McDowell County, West Virginia "Melting Pot of Southern WV Coalfields": Dr. Tom Hatcher, Mayor of War, McDowell County, West Virginia

Dr. Tom Hatcher, Mayor of War, McDowell County, West Virginia

(Dr. Hatcher was murdered July 2012 by daughter-in-law and her brother from Grundy, Va)

Authors note: McDowell County, West Virginia (heart of the southern Appalachian Coalfields)

A special place with special people- Introduction

My quest to capture the lively spirit of the Appalachians through the most reliable sources led beyond my own mountain top-it led me to an important place in this painful, joyful journey-a journey to McDowell County, West Virginia. McDowell County was the world's leading coal producing county for twenty-two years. A tiny, remote spot in the hills of southern West Virginia became the center of the noisy, busy, hustle, bustle business of mining and exporting coal worldwide. Coal, the important energy producer, from southern Appalachia, fueling the Industrial Revolution.

McDowell County's history is complex perhaps because of its vast amount of riches in mineral resources. The stories are poignant, exciting and beautiful. That is why I went to McDowell County, to further capture the essence of the rise and fall of the coal industry in the midst of coal country.

This connection became possible while I was attending a statewide professional meeting in Huntington, West Virginia in November, 2001. I wanted a connection with a town or community easily identifiable with wildcat coal strikes, racial diversity and coal camps-I knew McDowell County was this place. I knew the lady in charge of registering participants for the conference was from McDowell County. So, during one of the long-speeches, I quietly walked to the back of the room and approached Gerri saying something like, "I am working on a project of collecting stories from the southern Appalachian coalfields and I want to come to Logan or Welch and meet people. Will you help me?"

She said, "Honey, you don't want to meet me-you don't want Logan or Welch-you want hooked up with my brother, Dr. Tom Hatcher, Mayor of War, McDowell County, West Virginia. He is up to his eyeballs in this stuff-President of the Tazewell County, Virginia Historical Society and all that-here's his phone number (she quickly scribbled down a War, West Virginia number and handed it to me)-call him. He will help you."

I called Dr. Hatcher as soon as I returned home and we made plans for my first visit to War, West Virginia.

McDowell County, West Virginia (heart of the southern Appalachian Coalfields)

A special place with special people- Introduction

I called Dr. Hatcher as soon as I returned home and we made plans for my first visit to War, West Virginia.

"Homeward Bound"

Oral History Interview with Dr. Tom Hatcher,
Mayor of War, McDowell County, WV

November 21, 2001 11:00 am

War City Hall - an old train station

Author's Note: Dr. Tom Hatcher is the Mayor of War, McDowell County, West Virginia. He grew up in War, but left the area to pursue a higher education. He earned a bachelor's degree, a master's degree and a doctorate. He entered the teaching field but then moved on to a position as an Exchange Program Director for professionals. This job took him to seventy-five countries. The administrative position he held took him to Washington, D.C. but raising a young teen in D.C. wasn't easy, so, he packed up and returned to his home in War to begin a career in public service-serving his own.

Are your roots in War, West Virginia?

My birth place was Iaeger, West Virginia and I lived most of my younger life in McDowell County, Iaeger and War. I graduated from Big Creek High Creek in 1958. I received my Bachelors and Masters Degrees from West Virginia University. I taught school in McDowell and Monongalia Counties and then started teaching for Marshall University.

What led you back to Appalachia?

While at Marshall I became interested in obtaining my PHD. The Ohio University in Columbus was where I attended to receive a PHD in Developmental Psychology and Education.

I returned to West Virginia University to teach from 1967 to 1980. In 1980 I accepted a position as Secretary General of the Council of International Programs, “CIP,” located in Cleveland, Ohio and began my work as director of an exchange program for professionals in the Human Services, Education, Social Work, Psychology. Eventually the program expanded to take in many areas including Business, Law and the Medical Profession.

While serving as Director, I traveled to more than seventy five countries on every continent except Australia and Antarctica and to some countries, more than one time, selecting participants for the Exchange Program and working with Government Offices or Ministries of Social Welfare, Economic Development and Ministries of Health or Education. A lot of these participants were funded by those sources working through the American Embassies from each Country.

The program was then moved to Washington, DC. I moved there with it. I didn't stay in DC long. In 1991 I left it all behind to return to Appalachia, my homeland for family reasons.

What did you do when you first returned to War?

I began teaching at Big Creek High School. I taught there for four years and then moved to the McDowell County Schools Central Board Office in Welch to work in the Title I Program. I retired in 1998.

What about politics in War, West Virginia and how and why did you get involved?

In 1995 I got interested in the politics of this town, War, West Virginia, by accident, I think. I didn’t run for the job as city council member, but one member who was elected in 1995 had a job with the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources which turned out to be a conflict of interest. He resigned and I was appointed at the beginning of the term and served on the War City Council with a mayor who was eventually convicted of fraud.

The mayor was involved in a scam involving a private rescue squad here in town. He was convicted of mail fraud and was sent to a penitentiary in Morgantown for about thirty-three months. Possible related fraud items in the city were there, if we had chosen to pursue them; but because he had already pled guilty, we let them go.

My father was the one who developed this rescue squad and after Dad’s death in 1981, the Mayor of War became the President of the Board of the Rescue Squad.

I think shortly after the scam was started, all the records for Medicaid and Medicare payments were destroyed except those going back to 1991. I think the problem started in the 80’s. Medicaid and Medicare did have records to show 3.75 million dollars being sent to the Big Creek Rescue Squad, none of which had gone through the books.

The Fed authorities never found the 3.75 million. They thought they knew who got it but could never prove it. They did not charge anyone with the $3.75 million disappearance but with mail fraud. There was a plea bargain at the end of the Mayor's term in 1997, and he served about thirty three months in prison. My sister was appointed to the Board of Directors to help clean up the rescue squad and straighten out the financial situation there.

The rescue squad has since declared bankruptcy and started over with a new name. My sister Jerry is still President of the Board of Directors and has successfully cleaned out all that financial mess.

The rescue squad had a lot of district people on the Board of Directors who were very good people and who believed in the President of the Board and accepted his word for everything. And he did have that side to him because he and my father were good friends. There were two sides to his character: the public side that could be trusted and then the secret, dark side. He served his thirty three months and is back in War. He and I have made peace with each other. There is no point in carrying a grudge just because of a person's past. We had known each other for years. I am sure he will be here for many years.

At the end of that council term in 1997, I decided to run for Mayor of War. The previous mayor was still in office. This was just before he accepted the plea bargain. Instead of supporting me, he got a young man who was about twenty three and on welfare at that time to run against me. He supported him and did his campaign signs and helped him a lot. Fortunately, the people here saw what was happening and he was defeated.

On the night of the election when the results were posted on the wall of City Hall, (I don’t remember exactly how many votes he got but it was about 125), and he said, "Hell," I've got more relatives in this town than that. I said to him, "Did you ever think maybe they didn’t all vote for you?"

I have served two - two year terms and I am in a four year term now. I have tried to do what has needed to be done, things the previous mayor should been working on years ago while he was mayor. He served as mayor for more than twenty years. We now have a brand new 8.7 million dollar sewer project and a lot of equipment that goes along with that. I have worked on cleaning up the town, removing debris and burned out houses. We have worked on the water situation. We do not own the water, and I hope that is going to come about soon through the purchase of that water system at the first of the year.

We were active with Governor Underwood. Governor Underwood was good to McDowell County and War. We have not had as much contact with Governor Wise, although this is improving. We are Democrats, however, not Republicans, and we want interaction with Wise.

What are some major events which have happened since you have served as mayor?

We have had two major crises in the town to which we have had to respond. In 1999, three juveniles broke into the public library and proceeded to set it on fire. The $500,000. complex with 40,000 volumes of books, burned to the ground. A nineteen year old girl, her eighteen year brother and their16 year old cousin were charged. Then about six months later in 1999, on Halloween night, the Fire Department burned from an electrical fire. We have had those two big crises to face. That was close to a million dollars we lost with the Fire Department. We lost everything: vehicles, fire house-the works. We have been able to build a new fire house and get most of the equipment back. We are presently working on the library. The remainder of the library should get built before the fall of 2002.

What are some specific reasons for your return to your roots?

I returned here because of family reasons and to get myself away from a big city environment and back to my homeland and to get my son away from the city. He had gotten into some trouble, and I needed to come back where I could have more control, but that turned out not to be the case. There is as much peer pressure here in this small town as there is in a big city. We are experiencing a breakdown in child-rearing practices. Teens are doing more today to get them in trouble than has ever happened before.

Have you become involved in community or civic projects?

When I came back I thought I would do something about the history of the county, because that has never been done. So I helped to form the McDowell County Historical Society. A small group of us started working on the Heritage of McDowell County, West Virginia - First Volume 1858 to 1995 Volume 2, 1858 – 1999.

I think both of those attempts have generated other interests in the history of McDowell County. Another person who has written about McDowell County is Jean Battlo, a personal friend.

Jean Battlo’s parents were Italian immigrants to McDowell County and her father worked in the coal mines. She is a McDowell County playwright. She has been recognized for the "Sid Hatfield" play. Jean has also done a text on McDowell County.

What about your parents; your family background, tell me about them?

Growing up here, my parents were school teachers in McDowell County and Mingo County. They lived in the same communities, Iaeger and War. Mother, Beatrice Carter from Tazewell County, Virginia; her ancestors had been in Tazewell for 200 years.

The Hatchers were from Mercer County, but my dad was from McDowell. Since my mother was in Tazewell County and was reared there, I am interested in the Tazewell County Historical Society and have been active in that since 1992. I have been President since 1997. I have been President of McDowell County Historical Society since 1992.

My Dad, Glenn Hatcher, was a community-minded person. He was constantly helping people, belonging to community organizations. He represented McDowell County in the House of Delegates and WV State Senate. All three of us children in the family, without being taught about serving people, saw, in action, Dad and Mom's example about community service. All three of us are very community minded.

November 23, 2001 10:50 p.m.

RE: My first visit to War, McDowell County, West Virginia

Dear Branscome, BJ and Mike,

            I felt compelled to write to people after returning from my first visit to War, WV… where I interviewed the Mayor of War, Dr. Tom Hatcher. I needed to write to someone who been to War before me.
            By the time I got home, after going around every hairpin curve on the eastern seaboard (McDowell County highways were carved out by inmates during the 1920’s) and then battling the traffic on WV Turnpike with everyone from the southern part of the U.S. trying to get north, I was a little weak and needed rest.
            Of course, I had a good cry. I couldn’t help it. Anyone with any feelings would have cried. The people I met in War were warm, friendly, kind, helpful and great cooks. They have the Appalachian Mountain Spirit.
            War is incorporated. The former mayor, who had been in office for about twenty two years, had just gotten out of Federal prison for a conviction relating to mail fraud in relation to a private rescue squad. An elderly lady in the County, in her late seventies, was awaiting sentencing on the Keystone Bank failure. A local Bingo executive, who had embezzled funds, was awaiting a trial, which had been postponed many times. The State of West Virginia has taken over the school system, after a State audit, for several serious violations, and things seemed to be in disarray. Needless to say, all of this made me a little depressed.
            In and around War, there are about forty churches: two Baptist, one Methodist, one Catholic, one Church of God, several Word Assemblies, and most of the rest Pentecostal, with quite a few female preachers. Many of the Pentecostal ministers, whether male or female, have answered “the call,” but have little formal training beyond that. While there are many committed, Christian citizens in McDowell County and in War, about 60 % of the people are unchurched and do not attend church on a regular basis.
            Dr. Tom Hatcher, Mayor of War since 1997, toured me through the town and up “hollows”. We went in the old War Hotel that still has the sign, “Miner’s City,” the original name of War dating back to about 1880.
            He took me to the local diner for lunch. I had potato soup, cornbread (right from the oven) and pineapple-upside-down cake, coffee, and a coke (all that was great).
            Since returning from War, I feel I have a new objective in life—to spend more time praying against big coal operators/corporations and to ask the Man Upstairs to help them develop even a small conscience about their operations in Southern West Virginia. I would also ask HIM to make these guys’ lives a little miserable when collecting those large checks from coal and timber operations, without helping these coal camp inhabitants in major ways to redirect their lives, since “coal” is no longer “king” in these parts. What these large companies have done is the best possible example of “abandonment,” even though they continue to own more than 90 % of the land.
            When 100,000 people lived in McDowell County (now 27,000), many coal mining jobs were dangerous, backbreaking, down on your knees jobs. In 1985, when the last, large coal mining operation pulled out, they left the coal camps totally helpless. The coal company had provided everything—houses, churches, company stores, water, coal for heating, etc. There was no infrastructure for dealing with anything and many people left. Now, some of the small coal camp houses are falling down all around. Since mining is still occurring; there is dirt all around; and life there is not easy. It appears that “abandonment” is a consistent problem; even the schools that are being used have asbestos, broken windows, ceilings falling in from water problems, and a high drop out rate.
            Approximately 40 % of the population is made up of retired, 30 % are working, and another 30 % are on some form of assistance or disability. Many of these people do not have enough money to repair homes, and, consequently, housing is a major problem.
            Dr. Tom Hatcher’s profound remark to all of this: “I don’t find this depressing. I enjoy working with people and am an optimist. I know things can be accomplished. We work on what we can and look for opportunities to accomplish other improvements.”
            The single worst sight was the raw sewage in the Dry Fork River. I noticed white pieces of paper hanging on every twig along the river. I thought it was from flooding, but, no, it was raw sewage, pieces of toilet tissue. Dr. Hatcher explained that while War has a new sanitary, sewage system, small communities upstream do not, and sewage goes straight into the river. Another case of abandonment. This sight, when the river is up from rains, goes for miles and miles. With only four sewage treatment facilities in the County, the majority of houses have lines that run from underneath the homes to the creek.
            Also, when the coal companies sold people their homes, the homeowner was only given six inches of soil underneath. The coal companies reserved the mineral rights, and since only about one third of the coal has been mined, there is likely to be tunneling underneath all of the houses for years to come. I have already seen tunneling underneath the highway to reach the mountain on the other side to remove the coal.
            Based on reports substantiating the importance of McDowell's place in the world of coal business as the leading coal producing county, as well as   bits and pieces of tales from the "Hatfield and McCoy" feud and wild cat coal strikes, I became very interested in visiting the southern most part of West Virginia. However, After talking with Dr. Tom Hatcher, before our initial meeting, and he told me of the facts I have listed below about McDowell, I was rearing to go.

** McDowell has or had the most diverse ethnic group in WV—immigrants, African Americans, etc.

** McDowell is one of the most remote counties as far as accessibility in traveling.

** McDowell has been labeled the “Free State of McDowell” for years:

Free--Civil War men escaped into the mountains to keep from taking sides;

Free--African Americans from the South who worked in the mines considered themselves free;

Free –You can get off “Free” if, by chance, you killed someone for a valid reason.

I guess those are some of the reasons I went to War and to McDowell County, WV. I identify with the plight of the people.

Dr. Hatcher is a bright spot there. While there are others like him, they need many more like him to help.

There are groups there – Big Creek People In Action, the Big Creek TEAM Center, Family of Faith Missions, Calvary Covenant Ministries, AIM (Adventures in Missions), etc., and these groups are impacting the area. Each year, more than 1500 people from church all over come to assist. College students do projects here, and people are working to get local kids into college. The County is working to provide jobs other than coal mining. And, of course, the area’s greatest resource is the wonderful people who live there.

My life is changed because of the contacts I have made there. My eyes have been opened, and I am still trying to find ways to help.

Happy Thanksgiving,

B. L. Dotson-Lewis

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Dr. Tom Hatcher, Mayor of War, McDowell County, West Virginia - oral history

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