Welcome back to EP Digest. Every Thursday morning, the best local news, events, and happenings from Morgan, Berkeley, and Jefferson counties — tailored to what you actually care about. No doom-scrolling, no algorithm. Just the stuff that matters in the Eastern Panhandle. Let's get into it.

Three Problems With the Sidewinder Permit — and a Meeting That Just Got Bigger

Last week's Lead was a state permit for a raw water line to Middleway that the Charles Town Utility Board says it didn't know about. This week the story moved — and not quietly. Roughly 30 residents turned up at CTUB's regular meeting on Sept. 9 and 12 of them spoke, largely about the process by which the permit was issued. The board went into executive session for legal advice, came out, and voted to schedule a special meeting. The Observer has the full account.

Then, on Friday afternoon, CTUB cancelled that special meeting. The Sidewinder discussion instead goes onto the agenda of the board's next regular meeting, Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 4 p.m. — and CTUB said it is arranging a venue that can hold more people. In its statement, the board said it "recognizes the significant level of community interest in this matter and welcomes public participation." Location and public-comment details come with the meeting notice.

The substance underneath the meeting is what matters. General Manager Paul Mantello's preliminary investigation, plus reporting on the WVDEP permit file, has surfaced three specific deficiencies. One: the Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan submitted with the application is unsigned — and a WVDEP official told The Observer the permit is not valid without that signature. Two: the erosion-and-sediment-control drawings carry inconsistent revision dates, with a signed cover sheet citing a November 2025 revision while the detail sheets behind it show an August 2023 date and are marked "advanced copy not for construction," unsigned. Three: there is no Karst Mitigation Plan in the file, which WVDEP requires for projects in karst ground — and the route runs through karst. The GPS coordinates submitted with the application are also wrong: one point lands outside Jefferson County entirely.

The application was signed by CTUB's former general manager, who left the utility in February, and was uploaded by a contractor in late 2025 but not submitted for state review until March. Mantello has already told Charles Town City Council he'll recommend restarting the WVDEP application from the beginning. On the 23rd, the board weighs its next step — which could include hiring an outside attorney or consultant to run an independent investigation.

A County Commissioner Put a Lobbying Investigation Into the Public Record

Separately, at a special meeting on Sept. 4, Commission President Pasha Majdi presented an investigative report on a Delaware company called West Virginians for National Security, LLC and its relationship to the Sidewinder water-bottling project in Middleway. The Commission took no action. Nine residents spoke. The report is attached in full to this Thursday's meeting packet, so anyone can read it and judge it themselves.

What the report says it establishes, from public records: a Washington attorney, Brian Finch, testified for West Virginians for National Security before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 12 in support of SB 648, the Strategic and Critical Resources Act — and federal lobbying disclosures name the same attorney as a lobbyist for Sidewinder on "stockpiling of critical resources," registered that April. A former state senator working as a lobbyist listed both entities as employers on his West Virginia Ethics Commission activity reports. The report's argument about the law itself is that SB 648 never uses the word "water," but defines a covered resource with "including, but not limited to" language and a clause that automatically sweeps in anything a future president designates as essential to national defense — which, the report contends, could override county zoning without the Legislature voting again.

Now the limits, which the report states plainly about itself: Delaware does not list LLC members, so who owns West Virginians for National Security is not on the public record, and the report makes no claim of shared ownership. It describes the tie as operational — shared counsel, shared lobbyist, same subject, overlapping timing — not a filing. No president has designated water as a critical or strategic resource, so the preemption it describes is a mechanism the law makes available, not something in effect. And on intent, the report says no document contains an admission; that part is an inference the records support, not a finding. We're reporting it because a sitting commissioner entered it into the public record of a public meeting, and because Sidewinder's appeal is pending before the state Supreme Court of Appeals either way.

A Court Orders a County Commission Candidate Off the November Ballot

Circuit Court Judge Bridget Cohee has ordered the Jefferson County Board of Ballot Commissioners to leave David Tabb off the Nov. 3 general-election ballot, finding he is not a resident of the Harpers Ferry Magisterial District and therefore not legally qualified to run for the County Commission seat assigned to it. The Observer reported the ruling.

The case started with a complaint filed Sept. 1 by Jefferson County resident John Cline, which asked the court to make the Ballot Commission act on the allegation that Tabb actually lives in the Charles Town Magisterial District. In her order, Cohee wrote that Tabb "was not, and is not a resident of the Harpers Ferry Magisterial District," and noted he "has filed documents under oath in 2022 and 2024" stating he resides in the Charles Town district.

Tabb's attorney, Daniel Casto, filed a notice of appeal on Sept. 11, arguing the circuit court was wrong as a matter of law to let Cline bring the petition more than eighty days after the deadline in state code. Casto also moved to stay the order. Cohee denied the stay the same afternoon, writing that further delay "will have serious resulting loss of absentee voters being able to vote in the election." The Ballot Commission was scheduled to meet in emergency session Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 10 a.m. to carry the order out. We’ll report what it did next week.

Two things worth being precise about. This is a civil dispute over candidate residency — not a criminal matter, and no one has been charged with anything. And the appeal is still pending: the removal stands while it proceeds, but a higher court has not yet had its say.

$2.98 Million Keeps Social Workers Riding With Martinsburg Police and Fire

The City of Martinsburg and The Martinsburg Initiative have been awarded roughly $2.98 million over four years from SAMHSA — the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration — for the Martinsburg Mobile Crisis Integration Partnership. PNN has the details.

In plain terms: the money keeps social workers embedded with the Martinsburg Police and Fire Departments, going out alongside first responders on mental-health, substance-use, and other behavioral-health calls. Martinsburg Initiative staff wrote the grant and will administer the program. The city's own announcement called the arrangement a model other communities look to.

A Berkeley Springs Church, a Room Full of First Responders, and a Sheriff Who Was at the Pentagon

We listed it as a calendar line two editions ago. It deserved more. St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Berkeley Springs held its second-ever Blue Mass on Thursday, Sept. 10 — a service of prayer for first responders, held the day before the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11. PNN was there.

Knights of Columbus Deputy Grand Knight Geoff Fox pitched the idea after seeing a Blue Mass covered on a D.C. station. "I threw it by the council, they loved it," he said. The invitation list ran well past Morgan County — Berkeley and Jefferson crews, state police from three states, Hancock County Fire Rescue, the Washington County Sheriff's Office — and the service included a moment of silence for local first responders who have died.

Morgan County Sheriff Johnnie Walter was working in Washington in 2001 and was sent to the Pentagon after Flight 77 hit it. "I worked midnights the day it happened, I got home, a few hours later I got the phone call, 'come back' and we went to the Pentagon for security," he said. What he said about the anniversary is the part that stuck: "It seems like everybody says, 'you'll never forget' but it seems like they're starting to forget."

An 0–5 Friday for the Panhandle’s Class AAAA Football Teams

High school football, boys, Week 3 (Friday, Sept. 11): All five Eastern Panhandle Class AAAA teams lost. Musselman came closest, leading 15–7 early in the fourth before Wheeling Park won 16–15 on a 25-yard field goal with under a minute left. Jefferson fell 36–14 to Sherando (Va.), Spring Mills 50–6 to Liberty Christian (Va.), Hedgesville 57–3 to Morgantown, and Washington 56–7 to University. In Class AA, Berkeley Springs lost 31–13 to Petersburg. The roundup • the Musselman game.

High school girls soccer: Musselman beat Spring Mills 4–0 on Thursday, Sept. 10. Freshman Jaylee Watkins scored three — a hat trick — with Sydney Paxman assisting twice and scoring the other goal. The Journal was at the game.

Two Things Moving Through the Paperwork

Rezoning, Currie Road at Route 9 (File 26-2-Z): a landowner has petitioned to rezone 2.24 vacant acres from Rural to Highway Commercial — the category meant for high-intensity, motor-vehicle-oriented uses on major roads, which can include very large buildings and heavy truck traffic. The parcel sits inside the Ranson Urban Growth Boundary and is marked "Future Urban Area" on the county's land-use guide; it already has water and sewer access. The Planning Commission reviewed it June 9 and found it consistent with the 2045 Comprehensive Plan. The public hearing is Thursday night, pushed from August by a public-notice error.

A $600,000 sally port at the Judicial Center: the county is asking the state Courthouse Facilities Improvement Authority for $125,000 toward a secure enclosure for moving people in custody between vehicles and the building. The Judicial Center has no dedicated secure transfer point now. The remaining $475,000 would come from capital improvement funds.

What Local Government Is Working On

Jefferson County Commission, tonight, 6 p.m. (393 N. Lawrence Street, east entrance): a full night. Legal counsel reports back on a draft procurement policy and resolution barring county money from mass-surveillance systems. Commissioner Steve Stolipher asks the Commission to draft a policy blocking special meetings within 60 days of an election and to push all special non-business meetings past Nov. 3. Commission President Pasha Majdi brings a draft ordinance that would require anyone speaking to the Commission on someone else's behalf to file a sworn statement naming that party's management and its 25-percent-or-greater owners — written, the draft says, because a federal rule change in August removed the requirement for U.S. companies to report beneficial ownership at all. Agenda and packet; meetings stream on the county's YouTube channel.

Water Advisory Committee, met Wednesday; reports to the Commission tonight. The committee’s current batch of technical questions is about farms. The short version: under state code, farms are not "large-quantity users" at all, no matter how much water they draw, and don't have to report withdrawals — the state just estimates them. Irrigation is the heaviest agricultural use, running as high as 80,000 gallons a month. Anyone bottling water for resale is a large-quantity user regardless of volume.

Charles Town Utility Board, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 4 p.m.: the Sidewinder permit, folded into the regular meeting after the Sept. 14 special meeting was called off. CTUB says it is arranging a larger venue and will publish location, virtual-attendance and public-comment details with the agenda. If you plan to go, watch for the notice rather than assuming the usual room.

Three town halls now on the calendar: Sept. 28, 6 p.m. — a joint workshop on Jefferson County "Good Neighbor" data-center guardrails, with Charles Town, Harpers Ferry, Bolivar, Shepherdstown and Ranson invited and public comment planned. Oct. 14, 6 p.m. — residential growth and public facilities, with reports from planning, EMS, the sheriff, the fire and rescue association and each municipality. And a Valley Link transmission town hall, date still to be set.

Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport Authority, Monday, Sept. 21, 6 p.m., Richard Wachtel Conference Room, 170 Aviation Way in Martinsburg. Minutes, the August budget, the 2027 meeting schedule, the director's report, and a property contract that may go to executive session. There’s a Zoom option on the posted agenda.

The Pumpkin Patch Is Open, Which Settles the Season Argument

Orr's Farm Market's "Spookley the Square Pumpkin" pumpkin patch opened Sept. 12 and runs through Nov. 7 — hayride to the Barnyard, corn maze, play areas.

Bluegrass and Barbeque is still running at Orr's on second Saturdays through Oct. 10 — and the same fields host Fountain Fest this Friday and Saturday.

Looking ahead: registration is open for the 51st Apple Butter Festival Parade, which steps off in downtown Berkeley Springs at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 10. Every entry has to register online each year, veterans included. Sign up here.

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Story, event, business, government, school, neighborhood, weird-and-wonderful — if it's local, we want to hear it. Saw a new sign go up? Heard about a meeting no one's talking about? Know of a shop opening, closing, or expanding? Spotted something on your street that turned out to be interesting? Send us a note at [email protected] — tips of every kind keep the Digest sharper than any source list could. We protect our sources, and we verify before we publish.

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