhood, which doesn't count the lights that are left on all night-AGAIN! During the day, my wife sends me an email about homes in the Charlotte area. She chose to move us here and now she wants to leave. This is because of the ABUSE from INCOMPETENT PUTNAM COUNTY POLITICIANS WHO SCREWED UP OUR NEIGHBORHOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

January 29th, 2008: A vehicle driving across either the Walmart construction site or just up its road wakes me at 3:00 a.m. Other workers are coming and going before sunrise, before 6:00 a.m. This is a sign of the traffic mess to come and COMPLETELY INAPPROPRIATE for a neighborhood! Were the greedy Putnam County politicians sober when they stupidly approved these projects? Or were they simply blinded by their greed and stupidity? When I come home from an appointment, I watch no less than six cars from the Walmart site roll through the stop sign. The store isn't even open yet and traffic problems have started!

January 30th, 2008: Workers start arriving at the vacant Walmart before sunrise, another

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morning of disrespectful treatment to our neighborhood. As I leave for an appointment, a contractor's truck rolls through the stop sign coming out of Walmart's parking lot, then tries to turn right from the left lane, cutting me off again. I call Hurricane Chief of Police W. Mike Mullins who agrees to ask the state for a flashing red light next to the stop sign. He also agrees to move the "Dead End" sign to the beginning of our road instead of the end of the road where some idiot decided to put it. This will deter cars from coming up our road, then having to turn around. Later in the day, arrows are painted at the end of the road where the contractor's truck cut me off. It's about eight hours too late, but a good idea. Still, only an idiot would try to turn right from the left lane-especially with a car already in that right lane. Unfortunately, this is only the beginning of the traffic nightmares!

January 3 1st, 2008: Workers start arriving early. Some guy drives a sweeper machine around the parking lot sending excess noise and "motion beeps" into our home very early in the morning. I am gone most of the day. When I get home, the Dead End sign has been moved to the beginning of our road. Give Chief Mullins major props for keeping his word. He should run for mayor. Integrity is a great thing!

February 1st, 2008: We are entering our 17th month of Walmart construction. So far, as of 6:35 a.m., workers have been quiet. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come. All we want is peace and quiet on our property and in our home. And, of course, no future traffic jams. Unfortunately, moments after I type this, our neighbor, who stores construction equipment on a lot, starts making noise. The City of Hurricane has refused to enforce the noise and nuisance law on this property for years, despite tall weeds, rusty equipment, and other problems with the property. Light noise continues from the Walmart site through the day. I notice that a stop sign has been installed at the bottom of our hill. Once the signals are activated, this means three new stops to get to I-64 east in less than a quarter of a mile. Of course, Silly Scotty Edwards won't have to make any more stops from HIS house. What a failure of a mayor! Selfishly only looking out for HIS interests! At 10:00 p.m., a large pickup truck storms up our hill, setting the dogs to barking. What MORON would want to see a vacant Wally World so badly that he gives up his Friday night? Speaking of morons, the parking lot lights were left on all day and will apparently left on all night, wasting energy and causing more pollution.

February 2nd, 2008: Our Saturday morning starts with the obnoxious "motion beeps" from some sort of construction machine coming from the Walmart site. We have had enough. We evacuate for a weekend of quiet out-of-state, driven out of our beautiful home by the PCDA and Silly Scotty Edwards' pet project and the incompetent Hurricane City Council. Upon our arrival outside Charlotte, to my horror, I discover that our hotel is located besides a Sam's Club which is across the parking lot from a Walmart. I can't believe my eyes! There are three key differences between the North Carolina situation and our situation: 1) Our hotel room is very quiet as we are not tolerating the excessive construction noise which has harassed us for 17 month in Hurricane while the town's sellout leaders turn their sorry backsides to the problem as they sellout their longtime citizens to out-of-state construction companies and a retail giant. 2) The North Carolina stores aren't built feet away from homes. There is a major road between the retail complex and the nearest homes. 3) The North Carolina Sam's Club and Walmart are "Open for Business" and have PAYING CUSTOMERS!

February 3rd, 2008: We return home from Charlotte to Mr. Walton's and Silly Scotty's "glow in the dark" failures. The Wally World and Hurricane Marketplace are lit up like Christmas trees for no decent reason. They are still vacant with NO customers!

February 4th, 2008: Inconsiderate workers start arriving on the Walmart site before sunrise, sending excessive and unnecessary noise into our home. Some excessive construction noise continues through the day, including those VERY ANNOYING "motion beeps." This store was supposed to be open LAST SUMMER! We are in our 17th month of this

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crap! During the City Council meeting it is announced what PutnumLIVE.com already reported: The Walmart will open March 7th, meaning another month with no customers and lost revenue for the city. Mayor Scott Ed wards is a such a failure! Parking lot lights are left on all night again, for no good reason.

February 5th, 2008: Another day of a vacant Walmart sitting on what used to be a beautiful hillside! Workers start arriving again before sunrise, sending noise into our neighborhood. The store glows in the dark as lights were left on again all night, needlessly wasting electricity and creating more pollution-for NO CUSTOMERS! During the day, I speak with a Walmart manager named Lloyd. I ask him to work on the lighting issue as well as the noise issues from traffic from trucks and employees. As I am talking with him on my cell phone, I see two cars run the stop sign coming out of the Walmart parking lot. Timing is everything! I also ask that workers not report to work until after sunrise, so that we get peace and quiet overnight. Lloyd promises that the lighting issue is being discussed, and that he "notes" the other issues. Even after our phone call I hear the "motion beeps" from a piece of construction equipment coming from the Walmart site. I run a story about the completion of the Hurricane Marketplace construction. Most of the storefronts are empty. The world is waiting for Walmart to open and then I believe Hurricane Marketplace will fill up and all of us will be getting buyout offers. At least we hope that's the case. No one wants to live in this traffic mess. There is a REASON I moved out of Los Angeles 15 years ago! Later in the evening, fog rolls in. We can't see the Walmart in the fog. It's too bad it can't roll in all the time! After sunset the lights are back on. C'mon, Lloyd! Give us a break!!! February 6th, 2008: After another "Glow in the Dark" night of needless parking lot lights, workers start arriving at Walmart before sunrise, despite our request that they stay away until about 9:00. Walmart needs to show more consideration for our neighborhood. The store isn't open, there's no reason for traffic so early in the morning! I am gone most of the day on appointments, however during my few trips home, I see several cars run the Walmart stop sign. Sunrise brings a pleasant surprise, Manager Lloyd does the correct thing and shuts off most of the parking lot lights, giving us a break. He lights one corner of the lot away from our home for his employees, a good compromise for everyone! At 8:16 p.m., fire trucks charge onto the property. Putnam 911 says they are responding to a fire alarm-not a drill. However, the store is not evacuated, and an assistant manager named Kelly answers the telephone. He declines to comment, referring all questions to Lloyd. About 10 minutes later the trucks leave. One needlessly honks its horn as it cruises across the empty parking lot. Another drives down the road directly across from our home. Both add to the list of excessive noise that our neighborhood has endured during the last 17 months! Putnam 911 later tells me it was a false alarm. The good news is that no one was hurt. The bad news is that we can add a false fire alarm disturbing about a half-dozen of our volunteer firefighters, wasting fuel for the trucks, creating excessive noise to add to the thefts and vandalism on the property while the store was under construction, and Walmart STILL won't be open for another month!

February 7th, 2008: Not much noise today, however, cars continue to roll through the stop sign out of the Walmart parking lot. Also, the parking lot lights are left on overnight. Apparently we are only getting a one-night reprieve from the excessive lights.

February 8th, 2008: Another quiet day, though the lights were left on all night again. I speak with an assistant manager who promises to mention the stop sign and other issues to Manager Lloyd and remind employees during a meeting about the stop sign.

February 9th, 2008: No excessive noise today and some of the parking lot lights are turned off giving us a break.

February 10th, 2008: A car driving up the hill to Walmart wakes us at 5:30 a.m. It's a Sunday, so I don't understand why anyone would arrive at the site so early! Only some of the parking lot lights are turned on again.

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February 11th, 2008: Once again, a car driving up the hill to Walmart wakes us at 5:30 a.m. I don't understand why anyone would arrive at the site so early! This is two straight days of this crap. Thank you, Scott Edwards, now resign!!! Only some of the parking lot lights are turned on again. I notice a flag pole in installed at the front roofline of the Walmart store. I wonder which country's flag will be displayed. During the day, excessive noise from some sort of machine near a white truck at the front of our store invades our home and wakes our 5 1/2 month-old son. A few minutes later, a couple of military helicopters fly over in the distance. They need to put our troops on the ground in Hurricane to stop the Chinese invasion! Later in the day, workers install the Walmart sign on the front of the store. With each letter, workers are driving a nail into what used to be a quiet neighborhood, killing life as we knew it.

February 12th, 2008: Worker's cars start arriving early at the Walmart site, sending excessive noise into our home. Why won't Walmart show more consideration to our neighborhood and have workers arrive at 9:00 each day so that we can have a few more weeks of peace and quiet? Workers spend the day installing new signs above the three front entrance doorways. They also replace the sign at the edge of the parking lot. The old sign didn't even stay until the store opened. Do these guys know what they are doing? One of the worker's trucks has the name of a North Carolina company. If Walmart wants us to support its store, the company needs to hire WEST VIRGINIA companies to do more of the construction work. There are HUNDREDS of sign companies in West Virginia that could have installed the new sign!

February 13th, 2008: A quiet day as far as noise. The parking lot lights are left on all night, casting a larger glow because of the snow. What a waste of energy! Walmart still hasn't opened, a colossal failure of the PCDA, Gary Walton and Disputed Mayor Scott Edwards!

February 14th, 2008: It's Valentine's Day and I am awakened before sunrise by traffic driving to the Walmart site. Lights were left on overnight again, sending excessive light into our home. The reflection off the snow makes them even brighter. Of course, with no customers, lighting the entire parking lot makes NO sense! Later in the morning, "motion beeps" from a "cherry picker" working on the parking lot lights wakes our baby. I speak with a District Manager named Dave who is polite but says, "They have to do their work." He questions the time of day. That's irrelevant. There is NEVER a good time to disrupt a neighborhood. Dave promises to look into things, however, the "motion beeps" continue into early afternoon.

February 15th, 2008: It's a pretty quiet day outside, though I am gone for most of it. No "motion beeps" from a "cherry picker." Just some car traffic. The poor design of the parking lot has cars driving up a hill opposite our home. The tendency is to accelerate and "charge" up the hill, which is excessively noisy. Also, after dark, a Walmart big-rig truck leaves the lot, sending excessive noise into our home. It won't get better, thanks to the PCDA and City of Hurricane's HORRIBLE planning, the traffic is only going to get worse! A friend suggests that I set up a sound and video system in front of Scott Edwards house and play it all day. Not a bad idea! All of the parking lot lights are left on again, foolishly sending excessive light onto our property and into our windows, wasting electricity, and burning more coal causing more pollution for all of us to breathe!

February 16th, 2008: Construction noise is light on this Saturday. However, I drive to Staples in Cross Lanes to buy a fax machine. On my way up the hill, there is a huge amount of traffic leaving the Walmart complex. The road is a four-lane, unlike Hurricane Creek Road which is only a two-lane. This means we can expect tons of traffic once Silly Scotty Edwards' Walmart is opened. Terrible planning, Scotty! What's worse, the Hurricane Walmart and Hurricane Marketplace are both closed, meaning under Edwards' incompetent leadership, Hurricane is missing on thousands of dollars of revenue each day.

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How is Edwards going to pay that money back?

February 17th, 2008: I spend much of my Sunday afternoon putting onto videotapes about 10-11 hours of abuse that my family has endured from the Walmart construction. Unfortunately, we only purchased our camera in late August or we would have many more hours of excessive noise, rude construction people, incompetent politicians, and property damage to show the courts. However, I also have still photos and this blog to document our daily harassment by the construction. I happen to run into (thankfully) former Councilman "Frank" Sargent at a Teays Valley store. When "Sarge" asks me how I am doing, I tell him about my afternoon project. The pinhead politician actually has the AUDACITY to tell me "you were dumb to move there." No, Frank, when my wife bought our home in 1992 there was a hilltop hotel. We had no idea the MORONS that run Hurricane (terribly) would be so STUPID to destroy a hill, woods, and a pond to put a WALLY WORLD into a 35-yearold neighborhood! Speaking of AUDACITY, Sargent was wearing an American flag shirt. I can think of a more appropriate flag for a man that voted in a Wally World!

February 18th, 2008: I return home after meeting with a client. As I exit my car I am "serenaded" by "Motion beeps" coming from nearby construction. Later, as I leave for an errand, I watch several cars run the stop sing (sic) as they leave the Walmart site. These aren't customers, the Walmart is still closed. Hurricane is missing out of lots of revenue due to Silly Scotty Edwards' great political failure! A man from Tennessee sends me an email complaining about damage from blasting from a Walmart being built behind his home. He says the store will open about a year after construction started. Why then has it taken the Hurricane Walmart so long? This project started with the option to buy signing in November of 2004. Disneyland, the Eiffel Tower, The Pentagon, the Statue of Liberty all only took two years to build! After 10:00 p.m., I am awakened by traffic on the Walmart site. I send an email to Hurricane's "leaders" about the excessive traffic noise. They need to build an entrance off Orchard Park Road to divert traffic from our home. They also need a 5 MPH speed limit on Walmart's road as well as speed bumps and a flashing red light on the stop signs. All of this can be paid for by eliminating the city manager position as well as mayoral and council salaries since none of them do a decent job at all.

February 19, 2008: Noise from a vehicle on the Walmart site wakes me up shortly after 5:00 a.m. Our home is more than 100 feet from Walmart's property line. I hear this noise through closed, double-pane windows. Parking lot lights are also left on all night. Walmart can temporarily solve some traffic issues by having their employees park in the lot away from our homes. There is plenty of room on the Orchard Park side of their lot away from our homes. I call and speak to an Assistant Manager about the excessive traffic. He takes the improper "We can't do anything about it" stance. WRONG! Walmart is responsible for what occurs on its property. The assistant gives me the number of the District Manager, David Challingsworth, who, of course, is not in his office as early in the morning as his employees wake us up. How "convenient!" Later in the day when I arrive home, I am greeted by those irritating "motion beeps" again. I attempt to call Challingsworth who, again, is not in his office, even though it's during business hours. A call to the regional manager fails to reach him. If Walmart is going to allow our neighborhood to be disrupted by noise and traffic, the least it should do is make its district and regional managers available during business hours. For the second-straight night, I am awakened by a vehicle arriving at the Walmart at about 10:00 p.m. This is ridiculous! Scott Edwards should protect his citizens!!!

February 20th, 2008: A fairly quiet day, however, as I return home from an appointment, "motion beeps" invade our property. Parking lot lights are left on day and night, and the closed store fails to attract any customers. Disputed Mayor Silly Scotty Edwards fails to reveal a plan to make up for the lost revenue from the closed store-his biggest political failure.

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February 21st, 2008: Overnight parking lot lights and noisy traffic from workers and vendors continue to make our life miserable. Walmart's arrival has destroyed our neighborhood and the incompetent leaders of Putnam County have let it happen! The election is coming. Send the incumbents packing! Adios Andes! You sold us out to Walmart!

February 22nd, 2008: No construction noise today, however the employee traffic continues to be a problem! Overnight parking lot lights make the Walmart and Hurricane Marketplace glow in the dark. The stores are all still closed, causing Hurricane and Putnam County to lose revenue. Scott Edwards' leadership is a failure! He should resign for his incompetency! I get copies of mechanics liens filed against Walmart and Cleveland Construction. Local companies claim they are owed about $200,000 from the out-of-state retailer and general contractor. Why haven't they been paid?

February 23rd, 2008: Noisy employee traffic early in the morning and late at night, parking lot lights, and no customers. More than 210,000 square feet of Scott Edwards' failure! We can't enjoy our home on a Saturday!

February 24th, 2008: Cars arriving at Walmart wake us early on Sunday after parking lot lights are left on all night. A friend visits us from Cross Lanes. She hasn't been to our home in about a year or so. She can't believe how our neighborhood has been destroyed by stupid politicians who put a Walmart in our neighborhood. I call Rick Slater, the new President of the PCDA Board of Directors and advise him that we want the PCDA to buy us out. I also review some of the issues about Gary Walton and Scott Edwards. Slater says he will call me back Monday night. Parking lot lights at Walmart and Hurricane Marketplace are left on again all night, a very inconsiderate thing to do to the residents who have lived here for decades!

February 25th, 2008: As Walmart "Glows in the Dark" from unnecessary overnight parking lot lights, workers start arriving before sunrise, sending excessive noise into our neighborhood and home. Why won't Walmart show more consideration to its neighbors? I call the district office and speak to someone after the local manager isn't helpful. The district office says they are working on things, however, the traffic noise does not improve during the day or later in the evening.

February 26th, 2008: Cars arriving at the Walmart site arrive before dark and wake us up. The parking lot lights were left on all night again sending excessive light into our home. Traffic noise is a problem throughout the day and after 10:00 at night when I am awakened by a vehicle at the Walmart site. This is EXACTLY why Scott Edwards and Gary Walton should NEVER have put a supercenter in a neighborhood! They are incompetent civic leaders and planners!

February 27th, 2008: Not much to report today. Bad weather seems to keep things quiet. Only those irritating parking lot lights.

February 28th, 2008: There is plenty of traffic coming to Walmart, however, no one buys anything. The store remains closed, a symbol of Silly Scotty Edwards' failure to lead. More employees are coming to work, making us wonder if there will be enough parking for the customers. Maybe we can rent out our driveway when the store opens-if the store ever opens. It is months behind schedule and should have opened last year! We are awakened after 10:00 p.m. when a fire alarm is set off at one of the Hurricane Marketplace shops. This is the second late-night false alarm in a few weeks. Just another form of abuse to our neighborhood! It takes me more than 1/2 hour to rock my scared son back to sleep. At less than six-months-old, sirens are a very scary thing!

February 29th, 2008: Another day of early arrivals, late night traffic noise, and excessive lights. During the day I run into Hurricane "Inspector" Jay Gibson who refuses to cite

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Disputed Mayor Scott Edwards eyesore building. The minions at Hurricane City Hall have two sets of rules. One to harass the citizens, another to let the town's unethical mayor run rampant. Still no customers for the closed Walmart and Hurricane Marketplace, huge symbols of Silly Scotty's failure to get anything accomplished! Each day they remain closed costs Hurricane revenue. How is Silly Scotty going to pay it back? He won't tell. The reality is that the incompetent mayor screwed up and doesn't have a plan!

March 1st, 2008: Our 18th month of excessive noise starts today. Employees cars disrupt our home as they arrive and leave from Walmart. No customers as another day of Scott Edwards' failure costs Hurricane more money! The excessive noise continues through the day. Even after 11:00 p.m., as employees leave the site, they send excessive noise into our home. Parking lot lights are also left on all night, a stupid waste of energy causing unnecessary pollution. At 11:18 p.m., a big rig arrives at Walmart, waking me up as it sends excessive noise into our home. There is NO REASON to send noise into our home, let alone at 11:18 p.m. on a Saturday night.

March 2nd, 2008: Tired of traffic in our neighborhood, we take the afternoon and leave town, driven away from our home, once again, by excessive noise caused by Walmart.

March 3rd, 2008: Traffic at the Walmart site wakes our baby at 5:22 a.m. as it send excessive noise into our home. What kind of company allows workers to wake a six-month-old baby at 5:22 a.m.? What kind of city allows a business to behave in such a rude manner? HURRICANE!!!!! What kind of mayor badly runs such a city? SILLY SCOTTY EDWARDS!!!!! Citizen John Clay complains to Edwards and Council about the traffic issues during tonight's council meeting and I give council an earful about the excessive noise. Edwards and Council fail to deal with EITHER issue, in another example of their failure to properly lead Hurricane!

March 5th, 2008: Walmart holds its open house, giving us a preview of the out-ofcontrol traffic that we will be bombarded with from now on. Silly Scotty Edwards has completely screwed this situation up. The traffic and its noise is horrible and it will be taking place 24-hours-a-day. We will ask the court to order Hurricane to buy our home and make it the mayor's house so Edwards can be disrupted for the last three years of his incompetent term!

March 6th, 2008: One last day until Wally World opens. Nearly a year behind schedule, due to Silly Scotty's incompetency! That means the stupid Mayor of Hurricane owes taxpayers about $1 million in lost B & O taxes due to his screwup! Late at night cars are driving around the Walmart lot sending excessive noise into our home that I can hear above the television in our living room. This is ridiculous! After 11:00 at night a worker sets up giant inflatable Pepsi and Mountain Dew bottles just across from our yard. Now they couldn't do this during the day? Why make so much noise after 11:00? This is crazy!

March 7th, 2008: It's Grand Opening Day and a traffic debacle. Silly Scotty puts a Karl Rove spin on the store touting jobs and "progress" with his sickening smirk, ignoring the fact that most of those jobs are low-paying, many without benefits. Walmart gives out a few thousand in gifts to community groups, trying to buy their affection. Thousands of cars invade our neighborhood with excessive noise. The nightmare that we predicted has come true. Our neighborhood is permanently ruined thanks to Mayor Edwards and his minions at the PCDA and City of Hurricane. They blame the state DOT which blames the City of Hurricane. Throughout the day and night cars come and go, sending excessive noise into our home. Our way of life is ruined. Thanks, Silly Scotty! You've graduated from home wrecker to neighborhood wrecker!!! I put in a call to Walmart's District Manager David Challingsworth, however, he fails to return my call. I call the WVDOT about the excessive traffic. Commissioner Mattox's secretary is EXTREMELY RUDE and hangs up on me. They need to re -open the entrance to the property that the old hotel used from Orchard Park Road and route cars there instead of in front of our homes. This traffic pattern was designed by a

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three-year-old. They put me through to an engineer who admits he hasn't seen the property but tries to tell me a "professional" designed it. He later admits that "professional" was from Walmart. The state screwed up and needs to fix the traffic issues IMMEDIATELY!

March 8th, 2008: At 5:30 on Saturday morning, a street sweeper on Walmart's parking lot wakes our baby, who, of course, wakes us. We can hear this monster machine through our closed, double -paned windows and closed doors. Why won't Walmart show proper consideration to its neighbors? In the morning I go to A to Z Supermarket to work on their 57th Anniversary story. I run into a neighbor who jokingly asks me why I am not shopping at Walmart. He says the street sweeper woke him at 3:30 a.m. I offer him the phone number of District Manager David Challingsworth. My neighbor says next time he will simply call Silly Scotty Edwards at 3:30 a.m. I hope so! Edwards deserves it!!! I am STILL waiting for Challingsworth to call me back. He fails to return my call, and call to his office goes unanswered. You can't call 1-800-Walmart at 5:30 in the morning to complain when their street sweeper wakes us up, and when I call later, they tell me Challingsworth won't return my call until next week. Ditto for his boss. In other words, Walmart will allow your home to be disrupted at 5:30 a.m. on a Saturday, but the people that can fix the problem are only "available" Monday through Friday during business hours. How convenient for Walmart. How DISRESPECTFUL to us! Meanwhile, on a VERY snowy afternoon, thousands of lemmings flock to Walmart, proving that they care less about safety and driving in a snow storm than they do about buying cheap Chinese shoes. Their "logic" is a sad commentary about what is important. "Forget safety, I gotta go to Wally World!" Later at night, traffic is at a standstill as people try to leave. The lack of planning gives drivers only one way out of the complex, proving that Silly Scotty continues to be a massive failure even after the store is open! On another note, it's the last day of the legislative session. Delegate Schoen and Senator Hall promised me that they would introduce a noise bill. To my knowledge they didn't. Are Hall (a preacher) and Schoen liars? We will know by the end of session. The session ends at midnight. Hall, Schoen, Troy Andes, Dale Martin and Brady Paxton all fail to return my calls. According to the house and senate clerks offices, none even proposed a bill to curtail construction noise. All sold out our neighborhood and all deserve to go down in flames in the next election! West Virginia doesn't need any more lying politicians! These people care more about out - of-state construction companies than West Virginians. Our home is for sale, politicians, buy us out and let us move! You created this mess, solve the problem with your wallets!

March 9th, 2008: Long before sunrise, our home is disrupted by Walmart traffic. It's 15 degrees outside, the roads are icy, but people gotta shop and disrupt our neighborhood! The rudeness of Wally World shoppers is astounding! Cars race up and down the hill all day. It feels like we are living next to a highway. They must have hired a three-year-old to design this traffic pattern! Our nephew visits and comments about the horrible traffic. Now Scott Edwards' stupidity is negatively affecting OTHER members of our family! The traffic noise is horrible!!! As I type this, I'm watching Extreme Makeover, Home Edition. In tonight's episode, a group of strangers come into a West Virginia neighborhood and improve it by replacing a small home and help a family by building a new, larger home near Fairmont. Here in Putnam County, our "leaders" come into a neighborhood, destroy it, and abuse its citizens by shoving a Wally World with excessive noise and traffic in our front yards. What does that say about Putnam County's "leaders?" It says Putnam County's leaders eat and abuse their own while total strangers truly care about the lives of West Virginians!!!!" PutnumLIVE.com sets a weekly record for readership and is on-target for a new monthly record. Those that say my blog about Walmart hurts readership are clueless!

March 10th, 2008: I get an email from the Fox family inviting me to move and to quit "whining" about Walmart. I reply and tell them I would LOVE to move and invite them to come to our home at 5:00 tonight with a certified check to buy us out. I will let you know if they show up. I'm not holding my breath. Lots of people demand that we move-but won't put their money where their mouths are! Another reader sends me an email griping about the

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store being low on stock. I published it in the Letters to the Publisher section in case you care to read it. I speak with another engineer at WVDOT. He promises to "check into" the traffic situation. There's nothing to "check into." It's a horrible design, there needs to be a second entrance, and it needs to be fixed NOW! We don't need some stupid bureaucrat in Charleston sitting on his butt and taking his time while our neighborhood is inundated with excessive traffic and noise! A call to Walmart's District Manager, David Challingsworth, is not returned. Apparently, Walmart wants to ignore their traffic monster! Of course, the Fox family fail to show, adding themselves to a long list of people that say "deal with it" but refuse to "deal with it" themselves!

March 11th, 2008:I am awakened at 1:11 a.m., 3:15 a.m., and about 5:20 a.m. from traffic on the Walmart site. NO ONE should have to live like this. I am putting the Hurricane City Council and Disputed Mayor Silly Scotty Edwards on notice. If I am awakened again in the middle of the night, I will exercise my First Amendment right to petition my government for grievances and will call at the moment I am awakened to complain. If you don't want complaint calls in the middle of the night, stop the excessive traffic noise! Shortly after 12:30 p.m., a truck leaving Walmart after making a delivery, clips a power-pole support wire. Before the mess is over, our neighborhood is out of power for more than nine hours. But that's not all: Repair workers cut a water line leaving us dry for awhile until Ronnie Woodall and his crews scramble to restore water. They quickly route water through a backup line, however, AEP's system doesn't have a backup in our neighborhood. So we are in the dark until 9:52 p.m. Earlier in the day I filed a formal complaint with the West Virginia Public Service Commission about AEP's outages and the damage to my property that has yet to be repaired. It's time we get a better electric company! Walmart has to shut down for awhile. Sweet justice! Unfortunately, it re-opened around 10:00 p.m. I was looking forward to a night of peace and quiet. THOSE moments are history-thanks to Silly Scotty and his PCDA cronies!

March 12th, 2008: Traffic entering the Walmart parking lot disrupts our home shortly after 5:00 a.m. then at about 6:34 a.m. I don't know when Silly Scotty expects us to sleep in his "little world." Excessive traffic and noise continues through the day and well into the night, including a car with very loud music well after dark.

March 13th, 2008: Another day of noisy traffic. Walmart is now using a machine in their outdoor garden center that has those annoying "motion beeps." Another car enters after dark playing loud music. We have asked the City of Hurricane to restrict traffic on the lane in front of our home between 10:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m., but they have failed to respond to our request. Obviously Silly Scotty has sold out to Wally World! Today I received the following email from someone who is afraid of having her name published because of fear of retaliation. Such is life in the "People's Republic of Hurricane." People are afraid to speak out because they know that City Hall will come after them as they have me and my family. Here's the letter: "I made my first trip to Walmart last night. There are 2 houses almost in the parking lot and a couple on the hill. If one of those is your house.. I can see why you are so upset. That just sucks."

March 14th, 2008: Another day of excessive traffic noise. Thousands of cars passing our home in what used to be a quiet neighborhood. However, the City of Hurricane doesn't care.

March 15th, 2008: A street sweeper on the Walmart parking lot wakes me at 3:10 a.m. I get pictures and video to provide to my attorney. "We know where you live," shouts one of the men in the street sweeper. Another shouts, "We have your address." I am sure they do. They can see our home from the parking lot. I chronicle the apparent threats and publish some of the photos that I shoot, including one where they drove the street sweeper in the direction of my car, in an apparent intimidation attempt. All photos, video recordings, and

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the article will be turned over to my attorney, including the photograph where one of the men posed next to the street sweeper. Just what are these guys thinking? While researching state code, I learn that Delegates Schoen, Martin, and Paxton introduced bill HB4627 on February 18th, 2008 to address construction noise. Apparently they didn't promote it hard enough and it failed to pass. Before sunrise, more trucks arrive at the Walmart parking lot, re-awakening the neighborhood. Cars roar up the road in front of our home all day, sending excessive noise into our home. Saturdays used to be a quiet day to spend relaxing in our front yard. Now those days wave been ruined by a supercenter shoved in our neighborhood by Silly Scotty Edwards, Gary Walton, the PCDA, and an incompetent Hurricane City Council. I finally reach Delegate Patti Eagloski-Schoen by telephone and ask her why she failed to fulfill her promise and commitment to call me during session to work on a noise bill. Schoen danced around her failure to call me by attempting to discuss two other bills. Bottom line: Delegate Schoen LIED! She said she has a letter for me but didn't have my address. The entire COUNTY knows where I live, and Schoen sent me a BS filled letter last year. DELEGATE SCHOEN LIED! She denied that she lied and said, "It's unfortunate that you want to call it a lie. Delegate Schoen, no matter HOW you want to spin it, you LIED! You are simply just another lying politician who will say one thing and sell out your citizens for your big business agenda. DELEGATE SCHOEN YOU LIED AND YOU ARE A JOKE! YOU FURTHER LOWER THE REPUTATION OF POLITICIANS! RESIGN AND TURN IN YOUR BAR CARD! MOVE TO BENTONVILLE AND DON'T COME BACK TO PUTNAM COUNTY! I read in the Hurricane Breeze that Councilwoman Lana Call refused to vote to pay Hurricane's bills during the last council meeting because a payment to Silly Scotty's Netranom Communications was included. According to The Breeze, Edwards ADMITS his company is doing work for the city but CLAIMS it is saving Hurricane money. Call claims it is an ethics violation. Edwards says he was told it wasn't. I wanted to find this info out earlier, however, Hurricane wanted $35 an hour for "research" something not allowed under state law. PutnumLIVE.com refused to play that game, but Hurricane won't be able to charge the ethics committee! I will also contact Lana Call and ask her for copies! Though she did in the beginning, Call is now the only Hurricane Council member that refuses to drink the Scott Edwards Kool Aid.

March 16th, 2008: At 3:45 a.m., a vehicle charges up the Walmart hill, sending excessive noise into our neighborhood. This is a horrible way for us to be treated, however, Walmart has refused to detour traffic from that entrance overnight. A steady parade of cars and trucks send excessive noise into our home and across our front yard through the day and night, including well past 10:00 p.m. Our sanctity is ruined by Walmart's failure to keep the noise generated by their business away from our property. While the company tries to spin itself as a "good neighbor" the way we are being treated is anything but "good." We are being abused day and night by excessive noise and the City of Hurricane refuses to do ANYTHING about it!

March 17th, 2008: Shortly after 4:00 a.m., a vehicle charging up Walmart's hill wakes me up. After I go back to sleep, I am awakened again at 5:19 a.m. by a minivan driving down the hill. There's no need to hit the gas when driving down hill, stupid! And speaking of stupid, Disputed Mayor Silly Scotty Edwards is under fire from Councilwoman Lana Call for using his business to provide services to the city. She says he's unethical. He says he isn't. SHOCKING! I meet with a developer about buying out our entire neighborhood plus the woods behind our home. This would be a "win-win" for everyone. More stores, restaurants, and jobs would replace a few very unhappy neighbors! Meanwhile, excessive traffic noise disrupts our home until after 11:00 p.m.

March 18th, 2008: A big-rig truck crawling up the Walmart hill wakes me at 5:35 a.m. Other traffic continues the noise assault on our home before sunrise. It's impossible to get a good night's sleep living next to this Walmart. I invite Scott Edwards to buy us out and live next to his pet monster! I am still waiting for Delegate Patti Schoen and Senator Mike Hall to call me about the noise bill as they promised. They are lying politicians who sold us out to Bentonville! Meanwhile, noisy traffic rumbles up and down Walmart h ill until well past

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midnight, keeping me awake long after I want to sleep.

March 19th, 2008: Nothing unusual happens today. Just excessive traffic noise starting before sunrise and lasting well past 10:00 p.m. When will Walmart start showing us some common decency and "allow" us peace and quiet in our home?

March 20th, 2008: I finally reach someone in Walmart's district office. He agrees to talk with Lloyd about closing the area in front of our home-overnight-to move noisy traffic away from us. The same day I receive an e-mail from the WV Department of Transportation filled with lame excuses defending the entrance design as well as the insane reason the WVDOT refused to allow the use of the Orchard Park entrance/exit. I offer to sell our home to the WVDOT. No one shows up at the appointed time making the WVDOT to be yet another idiot that is quick to make lame excuses but slow to put its money where its mouth is!

March 21st, 2008: Good Friday means lots of food shoppers preparing for Easter dinner. They don't care about us, they just swarm the Wally-World all day, sending excessive noise into our home. Cars hit the annoying grate in the road every few seconds, and the more-annoying "motion beeps" from some sort of machine crash our peace and quiet all afternoon. I get another email from someone criticizing me for being angry at the 3:10 a.m. street sweeper the other day. Like all of the others, he refuses to buy us out and live with it himself. What a hypocrite!

March 22nd, 2008: At 5:35 a.m. we are awakened by a Pepsi truck charging up Walmart hill. There is NO reason to wake up our family at 5:35 a.m. on a holiday weekend! About a 1/2 hour later, I am awakened again by ANOTHER delivery truck. This truck doesn't have a company name. TWICE in one Saturday morning, BEFORE SUNRISE, ON A HOLIDAY WEEKEND! There is NO EXCUSE for this! It is simply RUDE treatment of Walmart's neighbors! The excessive traffic and noise continues day and night, well after midnight into Easter Sunday. This is disgusting and completely disrespectful to our neighborhood and to God. NO store should be open Easter Sunday. NO employee should have to work Easter Sunday! When I call to complain about the excessive noise to a manager, he tells me, "I hope you get a good night's sleep," then hangs up. However, the excessive traffic noise continues.

March 23rd, 2008: After being kept up past midnight, I am awakened before sunrise by vehicles charging up Walmart hill. Happy Easter from Bentonville! The store SHOULD be closed on this Holy day! Employees should be off to spend time in church and with their families. A few hours later, while trying to listen to WQBE's Sunday Morning Gospel Jubilee, the beautiful harmonies are interrupted by a car alarm from the Walmart parking lot. Happy Easter! I wish I could re-program the alarm to say, "Step away from the Wally World!" What a disrespectful thing to do to your neighbors on Easter Sunday morning! During our annual Easter Egg hunt in our front yard, a SECOND car alarm went off, disrupting the fun for the children. What kind of NEANDERTHAL would set off a car alarm in front of someone's home on Easter Sunday while the little kids are having an Easter Egg hunt? I call the manager, Lloyd, who does apologize but gives me the BS about a "24-hour operation." No kidding, Lloyd! Your store replaced a 24-hour hotel. We NEVER had any problems with it, yet TWICE on EASTER SUN DAY we are disrupted by a car alarm on the Walmart property! It's REAL simple: KEEP YOUR NOISE, LIGHTS, AND TRAFFIC disruptions on YOUR PROPERTY and LEAVE US ALONE!!!!! Lloyd hangs up the phone. The damage is done, yet he refuses to do anything to prevent future disruptions. How VERY inconsiderate! Excessive traffic noise continues into the night. I can hear it with the windows shut above the television audio. This is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE! At 10:49 p.m., ANOTHER car alarm goes off in the Walmart parking lot, disrupting our home. We have asked that a sound wall be constructed, but Walmart has declined. Why doesn't Walmart show more consideration for its neighbors? THREE car alarms on Easter Sunday is OBNOXIOUS!!!!

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March 24th, 2008: At 1:52 a.m., I am awakened by the street sweeper on Walmart's parking lot. When I call the store to complain, "Manager on Duty" Scott rudely tells me, "They've got a job to do" and says he will tell his store manager "in the morning" before hanging up the phone. Scott misses the point. It IS the morning... As in 2:00 a.m.! Just one day after being awakened by cars at 12:06, I am awakened by the street sweeper at 1:52 a.m.!!! When does Walmart expect us to sleep? As I finish this paragraph, I hear the rumble of a car engine coming from Walmart's parking lot. This is insane! We are being treated worse than animals! More traffic woke me up again before sunrise. At sunrise, there was that VERY IRRITATING "motion beep" from the lawn and garden department.

March 25th, 2008: Another typical day of excessive traffic noise. At least we weren't awakened by a street sweeper. I make a trip to A to Z Supermarket for some deli items and some baby food and formula. I am pleased to see plenty of customers as well as their new cash register system. Hurricane customers are voting with their wallets for great service from a family-owned store and a GREAT neighbor!

March 26th, 2008: Another day of excessive traffic living across the road from Walmart. We can't enjoy our home with the constant rumbling of cars up and down the hill. MSN BC's Keith Olbermann gives Walmart the "Worst Person in the World" award for the day because it sued an ex-employee to recover money it paid in health -care benefits. She was broad-sided by a semi. She has brain damage, her husband has cancer, and their 18 -year-old son was killed in Iraq. Olbermann is right. Such behavior by Walmart takes corporate greed to a new low!

March 27th, 2008: Shortly before 2:00 a.m. I am awakened by the street sweeper on Walmart's parking lot. This despite the promise of Hurricane Chief of Police W. Mike Mullins that he would call over to Walmart and end this practice. It is raining, so it doesn't do any good to sweep the parking lot. I call Putnam Dispatch, however Hurricane PD fails to show up and stop the excessive noise! Am I surprised? NO! There is no civilization in Hurricane! When I call dispatch back, they say HPD showed up. However, my video that I shot shows no police! A call to Walmart reaches "Joey" who says he can't do anything except talk to Lloyd on the morning. A call to the district office is not answered. Once again, Walmart gets away wit being rude to its neighbors! Just a few hours later, before sunrise, at 6:25 a.m., a Walmart delivery truck wakes our baby as well as us. All deliveries, as well as street sweeping should be made during the day, not during sleeping hours. Walmart chose to build in our neighborhood and we should be shown some COMMON DECENCY AND RESPECT until we are bought out and moved!!! Later in the morning I check my voice mail and find a rather vulgar, profanity -laced voice mail from someone complaining about my complaints about the 2:00 a.m. street sweeper. I can't wait to play this for Walmart's management to see if they recognize the voice. I can't believe the caller was STUPID enough to record the profanity! However, Hurricane PD won't play it for the manager. Patrolman Armentrout gives me a bunch of baloney about "It's MY investigation, I will do it MY way." OK, Armentrout, you have a midnight deadline to arrest the suspect!

March 28th, 2008: Another day of early morning traffic noise disruptions. Hurricane PD's Armentrout blew the midnight deadline and still hasn't made an arrest in the case of the person that left a profanity -laced message on my voice mail. But, hey, it's HIS investigation! Shortly before 9:00 a.m., our electrical power was cut again. I call Pepsi to complain about the 5:35 "wake up call" earlier this week. I get runaround at the Nitro plant. One guy even tells me that if Walmart tells them to drive a truck off the Nitro-St. Albans bridge that "We would do it if there was a Walmart at the bottom of the river." I then call Pepsi's corporate office and get some polite treatment. I am told they will look into the situation and get back to me. They do, and say they are trying to work with Walmart for a solution that benefits everyone. I hope that happens. I HATE that I have to call a corporate office JUST to get peace and quiet in my home! Walmart should make sure that happens without neighbors having to call corporate offices to complain. Walmart needs to show

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proper consideration for its neighbors! Just as the clock was hitting midnight, I am awakened by a loud motorcycle charging up Walmart's hill. This is CRAZY! Walmart needs to build some sound barriers to protect its neighbors from its loud customers! Dollar Tree opens. This means more excessive traffic noise for our neighborhood!

March 29th, 2008: At 5:35 a.m., our home is disrupted by Walmart traffic. God forbid Walmart to allow us to sleep in on a Saturday! Excessive traffic charges up and down the hill all day and night, disrupting our home. Several car alarms go off, including one after 9:00 p.m. It was a beautiful day to spend in the yard, but the noise makes that unbearable! It was also a nice day to open our windows to let in some fresh air. However, with the breeze comes the excessive noise and exhaust fumes. We are prisoners in our own home, thanks to the idiots that run Hurricane and the Putnam County Development Authority! Only MORONS would put a Wally World in a 30 -year-old neighborhood! I drive by Councilwoman Hager's business and she has empty boxes piled outside. It's a mess! There is also an apparent antique broken on a sidewalk in front. Is Hager taking lessons from Silly Scotty on how to run a sloppy-looking business? When I called Hager and asked her to clean up the mess, she RUDELY hung up on me!

March 30th, 2008: Another Sunday of excessive traffic noise. Mid-afternoon I open our bedroom window to get some fresh air and am IMMEDIATELY blasted by the noise of a car-alarm horn. I call Walmart and am told, "We can't control that." NEWS BULLETIN: Walmart is responsible for the noise coming from its property! This home has been here since 1973, if not sooner. Walmart KNEW it was building NEXT TO HOMES and SHOULD TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ITS NOISE LEVELS! It's called common-courtesy and common sense. I speak with Lloyd, the manager, who refuses to cooperate with keeping the noise away from our home. He tells me "The bubble that I ordered hasn't come in." Then he admits, "That's sarcasm." His sarcasm isn't funny, or appreciated. Neither is the excessive traffic noise from his business. March 31st, 2008: Early morning traffic noise disrupts our home. Delivery trucks and cars charge up Walmart hill before sunrise. A Herr's truck uses the road where trucks are banned. Noise continues through the day, and as I type this at 5:03 p.m., that irritating "motion beep" disrupts our home. Meanwhile Walmart continues to get ripped on PutnumLIVE.com and several other Internet forums. When will the company learn? Never mind, silly question! If Walmart hasn't learned by now. Late at night, a large 4 x 4 and a sports car chase each other out of the parking lot, wheels screaming... I get it all on video and it is witnessed by reporter Lawrence J. Smith. I can't wait to show this video in court! PutnumLIVE.com sets a new record for monthly readership with more than 40,000. Sponsorship has also increased. So much for those that believe my views about the Hurricane Walmart will kill me!

April 1st, 2008: A very loud sports car driving to Walmart's door at 2:00 a.m. wakes me up. I then video a loud 4 x4 that does a lap around the parking lot and parks in the employee area pointing its bright headlights towards our home until well past 2:00 a.m. A few hours later, long before sunrise, I am awakened by a Walmart delivery truck charging up the hill. This is insane! When do they expect us to sleep? I try calling Silly Scotty Edwards to complain but he never answers his cell phone. So I drive to Walmart, use THEIR phone, and Edwards answers on the FIRST RING! Amazing how that works! I put him on notice that the next time I get awakened at 2:00 a.m. I will call his home. And I will continue doing that until he fixes things or until Danielle forces him to resign! Edwards says he won't resign and chickens out by telling me to call the Chief of Police. Mullins doesn't return my call. Councilwoman Hager hangs up. Next time I am calling HER at 2:00 a.m. Pepsi understands. Buddy Lewis calls and advises me that they are working on deliveries after sunrise. That's a step in the right direction. Stepping in the wrong direction is Councilwoman Hager. Those cardboard boxes that we photographed April 1st are STILL sitting outside her home and business. Why doesn't Hager clean up her act? After 10:15 p.m. I am awakened by a bobtail truck speeding up the ramp in front of our home. Such

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trucks are banned from using that ramp, and the speed limit is 20 MPH. Also, Lloyd Atkinson fails to return my call about the 2:00 a.m. wake-up call.

April 2nd, 2008: Less than one day after Pepsi promised to change its delivery schedule so that we weren't awakened by its delivery truck, that's exactly what happened. At about 5:30 a.m., Pepsi wakes me up as its truck exits the Walmart parking lot. This is ridiculous! There is NO REASON to wake neighbors to deliver cola!!! It's not a life-saving ambulance or something! When I call the store to complain, an assistant manager rudely hangs up on me. I call Buddy Lewis from Pepsi and leave a voice mail. I do the same for Mayor Scott Edwards. Councilwoman Hager doesn't answer her phone, even though I wait until much later in the morning to call her with my complaint, not that she deserves such courtesy. All day long Buddy Lewis doesn't return my call. When I return, I get the dual effect of Walmart traffic as well as construction hammers and "motion beeps" from the fast food restaurant being built down the hill. What a WONDERFUL neighborhood to live in-(SARCASM!) Councilwoman Hager has FINALLY had the ugly boxes removed from outside her home/business. I call Joe Miller one of the PPSD Commissioners and tell him I want our lawn repaired. It's been SIX MONTHS since crews tore part of it up to install a sewer line that is now SINKING! Miller has the AUDACITY to tell me that I need to wait until it is convenient for HIS PEOPLE to repair OUR YARD-SIX MONTHS after it was damaged? Where do they find these people? I call Commissioner Callahan and he refuses to do anything about it today. "I will meet with the board at its next meeting." Sorry, Callahan, that isn't good enough! Ditto for Commissioner Calvin Hatfield. All these people do is sing "Tomorrow, Tomorrow. I'll check into it Tomorrow!" They should try out for Annie, they're so in love with "Tomorrow." I will add this to my complaint with the West Virginia Public Service Commission. Construction noise on the new KFC near Walmart continues well after 8:00 p.m. Pounding, "motion beeps" add to the excess traffic noise from Walmart. I leave another voice mail for Mayor Edwards who still has his head stuck in the sand-or somewhere else. He'd rather ignore the hell we are going through in order to get more tax revenue. I call Walmart to discuss the early-morning wake-up call from the Pepsi truck. They have the audacity to put me on hold and make me listen to Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy." I'm sure HE never had to live next to a Walmart! When I call Walmart, an assistant manager named Heather. She gives me the "I'll take a note" routine. All I want is peace and quiet. Why can't these people understand BASIC COMMON COURTESY???

April 3rd, 2008: Just another day of excessive traffic and noise. While picking up our mail a car runs the stop sign coming out of Walmart and nearly collides with my car! The PPSD and AEP have failed to fix the damage to our property caused by their crews. I may have to file a lawsuit in Circuit Court to get those idiots' attention! At about 10:20 at night I am awakened by a honking car horn coming from the Walmart lot. When do we get to sleep???

April 4th, 2008: The abuse of our neighborhood continues with delivery trucks before sunrise. These people apparently don't care about our desire for peace and quiet in our homes! There is nothing that Walmart stocks that needs to be delivered during sleeping hours!

April 5th, 2008: Early morning traffic noise invades our home this Saturday morning. Our neighborhood is in its 19th straight month of abuse at the hands of the incompetent PCDA and Hurricane City Council. They all should be disbanded. Anyone who thought putting a Wally World in a neighborhood needs a permanent suite at Mildred Mitchell Bateman Hospital.

April 6th, 2008: Excessive traffic noise starts early on Sunday morning and continues into the day. We are showing a movie to our seven-month-old son and some idiot charging up the hill with his heavy-bass radio blasting overrides the surround-sound in our living room. This happens a second time later on. All of our double-paned windows are

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shut, our home is at least 120 from Walmart's roadway, and our home is well insulated. Walmart's traffic noise is out-of-control and Silly Scotty Edwards needs to pull his head out of his fat backside and deal with his monster! It's a beautiful day to lay in the hammock -except for the excess noise. I spend part of the afternoon mowing our large lawn and wonder why? It's not like we can enjoy it anymore! Construction work on the new KFC adds to the excessive construction noise. PutnumLIVE .com sets a new weekly record for readership, breaking 10,000 for the first time in our history. More people appreciate reading the truth about what happens in Putnam County! One of my clients pays a visit to Walmart hill. He can't believe that "planners" were STUPID enough to put a Wally World so close to homes.

April 7th, 2008: Another early day of traffic noise. This onslaught will never end. On top of that, I hear construction noise through our closed windows starting early in the morning. It's coming from a rock-breaking machine at the City National Bank site about 1/4 mile away. When I go there and ask for peace and quiet in my home- a 1/4 of a mile away, the supervisor laughs at me. These people don't have a clue about common courtesy! I contact CNB's corporate office and am told they are sorry about the noise and they will contact the contractor. However, the excessive noise doesn't stop. And I get no apology from the contractor. A sub-contractor, Alan Conway, tells me to "Get a hobby." I get an email from a CNB executive telling me that the noise isn't as bad as what we experienced from Walmart's construction and that the excavation will be done in a few days. Translation: We won't give you peace and quiet, and you have to deal with it. All they need to do is put up a sound wall. Why won't City National Bank show more courtesy to its neighbors? These companies claim they want to be good neighbors, however, good neighbors don't make excessive noise!

April 8th, 2008: Shortly after 5:00 a.m., a vehicle charging up Walmart hill wakes our baby. When will Walmart start showing appropriate consideration for its neighbors? Loud traffic at 5:00 a.m. is NOT APPROPRIATE for a neighborhood! Construction work starts at about 7:00 a.m., sending excessive noise into our home. I go to the site and speak with a rather nice supervisor named Jay. He asks me to "be patient" for another day or so, "a short time," he says. I remind him that we have been enduring excessive noise for 19 months and "another day or so" only adds to that unreasonable time period. I tell Jay that I EXPECT him to keep the noise down for "a short time" of another day or so, and to put up a sound wall. Trouble is, while Jay is here for a short time, someone else comes along and will want "patience" for "a short time" and the excessive noise continues. I also notice that Jay's truck has Ohio plates and he is doing business in West Virginia. I ask him why he doesn't register his truck here and he doesn't have an appropriate answer. I call his corporate office, DEI, in Cincy, and actually get a recording talking about a "comfortable and friendly environment." That's all we are asking for in our neighborhood! Trouble is, we are not getting that! During a candidate forum I ask Putnam County Commission candidates Bob Leslie, Jerry Lilly, and Commission President Steve Andes about bring the promised Marshall satellite campus to Hurricane. The land is paid off, and when the PCDA bought it, we were promised Marshall. Leslie and Lilly say they want to bring Marshall. Andes says the land is owned by the PCDA. What Andes DOES NOT SAY is that he served on the PCDA Board of Directors and that as Putnam County Commissioner, he helps appoint the PCDA Board of Directors. It's painfully apparent that Steve Andes is incapable of intelligent responses to important questions and is incapable of telling the whole truth! Shortly after 10:00 p.m., a very inconsiderate neighbor roars his Harley up our hill in front of our home. Shortly after 11:00, a truck roars up Walmart hill disrupting our home!

April 9th, 2008: I am awakened very early in the morning by Walmart traffic before construction work kicks in at 7:00 a.m. At about 12:45 p.m., a tractor in front of our home wakes up our baby early. Workers are FINALLY "repairing" our front yard from the damage that was done SIX MONTHS AGO! Trouble is, instead of replacing the grass that was ripped out with GRASS, they are, again, putting down seed and straw. I advise them that we want GRASS installed. A worker puts me on the telephone with "Josh," his boss, who

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tells me that I am "an idiot" and being "ridiculous" for expecting our yard to be put back the way it was SIX MONTHS AGO! Even worse, across the way at Walmart, their grass is being replaced with REAL GRASS! I call the PPSD and am given the runaround by Dave Mercer who tells me I should be satisfied with seed and straw. News bulletin: I AM NOT SATISFIED! They tore out real grass and they should put BACK real grass! I call the Public Service Commission in Charleston who will send out an engineer tomorrow. However, they are doing the work today! Excessive traffic noise from Walmart continues throughout the day. At about 8:45 p.m., a pair of cars honk their horns at each other and race down the hill, tires squealing. This is NOT the type of life we envisioned when we moved here. I call Wally World and the manager says he will look into it. While I was on hold, they drove away. A lot of good "We will look into it" will do. I call the police. They will give me BS and do nothing. Trust me. Wally World gets away with being a nuisance in our neighborhood!

April 10th, 2008: Despite a promise that rock breaking at the CNB site would be finished by yesterday-at the latest, our baby was awakened again this morning by excessive noise. Walmart traffic continues to be a problem while Hurricane's Disputed Mayor Silly Scotty Edwards continues to bury his head up his ugly backside to protect his pet project while he allows citizens to be abused! Neither AEP or the PPSD have properly repaired the damage that was done to our property by their subcontractors. It looks like I will have to take this to a full hearing before the Public Service Commission where I will ask for both agencies to be dissolved in Putnam County. When I come home in the afternoon, more excessive rock-breaking noise from the CNB site continues. At about 7:20, a crane pulls into the storage yard next door waking our baby. When I walk out with the video camera, one of the men starts screaming at me. That doesn't surprise me, he has done this before. What DOES surprise me is that he is actually stringing together multiple syllables between his grunts!

April 11th, 2008: City National Bank's construction workers continue the abuse of our neighborhood with more rock breaking starting at 7:00 a.m. This is despite an email earlier in the week from Executive Vice President Craig Stilwell promising the excessive noise would end by Wednesday! Meanwhile the excessive traffic noise going to Walmart and the other stores continues late into the evening, destroying what SHOULD be a quiet Friday night! Channel 3 interviews my neighbor, John Clay, about the excessive noise from Walmart traffic. A camera sweeps from our front yard to Walmart showing how close we are to this monster! "It's a madhouse," says Clay, who has lived in our formerly quiet neighborhood for 37 years before Silly Scotty Edwards and the PCDA destroyed it! Of course, what John Clay doesn't tell WSAZ is how loud his motorcycle is compared to those "boom boxes" that he refers to in the news report. I learn that Hillary Clinton was on Walmart's Board of Directors. So Silly Scotty, Patty Hager, Lana Call, C. Brian Ellis, Steve Andes, and Joe Haynes, by supporting Walmart are also supporting Billary! And they WANT you to think they are Republicans. In reality, they are RINO's, (Republicans In Name Only) and are REALLY closet liberals!

April 12th, 2008: We awake to a beautiful West Virginia Saturday morning destroyed by excessive construction and traffic noise. Cars are streaming into the Walmart, and City National's rock-breaking tractor sends noise into our home about 1/4 of a mile away. Why these businesses don't learn to be more considerate to their neighbors is astounding! I leave a voice mail for Disputed Mayor Scott Edwards and call City Councilwoman Patty Hager. She does not answer. I meet with Governor Joe Manchin and discuss the excessive traffic noise as well as construction noise issues. He gives me the name of an assistant to call on Monday. I can't wait to talk with her. Hopefully, with the governor's office working on this we will make some progress so that Walmart can do business, City National can get built, and we can get some peace and quiet! I will also give the aide's name to my neighbors. Excessive traffic noise continues day and night up until midnight, coming from the Walmart parking lot and entry road. As I type this, I hear tires squeal from the Walmart parking lot at 11:55 p.m. Yes, it's a madhouse, alright, brought to us by the Madman Mayor at Hurricane City Hall! April 13th, 2008: At 12:45 a.m., I am awakened by the repeated honking of a car horn

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from the Walmart parking lot as well as a woman yelling at someone. It's quarter-til-one a.m.!!! I call Putnam Dispatch and ask that the culprits be arrested. I also call Walmart and speak with a manager-on-duty, Scott, who is very nice, and says he is sorry, however, it is too late. Apologies do LITTLE good AFTER we are awakened in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! Walmart simply needs to stop the EXCESSIVE NOISE COMING FROM ITS PROPERTY! IT'S THAT SIMPLE!!!!! RIGHT after I get off the phone with Scott, his street-sweeper arrives sending MORE excessive noise into our home at 1:06 a.m.! After I call Scott back, and leave a voice mail on the district manager's cell phone, the street sweeper leaves. However, the damage is done. Another situation of wake us up first, apologize second! I DO call Scott back and thank him for making the street sweeper leave. He says it's company has been asked before not to come in the middle of the night. Why it's company would even THINK about street-sweeping at 1:00 a.m. next to a neighborhood-ESPECIALLY on a weekend is unbelievable! Still, excessive traffic noise continues at 1:38 a.m. as I update this blog entry! Later in the day I call Walmart's customer relations and get the proverbial, "I'll make a note of that." Well, Wally-World, talk is cheap! Let's see some ACTION! And speaking of cheap talk, I stop at KFC for lunch. As I am driving out, some Neanderthal shouts, "Shut up about Walmart!" I make the standard offer, "Here's my house key, give me yours, and let's trade until my house is sold." The Neanderthal is slapped by his wife who says, "No way am I living next to Walmart!" A CLASSIC moment! More idiots who tells us to put up with the crap but refuses to put up with it themselves. Right around midnight, I am awakened by a car roaring on Walmart hill. Apparently, the abuse of our neighborhood will never end!

April 14th, 2008: A big-rig leaving Walmart's parking lot wakes our baby, who wakes me, at 5:39 a.m. This is EXACTLY why the state DOH needs to add an exit onto Orchard Park Road, so that traffic leaving and coming to Walmart doesn't come into our neighborhood! However the "rocket scientists" at DOH failed to do this and now WE suffer! Excessive traffic continues all day and night. After 10:15 p.m., construction noise from the KFC location disrupts our home. I call dispatch but don't anticipate anything being done!

April 15th, 2008: Our morning starts with a delivery truck waking us up at 5:30 a.m. as it arrives at Walmart. I can't make out the logo, however, it appears to be a beer truck. Again, there is NO reason to make deliveries so early and so noisy that it wakes a neighborhood! I call Walmart to complain and am told they take early deliveries and that companies deliver early to Walmart because Go-Mart and other stores only take deliveries after 8:00 a.m. Well, if the other stores stay in business and take deliveries during sensible hours, Walmart should do the same. I leave another message for Manchin's aide bout the excess traffic and noise. She did not return the last call!

April 16th, 2008: A typical day of excess traffic. I can't enjoy our front yard, and am disrupted all day in our home. Shortly after I retire for the night, a bright red sports car leaving Walmart's parking lot wakes me up.

April 17th, 2008: A car on Walmart's lot wakes me at 1:00 a.m. Early in the morning, a pizza delivery truck wakes me again as it drives down the road where trucks are banned. Then shortly after 8:30, John Clay, the neighbor that complained about cars with "boom boxes" to WSAZ, revs up his loud motorcycle right next to our home and wakes our baby! Hurricane neighbors are a piece of work!!! Why can't people be polite and not disrupt their neighbors? Excessive traffic and construction noise continues throughout the day and night as Silly Scotty Edwards and the City of Hurricane continue to allow their citizens to be abused!

April 18th, 2008: The abusive construction and traffic noise starts in very early in the morning. It's going to be another miserable day brought to us by the corrupt City of Hurricane and Putnam County "leaders." I call Joe Miller of the PPSD about the damage to my yard. Against my wishes, they put down seed and straw-again-to replace the GRASS that was torn out, against my wishes, last October. Miller arrogantly tells me that

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"You're not going to get grass, it's too expensive." Sorry, Joe, but I WILL get grass if I have to get a court order! Your crews tore grass out and they will REPLACE IT WITH GRASS! Well past 8:30 p.m., excessive "motion beeps" from the KFC site send noise into our home. This is in addition to the excessive traffic from the Walmart. I call Putnam Dispatch, however, nothing is done. I leave a voice mail for Mayor Edwards, but, as usual, he throws his constituent's rights out the window in favor of rude construction workers! Councilwoman Hager fails to answer her telephone. SHOCKING!!!

April 19th, 2008: The train wakes us up as it rolls through at about 7:25. We never were disturbed by the train until the hill in front of our home was blasted down to build the Wally World. I call Joe Miller from the PPSD and advise him that he must have grass put back on our property today. He hangs up on me. I will file ANOTHER complaint and, if necessary, get a court injunction to get the grass replaced and have him removed from the board. These arrogant jerks that thing they can needlessly destroy someone's property and fail to repair it properly must be removed from power. Excessive traffic noise continues through the day. I meet again with Governor Manchin at another candidate forum. He promises to put me in touch with someone at Walmart to work with about the noise issue. I also meet with several District 19 Delegates about a state-wide noise ordinance. This is also discussed with Manchin. After the forum, I run an errand then return home and listen to traffic noise in my home which keeps me from sleeping until nearly midnight.

April 20th, 2008: Excessive Walmart traffic disrupts our home day and night. At about 10:00 p.m., the street sweeper sends excessive noise into our home. Why won't Walmart be a good neighbor and let us enjoy our homes?

April 21st, 2008: Another day of excessive Walmart traffic noise. It starts early and continues until after 10:30 p.m. when a large pickup truck races up the road in front of our home, sending noise past our closed windows. During the day I receive an email from someone promising not to drive up the hill directly in front of our home. It is too bad that others don't show as much consideration and common sense. Walmart should block the roadway overnight so that no traffic runs up and down the hill in front of neighborhood homes. Hurricane PD should also vigorously enforce both the speed limit and the stop sign. Each would slow down cars and trucks that run over steel grates that are very noisy when tires hit them! A little common sense would make things better for the neighbors who are enduring Silly Scotty's STUPID plan to put a Wally World in a 35-year-old neighborhood! Edwards is the WORST mayor in West Virginia!

April 22nd, 2008: At 3:30 a.m. I am awakened by "motion beeps" from some sort of equipment. Also, a utility truck roars up the hill in front of our home right past the no truck sign to Walmart's front door. Walmart needs to show more consideration for its neighbors! Excessive traffic and construction noise continues through the day. Even past 8:30 at night, workers on the new KFC disrupt our neighborhood. It is amazing what the City of Hurricane allows these guys to get away with!

April 23rd, 2008: Excessive construction and traffic noise starts very early in the morning, continues through the day, and extends into the evening. I finally run out of patience and drive down to the KFC site after 9:00. A supervisor is still working past 9:00 p.m. and has the audacity to tell me that "We'll be done in a few months." Where do these people get off telling us that we should put up with their excessive noise for "a few more months?" If "A few more months" is a short time, then they won't mind quieting their work for only "A few more months!" I call the Teays Valley store and ask to speak with the owner, who, of course, I am told "Isn't available." Amazing how they will allow their contractors to disrupt our homes past 9:00 p.m., but don't stick around to listen to the complaints! Later, about 9:35 p.m., I am watching a baseball game on ESPN in my living room. Unfortunately, Walmart traffic, including cars with "booming" radios, disrupt the game. I call Walmart and am told by an assistant manager to call Lloyd in the morning. A lot of good THAT will do! These

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clowns all think the same way: Disrupt now, complain to someone else later!

April 24th, 2008:I call back Walmart as instructed (last night) to speak with Lloyd. However, I am told he isn't in the store today and unavailable. An assistant manager hangs up on me-twice. I call back and ask to speak with CEO Lee Scott. I am put on a line that rings endlessly. Then an operator comes back on the line and hangs up on me! These idiots would rather play with someone than solve a problem! I finally reach Lisa Hughes at KFC's local office in Charleston. She says she will contact the contractor to see about the noise issue. She also lists the typical lame excuses of 1) The project must be finished. (Oh REALLY? It's a KFC, not a hospital or school There's one 7 miles away. Life will go on if a KFC isn't built in Hurricane!) 2) Construction noise will happen. (No kidding, we only want it to stay on the job site which is about 100 yards from our home. Let US have peace and quiet). 3) A sound wall is expensive. (That's the cost of doing business near people that don't want to hear your loud construction noise. Don't like it? Build far away from people's homes.) And, like everyone else, Hughes is unwilling to live hear while the work is being done. She turns down the offer to trade homes until the project is finished! SHOCKING! Just another corporate person who is willing to tell US to live with their construction mess and isn't willing to live with it themselves! Meanwhile we can't enjoy our front yard, hear construction noise in our home, and know that this mess will continue for MONTHS! I receive another nasty email from a (Chicken crap) idiotic anonymous source telling me that if I stopped complaining about the noise, people would make less noise. What a MORON! If people stop disrupting our home, I will be HAPPY to end this blog! After an afternoon and evening in Huntington, I return home after 9:00 p.m. and am greeted with excessive traffic noise from Walmart's customers. There is NO reason why they have to use the entrance directly in front of our home! The lack of consideration is terrible!

April 25th, 2008: Right around 5:15 a.m., I am awakened by the excessive noise of large trucks charging up Walmart hill. Yet another day of rude treatment of our neighborhood begins! When I call KFC's Lisa Hughes about noisy construction, she rudely hangs up on me! So I call KFC's corporate office in Louisville. A woman in the President's office is VERY concerned about the issue. I get a call back from a KFC representative, however, we play telephone tag and don't hook up. We will see if there is a difference tomorrow and if crews give us the peace and quiet that we deserve. Hughes should be forced to live in this neighborhood and listen to the crap we put up with everyday! So should Mary Jo Thompson in Joe Manchin's office. She becomes the latest bureaucrat to betray West Virginians in favor of Arkansas-based Walmart. Despite Governor Joe Manchin's directive to call her about the excessive Walmart traffic noise, Thompson turns her back on our neighborhood and refuses to take my call today. Manchin needs to set his staff straight. It's about property rights and the rights of West Virginians, not about the rights of the Walton family! And Manchin wonders why people leave West Virginia! Had the DOH allowed the entrance/exit to be built on Orchard Park Road, neighbors would have far less traffic noise to endure each day! Manchin will be in town soon, and I will let him know what I think of his incompetent office staff. At 11:30 at night Walmart's street sweeper wakes us up. I call the store and the operator gives me the run-around. Finally, I am transferred to an assistant manager who gives me the usual too-late and lame apology, passes the buck to Lloyd Atkinson, claims he doesn't have his district manager's phone number (which I promptly provide) and says nothing can be done. You can plant 100 rows of corn in the Walmart parking lot with the fertilizer that their management spreads regarding the noise issue! Hurricane PD should arrest whoever is behind scheduling the street sweeper late at night and permanently impound the offending vehicle.

April 26th, 2008: Some MORON in the Walmart parking lot wakes us up in the middle of the night honking a car horn. More excessive traffic continues through the day with ANOTHER MORON blasting his car alarm shortly after noon. I call Walmart and ask for a manager. An assistant named Clemens hangs up on me, refusing to take responsibility for what happens on his parking lot. I leave a voice mail for Disputed Mayor Silly Scotty Edwards to meet at our home at 1:00 p.m. to put together a plan to leash his Wally

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World monster. We will see if he has enough integrity to show up. Of course, Edwards doesn't have enough integrity to show up or even call back. He no-shows his constituents because he stopped caring about us a long time ago. All the greedy politician wants is revenue for his town. Meanwhile, a KFC representative calls me. Tim Rook promises to work on the construction noise issue and talk to Lisa Hughes Monday to try to provide a way for us to get the peace and quiet we deserve. We have even provided them with our work schedules so that there are huge windows of time where they can work without having to worry about disturbing us! Let's see if KFC cares enough about its neighbors to do the right thing next week. Fortunately, today, there isn't any excessive construction noise coming from that work site. Unfortunately, excess traffic noise from Walmart disrupts our home and makes enjoying our front yard impossible! I go to A to Z Supermarket and do my weekly grocery shopping. It's nice to support local businesses that treat their neighbors with respect and dignity. Walmart should take notes! At 10:35 p.m., I am awakened by Walmart's street sweeper-again! This street sweeper, the store, its excessive traffic noise, the Hurricane City Council, crappy Disputed Mayor Silly Scotty Edwards, and the PCDA are menaces to a civilized society! I leave a voice mail for Edwards, who of course, has his head in the sand and ignores the reality of hell for this neighborhood that he has created and fails to return the call. An assistant manager named Joey says he will note the complaint, "see what I can do," and rudely hangs up. These people are OBNOXIOUS!

April 27th, 2008: We are awakened at 3:59 a.m. by a fire truck charging up the hill to Walmart. The building is not on fire and there is only one truck, so apparently this is yet another false alarm. A group of people, apparently employees, stand out in the parking lot and can be heard laughing from our home. At 4:15 a.m., a "Big John" hook and ladder truck from Teays Valley Volunteer Fire Department charges up the hill directly in front of our homes, siren wailing, But it parks away from the northeast section of the building and the firemen casually walk across the front as we hear more laughter from the group of employees. I am NOT laughing and want to go back to sleep! I drive over to take pictures and get some information. TVFD Firefighter Steve Connolley (sic), (who is also one of the City of Hurricane's attorneys and one of Putnam County Prosecutor Mark Sorsaia's assistant prosecutors that falsely charged me with telephone harassment last year) tells me that there "isn't an active fire" and never was. Instead, a sprinkler system meter set off the alarm. No water was sprayed. Lights flash into our windows for more than an hour. For no good reason! Instead, a group of innocent neighbors were harassed by unnecessary sirens at 4:00 a.m. due to a nuisance called Walmart! And volunteer firefighters were called out of bed very early on a Sunday morning due to a nuisance called Walmart! Scott Edwards, the PCDA, and Hurricane's City Council members should be forced to live next to this monster that they created! Walmart is a nuisance to our neighborhood! The company needs to show more consideration to its neighbors! The store should have been built next to Home Depot where it would not disrupt homes at 4:00 a.m.!!! Later in the day, I do some more shopping at Dollar Tree. As long as Walmart abuses us with excessive traffic noise and false fire alarms I will shop at their competition. When I arrive back at home around 1:00 p.m., my neighbor who was complaining to WSAZ about "boom boxes" in cars has his motorcycle, and one belonging to a friend, idling loudly in his driveway closest to our home. As they finally drive away, revving the engines, they wake our baby. This town needs a new motto: "HURRICANE: Uncivilized, Rude, Disruptive, and Proud of It!" Mayor Edwards should put that on the city's web site! Since my neighbor hates "boom boxes," maybe I will burn a Tupak CD, place a boom box in my window facing his house, crank it up REAL LOUD, and take a long drive to Lexington. Since he doesn't understand consideration, maybe a little street justice will get the point across! Walmart starts running its street sweeper again around 10:00 p.m., sending excessive noise into our home. This despite numerous REASONABLE requests that it run during the day or in the morning after 8:00 a.m. I call the store and an assistant manager who identified herself as Kathy hangs up on me. These people JUST DON'T GET IT! I try calling 1-800-Walmart to file another complaint, however, it closed at 6:00 p.m. How CONVENIENT for the neighborhood abusers! They can make our lives miserable at 10:00 p.m. or 4:00 a.m., but we can't file a complaint at those hours! We've had enough of the excessive noise waking our baby, so starting tonight, our child and my wife will spend

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the night at her mother's Charleston home during the week, instead of here. It's a pretty sad commentary that Walmart's rudeness has driven a baby, a mother, and a grandmother out of their home. My wife and her mother bought this home to have a wonderful place to raise a family. Now, because of the abuse of Silly Scotty Edwards and Walmart, we can't enjoy our home and have to evacuate most of our family due to the excessive and UNNECESSARY noise! Worse, I will only see my child on the weekends because I work in Huntington during the week when I am not publishing PutnumLIVE.com. At about 11:15 p.m., someone repeatedly honks a car horn in the Walmart parking lot waking me up. I call assistant manager Scott at Walmart who promises to take care of things. However, shortly after we finish talking, the same car horn sounds again. This is ABUSE at the hands of Disputed Mayor Scott Edwards! Welcome to Hurricane, Scott Edwards version of Hell on Earth!

April 28th, 2008: Excessive traffic noise continues day and night. Fortunately, the KFC construction crews stay off the site when I am at home before I leave for work. Unfortunately, my wife has had ENOUGH of the excessive traffic noise, and has joined her mother, who moved out of our home weeks ago, at her mother's other home in Charleston. That 4:00 a.m. false fire alarm at Walmart was "The straw that broke the camel's back." They will return here on the weekends, but are tired of being awakened in the middle of the night by excessive traffic noise from the Walmart. It's tough enough dealing with a seven-month-old baby's sleeping schedule without some idiot blowing their car horn, car alarms, and false fire alarms from an inconsiderate Wally World across the street! I wish I could leave, but someone has to stay home and watch our house as well as take care of the dogs during the week. The incompetent RUDE AND ARROGANT DISPUTED MAYOR SILLY SCOTTY EDWARDS, STEVE ANDES, AND JOE HAYNES ARE ALL TO BLAME! In fact, they ARROGANTLY refused to meet with us tonight about buy our home to get us out of the MESS that they created! Andes wants your vote on May 13th. Send the RUDE, ARROGANT, AND INCOMPETENT STEVE ANDES BACK TO PENNSYLVANIA! HE IS THE WORST COMMISSIONER IN THE HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY!

April 29th, 2008: At 4:24 a.m., a Lay's Potato Chip delivery truck charging up Walmart hill disrupts my early morning. When does Walmart expect its neighbors to be able to sleep? I call the store and am disconnected while being transferred to a manager. Coincidence? I doubt it. I call back and Scott apologizes, then hangs up. I am sure his apology is genuine. So is my need to sleep through the night. I call Putnam Dispatch which promises to send Hurricane PD. A lot of good that will do. They let Walmart wake us up on a regular basis! Meanwhile I will try to go back to sleep. THANK YOU Walmart!!! THANK YOU SCOTT EDWARDS!!!!! Shortly after 10:00 a.m., our neighbor fires up his crane and sends obnoxious and excessive noise into our home. These construction people need to understand that they are working in a neighborhood, surrounded by homes! I make a telephone call to someone at Frito Lay's corporate office near Dallas and he promises to investigate why their delivery truck was waking our neighborhood at 4:24 a.m. It's amazing that one has to call corporate offices to get common courtesy! Excessive Walmart traffic noise continues well past 10:00 p.m. Typical!

April 30th, 2008: Excessive construction and traffic noise starts early with traffic noise continuing well past 10:45 p.m. as cars roar up Walmart hill. During the day, tractors restrict access and exit from our home as they do work on the road next to the KFC. I don't know why they are working on the road as they did plenty of that last fall and winter. I guess they didn't have enough fun disrupting our neighborhood then, so they've come back for more!

May 1st, 2008: We start another month today of excessive construction noise and excessive traffic noise. At Governor Manchin's direction, I call Mary Jo Thompson in his office. She attacks me personally and refuses to deal with the issue. Then she hangs up. This bureaucrat is a disgrace to the State of West Virginia and should be fired. She is defying her governor's orders and is a part of the problem, not the solution. This will be personally conveyed to Manchin the next time I see him. I will NOT tolerate someone who earns a

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living with my taxes being abusive and uncooperative! At the recommendation of a reader who lives near a Walmart in another state, I contact the EPA in Washington, D.C. to see if Walmart is violating any air pollution laws and can be shut down. Adam Kushner, the head of the air pollution division for the entire United States, takes my call and promises to look into the issue. He also refers me to Phyllis Harris, a former colleague who now works for Walmart. She handles environmental issues and is not happy that our calls to Walmart's district manager are not being returned. I send her a link to this story and a story about the contractors not being paid, a copy of the citation for the blaster not having a license, and other photos that show how close our home is to the store. She promises to get back to me. I hope she does and that a solution can be worked out for Walmart to do business while allowing us the peace and quiet in our home and on our property that we deserve! But that was wishful thinking. Excessive traffic noise continues well into the night. A guest stops by for a visit and is stunned to learn how close we are to the Walmart. He thought we were on a hill above the store. About an hour after I retire for the night, I am awakened by Walmart's street sweeper at 11:25 p.m. When does Walmart expect us to sleep?

May 2nd, 2008: At 4:35 a.m., a train rolls through Hurricane waking me up. The train noise was never a problem until the hill in front of our home was destroyed to build Silly Scotty's Wally World!

May 3rd, 2008: Excessive traffic noise to Walmart wakes me up early, ruining another Saturday morning. I guess common courtesy is too much to ask for in Hurricane. One of the Charleston Newspapers prints a story about the City of Hurricane taking environmental steps with more electrical efficiency, etc. However, the reporter fails to point out that Hurricane allowed a pond to be filled in and a hillside to be destroyed to build a Wally-World. Oh the Hypocrisy of Disputed Mayor Silly Scotty Edwards and his cronies! These guys have turned doubletalk into a way of life! Sick and tired of the excessive noise, we take off for a weekend in Columbus. For the first time since Walmart opened, we get a very peaceful night of sleep in our hotel room without a Walmart in sight. Later we learn there is a Walmart in a shopping center about 1/4 of a mile away. Even though it is under expansion, we couldn't hear the construction noise from our hotel, indoors or outside. The leaders of Columbus were smart and allowed that Walmart to be built next to an interstate, NOT in a neighborhood! Silly Scotty needs to take a trip to Columbus and learn how to do things properly!

May 4th, 2008: We return home from Columbus to find my car covered with dust. It was only parked overnight. This is an example of how much dust has been blowing onto our yard and home since the hill was blasted down and the Walmart was opened. No doubt some of that dust is particulates from I-64 and is not healthy to breathe! Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo. I wonder if I can order pinatas with Mayor Peak's face, along with the former Hurricane City Council, Gary Walton's face, Silly Scotty Edwards' face, Ben Newhouse's face, and faces of the current Hurricane City Council. We can line up the Walmart neighbors to take swings! We can also allow Scott Edwards' ex -wives!

May 5th, 2008: Excessive construction noise from the KFC and City National Bank sites ruin my morning as the noise is combined with excessive traffic noise from the Walmart. As I come home from an early appointment, my neighbor, riding his motorcycle on the wrong side of the road nearly collides with my car. Don't people have any common sense or courtesy?

May 6th, 2008: I am awakened early by the "motion beeps" of construction equipment. Excessive traffic noise soon follows as I endure another day of living near a Wally World. The excessive noise continues through the day, including Scott Edwards honking his horn for no reason as he enters the parking lot. This from the guy that wants Hurricane to sign on to the Kyoto Protocol for environmental reasons.

May 7th, 2008: At 3:48 a.m., a pair of cars storm up Walmart hill waking me up in the

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middle of the night. Another day of abuse allowed by Silly Scotty! Excessive construction and traffic noise continues day and night as workers continue with the new KFC, City National Bank, and are starting another fast-food restaurant down the hill from our home. I leave a voice mail for Mary Jo Thompson in Governor Manchin's office challenging her to stop the personal attack on me and deal with the excessive noise issue. Another voice mail is left for Phyllis Harris at Walmart. Neither return my call. I speak with a woman at Frito-Lay about the very early deliveries that wake me up. But all she wants to do is tell me that "she will look into it." All that needs to be done is to tell delivery trucks not to arrive until after sunrise. It's REALLY that simple! At 11:15 p.m., Walmart's street sweeper wakes me up. It is raining outside. There is no need for a street sweeper during the rain when any dirt is already being washed away. What happened to Scott Edwards' Kyoto Protocol for less emissions? I call Walmart and the Assistant Manager, Scott, hangs up on me. These people just don't get it! We SHOULD be allowed to sleep at night! Keep in mind that cars on the Walmart lot woke me up at 3:48 this morning!

May 8th, 2008: Another day of excessive construction and Walmart traffic noise. It runs into the night as cars charge up the hill, radios blaring. For the second night in a row I am awakened after 11:00 p.m. by noise from Walmart's parking lot. Last night it was the street sweeper in the rain. Tonight is a car alarm. I call the store and an Assistant Manager named Joey apologizes then hangs up. Too late, I am already awake! Then, shortly after I go back to sleep, the street-sweeper returns and wakes me shortly before midnight. Another call to Joey and he says, "I'll go talk to them." Too late. I'm awakened again by a street sweeper on a rainy night when it isn't needed!

May 9th, 2008: At 5:49 a.m., a delivery truck and a car wake me up as each take different routes into Wally World. I don't know when the leaders of Hurricane expect us to sleep. This is only a few hours after I was awakened twice late last night, once by a car alarm, once by the street sweeper. This store is a nuisance! Excessive noise continues through the day and night, including loud cars coming onto the Walmart parking lot after 11:00 p.m., disrupting our home again! Adding insult to injury, Walmart's street sweeper shows up again at about 11:15 adding to the excessive noise. When does Walmart expect us to sleep?

May 10th, 2008: It's the Saturday before Mother's Day and Walmart is slammed with shoppers. This means excessive traffic and traffic noise for our neighborhood. I leave to cover a story and sit at the stop sign down the hill for at least 10 minutes before I have to "gun it" to slip out between cars. All day long I hear cars slam across the grates in the road in front of our home. This is RIDICULOUS! The excess traffic noise continues well past midnight! Walmart needs to find a solution to do business without disrupting our neighborhood!!!

May 11th, 2008: It's Mother's Day and Pentecost, so you should think Walmart would show respect for the mothers and children in our neighborhood by allowing them a day of peace and quiet with their children. Guess again! After a wonderful dinner with my wife, mother-in-law, and other mothers, children, and fathers in our family, we arrive home, park our car in back of our home, step outside, and are immediately greeted with the sound of a car alarm coming from Walmart's parking lot! UGLY! Keep in mind that on Easter Sunday, there were THREE car alarms that disrupted our day! Excessive traffic noise continues through the day and night with the street sweeper disrupting our home again after 10:45 p.m. on a rainy night. Why doesn't Walmart respect sacred holidays and its neighbors? Ask Walmart!

May 12th, 2008: Excessive traffic noise continues to be a problem. I get a call from a customer service person at Frito Lay who tries to convince me that early morning deliveries cannot be avoided. C'mon, lady! We put a man on the moon in 1969 and you can't figure out how not to wake a neighborhood in the year 2008 while delivering corn chips? These people have NO credibility!

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May 13th, 2008: I spend most of the night with my wife in the emergency room at CAMC. Thankfully, she will be OK. I come home to get a few hours of sleep before having to drive back to Charleston to visit her in the hospital. I arrive at 4:30, go straight to bed, and am awakened at 4:55 by a rather loud Coors truck charging up Walmart's hill. Just what I need on a sleep-deprived morning. Walmart's Assistant Manager, Kathy, doesn't even apologize when I call her. She just says, "I'll let them know," then rudely hangs up. Later in the morning, construction equipment wakes me up. It's impossible to get peace and quiet in this neighborhood! Excessive traffic noise continues throughout the day and night, with Walmart's street sweeper disrupting our home at 10:42 p.m., followed by a motorcycle revving across the parking lot at 10:53. Another night of sleep interruptions "courtesy" of Walmart!

May 14th, 2008: Today starts with excessive traffic noise shortly after midnight, waking me up again. I manage to sleep until about 7:30 in the morning before traffic wakes me up again. Another typical day of excessive Walmart traffic noise. It's capped off by Walmart's street sweeper waking my up shortly after 11:00 p.m. When does Walmart expect me to sleep?

May 15th, 2008: Excessive traffic noise through the day and night disrupts our home. I am not able to go to sleep until after midnight because of the noise.

May 16th, 2008: Just hours after I am kept up past midnight by excessive traffic noise, early -morning deliveries and traffic wakes me up again. I call Coors Beer CEO Peter Swinburn in Colorado and he assures me that the Coors truck will no longer deliver at 5:00 a.m. It's too bad other companies are not as responsible as Coors.

May 17th, 2008: Another Saturday from hell as excessive traffic noise from Walmart ruins what should be a nice day in our front yard. While at Dollar Tree a woman stops me and tells me to stop "whining" about Walmart. I offer her my house key to trade until we sell our home. She cringes and walks away. Another Wally World lover who isn't willing to live next to their monster but expects MY FAMILY to put up with all of the crap!

May 18th, 2008: After the storm rolls out, it's a glorious West Virginia day. I take our 8 3/4 month old son out on the front porch to relax. He loves getting outside. But then a car horn starts blasting at the same time that a large pickup truck charges up the hill in front of our house. The loud noise scares our son who bursts into tears. I have to take him back inside to calm him down. A few minutes later I try to take him to the porch again. As I open the door and step outside, he starts screaming and grabs onto me. Thank you Walmart! My wife bought our home to have a nice place in a quiet neighborhood to raise our family! Now we can't enjoy our front yard? What kind of a company would allow a baby to be scared in order to sell merchandise and groceries? Walmart!!!!!!

May 19th, 2008: A typical day next to Wal-Zilla. Excessive traffic noise continues day and night, past 11:00 p.m. with excessive construction noise during the day. I don't know why people in large trucks insist on charging up the hill in front of our home late at night. It only shows their ignorance and inconsideration for other people.

May 20th: Shortly after 2:00 a.m., a pickup truck roars up Wal-Zilla hill, waking our baby, our dogs, and me. It's a long time before I can get Matthew back to sleep. Thank you, Walmart! The rudeness of your customers and your inability to take responsibility for your traffic noise is incredible! Excessive traffic noise continues day and night, including Walmart's street sweeper around 11:00 p.m.

May 21st, 2008: Another typical day of disruptions from excessive construction and traffic noise. It starts very early and ends very late as inconsiderate people and construction workers disrupt our neighborhood, stomping all over our rights for peace and quiet.

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May 22nd, 2008: Run for the Wall stops at Walmart this year, sending excessive noise from hundreds of motorcycles into our neighborhood and our home. Walmart refuses to stop the noise before it happens as does Hurricane Chief of Police W. "Mike" Mullins who promises to ticket each biker but fails to back up his promise with action. In past years, Run for the Wall, a normally great event to benefit veterans, stopped near Midway Ford. This is an appropriate location in the middle of a business district, not across the street from homes. However, Walmart chose to host the event ignoring past noise problems that the store has caused. When I called the store to complain, an Assistant Manager named Mary had the audacity to call me "unpatriotic." Sorry, Mary, the patriots that founded this country believed in property rights. Standing up for your family IS patriotic. There is a proper place for Run for the Wall and that is away from people's homes. It's a matter of common courtesy! May 23rd, 2008: Another typical day of excessive traffic noise from Walmart customers and vendors. It starts with loud delivery trucks in the morning and continues through the day. At 10:21 p.m., another car alarm in the Walmart parking lot sends excessive noise into our home. Walmart says it wants to be a good neighbor, but fails to curtail the excessive noise coming from its parking lot. Adding insult to injury, Walmart's street sweeper arrives late at night, sending excessive noise into our home until well after 11:30 p.m. Another holiday weekend ruined by Walmart's failure to be a good neighbor!

May 24th, 2008: Another holiday weekend of excessive traffic noise from Walmart's parking lot. At 10:26 as I am trying to put our eight-month-old baby to sleep for his mid-morning nap, a car alarm sounds off in Walmart's parking lot and a motorcycle roars up the hill. I call an assistant manager who wants me to ID the car. That's her job. In fact, she should tow it. Better yet, shut down the store until they find a way to curtail the excessive noise! Walmart has a right to do business. However, their rights stop at our property line. If they can't keep the excessive noise away from our home, shut it down until they learn to be responsible! I call Councilwoman Patty Hager to complain and she hangs up on me. Hager needs to resign. She is a worthless councilwoman who does not care about her town's citizens! I also leave a voice mail for Disputed Mayor Silly Scotty Edwards. I doubt he will respond. A few moments later, the car alarm starts sounding again. I also leave a message for Councilman Brian Ellis. All we want is peace and quiet on our property and in our home. Walmart and the City of Hurricane should honor this common-sense and common-courtesy expectation!

May 25th, 2008: The excessive noise from Walmart traffic continues into Sunday of this holiday weekend. Construction work also continues at the KFC site. The City of Hurricane allows this harassment of its citizens because it doesn't care about us, all it cares about is money. Or does it? I drive over to K-Mart to exchange some clothes that my wife bought at an ethical business that doesn't disrupt its neighbors, and who do I see shopping? Wearing a bright-colored City of Hurricane T-shirt? Shopping OUTSIDE of the City of Hurricane? Spending City of Hurricane salary OUTSIDE of the City of Hurricane? Benjamin Newhouse's wife? The City of Hurricane pays Benjamin Newhouse more than $60,000 a year to "manage" the city. He refuses to live in town, meaning he doesn't pay property taxes in Hurricane. The LEAST he can do is shop in Hurricane and help the city get more B&O taxes! But, NO! His wife is spending money at K-Mart OUTSIDE the city! What does K-Mart carry that Hurricane businesses don't carry? We'd like to know. Remember, this is the same city manager that told my family to move-TWICE because we didn't like the Walmart construction noise. Ben needs to move INTO OUR NEIGHBORHOOD and have to tolerate the excessive traffic noise that his terrible planning allows to happen every day! Then his wife can walk to Wally World to shop and spend money in Hurricane!

May 26th, 2008: It's a holiday, however, Walmart disrespects our neighborhood again with excessive traffic noise. Walmart says it wants to be a good community citizen. However, it's traffic and delivery noise is a nuisance!

May 27th, 2008: A Cavalier Meats truck disrupts our home with its early morning delivery

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and exit at Walmart. I call and speak to a Mr. Logan, the owner. He hangs up on me. Why can't these vendors show some consideration for the Walmart neighbors? Why do people think it's OK to constantly disrupt people in their homes? This is RUDE! Later in the morning, those irritating "motion beeps" from construction equipment down the hill. It's an ongoing assault be inconsiderate people who demand to earn a living at the expense of our neighborhood! Excessive construction and traffic noise continue through the day. Walmart even assault's our neighborhood with another post 11:00 p.m. running of its street-sweeper on a rain-soaked parking lot. Ludicrous!

May 28th, 2008: Our morning starts with those irritating "motion beeps" from the construction site down the hill. Excessive traffic noise from Walmart adds to the problems as our neighbor from "you know where" doesn't take proper measures to curtail excessive traffic noise.

May 29th, 2008: Another typical Thursday of excessive traffic and construction noise. Not much else to say. Our neighborhood is shown complete disrespect from before sunrise to nearly midnight.

May 30th, 2008: A false fire alarm at Dollar Tree, sends fire trucks screaming past our homes. This is the second false fire alarm at the Hurricane Marketplace in the past few months. These false alarms disrupt our neighborhood and waste the time and resources of our volunteer fire departments. Motion beeps, car horns, the revving of engines, and an 11:00 p.m. street sweeper. New York City? NO! Hurricane, West Virginia. Silly Scotty Edwards' idea of "paradise!"

May 31st, 2008: It's Saturday, and we would like to enjoy a nice day in our front yard. But we can't. Not with Walmart's excessive traffic noise!

June 1st, 2008: Once again we enter another month of excessive construction and traffic noise. Our Sunday of tranquility in our neighborhood is destroyed by rude drivers that roar past our home up Walmart hill.

June 2nd, 2008: Another day of excessive construction and traffic noise. A fire alarm at Dollar Tree send s fire trucks screaming up the hill late in the afternoon, sirens wailing in front of our homes, disrupting our day. Not the fault of the firefighters, but this is the second time we have had to deal with a fire alarm at Dollar Tree in less than a week. Construction workers installing the KFC sign work late into the evening, well past 5:00, adding excessive noise to our neighborhood. They should use quieter equipment and stop at 5:00 p.m. so that we can have some peace and quiet!

June 3rd, 2008: Nothing significantly unusual about today. Excessive construction noise and traffic noise ruins another day in our neighborhood!

June 4th, 2008: It's my mother's birthday. However, when I try to call her on the phone, I can barely here her above the din of the excessive traffic noise from Walmart. The disrespect of our neighborhood continues another day and night!

June 5th, 2008: More excessive construction and traffic noise from Walmart and the KFC. Another day in Silly Scotty's "paradise" of tractors, trucks, and too many cars!

June 6th, 2008: Morning construction and traffic noise wakes me up. We leave town for the weekend, looking forward to some peace and quiet.

June 8th, 2008: We return from a weekend out-of-state. Immediately, we notice the constant excessive traffic noise. It's a sad homecoming.

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June 9th, 2008: My wife and I spend the day at home taking care of our son who is cutting new teeth. Our living room "rumbles" all day from the excessive traffic heading into Walmart. Another miserable day thanks to Silly Scotty and his Wally World buddies! Tomorrow the WV Supreme Court hears arguments in the Cole v. Edwards case. I hope they toss Edwards out on his backside so that we can have a fair mayor that respects the rights of citizens!

June 10th, 2008: A 5:00 a.m. delivery truck to Walmart wakes our baby. Why don't people show more consideration? There is NOTHING that MUST be delivered at 5:00 a.m.! NOTHING! Excessive traffic and construction noise continues through the day and into the night. At 11:50 p.m. traffic rumbles up Walmart hill sending excessive noise into our home.

June 11th, 2008: Those irritating "motion beeps" and excessive traffic noise ruin my morning. We are prisoners in our home, unable to enjoy a peaceful life anymore.

June 12th, 2008: My morning starts with early excessive traffic and continues with excessive construction noise from the new KFC. I speak to a supervisor on the site who demands that we move. I tell him to cut me a check, but he fails to back up his words with any action. Just another dumb-butt with no brains treating neighbors rudely and refusing to put his money where his mouth is. I call KFC's corporate person and lodge another complaint. I also learn that the WV Supreme Court will hear Sam Cole's appeal, but won't rule on it for months. What a JOKE! Justice in West Virginia doesn't exist! Today is the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the bogus election of Silly Scotty Edwards! Hurricane's Disputed Mayor marks one year of scam leadership! When I come home from work, KFC has its signage turned on. More wasting of energy for a store that isn't opened yet!

June 13th, 2008: Friday the 13th starts with Walmart's street sweeper waking me shortly after midnight. Why doesn't Walmart show some consideration for its neighborhood? I call Assistant Manager Joey who says he will "see what I can do." Sorry, damage is done. Even if Joey asks the street sweeper to stop, once again, I lost sleep. Walmart needs to sweep its parking lot before 9:00 p.m.

June 14th, 2008: Putnam County's "leaders" blow a 9:00 meeting with our neighborhood. Their ARROGANCE AND INCOMPETENCE IS APPALLING AND IS AN EMBARRASSMENT TO PUTNAM COUNTY! We spend most of the day without electricity after a construction worker at the KFC screws up and takes out the power. AEP's failure to properly design an electrical grid allows one person's screwup to stop power to our neighborhood. Worse, AEP fails to fix the situation for about six hours. INEXCUSABLE! We need a new electric company that knows how to properly take care of customers! When I call Silly Scotty Edwards to complain, he fails to return the call. What a WORTHLESS PIECE OF ---- mayor! Equally worthless is Putnam County Commission President Steve "Moonlighting" Andes. I reach him at Goody's where he is ignoring the problems that the PCDA development started. The Worthless Commissioner hangs up on me! Andes needs to resign and take his sorry carcass back to Pennsylvania where rude, arrogant worthless politicians are appreciated!!! I hope he gets waxed in November's election so that Putnam County will get some real leadership!

June 15th, 2008: It's a glorious West Virginia Day, and it's my first Father's Day. I would LOVE to take Matthew out into the front yard to play, unfortunately, evil politicians have put a Wally World across the street and fail to protect our right to peace and quiet in our yard. I resent their stupidity and inconsiderate arrogance! We are forced to take our son to the Putnam County Park in Eleanor for a peaceful afternoon. Hell doesn't burn hot enough for the morons responsible for destroying our neighborhood! This is the second year our peace and quiet was destroyed on Father's Day. Last year a construction Neanderthal was cutting bricks at 6:38 a.m.

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June 16th, 2008: Early excessive traffic noise disrupts our home. Early in the morning I contact KFC's corporate office and file a complaint about the power outage Saturday. I get the usual runaround and am told to call an 800 number where they simply take a report. I'll call back for an executive after 8:00 a.m. I will also file another complaint against AEP with the West Virginia Public Service Commission in Charleston today. There is no excuse for taking nearly six hours to restore our electricity Saturday afternoon. I finally reach a very nice man named Gary Masterson. He says he will contact the franchisee's manager, Lisa Hughes, and ask her to work with us for a quieter environment while the construction finishes. I finally reach Senator Mike Hall by telephone. When he didn't return my calls, I had to use someone else's line. Hall had the audacity to tell me he "was going to call" me back. Yea, right! He hasn't returned a call in months. Instead of addressing his colossal failure of not introducing and passing a state noise ordinance, Hall attacked my personality. Let's see, Senator, you have FAILED your obligation to your constituents for TWO STRAIGHT SESSIONS! Stop making things personal and get your act together! People deserve protection against excessive noise. THAT'S THE BOTTOM LINE!!! It should be noted that some of the RECENT excessive construction noise comes from the KFC project which is being built on land that Hall was involved in selling! SENATOR HALL-PASS THE NOISE ORDINANCE THIS WEEK OR RESIGN!

June 17th, 2008: Still waiting to hear back from Senator Mike Hall. Obviously he and the other legislators representing our are aren't serious about noise reduction. They see business growth and noise as a great thing to raise more money for them to spend. Meanwhile, we are stuck with another day of excessive construction and traffic noise.

June 18th, 2008: Another day of excessive traffic noise. KFC is looking like its ready to go. It wasted a bunch of energy lighting up the building and parking lot. No need for all of that since it isn't scheduled to open until Friday.

June 19th, 2008: More excessive traffic noise. In addition, Walmart's mowing its grass out across the way from our home and sending more noise from the mower. Another day of peace and quiet destroyed by Wally World! Midway through the day, those irritating "motion beeps" invade our home. Traffic noise adds to the mess. The Herald Dispatch reports that the KFC is delaying its opening until June 27th because they don't have enough employees. That just breaks my heart! After the excessive construction noise we were forced to tolerate, I don't feel sorry for the owners at all!

June 20th, 2008: Another day of excessive traffic noise. KFC fails to open on time. All that excessive noise for an empty restaurant! At least we get a reprieve from the traffic it will bring. I may have the opportunity to move to California until we sell our house. Scott Edwards is quoted in a Charleston Newspaper. He is whining about Sam Cole's lawsuit. Be a man, Silly Scotty, and quit your whining! You are an embarrassment to Hurricane and Putnam County! You are an INCOMPETENT mayor! Your election is tainted and was improperly operated. Move back to Cross Lanes! Walmart runs its street sweeper close to midnight, sending excessive noise into our home.

June 21st, 2008: Walmart runs a pro-environment advertisement on Playhouse Disney. The ad fails to show the destruction in Hurricane. The destroyed hill. The thousands of burned and destroyed trees, or the filled-in pond. Tell the whole truth, Walmart! The day continues with excessive traffic noise. KFC is STILL closed, meaning we were enforced to endure excessive construction noise for a store that sits unopened.

June 22nd, 2008: The Lord's Day doesn't bring us a break from the excessive traffic noise from Walmart. We leave town for a family reunion in the woods near Summersvillle. It is SO NICE not to hear traffic noise all afternoon. However, as soon as we return and open our car doors, we are inundated with the noise again. IT NEVER ENDS!!! Two of my wife's nieces visiting from Texas comment about how UGLY the Walmart is. Like us, they

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miss the beautiful woods and the peace and quiet.

June 23rd, 2008: They're Baaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!!! Not satisfied with more than a year of terrorizing our neighborhood with excessive construction noise building the Walmart, crews and their loud equipment are crawling on our private road removing a fence from Walmart's property. When I advise them that our road is not a public street, they give me attitude. I advise them to call Judge Norbert "Ed" Eagloski's office to get a copy of the ruling (the one they were given in October!) as I drive away to go to work. When I come home, the ugly tractors are parked on Walmart's property.

June 24th, 2008: Crews from Raynes and Sons tearing down the fence wake me up early in the morning. Why don't they show some common courtesy and common sense and keep the noise away from our home? I go out to speak with a supervisor who tells me to move. I advise him to cut me a check for $400,000 and I will IMMEDIATELY call the moving van! He declines. Another person running his mouth that won't back his words with his wallet! I'll add his name to the long list of stupid people!!!

June 25th, 2008: Good morning from John Clay! At 5:35 a.m. he fires up his motorcycle, lets it idle, and wakes our baby who is battling a cold. What consideration for the neighborhood, John? Why don't you park your bike on the side of your house next to your son's home and away from our home? You have been asked several times! This is the same man that complained to WSAZ-TV-3 about the "boom box" noise coming from cars that visit Walmart. His motorcycle is noisier. Oh the hypocrisy! Shortly thereafter a tractor comes up our private road, and another starts working on Walmart's side of the guard rail. Each send excessive noise into our home including those very annoying motion beeps! I call Walmart and an assistant manager named Mary hangs up on me! How rude! Another assistant says he doesn't know who the crews work for. Walmart needs to learn to be a good neighbor! Later in the morning the parade of excessive traffic noise starts. Another miserable day brought to us by Hurricane's incompetent leadership! My lawsuit for my false arrest is thrown out by the judge who somehow missed the memo about The First Amendment and Freedom of the Press. We are planning an appeal to the West Virginia Supreme Court. Adding insult to injury, when I return home, I can barely get up our road which is mostly blocked by a construction truck. The noise from the tractor is horrible and can be heard indoors with our windows closed. TRANSLATION: Another typical day in Silly Scotty's "Kingdom" a town being run into the ground by INCOMPETENT LEADERSHIP!!!

June 26th, 2008: My wife sends a letter to the PCDA and Putnam County Commission expecting a buyout. Gary Walton calls me at home and hangs up. Apparently the PCDA does not want development on this hill. I reach Steve Andes at his other job in Charleston. He also hangs up on me. Andes is moonlighting and not working in Putnam County where he belongs! He needs to come to his office in Putnam County and earn his $36,000 salary! So does Joe Haynes, and so does Gary Tillis. These men took an oath of office to serve Putnam County. The moonlighting needs to stop! We don't pay them to moonlight! I also call Commissioner Tillis on his cell phone. He is in Washington, D.C. and hangs up on me. Joe Haynes is moonlighting at his AEP job. He also hangs up on me. It's time for the "Three Blind Mice" to get to work and take care of this neighborhood! Excessive construction equipment noise invades our neighborhood all day. And at 11:33 p.m., a car alarm from the Walmart parking lot wakes me up. Shortly thereafter, the street sweeper keeps me up until midnight. Thank you Walmart for another night of destroyed sleep!

June 27th, 2008: The new KFC opens, bringing more traffic to an already traffic-saturated neighborhood. It's a great -looking building, however, they should have required all of the cars to enter off Hurricane Creek Road. I call Ben Newhouse for a quote about the KFC opening and he goes off on me before hanging up. Ben needs a hobby! After 11:00 p.m., Walmart's street sweeper wakes me up. When will Wally World start showing some courtesy to its neighbors and schedule the street sweeper during the day?

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June 28th, 2008: After an early-morning Walmart traffic wake -up call, we evacuate for a week in California, far from the corruption of Hurricane. It will be nice to get a full-night's sleep, and not deal with traffic, construction, and car alarm noise. Family members will stay in our home to make sure that Walmart customers don't help themselves to our belongings! While at the Columbus, Ohio, airport, (where I am writing this) I meet a family from Putnam County. They can't believe how close the Walmart was built to our home!

June 29th, 2008: We wake up in a quiet hotel room in Atlanta without a Walmart in sight! What a relief from Silly Scotty's monster!

June 30th, 2008: Now in Ontario, California, we have peace and quiet away from Walmart and the excessive traffic noise that comes with it. It's sad that we have to leave our home to get peace and quiet! However, that's what we have to do in the corrupt City of Hurricane! BB&T Bank fails to overnight a debit card to me as promised and paid for. When I return to West Virginia I wil l change PutnumLIVE.com's account to a bank that understands customer service.

July 1st, 2008: Another quiet day without excessive Walmart traffic noise. Putnam County Commission President Stephen H. "Moonlighting" Andes arrogantly refuses to read a letter in today's meeting that my wife wrote about the PCDA's destruction of our neighborhood. Andes is desperately trying to keep the issue from the public to cover his Walmart screwup! PutnumLIVE.com will publish the letter when I arrive home, further exposing the PCDA and Andes' incompetence, screwups and arrogance! Speaking of screwups, BB&T still hasn't delivered my check card. Time for PutnumLIVE.com to find a new bank!

July 2nd, 2008: More peace and quiet without Walmart traffic noise. I buy a Mega-Millions ticket hoping I can win my way out of the Walmart mess. I call Steve Andes to ask why he wouldn't allow my wife's letter to be read in Tuesday's meeting. The arrogant, incompetent politician hangs up on me! BB&T now admits they failed to overnight my card. But they refuse to send me one today. This bank refuses to solve the problem it created! One year ago today, Hurricane's Disputed Mayor Silly Scotty Edwards promised to enforce the town's noise ordinance from excessive noise coming from the Walmart site. One year later, we are still waiting on Edwards to back up his words with action. In year two, will Edwards continue his lies? Or will he discover integrity?

July 3rd, 2008: Another day without excessive Walmart traffic noise. It's too bad we had to travel away from our home to get the peace and quiet that we are entitled to have! BB&T still has failed to deliver my card. I will be closing PutnumLIVE.com's account when I return to West Virginia. I will also be filing a formal complaint with the NC Banking Commission as soon as it is faxed to my hotel. Late in the day it STILL has not arrived, so I file the formal complaint. Commissioner Andes and Gary Walton still have not responded to my wife's buyout proposal letter. These two CLAIM they want development and jobs in Putnam County. However, they fail to do what it takes! Oh the hypocrisy! Both need to resign and be replaced with forward-thinking people that REALLY want positive things for Putnam County! Buying out the Walmart neighbors will bring businesses, increased revenue, and jobs, while moving out neighbors who are innocent victims of Andes, Walton's and Scott Edwards terrible planning. With a buyout EVERYBODY WINS! Without a buyout, Andes, Walton and Edwards keep Putnam County from succeeding! We need LEADERS in Putnam County, not LOSERS like we have now!

July 4th, 2008: Someone emails me Walmart's new logo. Walmart doesn't need a new logo. Walmart needs to start treating its neighbors with respect!

July 5th, 2008: We spend our day traveling back to West Virginia, dreading living across the

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street from Silly Scotty's monster!

July 6th, 2008: We return home from Southern California. Walmart is obscured by a morning fog. Definitely an improvement on the view! Beats looking at a super center across the street! However, the fog can't obscure the excessive traffic noise. The ugly noise brought to us by Silly Scotty, Gary Walton and Steve "Moonlighting" Andes disrupts our home on Sunday morning and continues into the afternoon. After the fog lifts, the Only a MORON would put a Walmart in the middle of a neighborhood!

July 7th, 2008: I still don't have my ATM card from BB&T, however, after heavy discussions with an executive, they promise I will get it tomorrow and "take care of me" for my troubles. I hope that's true. During the day I try to watch video of my son meeting his grandparents, aunt, and uncle in Southern California, but the audio is drowned out by excessive traffic noise coming in and out of Walmart's parking lot. As I type this at 10:25 p.m., "thumping" from a bass-unit in a car at Walmart disrupts our home-above the sound of our television!

July 8th, 2008: My morning starts up with a 12:15 wake-up call from Walmart's street sweeper. Thanks to the scumbag politicians who brought us Wally World! I call the store's Assistant Manager, Brad, who says, "I'll see what I can do." Brad needs to send the street sweeper to Steve Andes' and Scott Edwards' neighborhood! I appear before the Putnam County Commission and read the letter written by my wife. Steve Andes and Joe Haynes both ignore me the entire time in a blatant show of disrespect. These two need to resign! They have allowed the PCDA to destroy our neighborhood and refuse to take responsibility for their agency's actions! Andes and Haynes are arrogant, political incompetents! Excessive noise continues through the day. Then at night, well past 11:00 p.m., our home is disrupted by noise from Walmart's street sweeper. Remember, the street sweeper woke me up at 12:15 a.m. this morning. From midnight to midnight, we are victims of excessive noise from Walmart. When do we get to sleep?

July 9th, 2008: I appear at a PCDA leadership committee meeting at Bob Evans to read my wife's letter. However, as soon as I sit down, Board of Directors President Rick Slater adjourns the meeting and everyone walks away. Outside the restaurant, I am physically attacked by one of the men attending the meeting. Why doesn't the PCDA buy all of us out? The PCDA says it wants to create jobs. If it really does, the PCDA will buy out the rest of our neighborhood and develop it for jobs. Instead, it tells the public it wants jobs but refuses to develop prime Real Estate next to Walmart. The PCDA is a FRAUD that is playing politics instead of economic growth. If you want more restaurants, stores, and other jobs in Putnam County, tell the PCDA to buy out the Walmart neighbors! With a buyout, new jobs and businesses are created, and the neighbors that have been disrupted by the PCDA Walmart fiasco can move on with our lives. A buyout is a win-win!

July 10th, 2008: I do a little research and learn that Steve Andes and Ben Newhouse live about 2 blocks from each other. Both in quiet neighborhoods. Let these political hypocrites demand that WE put up with CONTINUOUS EXCESSIVE NOISE from Walmart. What kind of NEANDERTHALS demand that citizens put up with EXCESSIVE NOISE while THEY live in QUIET neighborhoods? The Walmart street sweeper wakes me up shortly before midnight. It races up the road in front of our home, making unnecessary, excessive noise. When I call the store, the Manager, Lloyd Atkinson takes the call, then sets the phone down. I hear it drag across the table, then he puts me on hold. When I call back, he won't take the call. Why does Walmart allow its manager and street sweeper to continuously abuse its neighbors? In the morning I will call the corporate office as well as the newspaper in Bentonville, Arkansas. It's time to get the word out about the crap we are putting up with on a daily basis.

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July 11th, 2008: Workers at the construction storage yard next door wake me up early moving equipment. Later, when I drive down the hill to check for mail, they block the road and start screaming at me and threatening me. Idiots like them give the construction industry a bad name. I call Putnam Dispatch and ask for an officer to come over. I never see an officer. Excessive lights for Walmart's parking lot continue to shine onto our property and light up our windows.

July 12th, 2008: Another day of typical excessive traffic noise with a late-night street-sweeper waking me up.

July 13th, 2008: It's Sunday, however we don't get a break from excessive traffic noise which is worse on the weekends. I spend most of the day taking lots of pictures at the Putnam County Fair. Worn out, I head home to sleep, but shortly before midnight Walmart's street-sweeper wakes me up. I go to the store to speak with Assistant Manager Scott who rudely blows me off and refers me to 800-Walmart which is closed. Walmart needs to treat its neighbors with more respect!

July 14th, 2008: I call Lloyd Atkinson about his midnight street-sweeper. He rudely hangs up on me. Excessive noise continues throughout the day and night. I am awakened shortly before midnight by people yelling in Walmart's parking lot, then kept awake by cars until well past midnight.

July 15th, 2008: My morning starts with excessive traffic noise starting at midnight from the night before. Very early I am awakened by landscape workers at Walmart directly across from my home. When I drive over to complain, one calls me an a-hole. In addition to the landscaper's noise, trucks from Cummings, Asplundh, and Cavalier Meats drive up the road in front of our home-where a sign directs truck traffic to another roadway. I call Lloyd Atkinson who, this time, is very nice. He promises to talk with the landscapers and Cavalier. He says Cummings doesn't service Walmart and Asplundh was apparently there as a customer. I call all of them Cavalier hangs up, the landscape company doesn't answer, Asplundh and Cummings promise to make sure the problem never happens again. It's slow, but it's progress -I hope!

July 16th, 2008: At 12:19 a.m., a sports car charges up the hill, engine roaring and tires screeching. It wakes me up, and when I call Walmart, I get the usual lame apology. The damage is done. And Walmart still profits when their out-of-control customer spends money. Why won't Walmart show more consideration to its neighbors who have lived here for decades? During a telephone call where I urge Putnam County Prosecutor Mark A. Sorsaia to enforce the nuisance law against Walmart, he accuses me of an "agenda" where I am trying to "extort" Walmart into buying my home. Wrong, Sorsaia! I am expecting you to properly enforce the Hurricane Nuisance law so that Walmart will be a cooperative neighbor! That's all! Sorsaia tells me, "You're just going to have to live with the noise." Then he declines the invitation to live here for a week and experience the hell that we are putting up with! Sorsaia has an agenda: Build and operate as you wish, Putnam County will let you get away with it! Sorsaia compares Walmart's noise to Teays Valley Road and Route 34. It's not a fair comparison. Walmart is a private business, NOT a public thoroughfare!

July 17th, 2008: Inconsiderate construction workers next door wake me up early by starting a crane. Excessive traffic noise continues through the day. Lights for Walmart's parking lot continue to shine onto our property and light up our windows.

July 18th, 2008: Another day ruined by excessive traffic noise.

July 19th, 2008: It's Saturday, but we can't enjoy it due to excessive traffic noise from Walmart's customers.

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July 20th, 2008: Sunday is ruined by excessive traffic noise from Walmart. Late in the evening Walmart's street-sweeper wakes me up and keeps me up for about an hour. Why can't Walmart be a better neighbor? It rained today. There's no need for a street-sweeper anyway!

July 21st, 2008: Another manic Monday of excessive traffic noise. From sunrise to nearly midnight, we are harassed by excessive traffic noise.

July 22nd, 2008: A noisy delivery truck arriving along with several cars leaving Walmart wake me up at 5:00 a.m. I call the store and ask an assistant manager named Heather when Walmart will allow us to sleep. She rudely hangs up on me.

July 23rd, 2008: My wife and I spend about six hours in Charleston in a deposition about our lawsuits against Ben Newhouse, Cleveland Construction, the City of Hurricane, and Kanawha Stone. Their attorneys attempt to break us with rude and badgering questions. However, they can't break us and the more they badger us with stupid, inane questions, the more arrogant they prove to be. Bottom line: Anyone who blasts the home of a pregnant woman, covers the house with dust, smokes out a family, and destroys a neighborhood to build a Wally World sets a new standard for rude! July 24th, 2008: Another day of excessive traffic noise from Walmart customers.

July 25th, 2008: At 1:09 a.m., a car rushing around the Walmart parking lot wakes me up. Later in the morning, construction noise from down the hill disrupts our home. Even later I receive a letter from Hypocritical Putnam County Commission President Stephen H. Andes. He demands that I limit my complaints about the Walmart that his PCDA promotes to calling him at his commission office. What Andes fails to mention in his harassing letter is that he HAS NEVER RETURNED A CALL MADE BY ME TO HIS COMMISSION OFFICE! He also fails to mention that he is RARELY AT HIS COMMISSION OFFICE! He USUALLY is MOONLIGHTING at his other job in Charleston, neglecting his duties in Putnam County! So I test Andes. I call the commission office to speak with him. However, he isn't there. And, at the end of the day, Andes has not returned my call. SHOCKING! Commissioner Steve Andes is an INCOMPETENT HYPOCRITE!

July 26th, 2008: Shortly after midnight, Walmart traffic wakes me up. Then, shortly before 5:00 a.m., it happens again. When does Walmart expect me to be able to sleep? Excessive traffic noise continues into the day. I arrive home from work before 11:00 p.m., open my car door, and hear screeching tires as a car races up the hill into Walmart. A short time later I go to sleep only to be awakened again at 11:45 p.m. Living here is a nightmare! Commissioner Steve Andes still hasn't returned my call... Shocking! Commissioner Andes is a political fraud and a political sham. What a WASTE!!!

July 27th, 2008: Sunday morning fog obscures the ugly Walmart, however, it doesn't block the excessive traffic noise. Reverse -motion beeps pierce the fog and disrupt our home. It's another ugly weekend day with Wally World invading our formerly quiet neighborhood. Thank you incompetent Commissioner Andes, Haynes, and Silly Scotty Edwards! The excessive noise continues through the day and into the night. Worthless Commissioner Steve Andes still hasn't returned my call. He, Scott Edwards, Raymond "Joe" Haynes, and Benjamin Newhouse all live in quiet neighborhoods. However, these hypocrites destroyed the peace and quiet in our neighborhood by allowing a Walmart to be built. The least they should do is buy us out and be forced to live with the monster they created!

July 28th, 2008: A car racing up the hill to Walmart wakes me up shortly after 3:00 a.m. When does Walmart expect us to sleep? At 6:48 a.m., I am awakened again by the sound of a "motion beep" from tractor equipment at the Arby's site. Frustrated, I drive down there.

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Amazingly, the supervisor apologizes and promises not to make so much noise in the future. FINALLY, a construction worker that understands common courtesy! Other workers should take notes from this guy!!! Unfortunately, Walmart isn't as courteous. Excessive traffic noise continues through the day and night!

July 29th, 2008: Our son turns 11 months old today. Early excessive traffic noise disrupts his morning. This is all he has known. Walmart, Steve Andes, Silly Scotty Edwards, and Gary Walton destroyed the quiet neighborhood that he should be growing up in. My wife bought our home so that her children would have a nice place with a big yard in a quiet neighborhood. However, bad leadership in Putnam County destroyed our peaceful neighborhood! A rock breaking machine from a City National Bank construction crew sends excessive noise into our home through the morning. City National promised this type of noise would end weeks ago. Phone calls to Regional Manager Amanda Curry and the bank's attorney are not returned. I meet with Walmart's Manager Lloyd Atkinson and thank him for the lack of street sweeper noise the last few nights. However, the co-operation is short-lived. At 11:45 p.m., the street-sweeper is back and wakes me up. Why doesn't Walmart and City National Bank treat its neighbors with more respect?

July 30th, 2008: Another morning with early excessive construction noise from City National Bank's rock breaking crew. Despite a promise months ago that this noise would cease in a few days (which ended up being longer!) the rock breaking continues. I meet with a site supervisor who lied to me months ago. He tells me "we ran into a problem" and the excessive noise will continue "until we're done." The PROBLEM is RUDE CONSTRUCTION CREWS AND LYING SUPERVISORS! I call City National's President who refers me to their lawyer (who hasn't returned calls in months) asks if Walmart was noisy, and when I ask him if City National wants to have the same bullying reputation as Walmart, he hangs up on me. I guess City National Bank doesn't care who it hurts either as long as their branch gets built! When I call City National's President back to give him a chance to apologize and fix the problem, his secretary intercepts the call and promises their attorney will call me back right away. That didn't happen! Meanwhile, in front of our house, the excessive Walmart traffic noise continues. Another horrible morning in Hurricane brought to us by the incompetent "leaders" in Putnam County, Commissioner Steve Andes, Silly Disputed Mayor Scotty Edwards, and the PCDA's Gary Walton.

July 3 1st, 2008: The morning starts off with very early excessive traffic noise for Walmart. Soon after, City National's rock-breaking crew shatters the morning quiet. Why won't Walmart and City National Bank allow us peace and quiet in our home? Rude businesses have no right to disrupt quiet neighborhoods! This makes me glad that I have our accounts at another bank. I can't support City National when they show little consideration for my right to have peace and quiet in my home. Excessive traffic noise continues through the day. At 11:45 p.m., a Hummel Construction truck heading for Alltel at Hurricane Marketplace blows by both "No trucks" signs beside the road in front of our home. I take a trip to Alltel and speak with the driver, Jonathan Zizka, who lamely tries to tell me he thought the signs were for Walmart trucks. I call his boss's cell phone to complain but reach voice mail. The call is not returned. No one cares about our neighborhood. All they care about is their wallets!!!

August 1st, 2008: We start the new month off with Walmart's street-sweeper waking me at 1:15 a.m. I call the store and assistant manager Joey gives me the usual lame apology. He says they "Are working on the problem" UNBELIEVABLE!!! This has been going on for NEARLY FIVE MONTHS! If Walmart REALLY wanted to fix the problem it would gave already done so! When are we allowed to sleep? I call Hummel Construction but they refuse to connect me with the owner and rudely hang up. When Alltel's district office opens, I'll let them know how rudely my family has been treated by their construction company. Rock breaking at the City National Bank site continues. I call the CEO who tells me it was supposed to be over yesterday. He promises to call his staff and ask what they will do. What he needs to do is simply pick up his phone, call the construction trailer, and tell the crews to

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show some common courtesy and common sense by not disrupting a home about 200 yards away! Why can't City National Bank understand this? Excessive traffic noise adds to the hassles. Then at night, at 11:45, the street-sweeper returns, sending excessive noise into our home.

August 2nd, 2008: At 12:08 a.m., a Walmart tractor-trailer charges up our hill, sending excessive noise into our home. There is a 20 mile per hour speed limit on that hill, however, delivery trucks violate it all the time! Later in the morning, another delivery truck pulls the same stunt. Why doesn't Walmart make its delivery trucks obey the speed limit on the hill? Large trucks, big engines, hills, and high speeds make for excessive noise! Why won't Walmart allow us to enjoy our weekend in peace? I get a letter notifying me that the lawsuit defendant's attorneys want to have my wife and I submit to psychiatric exams. This is another example of how we are being harassed by the City of Hurricane. First we are relentlessly blasted, harassed by construction noise, and smoke, and then they want US to submit to psych tests. They've got to be kidding themselves! We aren't the nuts that destroyed this neighborhood! Judge Chafin ought to laugh in their faces! How dare they try to use the court to further harass us!!!

August 3rd, 2008: It's a beautiful West Virginia Sunday. However, we can't enjoy our yard because of the excessive Walmart traffic noise. We are prisoners in our own home. We have a large front yard that used to be our refuge, peaceful and quiet, filled with the sounds of nature. It was a place where we planned to raise our family, running through the grass. Now it is a noisy yard where we are on display to the world, as they rumble up and down Walmart hill. In Barboursville they built privacy berms between the store and nearby homes, and routed the traffic down the hill from the homes. However, here in Putnam County, Hurricane's planners aren't that intelligent. Instead, they route the traffic directly in front of our home, causing excessive noise and putting us on display. Hurricane's incompetent leadership strikes again!

August 4th, 2008: Excessive traffic noise from Walmart starts very early in the morning. It's going to be another long day! From before sunup to after sundown, the excessive noise hammers our neighborhood. We can't sleep, enjoy our yard, enjoy watching TV in our living room. It's a nightmare brought to us by the incompetent Commissioner Stephen H. Andes, Disputed Mayor Silly Scotty Edwards, the PCDA's Gary Walton, and the arrogant, incompetent Hurricane City Council! The excessive noise continues until well past midnight. When does Walmart expect us to sleep?

August 5th, 2008: Today's Walmart wake-up call starts at about 5:35 a.m. Keep in mind that traffic kept me awake until past midnight this morning. When does Walmart expect us to sleep? Shortly after 7:30 a.m., a car alarm blasts from Walmart's parking lot, waking our 11-month-old son. A half-hour later, it goes off again. I call Manager Lloyd Atkinson who says "We can't control our parking lot." Yes, you can, Lloyd! Walmart's parking lot is YOUR responsibility!!! Put up a sound wall, some trees, and build a berm between your store and our homes like they have in Barboursville! Don't be waking up my family so you can sell cheap Chinese shoes!

August 6th, 2008: Another typical day of excessive traffic noise. Our formerly quiet neighborhood has been transformed into "Grand Central Station" by terrible planning on the part of the PCDA and the City of Hurricane's inept leadership.

August 7th, 2008: We get an early morning wake-up call from "motion beeps" coming from a construction site down the hill. Excessive Walmart traffic noise adds to the mix as Friday morning is disrupted by rude people not properly conducting themselves in a longtime neighborhood!

August 8th, 2008: A typical day of excessive Walmart traffic noise. Until you endure it

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yourself, you will never understand it.

August 9th, 2008: I notice signs have been erected on Hurricane Creek Road directing cars to The Hurricane Marketplace. This raises several issues: 1) There are still about six vacant storefronts: 2) Because Hurricane Marketplace's visibility is blocked by the homes and hill of our neighborhood. 3) Due to terrible planning and policies by the City of Hurricane and the P.C.D.A. who refuse to buy us out, level our homes and hill, and develop business where our homes now stand. 4) On the other hand, we don't need anymore traffic in our neighborhood, we are already overwhelmed! Another Saturday is ruined by excessive traffic noise from cars frequenting Walmart. Shortly before midnight, the PCDA's Gary Walton is busted for DUI. SHOCKING! A sober person wouldn't advocate blowing up a hill, filling in a pond, and destroying a neighborhood to build a Wally World!

August 10th, 2008: Another Sunday ruined by excessive Walmart traffic noise! Our neighborhood gets more abuse and less respect.

August 11th, 2008: Monday morning adds excessive construction noise to the excessive Walmart traffic noise. Hurricane City Manager Ben Newhouse doesn't return a call about the issues. Why should he care? He can't hear the noise from his home-outside of Hurricane!

August 12th, 2008: A deliveryman comments about the insanity of the Walmart's close proximity to our home. No kidding! Only idiots would build a Walmart so close to our neighborhood!

August 13th, 2008: At 4:00 a.m., I am awakened by a train rolling through Hurricane. We weren't bothered by train noise until the hill was blown away to make room for Walmart. A Herr's truck driving down the "no trucks" road in front of our home as well as a loud, speeding Heiner's truck disrupts our morning. These delivery people are showing no consideration for our neighborhood.

August 14th, 2008: Early morning delivery traffic shakes our home as another truck violates the no-truck signs on the road in front of our house. As I sit in our living room at night, our house vibrates as car after car rolls up the hill in blatant violation of the 20 M.P.H. speed limit that Hurricane PD refuses to properly enforce.

August 15th, 2008: Another day and night of excessive Walmart traffic noise.

August 16th, 2008: A beautiful West Virginia Saturday destroyed by excessive Walmart traffic noise. What good is a weekend if you can't enjoy it?

August 17th, 2008: A tractor spreading dirt on Walmart's property sends excessive noise into our home. On top of the loud traffic noise, it makes our Sunday another awful day in what used to be our nice, quiet neighborhood. August 18th, 2008: At about 5:00 a.m., a train rolls through and wakes me up. Then shortly after 6:15, the crane workers next door send huge levels of noise into our home. But wait, there's more! Over at Walmart, the landscaping tractor starts in, sending more excessive noise into our home for the second-straight day! We guess that harassing us with construction noise for more than a year wasn't good enough for Walmart, they have to come back for more! The tractor noise, in addition to the excessive traffic noise continues all day. Another terrible day in the uncivilized Town of Hurricane!

August 19th, 2008: A third-straight day of that tractor on the Walmart property. How many days does it take to spread dirt? A wide-load vehicle temporarily blocks our dirt road, delaying my exit. Our road is barely wide enough for cars, we don't need wide load

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construction equipment blocking our access!

August 20th, 2008: We awaken to a chorus of construction noise from down the hill. Arby's, Taco Bell, and City National Bank disrupt our morning. Shortly after, a dump truck at Walmart slams its gate, creating enough noise to "wake the dead in Charleston." Then the excessive traffic noise kicks in. Another ugly day in Hurricane!

August 21st, 2008: Another typical day of excessive traffic and construction noise.

August 22nd, 2008: Landscape work continues at Walmart as does construction work down the hill at Arby's and Taco Bell. Add the excessive traffic noise and it's no longer nice to live in this neighborhood. Thanks for nothing, P.C.D.A.!

August 23rd, 2008: It's Saturday and we hold a yard sale. Unfortunately, no one buys the yard, getting us out of this mess created by the incompetent "leaders" of Putnam County. Several people tell me they can't believe how close we are to the Walmart.

August 24th, 2008: Another beautiful Sunday ruined by excessive Walmart traffic. Frustrated, I take off for the afternoon and drive to the Dreamland Pool in Kenova for a swim. After all, I can't enjoy our yard anymore. The solitude of the water and the long distance from Putnam County are soothing. Too bad someone has to leave their home to get peace and quiet!

August 25th, 2008: Another work week starts with excessive Walmart traffic noise and construction noise from down the hill. Fortunately, it looks like Arby's and City National Bank will be done by the end of September. Not so for Taco Bell. Up the hill, Rocky Tops Pizza and America's Mattress have closed their doors. I am sure lack of visibility hurt them. Had the P.C.D.A. bought our neighborhood and developed it, the visibility issue would be solved and more stores would have brought them enough traffic to make a profit. But the P.C.D.A. is too stupid to get it! Now good people are out of jobs!!!

August 26th, 2008: Our morning is a serenade of "motion beeps" from down the hill. It's too bad they don't drive over to Silly Scotty Edwards' neighborhood and disrupt his peace and quiet! Excessive Walmart traffic noise makes it worse.

August 27th, 2008: Another day of excessive traffic noise from Walmart customers. Tires screeching in Walmart's parking lot wake me at 10:52 p.m. Our once-quiet neighborhood is ruined forever!

August 28th, 2008: Not much to report. Too much traffic, too much noise, too many corrupt politicians that don't give a damn about this neighborhood.

August 29th, 2008: It's our son's first birthday. My wife bought our home in 1992 so that she could raise her family in a nice, quiet neighborhood. However, our son has NEVER enjoyed that quiet neighborhood because a group of SCUMBAG POLITICIANS AND A DRUNK DESTROYED OUR QUIET NEIGHBORHOOD TO BUILD A WALLY WORLD!!!!! Hell doesn't burn hot enough for all of them!

August 30th, 2008: Today was our son's first birthday party. Our dream was to have it at our home with an inflatable slide in our yard with his little cousins and our other family members. However, we didn't want a repeat of Easter Sunday with car alarms startling the little children during the Easter egg hunt. So we put our dream aside and move Matthew's party to his grandmother's church. Another family even destroyed by the Putnam County drunk and the evil "leaders" that destroyed our neighborhood!

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August 31st, 2008: It's Sunday of Labor Day weekend, however, we can't enjoy our weekend because of excessive traffic noise from Walmart and the other stores. Another holiday weekend destroyed!

September 1st, 2008: It's Labor Day, another holiday ruined by excessive traffic noise. I speak with a Realtor/Broker who looked at our neighborhood. He says a handful of uncooperative neighbors are slowing down the process of getting our neighborhood sold and re-developed. Once again, a few idiots are screwing things up for everyone!

September 2nd, 2008: We continue into yet another month of excessive traffic noise abuse. Once again, the City of Hurricane takes our tax dollars and turns its back on its longtime residents in favor of an Arkansas business. Hurricane is the most arrogant and incompetent city that I have dealt with. I can't wait until the next election so that we can send the asses of evil that run Hurricane packing.

September 3rd, 2008: Another day of excessive construction and traffic noise. Workers down the hill send excessive construction noise into our home and drivers to Walmart disrupt our lives as they speed up the hill in front of our home, hitting the drainage grates at speeds closer to 30 miles per hour than the 20 miles per hour posted signs. What does the City of Hurricane do about this? NOTHING!!! Silly Scotty Edwards doesn't want to anger his precious Wally World customers, so he ignores the speeders and makes our neighborhood a miserable place to live every day!

September 4th, 2008: Not much unusual to report. We are bombarded with excessive construction and traffic noise all day and night long.

September 5th, 2008: Another day of "motion beeps" and excessive traffic noise. Silly Scotty Edwards lives in a quiet neighborhood. So does Amish Steve Andes, so does DUI Gary Walton, and so does Ben Newhouse (outside of Hurricane). These incompetent "leaders" have completely screwed up our formerly quiet neighborhood and don't give a damn about these longtime Hurricane residents. Hell does not burn hot enough for all of them! A few minutes before 11:00 p.m. I am awakened by yet another car alarm from the Wally World parking lot. Only MORONS would put a Wally World so close to homes! Was Gary Walton sober when he planned this project?

September 6th, 2008: It's Saturday, and we can't enjoy our yard due to MORE excessive traffic noise at Walmart and construction noise coming from down the hill. THANKS PUTNAM COUNTY "LEADERS!" THANKS P.C.D.A. DRUNK!!!!

September 7th, 2008: Construction crews don't even take off on SUNDAY! We are HARASSED by excessive construction noise and excessive traffic to Walmart EVEN ON A SUNDAY! When do we get to enjoy our front yard? I run into Councilwoman ("I don't care about your First Amendment Rights") Hager as she is shopping in Hurricane. I advise her that we need a noise ordinance. She RUDELY walks away after telling me, "It's Sunday and I am shopping." I ask her when she WILL address this important issue and she keeps walking. Why should Hager care? They didn't build a Wally World across from her home! The arrogance of Hurricane's "Leaders" is appalling!

September 8th, 2008: Motion beeps disrupt my morning and excessive construction noise from the Arby's and Taco Bell continues through the day. Added to that problem is the excessive Walmart traffic noise.

September 9th, 2008: Before 7:00 a.m. and before sunrise I am awakened by construction equipment "motion beeps" coming from either the Arby's or Taco Bell or City National Bank construction down the hill. It's too early to be waking a neighborhood with that

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crap! I call Putnam Dispatch, however, I doubt Hurricane PD will do a thing. When it comes to enforcing noise issues, all they do is cater to the construction crews!

September 10th, 2008: I have a guest over for a morning visit. He is shocked at how close Walmart was allowed to build to our home and how it has engulfed our once-quiet and beautiful neighborhood. As we sit on the front porch our conversation is disrupted by the motion beeps of Walmart's water truck as it crawls up and down the hill and across the parking lot. Delivery trucks coming up and down the hill are also excessively noisy. It's impossible to enjoy our home after Walmart destroyed our neighborhood! I don't know of ANY other business that hires a WATER TRUCK to water its grass. Walmart has a lawn and garden area. It has hoses, it has sprinklers, USE THEM!

September 11th, 2008: After a wake-up call from a loud truck entering the Walmart parking lot, I am forced to attend an appointment with a hired representative of one of the defendants in our lawsuit. I spend the day wasting time answering stupid questions that have nothing to do with the lawsuit. This is just ANOTHER form of harassment from one of the defendants who duped a judge into an order for the meeting. On top of that, we are deluged with excessive traffic noise well into the night. Excessive lights for Walmart's parking lot continue to shine onto our property and light up our windows.

September 12th, 2008: Excessive traffic noise through the day is capped off by another late-night street-sweeping. Despite promises that the street-sweeper will finish by (a too-late 10:30 p.m.) it doesn't leave Walmart until 11:58 p.m. after disrupting our neighborhood with excessive noise! September 13th, 2008: Another Saturday ruined by excessive Walmart traffic noise. For the second time this month, a Mister Bee's delivery truck drives through the clearly-signed "No-Truck" lane in front of our home. Another sign of disrespect for our neighborhood!

September 14th, 2008: At 4:30 a.m., a car screeching its tires on the hill leading up to Walmart wakes me up. It's Sunday, but that doesn't stop some idiot from driving like a maniac! Excessive lights for Walmart's parking lot continue to shine onto our property and light up our windows. Excessive traffic noise through the day makes things worse. Another weekend ruined by Wally World! September 15th, 2008: Not much unusual to report. Excessive construction noise, excessive traffic noise, excessive INCOMPETENT "leadership" in Putnam County!

September 16th, 2008: Our morning consists of disruption from "motion beeps" and other construction equipment. Add the excessive Walmart traffic noise and it's a bad way to treat a longtime neighborhood.

September 17th, 2008: Just another awful day of excessive construction and traffic noise!

September 18th, 2008: At 4:45 a.m., I am awakened by a roaring engine charging up the hill to Walmart. The excessive traffic noise continues all day.

September 24th, 2008: Excessive construction noise from down the hill and traffic noise from Walmart disrupts our home. The construction noise continues until shortly before midnight. THIS IS HARASSMENT!

September 25th, 2008: Our baby wakes us up at 3:30 a.m. He is teething and isn't sleeping through the night. I try to put him to bed again around 5:00 a.m., however, "motion beeps" from construction workers and excessive Walmart traffic noise at 5:00 a.m.

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make this a REAL challenge! Eventually, our poor son is worn out and falls asleep. However, at 5:45 a.m., a truck blasts its horn and wakes him up. I don't get him back to sleep again until 6:30. What kind of a JERK would wake a BABY at 6:30 a.m.?????

September 26th, 2008: City National Bank opens, meaning one less construction project creating noise in our neighborhood! Unfortunately, workers at Arby's and Taco Bell continue to disrupt our peace and quiet. Then there's the Walmart traffic: Excessive from before dawn to midnight, spilling over into early Saturday morning!

September 27th, 2008: My Saturday morning starts with loud traffic noise from Walmart customers at 1:18 a.m. which wakes me up. More of it keeps me up until after 2:00 a.m. Considerate drivers would take the alternate route away from our homes! Despite NUMEROUS promises that the noisy street sweeper will finish by 10:30 p.m., for at least the fourth time this month, it is making noise until midnight. I call the store to complain and a VERY RUDE assistant manager named Heather hangs up! Excessive lights for Walmart's parking lot continue to shine onto our property and light up our windows.

September 28th, 2008: Another Sunday of excessive traffic noise from Walmart. Thanks to the incompetent PCDA and City of Hurricane!

September 29th, 2008: Arby's opens today, bringing more excessive traffic to an area already overwhelmed by Walmart's excessive traffic. They clearly need another entrance to Walmart off Orchard Park Road. However, none of the "leaders" in Putnam County have enough brain cells to realize this!

September 30th, 2008: Another day of excessive traffic noise. All of these businesses are too much for this neighborhood. Silly Scotty Edwards has screwed up again!

October 1st, 2008: Taco Bell opens today. With it will come more excessive traffic brought by the incompetent "leaders" of Putnam County. Scott Edwards screwed up our neighborhood! The ignorant, unethical "Mayor" should resign in disgrace! He is the worst thing to happen to Hurricane. Excessive lights for Walmart's parking lot continue to shine onto our property and light up our windows. Excessive traffic noise adds insult to injury.

October 2nd, 2008: Several dump trucks filled with rock violate the no-truck law and charge up the hill in front of our home. I am watching our baby today, so I don't follow them to get a company name. I call Hurricane PD and leave a complaint, but the problem continues. Another day of excessive traffic noise with a twist. Still, it gets down to one issue: COMPLETE DISRESPECT FOR OUR NEIGHBORHOOD!

October 3rd, 2008: Excessive traffic levels get even worse with now that all three fast-food restaurants are open. Walmart's invasion of our neighborhood has spurred traffic levels that are out of control! Adding insult to injury, Walmart's street sweeper disrupts our home until nearly midnight. We were promised it would be done by 10:30 every night? Why can't Walmart keep its promises?

October 4th - 10th, 2008: Just another week of excessive traffic noise. Too many cars coming to Walmart, Arby's, City National Bank and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

October 11th, 2008: Cross of Grace Lutheran Church finishes the installation of a cheesy-looking marquee sign. This is the church that sold some property to create the Walmart entrance and wouldn't allow us as neighbors to speak at its board meeting. We welcomed the church to our neighborhood, but they wouldn't listen to us or meet with us about the impact of their sale of property to Walmart. What would Jesus Do? He would have met with

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us. And we're betting he wouldn't sell to Wally World to destroy a hill, pond, and neighborhood! Another holiday weekend destroyed by excessive traffic noise! October 12th, 2008: We hold a family gathering. Some of our relatives haven't been here in years and are stunned at the stupidity of a Walmart built so close to homes. The excessive traffic noise is disruptive inside and out, but especially as we try to take advantage of a beautiful October Sunday. Walmart's water tanker truck is out, highlighting the stupidity of a store without lawn sprinklers. WHAT MORONS! Only Walmart builds a store without sprinklers-and CLAIMS to be "green!" Later in the evening, I run into P.C.D.A. President Rick Slater. At first he tries to duck me, but then we spend about three minutes discussing the buyout of our neighborhood. I challenge him to try to see the Hurricane Marketplace from the City National Bank parking lot. I advise him that until our hill is flattened and made development-ready that the Hurricane Marketplace will struggle. He agrees to meet with me and another representative later. Finally, some hope of progress that will bring jobs and a real solution to this problem created by the P.C.D.A.

October 13th, 2008: A Herr's truck charging down the hill in front of our homes (in the no truck zone) wakes our baby at 6:21 on this Columbus Day holiday. Thanks for your rudeness, Herr's! Not the first time a Herr's truck has disrupted our home! Why can't delivery trucks honor the no-truck rule in front of our homes? Excessive traffic noise adds to the disturbance throughout the day, and excessive lights for Walmart's parking lot continue to shine onto our property and light up our windows, ruining our evening.

October 14th-17th, 2008: Another week of excessive traffic noise. Living across the street from a Wally World is a nightmare.

October 18th, 2008: Another Saturday ruined by excessive Walmart traffic noise.

October 19th, 2008: Traffic to Walmart is so excessive that we have to wait for nearly 10 minutes to get off our hill. We are late to church as a result. Excessive traffic and noise continue through the day and night. One vehicle belongs to Delegate Patti Eagloski-Schoen, one of the INCOMPETENT AND RUDE politicians that sold out our neighborhood for an Arkansas business. Taking audacity to new heights, Schoen actually has campaign signs on her foreign vehicle. I vote that she move her sorry self to Bentonville, Arkansas since she represents Walmart's interests instead of our neighborhoods! Why doesn't Schoen shop at a Putnam County-based store? Why does she spend her money at an out-of-state-based store? Because she doesn't properly support the people of Putnam County! While watching the Rays-Red Sox game on TV and being disrupted by excessive Walmart traffic noise, I am bombarded by a couple of TV commercials for Schoen's brother, Judge Norbert "Ed" Eagloski, II. He "respectfully" requests my vote. FAT CHANCE!!! Last year this VERY UNETHICAL "judge" REFUSED to hear my noise ordinance suit against the City of Hurricane where his political buddy Silly Scotty Edwards is the disputed mayor. By refusing to set a hearing date, unethical Eagloski allowed my family to be bombarded by daily excessive construction noise! Yet this UNETHICAL "judge" ruled on Edwards suit WITHIN 18 MINUTES OF GETTING THE CASE! Get out of my living room, Eagloski! You and your sibling are unethical politicians and are embarrassing to the legal profession! You deserve to lose in November and should be ashamed of yourself for even considering running for re-election! Only Neanderthals would allow our neighborhood to endure the excessive construction noise that we endured!

October 20th, 2008: Another day of excessive traffic noise from Walmart.

October 21st, 2008: A Fedex Freight truck rumbles through the no-truck zone, sending excessive noise into our home, adding to the already excessive traffic noise.

October 22nd, 2008: In addition to the excessive traffic noise from Walmart, our

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construction company neighbors add to the disruption by running their loud equipment.

October 23rd, 2008: Excessive traffic noise disrupts our home all day. In addition, we hear those irritating "motion beeps" for quite awhile, though we don't know where they are coming from. After 10:00 p.m., while I am trying to enjoy the WVU - Auburn game, excessive noise from Walmart's street sweeper disrupts our home. We can't even enjoy the football game thanks to Wally World!

October 24th, 2008: Another day of excessive traffic noise from Walmart. The disrespect of our neighborhood continues by Steve Andes, Silly Scotty Edwards, and the PCDA that created this mess!

October 25th, 2008: While at Buffalo's Octoberfest, I run into Commissioner Steve Andes. I ask to talk with him about the excessive noise in our neighborhood caused by his Walmart project. However, the arrogant, incompetent politician rudely walks away. Some woman walking with him shouts "Leave us alone!" She doesn't understand reality WE HAVE WANTED TO BE LEFT ALONE FROM THE EXCESSIVE NOISE FOR YEARS! Later in the day, I run into former Hurricane Councilman Dave Boyles. I complain to him about the excessive noise that his Walmart project continues to cause our neighborhood. But the arrogant former councilman ALSO RUDELY WALKS AWAY! Why won't these arrogant, incompetent politicians admit they have destroyed our neighborhood? Why won't they take responsibility for their screwups? Smart voters kicked Boyles out of office. They need to do the same for Arrogant Andes. He is bad for Putnam County and needs to go!

October 26th, 2008: Another Sunday ruined by excessive traffic noise. We take Matthew outside to carve his first pumpkin. However, we are inundated by the "clang-clang" of the drainage grates as cars speed up the hill to Walmart. Hurricane PD refuses to enforce the speed limit and Silly Scotty Edwards refuses to pass a real noise ordinance. Another family moment is destroyed by the rude, arrogant, and incompetent Silly Scotty Edwards, Gary (Hiccup) Walton, and Abysmal Steve Andes. I don't know who these obnoxious, incompetent unethical "leaders" sleep at night. Later in the late evening, Matthew gets sick. However, we can't put him to sleep. Wally World's street sweeper is running past 10:30, sending excessive noise into our home, keeping our little son awake. Why won't Walmart keep its promise to shut down its street sweeper at 10:30? At 10:35, I call the store. Assistant Manager Heather gripes, "I have a store to run," then says she "will go outside and talk to them." But the damage is done. It's always, disrupt us first, we have to call and complain, Wally World's manager's whine, meanwhile, again, they disrupt our home and accomplish what they want with their rude behavior! Why doesn't Walmart treat its neighbors with respect?

October 27th, 2008: I get an early wake-up call as pre-sunrise traffic to Walmart rumbles up the hill. Just what I need after being up late with a sick baby. Thank you, Walmart! This was a nice quiet neighborhood until Wally World came along! It's about a month away from the holiday shopping season. What kind of plans did Silly Scotty draw up to deal with the holiday shopping crowds? Traffic is out-of-control now. Our neighborhood can't handle holiday traffic!

October 28th, 2008: Another day of excessive traffic noise. The abuse allowed by the City of Hurricane and its incompetent management continues. Silly Scotty Edwards and his clueless minions have no concept about how to run a city! October 29th, 2008: The abusive noise continues another day. The Supreme Court has now heard the case about Edwards' rigged election. I can't wait until the court throws his sorry carcass out on the street. Hurricane's worst-ever "Mayor" is a collosal (sic) screwup!

October 30th, 2008: Walmart puts inflatable Christmas decorations in front of its store.

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Talk about corporate greed run amok! It's not even November yet! It isn't even Halloween! However, Wally World is selling blow-up Santa Clause and Christmas Tree decorations! How DISGUSTING! Tonight is Matthew's first Trick-or-Treat. Unfortunately, half of our neighborhood is gone, so we take him elsewhere. I am tempted to take him to Silly Scotty's, Steve Andes, or Ben Newhouse's homes so they can meet the child whose neighborhood they destroyed. However, that assumes they have a conscience. And since they destroyed our neighborhood, I doubt they have any shame! Also gone are several of the neighborhood children. They moved out when Wally World was announced. We miss them, but they are better off. Instead of a huge, ugly store in front of their homes brought to us by corrupt politicians, they probably live in nice quiet neighborhoods! I hope the voters next week kick Arrogant Andes and his rotten politics out of office! He doesn't deserve six more seconds, let alone six more years! What a HORRIBLE commissioner he's been! Then I hope the Supreme Court boots Edwards. He's worst than Andes! And that's pretty awful!

October 31st, 2008: It's officially Halloween. The trick is on our neighborhood with a Wally World stuffed into our neighborhood.

November 1st, 2008: We start another month with excessive traffic noise due to a stupidly located Wally World. A reader informs me that Walmart is already playing Christmas music-three weeks before Thanksgiving. How incredibly tacky! But what else would you expect from Walmart?

November 2nd, 2008:I take my son to dinner in Ashland. They also have a Walmart. However, it has an Outback and O'Charleys just across the parking lot. Probably because Ashland has leaders and Putnam County has LOSERS in charge! The P.C.D.A. should fire Gary Walton and hire the guy from Ashland. Instead, we got an Arby's, KFC, and Taco Bell next to our Wally World. Commissioner Steve Andes, Silly Scotty Edwards, and the P.C.D.A's Gary (.21) Walton are FAILURES!!! My brother-in-law, who has moved in with us, CAN'T BELIEVE that Walmart's street sweeper and high-pressure washers, from "The Environmental Quality" company are working at 10:15 at night. "It's Sunday, people have to get up to go to work in the morning," he says. NO KIDDING! But Walmart doesn't care enough about its neighbors! We have to put up with the excessive noise EVERY NIGHT! My brother-in-law understands common sense and common decency. Walmart doesn't! When I go to Walmart to complain, Assistant Managers Carlton and Jerry rudely tell me that "this is a business" and refuse to send the power washer home. They do send the street sweeper away, however, it moves over to the Hurricane Marketplace and continues to disrupt our peace and quiet. The power washers continue well past 11:00. I look up the company's web site. They are based in Michigan. Why doesn't Walmart hire a Putnam County company to do its power washing? When it comes to Walmart's management, you can't fix stupid!

November 3rd, 2008: Another day of excessive traffic noise from Walmart customers. I call the pressure washing company that kept us up until the middle of the night last night. I also call Walmart's Manager, Lloyd Atkinson to complain. I get the tired, lame, "We're sorry" apologies. Guys, WE'RE TIRED OF YOUR WEAK, LAME, SILLY APOLOGIES! JUST QUIT ACTING LIKE IDIOTS BY KEEPING US UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!!!!!

November 4th, 2008: It's election day, and our chance to boot out the unethical politicians that screwed our neighborhood. It's time to send Steve and Troy Andes, Norbert "Ed" Eagloski, as well as Patti Schoen packing. They sold out our neighborhood to out of state businesses! This term it was our neighborhood, next year it could be your neighborhood! Steve and Troy Andes, Norbert "Ed" Eagloski, and Patti Schoen proved they don't care about Putnam County citizens, they really care about Cleveland Construction and Walmart. Send the incompetent politicians packing today! Take a stand for ethics!!!

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November 5th, 2008: Putnam County voters have done the unthinkable: Reelected Steve Andes! Worse, Mason and Putnam County voters re-elected Troy Andes and Patti Schoen! This is NUTS! These crummy politicians don't represent US, they are sellouts to out-of-state companies! Today our neighborhood, tomorrow YOUR neighborhood! Walmart's street sweeper is on the job well after its 10:30 p.m. curfew. Our neighborhood gets NO respect!

November 6th, 2008: Another day of excessive traffic noise! It's only going to get worse as the holiday shopping builds. What has Silly Scotty done to work with us to protect us from his Godzilla? NOTHING!!! Walmart's street sweeper violates its 10:30 p.m. curfew again. It also still has that annoying "Squeal" that sounds like bad belts. At about 10:40 I finally break down and call the store. Assistant Manager Scott quickly sends the obnoxious street sweeper along its way. It would be NICE if we can simply count on it to leave by 10:30 WHEN IT'S SUPPOSED TO!

November 7th, 2008: After keeping me awake last night, early-morning excessive traffic noise wakes me at about 5:40 a.m. When does Walmart expect us to sleep? This is a TERRIBLE way to treat your neighbors! But this is how Walmart operates! And the HORRIBLE "leadership" of Hurricane and Putnam County lets Wally World get away with it!

November 8th-10th, 2008: Just another few days of more excessive traffic noise. Walmart continues to disrespect our neighborhood! One morning a Swift truck nearly runs me off the road followed by a Fedex Freight truck. I was on my way to Dollar Tree. They were driving on the road where trucks are banned. The Swift Truck was crossing the yellow line, using part of my side of the road.

November 11th, 2008: We spend the day being harassed by excessive noise from the construction yard next door. They fire up the loud equipment just as I put our 14-month-old down for his morning nap. Why are construction people so rude?

November 12th-16th: Just another week of intrusive, excessive traffic noise. The holidays are coming. Has Silly Scotty planned for it? Naw, this is the incompetent politician that had Walmart closed for LAST Christmas!

November 17th, 2008: It's my birthday, and I'd love some peace and quiet to relax with on my day off. Doesn't happen! The idiots that run Putnam County don't believe in peace and quiet. They are addicted to Wally World money! I visit the Putnam County Transportation Committee meeting. The WVDOH sent down its District Engineering/Manager Anthony J. Carovillano to speak. I have a conversation with Carovillano about getting an entrance/exit to the Walmart property re-established to Orchard Park Road. This is how people used to enter the old hotel. An entrance/exit would divert some of the traffic from our property to the businesses, and provide another way for police, fire, and EMS workers to get to the Walmart property. I remind Mr. C that we have asked for this for MORE THAN SIX MONTHS! But the bureaucrat tells me I am "unreasonable" to expect the ramp to be built by Black Friday. WRONG!!!!! The WVDOT has had SIX MONTHS to address this issue. I don't care if Mr. C and the ENTIRE STAFF of the WVDOT have to work 24 hour shifts until Thanksgiving to get it done! The IDIOTS in Charleston helped create this mess, THEY CAN GET OFF THEIR FAT BACKSIDES AND BUILD THE ENTRANCE/EXIT! I offer to meet Mr. C half way and exchange homes until ours is sold. (He lives in Hurricane) The ARROGANT bureaucrat REFUSES! He won't live in the mess that HIS AGENCY CREATED!!!!I ask him to meet with our neighborhood after the meeting, along with his boss. He ARROGANTLY REFUSES! These Charleston bureaucrats live with their heads up their backsides and refuse to address the real-world problems that their stupidity creates!

November 18th, 2008: Excessive traffic noise from Walmart customers wake me at about 4:30 a.m. When does Walmart expect me to sleep?

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November 19th, 2008: Another day of excessive traffic noise from Walmart. This store has no clue about how to treat its neighbors.

November 20th, 2008: Cars, cars, everywhere. Too many cars are coming up this hill, overwhelming this neighborhood.

November 21st, 2008: Cars wake us up before 5:00 a.m., I call Walmart's ethical line and am treated very rudely by a supervisor named Sam, who says he won't deal with the issue, and will drink his coffee, and hangs up. Sam's number is 800-963- 8442.

November 22nd, 2008: Weekend shopping traffic overwhelms our neighborhood. Only MORONS would put a Walmart in a neighborhood with only one entrance! Silly Scotty should be forced to live next to his monster! The incompetent Disputed Mayor is a fool!

November 23rd, 2008: Holiday shoppers don't bring Christmas Cheer to this neighborhood as their excessive traffic noise disrupts our home day and night. Scrooge Edwards fails to solve the problem that he has created. The Moron Mayor is hiding out elsewhere, far from the excessive traffic and noise!

November 24th, 2008: At 12:25 a.m., I am awakened by loud music coming from a car from Walmart's parking lot. I call the store to complain. An Assistant Manager named Jerry tries to convince me that the company isn't responsible for what happens on its property. He also says "I'm not an idiot." I'm not convinced of either statement. Speaking of idiots, Kanawha Stone's lawyers are taking us to court to try to toss out our lawsuit. And the City of Hurricane's lawyers want to mediate. The evidence is overwhelming: We were treated like crap during the construction, our neighborhood is destroyed, we can't sleep at night, we can't sell our house. The judge should rule in our favor and jail these lawyers for their audacity! Then he should have a year of blasting rock their cells, then Walmart's bright lights shine in their cells and run traffic back and forth in front of their cells 24/7, 365 days a year! We go to court and the lawsuit isn't tossed. The judge allows the lawyers to stay free. Amazing!

November 25th, 2008: Rude workers at the construction yard next door wake our baby up early in the morning. Sandwiched between two homes, these workers haven't figured out that they are in the MIDDLE OF A NEIGHBORHOOD! A loud Budweiser truck charging up the hill to Walmart adds to the excessive noise. Another rude person that hasn't figured out not to disturb neighbors.

November 26th, 2008: We are preparing ourselves for a deluge of traffic. The DOH and City of Hurricane have screwed-up again by failing to build another entrance/exit to Walmart. This means one way in and one way out for Black Friday. I hope EVERYONE shops at K-Mart and sends a message to the City of Hurricane: We won't support a terrible city!

November 27th, 2008: It's Thanksgiving Day, however, we can't enjoy our yard. We are bombed with excessive traffic noise from Walmart shoppers.

November 28th, 2008: It's "Black Friday," and that means a deluge of traffic wakes me up at 4:30 a.m.! Silly Scotty Screwup and the incompetent Hurricane City Council, PCDA and DOH failed to properly plan for the thousands of cars that bombard our neighborhood! Of course these chicken-crap "leaders" all have their offices closed for the holiday weekend so we can't call up and complain! Over at Ames, the Hurricane Marketplace, Tuesday Morning, and next to Home Depot, storefronts are vacant. Putnam County doesn't have any leadership, just a bunch of incompetent "leaders" blindly following Steve Andes over the cliff! Charleston and Huntington have malls and Pullman Square (built far away from neighborhoods where they don't disturb people at 4:30 a.m.-we have a Wally World and a K-Mart, but

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plenty of vacant storefronts in key areas! This means huge amount of dollars are leaving Putnam County to our neighboring counties! Silly Scotty Edwards takes out a huge ad in one of the weekly papers (published outside of Putnam County) bragging up his "accomplishments" as the Disputed Mayor. City Hall is conveniently closed for the weekend, so we can't find out how much taxpayer money Edwards spent in Huntington for his propaganda campaign!

November 29th, 2008: Black Friday is over, however, the onslaught of excessive traffic noise is an assault on our neighborhood! We can't enjoy our front yard or home with all of the noise! The City of Hurricane and P.C.D.A. have royally screwed up! None of the "leaders" responsible for this mess are willing to live here. Putnam County doesn't have leadership, it has incompetent hypocrites!

November 30th, 2008: Another ruined weekend thanks to Walmart. Traffic blasts up and down the hill disrupting our Sunday. December 1st, 2008: Early morning traffic wakes us up. Noise continues deep into the night. Walmart's street sweeper doesn't leave until 11:39 p.m., more than an hour past its promised curfew of 10:30 p.m.

December 2nd, 2008: A delivery truck violating the no-truck lane wakes me up before sunrise. A loud Coca-Cola truck charging up the hill wakes our baby and disrupts our home. Just another day living next to Walmart! Silly Scotty Edwards doesn't have a clue about how bad things are in this neighborhood. The dumb-crap Disputed Mayor lives across town in a quiet neighborhood far from the monster he helped create.

December 3rd, 2008: Another typical day of excessive traffic noise. Trucks and cars pound the road in front of our home, disrupting our peace and quiet.

December 4th, 2008: I am awakened early by another delivery truck. Our house shakes as it charges up the hill. No markings on this truck make it impossible for me to identify it. How convenient for the renegade driver that ignores not one-but TWO signs banning trucks on the frontage road near our home!

December 6th, 2008: Another Saturday ruined by excessive traffic noise at Walmart. At night, the excessive lights for Walmart's parking lot continue to shine onto our property and light up our windows, further disrupting our home.

December 7th, 2008: Snow keeps the morning quiet at Walmart, however, excessive traffic noise picks up later in the day. Wal-Mart's street sweeper wakes me up at 10:47 p.m., nearly 20 minutes after we are promised it will stop working. I call the store and speak to Assistant Manager Jerry. He advises me that he sent the street sweeper home "just a few minutes ago... and that the driver was 'new.'" However, well past 11:00 p.m., the street sweeper was STILL on the Wal-Mart parking lot and STILL making excessive noise. Why won't Walmart respect its neighbors? I call the store back, ask for Jerry, but he does not pick up the line.

December 8th, 2008: Another day of excessive noise. I call Walmart's Manager, Lloyd Atkinson to complain about the street sweeper last night. He agrees, but hangs up on me. What a terrible way to treat his neighbor! Later in the evening, I talk to the street sweeper himself. He just glares at me. Another rude way to treat a neighbor.

December 9th, 2008: Our baby wakes up with an upset stomach at 4:00 a.m. He didn't like last night's dinner. After we clean up the mess, we are trying to put him back to sleep. However, at about 4:30 a.m., a train rolls through and the whistle wakes him up. We never

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heard the train noise until irresponsible construction workers blew up the hill in front of our home to build Walmart. Excessive lights for Walmart's parking lot continue to shine onto our property and light up our windows. At 5:30 a.m., a Pepsi truck roars up Walmart's hill, waking our baby again. Where are the politicians that decided to put a Walmart in our neighborhood? At 5:30 a.m., they are asleep, oblivious to the destruction caused by their stupidity!

December 10th, 2008: Another day of excessive traffic noise from Walmart customers. What a terrible way to treat your neighbors! December 11th, 2008: Another early morning delivery truck wakes us me up. Why can't trucks deliver during the day? Why can't they drive the speed limit up the hills so they don't wake Walmart's neighbors?

December 12th, 2008: Excessive traffic noise and a late-night street sweeper are the lowlights we put up with today. Just another day of Wally World abuse!

December 13th, 2008: Another Saturday ruined by excessive traffic noise and a late-night street sweeper. I contact Walmart's assistant manager, Jerry, who says they are working on the street sweeper issue. How many times does it take? How long? I would have fired the guy many months ago!

December 14, 2008: Winds blow down a couple of our Christmas inflatable yard decorations. This wasn't an issue before the hill was blown away for Walmart. More excessive traffic noise disrupts our Sunday, and I have to call the store (AGAIN!) to have them send the street sweeper home after 10:30. I don't know why the sweeper can't simply leave on time without us having to complain constantly!

December 15th, 2008: I am nearly broadsided by a car that rolls through the stop sign coming out of Walmart. He tries to turn right into my passenger side doors, then grins at me when I point to the stop sign. We have asked the state and city to put an exit from Walmart onto Orchard Park Road, but the idiots that call themselves "leaders" have ignored the common-sense request. One day there will be an accident on the only way in and out. Someone will get hurt, and people will be stuck in traffic behind the accident. Our construction neighbors fire up their cranes and send massive excessive noise into our home. How inconsiderate!

December 16th-18th, 2008: Another few days of excessive traffic noise!

December 19th, 2008: After a day of excessive traffic noise, our night concludes with a woman screaming at someone in the Walmart parking lot. Such a "wonderful" way to end the day!

December 20th, 2008: Another Saturday ruined by excessive Walmart traffic. This level of traffic in a neighborhood is INSANE! Only MORONS would approve such a traffic pattern! Look no farther than the P.C.D.A., the City of Hurricane, and the West Virginia Department of Highways!!! These aren't leaders, these are IDIOTS!!!!!

December 21st, 2008: It's Sunday, but we don't get any peace and quiet in our neighborhood! Excessive holiday traffic disrupts our home starting before sunrise. The high winds, which we didn't get before blasters destroyed the hill for Walmart, knock down more of our Christmas yard inflatables. We tried to put up a pretty display for our community, but the Grinches that blew down the hill and the grinches that approved the permits, ruined our good intentions. Frustrated, we finally unplug all of the displays, fearing they will be destroyed by the winds. It's too late for the baby snowman, he was already ruined earlier in

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the day. Silly Scotty Edwards, Gary Walton, Ben Newhouse, Art King from Kanawha Stone, and all of the blasters should be required to re-set all of the displays every time they are knocked down! However, NONE of them have enough integrity to take responsibility for what they have done to our neighborhood!!!

December 22nd, 2008: We still have our Christmas decorations down due to the high winds. It adds insult to injury. The excessive traffic noise continues. It's an onslaught of harassment by Walmart's customers and the bad management from Hurricane.

December 23rd, 2008: I spend part of the morning of our holiday week deleting footage of the Walmart construction from our video camera so that we have room to shoot Christmas this year. It's like living the nightmare all over again. As I do this, our home is bombarded with excessive traffic noise in the background as Walmart's customers charge up the hill, violating the speed limit that the Hurricane Police Department refuses to properly enforce. It's another holiday week destroyed by Walmart and the unethical, incompetent leaders of Hurricane!

December 24th, 2008: I am awakened by "Reverse motion beeps" coming from a truck on Walmart's parking lot at about 4:00 a.m. A few minutes later, a car roars down the hill in front of our home. It's CHRISTMAS EVE!!! We can't even get peace and quiet ON CHRISTMAS EVE! The traffic inundates our neighborhood throughout the day as last-minute shoppers scramble up and down the hill. We are delayed getting in and out of our neighborhood. And where are the fools that created this mess? Silly Scotty and Ben Newhouse and Gary Walton and the past and present Hurricane City Councilmembers are nowhere to be seen. The chickencrap "leaders" are hiding out in their quiet neighborhoods. They SHOULD be out in the rain directing the excessive traffic that they brought into our formerly quiet neighborhood! Even though Walmart closes at 6:00 p.m., traffic continues to arrive at the store until well after 7:30 p.m., disrupting our family Christmas Eve gathering. At least we will get a break on Christmas Day. Thankfully, Walmart is closed, giving their employees a day with their families and our neighborhood a LONG OVERDUE break from Walmart's excessive traffic noise! If only Walmart was closed New Year's Day and other major holidays.

December 25th, 2008: It's Christmas Day. And we THOUGHT we would get a break from Walmart traffic as the store is closed, the only day of the year that it shuts down. However, dozens of cars and trucks STILL charge up the hill, disrupting our formerly quiet neighborhood. The routine is similar for each. They break the speed limit coming up the hill, they slowly drive up to the doors, then slowly drive across the lot, then speed down the hill. Where is Hurricane PD to issue the speeding tickets? That's a good question! One of the cars actually parks and its alarm goes off. Incredible! The store isn't even open and we have to listen to a car alarm! "Step away from the car-YOU'RE TOO STUPID TO HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF OWNING A CAR!!!"

December 26th, 2008: The day after Christmas is a traffic nightmare for our neighborhood. Car after car bombard us with excessive traffic noise. This SHOULD have been prevented with either a buyout or another entrance to Walmart's parking lot from Orchard Park Road. However, the "Leaders" of Putnam County don't have enough brains and common sense to properly plan for traffic! At night, excessive traffic noise and excessive lights for Walmart's ugly parking lot continue to shine onto our property and light up our windows.!

December 27th, 2008: At 12:22 a.m., a car roaring up Walmart hill disrupts our home. When do we get to sleep? Excessive traffic noise continues through the day and night, destroying our holiday weekend. During the day I buy a police scanner at Radio Shack. One of the employees tells me they considered moving the store to Hurricane Marketplace but

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didn't because our homes block visibility. He agrees that our neighborhood should have been bought out and developed. It's too bad the "Leaders" of Putnam County aren't as intelligent as the guy at Radio Shack! A UPS truck charges up and down the road in front of our house, despite two signs banning truck traffic. Walmart's been open since March 7th and the delivery drivers still haven't figured out the rules. Amazing!

December 28th, 2008: Our holiday weekend ends with more excessive traffic noise. This is a rude way to treat your neighbors on a Sunday afternoon. As I watch the Chargers game on TV, I continue to be disrupted by cars charging up the hill.

December 29th, 2008: Another day and night of excessive traffic noise. We never get any peace and quiet anymore! Our son turns 16-months-old today. He has never had a day of peace and quiet in his home. He has never enjoyed the tranquil neighborhood that our wife bought this home for. What a shame that the greedy, incompetent politicians put their agenda ahead of the rights of our neighborhood!

December 30th, 2008: A delivery truck wakes me at 5:20 a.m. as it charges up Walmart hill. People should be able to get a good night's sleep! Waking a neighborhood at 5:20 a.m. is obnoxious behavior! Why can't Walmart's vendors show some respect for our neighborhood?

December 31st, 2008: New Year's Eve isn't enjoyable in this neighborhood. Walmart's excessive traffic noise interrupts our night.

January 1st, 2009: New Year's Day brings plenty of excessive traffic noise to our neighborhood! Walmart's shoppers show total disrespect, disrupting our holiday night and day with their cars and trucks.

January 2nd, 2009: Another day of excessive traffic noise as drivers charge into the New Year and up Walmart hill with no regard for what they are doing to our neighborhood! At night, the irritating excessive lights for Walmart's parking lot continue to shine onto our property and light up our windows.

January 3rd, 2009: The first weekend of The New Year is much like the weekends of 2008. Too many cars, too much noise, too much light at night. Another weekend ruined by Walmart and all the rudeness that comes with it!

January 4th, 2009: After another night of bright lights shining in our windows, our Sunday morning is disrupted by excessive traffic noise. Then there is the car alarm that shrieks through the neighborhood! Can Wally World be any more disruptive? January 5th, 2009:I attend the Hurricane City Council meeting. When Al & Bob Arnold complain about a traffic pattern that is hurting their barber shop's business, Disputed Mayor Scott Edwards slides in one of the biggest political lies in history when he says, "I didn't promote the Walmart!" It doesn't matter to Edwards that EVERY media outlet from Charleston to Huntington has quoted Edwards promoting the Hurricane Walmart. I ask the council to put up some stop signs at the top and bottom of Walmart hill and close the access road in front of our home overnights, but Edwards refuses to discuss the common-sense issues citing our lawsuit. Edwards is a chicken-crap cowardly liar!

January 6th, 2009: At 3:20 a.m., a Walmart delivery truck wakes me up. It happens again shortly before 5:00 a.m. When does Walmart expect us to sleep? I call the store to complain, but the manager fails to pick up the call. Later, I call back and get Assistant Manager Jerry and get the lame excuses. Walmart is a menace.

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January 7th, 2009: When I take my complaint about yesterday's 3:20 a.m. delivery truck's excessive noise to Walmart Manager Lloyd Atkinson, he attempts to ignore me by rudely walking away. When I complaint to him about his arrogant rudeness and failing to properly address the issue, Atkinson threatens to throw me out of the store. I call Walmart's ethics department and file a complaint. Atkinson needs to make sure his trucks don't wake me up at 3:20 a.m., and he needs to be polite and properly address the problem, not threaten the neighbor that is a victim of his store's failure to operate with proper consideration for its neighbors!

January 13th, 2009: I learn that 14 more neighbors file suit against two of the contractors that harassed our neighborhood with excessive noise and blasting. Attorney Harvey D. Peyton is representing them, and also took over the lawsuit that we filed in August of 2007. I am dropping out of the suit and leaving my wife as the plaintiff so that I can focus my time and energy to report on the lawsuit, the Walmart problems, and other articles for PutnumLIVE.com.

January 14th, 2009: I receive several threatening telephone calls from men that say they were construction workers that built the Walmart. They blame me for instigating the lawsuit by 14 of Walmart's neighbors. The trouble is, I knew NOTHING of their plans to sue, and have only met one of them, Landon Stanley, and that was several years ago when he was running for Mayor of Hurricane. The construction workers have only themselves to blame. It was THEM that acted like animals, blasting away with TOO LITTLE consideration for the neighbors whose homes were being damaged and whose lives were being disrupted. I hope all of us are victorious in our lawsuits and I hope that the judge orders Kanawha Stone and Cleveland Construction to IMMEDIATELY cease operations! Responsible businesses don't make their neighbor's lives miserable!

January 15th, 2009: Cold weather cuts down on some of the excessive traffic noise. However, with the wet parking lot at Walmart, the glare from the lights is even worse!

January 16th, 2009: The start of another weekend of excessive traffic noise. We don't get ANY peace and quiet anymore!

January 17th, 2009: Another Saturday ruined by excessive traffic noise from Walmart's customers! It's a holiday weekend, however, we can't enjoy our home!!!

January 18th, 2009: What SHOULD have been a QUIET Sunday was destroyed- again-by excessive Walmart traffic. The glare off the rain and snow-covered parking lot was also excessive during the day from the sun, and at night from the lights. The only alternative is to block our front windows. However, we aren't the neanderthals that blasted the neighborhood with senior citizens on two sides and my pregnant wife in our home. So WE shouldn't have to live "in a cave" so that Silly Scotty Edwards can have a place to buy cheap Chinese shoes for all of his wives!

January 19th, 2009: Another Walmart nuisance day. A tractor pushing snow around its parking lot wakes us up at 5:44 a.m.-on a holiday!!! Why won't Walmart keep its noise to itself? When will our neighborhood get some respect?

January 20th-25th, 2009: Another week of excessive Walmart traffic noise. I speak with Hurricane City Manager Benjamin Newhouse, but the problem persists. It's painfully obvious that Hurricane officials won't protect its citizens from excessive noise against revenue producers.

January 26th, 2009: Another day of excessive traffic noise-after the morning snowfall discourages shoppers. Another day of destroyed peace and quiet!

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January 27th, 2009: A delivery truck charging up Walmart hill wakes me shortly after 2:00 a.m. Then the snow plow tractor wakes me shortly after 5:00 a.m. When does Walmart think we can sleep? The snow is falling hard. Plowing the parking lot is stupid when it will be covered again a few minutes later. Walmart should close until the weather clears. Encouraging shoppers and requiring employees to come out in this terrible weather is a safety hazard. We know that Walmart doesn't show enough care for its neighbors, but it SHOULD care for its customer's and employee's safety!

January 28th, 2009: Another day of excessive traffic noise. Despite the ice and snow storm, shoppers charge up Walmart hill. Lights reflect off the wet parking lot, making the glare worse than normal. At about 10:35 p.m., I am awakened by Walmart's snow plow. When I call the store, I get the usual lame excuses. Hey, there is PLENTY of time to plow during the day when people aren't sleeping. Not to mention, if I can hear the tractor 100-200 yards away WITH MY WINDOWS SHUT, the tractor is simply TOO LOUD!!! This is a NEIGHBORHOOD, for goodness sakes!!!!! Good neighbors don't disrupt other people.

January 29th-31st, 2009: Just more days of excessive traffic noise!

February 1st, 2009: Excessive traffic noise ruins our Super Bowl Sunday. When I call the store to complain, Assistant Manager Heather rudely hangs up on me. So I stop by in person. Both she and Mary rudely walk away. Why doesn't Walmart hire polite managers? Why isn't Walmart polite to its neighbors? I drive to Kroger and buy some soda and other things to enjoy during the game. Walmart's rude assistant managers just cost the company about $100. If they're going to continue to be rude and obnoxious, I will punish Walmart with my wallet. Rude and irresponsible managers must be punished somehow!!! During the Super Bowl, I keep hearing cars rumbling up the road to Walmart. At halftime, some idiot keeps blasting his horn. Maybe the car owner doesn't like Springsteen. Definitely the car owner doesn't respect our neighborhood. Walmart needs to shut down the road and parking lot next to our homes.

February 2nd, 2009: Hurricane's anti-progress City Council once again refuses to buy out the Walmart neighbors and develop their land for future businesses. This arrogant and incompetent group, led by Disputed Mayor Silly Scotty Edwards, is hurting Hurricane's economy! Do you want more jobs, restaurants and stores in Putnam County? Blame the idiots in charge of Hurricane for holding Putnam County back!!!

February 3rd, 2009: More excessive traffic noise until the snow storm arrives. I wish I could have it snow on Walmart-only-everyday to keep the cars away! However, the glare from the lights is excessive already. adding snow makes it worse! I see on the news that Charleston is adopting a noise ordinance targeting loud trucks. Hurricane should do the same.

February 4th, 2009: Walmart's snow plow wakes our baby at 5:00 a.m. This is a NUISANCE! If the plow is so loud that it wakes someone up ay 5:00 a.m. more than 100 yards away WITH OUR WINDOWS SHUT, then GET A QUIETER SNOW PLOW! PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO SLEEP AT NIGHT! AND MY 17-MONTH-OLD SON IS ONE OF THISE PEOPLE!!! WALMART IS A NUISANCE WHEN IT WAKES ITS NEIGHBORS!!!! When I call the store, Assistant Manager Jerry gives me the usual "We're good for the community" lame excuses. NOT WHEN YOU NEEDLESSLY WAKE A TODDLER AT 5:00 A.M.! GO BUYA QUIETER SNOWPLOW AND WAIT UNTIL 9:00 A.M.!!!!! Today is the day the WV Supreme Court hears the Cole/Edwards case. I hope they throw Edwards out on his sorry backside. He is Hurricane's worst mayor!!!!!

February 5th, 2009: I speak with Tracy Price at Walmart's Real Estate division about all of the problems. I give her a list of workable solutions to solve many problems, including stopping overnight deliveries. She promises to get back to me. I hope she is sincere.

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February 6th-7th, 2009: Another few days of excessive traffic noise. It never quits. From pre-sunup until near midnight, we are deluged with excessive noise. And the bright lights shine all night long!

February 8th, 2009: Another ruined Sunday. The weather is finally wonderful, however, when I go out to our front yard, the traffic noise is overwhelming. Some moron sets off a car alarm about 2:00 p.m. Thanks for the obnoxious sound effect!

February 9th, 2009: I receive a voice mail from Tracy Price who says she is still working on the noise/traffic/delivery/lighting issues. She does not return my telephone call. The excessive traffic noise continues. The bright lights continue to be a problem. Why won't Walmart be nice to their neighbors?

February 10th, 2009: Another day of excessive traffic noise. Why won't the City of Hurricane put in a couple of stop signs? They have a responsibility to this neighborhood! Silly Scotty has sold his soul to Walmart's B & O taxes. I hope the Supreme Court throws him out on his backside!

February 11th-12th, 2009: More days of unnecessary disruption of our neighborhood. Excessive traffic noise makes it hell on earth to live here. Cars continue to speed up the hill, hitting those grates at 40 MPH, twice the speed limit. Hurricane PD fails to do anything about it. No doubt Silly Scotty has told them to ignore the issue!

February 13th, 2009: Another day of excessive traffic noise from Walmart.

customers! Of course, those irritating lights continue as well. We get NO respect!

February 14th, 2009: Valentine's Day brings more traffic than usual. Last-minute lovers charged up Walmart hill further disrupting our home!

February 15th, 2009: In addition to another quiet Sunday destroyed by excessive traffic noise, my wife's dog died tonight. Normally we would bury a pet in our yard. However, because we know our property will be chewed up someday by construction tractors, we have to make other arrangements. Had the PCDA and the City of Hurricane done the right thing YEARS ago, we would have a permanent home elsewhere. However, the EVIL "Leaders" of Putnam County are a TOTAL FAILURE! It's too bad the dog died, because the more I know about Silly Scotty Edwards, DUI Gary Walton, and Amish Twins Steve Andes and "Joe" Haynes, the more I loved our dog. He acted more human than ALL of them put together!

February 16th, 2009: Early morning Walmart traffic wakes me on this Monday before sunrise. Why won't Walmart show some courtesy to its neighbors? People don't want to have traffic wake them up early in the morning!

February 17th, 2009: Another day of excessive Walmart traffic noise. We can no longer enjoy our home!

February 18th, 2009: I get an email from a man saying he disagrees with 90- percent of what I say here. However, he doesn't offer to buy us out. Typical. I speak with Senator Hall about a state-wide noise ordinance and about the state getting grant money to buy our neighborhood for a new park with soccer fields and a community center. He says the money isn't there. But what about the federal stimulus money? That could be used for redevelopment!

February 19th, 2009: Two trucks racing up Walmart hill wake me up at about 3:25 a.m.

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How RUDE!!! Why do Walmart customers constantly abuse our neighborhood? When I call the store, an assistant manager named "David" REFUSES TO APOLOGIZE saying, "It wasn't ME that woke you up!" The district office does not answer their phone. I call Tracy Price in Walmart's Real Estate department. However, she doesn't answer the telephone. I leave yet another voice mail. I call Speaker of the West Virginia House Rick Thompson's office. A nice guy named Michael Plante does take my call. I invite him to read this blog and view our videos of the construction noise. He promises a return call after a meeting. Plante seems to be taking the issue seriously. I hope we can get a new law restricting loud business and construction noise from nearby residences. Not taking it seriously are Delegates Troy Andes and Patti Schoen. Neither has returned my calls regarding a state noise ordinance.

February 20th, 2009: Another day of excessive traffic noise from Walmart customers. A couple of car alarms are the "highlight" of the day. February 21st, 2009: Another Saturday ruined by excessive traffic noise from Walmart customers. Manager Lloyd Atkinson apologizes for the excessive delivery truck noise that woke me up at 3:25 a.m. Thursday. However, Lloyd's apology is too little, too late. It doesn't change the fact that I lost sleep-again! I would prefer that he properly manage his delivery trucks!!!

February 22nd, 2009: Snowfall cuts down on Walmart traffic, though it is still too noisy. Some idiots disrupt our home well after 10:00 p.m. as they charge up Walmart hill, completely oblivious to the reality of nearby neighbors!

February 23rd, 2009: Gary Walton has his preliminary DUI hearing today. His trial is put off until late April. We have been waiting for our civil trial for about 18 months. There is NO JUSTICE for this neighborhood! The P.C.D.A. Executive Director should be tried for stupidity. No one with common sense would put a Wally World in a neighborhood! We deal with another day and night of excessive traffic noise! At 10:00 p.m., some MORON in the Walmart parking lot leans on their car horn and wakes me up! How about showing some COMMON COURTESY AND COMMON SENSE?!?!?!?

February 24th, 2009: Another typical day of excessive Walmart traffic noise! And the parking lot lights continue to light up the night sky, shining through our windows ay night.

February 25th, 2009:I am awakened early in the morning by fire truck sirens. A car is on fire in Walmart's parking lot. This store continues to be a nuisance. Toxic smoke from the fire pollutes the sky. Why didn't Walmart's employees use store fire extinguishers to help their customer and put out the fire? Instead, by the time the fire department arrives, her car is apparently a total loss. Walmart should have done more to help this customer.

February 26th, 2009: More early morning traffic noise wakes me up again! When does Walmart expect me to sleep?

February 27th, 2009: Another day of excessive Walmart traffic noise. The bright lights con

February 28th, 2009: Saturday is ruined by excessive Walmart traffic. The onslaught of noise makes it impossible to enjoy our home!

March 1st, 2009: Today starts another month of excessive Walmart traffic noise and lights. I hope the crappy politicians are proud of how they allowed our neighborhood to be destroyed then failed to protect us from the noise and lights. The scumbags that let this happened should be forced to live here.

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March 2nd, 2009: Our son, who just turned 18-months-old, thanks to Walmart's construction company and its customers, has NEVER had a quiet day in his neighborhood. He can't enjoy our yard due to the excessive traffic noise, and the pollution from the cars. Today, in his own little way, he decides to fight back. Matthew has had enough. So he screams at the loud cars and pounds on the storm door. Out of the mouth of a babe, he tells the world that WALMART'S CUSTOMERS ARE TOO NOISY FOR A NEIGHBORHOOD! It's a priceless site. Not only for his anger but for how sad it is that a toddler is so angry at the STUPIDITY OF SILLY SCOTTY EDWARDS, GARY WALTON, and the OTHER MORONS THAT PUT A WALMART IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD! The great thing is that our little Matthew has already shown that he has MORE INTELLIGENCE THAN ALL OF PUTNAM COUNTY'S SO-CALLED "LEADERS" PUT TOGETHER!

March 3rd, 2009: Another day of excessive Walmart traffic noise. I get an email from someone protesting my complaints about Walmart noise. But since she doesn't live in this neighborhood, I add her to the list of fools that tell me I have to put up with the noise when they live too far away to hear it. Later tonight, a few minutes before midnight, a tractor-trailer rig charges up Walmart hill, noisily disrupting our home. I ask again: When does Walmart expect us to sleep?

March 4th, 2009: What were you doing at 1:00 a.m.? Probably sleeping. I wasn't! A car that roared up and down Walmart hill woke me up. I hope you enjoyed your sleep. Later in the day, I FINALLY speak with Tracy Price at Walmart's corporate office. She agrees to look at installing berms, trees, and some stop signs along the access road. However, Walmart REFUSES to stop the overnight deliveries and ask the City of Hurricane to close the access road closest to our homes -overnight. There is NO REASON why Walmart can't do this! She sends me an aerial shot of the store which I mark with potential stop sign locations. Meanwhile, excessive traffic noise continues!!! I also send her a before aerial shot to show the destruction. It's painful to look at. Then I post before and after aerial shots here for you to look at. Just past 10:00 p.m., some idiot in a large truck towing a large boat charges up Walmart hill, waking me up. Now, I ask you, why does he need to bring the boat? Walmart filled in the pond a couple of YEARS ago? Without the weight of the large boat, the noise from the truck probably would not have disrupted the neighborhood! While I should confront the inconsiderate idiot, I choose instead to note this blog and return to bed for what is hopefully a good night's sleep -hopefully!

March 5th, 2009: I send photos back to Tracy Price at Walmart, but she doesn't get them. Their email system won't accept my photos. So I have to resend them a different way. Meanwhile, the excessive traffic noise and lights continue.

March 6th, 2009: I still don't hear back from Walmart's Tracy Price. But I learn that Delegate Troy Andes, who won't give us a state noise law, is showing his love of pinhead plastic dolls by putting a Barbie on his podium. Just what I would expect from the PINHEAD POLITICIAN that supports OUT OF STATE BUSINESSES AHEAD OF PUTNAM COUNTY RESIDENTS! TROY ANDES IS A DISGRACE! For his next campaign, he can do a TV commercial from Walmart's toy section. "Vote for ME! Because BARBIE is more important THAN YOU!"

March 7th, 2009: It's the one-year anniversary of Walmart's Grand Opening and the official Destruction of our Neighborhood! To celebrate, an idiot in a black pickup truck wakes me up shortly after 12:30 a.m., then again at 12:47 a.m. as he roars down the hill directly in front of our home -the hill that Walmart and the City of Hurricane REFUSE to shut down overnight! Fortunately, A to Z Supermarket survived the year, much to the surprise of its critics that said it would close within 90 days of Wally World opening! Unfortunately, I was right in saying that Hurricane Marketplace would not sell out if our neighborhood wasn't purchased to improve its visibility. One year later, about half the storefronts are vacant. Two businesses failed. The legacy of stupid politicians who won't redevelop our neighborhood! At around 2:30 a.m., I am awakened by "motion beeps." I don't know where they are coming

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from, but at 2:30 a.m., NO ONE should be activating them!

March 8th, 2009: It's a beautiful Sunday. A day where you want to sit out in your front yard and enjoy spring-like weather. A day where you want to open your windows and listen to the birds while feeling the breeze. However, we can't do that. The excessive Walmart traffic noise is overwhelming. Another day ruined by Walmart! I receive another email from some idiot demanding that I move because I don't like the excessive noise. He's a Troy Andes supporter. (More evidence that he is an idiot!) He doesn't understand that I WANT to move BUT CAN'T BECAUSE WE HAVEN'T HAD ANY OFFERS! So I invite him to put his money where his big mouth is and buy us out. So far, he hasn't shown up with a check!

March 9th, 2009: I am awakened by early morning excessive traffic noise of Walmart customers. Some idiot in a "Duelly" truck charges up the hill in front of our home. How incredibly inconsiderate!

March 10th, 2009: I get a set of Emails from two people who are brainwashed by the idiot politicians who built the Walmart but won't balance the needs of business with the LEGITIMATE needs of neighbors for PEACE AND QUIET! Each has been told that we turned down LARGE offers for our home. Neither has ANY understanding of the issue. All they can chant is "MOVE" or "GREED!" The reality is we DO want to move, and we have the LOWEST asking price of our neighbors-lower than other purchases have been made in the area. THAT is the REALITY that the POLITICIANS DON'T TELL PEOPLE! The UNETHICAL POLITICIANS don't want people to know how they have screwed our neighborhood!

March 11th, 2009: After another car charging up Walmart hill wakes me up at midnight, I send an Email letter inviting the West Virginia/Putnam County delegation to my home later today to see what Walmart has done to our neighborhood. I also ask to present the videos that I've shot to a joint House- Senate meeting. It's time to shake these politician's trees and let them know how serious this problem is. I HAVE A RIGHT TO SLEEP AT NIGHT! My guess is that they will ignore the Email, the issue, and continue allowing our neighborhood to be abused! After all, if they took this issue seriously, they would have passed a state noise law YEARS AGO when we first asked them! Well before sunrise a motorcycle charges up the hill and wakes me up. When does Walmart expect us to sleep?

March 12th, 2009: Another typical day of excessive traffic noise. I speak with Walmart's Real Estate people and they are INCHING closer to some solutions. Assistant Manager Scott Mullins comes over to look at the lighting situation from our point of view. Great idea! Should have been done a year ago!

March 13th, 2009: Another day, another early-morning wake-up call. This one's at 6:15 by another delivery truck. I call Senator Mike Hall, Delegate Patti Schoen, Delegate Carrie Webster, Senator Jeff Kessler, Delegate Jeff Eldridge, and Delegate Troy Andes to discuss a state noise ordinance. NONE of them show enough professionalism to return my call! I am guessing Andes is out playing with his Barbie. The others? NO EXCUSE!!!!! March 14th, 2009: Saturday morning is disrupted by excessive traffic noise from cars driving to Walmart. Though the company's Real Estate people say they are planning changes, they are too-little, too-late to save this weekend! Still no offers for our home, so we are stuck with Silly Scotty Edwards' and Gary (Belch) Walton's monster.

March 15th, 2009: Another Sunday destroyed by excessive traffic noise from Walmart customers. At 11:15 p.m., someone's car alarm wakes me up. At 11:54 p.m., a bass unit wakes me again. I try calling the store, but no one answers until about 10 minutes later. After I explain this to Assistant Manager Trey, he has the audacity to say, "I can't do anything about it now, you should have called me then." Of course, I then have to remind the genius that HE DIDN'T ANSWER THE PHONE!!! He also gives me the lame excuse about

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not being responsible for what happens on his property. .

March 16th, 2009: More excessive traffic noise on a Monday. Another workweek means more cars at Wally World. This 24/7 operation is a nuisance!

March 20th, 2009: The promised "Engineering report" has not materialized. It's a week late, and, so far, nothing has been done to reduce the noise. Walmart's promises to help have been limited to a few light shields. Too little, too late! Somewhere Scott Edwards is laughing at this neighborhood!

March 2 1st, 2009: Another car alarm wakes me at 12:46 a.m. This is nuts! People are SLEEPING at 12:46 a.m.! If Walmart can't keep things quiet overnight, flip the store to a Sam's Club! This neighbor wants some courtesy and respect! When I try to go back to sleep, some car hits the drainage grates, keeping me awake until after 1:15 a.m.

March 22nd, 2009: More excessive noise and traffic creates more disruption in our home. There is NO EXCUSE for this! Our neighborhood has existed for MORE THAN 35 YEARS!

March 23rd, 2009: Walmart's Real Estate people continue to fail to address the noise issue-as they promised. I continue to get runaround.

March 24th, 2009: At 6:21 a.m. a Pepsi truck wakes me up as it charges up Walmart hill. When I call the district office, as I have been directed to do, no one answers. When I call Nick Goodner at Walmart's corporate office, all I get is lame excuses! No wonder Walmart hasn't solved this issue in a year!!!

March 25th, 2009: Another day of excessive noise. I play telephone tag with Market manager David Challingsworth. All he needs to do is stop the excess noise! March 26th, 2009: I finally connect with David Challingsworth. However, he gives me the lame excuses: "We're working on it," with NO evidence to that effect. Challingsworth has had MORE THAN A YEAR to solve these issues, and FAILED to return my calls until late this month when I suspect corporate ordered him to! The engineering report is in, but no one at Walmart will let me read it. I don't know how ANYONE can write a thorough report without visiting our home and listening to the noise inside and out. However, Walmart, in a blatant stand of stupidity (sic), tries to convince me that his report is a good one. Eventually, after being verbally abused by someone in Walmart's Real Estate department, I get to a supervisor, Rob Rowe, who is rather polite and agrees to look into things. At midnight, a large truck rumbling up Walmart hill to the store's delivery area wakes me up.

March 27th, 2009: The truck that woke me up at midnight rolls down the hill, and with a loud roar, sends excessive noise into our home! When I call the store, an assistant manager tries to deny that it was a store truck. I don't care WHO owns the truck. It was on Walmart's property, and Walmart is responsible for what happens on its property. Later in the evening, while trying to watch television in our living room, traffic noise comes crashing through the walls and closed windows. It's impossible to get peace and quiet in our home!

March 28th, 2009: I am awakened in the middle of the night by traffic on Walmart hill. I will ask again, WHEN DOES WALMART EXPECT US TO SLEEP?

March 29th, 2009: I am trying to enjoy the Bay Hill Classic on television, however, the rumbling of vehicles up Walmart hill constantly disrupts my living room. A Walmart employee stops me at Go-Mart and tells me she loves PutnumLIVE.com. This is the second such comment today. Both say Walmart should have bought us out!

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March 30th, 2009: Another day of excessive Walmart traffic. We get no peace in our home since Silly Scotty brought Godzilla in to stomp on our neighborhood!

March 31st, 2009: At 12:07 a.m., I am awakened by a car roaring down Walmart hill. Later in the day, I telephone Market Manager David Challingsworth who gives me the usual lame "We're working on it" speech. However, I am betting HE was sleeping at 12:07 a.m.! Walmart has a double-standard. The company's managers aren't forced to live near the store, so they don't have to put up with the abuse that we hear and see EVERY DAY!

April 1st, 2009: At about 12:20 a.m., a car alarm/constant horn blasts, wakes me up. It's 12:20 a.m., for Pete's sake! People are TRYING to SLEEP! So I call the Market Manager's store, and, of course, he isn't there. I am guessing that David Challingsworth is sleeping while WE are being abused by his store!

April 2nd, 2009: Another day of excessive traffic noise from Walmart customers. Still no word on the trees and other noise abatement issues that were promised. We're just left hanging here, stuck with the excessive noise brought to us by the incompetent Silly Scotty and his buddy Gary Walton.

April 3rd, 2009: Calls to Walmart's Real Estate Department and Market Manager David Challingsworth are not returned. Meanwhile, excessive traffic noise continues to plague our neighborhood. I am awakened shortly after 11:00 p.m. by a motorcycle roaring up and down Walmart hill. Then, as I am going back to sleep, some nutcase's car alarm goes off at 11:20 p.m. This nonsense brought to us by Silly Scotty Edwards and Gary Walton! April 4th, 2009: Another day of excessive noise from Walmart traffic. I find Manager Lloyd Atkinson eating lunch a block away. I advise him of the excessive noise the day before. He advises me that store employees now park in the portion away from our homes. They should have done this A YEAR AGO!!! Yet Atkinson seems proud!

April 5th, 2009: I am sitting out on our side patio, trying to enjoy an afternoon watching my son playing in his new sandbox. This is our first "sandbox moment," and I want to savor another milestone in his childhood. However, the moment and memory are destroyed by yet another car alarm from Walmart's parking lot. I call Market Manager David Challingsworth's cell phone but get voice mail. Apparently he doesn't want to deal with his store's problems on a Sunday. When I go to the store to complain, two assistant managers rudely walk away. Why does Walmart continue to be rude to this longtime neighborhood? Later in the evening, I am trying to watch MLB's Opening night. However, cars constantly roar up Walmart hill, disrupting my enjoyment of the game! When I call the store, I get the usual "We're working on it" tap dance.

April 6th, 2009: Another day of excessive noise. Another false fire-alarm at Hurricane Marketplace sends a siren shrieking through our neighborhood. This adds to the Walmart traffic noise making for a terrible morning! Walmart's Real Estate people all fail to return calls. Ditto for Market Manager David Challingsworth. The new trees, fence, and berm are nowhere in sight! When I meet with Ben Newhouse at city hall, he doesn't have any real answers! A new business is moving into Hurricane Marketplace. We don't need any new traffic, we have too much already!

April 7th, 2009: Despite our closed windows, I am awakened by a pre-sunrise delivery truck charging up Walmart's hill. When does Wally World expect us to sleep? A call to Rob Rowe at their corporate office gives me the "You're talking to the right people," lame excuse while the excessive noise-that Rowe can't hear in Arkansas, continues in my neighborhood! Mid-day, a fire truck roars up Walmart hill, siren blaring. Another false alarm at Hurricane Marketplace. I believe this is about the fourth false alarm on the hill in the last year. That's about four more than we had in the eight years I lived here before Walmart

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opened.

April 8th, 2009: Another day of excessive traffic noise brought to us by Walmart. What good is a nuisance law if the City of Hurricane and Putnam County Prosecutor Mark A. Sorsaia won't enforce it? The politicians have sold their souls to the Arkansas retailer. They want the money, and don't care about the citizens that live next to the Wally World monster! Walmart promised to do something about the noise about a month ago. All talk, little action! We need POSITIVE RESULTS!!!

April 9th, 2009: At 12:56 a.m., a vehicle roars up Walmart hill, waking me up. Later in the morning construction workers start tearing up Walmart's parking lot. Apparently, two years of excessive construction noise abuse of our neighborhood wasn't enough for Wally World. When I call Walmart's Manager, Lloyd Atkinson, to complain he rudely hangs up. Market Manager David Challingsworth cannot be reached by telephone. Apparently, he is ducking calls about Walmart's excessive noise. Walmart needs to put a sound wall around the construction project.

April 10th, 2009: Another day of excessive noise from Walmart traffic. No relief in site as long as Putnam County's scumbag leaders refuse to address the issue!

April 11th, 2009: I run into clueless Hurricane City Councilman "Reggie" Billups who refuses to commit to a noise ordinance. With his "deer stuck in the headlights" while facing reality, Billups says, "We hope all of you will get bought out." We're tired of Clueless Council people TALKING about "Hope" but REFUSING TO DO THE RIGHT THING! We can only HOPE that Billups, Silly Scotty, and the other CLUELESS politicians get voted out of office soon! Later in the day, while our son is coloring his first Easter eggs, cars roar up and down the hill, disrupting an important family moment. THANK YOU SCUMBAG POLITICIANS!!!!! We need a recall law in this state. Kick Silly Scotty to the curb!!! Another idiot sends me a nasty email telling me to stop complaining about the Walmart noise. She lives on Lynn Street, far away from the Walmart traffic causing the excessive noise. She tells me to "move on." I invite her to cut us a check and we will gladly sell her the property. I doubt she will show up at the appointed time. She's another one of those MORONIC COWARDS that DEMANDS that WE put up with the noise as she lives across town! Because it is the day before Easter, we are INUNDATED with excessive traffic noise well past 11:00 p.m. Another holiday weekend ruined by Wally World!

April 12th, 2009: Happy Easter. While many wake up early to attend a Sunrise Service, I am awakened by a white MR2, with loud mufflers, roaring up Walmart hill at 12:13 a.m. This guy is worth talking to. So when I drive over there, I meet a man from Texas who can BARELY speak English. He says, "I'm from Texas, I didn't know there is another way in." HE DROVE RIGHT PAST IT! And, whether or not you are from TEXAS, you can SEE a row of houses, and KNOW you are driving a LOUD CAR! "I just bought the car," he whines. As if THAT and the FACT you are from Texas gives you ANY excuse to wake up a neighborhood at 12:13 a.m.! When I am visiting other states, I don't wake people up at 12:13 a.m. with my LOUD MUFFLER!!! He needs to GO BACK TO TEXAS AND STAY THERE! For a moment I think about calling out an ICE officer, but I will be happy enough if this guy goes back to Texas, or even Asia, which is apparently where he is originally from. Just as long as he NEVER wakes me up at 12:13 a.m.-AGAIN! Later in the morning as I was returning home from church, minding my own business, a car DROVE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD, (in front of Taco Bell) CUT ME OFF, AND ROARED UP THE HILL TO WALMART. After I complained to Walmart Assistant Manager Scott Mullins (and called police) HPD HARASSED ME, and REFUSED to look at the photographs of the customer coming after me and trying to grab me! The refusal of HPD to protect us and our neighborhood against Walmart's out-of-control customers is APPALLING! Later in the morning, on EASTER SUNDAY, another car alarm goes off in Walmart's parking lot. Remember, this happened LAST CHRISTMAS!!!!! Why won't Walmart properly manage their property on HOLY

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HOLIDAYS?!?!?!? I send an email to HPD Chief W. "Mike" Mullins, but he does not respond.

April 13th, 2009: Hurricane PD is refusing to charge the man that tried to grab me when I took his picture after he cut me off yesterday. It's obvious that in Hurricane, Walmart and its out-of-control customers are the town's priority, not its longtime residents. Meanwhile, the excessive traffic noise continues day and night. Shortly before midnight, I am awakened again by some sort of car roaring up Walmart hill.

April 14th, 2009: Another morning starts with excessive Walmart traffic noise. We never get any relief! More than a month ago, the retail giant promised to make changes to cut back noise. However, we don't see much progress. All we can tell is that employees must park on the other side of the lot. They could have done THAT MORE THAN A YEAR AGO! April 15th, 2009: More excessive noise on another day. It's hell living next to an inconsiderate Wally World!

April 17th, 2009: A prominent Teays Valley Realtor tells me that he won't represent us because I am too controversial. What am IDIOT!!! We have prime location property. His comment is typical of the STUPID people that run this county. If you don't like me calling out your misconduct and unethical behavior, TOUGH!!! Clean up your act! And if you don't like me, BUY ME OUT AND I WILL MOVE! Then the issue will be over, and I won't be talking about it much more! Meanwhile, as I type this at 11:51 p.m., loud cars and trucks continue to roar up and down Walmart hill!!! April 18th, 2009: Another Saturday ruined by excessive Walmart traffic noise. We used to live in a quiet neighborhood. But the greedy politicians ruined that!

April 19th, 2009: We can't enjoy our Sunday, due to Walmart. The noise through the day and night is a constant disruption. When it rains, the glare from the parking lot lights reflects into our windows. Walmart promised to make things better. However, we see very little progress! Walmart has learned from the local politicians. Say what you know people want to hear, then do whatever you want! Ethics be damned!

April 20th, 2009: A "Manic Monday" brings more excessive traffic noise. Around noon, our son's nap is rudely interrupted by a continuous car horn coming from Walmart's parking lot. It lasts about 5-10 unacceptable minutes and is joined (unnecessarily) by fire truck sirens, including one truck that (also unnecessarily) uses the access road directly in front of our home! Obviously, this is an accident, however, had Walmart not built next to homes, the noise from the horn would not be a problem! When I call Walmart's Manager, Lloyd Atkinson to lodge a legitimate complaint, he rudely hangs up the phone! More abuse from Walmart!!!

April 21st, 2009: The constant invasive noise of excessive traffic is the soundtrack t our Tuesday. Day and night, we are inundated with the roar of cars and trucks. Walmart continues to disrespect our neighborhood!

April 22nd, 2009: It has been brought to my attention that a woman from Malaysia, "Jacque Jo," is trashing this blog on her blog. It's easy to see why. She can't hear the excessive noise in Malaysia. As bad as it is here, it admittedly isn't loud enough to reach half-way around the world! She criticizes my comments about a guy that disrupted our neighborhood having trouble speaking English, but in her "Twitters" comments about a Maryland DMV employee having problems with English. Why does it seem that most of my critics are raging hypocrites?

April 23rd, 2009: Another day of excessive traffic noise. I wish the economy would pick up

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so that some company would buy out this neighborhood! Hurricane needs jobs, and the politicians in Putnam County have COMPLETELY screwed up this deal! April 24th, 2009: We take our son to the park to enjoy a family afternoon of fun, peace, and quiet. When I get home, I learn that one of my critics who demanded that I move but refuses to meet with me or buy us out sends me an email with a link to the lady's blog from Malaysia. Amazing that he would know about a foreign blog in Hurricane. Maybe the "Lady from Malaysia" is really a Putnam County politician in "Internet Drag!" This is getting good! On the other hand, picturing a certain mayor in a dress is pretty scary, though not much scarier than encountering him any other time! The woman from Malaysia later rips me on her blog saying she is from Maryland. However, her ISP on her blog clearly says Malaysia. Doesn't matter where she is from. She doesn't live in this neighborhood and doesn't know the crap we have been put through so that her buddy, Silly Scotty, can buy her along with his wives, cheap Chinese shoes! She says she lives near D.C. and implies that because SHE puts up with excessive noise that WE must! What an IDIOT!!! At least she is reading PutnumLIVE.com Those that read her blog will see her for the arrogant, insensitive idiot that she is, taking shots at this neighborhood and what we have endured from her position of peace and quiet from far away. This means she is perfectly qualified to run for office in Putnam County! Later, someone crashes my software and changes the color of this page to aqua. Several writers on her blog brag about purposely honking horns in front of our home when they go to Walmart. These people are ruthless! This is what we put up with!!!!!

April 25th, 2009: At 12:47 a.m., another Walmart parking lot car alarm wakes me up. At 4:09 a.m., a sports car charges up Walmart hill and wakes me up again!!! What could be SO URGENT that you need to wake people up at 4:09 a.m.? What happened to common courtesy??? It moved out of Hurricane when Silly Scotty Edwards ran for office! The idiots on a woman's blog keep "Flaming me" for my complaints about the excessive traffic noise. NONE of these ignorant idiots live in this neighborhood and experience the noise. One claims to have visited the store and honks his horn just to irritate us. What a JERK! The owner of the blog lives in Maryland, and one jerk works for a newspaper in Marietta. I won't list the blog here because I don't want to increase her readership which she has already commented about increased hits because of her criticism of me. It would be NICE if these people actually met with me and my neighbors and checked out the situation, but they don't have that much intelligence-or courtesy!

April 26th, 2009: Another Sunday is destroyed by excessive traffic noise from Walmart customers. We hold an 18th birthday party for one of our nieces, but have to stay inside because of the excessive noise. The idiots on the woman's forum are trying to compare this Walmart to one in New Martinsville. However, its parking lot and entrance is not in front of homes like the Hurricane Walmart. One woman suggests that we plant hundreds of dollars worth of trees. Why should WE incur that expense when Walmart and its customers are causing the problems? Let Walmart spend the money!!!

April 27th-29th, 2009: Three more days of excessive noise from Walmart traffic invades our neighborhood. Still no word on a buyout, leaving us stuck with the idiocy of the P.C.D.A. and the City of Hurricane!

April 30th, 2009: A 5:00 a.m. wakeup call comes from a car roaring up Walmart hill. At 9:40 a.m., another car alarm goes off. And people wonder why I hate living here!

May 1st, 2009: Another day of excessive Walmart traffic noise and another day of the idiots ripping me on a Maryland woman's forum. They would be funny if they weren't so sadly off-base. NONE of them has ANY IDEA of what we deal with every day here! Living next to a Walmart is a NIGHTMARE! When a woman posts a comment supporting me, they falsely accuse ME of making the comment because the IP address matches the one at

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my night job. However, I was off work today and, at the time, was teaching a high school class across town! Later in the night, at 10:39 p.m. sirens wake my wife as an EMS vehicle is charging up Walmart hill. At 11:06 p.m., they choose to exit the parking lot using the road in front of our homes, siren blaring, despite the fact that the patient was closer to the OTHER access road! I certainly hope the medical patient is OK. However, this is YET ANOTHER siren that disrupts our home, highlighting why a Walmart SHOULD NOT have been built in our neighborhood! Then, a few minutes later, someone drives by with their bass unit pounding. It's just one disruption after another!

May 2nd, 2009: Just another typical weekend day of excessive Walmart traffic noise. We can't enjoy our Saturday. I keep getting ripped by rude and ignorant people on the Maryland woman's blog. I hang in there and try to educate them, but the fools don't have much interest in facts.

May 3rd, 2009: Another Sunday ruined by excessive Walmart traffic noise! Why won't Walmart put up the trees or sound wall that it discussed months ago?

May 4th, 2009: Another early-morning car alarm in addition to the excessive Walmart traffic noise. One person on the Maryland woman's blog suggests ear plugs to sleep at night. But how do I hear my son cry when he wakes up? Do I put ear plugs in him so that he can pull them out and choke on them? I think not! Walmart simply needs to restrict the noise from our property! Later in the morning, our crane-yard neighbor adds to the excessive noise with reverse motion-beeps. It's going to be a LONG day! When I return home from work after 11:30, I can't get to sleep because of the traffic noise.

May 5th, 2009: Our son is awakened by an engine from the crane yard next door. Unfortunately, when it had a noise ordinance, the City of Hurricane refused to enforce it. Now that the ordinance has been thrown out of court, we have no recourse against this noisy and rude neighbor! Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!

May 6th, 2009: Another day of excessive Walmart traffic noise. Meanwhile, idiots on the Maryland woman's blog continue to "flame" me. Friday I am meeting with a lawyer to draw up a lawsuit.

May 7th, 2009: I discover that someone has created a "Twitter" account/site in my name. They have posted some rather rude material. I contact Twitter and they pull the account/site. It is amazing what proponents of bad politicians and Walmart will do to a person that speaks out for common sense and decency! Again, Walmart has a responsibility to its neighbors! May 8th, 2009: More excessive Walmart traffic noise disrupts our home. People continue to talking trash on the Maryland woman's site. They seem frustrated that I had Twitter take down an unauthorized account/site. These people need a life! Civilized people don't constantly disrupt their neighbors! I meet with an attorney and we work up the preliminary draft of the lawsuit against the Maryland woman for the content she has allowed on her blog that defames me. We should finalize the lawsuit Monday and serve it by Wednesday. I will be there when it is served at her employer, since that is the only known address for her. She was warned and failed to respond properly. We will let the courts handle it. May 9th, 2009: We are treated to another Saturday morning of excessive Walmart traffic noise. Speaking of excessive noise, now the Maryland woman is trashing me for not suing her over her trashing me. It seems all this woman has time to do is trash people from afar. She needs a life. She needs to try to spend some time actually doing a public service. She COULD use her blog to write about community service groups in her neighborhood. She COULD use her blog to write about a new business taking a risk during a recession. She COULD use her blog to call out unethical politicians-like the ones that put a Walmart in our

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neighborhood. She COULD use her blog to donate free advertising space to non-profit groups. (Which is what PutnumLIVE.com has done for YEARS!) But, NO! What SHE does is allow people to trash people while hiding behind anonymity with their fake names. What a waste of time and precious First Amendment freedom! May 10th, 2009: Our Mother's Day starts with a white SUV charging up Walmart hill at about 12:23 a.m., sending excessive noise into our home. It doesn't wake me up as I am arranging roses for my part of my wife's Mother's Day gift. However, at 1:19 a.m., another vehicle does wake me up! Later in the day, we have dinner at a restaurant instead of at home. All of our family members are sick and tired of the excessive noise! Meanwhile the Maryland woman's forum "contributors" continue to "trash-talk" me. I can live with that. I just consider the (idiotic) source! And here's what she doesn't realize: Our readership this week is one of the best in the last two months! Despite Mother's Day! She and her minions are trying to hurt me, but they are driving readership! That's because most REASONABLE people understand that people DESERVE PEACE AND QUIET in their homes! It also would not surprise me if all of five people, including her, her mother, sister, and her boyfriend, are posting the negative comments! People have attacked me before for standing up for the correct thing, and they have failed. The Maryland woman is finding out that truth and common sense and courtesy prevail over scumbag politicians in the long run! At 11:58 p.m., some idiot with a loud bass unit wakes me up driving in front of our homes up to Walmart. NICE! (Sarcasm!) Probably a friend of that Maryland woman. Or maybe it's her? Today she thanked her mom on her blog for teaching her to be "A smartass." Again-NICE! What a "classy" lady. (More sarcasm!) I think of driving over to Walmart to confront the Maryland woman, ahem, idiot driving the car with the bass unit that woke me. However, I will probably read about it on the Maryland woman's blog tomorrow. She needs a life! May 11th, 2009: Now a friend of the Maryland blogger, who has a "Internet Radio Show" has decided to trash me. Ask me if I care! He's just another ignorant person that doesn't understand what it is like to live near a 24-hour Walmart. These people are clueless and don't take the time to investigate the situation before they talk trash! He wants us to move, but like others before him, fails to cut a check. If he wants my complaints to stop, he simply needs to make Walmart act responsibly. He says that he lives near a military airport. BUT HE CHOSE TO MOVE THERE!!!!! What an IDIOT!!!!!!! He says I am against development. What he doesn't realize is that we WANT development! We want to be bought out!!!!!! If the P.C.D.A. was smart, they would have bought us out YEARS AGO and CREATED JOBS!!!!! I needed a good laugh today! So I invite him to our neighborhood to visit. I am betting, like the others before him, that he won't show up!!!!! Meanwhile, the excessive noise continues! All we want is peace and quiet. It's that simple. I am right. He doesn't show up. Neither does a guy that said he would pay us $280,000-if I apologize to everyone-which I won't do! The audacity of these "people." First they screw us over, then they want an apology! Later, I invite the radio guy over for a remote broadcast from our front yard Friday night. We will see if he will show up. This would be the best way for him to see the real situation! May 12th, 2009: I get complaints about dropping this blog from PutnumLIVE.com's home page. Other's are glad. I can't please everyone. Excessive Walmart traffic noise continues through the day and night. The street sweeper fails to leave by 10:30. I have to call the store to get Walmart to keep its promise to have the noisy machine leave. May 13th, 2009: At 12:19 a.m., I am awakened by two idiotic men YELLING AT EACH OTHER in Walmart’s parking lot. Can someone PLEASE explain to me why I should tolerate this? Then at 12:26, the train rolls through. Before they blasted down the hill where Walmart now sits we could barely hear the whistle. Now it, and the interstate noise are loud and invasive.

(ed note: at this point the blog was pulled until July. Halburn explained in an answer to one of his “reader’s” letters: “Publisher’s note: The “Enduring the Hurricane Walmart” blog was pulled after contributors to an out-of-state blog continued to harass my family in print and by honking

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horns as they drove by our home. It is most unfortunate that standing up for your personal right to peace and quiet in Putnam County is not respected by out-of-state bloggers.“

And then there was:

Goodbye Walmart blog. Over the past few weeks, I have been harassed here and on other forums by “people” that have NO CLUE about what my family and I have endured through the past several years. Now an “Internet radio show” has joined the list. All of you have a few things in common: 1) You have NEVER taken the time to meet me or even speak with me or view the videos that we have of the excessive construction and traffic noise. 2) You choose to take pot shots at me and my family using anonymous names on Internet forums and other places. 3) You are clueless. 4) You want to talk about EVERYTHING EXCEPT the excessive noise that is the root of this issue. 5) In many cases, including but not limited to the “egg at Andes business” you have lied in order to paint me to be a lunatic. The real lunatics are those that shoved a Walmart into 35-year-old neighborhood without doing things to protect the nearby homeowners. 6) You have proven to be more than mean. I refuse to subject my family to your continued abuse. I would not do this to YOUR families! Therefore, I am removing the “Enduring the Hurricane Walmart” blog from PutnumLIVE.com. I will continue the blog privately for my own records. I wish you well. I hope you can sleep at night, literally and figuratively. Some will say I am defeated. Say what you want. You always have. I am not defeated, I will continue running my business and raising my son. I just won’t put up with more of your abuse. Now go beat up on another victim since you have so much time and hatred on your hands.

He then makes no more entries for about a month and a half.) July 4th, 2009: At the City of Hurricane's July 4th celebration, Silly Scotty finally promises to list our neighborhood on the city and PCDA's web sites. We will see if he really keeps this promise or if it's more empty rhetoric on his part. August 4th, 2009: It's been a month, and still no listings on the city and PCDA web site. Scott Edwards lied again! SHOCKING!!!!!!!!!! September 4th, 2009: Two months since Edwards lied and promised to list our neighborhood on the city and PCDA's web sites, I am considering reposting this blog! October 4th, 2009: Three months since Edwards breaks his promise to put our neighborhood on the city and PCDA's web sites. Apparently Silly Scotty isn't serious about bringing jobs to Hurricane! October 16th, 2009: I notice that the Yamaha dealership has closed. Had the Walmart

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entrance been put onto Orchard Park Road where it belongs, the extra traffic could have saved that longtime business! But the stupid "leadership" in this state and county blew it once again! October 17th, 2009: I am awakened before sunrise by Walmart's obnoxious street sweeper AND a leaf-blower! What kind of neighbor runs a LEAF BLOWER BEFORE SUNRISE ON A SATURDAY MORNING! Wally World! The neighbor from HELL!!!!! Weeks ago Walmart BROKE ITS PROMISE to run the street sweeper before 10:30 p.m. When I complain to Walmart, the store's manager he rudely hangs up. When I call Hurricane PD after the leaf blower guy slams his hand into my car. But Hurricane PD's Officer Angell chooses to lecture me about my "lifestyle." Angell gets laughed at by my family members over his attitude. Walmart and Hurricane PD need to show some consideration for our neighborhood! October 29th, 2009: Hurricane Mayor Scott D. (as in dumb---) Edwards refuses to put the Walmart soundwall and trees issue on the city council agenda. This DESPITE THE FACT THAT I SUBMITTED THE REQUEST MORE THAN THE REQUIRED 72 HOURS BEFORE THE MEETING! Silly Scotty is abusing our neighborhood by manipulating access to the agenda! He promises to put it on the December agenda, stalling the issue by another month! Edwards is an embarrassment (sic) to out neighborhood! November 2nd, 2009: Despite submitting my agenda request more than 72 hours prior to the Hurricane City Council meeting, Recorder/Acting Mayor Linda Gibson refuses to allow council to vote on the issue. I fact, she lies and tells the audience that I failed to submit it the required 72 hours in advance! The desperation of the Hurricane Council to duck this issue is disgusting! All they have to do is the right thing! Council passes a motion for a renewal of the excess levy which. amongst other things, pays for street paving. I ask Gibson about when our street will get paved. She looks dumbfounded and passes the buck to Newhouse who fails to answer the question. Amazingly, Call, Chaney, and Hager vote to refuse to pay the town's bills, starting a firestorm of controversy. November 4th, 2009: Four months since Silly Scotty promised to put our neighborhood on the City of Hurricane's web site. Four months of broken promises. Black Friday is coming but still too few businesses on this hill. Blame Edwards! November 9th, 2009: Scott Edwards promises to meet with us this coming weekend about the issue. I don't believe him. He will come up with some lame excuse to cancel the meeting. November 13th, 2009: Just like I predicted, Edwards cancels our meeting. He's so transparent! Later in the evening, we can't enjoy the WVU/Cincy game without excessive Walmart traffic noise overrunning our living room. More invasion of our peace and quiet by Wally World's customers! November 14th, 2009: Just another Saturday ruined by excessive noise from Walmart! What a rude neighbor! November 15th, 2009: After a ruined Sunday from excessive Walmart traffic noise, I am awakened at 10:49 p.m. by some moron's car alarm! Walmart needs to install a sound wall to block their noise. November 16th, 2009: Last night I was awakened by a late-night car alarm. This morning it's traffic on Walmart's property at 5:07 a.m. When does Silly Scott Edwards and the other Pinhead Politicians expect us to sleep? They need to move here and put up with their monster! I notice that the Hurricane Marketplace has changed the name on its sign in front of City National to Walmart Shopping Center. That won't help! They need to buy out our neighborhood, tear down the homes, and THEN the shopping center will be visible. Changing the name on the sign is like putting lipstick on a pig.

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November 17th, 2009: It's my birthday, but I can't kick back in our front yard and enjoy my day. Excessive noise from Walmart ruins the peace and quiet that I deserve! Then, I can't go to sleep at a decent hour because Walmart's obnoxious street sweeper is roaring through the night well past 10:00 p.m. Then it parks in front of our home at 10:35 p.m. making loud noise. Why won't Walmart be a considerate neighbor? November 18th, 2009: Just another day of disgusting, excessive traffic noise from Walmart! November 19th, 2009: It's my parent's wedding anniversary. But as I call them out west to wish them a Happy Anniversary, I hear the constant "Clanging" of the steel grates in Walmart's street and the excessive traffic noise. Walmart is just too intrusive for a neighborhood! November 24th, 2009: At 10:38 p.m. what sounds like a leaf blower is coming from Walmart's parking lot. When do we get to sleep? And what kind of inconsiderate idiot runs a leaf blower at 10:38 at night? I call the store and complain but it continues! So I send Scott Edwards an email. But I doubt he will get the message this late. HE is probably sleeping! After all, HE didn't put the Walmart in HIS neighborhood! November 25th, 2009: Nearly five months after he promised to do it, and years too late, Silly Scotty finally puts our listing on the City of Hurricane's web site. Had he done this years ago, our neighborhood could have been redeveloped and Hurricane could have had more jobs. But Edwards isn't that bright! As I exit the Walmart from purchasing a new notebook computer, I notice that a lady is wandering the parking lot looking for her car. Frustrated, she sets off her car alarm-on purpose-sending the obnoxious noise of her blaring car horn into the night and into our neighborhood across the street. And people wonder why I want a sound wall and trees between Wally World and our home! Only an idiot would be so inconsiderate as to set off her car alarm-on purpose-just yards away from people's homes on a holiday weekend! November 26th, 2009: It's Thanksgiving Day, and Walmart starts off by disrespecting our neighborhood with an early morning street sweeper. It wakes our toddler and wakes me. HOW RUDE OF WALMART! Of course, Thanksgiving Day also means more excessive traffic noise! November 27th, 2009: It's Black Friday and I am awakened at 3:00 a.m. by Walmart shoppers roaring up the hill in front of our home ON A HOLIDAY WEEKEND! It could be worse-the Hurricane Marketplace/Walmart Shopping Center still has many vacancies. What a testimony to Scott Edwards' and Putnam County's "Leadership" failures. This shopping center, as well as Liberty Square, and the area next to Home Depot should be filled with stores! Today, Putnam County residents will flock to Southridge, the Town Center Mall and Huntington Mall and drop probably about $1 million OUTSIDE of Putnam County! And we won't attract nearly as many shoppers to Putnam County from outside the area as we should! And then there is Walgreens. It is closed, another symbol of Silly Scotty's failure! In 2007, Walmart missed the holiday shopping season. In 2009 it's Walgreens. I see a pattern here. It's a pattern of Scott Edwards failing to get key Hurricane businesses open by Black Friday and the holiday shopping season. The other day I drove by the new Walgreens in Cross Lanes. It is open, providing jobs and revenue. Why? Because it doesn't have Silly Scotty as the mayor! November 28th, 2009: Some whacko gets on an Internet blog and disputes the Walmart Black Friday excessive noise. He SAYS he was at the store at 9:00 a.m. (HOURS after most of the sale customers left!) and that the noise wasn't "excessive." Whatever! HE can live here if he loves the noise levels so much. I issue whacko a challenge. BUY US OUT AND WE WILL MOVE or take down his blog and NEVER get on the Internet again. Put up or shut up, whacko! I am betting that whacko wimps out! We have a guest over to meet us to go out to dinner. He can't believe how close Walmart is to our home. Another of the dinner party

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members offers to make us T-shirts to give away protesting the Hurricane Excess Levy vote since the town has lied to us and refuses to pave our road. I will take him up on his offer. The excess levy is a tax scam. Our road has NEVER been paved and other roads in Hurricane have not been paved in more than a decade, Ben Newhouse admits. Why are we being charged for a service that we aren't getting? Because the City of Hurricane's excess levy is a scam! Today, PutnumLIVE.com sets an all-time record for November readership. Despite my Internet critic, readership continues to grow. Thank you, readers! November 29th, 2009: Our son is 27 months old today. Not once has he been able to enjoy our front yard without excessive noise. My wife does more of her Christmas shopping-at stores other than Walmart. Her boycotting of the rude neighbor has cost them upwards of $5,000 in lost Christmas sales over the past two years. To a billion-dollar retail behemoth, $5,000 is a drop in the bucket. However, we have to protest the excessive noise somehow. I'm still waiting on that buyout check from my Internet critic. He's another idiot that criticizes anonymously and won't put up the cash to get his goal. We would love to move out of this neighborhood. But the pinhead politicians and the Internet critics don't have the brains to redevelop this neighborhood! We continue to build on our November record for readership-despite the long holiday weekend and hunting season starting last week! At 11:54 p.m., some idiot charges up the hill with a loud muffler waking me up. And people wonder why I am angry at a Walmart being built in a neighborhood! It's too bad he doesn't race his car in front of Scott Edwards' home and the members of the Hurricane City Council! Not to mention Gary Walton of the PCDA! November 30th, 2009: The trash-talking blogger still hasn't put his money where his mouth is. He demands that I move back to California but won't buy us out. California isn't in our future, but if bought out, I will be happy to sell PutnumLIVE.com and move to a community that knows how to properly treat longtime residents who only want peace and quiet in their home and on their property. Walmart, the City of Hurricane, and the PCDA need to "Man-up" and admit that they have treated us badly! December 1st, 2009: We start another month of excessive traffic noise from Walmart. And another month of inaction from the City of Hurricane. As the pinhead politicians sit on their hands, our neighborhood suffers. And the trash-talking blogger apparently is stalking us. He talks about watching our yard, posts a photo of our home on his blog, and seems to really get off on harassing us online. This guy needs a life! December 2nd, 2009: This diary is the talk of the trash-talker's blog. He has nothing better to do but to whine about me. All he has to do is buy us out, but refuses. Talk is cheap! December 5th, 2009: Walmart's street sweeper wakes me again early on a Saturday. Why won't Walmart show some consideration for its neighbors? I run into "Pro-Jobs" Commissioner Raymond "Joe" Haynes. But the political fraud refuses to talk about developing this neighborhood. He demands that I come to a meeting but is ignoring the REALITY that I already did that. (Note the letter in this blog that I read in a commission meeting MORE THAN A YEAR AGO! Haynes is a political idiot on a power trip. YOU LIE, JOE HAYNES! If you REALLY wanted jobs, you would have had the PCDA buy this neighborhood YEARS ago! Fortunately, you assured voters you wouldn't run for a second term. We will see if you lied about that, too! As for me, I will vote for a COMPETENT candidate that knows how to treat constituents and BRING JOBS TO PUTNAM COUNTY! Commissioner "Joe" Haynes is WORTHLESS!!!!! It's about JOBS, "Joe!" NOT about your lame agenda! December 6th, 2009: Another weekend is destroyed by excessive Walmart traffic noise. At 11:37 p.m., someone racing a loud motorcycle up and down Walmart hill wakes me up. There is NO reason why someone should be so rude! They continue the noise until it finally fades away at 11:41. Some people say this is "progress" and "part of modern life." Those people are IDIOTS! That motorcyclist should be directed to race up and down the streets in front of the homes of Gary Walton, Scott Edwards, the Hurricane City Council, and every

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state and federal legislator that refuses to pass a noise ordinance! December 7th, 2009: I am awakened pre-sunrise by a DiGiorno Pizza delivery truck that ignored the "no trucks" signs on the road in front of our home. Why won't these drivers obey the law? Why won't Hurricane Police enforce this law? I ask to meet with Hurricane Mayor Scott D. Edwards prior to tonight's council meeting. He refuses, stalling the issue further. You may recall that he refused to put the issue on the November agenda, stalling it until December. Why won't Edwards do the right thing? At the meeting, Edwards lets me talk, then says the issue wasn't on the VOTING agenda so council can't vote. Edwards pulls a fast one. Then he says HE will take responsibility and make sure that it's on the next agenda for VOTING! Now HE is RESPONSIBLE FOR ITS PASSAGE! Edwards played, now it's time for him to pay by PASSING THE SOUND WALL AND TREES! The unethical politics of Hurricane are about to be passed over to the West Virginia Ethics Commission.

December 8th, 2009: Another typical day of excessive Walmart traffic noise! It never stops. Walmart refuses to be a good neighbor!

December 9th, 2009: An pre-sunrise delivery truck violating the no-truck law rolls by our home waking me up. After I go back to sleep, Walmart's street sweeper wakes me up again? Why won't Walmart cooperate? Why won't the city force Walmart to cooperate? Why won't Scott Edwards do the right thing?

December 11th, 2009: Silly Scotty suckers a Charleston TV station into running his pro-Excess Levy rhetoric. Edwards fails to state how the City of Hurricane has failed to ever pave our road and how the police department fails to enforce the speed limit and stop signs on Walmart hill. The Excess Levy is supposed to pay for street paving and police. Our neighborhood has paid for both for years but never has enjoyed a paved road and doesn't get its money's worth for police. It's too bad the Charleston media fails to get more than one side of the story. When civilians take money intended for a purpose and fail to produce, we call it stealing, When the City of Hurricane does the same thing, it's business as usual!!! At 10:19 p.m. a car screeching tires at Walmart wakes me up. What idiot would do such a thing so late at night?

December 13th, 2009: Sunday afternoons should be for enjoying your yard. But we can't enjoy our's due to the incompetency of Putnam County's "leaders." Walmart's placement in our neighborhood has destroyed our way of life! December 14th, 2009: FINALLY, some progress! During a special city council meeting, Scott Edwards, Reggie Billups, and Brian Ellis vote to direct City Manager Benjamin Newhouse to write Walmart about putting trees in between our properties. It wasn't easy. Unethical Don Chaney and Linda Gibson attempt to adjourn the meeting before the issue comes up for a motion. Then Lana Call and Patty Hager abstain from voting. I decide to run against them in the next election. Edwards refuses to vote for a sound wall because our property is zoned commercial. THAT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE, SILLY SCOTTY! Excessive noise doesn't belong in ANY zoned area! And if he thinks it's OK, he can buy us out at OUR price. Oh, and he TRIES to convince me that his "offer" to buy us out was "serious." Then he says it was $90,000 for a home that had been appraised ay $149,000 months BEFORE his "offer!" Also, Eyewitness News promises to do a story about our unpaved road. I can't wait for TV news viewers to FINALLY learn THE TRUTH! December 16th, 2009: The trash-talking idiot blogger is ripping me again over the soundwall and trees issue. Screw him. He doesn't live here. His opinion is hot air. And that's too complimentary. Meanwhile, PutnumLIVE.com is on-target for a record-setting December. You appreciate truthful reporting and commentary while my critic enjoys spreading lies. A "laid off" CNA from Ohio rips me for complaining about the noise. SHUT UP

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AND GET A JOB! And then GET A LIFE!!! December 18th, 2009: While snow falls outside, I am trying to enjoy a peaceful night. As I listen to Josh Groban's "You Lift Me Up," the beautiful song is interrupted by excessive traffic noise from Walmart's customers. At midnight, a moron in a loud truck charges up the hill. December 19th, 2009: We endure about six short-term power outages before sunrise. AEP continues to fail in its mission to provide continuous power. However, the power comes back fairly quickly. Critics will rip me for complaining, but just like the rest of us, AEP had ample warning that the big snowstorm was coming. Walmart runs on a generator and customers keep coming. It's amazing that Walmart's customers are so addicted that they will battle all of this snow. More momentary power outages continue into the morning. People have ripped me for filing complaints about AEP, but I imagine that our outages would be long term had the WVPSC not taken action to make AEP improve its service. With a yard full of snow, we build a snowman with our son. But we keep getting disrupted by excessive Walmart traffic noise. When I later complain to Manager Lloyd Atkinson, he calls me a "jackass." Coming from him, that's a compliment, because anyone who thinks it's OK to rudely disrupt a neighborhood to earn a living takes "jackass" to a new high! December 20th, 2009: At 5:20 a.m., Walmart's parking lot snow plow wakes me up. Another example of how Walmart is constantly rude to its neighbors! There is NO REASON to have a snowplow making so much noise SO EARLY in the morning! December 25th, 2009: Inconsiderate Walmart shoppers show up on CHRISTMAS Day! Who would expect employees to work on CHRISTMAS??? Go home and open presents! Spend time with your family! GET A LIFE!!!!! Where are the culprits behind this craziness? Cowards Scott Edwards and Gary (.217) Walton are hiding in their quiet homes far from the Walmart monster that they created! December 26th, 2009: At 5:45 a.m., on Saturday morning, I am awakened by loud noise from a vehicle driving into Walmart. The store doesn't even open until 7:00 a.m. The way Walmart's customers disrespect our neighborhood is terrible! We can't even get peace and quiet over Christmas! But it gets worse! Shortly after 7:00 a.m., Walmart's leaf blower arrives, disrupting our neighborhood on a holiday weekend. Why won't Walmart show some basic consideration for its neighbors? December 27th, 2009: Excessive Walmart traffic noise ruins our ability to enjoy our yard on a Sunday afternoon. Walmart needs to be forced to put in a sound wall and trees like they have in other cities across America. But Silly Scotty fails to do the right thing for this neighborhood, blindly hoping we will get bought out and doing too little to make that happen. December 28th, 2009: After a day of excessive traffic noise, some jerk keeps beeping a car horn in Walmart's parking lot starting at 11:27 p.m., waking me up. When does Walmart expect us to be able to sleep? December 29th, 2009: Just another day of excessive Walmart traffic noise. Later in the evening, a truck from White Hall Transportation shakes our home as it charges up the hill, illegally, in front of our home. The driver doesn't apologize and tells me to "get a job." I work more hours than he does every week! This is an example of the idiots that we have to tolerate because Hurricane PD does not enforce the laws on Walmart hill. December 30th, 2009: Walmart's street sweeper wakes me early in the morning. This is another example of why Walmart needs to be forced to put in a sound wall and trees! The store refuses to cooperate about its excessively noisy street sweeper. December 31st, 2009: PutnumLIVE.com finishes the year with record-setting annual

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readership. I run into "Frank" Sergent at Sheetz. Frank is one of the "pinhead politicians" who approved of the Walmart in our neighborhood without protecting his constituents from excessive construction and traffic noise. Frank whines about my legitimate complaints about Walmart. I tell Frank to fix his massive screwup and THEN I won't have any reason to complain!!! Sergent is one of those irresponsible politicians who can't admit his mistakes! And until they fix their screwup, or buy us out, they will get the heat for their screwups. That's called redressing your government for grievances and it's protected by The First Amendment. Fortunately, Hurricane voters kicked Sergent to the curb when he made the mistake of running for mayor. It's too bad we can't vote him into office in Siberia! January 1st, 1010: We start the year with more excessive noise from Walmart traffic. My critics on the trash Internet blogs continue to rant and publish a story that says I am in Hawaii. I wish I was the case. It's funny how these liars make up trash as they go. The Walmart traffic noise is so loud that I have to leave home to watch the WVU game someplace else. I can't even enjoy our living room on a holiday. January 2nd, 2010: Walmart's excessive traffic noise continues. New Year, same old problem! January 3rd, 2010: Another day, more excessive traffic noise. January 4th, 2010: Silly Scotty offers to buy the trees to go between our home and Walmart AND support a sound wall ONLY IF we convert our zoning to residential. Silly Scotty needs to take a reality pill. We aren't changing ANYTHING! Silly Scotty and the P.C.D.A. created the Wally World Monster and HE can fix his EPIC FAIL SCREWUP! Sound doesn't change its impact on human ears based on zoning. But SILLY SCOTTY IS TOO STUPID TO REALIZED (sic) THIS! January 5th, 2010: Shortly after 4:00 a.m. I am awakened by vehicle traffic charging up Walmart hill. When I get up and look out our window, I see Walmart's snow plow is the offender, as it goes back and forth across the lot. I can't get back to sleep for at least a 1/2 hour. When I attempt to call the store, no one picks up. This is EXACTLY why Scott Edwards and the city council need to force Walmart to put up a sound wall and trees! Living next to this craziness just isn't the right thing for him to expect us to do! He created this monster, he needs to fix it! January 6th, 2010: Walmart's snow plow again disrupts our home early in the morning. When does Walmart expect us to sleep? If they can't find a quiet snow plow, send Lloyd Atkinson out with brooms and a shovel. They should have plenty in stock! January 7th, 2010: Our formerly quiet neighborhood is bombarded with excessive noise as Walmart's customers stock up ahead of the impending snowstorm. Still no sign of Scott Edward's promised trees and soundwall for the neighborhood that Putnam County properly recognizes as residential. Put up or resign Silly Scotty! The trash-talking blog makes a fool of itself again, falsely accusing me of writing a less than 500 word travel article about Jacksonville. They can't count. The article is well over 500 words, and the photos that they claim were stolen were used by permission. But the blog does use the word "Lies" in its name, so at least it is correct about its constant attacks and lack of truthfulness. January 8th, 2010: The Daily Mail publishes an article where Hurricane City Manager Ben Newhouse claims Walgreens is "Moving forward." It's about time. If Putnam County had any leadership, we would have had Walgreens open in the same time as the ones in Kanawha County. Whether it's in Hurricane or at the county level, Putnam County's "leaders" are nothing more than epic fail screwups! Their failure to have a 24-hour pharmacy in Putnam County years ago has cost this county millions in economic loss to our neighbors in Cross Lanes where Rite Aid opened a 24-hour pharmacy years ago. The "leadership" failure is inexcusable and I hope voters kick the pinhead politicians to the curb in 2010.

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January 9th, 2010: We have guests over for dinner and a few rounds of canasta. One of them comments about how stupid the city is to put a Walmart across the street without some sort of noise mitigation. Scott Edwards manages to unethically treat this neighborhood, but in the court of public opinion, he is getting hanged by objective observers. He will be a one-term mayor as everyone but him can see through his stupidity! Meanwhile, our road still has not been paved and Edwards has the audacity to ask for the town's citizens to renew the Excess Levy. PAVE OUR ROAD, MAYOR! January 10th, 2010: Just another day of excessive Walmart traffic noise. Nothing much to report. One of the trash blogs is now attacking a local YouTube legend. It must be nice to have so much time to waste. I'd rather inform the people of Putnam County! January 11th, 2010: Now one of the trash blogs is questioning our Canasta game on January 9th. The blogger has gone beyond desperate! What an idiot!!! AT 11:47 p.m., some jackass charges up Walmart hill, waking me up. And Scott Edwards wonders why we want a sound wall. January 12th, 2010: A prankster has signed me up for a bunch of magazines. The old "send in a card in someone else's name scam." It gets better: Someone also told the State of West Virginia Tax Department that my address was in California-and gave the state my parent's address. The department also thought I charged for subscriptions to PutnumLIVE.com and attempted to bill me $3,200 for back sales taxes and penalties. I wasted about two hours today straightening out all of this. January 13th, 2010: Walmart's street sweeper shows up at around 6:00 a.m., about an hour earlier than Walmart's appointed 7:00 a.m. time. Just another rude and inconsiderate disruption of our neighborhood. I meet with a manager of a major bank and advise him of our location. He thinks our property would be a great location for a Hurricane Branch and promises to forward the info up the chain of command. Hurricane needs a steakhouse more than a new bank, but we just want to sell and move. One of the trash bloggers (with WAY too much time on his hands!) has created ANOTHER blog solely designed to respond to THIS blog. Never mind that this guy lives in Vermont, and has compared our 24-hour 180,000 square-foot Walmart in Hurricane to his non-24-hour Wally World in Williston that IS ABOUT HALF THE SIZE and attracts a FRACTION of the customers! And the condos that he once mentioned next to the Williston Walmart were built ABOUT TWO BLOCKS AWAY AFTER the Walmart opened! (I can't make up such a rotten comparison on his part) His situation is VERY different from having a 24-hour Walmart shoved right in front of your house! Keep in mind that this guy has turned down MULTIPLE invitations to visit our neighborhood and see and hear for himself. He's just another ignorant out-of-state blogger that is clueless about our situation. Hey Williston Dude. Mind your own business and work on solving problems in your community. Like screaming Howard Dean. (No wonder you think excessive noise is OK! We don't care about what you think about our Walmart! Your responses to this blog are simply silly. And, speaking of silly, Silly Scotty, per your demand I proved that Putnam County taxes us residential. Where are those trees and the sound wall that you promised? SCOTT EDWARDS-YOU LIED!!!!!!!! (AGAIN!) One of the trash bloggers says I am defending the "YouTube Legend." I am not defending or attacking him. NEITHER! What I accurately said (on January 10th) is that the trash blogger "Is now attacking a local YouTube legend. It must be nice to have so much time to waste kicking a man while he is down. The trash blogger seems to get high acting like a thug. He makes Larry Flynt look like a saint! I'd rather inform the people of Putnam County!" But the liar trash blogger would rather lie about my words than print the TRUTH! Meanwhile, after setting a record for readership in 2009, and after setting a record for December readership, and setting a new weekly mark last week, PutnumLIVE.com is on-target to smash 2009's numbers this year. A message to the trash bloggers: You aren't hurting PutnumLIVE.com because intelligent readers don't take your trash seriously! January 14th, 2010: A trash truck breaks the access road speed limit and charges up Walmart hill at about 5:30 a.m. disrupting our neighborhood. How rude! Why can't these

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people show some consideration for us? The speed limit is 20. Drive no faster than that. PLEASE! One of the trash bloggers claims to have banned me from commenting. Trouble is, I left him behind last year. When I did comment, he often altered the comments and even put up a "disclaimer" saying he reserved the "right" to do so. The guy is a lying fool. And this time I don't mean Scott Edwards! The duplication of this blog by one of the trash-bloggers is actually a good thing for two reasons: 1) It lets the world know how badly we are treated by Walmart and the scumbag politicians. 2) It proves to the world that the trash bloggers are wackos! January 15th, 2010: Another day of typical excessive noise from Walmart traffic. I learn that someone has created a parody blog ripping one of the trash bloggers. He is stupid enough to post the link on HIS blog! What an idiot!!! But then we already know that he is an idiot! One of the comments on his blog accuses me of being drunk. That's hilarious because I DON'T DRINK! (Unlike his five fake Internet friends!) But, once again, he has set himself up for a lawsuit. The paper trail of offenses just increases. I spend the afternoon and early evening in Kentucky meeting with a developer that is interested in our neighborhood and the airstrip. He's talking about an office supply store, a Target, a car lot, a Lowes, and a few restaurants. I hope it happens. Putnam County needs more jobs and we want to sell. I would love to facilitate all of those things. This project would bring hundreds of more jobs than Walmart. Meanwhile, PutnumLIVE.com just moves along, on-target to smash last year's record-setting readership! We've added two new advertisers this past week with inquiries from more. The trash bloggers don't have sponsors. Apparently no one wants anything to do with them! January 16th, 2010: Early morning Walmart traffic wakes me with its excessive noise. I am sure that will continue all weekend leaving us without peace and quiet again. Another holiday weekend ruined by Wally World. I see that the Ghiz building is for sale. No one wants to be near Walmart! Later in the evening I am studying for a state exam. Excessive traffic noise constantly disrupts my studying. Thanks a lot Walmart! January 17th, 2010: I post an article with links to the City of Hurricane commercial development web site page and the Putnam County Development Authority investment property web site page. These include properties near the Walmart as well as sites around the county. They can be used for industrial, retail, offices, and restaurants. The idea is to promote business and job growth in Putnam County. Of course the moronic trash bloggers attack my positive project. No one needs these out-of-state idiots and their stupid criticisms! This project is about jobs, revenue, and an improved lifestyle for Putnam County!!! Due to the incredibly rude, crude, and disgusting comments that the trash bloggers are making about my wife and our son, I am, again, discontinuing this blog. I WILL NOT allow my family to be subjected to public, perverted comments. In addition, I have been challenged to a debate. I have informed the challenger that the only terms that I will hold a debate is live, in-person, in front of our home, in front of the Walmart. The host, who he requested, must also be present. So far, they have declined. The live, in-person format is in order because in the past when I have called into the host's "talk show," he lied about his co-host saying she was someone else, and when I called another time, he was rather rude and cut me off. Other times he discussed the Hurricane Walmart situation comparing it falsely to one in his community, and the first time and other times that he discussed me on his "show" he failed to call me for my side of the story. If I am going to debate anyone, it must be on a fair "playing field." The time I used for this blog will be redirected to a daily journal about my son's childhood. Each day is a new event, it seems, and I want to chronicle these events for us, including him, and perhaps, his wife and family some day, to enjoy. It was my hope that this Walmart blog would convince Scott Edwards and the other Pinhead Politicians to change their ways and protect this neighborhood and my family from the needless, excessive noise that the construction and traffic have overwhelmed us with. They arrogantly refuse to do the right thing, and the public disclosure of their abuse of this neighborhood and my family has failed to make them correct their ways. I can't put into words how badly I feel about all of them.

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(ed. note: This now makes the second time in seven months that this blog has been pulled. This also was just before the date of Halburn’s trial when he was convicted of trespassing. His explanation? “Friends of the store and out-of-state bloggers have attacked PutnumLIVE.com as well as family members of this publisher, forcing the removal of the Enduring the Hurricane Walmart blog." Less than a month later it returns.) February 15th, 2010: Walmart's snow plow is keeping us from sleeping past 11:00 p.m. until about midnight. We have to work tomorrow. When does Walmart expect us to sleep? February 16th, 2010: We are awakened at 4:10 a.m. by Walmart's snow plow. Keep in mind that it kept us awake until midnight. When I call the store to complain, my call is disconnected before a manager even picks up. I send an email to Silly Scotty Edwards but he doesn't reply. When I call Putnam Dispatch, they promise to send over an officer, but nothing happens. A text message to Walmart's Market Manager, Eddie Bostic, gets no results. At 5:21 I finally reach an Assistant Manager, "Missy" who promises to stop the noise-but it continues unabated. When does Walmart expect us to sleep? I post a link to this blog on my Facebook page. It's time to spread the word nationally among my network of friends. February 21st, 2010: The trash blogs are at it again. They can't stand the fact that we want to be able to sleep at 4:10 a.m. Of course, since most of the trash bloggers don't have jobs, they are up all night playing with their three Internet friends or playing Dungeons and Dragons! Or playing with other things... These idiots need a life... and therapy! February 22nd, 2010: Another day of excessive Walmart traffic noise and another day of excessive trash talking on the trash blogs. Good grief, those people are idiots! Meanwhile, I am compiling a photo file of Walmarts across the country that are separated from neighborhoods by trees and sound walls. And Silly Scotty denies getting my Freedom of Information Act request for zoning records for my neighborhood-DESPITE THE FACT THAT HE SENT ME AN EMAIL ASKING ME TO DIRECT THE REQUEST TO BEN NEWHOUSE-WHICH I DID! So, I dropped off a duplicate copy at City Hall. It's just another Edwards stall tactic. Hurricane needs an ethical mayor. I may run in 2011 if we are still here. THAT will clean up city hall! February 23rd, 2010: One of the trash bloggers sends my wife a message through Facebook accusing me of stalking another trash blogger. It is amazing how outrageous these people get! To go after my wife shows how desperate they are. February 24th, 2010: I notify the Lawrence County, Ohio, Sheriff's Department about harassment from one of the trash bloggers. We set a daily record for readership. If these trash bloggers think they are hurting PutnumLIVE.com, they are wasting their time! They threaten to contact my employer. This will result in legal action to take them down. February 25th, 2010: The trash bloggers continue to harass me. So does Walmart with its excessive noise. Still, we are on target to beat our February readership numbers. PutnumLIVE.com's readers are intelligent enough to see that the trash bloggers from out-of-state don't have a clue about what happens in Putnam County. February 26th, 2010: Walmart's snow plow keeps us awake until nearly midnight while it plows in a blizzard. How may customers does Wally World think will come out at 1:00 a.m. to shop in a blizzard! Send the snow plow and your employees home, Walmart! Show some common sense and courtesy! Meanwhile, we break our previous record for February readership! The out-of-state trash bloggers can't stop PutnumLIVE.com from success! February 27th, 2010: Inconsiderate Walmart sends its tractor plow out early on a

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Saturday and wakes me up. Why they simply don't use a pickup truck (like they have used on other days) to plow their parking lot is unknown. I guess they don't have enough common sense or courtesy to make such an intelligent decision. I take my car to Midway Ford to get its oil changed. If Walmart won't be nice to our neighborhood, I will spend my money at a RESPONSIBLE business! February 28th, 2010: Another Sunday is destroyed by excessive Walmart traffic noise. Speaking of noise, the out-of-state trash bloggers are up to their lies. One is accusing me of calling him on his cellphone at about midnight, late Saturday. There are several problems with his blatant lie: 1) I have contacted the West Virginia State Police and Lawrence County Sheriff's Department about his harassment. 2) I don't have any of his telephone numbers, including his cell number, so I can't call him. 3) I was asleep. 4) I have witnesses who know that I was asleep. 5) I have a CPAP machine with a memory card that proves I was asleep at the time that he made his accusation. In fact, I went to sleep more than 15 minutes before he accuses me of calling him. The great news about today is that PutnumLIVE.com set a February record for readership, more than 35,000 visits! This is our third-straight month for setting a record for that month, and puts us on target for about 20,000 readers more than last year's 417,324 visits. You, the intelligent readers of PutnumLIVE.com can see through the lies of the trash bloggers and their continued false attacks! The fact that our readership and sponsorship continues is driving the trash bloggers nuts. They don't know when to quit harassing me. Thank you for your continued support!!! March 2nd, 2010: After Silly Scotty ducked the issue for months, I nail his sorry backside with a Freedom of Information Act request and PROVE that our home was zoned residential before my wife bought the home. Scott Edwards, YOU LIE! March 3rd, 2010: A total stranger named Samuel Walden posts a link to this diary on his Facebook page. Way to go, Samuel!!! Finally someone gets it! March 4th, 2010: Some video store clerk in New England named Rick apparently files a complaint with my web host because I created a special page to document trash blogger harassment for law enforcement to review. Of course, Rick doesn't post his diatribes under his real name. It's no wonder. I wouldn't use my real name and post his comments! These trash bloggers need a life! No one in our neighborhood cares about what anyone in Vermont thinks about the noise on Grace Drive. Meanwhile, Walmart's excessive traffic noise continues and Silly Scotty is an Epic Fail for a mayor! March 8th, 2010: I take my son out into our front yard to enjoy some spring-like weather. As he is playing, some jerk in a big rig drives on the no-truck road in front of our home, startling our toddler. Why can't these Walmart delivery morons honor the no-truck zone? And why doesn't Hurricane Police cite these idiots!

March 9th, 2010: The video store trash blogger from Vermont completely distorts my article about the City of Hurricane violating the Freedom of Information Act law. And now the trash bloggers even have a logo. Only morons would be proud to be trash bloggers! As I have said many times before, they need to get a life!

March 10th, 2010: Another day of excessive Walmart traffic noise. And another day of the City of Hurricane failing to do the correct thing. Shame on you, Scott Edwards! You are an EPIC FAIL of a mayor! March 11th, 2010: The trash bloggers continue to make idiots of themselves. Sixth graders have more maturity! What a waste of time they are! March 13th, 2010: One week after he witnessed the City of Hurricane violating the West Virginia Freedom of Information Act, city police cite freelance reporter Lawrence J. Smith, who was trying to review public documents.

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March 15th, 2010: One of the trash bloggers sends out a nasty email about me. The trouble is, the recipients think the sender is an idiot! At 11:53 p.m., a car roars up Walmart hill screeching its tires. Why don't these idiots show any common sense or courtesy? March 16th, 2010: Pre-sunrise traffic noise from Walmart wakes me up more than 30 minutes before my alarm clock it set to ring. Thanks for being an obnoxious neighbor, Walmart! March 17th, 2010: Just another day of excessive Walmart traffic noise! We never get peace and quiet anymore! March 18th, 2010: Despite a promise from Walmart that its street sweeper won't be working until 7:00 a.m., it disrupted our neighborhood a few minutes after 6:00 a.m. Why won't Walmart keep its promises? March 19th, 2010: While shopping at Big Lots, I run into a Walmart assistant manager buying a 25-foot piece of coaxial cable. I ask him why he doesn't buy that at Walmart, where he works. They carry cable. He responds, "I don't want to be anywhere near that huge place on my day off." We wish we could get away from that huge place. We NEVER get a day off from Godzilla Walmart! March 20th, 2010: Walmart holds a midnight DVD party for a movie release. HUNDREDS of customers bombard the parking lot at MIDNIGHT! When do we get to sleep! How IRRESPONSIBLE to hold a midnight DVD release when you are located next to a NEIGHBORHOOD OF HOMES! But Walmart doesn't care about us, corporate greed rules Walmart's mindset! March 22nd, 2010: Another day of excessive Walmart traffic noise. It never ends. March 24th, 2010: Walmart's street sweeper shows up before their self-imposed 7:00 a.m. time, disrupting our home. Why won't Walmart keep its promises? Walgreens opens today. I hope it siphons away a bunch of Walmart's business! Before they even hold the ribbon cutting I buy a sack load of merchandise. Walgreens built a sound wall to protect their neighbors. I will shop at Walgreens whenever possible. Walmart is losing out on business because of continued disrespect for our neighborhood! I apply for Patty Hager's vacant city council seat. Hurricane needs real leadership. I will provide real leadership! March 25th, 2010: Another day of excessive Walmart traffic noise. And a dangerous situation. As my family and I leave for an errand, we are nearly T-boned by a pickup truck that rolls the stop sign at the bottom of Walmart hill. This is typical. Since Hurricane's Epic Fail Mayor Silly Scotty refuses to make the police department enforce any traffic laws on Walmart hill, drivers do whatever they want! Resign, Mayor Edwards! YOU ARE A TOTAL FAILURE!!!!! March 26th, 2010: A Lance snack truck violates the no truck rule on the road in front of our home, sending excessive noise into our home as the heavy truck slams onto the metal grates. March 30th, 2010: Scott Cosco, another state bureaucrat who has no clue about what this neighborhood is dealing with, refuses to reschedule the meeting that he promised with Joe Manchin's Chief of Staff. When government officials refuse to keep promised meetings, it's no wonder that incompetent mayors like Silly Scotty get away with abusing citizens! Cosco's words MIGHT have some credibility if a car wasn't roaring up Walmart hill in the background during the exact moment that he said them!

April 1st, 2010: One of the trash bloggers runs a story saying that we sold our home and are moving. Trouble is, the story is a not-funny April Fool's prank. We would love to move

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and I challenge the trash blogger to buy us out. Instead of a stupid prank, cut a real check. Put your money where your mouth is!

April 2nd, 2010: Still more excessive Walmart traffic noise. I punish the rude neighbor and purchase some over-the-counter pharmaceutical items at Fruth, which is West Virginia owned and treats neighbors with respect!

April 3rd, 2010: Another holiday weekend ruined by excessive Walmart traffic noise! Walmart continues to disrespect our neighborhood! While watching the WVU-Duke game we are bombarded with noise from cars charging up Walmart hill.

Easter Sunday, 2010: Excessive Walmart traffic noise ruins our Easter Sunday family gathering. The children's Easter egg hunt is disrupted by loud traffic, and one of our nephews comments about the stupidity of calling the road leading into Walmart "Progress Way." His comment, "It's only a Walmart, that isn't really progress." He is right. Progress would have been the Marshall University satellite campus that the PCDA lied about when it bought the property. Hey Gary Walton! Put down your bottle and tell us when Marshall is coming!

April 5th, 2010: Another "Manic Monday" of excessive traffic noise from Walmart customers. We are bombarded with noise from cars speeding up the hill while the Hurricane Police Department ignores the problem. Then a storm rolls in and the traffic noise goes away as drivers stay home and the noise is drowned out by rainfall. It's too bad it doesn't rain more often.

April 7th, 2010: A Coinstar truck speeds up the hill in front of our home at 6:00 a.m. Trouble is, that road is a "no truck" road and the noise from the engine disrupts our home despite the fact that all of our windows are closed. The driver claims that he didn't see BOTH signs. I am tired of the "I just didn't know" lame excuse.

April 8th, 2010: At 4:50 a.m. a trash truck bounces up the no-truck road in front of our home and wakes me up. It was too dark to see the truck but whoever owns it should fire the driver. Not only is driving a truck up a no-truck road illegal, but waking someone up at 4:50 a.m. is extremely rude.

April 10th, 2010: Walmart traffic noise wakes me up at about 3:00 a.m. I take a drive to my office to update PutnumLIVE.com. The Internet trash whiners have a fit. Screw them! They are jealous of the success of PutnumLIVE.com where readership and revenue keeps increasing in spite of their endless childish antics! I order 10 Norway Spruce trees to line the front edge of our yard. Since the liberal pinhead politicians, including Silly Scotty Edwards, Steve and Troy Andes, "Joe" Haynes, Patti-Ann Eagloski, Mike Hall and Karen two-Facemyer won't make Walmart take responsibility for the problems that it causes, we will have to do it ourselves! All of these pinhead politicians should be tossed out of office for dereliction of their constituents! April 11th, 2010: The trash bloggers are whining about the PutnumLIVE.com editorial suggesting that the PCDA donate its fill land above Dollar Tree to the city or county to create a park. Obviously these out-of-state trash bloggers don't care about what is right for Putnam County. They just have an agenda to trash me. Because they don't have a life, they sit around in their caves and post baloney on their blogs. Maybe I should rename them the baloney bloggers! Meanwhile, I have fixed their trash blogger logo. If you want to see it, just email me at [email protected] I will be happy to send it to you! (Trash Bloggers need not apply!)

April 12th, 2010: Pre-sunrise Walmart traffic disrupts our home. Walmart should be forced to put in a soundwall and trees. But the pinhead politicians have their heads up their backsides and can't understand ethics! Meanwhile the Trash Bloggers are whining about our Massey Energy cartoon. The out-of-state idiots obviously support Don Blankenship and his mine that killed 29 West Virginians. No one in their right mind cares about what the guy from Vermont and his minions think about West Virginia. PutnumLIVE.com supports the coal miners and their families. In fact, I receive several phone calls from people thanking me for running the cartoons and not one criticizing the cartoons.

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April 13th, 2010: Just another day of excessive Walmart traffic noise! We can't enjoy our front yard with all of the cars going up and down the hill, hitting those grates at 30-40 MPH. April 14th, 2010: The trash bloggers are continuing their lying rant about me failing to pay B & O taxes and not having a City of Hurricane business license. The liars have made two mistakes: 1) I have a city business license. 2) Media companies are not subject to B & O taxes. These trash bloggers are MORONS! April 15th, 2010: Still no apologies from the trash bloggers for their lying rant about me failing to pay B & O taxes and not having a City of Hurricane business license. They also fail to remove their libelous post. These idiots have no ethics! Meanwhile the excessive Walmart traffic noise continues. April 16th, 2010: In addition to dealing with the excessive Walmart traffic noise, now I have to deal with ignorant people defending the PCDA on Facebook. Where do these idiots come from? News bulletin: Don't like my legitimate complaints? Then buy us out and we will move! It's that simple. Put your money where your ignorant mouth is!

April 17th, 2010: Dolores attends an informal high school reunion, in Charleston. Several people tell her that they feel sorry about how the PCDA and City of Hurricane has screwed us over by putting a Walmart in our front yard. When is Silly Scotty going to realize how his stupidity is damaging Hurricane's reputation in the eyes of reasonable people? Resign, incompetent mayor, RESIGN! April 18th, 2010: Walmart's street sweeper wakes us up on a SUNDAY morning! Why does Walmart insist on being such a BAD neighbor? It doesn't have to be rude, but chooses to be rude!

April 19th, 2010: Another day of rude Walmart excessive traffic noise. We can't enjoy our home or yard as long as Silly Scotty allows the retailer to act and operate irresponsibly. Of course that's how Edwards operates the City of Hurricane-irresponsibly.

April 21st, 2010: A delivery truck wakes me up at 5:03 a.m. When does Walmart expect us to sleep? Only inconsiderate morons would have a delivery truck run up the road next to homes at 5:03 a.m.!

April 22nd, 2010: Just another day of excessive Walmart traffic noise. Cars and trucks 24/7. Silly Scotty's stupid way of mis-managing a city!

April 23rd, 2010: I give the trash-bloggers the chance to come clean to prove who they really are, to show they are legitimate. I offer proof that PutnumLIVE.com is a legitimate business. Naturally the chicken-crap trash-bloggers decline, They would rather post lies behind their bogus names! They have no credibility! Never did, never will!

April 24th, 2010: I spend much of my Saturday afternoon planting 10 Nordic Spruce seedlings on our property. I do this as cars are "serenading me" with their excessive noise as they speed up and down the hill without being stopped by the Hurricane Police Department. This tree-planting project is clearly a job for Silly Scotty and the rest of his RINO Pinhead Politicians. But they refuse to take responsibility for their epic screwup! These closet liberals claim to be in favor of personal responsibility and property rights, but show their true colors by allowing Walmart to disrupt our neighborhood by refusing to force it to curtail its noise. I fight back with my wallet. First I take delivery on my wife's new freezer-which I ordered from Best Buy- costing Walmart a sale. Then we start stocking it with steaks, ribs, and other meat from A-to-Z Supermarket. Then I make an appointment to get my car's oil changed at Midway Ford. YOU LOSE, Walmart! We support RESPONSIBLE businesses! At about 10:40 p.m., while I am working in my home office, some idiot with a loud muffler roars across Walmart's parking lot. While my office window was partially open, but I should not have to be a prisoner in my home behind closed doors and windows just to have peace and quiet! I will bet that the Pinhead Politicians who screwed up and put a Wally World in our neighborhood don't have to stay inside with closed windows to get peace and quiet.

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April 25th, 2010: I run into Putnam County Commissioner Raymond "Joe" Haynes. I tell him he needs to make the P.C.D.A. buy us out and create jobs in Hurricane. Jobs that will be good for Putnam County. But Pinhead Politician Joe goes into denial mode and claims the county commission doesn't have jurisdiction in Hurricane. The TRUTH is the PCDA, which Haynes appoints, DID THE WALMART PROJECT! And the PCDA STILL OWNS PROPERTY ABOVE DOLLAR TREE! Why can't Caveman Joe tell the whole truth? And another thing: Just a few minutes later, "Caveman Joe" stood at the check stand trying to "look important" while his wife loaded the grocery cart! A message to "Caveman Joe": REAL men don't let their wives do the work. But then you let Karen beg for money for a new animal shelter because you're arrogant and backwards to properly fund the project!

April 26th, 2010: I have a long conversation with Mr. Charles Runyan in the regional office for Speedway. He says they looked at our neighborhood several years ago but their wasn't enough traffic. I suggest that they look again and work with the PCDA to get it to donate the fill land above Dollar Tree to Putnam County Parks and Recreation. That should generate enough traffic to help a Speedway and fill up the Hurricane Marketplace. Everybody wins!

April 28th, 2010: One of the trash bloggers falsely claims that no one cares about the Walmart noise in Hurricane. Yet he writes his comment on a blog that is created to comment about this blog. I don't need to call him a liar, he makes it obvious on his own. It turns out Carson City, Nevada also doesn't care about its citizens. But at least they don't have to deal with overnight deliveries! And they are getting 15-25 foot trees! Every time I research another Walmart, Hurricane's situation stinks by comparison!

April 29th, 2010: Another day of excessive traffic noise from Wally World customers! We don't get any relief or respect.

April 30th, 2010: As I am driving down our hill, at the intersection, some bozo driving a minivan cuts me off instead of properly yielding the right-of-way. So many Walmart customers are clueless!

May 1st, 2010: Another Saturday ruined by excessive Walmart traffic noise! We enter another month of abuse by the retail giant. Silly Scotty continues to be derelict in his duties by letting his pet project get away with it!

May 2nd, 2010: Walmart ruins another weekend. But I meet with another P.C.D.A. board member and discuss the donation of the fill land above Dollar Tree to become a soccer and baseball field complex. If this happens, it will stimulate the rental of the five remaining Hurricane Marketplace storefronts. It will also lead to the development of the rest of our hill, creating jobs and revenue!

May 3rd, 2010: A beautiful West Virginia afternoon is destroyed by excessive Walmart traffic noise. I speak with another P.C.D.A. Board of Directors member who promises to bring up my suggestion of donating the fill land above Dollar Tree to one of the park systems. She says she will suggest it at the next board meeting. Last week I asked Mayor Scott Edwards to put the sound wall and trees on tonight's voting agenda. Of course, this was done well in advance of the 72 hour requirement. If Edwards is ethical, he will do this and pass the measure. Time will tell. And time tells that Edwards fails to do the right thing, unethically keeping the issues off the agenda. If you are an unemployed brick layer or landscaper, look no farther than anti-jobs Silly Scotty! He is costing Putnam County jobs and revenue! Meanwhile the Putnam County unemployment rate remains high!

May 4th, 2010: A reader tells me that Walmart's web site says the Hurricane store is 1.9 miles away from our home. That distance would put it someplace between Silly Scotty's home and Don Chaney's home. I wish!

May 5th, 2010: It's Cinco de Mayo, but we can't enjoy a siesta in our hammock because of the excessive Walmart traffic noise! Of course, it's because of the noise that we took the hammock down a long time ago. Just another of the many sacrifices that we were forced to make for Silly Scotty's Great Adventure!

May 6th, 2010: I meet with an attorney about suing the City of Hurricane over the sound wall and trees and zoning issue. He hates the city and I can't wait to get started on getting some peace and quiet as well as some justice!

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May 7th, 2010: Dolores buys Matthew a bouncing ball toy. The kind with a handle on it that a child sits on and bounces around. He has a good time bouncing around our yard, but is constantly distracted by the excessive Walmart traffic noise. It is too bad that he can't enjoy the beautiful neighborhood that we moved into. Wally World and Silly Scotty ruined it all! A big rig truck from Buccaneer transport rolls down the hill in front of our home. Why don't truck drivers honor the no truck signs? And Walmart's street sweeper shows up before 10:00 p.m. What happened to Walmart's "morning only" promise? Why won't Walmart treat us properly?

May 8th, 2010: Another Saturday spoiled by excessive Walmart traffic noise. We can't enjoy our yard anymore. Walmart should put up a sound wall and trees.

May 9th, 2010: It's Mother's Day, but we are forced to move our celebration to a family member's home in a quiet neighborhood. Our neighborhood has been destroyed by Silly Scotty's pet project!

(ed note: The third time the blog was not really pulled, but the URL was changed to hide the page. This was days after Halburn’s retrial conviction for trespassing. It is now called “Screw the Trash Bloggers”.) May 10th, 2010: I spot one of Walmart's customer Service Supervisor's Heather, shopping at Kroger. Pretty sad when Walmart can't keep its own employees from shopping elsewhere.

May 11th, 2010: I meet with one of the 14th District House of Delegates candidates at my home. She is sympathetic to our issue and promises to help-if elected.

May 13th, 2010: Some moron sets off his car alarm at 10:24 p.m., waking our toddler. He's probably one of the idiotic fans of the trash bloggers.

May 14th, 2010: Another moron with a car alarm pierces the night. This one lasts about 5 minutes. When I call the store to complain, Assistant Manager Mary rudely hangs up on me. As we are sitting in our living room trying to watch television on a peaceful Friday night, rude Wally World customers speed up the hill in front of our home, accelerating, their engines to make it to the top, hitting the drainage grates at about 30 miles per hour, making excessive noise. Rude customers, rude managers, the Walmart way of doing business in a neighborhood!

May 15th, 2010: I am awakened at 5:32 by a car roaring up Walmart's hill. A rude awakening on a Saturday morning! Thank you Wally World and Silly Scotty! Later in the day, we try to enjoy our front yard, pulling the swing and patio chairs under the trees. But every few seconds, a car slams onto those stupid grates, not to mention the car alarm that some idiot sets off! My neighbors have guns. I am surprised they haven't used them.

May 16th, 2010: The trash bloggers are having a hissy fit because I have moved this page to where they cannot find it. Meanwhile Facebook has pulled their trash parody page and two other trash pages have been yanked. One more to go and I will have pretty much disabled these idiots!

May 17th, 2010: Just another day of excessive Walmart traffic noise!

May 18th, 2010: At 6:55 a.m. a truck roaring out of Walmart's parking lot wakes our toddler. People are so rude, and Walmart is so rude for not putting up a sound wall and trees like in other parts of the country. Why don't they treat Hurricane citizens with the same respect as other Americans?

May 19th, 2010: A car alarm at 2:00 a.m. wakes me up. Walmart needs to put up a sound wall.

May 20th, 2010: Just another day of obnoxious Walmart traffic noise. This excessive rattle has got to go! Next year we can send Silly Scotty and his moronic management packing! Let him flip burgers at McDonald's, a job better suited for his shoe-size IQ!

May 21st, 2010: The B.S. bloggers continue to whine about this blog. They must have run out of Enfamil in their sippy cups! Meanwhile, we continue to endure excessive traffic noise from Walmart. If the B.S. bloggers hate this blog so much, they are politely invited to put their money where their mouths are and to cut us a $350,000 check to buy us out! We will

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move TOMORROW! However, collectively, they probably don't have 35 CENTS to their sorry names! The Daily Mail runs a retirement story about Joe Haynes and AEP. Comments criticize him and say voters should retire him in November. ABSOLUTELY! Send the piece of crap commissioner packing!

May 22nd, 2010: Some idiot with a leaf-blower on Walmart's parking lot wakes our toddler shortly after 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning! Speaking of idiots, when I call to complain, Assistant Manager David says, "This has been going on for years" and hangs up on me! That's right, David, your company's rudeness HAS been going on for years, so pull your pinhead out of your backside and show some courtesy to your neighbors! Many properly managed cities have outlawed noisy gas leaf-blowers but Hurricane doesn't have intelligent management.

(ed. note: The fourth time blog was pulled was on May 26th )

May 30th, 2010: I notice that the Walmart in Virginia Beach is separated from nearby homes by a grove of mature trees AND a pond. When I text Scott Edwards, he suggests that we move to VB as it is a nice area. I respond that it is a nice area because it has good management, unlike Hurricane! He repeats his low-ball offer. Now that I have it in writing, I advise him that the text will be turned into the WV Ethics commission as he is trying to use his office for personal gain. The pinhead politician responds that he is going to tell his mommy. What an effing moron Silly Scotty Edwards is! We advise him that the cost of our property remains at $350,000. Edwards should also have to pay $10 BILLION in punitive damages for all of the abuse he has put us through. However, we will take the $350,000 just to leave his sorry carcass behind! I found a home for sale that we would like to buy. As soon as Edwards cuts the CERTIFIED check for $350,000 we will make good on our promise to leave him behind!

May 31st, 2010: We return home from our peaceful getaway. It's back to Hurricane, where Silly Scotty Edwards allows his citizens to be abused by Wally World!

June 1st, 2010: Just another day of excessive Walmart noise!

June 5th, 2010: We have some company over for dinner. Several of them comment about how Walmart is right on top of our home. They can't believe the stupidity of its placement in a neighborhood.

June 6th, 2010: On a Sunday morning, Walmart's street sweeper wakes me up shortly after 7:00 a.m. When I call the store to complain, a clueless assistant manager named Justin, actually has the audacity to complain to me saying, "We've had this conversation before." Exactly, Justin, we have! YOUR STORE CONTINUES TO BE RUDE TO OUR NEIGHBORHOOD and as long as it does, I will complain! Don't like my legitimate complaints? THEN GROW UP AND BE POLITE TO YOUR NEIGHBORS!

June 7th, 2010: Scott Edwards refuses to allow me to speak to the city council about the Walmart issue-despite me requesting that it be on the agenda and signing up to speak, The unethical politician just wants to ignore the reality of the problem that he created. As long as Edwards has his head up his backside, Hurricane will never have great leadership!

June 8th, 2010: Wally World's street sweeper wakes our toddler shortly after 7:00 a.m. When I call the store to complain, Assistant Manager David is his usual rude and obnoxious self. Why doesn't Walmart show common courtesy?

June 9th, 2010: At 4:00 a.m., I am awakened by excessive Walmart traffic noise. Why won't Walmart let us sleep at 4:00 a.m.?

June 10th, 2010: Just another day of excessive Walmart traffic noise! More disrespect of our small neighborhood from the world's largest retail bully!

June 13th, 2010: The trash bloggers continue their whining and lies. They think this blog has been discontinued. They are wrong on all counts!

June 17th, 2010: I have the oil changed in my wife's car at Midway Ford. It's more money that Walmart lost because of how they abuse our neighborhood!

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June 19th, 2010: We buy the play sand to go under Matthew's new swimming pool at Home Depot. Another way to punish Walmart for being obnoxious neighbors! When we set up the pool, Matthew has to endure an onslaught of excessive traffic noise in the background. Screw you, Walmart! You can't even let a little boy enjoy his new swimming pool on a Saturday afternoon.

June 20th, 2010: It's Father's Day, but Wally World doesn't give us a break. We take the celebration out of Putnam County. If you own a Putnam County restaurant and gift shop, Walmart cost you about $200 in revenue. Send Silly Scotty the bill. His stupidity cost your companies!

June 21st, 2010: A big rig rumbles down the road directly in front of our home, in violation of the no-truck signs. Silly Scotty needs to come live here and experience the Walmart monster that he has created.

June 22nd, 2010: Just another day of excessive Walmart traffic noise brought to us by the incompetent Putnam County Development Authority and Silly Scotty!

June 23rd, 2010: We leave town for a few days of peace and quiet, far from Silly Scotty's obnoxious Wally World!

June 24th, 2010: Enjoying our Walmart-free weekend! We sleep until about 9:00 a.m., far from the clatter of cars and street grates of Silly Scotty and Drunk Gary's Walmart. Peace and quiet is a GREAT thing! Hurricane should try it some day!

June 25th, 2010: Another quiet morning away from Wally World! Life is good today. I don't have to endure Silly Scotty's pet project that destroyed our neighborhood!

(ed. note: The Halblog magically reappeared on June 25th. A month out of the spotlight was apparently too much for Halburn. It’s now entitled “Wally World Sucks”. However, no link appeared anywhere on his site to the blog.)

July 20th, 2010: I permanently add a link to People of Walmart.com to our commentary section.

July 22nd, 2010: Someone parks a flatbed truck with a charred truck directly across from our home. This ugly site is another example of why Walmart should be forced to build a sound wall and put in trees. I call it Hurricane Mayor Scott D. (as in dumb-@$$) Edwards' Beautification project and email it to People of Walmart.com!

(ed. note: Just after this, Halburn pulled the blog for good with no explanation. He continues to post occasional rantings on Facebook as status updates. We include them here so you can see he hasn’t quit bitching, he’s just taken it to a new venue where few people can see it.) September 15th 2010: Thank you Walmart for your delivery truck waking me up at 4:30 a.m.!

October 10th 2010: Walmart's street sweeper woke up Matthew at about 7:30 this morning. What kind of neighbor wakes a toddler? RUDE WALMART!!!!! Walmart COULD put in a sound wall and trees but refuses to do so. Noisy neighbors are rude neighbors!

October 21st 2010: Walmart manager to bells Palsy victim (ed note: Halburn). "Have you been drinking?" Not a great idea when bells Palsy victim has district manager's cell number and can send him a text message and call the 800 number! We will see whether Walmart tolerates his comment. I will keep you posted!

November 26th 2010: It was loud, rude, and typical of Walmart's onconsiderate (sic) treatment of us. Dolores is out shopping now-ELSEWHERE!!! Walmart's idiocy is costing them money-again!!!

December 17th 2010: Another day of listening to Walmart's snow plow go "beep, beep, beep" for hours on end. They need to put in a sound wall and trees to protect us from their incessant noise. What ever happened to being considerate to your neighbors?

December 19th 2010: Hey Walmart. Why did you wake me up at 12:20 a.m. with your snow-removal tractor? Why not remove the piles of snow (that aren't in anyone's way)

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during daylight when people in our neighborhood are not trying to sleep across the street from your store? I don't want your empty aplogies (sic), USE SOME COMMON COURTESY! Do your ...Christmas shopping at Target, everyone!

December 26th 2010: Thank you Walmart employee for screeching across the parking lot at 1:00 a.m. Our day of peace and quiet is offically (sic) over thanks to the morons at Wally World!

February 23rd 2011: I came home from work today to a sick little boy. I hate that for him!!! It didn't help matters that Walmart's street sweeper woke him up at 6:30 a.m.!!! When will they learn common sense and courtesy?

March 4th 2011: What will you do to help the Walmart neighbors that you have screwed over since the construction started? We deserve peace and quiet in our homes!

April 13th 2011: Some idiot just drove in to Walmart screeching his tires with the radio blasting. Woke me up at 4:30 a.m. And I thought I was tired last night... Thank you Stupid Mayor Scott Edwards!!!

June 30th 2011: Roasting marshmallows on the yard burner with your toddler: PRICELESS! Hearing loud vehicle exhaust noise from Walmart across the way: WORTHLESS!

August 18th 2011: A note to Walmart delivery truck drivers: If you are going to violate the "No truck zone" on the rode in front of our neighborhood, don't do it when I am meeting with a radio talk show host about the Walmart traffic noise...

September 9th 2011: I was sitting here working on my masters degree when some idiot at the Walmart across the street disrupted my studies by screeching his tires. Thank you Walmart for destroying our formerly quiet neighborhood! Thank you Scott Edwards for allowing them to do so!!! We need a real mayor!

(ed. note: After Sept 2011, Halburn said very little about Walmart. Mainly because his second wife filed for divorce a month later and threw him out of her house.)

March 5th 2012: Life in Hurricane, WV:. First Walmart and the city destroy our neighborhood. Our home is blasted daily during Dolores' pregnancy and we put up with 24/7 noise when the store opens. (Including idiots that set off car alarms on Christmas Day when Walmart is CLOSED!) Walmart and our "mayor" sarcastic Scott D. (as in dumb@ss) Edwards refuse to put in a soundwall and trees to cut down the noise. This ...is a standard practice across America! After 6 years of this crap, I decide to move to a civilized town. While packing, sarcastic Scotty is harassing me with text messages. Seriously. What kind of mayor harasses his citizens with text messages? That's middle school behavior, Scott! And Walmart allows a photo to be taken of me with the moving van where it is posted on a trash blog. Walmart is the neighbor from hell. What it fails to realize is that I will be furnishing my new home-with purchases from Walmart's competition. When you treat your neighbors like dirt, Walmart, they will shop at Home Depot and Target. I invite everyone else to do the same!

March 10th 2012: Life without Walmart means being able to sleep through the night, no car alarms, and no ugly Lloyd or Scotty dumb@$$.

June 19th 2013: Poor Matthew has to put up with these People of Walmart coming to his neighborhood... Thanks to Scott Edwards and the PCDA!

March 14th 2014: I sure wish Silly Scotty was as concerned about Matthew's exposure to all the car exhaust from Walmart shoppers as he is about MCHM being put in a landfill.

April 11th 2014: Don't shop at the Hurricane Walmart until they put up a sound wall and trees so that my son can enjoy peace and quiet in his front yard. Tell Mayor Scott Edwards to order Walmart to treat its neighbors with respect!

April 19th 2015: Matthew gets to look across from his front yard at a Walmart Fuel Station.

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July 19th 2015: Civilized Public Officials Don't Vote To Put Walmarts In Neighborhoods.