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StopPATH WV Pays Community Support Forward

By Staff | Nov 16, 2012

StopPATH WV, Inc. presented gifts of $1,000 each to two local churches at a ceremony in Charles Town on Nov. 7.

The payments represent a distribution of remaining assets as the organization prepares to wrap up its business affairs.

“We strongly believe in ‘paying it forward’ to the communities that supported our organization to achieve its goal of stopping the PATH Project,” said Robin Huyett Thomas, president of StopPATH WV, Inc.

The gifts were presented to Chestnut Hill United Methodist Church of Harpers Ferry and Summit Point United Methodist Church of Summit Point.

Accepting the check on behalf of Chestnut Hill UMC, Pam Gearhart said, “Because many members of our congregation would have been affected by PATH, we were happy to do whatever we could to help fight the battle and we appreciated all the hard work and dedication of everyone involved in the effort.”

Dianna Dick from Summit Point UMC expressed the Summit Point community’s appreciation for the dedication and countless hours organization members contributed to the successful effort.

The PATH Project was a 765kV, 275-mile, high voltage electric transmission line that was proposed to cut through 16 miles of Jefferson County on its route from St. Albans, W.Va. to Mt. Airy, Md. The $ 2.1 billion project, proposed in 2007, was recently removed from regional transmission expansion plans and canceled for good.

“The churches recognized that the project posed grave threats to their communities,” said Keryn Newman, treasurer of StopPATH WV, “and they supported our efforts by fostering community discussions and donating the use of their facilities as meeting venues.”